Loving The Temperamental Adonis
Chapter 236: Bargain

Chapter 236: Bargain

The next time Mia woke up, she felt like her entire body had been weighed down by a heavy stone. She couldn’t feel or move any of her limbs, and her head was throbbing so much she didn’t want to open her eyes. She had no idea how long she’d been unconscious or how long she’d been lying on the hard floor, but the thought of opening her eyes or moving her body seemed more challenging than anything.

Though her limbs were no longer tied, she couldn’t feel or move them. She moaned in pain as she opened her eyes to a bright overhead light. At first, she could barely make out her surroundings until she heard a low groan from the other side. She looked around the huge, spacious room that seemed to be an empty warehouse for the source of the sound. The spacious building had no windows and no visible door in sight; the only source of natural light came from the small holes at the top of the walls close to the ceiling, making her realize it was day.

Mia pushed herself to sit up with so much difficulty that her head throbbed even harder. Her mouth and throat felt so dry she wanted nothing but water. She looked down at her bulging belly and felt her throat burn with emotion. Stroking her stomach and apologizing to her children who, as if feeling her, kicked a little, she was starving and thirsty, and she knew they were as well. In such a condition, she should be resting at home, but she’d been thrust into this because of her stubbornness.

If she’d listened to her husband, this wouldn’t have happened. Oh Lord, her husband... she thought with tears stinging her eyes. Neil would be mad with worry if he couldn’t find her. From the looks of it, she’d been here for more than a day. Whoever kidnapped her surely wanted her to suffer. She was...

"...aaarrgh!"

Mia’s thoughts were abruptly interrupted by a pained groan. She strained her ears at the sudden groaning from the corner. She’d heard it earlier but not as clearly as now. She looked towards the corner with her heart beating faster in her chest.

"Who’s there?" she asked as she tried to stand on her feet but couldn’t. She raised her dress and looked down at her feet, gasping in shock at how swollen and painful they looked. There were red painful bruises around both her ankles that made her feet so swollen they looked like they didn’t belong to her.

Mia felt herself begin to panic, but she took a deep breath and calmed herself. Panicking wasn’t the best solution in such a situation. The person in the corner seemed to be in so much pain that he groaned again, this time louder and more agonizing than before. His painful groan made her heart slam against her ribs and made her breath hitch as she seemed to recognize the voice a bit.

"Zephyr, is that you?" she asked, holding her breath to hear the person’s reply. She’d seen him get shot and taken, and the thought that he was the one in the corner groaning in pain made her fear for him more than for herself. It had been her fault; if she had listened to Neil, nothing like this would have happened.

"...yes," he replied, groaning in pain and breathing heavily. "Are... aaarg! Are you all right, ma’am?" he asked, his voice sounding like it was forced out of him.

Mia heard the agony in his voice and felt remorse consume her. Zephyr was a tough guy who never showed his emotions to anyone; he was the kind to hide his feelings and do his job. For the past month he’d been assigned to Mia, she’d never seen him sound like he did right now.

"I-I am all right," she managed to say through her tears of remorse, "but I can’t say the same for you."

"I... I am fine, ma’am," he replied, breathing heavily as if he was on the verge of passing out.

Unable to hold back anymore, Mia pushed herself away from the wall and began to crawl on her knees and palms towards him. Even the crawling was a challenge because of her belly. However, she pushed herself until she was sitting face to face with Zephyr, whose eyes were tightly shut. Mia felt her palms, which were still flat on the ground, touch something sticky. She looked down and gasped at the amount of blood pooling around him and soaking his clothes. Now that she looked closely, his complexion was so pale that one would mistake him for a dead person. His lips were turning a darkish purple, and his breathing was labored and faint.

"Oh my God, Zephyr. You are not fine!" she exclaimed, looking down at his side where he’d been shot, and his hands were pressing tightly as if to stop the bleeding.

His closed eyes opened slowly at her exclamation. He looked taken aback to see her sitting down before him as if he hadn’t even heard her presence when she crawled towards him. He tried to sit up straight but groaned in pain, and Mia quickly pushed him to remain as he was.

"Don’t move," she said, taking off her coat with a shaky hand and ripping the hem of her dress. She reached out to unbutton his shirt to see the wound, but despite his weakness, Zephyr recoiled away from her touch and pushed her hands away from him. "I’m fine. You don’t have to," he managed to say. Though he might be weak and on the verge of dying from lack of blood, he wasn’t ready to allow a woman—especially his boss’s woman—to unbutton his shirt. If he didn’t die from this bullet wound, his boss would definitely kill him if he knew his wife had taken off his shirt and even ripped her dress to attend to him.

With so much difficulty, Zephyr moved further back against the wall to avoid Mia. However, if there was one thing he admired about his boss’s wife, it was her stubbornness and determination to do things when she wanted to. She glared at him with tear-filled eyes and warned with a firm, commanding voice that didn’t seem to fit her.

"Stay still, Zephyr. We need to stop the bleeding. You’re losing too much blood, and I fear there will be no more left in you. If you don’t want me telling on you to my husband, don’t move."

For the first time since Mia had known him, Zephyr chuckled softly, the sound of it so foreign it startled her and made her stop.

"Ma’am, if I stay still, your husband will skin me alive if he finds out. I’d rather bleed to death than allow you to touch me," he said, closing his eyes and relaxing against the wall. "I will be fine."

Mia stared at him for a while. How come he was so loyal to Neil that he was willing to die rather than let her attend to him? She’d noticed how he tried his best to please Neil and not give him a reason to complain, but she didn’t know it went to the extent that he was willing to die. Seeing how much he tried to hold back his groans and how much pain he was in, Mia gritted her teeth in annoyance and firmly grabbed his hand, moving it away from his midriff. She didn’t give him the chance to stop her before she began to unbutton his shirt.

It seemed he was too weak to even fight her off or perhaps he didn’t want to push her away for fear of hurting her, but he didn’t protest and only muttered something under his breath which Mia heard.

"Great. I am officially a dead man if the boss knows of this."

"My husband will hardly mind if he learns you risked your life to protect me. I think he’d give you a bonus. Now be good and let me do my best to stop the bleeding." She smiled faintly as she unbuttoned his shirt. However, the smile vanished the moment she saw the bullet wound on his side. The wound oozed a mix of blood and serum, surrounded by swollen, reddened skin, and a faint, ominous heat radiating from it.

"Oh my goodness, it’s getting infected..." she murmured shakily, her hands trembling as she hesitated to tie the piece of clothing around the wound. "Have you removed the bullet?"

He shook his head with so much difficulty, sweat glistening on his forehead. "I was unconscious for a whole day. When I woke up, I could barely move to remove the bullet because it was already swollen." He chuckled humorlessly. "I have accepted my fate, ma’am... the wound is infected already." He looked at her with so much regret as he continued to say, "I am sorry I failed to keep you safe. I should have fought harder to protect you from them. I wish I could do better before... aaarrgh!" He groaned in agony.

"Stop talking," Mia said shakily, fighting back her tears. "Nothing will happen to you. Neil and his men will soon find us, and he’ll get the best doctors to treat you." She said, tying the piece of cloth around his midriff to cover the wound. He didn’t even try to move away from her again; his eyes had closed like he was too weak to keep talking.

Mia knew she needed to do something to get them both out of here, but what that was she didn’t know. She was not in the condition to act recklessly when she had to protect her babies as well as Zephyr, but she couldn’t possibly sit here and watch him die. She’d forever be haunted by it if he were to die here because of her. She just couldn’t imagine being the reason for someone else’s death.

She frantically looked around for something, anything that would support her on her swollen feet so she could find a way out of here, but there was nothing. As she was about to push herself from the ground, she heard the sound of the door bang open. Looking up, she saw three men walk in, one of them carrying a tray of food and a bottle of water.

She looked at them hopefully as they reached her and dropped the tray on the floor, coldly ordering her to eat up because the boss wanted her to have the strength when they’d meet. The boss again? Who was this boss?

Mia gave the single plate of food a once-over look and turned to the men. They hadn’t brought any food for Zephyr, only for her. Despite her anger and rage at her kidnappers, she knew she had to save Zephyr. Swallowing her pride, she pleaded with the man in front, who looked so young for a kidnapper.

"Please," she begged, her voice filled with desperation. "Get someone to treat him. It’s me you want. Let him go and hold me for as long as you want."

The men looked at the dying bodyguard and burst out laughing. "He acted tough two days ago," one of them said with a sneer, "but he looks like a corpse now. What a shame."

Mia’s eyes widened in horror. Two days. They had been held here for two days, which meant Zephyr’s wound had been unattended for two days! She’d thought it was just a day, but two?! Her hands clenched at her sides as she realized they wouldn’t help him. Desperation and anger coursed through her as she looked up at the leader with hardened eyes and spoke with a firm voice.

"Who is your boss? How much is he paying you to keep us here?" She demanded coolly, "I know you all know who I am and who my husband is. If you let us go, I will pay you double the amount you are being paid to keep us here. My husband will top it off for you. Name your price."

The men fell silent for a second as if considering her words before they laughed in her face again. "Do you take us for fools?" the leader mocked. "We know your plan. You’ll bargain with us, then get the authorities after us once we let you go. Dream on, bitch."

Mia tried to speak again, but the leader crouched down and roughly grabbed her chin. "If you know what’s best for you, shut up and eat your food before I shut you up forever. I hate women who think they can control men, we are not your dogs, lady. We don’t want your fucking money, so shut the fuck up and be an obedient barbie."

Zephyr’s eyes, which had been closed, snapped open at the voice of the man warning Mia. He gritted his teeth and, through clenched jaws, said, "Take your filthy hands off her."

Though he was weak, his voice was firm, and his hazel eyes were murderous as he glanced at the leader. The leader’s mocking laughter fell, replaced by a burning anger at Zephyr’s daring manner. He tightened his grip on Mia’s chin, causing her to wince in pain.

"You’ve got guts for a dying man," the leader spat. "But you won’t be so brave when you’re gone, will you?" He laughed, looking down at the pool of blood around Zephyr, who’d fought him the day they’d gone to take Mia. The man was tough, but the leader was confident that he wouldn’t be able to fight now that he was on the brink of death.

Zephyr’s glare didn’t waver. "You won’t touch her. Not while I’m still breathing."

The tension in the room thickened as the leader’s eyes narrowed, his face contorting with fury. "Let’s see how long you keep breathing then. You won’t last until tomorrow with that wound."

With that, he shoved Mia’s face away and stood up, barking orders to the other men to leave. They filed out, leaving the tray of food on the floor and slamming the door shut behind them.

Mia crawled over to Zephyr, her heart aching at his pained expression. Despite his condition, he still tried to protect her. "I’m sorry I got you into this," she whispered, tears streaming down her face.

"Don’t be," he rasped, his voice barely above a whisper. "Just... survive. For your babies and for the boss. You make him so happy, and I’m glad he has finally found the happiness he deserves in life. As long as you continue to do that, I will be at peace wherever I end up..."