164 Leave, The Same Way, A Million Times Before

It was at sunbreak that she finally calmed down. Her body went limp, and the constant crease between her brows smoothened. She was still shivering, but she didn't wake up. Her eyes were shut, but she didn't seem strained anymore. It looked like she had finally stopped having visions – she was sleeping steadily.

Doctor Kern had told Jim everything from the beginning to the end, how he had been called and could reach to the Hunter manor after a good thirty minutes. When he had arrived, Miya had already been screaming and thrashing around violently.

The doctor gave Jim a peculiar look – he was the family doctor, he had been taking care of the Hunters ever since he got out of medical school. He earlier used to visit the house with his father, who was a famous physician. When his health broke down, Kern naturally took over years later. He had been with the Hunters for thirty years now – and never once had he seen Jim look so death-stricken.

Except for when the daughter of the family had fallen sick. The tightly knit, buried secret of the family, that only a select few knew about.

He didn't know who this woman was, but with the look on Jimmy's face, it wasn't difficult to place. The girlfriend. Prospective bride?

Kern had never seen her before, and he knew most families. He couldn't associate a family background with her, but he wondered why she would be struck with a dangerous hallucinogenic like she had been.

It could be because she was with Jimmy.

Shrugging, the doctor left the room once again, injecting her with another dose of the antidote. Jimmy pinched the space between his brows, replacing his seat beside Miya and holding her hand again once the doctor had left.

Tao.

The girl had gone to meet Tao.

Why?

Jimmy hadn't slept for two nights, but sleep was his last concern. He looked wild, with dishevelled hair and pale eyes. His face was petrified, and he seemed to be losing control. He remembered Miya saying she was being threatened. That the reason she could not talk all about her history was because someone was forcing her.

Who?

Kang Sheng was already at their heels, he wanted Ben. Who else was insane enough to do something like this?

Who else was the girl involved with, that could hurt her to this extent?

Jimmy took out his phone and made another call to the Avante Hospital.

"Yes, yes," his voice was a low drone, "I asked for footages of ward 108. It has a patient named Tao. A woman came in to visit him today at around 2 p.m. Why haven't I received the record yet?"

His head was heavy, and for a second, Jim felt like closing his eyes.

And horror filled his soul.

Sleep!

How could he sleep?!

The – The last time his little sister was on the bed just like this, he had slept! Then, then… the girl…

In the meantime, he also received the security camera footage from the hospital. He sat by her bedside again, opened his laptop, plucked in his earphones and watched.

With each passing minute of the video, Jimmy was left stunned. He grabbed Miya's hand tighter, as if for support when he saw her dodge the darts. Finally, Chenric appeared.

Jim could barely suppress the anger that rose in him once he saw his woman defend the guard – he also saw right then as a dart hit her on the wrist. Jim felt his insides twitch, and he seethed.

Chenric was one of his best. How had he acted so useless?

And Jim was about to shut his laptop's lid in extreme annoyance, when his eyes stuck on the last part of the footage.

It was as the attacker escaped.

Jim frowned when he saw the man slide out of the open window pane within a split second, as if he had never been there. It was only through the vanishing wisps of his ombre green hair that were visible through the glass in the window, that Jim could spot him leave.

The image struck Jimmy.

It reminded him of several incidents from ages ago.

He had seen his mother leave, the same way, a million times before.

One second, she'd be standing in the room, saying goodbye, or just looking at him blankly. The next second, she would be gone. Jim could never spot her, it was the ends of her hair that he could see reflected on the window, and by the time he reached there and looked below, she had already landed on the ground.

An unknown fear crawled up Jim's veins.

His throat clenched, his mouth hard.

That picture… could there be the slightest possibility that Charlie had not doctored it?

That Miya had something to do… with his mother?

A cold, cutting chill ran down Jim's spine. The situation was impossible, and yet when Jim replayed the last part of the footage, he was more and more sure.

It resembled Eshni's way of escape, whenever she didn't walk out of the door of the Hunter house.

Almost to reconcile his thoughts, his mind flashed back to that one time when they had first visited the Hunter manor. Miya had been attacked by someone sent by Simon, and she had mentioned something about jumping down the first floor.

A cold sweat broke on Jimmy's brow.

There was a pattern to this.

With a slight tremor in his hand, the young master shut the laptop, and put his thoughts in order. He needed to search for that attacker – the good thing was he had a face to look for. And he needed to know what the deal with that symbol 'K' was.

Lastly, he needed to confront Charlie.

If there was even the slightest truth to Miya and Eshni being involved, she seemed to know. The audio on the footage wasn't very clear, so Jim couldn't hear the talk between Miya and the man clearly.

But they seemed to be talking about Tao. And Miya had said there was nothing else to do, and they mentioned some person who would harm the attacker if Tao was hurt.

Jim couldn't connect all dots, but if Eshni was even slightly involved, he needed to know.

That woman had always been the bane of Jim's existence.

And hell would have to freeze over if he let another person he loved be harmed at her hands.

With chaos riling in his heart, Jim gave Charlie a call.

"We need to talk."

His voice was quiet, inhumanely cold. Things were escalating fast.

He had to have them under control.