A Replacement Bride

Chapter 94

"Y-Y-You…" Others might not know what this person's presence here entailed, but Mateo knew all too clearly.

Ten years ago, a special organization known as the Vermillion Alliance emerged in Cechirus out of nowhere. All the members of the alliance had a special marking on their bodies, and they would wear a red spider mask with identical printing on their chests. These people were elusive and scattered all across Cechirus. Not only were they the greatest intelligence unit, but they were also the strongest force in the underworld.

The Ramons had always threaded the fine line between good and evil, thus making them a regular with the Vermillion Alliance.

However, the alliance never ever involved itself with mundane family issues. So it was inevitable that Mateo would overthink when a member had shown themselves in the Ramon Residence.

"Mateo Ramon, Grandmaster has ordered me to retrieve a man from you." It was a woman who stood in the middle of the living room. Her voice was bleak, and her gaze at Mateo was one of looking at a corpse.

"W-W-What man?" Mateo stammered but knew precisely what she meant. However, he couldn't figure out when Aberama became so close with the Vermillion Alliance.

"Huh, do you really not know who we want? Hand him over now. I still have other things to deal with. I don't have time to play games with you," said the woman rudely as she glanced at Mateo with impatience.

The man had wanted to play dumb to brush it off, but now he could only dismiss the idea with indignation, for he dared not cross the Vermillion Alliance.

With that, he turned to the basement and dragged a moribund Aberama up in two shakes, chucking the young man to the floor.

Upon seeing Aberama's condition, the woman flew into a rage. She grabbed the whiplash that was fastened against her waist and whipped it against Mateo.

"You swine!" she cussed and whipped the man a few dozen times before finally picking Aberama up.

Aberama was horribly mutilated, a gruesome sight to behold. To make things worse, his wounds were never treated, so many parts of his body were festered and covered in pus.

Carmine knew fully well what Aberama meant to Katherine, so she dared not waste any time and left Ramon Residence right after retrieving Aberama.

Meanwhile, inside an apartment unit of Soulin International in Hovington, Katherine was resting her eyes on the couch with her phone next to her. Just then, her phone buzzed, and she shot her eyes wide open at once to check the phone.

It was a message from Carmine. 'Hostage saved.'

'Bring him back to Hovington,' Katherine replied.

She had long foreseen Aberama's deadly episode and thus made other arrangements even after she had hinted his fate to him.

Knowing Aberama, she knew that man definitely wouldn't listen to her and obediently stay in Hovington. However, she didn't expect him to be that stupid.

Two hours later, Carmine appeared in front of Katherine's doorstep with Aberama.

Katherine let the two in at once. Just as she closed the door, Joaquin happened to have come out of his apartment and also taken a gander in her direction.

The thick scent of blood in the air made Joaquin look at Katherine with furrowed brows, but the young woman gave him no explanations, only shutting the door with a slam.

And just like that, the words at the tip of his tongue never came out.

There were still a few drops of fresh blood on the floor, and Joaquin stood in the doorway for quite some time before he finally rushed to the hospital to visit Beatrice, who was in a complete meltdown.

Carmine looked worriedly at Katherine and asked gingerly, "Grand—"

However, she had barely just spoken when Katherine shot her a glance, causing her to change her words. "Miss Cornell, his injuries are pretty severe. So I did as you told and fed him the medicine you instructed immediately after retrieving him."

"Thank you for making the trip." Katherine nodded and squatted down to check on Aberama, causing her to turn beyond grim at the sight of his severe bodily injuries.

"Will he be alright?" Even Carmine felt apprehensive about Aberama's injuries.

"He'll live," Katherine answered indifferently before heading to the bathroom to fill the tub. After pouring all sorts of powder medicine into it, she turned to Carmine and shouted, "Strip him naked and chuck him into the bathtub!"

Stumped, Carmine looked toward the passed-out Aberama, and a tinge of redness laced her tanned face. Then again, she dared not disobey Katherine's orders. So she still did as told, stipping the young man off his clothes, carrying him into the bathroom, and gingerly putting him in the tub.

To her dismay, the water turned red the second Aberama sat inside.

"Let him soak for two hours." Katherine's voice came from outside, easing Carmine and leaving the bathroom.

"Miss Cornell, about the Ramons…" Carmine mumbled with hesitation.

"The Ramon Family is Aberama's problem. He said he wanted to deal with them himself, so I won't step in, but he's my friend no matter how. Since Mateo dares lay his finger on Aberama and also threatened me this time, we're not going to let him get away with it just like that. Spread the word. Suspend all of our collaborations with the Ramons. If they ask, just refer them to Mateo." Katherine snorted grimly.

"Yes." Carmine obliged.

"You can leave now. He'll be fine." Katherine waved her hand, dismissing Carmine, who was somewhat hesitant at first. But seeing how nonchalant her boss was behaving, she said nothing more and left subserviently.

Meanwhile, Katherine headed to the room where she kept all her excipients. She had given all the ointment she made last time to Ben, but then again, Aberama's injuries were too severe. Common injury relief medication wouldn't be able to do much for him. She'd need to formulate a special injury relief medication for him.

Just like that, she picked out the excipients she needed for some time but was still missing some ingredients.

Just as she was about to ask Joaquin if he could find a way to get some excipients for her, the doorbell rang.

At that, she put the excipients down and made sure the room was locked before opening the main door.

"Joaquin?" Katherine was somewhat taken aback when she realized who was behind the door.

"Thank you for saving Area Seven. I've come to deliver you a thank-you gift." Joaquin stood outside the door and handed a gift box to her, giving him the perfect excuse. "What's wrong? Are you not going to invite me in for some tea? Or do you have guests and can't entertain me?"

"Come on in." Katherine moved aside, allowing Joaquin to enter. But she couldn't help feeling off as she looked at the gift box in her hands. Content protected by Nôv/el(D)rama.Org.

She remembered seeing the man carrying this gift box earlier when he was heading out. So had he actually wanted to give her this instead of visiting a friend?

At that, she put the gift box aside and poured Joaquin a glass of water before sitting down on the couch. "Do you have something else other than saying thanks?"

"Jordan said you're highly skilled in computing, and the Area Seven firewall you've rebuilt is impeccable." Joaquin made idle talk.

"Not up to much," said Katherine as she looked toward the bathroom.

Aberama would be awake anytime soon, judging at the time, and it'd be a problem if he came out and encountered Joaquin.

Alas, just as she wanted to dismiss Joaquin, he suddenly stood up and asked, "Can I use your bathroom?"

However, he didn't wait for her to answer before heading straight for the bathroom.

"Wait…" Katherine reflexively stopped him, but the bathroom door opened from the inside just then and out came Aberama, causing Katherine to cover her face.