The Double or more Life of the Fake Heiress (Mirabella)

"Keep searching," James said with a calm determination, his eyes fixing on Mirabella's face. "Turn the world upside down if you have to, but find him."

"Yes, sir," Curtis responded. Even without James's orders, he was already on it.

Of all the people to mess with, they chose Ms. Mirabella-definitely not the smartest move.

After ending the call, Curtis sent some of his most reliable operatives to the chaotic zone. Someone with such a severe injury wouldn't have gotten far.

*Meanwhile, in a mansion at the center of the turmoil.

"You sure are tough," Asa remarked, wearing gloves as he skillfully removed the bullet from Santos's chest with forceps. "Just a hair more to the side, and not even the best surgeon could have saved you."

Santos lay there, drenched in sweat, the mask on his face starting to slip from the moisture. But that wasn't the main issue. What mattered was that the surgery had been done without anesthesia.

His body didn't respond to anesthetics.

Surviving that ordeal without a peep was nothing short of incredible.

"Thanks," Santos whispered, closing his eyes and gritting through the pain to get those words out.

Asa's eyes lingered on the mask, a mix of surprise and understanding. No wonder Santos always seemed so stoic-it was a mask all along.

Returning to his work, Asa stitched up the wound, offering a casual, "You're welcome."

Half an hour later, he pulled off his gloves and the bloodied gown. "You should be up and about in a week."

A week? Santos frowned, thinking about the woman who'd already been exposed to his concoction. "I heard you have something that speeds up healing?"

Asa, having just opened a water bottle, raised an eyebrow at Santos. "I do, but it has some pretty serious side effects. Are you sure?"

"Yes," Santos answered without a second thought.

He's learned long ago that extraordinary things often come with a price.

A little damage was nothing to him. Seeing Santos's determination, Asa didn't press further. He nodded, pulling out his phone to make a call. "Okay, I'll have it sent over."

"Thanks." Santos gazed at the ceiling. This injury couldn't just be for nothing, right? After Asa finished his call, he mentioned, "My guys will drop off the drug soon. If your body can handle it, you might be up by tonight, and back to normal by tomorrow."

"I know," Santos replied coolly.noveldrama

Asa didn't delve into what Santos meant by "I know," simply smirking. "I'm curious, why did you nab those students? What makes them so important that it got the authorities involved?"

"The students aren't special. I just needed to draw someone out."

With Asa's knack for uncovering information, Santos didn't see the point in making up stories.

"Oh? Who's so important that you'd go to all this trouble?"

Asa hadn't specifically dug into Santos's business, but he did have people keeping an eye on his activities.

Santos's eyes sparked with a thought. He turned slightly towards Asa.

"Remember last year when you asked me to treat a guy named Ben? The person who hurt him is the one I'm after."

Goodnight.

With a new month starting, I'm determined to keep striving. As always there's a giveaway at the beginning of the month. Just drop a comment to join in. Thank you for sticking around—truly, thank you.