Take My Breath Away

The doctor's face became a mask of fear. "Mr. Huo?"

Carlos twisted the doctor's arm behind his back. This caused a surge of pain, and the doctor whined and dropped the syringe.

Frankie carefully picked the syringe up, took a pair of miniature pliers from his pocket, removed the needle, and threw it into the discarded needle bin. He then placed the syringe into his bag.

When they heard the sounds of struggle inside, the two bodyguards burst into the room, caught hold of the doctor and brought him to the floor.

"Mr. Huo? Wh-what's going on?" the doctor cried.

Carlos stood up and straightened his shirt. In a cold voice, he ordered, "Take him out."

Inside the doctor's office

Carlos took out a cigarette, lit it and took a drag before he made himself comfortable on the couch. He needed to be alert for this, and felt that relaxing would help free his mind.

The bodyguards dragged the doctor in and forced him to kneel before their boss.

Carlos sat there quietly, glaring icily at him. The doctor shuddered with fear.

While Carlos shed the cherry from his cigarette with a tap, Frankie walked back into the room. He had just handed the syringe to an aide, who would have the contents analyzed. "Dr. Zhu, what were you planning to inject Mr. Huo with?"

"Mr. Huo... He's not strong enough yet. His memory hasn't recovered. The medicine... is...memantine. It treats memory loss, confusion, and problems with...ugh...thinking and reasoning..." The doctor was on the floor, both bodyguards sitting on him. One of them, a large-framed man, looked at Carlos, who merely nodded. The big man took one of the doctor's arms that was already behind his back and twisted. With a sickening snap, the bodyguard dislocated the man's arm. "No! What are you— Aaagh!"

Tears fell. Drops of sweat began to form on his forehead and his face was as pale as a sheet. "M-Mr. Huo... p-please!"

Carlos flicked the ashes from his cigarette and remained silent.

Frankie warned the doctor, "We know what you've done to Mr. Huo, Dr. Zhu. Now tell the truth, quickly. Mr. Huo is a busy man, after all."

The doctor bit his lips and closed his eyes before saying, "It's...the truth."

Out of patience, Carlos threw the cigarette butt into the ashtray and stood up. "Bury him alive," he ordered, his voice steady, betraying no emotion. He gave the order as easily as one might order a drink at a restaurant.

"Yes, Mr. Huo."

"No, no! Mr. Huo, oh God! Stop! I'll tell the truth!" The doctor felt he was at death's door, knocking loudly. He immediately called out to Carlos, who was about to leave the room.

Carlos stopped in mid-stride, looked down at the doctor and said slowly, "Mind your tongue. If you lie to me again..." He stopped in mid-sentence.

"I won't! Mr. Huo, please, please—"

Before the doctor could finish, one of the bodyguards kicked him hard and spat, "Cut the crap!"

"Aargh...sorry... Mr. James Huo... asked me to... inject you with a drug that would mess with your memory. A benzodiazepine class drug. A midazolam derivative. You can't get that here. He went online and found it there. Real black market stuff. Used by human traffickers. He set up an injection schedule, so you wouldn't...ugh... remember."

The doctor told Carlos everything. Ten minutes later, Carlos cast a sidelong glance at him, lit another cigarette and told Frankie, "Cut the tendons of both wrists, and find out what else he's done. If he did this, he's done other illegal things. His wife, too. Report her to the authorities once you find anything."

After exhaling a mouthful of smoke, he continued, "Your daughter is studying abroad, right? Pull her out of school and make her pay off all of her father's debt."

The doctor then realized that Carlos had already investigated his family before he came here. He pleaded desperately, "This has nothing to do with them. Please! And I have no debt."

Carlos snorted, saying nothing.

Frankie explained patiently, "Do you remember what you did to Mr. Huo? You caused damage to his body and brain by malpractice and malice. You need to pay him a billion dollars in compensation."

'A billion?' The doctor almost passed out.

Carlos and his men left the private hospital, and headed to the hospital where Niles worked.

When they arrived, Niles was analyzing the contents of the drug with a professor in the lab.

Niles walked out, removed his mask and told Carlos with a serious expression, "Carlos, the contents of the drug are very complicated. The best we can figure out is that it's a midazolam derivative. But there's other stuff in here, a real cocktail. We need more time."

Carlos nodded and said, "Okay. Just send the results to the manor."

"Sure."

Debbie had been very busy recently. She had a few commercials and endorsements, and her company had already released a schedule for her new release. She had to work on a new album. She also had to attend to fashion shows, as well as televised music and variety shows. Not to mention dinner parties held by various businessmen.

Luckily, Carlos had helped her a lot by taking care of Evelyn. Father and daughter were staying at the manor, and he even drove her to the kindergarten and picked her up every day.

Debbie felt really grateful to him. However, she heard a rumor that Carlos had a daughter whose name was Evelyn Huo and that she was in the same kindergarten class as Curtis' son.

'Evelyn Huo?'

Debbie suddenly had a bad feeling about this. Instead of calling Carlos, she called Lucinda first. "Hi Aunt Lucinda. How's Evelyn doing?"

"She's doing great, of course. Very bright, well-behaved. You know what, the kids are so envious of her to have such a pretty mom and such a rich, handsome dad," Lucinda said cheerfully.

"So... Carlos picked her up himself?" Debbie asked.

"Yes. He drove her to school personally and picked her up on time."

"I see... By the way, when I registered Evelyn for kindergarten, I put her name down as Evelyn Nian, right?"

Lucinda answered, "Yes. But Mr. Huo said that he'd already finished the household registration for Evelyn and changed her name to Evelyn Huo. He didn't tell you?"

'Seriously? He changed my daughter's surname without asking me! What an asshole! I have to teach him a lesson, ' Debbie thought. "Now I know. Gotta go, Aunt Lucinda. Bye!"

After hanging up on Lucinda, Debbie took a deep breath to calm herself and then called Carlos. "Carlos Huo!" Her voice was as cold as ice.

"Ah. Calling me to let me know you'll divorce Ivan?" he asked.

"In your dreams! Carlos Huo! How dare you change my daughter's last name! Did you ask me first? You are impossible! You always do what you want, and who cares about other people?" Clenching her fists tightly, she took deep breaths to keep from losing her cool.

Carlos explained in a patient manner, "She's also my daughter. You hadn't done the household registration for her, so I did it for you. Anything wrong?"

"You changed her last name!"

"So?" Carlos didn't see anything wrong. It would be helpful for her to have his surname. He had a lot of influence, so he figured having his last name wouldn't hurt.

Debbie closed her eyes and told herself, 'Easy, Debbie.' "Fine! Since you're her father, I won't argue with you this time. And I'm not divorcing Ivan, because I don't think you love me at all. Goodbye!"

"Debbie, you got me all wrong. Debbie?" The call was disconnected. When he called her again, he found that she had already blocked him.

Carlos was confused and frustrated. 'Why is she so angry? She was too busy to do it herself, so I did it for her. I thought she'd be grateful.'