For ten minutes, Nate had his head in between his palms, deeply contemplating whether he should go into the night and save a woman who had hurt him so badly.
Nyx was beside him, the woman who had helped him, asking questions about why he had suddenly gone quiet.
"Are you okay?" Her brows creased with worry. "Are you disappointed because she couldn't do it? If you can't get evidence against Rick now, you can do it later."
He nodded his head, "You are right."
"I just need to stay calm and think of something else. For now, I need to take a rest."
He stood up, but with several thoughts in his mind. He had 24 million dollars, and he didn't mind if he lost that, so he could refuse the mission.
After all, he was going to get more later.
But at that moment, the system's voice resounded in his mind again.
[Attention, Nate Williams. Your pending funds with the system will also be deducted.]
"What…what do you mean?" He gasped.
[Every penny you are to get from the System will be deducted.]
The robotic voice, the cold words made him squirm lightly. As expected of a system that had no emotions, and ordered him to save such a woman.
He wished he could snap, and punch the system in the face. But that thing was inside him.
So, would he punch himself?
He paced up and down the passageway, as his hands roamed through his hair in distress.
"Is that a lifetime punishment or what? Why do I have to pay that way?"
However, there was no reply as if the system had gone silent on him. He sank to the floor, finally making his last decision.
It was just to save her, right? He wasn't going to have anything to do with her.
He stood up, but he came face to face with Nyx, with worry deeply etched in her eyes.
"What is going on, Nate?"
"I have to be somewhere." He said, as he walked past her. However, she held his arm, not willing to let him go.
"Where? I will go with you…"
"You don't need to." He pulled her fingers off, with a serious gaze.
He couldn't tell her he was about to go save Aria. He couldn't predict how well she would take it, especially since they had no use for Aria anymore.
"I will be back by midnight, hopefully. Don't wait up…"
He left her, standing in the passageway, while he rushed down the stairs. He took a cab, while putting a call across to Aria, hoping she would pick up her call.
But then, the phone rang multiple times with no answer.
"Where the hell are you…"
At that moment, he recalled that he had her live location still on his phone. A feature he never thought to disable all this while.
As soon as he found her location, he had the cab speeding down the hallway, toward his old house. He couldn't believe she had gone back there, after it had been destroyed so badly.
However, as the cab stopped before his house, it was dead silent. But with a little look at the tarred road, there were skid marks with little droplets of blood.
"What the hell…" He gasped, eyes going wide in shock.
The next second, he rushed straight in, banging through the dangling door and getting through the house.
It was still as scattered as he had left it, but there was a thick scent of blood in the air.
"Aria?" He called out, rummaging through the piles of rubbish, and following the trail of blood.
And by the time, he got to his small bedroom, crammed up with his scattered possessions, Aria's body was lying within.
She looked lifeless, pale, and scary with blood marks all over her face.
Nate's stomach dipped, as a rush of thoughts went through his mind.
But he was on his feet the next second, sinking to her level and clutching her body in his arms.
"Aria!!" He tapped her cheeks, feeling the loss of warmth from her skin.
And he felt her pulse, weak and almost disappearing.
"The ambulance…" He muttered, bringing out his phone to call one.
No matter what, she couldn't die at his house. He would forever be seen as a murderer and if he eventually proved his innocence, he would be left with a dent in his life.
The call went through, with a flat voice echoing through the device.
"The next available ambulance will arrive in an hour. Can you wait, Mr. Nate?"
His heart plummeted as he looked down at Aria. She would never survive this. Her body was too weak and frail to survive that long.
And he clutched her body even tighter, feeling a burning fury inside of him.
He knew Rick did this, just to implicate him and throw him down a pit he would never recover from. He had underestimated the crazy enemy he was dealing with.
They had been playing petty games before now, and this was on a whole new level.
But this wasn't the time to blame himself for something he didn't see coming. He cleared his mind, taking deep breaths as he made sure to keep Aria's body warm.
"System, what do I do?…" He whispered, as sweat trickled down his back.
[Purchase the Super Healing Technique.]
"What?"
[Cost: 10 million dollars!]
Ten million dollars wasn't too much to buy his freedom. And he didn't hesitate.
A screen appeared in his mind, detailing the instructions needed for this technique to work. However, his eyes were stuck on the side effects.
He had to use his blood to save her, but then he was stuck on one thing.
"The recipient of the technique will be tied to me, for life?"
[Yes, Nate Williams. She could be an ally, or turn into a weapon you can't control.]
Nate swallowed, wondering if he could take this bold step.
[Do you accept or reject?]