Chapter 145: The Brutal Revenge
April finally stopped, lowering the bat as she let out a slow, deeply satisfied breath. The physical exertion felt grounding. She wiped a stray strand of brown hair from her face, staring at the ruin.
"That is for almost running me over," she said flatly, her voice returning to its calm, clinical rhythm.
But as she spoke, her gaze slowly drifted down from the shattered car, tracking across the concrete until her dark eyes locked directly onto Cai’s shaking legs.
She stared from his legs up to his face—the exact face that had smiled through the betrayal.
An intense, blinding heat flared behind her eyes, and her grip tightened around the leather handle of the bat until her knuckles turned entirely white.
She really, really wanted to hit his face in. She wanted to smash that arrogant smug face into the dirt where he belonged.
Nat stood a step back, his arms crossed as his wild gaze completely absorbed the scene. He didn’t know the history. He didn’t know why April possessed such powerful hatred towards that guy. It didn’t look like they knew each other until now, but he could see the raw, terrifying fury burning in her eyes, and it resonated perfectly with his own unhinged soul.
His lips curled into a wide, manic, and deeply possessive grin. He rubbed his chin, stepping forward to stand right behind her shoulder like an unbreakable fortress.
"Go ahead, sweetheart," Nat whispered, his deep voice dripping with an absolute, unyielding promise as his eyes locked onto Cai’s terrified face. "Do whatever you want. Blow his brains out, break his legs—it doesn’t matter. I’ll cover you no matter what. Every single drop of blood tonight is entirely on me."
April was instantly reminded of how Nat handled traitors. He would beat them up until their bodies turned into twisted things that didn’t even look human anymore while they were still breathing.
She tilted her head slightly. A chilling solution to her lingering concerns had already surfaced.
With a single vial of the revitalization spring resting in her spatial dimension, she would be able to heal every physical damage like it had never even happened. She could keep hitting this bastard over and over until she was fully satisfied and he was thoroughly traumatized.
She was not one who enjoyed violence, but her blood boiled to hit this bastard, hoping he experienced much more pain than it had been for her when the zombies were eating her up and ripping her flesh apart.
"Nat," April spoke up, her eyes never leaving Cai. "Gag him for me."
Hearing the command, Cai’s survival instincts finally broke through his paralysis. Panic surging through his veins, he immediately spun around, attempting to recklessly sprint toward the dark exit of the garage.
But he never stood a chance. Nat lunged forward like a striking predator, his hand clamping around the back of Cai’s collar and slamming him hard onto the concrete floor.
Cai hit the ground with a painful thud, gasping for air as Nat pinned him down effortlessly beneath his boot, pulling off Cai’s leather shoe to take off his socks and use as a gag.
"Why are you doing this to me?!" Cai screamed desperately, struggling like a trapped animal beneath the crushing weight of the mafia lord. Tears of pure frustration and terror leaked from his eyes. "Just because I almost ran you over?!"
"No," April claimed, walking over slowly and looking down at him as he struggled at her feet. "You did much worse." She whispered coldly.
"I don’t even know you!" Cai yelled back, his face twisting in raw, frantic confusion.
Yes, you don’t, April thought, her gaze locking onto his terrified expression. But it doesn’t change the fact that I know you. And you wronged me so very much that just looking at your face makes me sick.
She didn’t waste another second speaking to a man who hadn’t committed his crimes yet.
Nat shoved the sock gag deep into Cai’s mouth, cutting off his frantic screams into muffled, useless whimpers. And then he used Cai’s jacket to bind his arms behind his back.
Then, April began.
CRACK.
The metal bat came down with ruthless force. April hit him again and again, the sound of his breaking bones echoing while his blood splattered onto the concrete and the damaged silver car.
She stood over Cai, her chest rising and falling in a steady rhythm. She didn’t stop, letting the bat strike flesh and bone until she was momentarily spent and Cai was nothing but a mangled, cowering heap of agony against the ruined sports car.
Only then did she reach into her spatial dimension and retrieve a glowing vial of the revitalization spring water.
Looking down at the shimmering liquid, she felt a brief flick of annoyance. It is such a waste to use something this precious on a piece of trash like him, she thought.
She forced the liquid down his throat anyway. The transformation was instantaneous. As the mystical water knit his flesh and snapped his fractured bones back into a flawless state, the agonizing pain vanished.
Cai gasped, eyes wide with a mixture of profound relief and utter bewilderment, staring at his unblemished hands as he wondered what kind of miracle had just occurred.
His relief lasted for less than a second, though.
April stood up straight, her eyes remaining completely cold as she gripped the handle of the bat firmly. "Round two."
Before Cai could even process the words, the bat swung down again connecting to his jaw right away and breaking it.
She beat him to a pulp a second time, leaving him in a shattered, fracturing state, only to reset his body with another drop of the spring.
She repeated the cycle ruthlessly. By the third round, the psychological terror had completely overridden his confusion.
Cai began to weep hysterically behind his gag, his body shaking violently as he pleaded through the cloth, begging her to stop.
He scrambled to spit out the fabric, choking out desperate, frantic words. "Stop! Please, just stop! I’ll give you anything you want! Money, assets, anything! Just stop the torture!"
April adjusted her grip on the heavy aluminum. "What I want is your life."
She began round four.
By the sixth round, the loop of endless agony and instant physical restoration had completely destroyed his psychological defenses.
Though his body was healed and physically whole after each vial, his mind was continuously breaking under the trauma.
He could no longer form words properly, his tongue catching on useless noises as he stared at the glowing vial with wild horror. He knew the water was no longer a cure—it was the key to his ongoing purgatory.
April finally stopped at round seven. Her arms were incredibly sore, muscles feeling heavy and completely exhausted from the combined recoil of her earlier target practice and the repetitive physical exertion.
She raised a hand, calmly wiping a stray splatter of blood from her chin, and let the bat drop onto the concrete with a loud, ringing clatter.
She would definitely need a thorough massage after this.
"Are you done?" Nat asked, stepping out of the shadows. A look of profound, unhinged admiration danced in his wild eyes as he watched her roll her stiff shoulder.
"Yeah," April said, her voice returning to its usual flat, deadpan calmness. "I am thoroughly satisfied with my revenge."
Nat’s lips curled into a wide, manic grin, his white teeth flashing in the dim garage.
"You’re absolutely ruthless, sweetheart." He stepped closer, his massive frame radiating a dangerous, possessive heat. "And I like every single bit of it. So, what do you say? Won’t you marry me before the world ends?"