Chapter 4Beyond The Basement Walls

He sat by my bed, holding my medical chart. His face was so grim it looked like it was carved from stone.

"Harry, you..." He looked at me, struggling to find the words. His eyes were a chaotic mix of shock, profound pity, and a trace of carefully concealed fury.

I met his gaze evenly. "Spit it out, Doc. I know exactly what shape my body is in."

Dr. Wallace let out a heavy sigh and placed the chart on the nightstand.

"Severe, full-body soft tissue contusions. Three hairline fractures in your ribs. A compound fracture in your left tibia. A mild concussion. And..."

He paused, lowering his voice. "Your stomach lining is completely ruined. The prolonged starvation and ingestion of contaminated water caused severe perforations and multiple ulcers. Your vocal cords have sustained heavy trauma."

He hesitated, his eyes dropping to my arms. "But the worst of it is your right hand. The tendons were intentionally severed. The surgeons managed to reattach them, but moving forward... I'm afraid you'll never regain your previous dexterity."

My right hand...

I subconsciously looked down at the heavy layers of gauze wrapping my hand.

When the kidnappers realized I had been trying to escape, they decided to punish me. They took a blade to my wrists.

They knew I used to be a somewhat recognized painter in the New York art scene.

They hadn't just wanted to break my body. They wanted to obliterate my soul.

"I understand." I nodded slowly. My voice was as calm as if we were discussing the weather in a foreign country.

Dr. Wallace's frown deepened. "Do you... do you even care?"

I laughed, a dry, rasping sound. "Does caring change anything, Doc? Will caring fix the nerves in my hand? Will it erase the last three months of hell?"

Dr. Wallace fell silent. He knew I was right.

A suffocating quiet filled the room.

I knew why he was really here. Victoria sent him. She didn't trust me, but she trusted Dr. Wallace's medical expertise unconditionally.

Now, he had seen the reality of my broken body with his own eyes. This chart was going to be sitting on her mahogany desk within the hour.

I wondered what kind of face she would make when she read the clinical, undeniable proof of my torture.

Would she feel guilty? Would she regret it? Or... would she still assume this was all just an elaborate, self-inflicted scheme to manipulate her emotions?

"Harry," Dr. Wallace said suddenly, sounding incredibly old. "Victoria... she didn't do this maliciously. The company has been in a state of absolute crisis these past three months. She was drowning in fires to put out, and she just—"

"And that gave her the right to ignore over three hundred desperate phone calls?" I cut him off. I didn't raise my voice, but the absolute zero temperature in my tone made Dr. Wallace snap his mouth shut.

My eyes drifted past him, landing on the expensive, insulated thermos sitting on the side table.

"Did she tell you to bring that?"

Dr. Wallace looked profoundly uncomfortable. He nodded. "It's a medicinal chicken broth. She made it herself. She said your body is weak and you need the nutrients."

Made it herself? Victoria? A woman who couldn't even point out which direction her own kitchen was in?

I scoffed internally, though my face remained a blank mask.

I threw off the thin hospital blanket, swung my legs over the edge of the bed, and slowly, painfully stood up. I walked over to the thermos.

Just as Dr. Wallace’s shoulders relaxed, clearly assuming I was accepting this pathetic, belated olive branch, I unscrewed the lid. I took a brief sniff of the rich broth.

Then, I walked over to the open window and tipped the thermos upside down.

I poured every last drop of the steaming, golden liquid out the window and into the hospital's decorative holly bushes two stories below.

Splash.

Dr. Wallace's eyes nearly popped out of his head.

"What... what are you doing?!"

I set the empty thermos gently on the windowsill. I turned around, looked him dead in the eye, and spoke with agonizing precision.

"Doctor, please pass a message along to Victoria."