Beautiful Revenge

**Chapter 1** In a quiet room, a pale girl lay on the bed, appearing lifeless. She was so fragile that one might mistake her for dead. The calm, beeping sound of the monitor was the only evidence that she still had life within her. The smell of antiseptic clung to the room like a shroud. Though the scent could turn one's stomach, a man dressed in a suit stood near the bed, watching the pale girl intently for any sign of movement or sound. As time stretched from seconds to minutes to hours, the man in the suit finally sat down, his right leg crossed over his left. He continued to observe the pale girl on the bed, his mind replaying flashes of their first encounter. Two months prior, faced with a betrayal from a close friend, he had taken it upon himself to send his friend "home" forever. He saw it as a sign of respect, rather than letting one of his lackeys handle the deed. Two burly men dragged the half-dead, unrecognizable man to a secluded spot, awaiting the man in the suit to deliver the final blow. After a long silence, he finally removed the cigarette from his lips. *Bang!* The bullet pierced the forehead of his close friend. With no words exchanged, he turned his back and left, entrusting the remaining cleanup to his lackeys. Strolling through the woods, he reminisced about the good days, the help, and the struggles his deceased friend had endured for him. It all turned out to be a pretense, a means to an end, simply because his friend wanted him six feet under and to achieve what he now possessed. Truly, no one was to be trusted. Lost in his thoughts, he stumbled on something, losing his balance. He stood up to investigate and to his greatest shock, he saw a body covered in mud. Being a heartless killer, he wasn't scared. He crouched down and raised his hand towards the body, then placed two fingers under the person's nose to check for breath. Fortunately, he could feel it, faint but present. The door opened, which brought him back to reality. A handsome man dressed in doctor's clothes, appearing to be in his early twenties, approached the pale girl on the bed. After conducting some check-ups, he walked towards the man in the suit. "Angelo, it's been two months, and still no improvement. Why exactly are you investing so much on this girl? You don't do things that don't bring you a return, and this past month you've spent millions to care for a pauper who might not make it," Raymond said calmly. "I advise you to stop this failed project and invest in something more productive and..." "Raymond," Angelo's cold voice interrupted him. "I recall you being a doctor, not an adviser. If you're tired of your work, I can send you off quietly from this world," Angelo said, glaring at Raymond with a deadly stare. Raymond was unfazed by the threat, knowing full well Angelo was simply in a bad mood. "Angelo, we've been through a lot. I don't know the reason you're keeping this girl or trying to save her life, but you should know the world we live in; we don't need any weakness. So, whatever you are planning or the reasons you're trying to save her, they shouldn't involve her coming into our world." Raymond said. After waiting an eternity for a reply from Angelo, which never came, he quietly left the room. "When will you wake up? It’s been two f*****g months without any sign of improvement. You have to wake up, Laura—I can’t lose you again," Angelo mumbled desperately, his voice barely above a whisper. His eyes were bloodshot from sleepless nights spent by her bedside, fingers trembling as he brushed a stray lock of hair from her pale face. Deep within Laura’s restless dream, a voice pierced through the shadows — raw, filled with betrayal and burning rage. Anyone who heard it would feel the weight of every shattered trust and broken promise. "I trusted you," the voice hissed bitterly. "My father trusted you. The Edwardos trusted you. And yet, you betrayed us all. How could you, David? How could you turn into this... this monster? You’re nothing but a f*****g monster. I swear on their graves, I will make you pay. I will hunt you down and kill you myself—even if it’s the last thing I do. I will avenge their deaths... I will surely avenge..." Bang! The sharp crack of a gunshot shattered the silence. In an instant, Laura’s dream shattered too as she felt herself plummeting through darkness, falling from the edge of a towering cliff. Back in reality, Angelo sat on the comfortable sofa beside her bed. His half-closed eyes caught movement—her lips moving silently, mumbling words he couldn’t quite catch. His heart clenched painfully as he leaned closer. “Laura?” he whispered urgently. “Can you hear me?” Her breath was shallow, her body still trapped in the fragile boundary between life and death. But those faint murmurs—were they a sign? A glimmer of hope that somewhere inside, she was still fighting? Angelo clenched his fists tightly so tight one could see his vains popping out.