Break Me, Fix Me

Chapter Two: The Venom of Desire

I could hear a thousand voices in my head, but not a single word made sense. Everything was moving too fast. I tried to stand, only to realize that I was bound, hands and feet, to my bed.

“Have I been kidn*pped?” I wondered. I remembered blacking out in the car with Tim. Were we ambushed?

I opened my mouth to speak, but no sound was coming out; it also seemed that I couldn’t open my eyes.

“…but Andrew doesn’t have a wife yet, so I don’t know what to do,” said a voice I recognized, my doctor, Kenneth. “He should be awake any moment now.”

My second attempt at speaking caught Tim’s attention.

“Boss, how do you feel ?“ he asked.

I wanted to ask why I was bound to the bed, but another wave of pain swallowed me whole.

It was different from before, torturing me slowly this time.

Cold, sharp, and invasive. That was the only way to describe it. It slithered through my veins, wrapping itself around my heart and squeezing. At first, I thought Ken had given me something that made the pain less as it reduced, but soon the discomfort turned to something much worse.

My body burned with a fire I couldn’t extinguish, a fire that only deepened with each passing moment. I felt everything; every inch of my skin, every pulse of my heart. But I knew it was all wrong. So wrong.

I wanted to scream, but my lips would not open. I wanted to run, but my legs felt like jelly. And worse still, the pain was not solitary.

The more I struggled, the more my body betrayed me, craving something I didn’t dare to say. It was illogical to want to pleasure myself in such a circumstance.

It wasn’t just the physical torture; there was something worse. It was the mental degradation, the way whatever was in my system rewired my thoughts. I had this impulsive thought to hurt myself, and that was what I started doing. I began violently hitting my

body against the bed, stretching, looking for anything to hurt myself.

Meanwhile, Tim and Ken were having a hard time trying to hold me back. They seemed to have called some guards, as I felt more hands trying to hold me down. Then, sharp pressure pricked my arm.

A needle. Darkness.

The next time I woke up, I was calmer. I was more conscious of my environment now, and I recognized the place as my room. Ken was discussing with some nurses, while Tim just kept walking around looking troubled.

Ignoring the pain coming from every part of me, I tried to stand up but found out I was still bound to the bed.

“Boss, how do you feel now?" Tim asked when he noticed that I was awake again. He looked really worried and worn-out.

“Not so great,” I muttered, “How long was I out?”

“A day and a night, sir,” Tim answered.

“And the directors?”

“I told them that you were dealing with urgent family matters.”

“Fair enough," I shifted, uncomfortable from being restrained.

"Just what did I take?” I asked Ken directly.

“You have been poisoned,” he said.

"A great way to deliver the news." I couldn't hold back the sarcasm and narrowed my eyes.

Of course. I would be a fool if I still didn’t know that. I expected him to continue.

However, Ken just walked to my bedside and injected me with a fluid. This guy! We have been friends since creche, so he didn’t bother with pretenses.

“With what?” I pressed. This wasn’t my first poisoning incident, but this felt different. I could tell it wasn't the regular type given to just kill.

“Black Mamba,” he said grimly. “The black lines on your veins prove it. Every symptom points to it.”.

The name echoed in my mind.

Black Mamba.

Nicknamed the Venom of Desire, it was the strongest poison on the black market. A single drop was enough to ruin you. It didn't kill immediately; It dismantled the nervous system, forcing the victim to torture themselves.

Just as the name suggests, it was extracted from the venom of a snake called black mamber and is specially made for torture. It was designed to degrade before destroying. To twist body and mind into craving.

It was so rare that many didn't believe it existed.

It began as a whisper. A rumor in the dark world. A drug. A poison. It looked like a mere aphrodisiac, a simple stimulant to arouse desire.

But no, black mamber was darker. It was a cruel weapon disguised as lust

I clenched my fists.

Who Dared?!

I had been lax in my ways; that must be the reason someone had the guts to try.

Ken dismissed the nurses, who were shaking despite the bright sunlight outside. Tim almost went with them, except he still had some rationality and just stood by the door.

I had clenched my fist so hard that blood was beginning to drop from my hands. I couldn't have promised not to have destroyed something if I weren’t bound to my bed.

“Now, we can’t have you feeling all that anger," Ken warned, "It will trigger the poison,” Ken said.

As if affirming what he was saying, pain shot up to my brain, and I almost passed out.

“You know what Black Mamba does. I don’t need to explain further," Ken said as he went through his files. "What matters now is the antidote."

This was the worst part of the situation.

Its antidote…was as good as not existing.

“There’s no true antidote for it,” Ken admitted. “The only known means of detoxification is to have s*x for seven days. Can you do that? Not like you have much of a choice, though.”

Seven days.

That’s all it took, according to the rumors. Seven days of torment and insatiable desire, fueled by a poison that left its victims writhing in misery. And yet, there was no antidote, no cure.

I gripped the bed frame until my knuckles ached. Whoever was behind this had better stop existing.

I wasn’t a virgin, but neither was I some womanizer.

To endure this, to be forced into it for survival...rage burned hotter than the poison itself. I really wanted to destroy something, but remembered that I had to keep cool.

“The drug I gave you doesn’t give permanent relief, and I would need to increase the dosage every time I administer it, which is not good for your body.”

"So whatever needs to be done must be done fast," I replied.

Silence engulfed the room for a while; they waited for me to make a decision.

“Put a call across to Greg,” I said to Tim.“Ask him if I can get a lady from his hotel, and make sure no one knows about this”

“Yes, sir.”

Seven days.