Twisted loyalty

STRENGTH NOT WEAKNESS

“Raymond…” Lisa whispered his name as she saw her husband standing there with a very dangerous look on his face.

Then she noticed the bloodstains on his clothes and immediately stood up to check if he was injured. But before she could run to him, Richard grabbed her hand and pulled her back, making her back press against his chest.

Lisa tried to pull away from him, but Richard pointed a gun at her stomach.

She immediately froze, knowing what would happen if she tried to move.

Raymond stood there stiffly. Seeing Lisa in that situation made him feel so helpless. He was scared to death. He felt like running over there and rescuing her, but he knew he had to keep his cool.

He had already messed up by coming there, but what could he do? He couldn't just leave his wife and child to suffer anymore with this psycho.

“You better let go of my wife, you bastard,” Raymond said coldly. “And look who called me a rat. You're hiding behind someone, using her as a shield. You know I would have killed you if you had faced me one-on-one. Now let go of her, and I might let you live.”

Richard simply laughed.

He sniffed Lisa's hair before planting a long, hard kiss on her neck.

Lisa felt disgusted. She felt like throwing up.

After kissing her, Richard raised his head and looked at Raymond, who was staring at him with bloodshot eyes filled with anger.

Raymond seriously wanted to kill Richard right there.

Richard smiled, satisfied with how easily he had managed to make Raymond lose control.

“How dare you!” Raymond roared. “Let her go, or else—”

“Or else what?”

Richard brought the gun to Lisa's head.

“What can you do, you delinquent? You've been brainwashing her for years, and she thinks she loves you. I was wondering when you would finally stop hiding and come here. If I were in your shoes, I would never have let her come here in the first place.

“I could have been finding a way to leave this place with my beloved, but you sent her to her death and still claim her as your wife. She was mine first and always will be. It doesn't matter if you agree or not. Even if my rose denies it.”

Raymond simply smirked.

Richard didn't know Lisa at all.

She would have never agreed to stay behind while he faced Richard alone.

Did Richard really think Raymond hadn't suggested that?

Raymond had planned to face Richard alone and wanted Lisa to find somewhere safe to hide. But she had bluntly refused his plan earlier, telling him that she couldn't hide while he and other people's lives were at risk.

She had told him that this was her fight too.

If he really loved and understood her, then he would let her fight alongside him.

Raymond had tried to reason with her, but Lisa had stood her ground.

In the end, he could only give in.

That was why he had changed his plan.

Otherwise, he would never have allowed her to risk her life.

“Then you don't really know me as well as you claim to,” Lisa said. “If you did, you would know that I was the one who decided to do this. And you don't have the right to say my husband doesn't love me. What do you know about love yourself?

“If you really loved me, you wouldn't be doing this.”

Raymond smiled proudly at her courage.

Even in this situation, Lisa was still defending him.

“Love, you say?” Richard replied. “I do love you, my rose. It's just that you don't know how much I love you and how much I desire to be with you.”

He raised the gun again.

“But enough of that. Let's get back to business. Give me the code, or I will blow that bastard's head off right now.”

Lisa trembled in fear.

What was she going to do?

She couldn't let anything happen to Raymond.

Before she could say anything, Raymond spoke.

“I would rather die than let you use me as a weakness against her.”

He stared directly at Richard.

“And let me make something clear. I meant her first. So stop calling her yours. She's not some object you can get whenever you want. She has a mind of her own.”

Raymond's eyes narrowed.

“And one more thing—I'm her strength, not her weakness. Do whatever the f**k you want, but you'll have to save yourself first.”

He glanced around the room.

“Look around you.”

Richard looked confused.

He slowly turned, taking Lisa with him.

Then his eyes widened.

Almost all of his men were dead, while the few remaining ones were being held at gunpoint by Damion, Anna, and Jason.

Kate had gone to get Dr. Joshua.

Raymond smiled at Richard's confused expression.

“It's over. So you'd better let go of Lisa now. All your men have been taken care of while you were here talking nonsense.”

Lisa took advantage of Richard's distraction.

She drove her fist into his gut.

Richard immediately released her and doubled over in pain.

Lisa ran straight into Raymond's arms.

He hugged her immediately and kissed her forehead.

She gave him a reassuring smile before looking back at Richard.

“You've lost. It would be better if you started talking, or else…”

Before she could finish, Richard started laughing like a lunatic.

“Who said it's over?”

He slowly straightened himself.

“It's over only when I say so.”

He raised his hand, shaped his fingers like a gun, and pointed them at Lisa.

“Bang!”

Lisa suddenly heard a real gunshot.

She froze, expecting to feel pain.

But she felt nothing.

Then she heard Raymond gasp in pain.

She turned and saw him dropping to his knees.

He had been shot in the arm.

“Ray!”

Lisa rushed to him.

“No… no, no, no. Nothing is going to happen to you, Ray. How did this happen?”

She tried desperately to stop the bleeding.

“Dear Lord… Richard didn't shoot him. Then who did?”

She looked behind Raymond.

And froze.

Her eyes widened in shock at the person standing there.

Raymond had sensed someone behind him and tried to dodge the bullet, but it was too fast.

His quick reflexes had only managed to keep the bullet from hitting a more dangerous spot.

But when he saw who had shot him, even he was completely shocked.

“Dr. Joshua…”

His voice was barely a whisper.

“No… it can't be.”

Dr. Joshua stood there silently.

In his hand, he was dragging someone into the room.

Someone who had been shot.

Kate.

She was shaking in fear.

When Kate had gone to get Dr. Joshua, she had accidentally seen him talking to one of Richard's men.

At first, she thought he was simply trying to find a way to escape.

But then she heard him telling the man to inform Richard that everything was going according to plan.

Kate had immediately tried to run.

But someone attacked her from behind and brought her to Dr. Joshua.

Now she lay wounded on the floor.

“How could you do this to us, you bastard?” Kate cried.

“We trusted you! Lisa and Raymond took you as family. How could you do this to them? Why?”

Dr. Joshua simply looked at her with empty eyes.

“It's none of your business.”

He turned away from her and ordered the men to take her.

Lisa felt tears welling up in her eyes.

Then she remembered Richard's words.

It's someone close to you.

Her heart sank.

“Why…?”

Her voice trembled.

“Why would you do this, Dr. Joshua?”

She shook her head in disbelief.

“No… this can't be true. Please… this has to be a dream.”

Instead of Dr. Joshua answering, Richard's voice came from behind her.

“It's not a dream, my lovely rose.”

Lisa hadn't realized that Richard was already behind her.

He grabbed her and pulled her away from Raymond.

Raymond immediately reached for her.

“Lisa!”

But before he could hold on to her, another shot rang out.

The bullet struck the same injured arm.

Raymond cried out in pain, but he still refused to let go.

Richard cursed and shoved Raymond's injured arm away, forcing him to lose his grip on Lisa.

“Raymond!”

Lisa screamed his name as Richard dragged her away.

“Let go of me, you bastard!”

She struggled against Richard's grip.

“Please, stop this! I beg you!”

She looked desperately toward Dr. Joshua.

“Dr. Joshua, please! If I have ever done anything to offend you, then face me! Stop hurting him!”

Tears streamed down her face.

“I thought he was like a son to you. How could you do this?”

Dr. Joshua simply stared at her.

Then he laughed.

“You really think I would take him as my son?”

His expression was cold.

“You must really be foolish.”

He gave her a sinister smile.

Lisa's heart stopped for a second.

She stared at him in disbelief.

The man she had trusted.

The man she had considered family.

Dr. Joshua.

He was the person who had been working with Richard all along.