"Then you should just stay here for a week. Name your price," said Karen.

"But..." The doctor was slightly tempted. A week was not very long, after all. Plus, he had an assistant at the clinic to help, so there should not be any major problems.

After all, things were relatively peaceful in A City these days. Usually, it was just some people from various organizations getting into fights. At most, they just ended up getting slashed a bit.

These injuries were not troublesome. If there were any life-threatening injuries, they would go to the hospital rather than his black market clinic. Therefore, being away for a week was really no problem, and he could even make money.

"How much? If you're not willing, I can find someone else," added Karen. There was more than just this one black market clinic in A City.

"5,000 dollars a day," replied the doctor.

Five thousand dollars was a lot for an ordinary person. If they went to the hospital, they would not even spend that much on treatment in a day.

However, he knew that amount of money hardly counted as anything for Karen. Thus, he added, "That's just my personal fee. As for medications and such, they'll still be charged according to my clinic's rates."

Karen could not be bothered to haggle with him. Even though she was very unhappy about what happened tonight, no matter how dissatisfied she was, it was all over.

No one would keep harping on this matter. Hence, she handed over the money readily, writing a check for the doctor.

"Here's 35 grand. We'll settle the medication expenses after the week. You'll stay here from today onward, and you can choose any bedroom you like. Your main job is to look after him. Whatever you need, my subordinates will get it for you.

"There are two men here whom you can boss around, but no matter what, someone must always stay here to keep an eye on him. Any issues with that?" asked Karen.

The doctor's eyes lit up as he looked at the check for 35 grand.

Most of the time, business at his clinic was just average. After all those expenses, he could not even earn 35 grand in a month.

Now he could earn 35 grand in a week. He suddenly felt like he had priced himself too low.

Judging from Karen's personality and the condition of the man upstairs, he could have charged ten grand a day.

However, the words were already out of his mouth, and he could not take them back. Therefore, he nodded repeatedly and answered, "Alright, no problem."

As Karen saw the eager look on the doctor's face when he saw the check, she could not help but feel annoyed. It reminded her of the man who refused to take money earlier.

If only that man had agreed...

Karen left the Mallory Estate, planning to head home to get some rest. At the same time, she pondered in her mind, determined to ask Pierre the next day who that man was.

How did he come across someone with such skills?

The following day, Luca opened her eyes and glanced beside her.

Luke was already awake.

She was slightly taken aback. Normally, he would work in the opposite bedroom after waking up. Today, he was leaning against the headboard, looking at something.

Still, when they went to bed yesterday, Luke did not bring his laptop in here.

Luca raised her head slightly and met his eyes.

"Did I wake you up?" Luke's hand gently caressed Luca's cheek.

"No, I was already awake. What are you looking at?" Luca noticed Luke was holding his phone, looking at something.

"It's still early. You can sleep a little longer. I'll tell you when it's time to get up," replied Luke. Normally at this time, Luca would still be asleep while he would have already gone to work in the adjacent room.

Today, however, he had not gotten up to go to the next room to work because he just saw a news report.

"What time is it now?" Luca asked with her eyes slightly closed.

"It's 6:15 am." Luke glanced at his phone. His hand never stopped its gentle caress on her face. Exclusive content © by Nô(v)el/Dr/ama.Org.

"Ah, it's still early, but I can't sleep anymore. I'll just get up," said Luca as she sat up. She did not get out of bed and just leaned against Luke's shoulder. "What are you looking at?"

"A joke," replied Luke as he handed her the phone.

Luca took it from him and quickly browsed through the current webpage. Then, she looked at the photo and frowned "Is this Silas? Didn't they say Karen beat him up? Why does he look so fine... This can't be him, right?"

She really thought it was Silas at first glance.

However, when she took a closer look, she noticed something was off.

That was not Silas Gray.

"No, it's not him. Silas is currently lying in bed half-dead. There's no way he was the one taking the interviews," replied Luke. He was surprised when he saw this news report.

He was not surprised to see another Silas showing up. He was surprised that Karen actually knew someone like this.

"The disguise is really convincing. He looks exactly like Silas. I've dealt with him before, so I can tell it's not him at a glance. There are still some traces of disguise, but ordinary people definitely wouldn't notice that," said Luca.

Then, she also revealed the unexpected details to Luke.

"But, how does Madam Mallory know someone like him?”

"Maybe it's not her contact but Pierre's.” Luke thought of this possibility.

Luca was startled for a moment. Indeed, Pierre...

"Let's just let this matter pass. Luke, we need to focus on dealing with the Island of Despair now. We shouldn't get involved in the Mallory family's affairs," said Luca.

She felt that Luke had already vented her anger for her, so there was no need to continue holding onto this matter.

The people they needed to deal with were not from the Mallory family. Whether it was Pierre or Karen, they did not pose a threat to them.

Their biggest enemy was the Island of Despair and Abel...

Luke nodded. Since Karen had resolved this matter, he did not intend to continue holding onto it.

Even if he could, there was no point in doing so. However, he still had his concerns.

"Pierre worked together with Abel before, so I think Abel had something to do with this," analyzed Luke.

Luca knew more about Abel, so she should have a clearer understanding of some things.

"So, you're saying Abel hooked Pierre up with this guy?" Luca understood what he meant.

"Perhaps." Luke looked at her and asked, "Do you remember anything?"

"I don't know. There are many talents around Abel, and I might not know every member of the Island of Despair. I might not recognize this person, and besides, I don't think he necessarily belongs to the Island of Despair..." Luca shared her thoughts.

"With that kind of skill, they're well-respected anywhere. They're not necessarily serving the Island of Despair. So even if they're Abel's crew, they could be recruits he picked up, but they might not necessarily know about the Island of Despair.

"If you want to get to the bottom of this, you'll have to get Gale and the others to investigate," Luca analyzed with him.

"Abel has been up to a lot lately, and we're unaware of his activities. I suspect he's about to take action..."

Luca recalled the series of events in X City.

Jacob and Gerald were all off-the-books members of the Island of Despair.