Madly Yours (Nora Reed) novel Chapter 157

The corners of Hudson's mouth curled up as he shoved the freshly peeled apple straight into Silas's gaping mouth.

Silas's eyes bulged so hard they looked ready to pop out of their sockets. His pupils shrank to pinpricks from the sheer agony, but the apple trapped the bloodcurdling scream right in his throat.

Dark red blood gushed from between his legs, soaking the carpet beneath him.

Hudson leaned forward, bringing his face close to Silas's ear.

"Haven't you always been trying to find out what triggers my condition?"

His voice was a deadly whisper, every word a poisoned blade scraping against Silas's eardrum. "Congratulations. You found it."

With that, Hudson gripped the handle of the knife and yanked it out.

Blood sprayed from the wound. Silas's body went entirely rigid before his head slumped to the side, passing out cold from the shock.

Hudson tossed the bloody combat knife onto the floor and glanced at the young woman standing nearby. "You can call the cops now."

Olive O'Neil currently had one foot propped up on the bed. With a completely deadpan expression, she spat into her hand and rubbed it vigorously over the bleeding whip mark on her leg. Seeing this aggressive, thug-like behavior paired with her innocent, doll-like face was incredibly jarring.

"Got it."

She callously patted down Silas's pockets until she found his phone.

But before she could dial, she caught sight of Hudson's bloodshot eyes from the corner of her vision.

"Oh, damn! Boss, you look..." She chose her words very carefully, showing a rare flash of caution. "...not great."

She was putting it mildly.

It was way beyond 'not great.'

Once Hudson's condition was triggered, it demanded blood or total exhaustion before it would subside.

In the past, medication could keep it under control, but right now, the meds were useless.

Liam Harrison had warned them countless times. When Hudson had an episode, his adrenaline and hormone levels spiked to dozens of times that of a normal person. He became like a severely overloaded engine, with every gear grinding far past maximum capacity.

He either had to exhaust himself to the brink of death.

Or kill someone else.

There was no third option.

Olive stood up, gave the unconscious Silas a hard kick to confirm he wasn't dead, and then turned to look at Hudson with absolute seriousness.

He slowly looked away. No matter how many years he worked with her, he still couldn't get used to Olive spouting such crude nonsense with that cute face of hers.

"What? Arthur, is your eye twitching?"

Arthur pushed her leaning face away. "No."

"Don't just stand there, Arthur! Hurry up and take the Boss to his wife so he can blow off some steam..."

Arthur rolled his eyes and didn't bother replying.

It went without saying. Their Boss would never do that.

Once this condition flared up, it took days of intense physical release to burn it out.

Nora...

She definitely wouldn't survive it.

Sure enough, Hudson's low, chilling voice cut through the room. "Olive, handle the cleanup here."

With that, he walked out of the room, throwing a glance at Arthur. "Let's go."