Love beyond the mask (Whitney)



Sammy whipped out a lighter, flicked it on with a sharp snap, aiming it at his own eyes and hair in a defiant gesture. "Let me go! Whoever you are, you're not taking me with you. Bad guy! Ken! Dr. Ryan! Take me with you, please, take me away," he cried, his voice breaking with sobs and his words clashing against each other.

The child's crying and his words shattered the calm facade Ludwik had been desperately holding onto, hitting him like a punch to the gut. Seeing Sammy like this broke his heart. He had finally found his son, but his son was refusing to be saved. What on earth had happened? It was as if someone had brainwashed Sammy, turning him against his own family, making him see his captor as a protector. How heartbroken Whitney would be if she knew?

Ludwik couldn't bear to think further, his eyes cold as ice, as if trying to see through Sammy's unfamiliar gaze. He feared his son might hurt himself, cleared his throat nervously, and raised his hands in a gesture of peace. "I'm not going to touch you. I'm not the bad guy... Can you just listen to me for a moment? You're in danger, Sammy. You've been kidnapped and held captive for over a month..."

"You're lying! I don't believe anyone but Ms. Sheldon! Stay away from me!" After screaming, Sammy backed away, holding the lighter defensively, while Ludwik remained still, kneeling on the ground. Sammy immediately ran to a bodyguard, "Ken, let's go, take me home."

Ryan looked pale, confused by Sammy's dangerous antics. It was almost impossible to tell if Sammy was acting or had genuinely changed. "Sammy...you..."

"Let him go. We can't let him get hurt," Ludwik said, his voice choked with emotion, his eyes scanning the scene with concern and caution.

Parker arrived just in time to witness the scene. Sammy was not only disowning Ludwik but also resisting the idea of going home with him, preferring instead to go with Florence's thugs?! The child had called Ludwik a bad guy, showing no respect for him, and even asked Florence's bodyguard to take him 'home'? It was beyond belief!

If it weren't for the boy's face, so similar to Danny's, Parker would never have recognized this as the Sammy he had heard so much about from Danny over the past month. "Ludwik, there seems to be something wrong with Sammy. Why doesn't he recognize anyone, and why does he think Florence is a good person?" Parker asked, concerned, standing next to Ludwik.

Ludwik watched as his son was carried away by Florence's bodyguard, his heart sinking. He stood up, his sturdy figure a shadow in the night, looking defeated. "It's not a small issue." His cold tone made Parker realize the gravity of the situation.

"You're not really going to let him go, are you?" Parker asked, worried.

"He'd rather die than come with me. He wants to go to what he thinks is a safe place," Ludwik said heavily, then turned to Ryan, who looked lost. "Parker, the only opponent left is that bodyguard who took Sammy. Kidnap Ryan, and we'll drive after Sammy, see where he's heading."

As he turned, his gaze sharp as a hawk's, he fixed on Ryan, "Why has he changed like this?"

Ryan, pale as death, felt Ludwik's stare piercing through him, trembling, "I...I don't know! I didn't do anything!" God knows, he hadn't actually performed the operation Florence had ordered. Without time for further questions, Ludwik hurried after Sammy, who was being taken down the mountainside by the bodyguard in a jeep speeding towards the highway.

Ludwik and Parker, in four cars, chased after them. The bodyguard, thinking of Florence's backup plan, took Sammy to a secluded nursing home nestled against the mountains. At four in the morning, with the first light of dawn breaking, the surroundings were still dark. Sammy was carried by Ken into a room in the nursing home, his eyes filled with disappointment. He had hoped that this time Florence would transfer him to her secretive lab!

From snippets of conversation with Ryan, Sammy had learned about Florence's lab and that Ryan was a top doctor there. Sammy wanted to uncover everything about the lab, to fully expose this wicked woman. He knew he had to risk himself to achieve his goal. He was very aware that Florence and Ryan must have done something to his mom's body.

"Ken, I'm so happy. Did Dr. Ryan come? Make me a cup of milk, and make the bed for me, I need to sleep more! If I behave, could you tell Ms. Sheldon? Then maybe I won't get punished, and she might come to see me."

Through the window, Ludwik saw Sammy, his smile naive, as he curled up in the corner of the bed, his eyes dark and dull stubbornly mistaking those around him for his allies, seeing his captors as his guardians. Ludwik clenched his fists until his knuckles turned white, his eyes bloodshot with pain and helplessness. This was not Whitney's Sammy. Yet, he was indeed Sammy. He had been completely changed, brainwashed. He was no longer the child who

could distinguish right from wrong.

The man's breath was cold and tense. Parker was equally

distressed. "How could Sammy think

of this rundown place as his home? And he's still smiling... Ludwik, I suspect he's been mind controlled? It seems during his month in е Emperor City, he's suffered more than we can imagine! Florence hiding him in this secluded nursing home is quite cunning, a place we'd never think to look! We can't let him stay here, being brainwashed by these people... Florence is

unforgivable." novelbin

Parker clenched his teeth in anger. "Ludwik, let's get him out of here first. This place is creepy, dirty, and smelly. How can Sammy endure such suffering?"

Ludwik pushed open the wooden door and walked into the room. Sammy turned his head, saw him, and scrambled behind Ken like a frightened animal. "Why won't you leave me alone, you bully! I told you to go away, why won't you just go? Why are you bothering me! I really don't know you, and I swear I won't go with you!"

Ludwik watched as the little boy fiercely grabbed the quilt from the bed and threw it to the ground, his small hands trembling with emotion. Shards of a broken cup lay scattered beneath his pale, bare feet. His body stiffened once more. So did his mood.

Ludwik stepped back, found Ryan, and spoke with a voice cold and strained, "Go in there, calm him down, somehow get him to come out and stay at your place." The dawn was breaking, the sky slowly brightening, heralding the start of a new day.

Parker had dragged Ken out of the

house, leaving the door open for Ryan, the supposed 'negotiator'. Inside, Ryan stared at Sammy's calm little face for a long moment, then let out a sigh of frustration and walked over to the window to look outside. Ludwik and his associate stood in the front yard, silent and solemn, their profiles etched with tension. Ryan, puzzled, turned back to Sammy, his voice cold and full of resentment, "Alright then. Your dad's long gone, he can't hear what we say. So, why don't you just tell me, what in the world are you up to?"