Chapter 4

Although the brutal jolt nearly broke my bones, it freed me from the homeless man.

I laid weakly on the ground and allowed my body to be dragged along.

The friction between my skin and the pavement brought a pain so sharp it felt like my skin was being peeled away. Blood splattered in a long trail behind me.

Eula leaned out the car window and laughed hysterically at the sight of my miserable state.

A high-pitched ringing filled my ears. Lights and shadows danced before my eyes.

More than once, I thought I was going to die right there on the street.

The car door opened, and Scott stepped out. He looked thoroughly bored.

He glanced at my sprawled out state with a cold, contemptuous smirk.

"Don't forget this. Don't ever think you can throw your weight around like you used to.

"You'll keep making it up to Eula until she says you've done enough."

My throat clenched. I didn't have the strength to form a complete sentence. I could only gasp for air.

The butler, Brian, couldn't bear to watch anymore. He finally spoke up.

"Mr. Chapman, if this continues, Miss Smith will die! Please send her to the hospital. This could end very badly!"

Scott merely frowned. His face showed a flicker of impatience.

After a pause, he said coldly, "Stay out of it. Leave her in the storage room and lock the door."

"Scott, don't be mad," Eula cooed while clinging to his arm and swaying it playfully.

"It's my fault. I went too far.

"But she made me suffer so much. I just wanted a little payback."

Scott's expression softened instantly. All his anger vanished.

He gently reached up to tuck a strand of hair behind her ear.

"You did nothing wrong, Eula. I promised I'd make you happy. I won't let you get hurt again, not even a little."

With that, he scooped her up and carried her upstairs, soothing her with talk of their upcoming trip to Florraine.

The courtyard fell silent. The servants all looked down. They were too afraid to even glance at me.

I tried to lift my head, but my vision was too blurred to see anything clearly. All I saw was red.

Warm blood trickled down from my forehead into my eyes. Everything soon turned dark.

'I might not make it out alive this time,' I thought.

All I could see in my mind was Ken's face.

If he knew what had happened to me, he would feel terribly hurt.

The bitter irony was that only now did I realize that, aside from my parents, Ken was the only one who had ever truly cared about me.

I thought for certain I was going to die.

However, Brian waited until Scott had left the house before secretly taking me to the hospital.

I once helped him, and he couldn't stand to let me die like this.

With the last bit of strength I had, I borrowed Brian's phone and called Ken.

"Ken, help me."

Meanwhile, in Florraine, Scott was feeling a little uneasy.

He hadn't actually meant for me to die. He just wanted to vent his anger for Eula's sake.

He reached for his phone to call Brian and ask him to let me out and get a doctor to check on me.

However, Eula tugged on his arm and said, "But I was locked in that dungeon for five days with broken bones, and I survived."

Her lie wouldn't have held up under the slightest scrutiny, but Scott believed every word.

He put his phone down.

He figured they'd be back home the day after tomorrow anyway. He could send me to the hospital then.

Just then, his assistant called in a panic.

"Sir, you need to come back immediately! Several of our partners just pulled out of deals. They say the Smith family in Javaris is coming after us."