Fifty Strikes and I'm Out

I stood outside the door, trembling uncontrollably.Both of my arms were covered in burns from the fire. They hurt so badly I couldn't even lift them.I stared at the dummy on the floor. The laughter coming from inside the room kept echoing in my ears."Ariana Brock is such a fool. Do you think she'll go back in for a second try? After all, she just dragged out a dummy.""Of course she will. Remember when we told her Terence was trapped in the school? She broke into every locked room and ended up paying 80,000 dollars in damages.""Exactly. A broke girl like her trying to play savior. What a joke."Terence Bowen cut them off, his voice indifferent. "That's enough. I already called the fire department. Don't let her die for real. We're not done having fun yet."The words "Not done having fun" echoed in my ears like a curse, making my legs weak.It wasn't until the paramedics lifted me onto a stretcher and put an oxygen mask over my face that I finally came back to my senses.

"What?" I feigned confusion.Terence let out a breath of relief.After that, I grew distant. I turned over and tried to sit up. "I'm going home if there's nothing else."He grabbed my hand and pushed me gently back down by the shoulder. "Just rest here. This is my bedroom."Of course I knew it was his bedroom. After all, a photo of him and Bethany Howard was on the table.They were both in their high school uniforms, smiling brightly.I'd been with Terence for five years, and not once had we taken a photo together. Any time I tried to sneak one for a keepsake, he snatched my phone away in anger."Don't take pictures of me again. I hate it."Following my gaze, Terence darted over and flipped the photo facedown, his voice rushed with panic. "She's Bethany Howard, your college classmate and my cousin. Don't overthink it.""Alright," I replied flatly.Terence froze for a moment. He couldn't help but ask, "Aren't you going to ask anything else?"I looked up and stared at him. My

Terence was pulled from the sea by the rescue team that had rushed over.When he woke up again, he found himself surrounded by people. Bethany was the closest to him, her tears falling nonstop.He glanced around but didn't see the person he was looking for.His voice was hoarse as he spoke. "Where's Ariana?"All the concerned voices around him abruptly went silent. Only Bethany cried out, "She's gone. The rescue team searched the sea for an entire day. All they found were broken pieces of the boat. Ariana… There's nothing left of her."Terence stared blankly at Bethany before asking in a flat voice, "You didn't have them keep searching?"Bethany cried even harder."How? They searched for 24 hours and found nothing! Unless you can drain the whole sea, there's no way they could find her. Even if you did drain the sea, all you'd find is a body!"Terence shouted in desperation."Nonsense! They didn't even find her remains. How can you be so sure that she's dead?"Ignoring his inj

The Bowen family had always been far more powerful than the Howards. To avenge me, Terence crushed the Howard family in the market.Overnight, the Howard family vanished from the business landscape, declaring bankruptcy.Bethany's parents had no idea what they'd done to offend the Bowens. They tried everything to contact Terence, hoping he'd show mercy. But no matter what they did, Terence refused to see anyone from the Howard family.Later, driven to despair by debt, Bethany's parents jumped off a building. She saw it all with her own eyes. The shock drove her insane.Terence had her committed to a psychiatric hospital. He told them she was never allowed out again.And one by one, every family that had joined him in hurting me began to disappear.Terence sent everyone who had directly harmed me to the psychiatric hospital. As for the two who harassed me, he handed them over to the police.He strictly ordered that they would spend the rest of their lives behind bars and suffer t