Chapter 5

The next afternoon, while Liam was away, Victoria barged into my room, claiming she wanted to disinfect my wounds.

Before I could stop her, she poured a mixture of hydrogen peroxide and table salt over the raw lash marks on my back. The liquid fizzed against my torn flesh, and I screamed in agony.

I tried to twist away, but the servants she'd brought with her pinned me face-down against the rug, leaving me unable to escape.

"I'm doing this for your own good," Victoria whispered, leaning close to my ear. "If you don't leave the Reed household, next time you'll face more than the family punishment."

Just then, a furious voice rang out from the doorway.

"You despicable creature!"

Liam's grandfather, Arthur Reed, had arrived unannounced. The moment he saw Victoria pouring the mixture over my wounds, his face darkened with rage.

"The Reed family will never accept a vicious woman like you! I'm telling Liam everything right now."

"You old fool! Don't you dare!"

Victoria rushed after him and instinctively shoved him with all her strength.

Arthur lost his balance and tumbled down the staircase. He hit the floor below and lay motionless.

At that very moment, Liam walked through the front door.

Victoria immediately rushed toward him, tears streaming down her face.

"Mathilde was still angry with you for enforcing the family rules, so she pushed your grandfather down the stairs! It's all my fault. I should have kept a closer eye on her."

"I didn't! It was her! She pushed him!"

Before I could finish defending myself, Liam strode over and slapped me across the face.

"Shut up!" he roared.

He then turned to the security guards behind him and ordered, "Take this insane woman to a psychiatric facility. Now!"

They dragged me away. I was thrown into a room, collapsing onto the floor like a discarded doll. My battered body hit the cold floor, and I barely had the strength to move.

A moment later, several female patients with hostile expressions entered the room. They surrounded me and began beating me, hurling insults as they kicked and punched me.

Some deliberately targeted the wounds on my back, tearing open the lash marks that had barely begun to heal. Before long, blood covered my clothes.

I closed my eyes, too exhausted to resist.

Perhaps this was simply my fate: to give my heart to the wrong man and suffer for it. If I could have one wish, it would be never to meet Liam again.

And never, ever to fall in love with him.

Just as my consciousness began to fade, I heard the steady rhythm of footsteps approaching from the hallway. The ward door burst open, and a team of security guards in black suits stormed inside.

Leading them was Elliot Coleman, the heir to the Coleman Group, whom I'd once happened to save. His expression remained calm, but his eyes sharpened when he saw me lying in a pool of blood.

Without wasting time on questions, he bent down, scooped my limp body into his arms, and carried me out.

For the first time in what felt like forever, someone had come to take me away from the nightmare.

...

By the time Liam arrived at the facility, the ward was empty.

The bed had been made, the window was shut, and I was nowhere to be found.

For a man who had always maintained perfect composure, he seemed unable to process what he was seeing. His carefully maintained calm shattered, replaced by unmistakable panic.

"Where is she?" he demanded. "Where did Mathilde go?"

He rushed out and searched the facility floor by floor, but no matter where he looked, there was no sign of me. Just as his frustration reached its peak, his phone rang.

"Mr. Reed, come to the hospital! Your grandfather has regained consciousness!"