vulnerable

[Veinhill~Mud Hospital]

Tari's eyes slowly parted open. Blinking repeatedly until her vision was clear. She made to stand, but a shock wave of pain from her back hit her like a tornado, and she fell back onto her stomach.

She groaned, gritting her teeth as the pain shot through her system.

"Don't try to sit up, your wounds are still fresh," Ebiere said, sitting on a stool beside Tari.

Even with the warning, Tari still tried to sit up, only for her wounds to start bleeding.

"Why are you so stubborn? I told you to lie back; your wounds are still fresh," Ebiere scolded, pushing her back onto her stomach.

"I will kill him," Tari gritted, closing her eyes in agony.

Ebiere nodded. "I know you mean it, but not in this state. You can't even stand up and you want to kill somebody like Frost," Ebiere hissed, staring at Tari's wounded back.

"Then fix me, heal my wounds," Tari urged, making Ebiere chuckle.

"If I could, I would have done it before you woke up," Ebiere said.

"Aren't you the herbalist? Use your fucking herbs and take this pain away," Tari spat, frowning; with gritted teeth, the more she talked, the more the pain doubled.

"You are smart yet dumb. I might be the herbalist here at Veinhill, but every weapon Frost uses has a special poison made by him. And only he has the antidote to his poison; the whip he used is his special punishment tool," Ebiere explained.

Tari fisted her palms until her knuckles started burning. She closed her eyes and rested her head back on the bed.

The whiplashes on her back were still bleeding, sending jolts of pain through her system.

She hissed, as she shut her eyes, teeth clenched, palms gripped tight. There was only one face she saw — Barasas.

Tari couldn't wait to get out of here; she would tear him to pieces and feed his remains to the idiots who subjected her to that punishment.

Ebiere sighed. "Just pray that Frost decides to give you the antidote..."

Ebiere was cut short by the opening of the door. Barasa strolled in like he owned the place.

His hands were deep in his pockets, jaw clenched, still the same cold yet unreadable look on his face.

"Frost," Ebiere gasped, immediately standing up from the stool.

Tari clenched her jaw so hard she felt like her teeth would break. She tilted her head to the side, wanting to see that hideous face of the devil who caused her to be in so much agony.

But she couldn't even do it; his face alone was enough to make her go wild. If Tari had the strength, she would gladly rip that devilish handsome face right off his skin, and leave him only with his ugly skeleton.

Barasa stood before the bed, his figure towering over Tari, and Ebiere stepped aside.

His gaze traveled from the bleeding whiplashes on her back to the rest of the room.

They’d moved her from the hut into a modern room, and he hadn’t approved that. They even gave her a bed — somebody was getting punished.

"Leave us," Barasa ordered.

Ebiere rushed out of the room without gathering her belongings.

Barasa took Ebiere’s place and sat on the stool.

"Not bad," he complimented, tracing his fingers over her whiplashes.

Tari gritted her teeth, hissing as her eyes turned red. Stupid bastard; he was doing this to provoke her so she would do something again, giving him the sweet privilege of punishing her.

Her whiplashes burned under his fingers. She closed her eyes tight to shield herself from the pain, but it was just too much.

"Stop!" Tari demanded. Barasa completely ignored her, still tracing his fingers along her wounds.

"I said fucking stop, goddamit!" Tari barked. His fingers left her back, and he sat up straight, staring at his beautiful work on her bare back.

"Good," Barasa complimented.

"Good?" Tari asked in disbelief. "You fucking psychopathic bastard, I will get you back, trust me. I will burn you and those motherfuckers and leave your remains for birds to devour," Tari threatened.

She might have been dizzy, but she swore she saw him smirk. But when she blinked, the smirk disappeared like it had never been there.

"Love the courage," Barasa said.

Tari watched him with dizzy eyes as he brought out a bottle from his pocket and poured the substance onto her back. Then he spread it all over the whiplashes.

She felt shivers run down her spine; the substance was chilling cold on her back. And somehow, she loved the feeling.

"Have your rest while you can," Barasa said.

With that, he stood up and left the room. As the cold sensation of the substance faded, Tari felt herself drifting away, lids too heavy to stay open; the next second, she was unconscious.

[Mitari's Mansion ~ later that day]

Mitari sat on her luxury couch, a tequila in one hand as she used the other to scroll through her screen, giggling while reading the comments on Tari's sex tape.

In highschool!!!

So disgusting!!!!

What do you guys expect? Her father is rich and she is rumored to be mannerless!!!

Gosh, in highschool! The courage she has to let a boy fuck in such a public place!

And who even recorded them? This looks like the back of the school building, and people wouldn’t be there, so who recorded her and leaked the tape?

Mitari's smile dropped. She hissed and deleted the comment immediately, then took a sip from her tequila.

Seven hours after she uploaded the video, it was taken down — that way she knew her father’s people might have seen it. And her stupid stepmother would have paid the media houses to take it down.

But who were they playing with? The video already had over two hundred thousand downloads, and she re-uploaded it right after it was removed.

Clients had been calling, saying they couldn’t work with Tari since her reputation was already on the edge. And they were willing to work with Mitari instead, since she had always kept a clean record — a smart move to save the company.

And tomorrow she was going to hold a press conference, on behalf of her sister. She was going to turn everyone against Tari and make everybody idolize her as the sister who never got attention, but was the only good one.

Speaking of attention — she hadn’t gone to see her father yet, and that bitch Malika wouldn’t stop calling her.

Her only problem now was Musa. He hadn’t called her yet, and that was a bad sign; he must have seen the sex tape online. She knew she had broken his trust, but she needed the tape to destroy Tari's image and get the company back on its feet.

Mitari didn’t know how he would react now, but it wouldn’t be good.

Her head snapped toward the door when she heard the passcode being input. The door beeped and opened.

Mitari's breath caught in her throat as the furious-looking Musa marched into the house.

"Sweetheart, I'm sorry........."