Chapter 2

Sharp pain woke me from unconsciousness.

I was lying on the back lawn of the mansion, the night wind cold enough to cut through bone.

Crows by the fountain pecked at my open wounds, mistaking me for a corpse.

Fighting off a wave of dizziness, I stumbled back to my room, careful not to make a sound.

I was done with this endless abuse. I couldn’t just wait to die. I had to save myself.

After the third fiancé left, I’d called the police. I suspected they were being hypnotized in that room. But the police sent a doctor who found no signs of hypnosis.

My fiancés genuinely, truly hated me.

The family elders and the staff all told the police I was hallucinating from drugs.

In the end, the cops yelled at me for wasting their time and left.

As punishment, Victor locked me in the unheated wine cellar for a week.

No food. Only ice water.

I’d tried to run away, too.

But no matter where I went, my father’s bodyguards always found me.

I knew I had to have a tracker implanted somewhere in me.

After weeks of careful probing, I finally found it.

I stumbled into the bathroom and locked the door, my eyes landing on a pair of sharp scissors on the counter.

I bit down hard on a towel, plunged the scissors into my left arm, and dug out the tiny, raised chip under my skin.

Blood dripped down my arm.

Right before the pain made me pass out, I managed to call my best friend, Sarah.

“Help me… bring the cops.”

An hour later, sirens tore through the quiet of the estate.

Sarah burst into my room with police and paramedics.

“Victor! You tyrant!” Sarah screamed when she saw me covered in blood, grabbing the front of his suit. “What did you do to Nessa?! She’s your daughter! Why would you do this?”

The cops frowned at the scene.

“Mr. Cassano, you have some explaining to do.”

“Officer,” Victor said, not angry at all. He straightened his tie and gave them a perfect, fake smile. “This is all a misunderstanding. If you’d be willing to follow me to the dark room for a moment, everything will become clear.”

The dark room. Again.

My heart stopped. Despair wrapped around my neck like a snake.

“Don’t go!” I screamed, throwing myself at the officer’s legs and holding on for dear life. “Please, I’m begging you, don’t go in there!”

“Ma’am, please calm down.” The male officer pried my hands off him. “We’ll get to the bottom of this.”

They went in.

The heavy iron door closed again.

I collapsed on the floor, shaking.

Ten minutes later.

The door was thrown open with a bang.

The male officer stormed out, his face grim.

SMACK! SMACK!

He slapped me twice, hard, without hesitation.

I fell to the floor, my ears ringing.

“If this body cam wasn’t rolling, I’d put a bullet in you myself,” he snarled, his gaze burning with disgust.

Sarah was in shock. “You can’t just hit her! I’ll file a complaint!”

He turned and whispered something in Sarah’s ear.

Sarah’s body went rigid.

She slowly turned back to me, her eyes wide with horror, as if she were looking at a monster.

“Nessa… you make me sick,” Sarah said, her voice trembling. “You’re human garbage.”

She didn’t even look at me again before she turned and ran out of the mansion.

“Listen to me,” the officer warned coldly. “If you ever waste police resources again, I’ll personally throw you in a maximum-security prison.”

“But she looks like she’s been beaten half to death…” the female officer said, looking at me with pity.

The male officer pulled her away, whispering something to her as they walked.

The female officer, who had just felt sorry for me, now looked at me with the same revulsion.

All hope was gone. I lay on the cold floor like a corpse.

Why? Why?

Victor looked down at me. “Look at all the trouble you’ve caused me.”

“Now, how should I punish you?”

“Throw her in the old kennels out back,” he ordered coldly. “Let her think about what she’s done. Three days.”

I was dragged by the bodyguards into a dark, stinking iron cage.

Vicious, starving dogs eyed me hungrily.

I had to fight to stay conscious, using every last bit of strength to fend off their attacks.

But there was no water, no food. Just endless darkness and biting cold.

The moment I let my guard down, one of them would sink its teeth into me.

For three days, every second was hell.

After three days, Victor finally showed mercy and had me released.

The maids who passed by stared at me with a mixture of extreme disgust and fear.

I was thrown back into my room and the door was locked.

Just as I thought I would rot to death in there, I heard a soft click from the lock.

It was Maya, the nanny who had raised me.

She slipped in quietly, carrying a basin of hot water and medicine.

Seeing my wounds, Maya’s eyes filled with tears.

Her hands trembled as she cleaned my cuts. Her voice was a whisper, but it was firm.

“We’re running away. I’m getting you out of this hellhole.”