Chapter 4

Sophia followed behind Jake, letting out a fake little sigh. She pulled a crumpled, filthy contract from her bag and slapped it across my face.

"Don't blame Jake, Claire. He had to borrow from loan sharks because of your breach of contract. Now, they're talking about cutting off his hand."

It was a high-interest loan contract using my parents' only house as collateral. The interest rate was criminal.

Jake pulled out a bloodstained ballpoint pen and jabbed it right at my nose.

"Sign it. Use your parents' house as security. Tomorrow night, you will get your ass back online and start streaming again. Otherwise, those collectors will show up at your parents' place tomorrow and break your mother's legs."

My whole body shook. I sobbed and begged him to leave my parents out of it. In the end, I signed the paper with tears and blood.

Seeing me like that, Jake and Sophia finally exchanged a satisfied, cold smile.

Once the hospital room door clicked shut and their footsteps faded completely away, I immediately dropped the weak, pitiful act. I casually grabbed a tissue and wiped the tears off my face.

From under my pillow, I pulled out an old prepaid phone I'd set aside ahead of time.

I opened the photo album. Packed together were Jake's transaction records from a brothel with Bruce—plus some intimate photos of the two of them. I bundled everything up and hit send on an anonymous text message.

The message went straight to the legendary, terrifying, legitimately married wife of Bruce.

Late the next night, Jake and Sophia dragged me—fresh out of the hospital—back into the livestream room.

The walls were covered in whips, candles, and chicken wire. The whole room reeked of something suffocating and bloody.

Jake roughly shoved me onto a metal chair bolted to the floor and forced the high-def camera right into my face.

He lowered his voice and threatened me.

"In a minute, when Bruce comes in, you're going to look straight into the camera and admit it. Admit you're a cheap slut selling your body on purpose. Admit you seduced him. Admit you'll do anything for money. Say one wrong word, and your parents' house burns to ashes tonight."

Right then, Sophia walked over carrying a glass of cloudy, steaming milk. Her eyes sparkled with pure, unfiltered cruelty and excitement. She slammed the cup down on the little table in front of me.

"Drink it, Claire. There's some powerful stuff in here. Guaranteed to make you act so nasty on camera your own mother wouldn't recognize you."

The livestream launched. The viewer count instantly exploded past a hundred thousand. Bots started flooding the chat.

The screen was packed with insults: "Slut." "Degenerate." "Drink it already. Let's see the show."

Suddenly, Jake's phone buzzed. He glanced at the screen, and his vicious expression twisted into pure joy.

"He's here! Bruce says he's already at the front gate. He's coming in right now to taste you himself."

Jake grinned and smoothed down his collar. He hurried toward the front door to welcome his golden goose, leaving Sophia behind to watch me.

I sat alone on that judgment seat, my hands shaking as I picked up the glass of drugged milk. My wrists trembled so badly that a few drops splashed onto my hand.

There was nowhere left to run. I was trapped.

I closed my eyes in despair and slowly lifted the glass to my lips.

Just as Jake's hand touched the doorknob, an ear-shattering crash exploded through the room.

The reinforced front door was kicked open from the outside with brutal force. The whole damn door slammed right into Jake's face.

At that exact moment, my trembling hands went completely still. A vicious, murderous light exploded in my eyes.

I shot up from the chair, twisted my wrist, and flung the entire cup of scalding, drugged milk straight into Sophia's face.

The voice coming from outside the door wasn't Bruce's sleazy laugh. It was a roar so loud it nearly ripped the roof off.

"BRUCE! You two-bit, ungrateful, money-sucking parasite!"