Chapter 3

Dad woke early. His first stop was my bedroom, but I was not there.

He shook Mom awake. "I barely slept. I kept having nightmares, and Sophie still isn't home!"

Mom rolled over comfortably without opening her eyes.

"Of course she isn't. She's trying to worry me into looking for her, but I won't fall for it."

Dad disagreed. He threw on a coat and ran toward the punishment room.

I hurried after him, hoping he would find my body before it rotted inside.

When he arrived, however, he found the door locked tight, and he did not have the key.

Mom had commissioned the reinforced door to prevent punished Family members from escaping. Ordinary force could not open it.

Dad returned home to question her. Mom calmly sipped her coffee, looking as if this proved exactly what she had expected.

"She probably ran away and locked the door to fool us. That shameless girl still refuses to repent!"

Pain pierced my heart like a needle.

Mom, even now you still think I'm deceiving you. Am I really so despicable?

Dad remained uneasy, but Mom's authority kept him from pressing the matter.

An important meeting required him at the company. With no choice but to leave me for the moment, he reminded Mom to let me out before he went.

Mom ignored him and took Mimi to an upscale restaurant.

She glanced toward the punishment room in the distance and snorted. "She can come out on her own or die in there. She only plays the victim to manipulate your father, and I won't believe her."

I followed them into the restaurant.

It was a newly opened Michelin-starred restaurant. The aroma of the food reached me, and although I was dead, I felt hungry.

I was a Don's daughter with every material comfort, yet Mom had never taken me anywhere so elegant.

Whenever I asked for an expensive steak, she complained that I cared only about indulgence. She said no amount of fine food could make a liar speak the truth.

As Mom ordered a table full of desserts for Mimi, her phone rang.

It was Lucas.

"Donna Freeman, Family members passing the punishment room noticed a foul smell. There may be a dead rat or something else inside. Could we let Miss Sophie out while we clean the room?"

Mom ended the call and slammed her fist onto the table.

"Sophie! She must have found a dead rat somewhere and thrown it into the punishment room. Now she's made the whole estate stink!"

"I didn't!"

The denial escaped me before I remembered that Mom could not hear me. She kept cursing my name.

It was not a dead rat. In the summer heat, my body had begun to smell after only two or three days.

What hurt most was that even as my corpse rotted, Mom had not looked at me once.

By the time Mom and Mimi returned, flies swarmed outside the punishment room. The captains and other Family members stood far away, covering their noses.

Lucas's face was grim. "Donna Freeman, only you have a key to this door. We didn't dare force it open, but that smell..."

One bold member pinched his nose and fanned the air. "It's strange. I've smelled something like it before, but I can't place it."

Mom's face darkened. The stench drove her back several steps as soon as she approached. Without her formidable self-control, she would have vomited.

My palms began to sweat.

It was midsummer, and the punishment room was sealed. My body had begun decomposing so quickly that Mom was certain to blame me.

But I could not control any of it.

Sure enough, Mom kicked the door so hard that it shuddered several times.

"Sophie, do you want to die? You've made this entire place reek. Get out here and stop humiliating yourself!"

My soul trembled with the door.

I'm sorry, Mom, but I truly didn't do this.

The Family members retreated from her fury, but they still could not keep from defending me.

"Donna Freeman, something could happen to Miss Sophie if she stays locked in there."

"Even if she did something wrong, this punishment is too much. It's so hot..."

Mom's vicious gaze swept over them. She never allowed anyone to challenge her authority, although even she was beginning to suspect that the punishment had gone too far.

A red glow shone beneath the door. Mimi lowered her voice. "Mom, Sophie's band is flashing. She's doing this on purpose.

"And there might be more than a dead rat in there. Trash, human waste, anything. She can't get out, so she must be relieving herself inside."

I had never hated anyone so much. I wanted to tear Mimi's mouth apart.

She was the one who never stopped lying!

The Family members stared at Mimi in shock.

"Someone of Miss Sophie's standing would do that?"

"Who'll clean up the waste? It won't be me."

Their disgust trampled what remained of my dignity.

Lucas said nothing. He stepped closer to the door and inhaled several times. His face tightened, and fear appeared in his eyes.

"Donna Freeman, that isn't human waste, and no dead rat could produce a stench this strong."

He looked at Mom, choosing his words carefully. "Do you remember our shootout with the Rosso Family two years ago? There were bodies everywhere..."

Mom's expression shifted. She had clearly reached the same conclusion, but she refused to admit it and gave a cold laugh. "Impossible. The band on Sophie's wrist is still flashing. I paid a fortune for the most advanced device available, and it can't be wrong. Mimi agrees with me."

She narrowed her eyes at Lucas. "Or are you questioning me?"

He shook his head. "I'm not questioning you, but something is terribly wrong. I'm sorry, Donna Freeman. This time, I can't obey your order."

Lucas drew his gun and fired twice, destroying the lock. Then he opened the door.

Mom saw me lying exactly where she had left me two days earlier, facedown and motionless, my cheek pressed to the floor.

She frowned at the others. "I told you nothing was wrong, yet you disobeyed me. After I deal with Sophie, I'll lock every one of you in here!"

Covering her nose, she approached and kicked me. "Enough. Stop acting. You've humiliated me in front of everyone!"

The force of her kick rolled my body onto its back.

"Get out of here, Sophie. Don't make me say it again!"

The instant everyone saw my face, the room fell silent.