Chapter 1

Seeing how I had been reduced to skin and bones by the brutal training and my constant longing for our daughter, Melanie Curry, my wife, Tanya Smith, smiled with satisfaction.

"Harry, you were absolutely right to recommend this place. It really does work. At least he's finally gotten rid of all that excess fat."

I looked at her critical expression and opened my mouth. The words were right there on the tip of my tongue. "Melanie is—"

Her childhood sweetheart, Harry Lieberman, cut me off. "Exactly. Just look at Bryan now. Sure, he looks a little haggard and frightening, but at least his figure isn't such an eyesore anymore.

"We should've sent both of them there sooner, especially Melanie. She's at the age when girls care most about their looks. If she doesn't manage her weight now, she'll grow up fat and ugly. No guys would want her. By then, it'll be too late."

He turned to me with a smile that seemed meant as friendly advice, but his eyes were ice-cold. "Don't you agree, Mr. Curry?"

Harry knew perfectly well that Melanie had died in that merciless camp shortly after my final desperate call to Tanya. Severe malnutrition and overtraining had caused her organs to fail.

A devastating medical diagnosis was delivered to a young woman who should've been in the prime of her youth, with her whole life still ahead of her.

I was useless. I hated myself for not being able to protect my own daughter.

"Harry is right. Let her stay a little longer and lose some more weight. And as for you…"

Tanya turned to me, disgust growing more pronounced on her face. She frowned slightly and spoke coldly. "Have you finally come to your senses?"

She continued, "If Grandma weren't critically ill, with the doctors saying she might not have much time left, I wouldn't be letting you out now. She's been asking to see you one last time, you know.

"If not for that, after the way you stubbornly stood up for Melanie and talked back to me, I would never have let you leave that place yet!"

Her tone dripped with disdain, as though Melanie and I being fat and ugly were unforgivable sins.

"If you hadn't indulged her and let her eat whatever she wanted, how could she have gotten so fat? She's turned out this way because you've spoiled her rotten. You'd better reflect on your mistakes!"

I stood there stiffly, shrinking into myself, not daring to utter a word.

Harry seemed to think my so-called rehabilitation was far from complete. At just the right moment, he chimed in, making no effort to hide the threat in his voice.

"Tanya, I don't think he's truly learned his lesson yet. Once he's seen your grandmother, I think we should send him straight back—"

"No! Don't!" I barked.

The idea of sending me back to that hellhole made me jerk my head up as if I had been stung. My voice came out hoarse with terror. "I-I'll do whatever you say! And I'm sorry! I won't repeat the same mistakes!"