Chapter 1

The doctor's hands trembled uncontrollably as he held the syringe filled with a highly concentrated neurotoxin.

"Ms. Morgan, this is the tenth time. Mr. Johnson already has severe brain damage. Are you still going to inject this into his spine?"

With a thud, he dropped to his knees beside the hospital bed.

"Steward Johnson already went to prison after taking the blame for you. Mr. Johnson's sister was forcibly committed to a psychiatric hospital yesterday. The Johnsons have been completely destroyed. Won’t you show him some mercy?"

Amelia Morgan let out a mocking laugh.

The tip of her high heel casually nudged the doctor aside.

"But that’s how I want him to be."

She looked down at me, her tone light.

"If I don't turn him into a cripple who can't even speak, how am I supposed to take all the shares under his name? Liam has suffered so much by my side. I have to use every dollar of the Johnsons’ wealth to give him a wedding that will shock the entire country."

The doctor sucked in a cold breath and backed away repeatedly.

Amelia slowly smoothed her skirt.

"Once the stock transfer agreement has his fingerprint on it, I'll weld an iron cage in the basement of the villa and lock him inside. I'll keep him as a pet with no thoughts of his own for the rest of his life and feed him some scraps on schedule every day. That should be enough to say I've treated him well."

Then she turned to the doctor.

"Need to look away? I've already watched him convulse and foam at the mouth nine times. Today can be a little after-dinner show."

Lying on the hospital bed, I bit down hard on the tip of my tongue.

The taste of blood instantly filled my mouth.

The pain cut straight into my bones, but I didn't dare make a sound or let my eyelids twitch.

Looking at my pale face, the doctor's voice became choked with tears.

"Ms. Morgan, a large dose of toxin could cause irreversible cardiac arrest! Back then, Mr. Johnson sold every keepsake his mother left behind just to help you survive your bankruptcy crisis. If you do this, you'll face retribution eventually!"

Bang!

Amelia kicked the nearby medical equipment, smashing it apart.

"Shut up! If I tell you to do it, then do it!"

She irritably tugged at her collar.

"For Liam and our only child, I will never regret this. I'm going to build the perfect haven for the idiot. If he dies, put him in a garbage bag, throw him into the medical incinerator, and burn him until there's nothing left!"

She pointed at my spine.

"Push it in slower. Don't worry. He's tough. He won't die that easily."

The doctor closed his eyes in despair.

The thick needle plunged brutally into my lumbar spine.

After the first nine rounds of torture, my body had already developed an extremely strong resistance.

The anesthesia no longer worked.

I clearly felt the cold liquid being forced into my spinal cord, little by little.

Amelia walked to the foot of the bed.

"Just injecting the toxin isn't enough. If he ever manages to run away one day, Liam will be scared."

She picked up the scalpel from the tray.

The blade pressed against my ankle.

"Sever it."

The doctor cried out in alarm, but Amelia did not pause for even a moment.

With a forceful slash of her wrist, she cut down.

The instant my tendon snapped, the toxin spread throughout my body.

The double agony completely drowned me.

I gripped the bedsheet beneath me with all my strength.

Every fingernail broke, and blood stained the white sheets red.

Two tears rolled from the corners of my eyes and fell onto the pure white pillow.