Regret Selling Me on the Black Market Now?

When I closed my eyes, the memories I had tried so hard to bury crawled back and swallowed me whole.My mind dragged me into the hell-like black market again, into that windowless, cramped room. Lashes from whips rained down on me and forced me to learn "rules" designed to grind every shred of my dignity.They forced me to kneel like an animal and eat straight from a dish on the floor. They made me wade in freezing water for hours, wrapped in nothing but a gossamer veil, just so my skin would look "translucent".My body became their canvas. Cold needles tipped with pigment carved designs into my skin, while they demanded I hold poses of absolute humiliation and stay still like a lifeless puppet.If I faltered even the slightest, the whip that had been soaked in salt water would come crashing down. That tearing, agonizing pain etched itself into my muscle memory.The torment continued until time lost all its meaning. And the only thing that kept me going was the hope that Joshua an

Elliott Felton's men were fast, and the next day, I received a wedding gown worth millions of dollars.It was meticulously designed with every inch of fabric carefully placed to conceal my skin, leaving no wound exposed.The man delivering the wedding gown nodded slightly and said, "Mr. Felton wanted me to tell you that he's on his way back. He'll come for you himself."Nodding, I traced the beadwork across the bodice and brushed my fingers against the cool diamonds. Deep down, I was already looking forward to that day.Before a smile could spread across my face, I heard Ciara say in a voice laced with grievance, "Josh, are you going to marry Madie? Am I nothing to you now?"I looked up and saw the three of them standing at the door, with Joshua's expression looking especially gloomy. "Why can't you behave, Madie? It's only been a few days, and you already can't stand it? You know how much Ciara has suffered all these years, so why do you insist on making things harder for her?"

Daxon and Joshua scoured the city for a whole day, only to return empty-handed.Dragging their exhausted bodies back to the villa, they'd barely entered the house when they noticed the swarm of workers busying around.After asking around, they learned that Ciara had ordered every surveillance camera around the villa destroyed. Sensing something off, they barged into the monitoring room and pulled up the backups.On the screens, image by image, Ciara's mask was stripped away. All the so-called rivalries and fights for affection had been her one-person show, and I'd been innocent all along.The footage showed how she'd tossed the crystal music box to the ground on purpose. With despair in my eyes, I'd looked at the screen, straight through time, as if condemning them.That was when they remembered how much the music box meant to me."There's another surveillance camera in Ciara's room," Daxon muttered. They'd installed it for fear that Ciara might pick on me, but they'd never bot

It wasn't until Joshua and Daxon saw the Felton family crest that they realized the man who'd taken me was the reclusive head of the Feltons, Elliott Felton.Everything I'd said that day was true. I'd never meant to marry Joshua, and my wedding gown had never been for their eyes."I'm going to bring Madie back. A man like Mr. Felton can't possibly love her," Daxon firmly announced."I'm coming, too." Joshua got up beside him. Their arrogant selves were convinced that a renowned family like the Feltons could never accept a "broken" woman like me. They told themselves that Elliott's attention and love toward me were nothing more than a whim.Deep down, they ridiculously believed that after ripping away his "mask", I could return under their control. But they never realized that they'd be facing judgment at the dinner party.Thus, they booked tickets bound for Jamborough.…Meanwhile, Elliott dipped a brush into pigment mixed with herbs and traced it over the scars on my back wit

"Outsider?"I laughed when I heard that word. They had also called me that when Ciara came back.Only this time, I held up my phone to Daxon. The screen showed the plummeting candlestick chart of Smyth Corporation's stock."I've shorted Smyth Corporation. It's bankrupt now."Then, I turned to Joshua and coldly added, "The Moores will follow soon."They blanked out and stared at me with dazed expressions before their faces twisted in anguish."Why, Madie? We stood by you for 20 years, so why are you destroying us for an outsider? Is he really that important?"I shot them an icy look and snapped back, "He's my husband, the man who'll walk through life and death with me. And who are you?"They exchanged glances in silence. Then, it struck them. Who were they, really? A housemate who'd stayed under the same roof with me by accident, but pushed me into hell. A fiance who'd betrayed me and slept with another woman in front of my face.Now, they were nothing.I didn't wait for the