Chapter 1

Rosalie Vaughn looked at me as I rummaged through the trash can, a flash of bewilderment crossing her eyes before it was quickly replaced by utter disgust.

"Theodore Langley, how long are you going to keep this up?"

She kicked the trash can away. Half a piece of stale bread rolled out, coming to a stop right next to her expensive high heels.

It was covered in dust and mold.

I stared blankly at that piece of bread, my throat involuntarily swallowing. It was the biological response of a man who was utterly starving.

I tried to crawl over to pick it up, but a leather shoe pinned my hand to the floor.

"Rosie, don't waste your breath on a psycho," Sebastian Crowe said with a soft chuckle.

He held a delicate handkerchief over his nose, looking down at me with pure disdain.

"This place is an absolute pigsty. Mr. Langley, you used to be the heir of the Langley family, so how did you end up in this situation?"

He pressed down hard, his stiff sole grinding against the bones in my hand.

I didn't feel much pain. I just felt a wave of regret. That was supposed to be my dinner, and now it was gone.

Rosalie was convinced that I was merely playing dumb.

"If you're still sick, you should've stayed in the psychiatric hospital," she said.

Then, she hauled me up from the floor, aggressively demanding the answer to my Facebook security question. "Tell me! Who is this one true love of yours? Is it that sugar mommy who helped you run away back then?"

I clutched my head as a piercing ring echoed in my ears.

Fragmented memories of me being beaten while wearing a hospital gown buzzed through my mind like a swarm of angry bees.

"I don't know… I don't remember…" I wailed in agony, tears and snot smearing across my face.

Rosalie pinched my jaw, forcing me to look her in the eye. "You don't remember? Theodore, has an honest word ever come out of that mouth of yours?"

Sebastian finally lifted his foot and pulled an exquisite macaron from his bag. It was pink and beautiful, carrying a sweet, enticing aroma.

I swallowed hard as my stomach let out a loud growl.

Sebastian smiled and held the macaron right up to my lips. "Want a bite?"

I nodded, and just as I opened my mouth to take it, his fingers loosened.

The macaron fell to the floor and broke apart. Then, his custom leather shoe came down hard, crushing it into a smear of pink paste.

"Oops, my hand slipped," Sebastian said with an innocent smile, looping his arm through Rosalie's. "Mr. Langley, you're so starved, so surely you won't mind? If you lick it clean, we'll tell you the name of your 'lover'. Deal?"

I looked at the crumbs on the floor, then up at Rosalie.

Her eyes were ice-cold. She did nothing to stop him, watching the whole thing play out as if it were a comedy show.

To find out who my "One True Love" was and to fill my empty stomach, I actually dropped to my knees.

The tip of my tongue touched the freezing, dusty floor, mixing with the sugary taste.

"That's enough!" Rosalie suddenly snapped, violently hauling me up as if the sight of my actions had physically burned her eyes.

"Theodore, you're absolutely pathetic!"

She felt like I was insulting her pride, believing I would rather eat dirt off the floor than tell her the truth.

Right in front of my face, she began typing in answers to guess the security prompt.

She entered the name of her arch-nemesis, then the name of the wealthy heiress rumored to have eloped with me back in the day.

But every single time, the answer was incorrect.

Rosalie sneered, shoving the phone screen right into my face. "Even your password is trying to protect that bitch. You're really something else, Theodore."