Chapter 5

Antonia was completely bewildered.

“I didn’t do anything!”

Right after she said that, Nicole rushed forward and pointed at her, screaming, “Mrs. Hoffman, I’ve tried my best to stay out of your way. Why do you keep trying to destroy me?”

With that, she pulled open the front of her clothes, revealing ugly bruises and suspicious red marks around her collarbone.

“You didn’t do anything? If Ian hadn’t arrived when he did, I would’ve been...”

Ian’s expression darkened further at the sight of the marks.

“Antonia, how could you do this?! I warned you that if you ever went after Nicole again, I’d make you pay. Why won’t you stop?”

Antonia tried desperately to explain, “I didn’t do it! Ian, you can investigate it. It wasn’t me!”

“Still denying it?” Ian’s eyes were bloodshot as he seized her by the throat.

“Antonia, I actually believed you had stopped caring when you burned all those things. But you were only trying to make me lower my guard so you could go after Nicole!

“Have you forgotten that everything you have came from me? I didn’t give you money so you could use it against me!”

He called for his men. “Take my wife to the underground club. Let them teach her how to please the men who pay for her.”

Antonia’s mind went blank.

Her throat closed up. For a moment, she could not breathe. Trembling violently, she let out a faint, disbelieving laugh.

“Ian, you’re actually sending me to a place like that?”

Ian’s expression remained dark. His voice was emotionless. “The moment you hurt Nicole, you should’ve known there would be consequences.”

His words shattered Antonia’s heart.

The underground club was notorious as a living nightmare. Most women sent there never made it out alive, and those who did were never the same again.

No one had ever left that place unharmed.

Ian was truly willing to condemn her to such a fate just for Nicole.

Antonia’s eyes were bloodshot. Summoning every ounce of strength, she shoved him away.

She lunged for the table and grabbed the knife from the fruit plate. Then, she pressed the blade to her throat. Her voice shook with anguish. “Ian, if you’re going to send me there, you might as well kill me yourself!”

Ian’s eyes widened in shock.

His entire body went rigid.

Panic and concern flooded his face as he blurted out, “No! Antonia, please don’t hurt yourself. We can talk this through.”

Seeing that Ian was beginning to relent, a vicious look crept into Nicole’s eyes.

Gritting her teeth, she cried out and rushed toward the balcony, cutting Ian off. She said, “Forget it! I’m beneath her. Why would the great Mrs. Hoffman ever need to atone for what she did to someone like me?

“Ian, she’s only putting on an act, and you’re falling for it again! But after everything she’s done to me, I really can’t go on living!”

With that, Nicole climbed over the railing and threw herself from the second floor.

A sickening thud followed.

She landed hard in the bushes below.

“Nicole!”

Ian went rigid. Then, with an anguished roar, he turned and stumbled out of the room.

Antonia was still reeling in shock.

Her arm fell limply to her side. Only when the knife slipped from her hand and clattered to the floor did she realize what had happened and hurry after him.

Nicole lay bleeding among the bushes. The second-story fall had been partly cushioned by the branches, so despite her injuries, she was still conscious.

She leaned against Ian and sobbed pitifully. “Ian, just leave me. I’d be better off dead.”

Ian held her tightly. His face was dark with rage.

“Don’t say that! I won’t let Antonia get away with this. I’ll get even for you. Just hold on a little longer. The ambulance is almost here.”

Nicole looked up and peered over Ian’s shoulder at Antonia.

A cruel smile gradually spread across her deathly pale face.

The triumph in her eyes made the message unmistakable. “You’re doomed, Antonia.”

When the ambulance arrived, Ian scooped Nicole into his arms. Before carrying her away, he looked back at Antonia. All traces of compassion were gone from his eyes.

He said to his men, “What are you waiting for? Take her to the club and teach her a lesson!”

The bodyguards immediately stepped forward and pinned Antonia to the ground before she could react.

Her cheek scraped against a jagged stone, which cut into her skin and sent a searing pain through her face.

Ian looked down at her.

He watched the blood run down her cheek without the slightest flicker of emotion.

“I’ll have them release you in three hours. Remember the lesson well and never test me again!”

With that, he turned and walked away without looking back.

The bodyguards hauled Antonia to her feet. They dragged her to the club and threw her inside a cold, nightmarish room.

As soon as the doors slammed shut, the lights came on.

More than a dozen men stood waiting with whips in their hands. Slowly, they began closing in on her.