Chapter 6

Crack!

The whip sliced through the air with a vicious snap.

It tore into Antonia’s back and split her skin, sending blood streaming down her body.

A filthy rag had been stuffed into her mouth to smother every scream.

Unable to cry out, she could only endure as the pain spread through every inch of her body.

Before the agony could even begin to subside, the whip came down again.

Crack! Crack! Crack!

Then, again and again.

Each strike echoed endlessly through the sealed room.

Antonia curled up on the floor in unbearable pain.

With great effort, Antonia lifted her head and worked the rag out of her mouth. She spat it onto the floor and rasped, “You have no right to do this to me!”

No one paid her any attention.

Blood continued to pool around her, making the already sinister room feel even more horrifying.

The relentless beating gradually robbed her of her senses, but whenever she was about to pass out, they doused her with high-proof liquor and jolted her awake.

Tears and mucus streamed down Antonia’s face.

Nine hundred and ninety-nine lashes.

She counted every one.

Despair threatened to consume her, but she gritted her teeth and forced herself to endure.

Her father was still waiting for her.

The men finally stopped. One of them nudged Antonia’s curled-up body with his boot. They laughed cruelly.

“Mr. Hoffman was right. There’s nothing this woman won’t endure to keep living off his money!

“Let this be a lesson, Mrs. Hoffman. From now on, you’d better behave and do exactly as you’re told.”

Antonia silently closed her eyes.

Just when she thought the ordeal was finally over, the doors opened again.

Several intimidating middle-aged women filed into the room and surrounded her.

“Mr. Hoffman asked us to show you what happens when you cause trouble just to get his attention. Nothing personal, Mrs. Hoffman.”

They burned her with a hot iron, drove needles into her skin, and doused her with scalding water.

The agony was beyond anything Antonia could bear.

Her fingers clawed desperately at the floor until several of her nails tore away.

The ordeal seemed as though it would never end.

The clock on the wall showed that more than three hours had passed.

Yet no one came to release her.

Antonia managed a bitter smile, mocking herself for ever believing him.

How could she have trusted Ian to keep his word again?

By the time the first light of dawn appeared, not even the alcohol they poured over her could rouse her. Only then did the torture finally stop.

Antonia was taken to the hospital.

When she regained consciousness, she heard two nurses whispering nearby. They whispered, “Did you hear? Mr. Hoffman had his comatose father-in-law brought here to save Ms. Nicole!”

“I heard. He happens to have type O blood. Ms. Nicole lost so much that the hospital didn’t have enough blood for her transfusion.”

Antonia went rigid. The nurses’ words hit her like a thunderbolt.

Ignoring their attempts to stop her, she dragged her battered body out of bed. She ripped the IV from her hand and stumbled from the room.

When she finally found Nicole’s room, Ian was standing in the hallway and instructing the doctor to take blood from her father.

Antonia threw herself in his path and clutched desperately at his arm.

Her voice was hoarse and broken. “Please, Ian, don’t do this. My father is already in a coma. His body can barely keep functioning as it is. If you take his blood, he’ll die! Please leave him alone. He’s the only family I have left!”

Ian simply looked at her.

His gaze lingered on the terrible wounds covering her body. For a moment, concern flickered in his eyes.

The words “the only family I have left” made his expression harden again. Anger surged through him.

Ian looked away and said coldly, “You put Nicole’s life in danger. Now your father will help make it right.”

He motioned to the bodyguards, who immediately dragged Antonia away.

Then, he entered the room and ordered, “Begin the transfusion.”

“No!”

Antonia begged through her sobs and tried to grab him again, but the bodyguards pinned her down on the floor.

She was utterly humiliated and powerless to stop them.

Despair, pain, fear, and anguish overwhelmed her and crushed her beneath their weight.

Suddenly, Antonia coughed up a mouthful of blood.

Then, she collapsed.

When she woke again, she was back in her ward.

She had barely tried to get up and find her father when the doctor stopped her.

“I’m really sorry, Mrs. Hoffman. Your father has passed away from multiple organ failure.

“He had been in a persistent vegetative state for years, and it was a miracle that he held on for as long as he did. My condolences.”

Antonia went numb.

She clutched her chest. The pain was so overwhelming that she could not speak.

Her mouth opened, but no sound came out. She could not even shed a tear.

Some types of grief were so profound that they left people utterly speechless.

Antonia pushed past the doctor and stumbled barefoot all the way to the morgue, barely aware of where she was going.

It was only when she pulled back the sheet covering her father that the truth settled over her with crushing finality. She had lost everything.

Antonia crumpled to her knees and cried out in anguish.

“Dad, it’s all my fault! I loved the wrong man, and you died because of me!”

Two days later, Antonia was discharged from the hospital.

She made all the arrangements for her father’s funeral alone.

She went to the courthouse and collected the final divorce judgment.

After that, she went to the shore. Having lost all will to live, she walked into the sea.

She continued until the waves closed over her.