Chapter 2

Gritting my teeth through the pain, I asked, "How much do you want? I'll pay, just let me go!"

They laughed.

"Money? Ha! Do we look like we're short on that? We don't answer to anyone but Ms. Knight. You just got unlucky."

They advanced, leering.

"If you don't want to learn this, we've got plenty of other things we can teach you," one said.

"Plenty of work here. Don't worry. You can do whatever you want."

The men clamped down on my limbs. In a panic, I tugged hard at the jacket of one of them.

That was when I saw the symbol on the man's left shoulder.

My eyes widened.

It was the emblem of my adoptive parents' company.

Although they weren't my real parents, they had raised me and treated me like a princess. They would fulfill my every desire.

However, they had promised me that they would never be involved in illegal business. There weren't even any company branches in this city.

What the hell was happening?

"You're with Winters Corporation?"

The men exchanged glances and raised their eyebrows.

"So you actually know about Winters Corporation? Impressive."

I blurted, "I'm the heiress of Winters Corporation! Let me go, or my brother will kill you."

They burst out laughing.

"Did you hear that? She's the heiress of Winters Corporation?"

"The lady you're talking about is Joanna Winters. Who do you think you are?"

"I am Joanna Winters."

I was about to reach for my passport when I remembered that Stella had already burned it.

Thinking fast, I said, "Call Eric Winters. He'll recognize my voice."

My gaze was unwavering. They hesitated, then reluctantly called Stella.

"What's the name of the woman you brought today?"

"Susanna Knight."

Hearing the name, I hurried to explain. "Susanna Knight is the name I was given after being acknowledged by the Knight family. My real name is Joanna Winters!"

After being accepted back into the Knight family, my parents added me to the family tree and gave me a new name.

The man spat in my face.

"You have the guts to lie to me? If I hadn't been cautious and called to check, you'd have gotten away with it!"

He grew angrier by the second and kicked me repeatedly, with each blow landing squarely on my stomach.

My stomach felt like it had been ripped apart, and my vomit was streaked with blood.

"Please, just call Eric. My brother will come save me!"

"Bullshit! You still think you're the heiress? You look more like a prostitute to me," he sneered.

The men dragged me painfully by the hair into a dark and damp shack. The floor was crawling with insects and full of sticky grime. It was utterly foul-smelling.

They tied me up in the corner, taking turns to strike me with sticks. Careful to avoid my face, each strike landed on some obscure part of my body.

Fear gripped me. If they left my face intact, there had to be a more sinister plan.

By now, blood had soaked through my clothes. Every inch of my skin throbbed with pain.

Suddenly, a phone rang. One of the men answered respectfully, muttered a few words, and hung up.

"Forget teaching her how to deal cards. Send her to do something else. We're short-handed at the back anyway."

"With a face this pretty, wouldn't it be a shame not to get her to be a dealer?"