Banished in the Name of Love
I'm betrothed to Hylton Miller from the moment I'm born.
For as long as I can remember, he protects and loves me like I'm already his wife.
Even if I get a tiny splinter on my hand, he holds it carefully as he gently clips it away.
That is, until the young woman his family sponsors offends a client and is about to be sent to Zubania.
He drugs me with a glass of wine. When I wake up, I'm in a foreign country and trapped in an illegal factory.
Here, I endure inhuman abuse, torment, even humiliation...
At my lowest, when despair almost swallows me whole, that sponsored young woman appears before me in a pristine, custom-made white gown.
She smiles sweetly and presses the play button on a voice recording.
And from the speaker comes the voice I long for every day and night. "It's fine. Alina's the young lady of the Winslet family—they won't do anything to her. But Priscilla? She's different. Worst case, I'll make it up to Alina when she gets back…"
In that moment, it feels like someone tears my heart open with their bare hands.