Chapter 5

I felt like I'd fallen into an ice pit.

Sixty years old. Three deceased wives.

They weren't just ruining my future. They wanted to drain me dry and sell me off to some perverted old man.

"Dream on!"

I found a surge of strength, shoved Richard away, and scrambled toward the front door.

"I'm going to the police station! I'm going to report you for fraud! I'm going to put you in jail!"

"Grab her! Don't let that little bitch escape!" Richard roared.

Brenda, with surprising speed, grabbed the back of my dress and yanked hard.

I fell heavily, hitting my chin on the doorframe, blood gushing out.

Richard rushed up and started punching and kicking me again.

"Liam! Noah! Get the rope!" Brenda shouted at her two sons.

The two ten-year-old devils weren't scared at all. Instead, they clapped their hands excitedly and ran to the balcony to fetch a thick nylon rope.

"Tie her up! Tie up the loser!" they shouted, spitting on me.

With my own mother and stepfather working together, I was tied up tightly, and a foul-smelling rag was shoved into my mouth.

"Throw her in the basement! Starve her for three days, let's see if she's still so defiant!"

Richard dragged me by my hair like a dead dog toward the dark, damp basement.

Slam! The heavy iron door was locked tightly.

I was thrown onto the cold concrete floor, surrounded by endless darkness.

Faintly, I could hear the happy chatter of the four of them upstairs.

"Richard, you always know what to do. Once Mr. Henderson pays the dowry tomorrow, Liam and Noah's private school tuition will be settled!"

"That's right! That little bitch thinks she can cause trouble? I'll mess her up for good!"

"Brenda, I want lobster!"

"Alright, alright, I'll buy it for you tomorrow!"

Listening to those voices, my tears silently streamed down, mixing with the blood from my chin, dripping onto the dirty floor.

Even a tiger doesn't eat its own cubs. But my own mother, to please my stepfather and her two precious sons, was skinning me alive.

Despair drowned me like a surging tide.

Was my life, Elara Reed's life, truly destined to rot away in this dark, sunless basement?

No.

I wouldn't accept it.

I gritted my teeth, struggling frantically in the dark, trying to saw through the ropes on my wrists.

The coarse nylon rope bit into my wrists, making them bleed, but I felt no pain.

A fire of hatred raged in my chest.

I had to get out.

I had to make them pay.