Chapter 3

Zachary turned to look at me. "Miranda, I'm sorry. I'll only use your t-shirt. I'll leave the skirt so you won't catch cold."

I backed away in disbelief. After resting all night, I'd recovered some strength. I pushed him away hard and tried to run, but within a few steps, Keira grabbed my hair.

"Don't run! You owe me this!" Keira tore my t-shirt to shreds. The pieces fell to the ground.

"Ah!" As the only daughter of the Holmes family, I had never suffered such humiliation.

I swung my hand to slap her, but Zachary caught my raised arm. "Miranda, Keira's still young."

Still young at over twenty? Keira was only five years younger than me. But I didn't dare argue back. On this island, only Zachary had any surface-level affection for me.

If I fell out with him, I didn't dare imagine what would happen. I could only endure.

Keira looked at the shredded clothes on the ground, her eyes suddenly brightening.

She wove all the fabric scraps together into a long whip, then casually struck me across the face with it. "Bad dog!"

Zachary was so close to me. He didn't help me avoid the danger I faced, yet earlier he'd reflexively protected Keira.

Though I'd decided last night I would never love him again, my heart still felt like it was being stabbed with needles.

"Keira, what are you doing?"

Zachary's stern rebuke only made Keira more manic.

"I'm making her be my dog! That's what I did in prison too. If Dad were here, he'd help me."

She turned and retrieved a frisbee from the tent, threw it far away, then cracked the whip at me. "Go fetch it!"

Zachary was still immersed in guilt over "if Dad were here, he'd help me," indifferent to my situation. He even turned and said, "I'll go make food."

Then he walked away without looking back.

Keira's whip kept striking my body, but my pride as a Holmes daughter wouldn't allow me to submit.

Seeing I still wouldn't move, she bent down and whispered,

"Miranda Holmes, if you play my dog this time, I'll let you go."

Looking at her deranged expression, my anger reached its peak.

"Keira, I can do it, but are you sure you can handle the Holmes family's retaliation?"

I stared directly into her eyes, my gaze filled with killing intent.

She was startled, then burst out laughing.

"The Holmes family? Everyone knows Holmes Group only has three sons. There's no daughter! Now crawl!"

When she said the last sentence, her eyes were vicious, and she struck me with another whip using all her strength.

My body screamed with pain. I took a deep breath and knelt down on all fours.

Keira jumped for joy, saying to me: "Good dog, go fetch!"

I crawled toward the frisbee step by step. Every movement pulled at my body painfully.

Keira followed behind me and whipped me again. "Bad dog! I told you to pick it up in your mouth!"

I took a deep breath, picked up the frisbee with my teeth, and crawled toward Keira.

When I reached her, she proudly patted my head. She bent down, revealing marks from last night's battle, and whispered in my ear: "Good girl, so good. I'll reward you with some good news!"

"You don't know this, but I didn't suffer any injuries in prison. The women's prison I stayed in—how could there be men to get me pregnant? It was just day after day of moral education lectures that gave me a headache."

"And my dad—that time when he blocked the knife during the medical dispute, I was the one who pushed him forward. I couldn't let my beloved Zachary get hurt."

"Oh, and Zachary—last night's Zachary was so passionate. You haven't been satisfying him, have you? He wanted me again and again."

"Oops, I said too much. Good dog, you'll keep my secret, won't you?"

Zachary in the distance didn't hear what Keira said. He was still cooking with a guilty expression.

Keira suddenly smiled, raised the whip, and struck herself with it. She screamed, and Zachary dropped what he was holding and ran over.

But Zachary's first glance wasn't at her—it was at me, lying on the ground covered in sand.

He wanted to come forward and brush the sand off me, but Keira collapsed weakly into his arms, her eyes brimming with tears.

"Zachary, she hit me! Maybe she wants to play with you. Throw a frisbee and see if she'll fetch it."

Zachary touched the whip mark on Keira's arm, closed his eyes, and casually threw the frisbee dozens of meters away.

I closed my eyes in despair...

Suddenly, a roar came from the sky—the sound of a helicopter!