After my family went bankrupt, I was sent to the bed of Capital City's newest power player.
He locked me in his room for two weeks. Two weeks of him taking what he wanted, whenever he wanted.
Until I got pregnant.
The day after the doctor confirmed it, he drove my parents to the rooftop.
I knelt at his feet, forehead striking the floor again and again, begging him—for the baby's sake—to let them live.
He looked down at me like I was filth.
"Eight years ago, if your mother hadn't seduced my father, my mother wouldn't have lost control and killed him." His voice was ice. "She wouldn't have stood on that eighteenth-floor ledge in despair. She was pregnant, did you know that?"
His gaze dropped to my stomach. The cold in his eyes could have frozen blood.
"Now it's just one life for another."
I broke after that. He had me declared mentally unstable and locked away in the psychiatric hospital. Every day was a new kind of torture.
Until his precious little canary got pregnant. Then he had me brought back.
"Rebecca Fox used to be your family's housekeeper's daughter," Mason Blackwell said. "Now she's carrying my child. It's your turn to serve her."
This time, I didn't cry. I didn't scream.
Because I was already dying.
But after I actually died? That man who hated me to the bone—he wept and begged me to come back to him.
——
I wiped the blood from my lips and had just swallowed my painkillers when the door exploded inward.
Mason seized my wrist, his expression glacial.
"Chloe Harding." Each syllable was a blade. "You knew Rebecca is allergic to flowers. And you still filled the living room with them?"
His grip tightened until my bones ground together.
"Don't think that because I spared your life, I still have feelings for you. If you try anything against Rebecca—" His voice dropped to something lethal. "I will end you."
Before I could speak, he forced a handful of soybeans into my mouth.
"You wanted to trigger her allergies?" A cruel smile. "Let's see how you like it first."
The beans lodged in my throat. I choked, coughing violently.
Mason's brow furrowed. His hand moved toward the water glass—
Then stopped.
Instead, he slammed his palm against my back. The force sent me crashing into the table. Something in my ribs cracked.
The soybeans slid down into my stomach. Within a minute, my face swelled, the allergic reaction visible in real-time.
I felt nothing.
No—I chose to feel nothing.
I raised my hand and slapped myself across the face.
"I'm sorry. I failed to take proper care of Miss Fox. I'll remove the flowers immediately."
I didn't defend myself.
What was the point? In his eyes, I was already damned beyond redemption.
From the moment I returned to the Blackwell estate, Rebecca had made a game of humiliating me. Mason never saw it. Or maybe he just didn't care.
When Rebecca accidentally spilled soup on the floor, Mason made me kneel and lick it clean.
When she dropped her ring into the pool, he forced me into the frozen water in the dead of winter. Two hours. I nearly died.
Even those flowers—Rebecca had ordered them placed there herself. Just to see what Mason would do to me.
And now he stared at me, disgust carving deep lines into his face.
"Don't think bowing your head makes this go away, Chloe." His voice was quiet. Dangerous. "Rebecca is seven months pregnant. Your little stunt nearly made her miscarry."
He stepped closer.
"You're going to kneel in the memorial hall. You'll stay there until she's discharged from the hospital. I don't care if it takes days."
I nodded. My body was already broken—what was a little more?
I turned toward the door, dragging myself forward.
His hand shot out, yanking me back.
"You did this." His grip was bruising. "And now you're putting on this pathetic act? Who exactly is this performance for?"
