I thought I'd crossed into another world. Slipped into some parallel dimension where nothing made sense.
But before I could even begin to process it, the real nightmare began.
I screamed at them until my throat was raw.
"Let me go! I'm the Henson heiress! However much money you want, I can give it to you!"
Kathy Jennings spat at my feet.
"You've already been thrown away like garbage. And you still think you're going back?" She let out a harsh laugh. "Keep dreaming."
I tried everything I could think of to reach Jacob. Every method, every angle.
Every single message I sent disappeared into the void. Not one reply. Not ever.
"You really are spectacularly stupid, Marina."
Jacob tilted my chin up with one finger, forcing me to meet his gaze. His eyes were filled with nothing but contempt.
"Can you honestly not tell? I arranged all of this."
"Only someone as impossibly naive as you could miss it."
"Three years you sat here waiting for me. Three years you kept begging me to save you." A cold smile tugged at his lips. "What a joke."
His eyes narrowed as they traveled over my face, and disgust crept into his expression.
"Look at you. Sun-scorched. Rough as sandpaper." He tilted his head, appraising me like damaged goods. "You can't hold a candle to Rebecca now. Not even close."
"Then again, maybe this is what you deserve. You always did lord that pretty face over everyone else."
I kept my head down. I couldn't even manage a bitter smile.
Three years of wind and sun. Three years of relentless abuse.
When I caught my reflection in a mirror now, I barely recognized the woman staring back.
Is that really me?
Every winter, my fingers cracked and swelled until they looked like raw sausages. And the face I'd once spent a fortune maintaining? It was mapped with fine lines and dark spots, weathered beyond recognition.
I looked no different from any village farmwife.
Jacob stroked Rebecca's smooth cheek with sickening tenderness.
"See, Rebecca? Clothes make the woman. These days, you're every bit the heiress Marina used to be. No difference at all."
Rebecca Fletcher. The scholarship student I'd sponsored out of pity. I'd covered her tuition, her living expenses, let her eat at my table and sleep under my roof.
Over time, she'd become my best friend.
I never imagined she'd become the one who dragged me straight to hell.
Rebecca nestled into Jacob's arms with a coy little laugh.
"That's only because you spoil me, Jake."
Then she crouched down beside me, close enough that I could smell her perfume, and put on a show of sisterly warmth.
"Marina, you know what? While you've been away, Jake has taken such good care of me."
"And don't worry, I haven't let you down either. I've been taking very good care of him too. Including in bed."
A triumphant smile spread across her face. "So just relax and keep playing house out here, okay?"
Playing?
My head snapped up. I'd nearly died here. More than once. And they thought I was playing.
My mouth opened, but my throat seized like something had clamped around it. No sound came out.
Jacob waved a dismissive hand.
"Alright, she's had enough fun roughing it. Let's just bring her back."
The words had barely left his mouth before panic flashed across Rebecca's face.
"Jake, are you serious? You're really taking her back?"
"You said this trip was just to check on her. That's all."
"And look, we've seen her, she's perfectly fine! She was smiling and laughing just now. She probably doesn't even want to go back." Rebecca's voice climbed higher, faster. "Why don't we just take a few photos and let her stay here? She's clearly enjoying herself—"
Jacob frowned, hesitating.
"She's still the Henson heiress. I've been telling everyone she went on an extended vacation overseas for the past three years."
"The Hensons have been asking for her lately. If I keep stalling, it's going to raise questions." His jaw tightened. "It's time to bring her out."
