Chapter 3

The basement was damp and dark.

This was my second time being locked in here.

The memory of the first time was still as clear as if it had just happened.

That time,I caught Vera sneaking into Luca's bedroom in the middle of the night.

I saw her in his bed.

She cried and said it was sleepwalking caused by childhood trauma.

She said she did not know why she had walked into Luca's room.

She only felt safe there.

She had not meant to.

My parents and Luca all believed her.

Luca even told her gently that if she was scared in the future,she could come to him anytime.

Back then,I was at the height of my obsession with Luca.I could not even tolerate a female assistant getting close to his private office.

So I slapped Vera.

Then my parents locked me in this basement.

Seven days.

Only half a bottle of water each day.

They did not let me out until hunger had broken me completely and I agreed to apologize.

This time,they clearly did not plan to merely starve me.

Father walked in holding an old leather whip,with Luca behind him.

"Thirty strikes would have been enough.But Vera pleaded for you and told me not to use a bat.So I switched to the whip.Fifty."

Crack.

The first lash fell,and a bloody welt rose on my skin at once.

He whipped me more than a dozen times.

The swollen marks split open one by one.

Every lash after that carried a numb,burning agony.

No wonder Vera had begged him to use the whip instead.

The whip had been soaked in something—chili water.

"Are you going to apologize or not?"

He never got the answer he wanted,so he struck harder and harder.

After fifty lashes,my back and arms were covered in split wounds.

Flesh curled open in strips.Blood ran down my spine and dripped onto the floor.

Pain numbed me.

I curled up in the corner,struggling to breathe.

Father threw the whip on the ground and turned to leave.

Before he walked out,he left one final sentence.

"Stubborn bones."

Luca crouched in front of me.

"Vera sent medicine and clean clothes for you.She has always been good to you,Isabella.You're her sister,and I'm about to be her brother-in-law.We should be taking care of her.Why do you always have to make her out to be the villain?"

"Apologize and end this.Stop letting the other families laugh at us."

He unfolded the clothes Vera had prepared and draped them over my back.

When the fabric touched the open wounds,my whole body went rigid,as if a basin of salt water had been poured over me.

I bent forward sharply and curled into a ball.

"Really good at acting.Vera goes pale every time she's in pain,and even she doesn't exaggerate like you."

Luca stood up in disgust and walked out.

The iron door closed behind him.

Only then did I finally manage to draw a breath.

Two more days.

I only had to hold on for two more days.