Chapter 3

It was already three hours later when we got back to Pierce Villa.

I had been curled up in the small trunk for a long time. As soon as I put my feet on the ground, my legs were so numb that I almost fell. So I instinctively grabbed the small tree beside me and finally managed to steady myself.

When Debby saw this, she was almost in tears. "Ms. Quincey, I know you don't like me, but you can't damage my wisteria. Mr. Pierce and I planted it with our own hands."

Her eyes turned red, and tears started streaming down.

I was stunned and looked at the wisteria tree beside me.

In my memory, there should have been a swing here that Caleb built with his own hands to make me happy back then. But now the swing was gone, and Caleb's love was gone, too.

The wisteria had just lost a few insignificant little flowers because I leaned on it for support.

Without any warning, Caleb rushed over and yanked me away from the tree.

He roared, "Jessica, I knew it. I knew you would bully Debby as soon as you got back.

"I'm telling you, although I can't cancel the engagement with you, you'll never be the hostess of the Pierce family.

"Get back to your room. Even looking at you makes me sick."

I was thrown aside by him, and my back hit the elaborately arranged rose flower wall. A section of the flowers and leaves collapsed because of that.

Debby bit her lip and was crying so hard that she could barely breathe.

Caleb hugged her as a comfort while giving me a cold, sidelong glance. "Debby has asthma. Are you happy making her cry like this? I think you've had it too good there, that's why you're so out of control. Today, no, you don't need to come for meals until the day after tomorrow."

Upon hearing these words, my stomach twitched in pain instinctively.

The work in the illegal coal mine was physically exhausting. Not providing food was the easiest way to control someone.

After I was thrown into the illegal coal mine, Terry was quite respectful to me in the first few days. But when he found out that Caleb didn't even call to ask about me, he was certain that I was a worthless stupid woman.

I was locked deep in the coal cave and became a tool for those men to vent their lust.

I tried to commit suicide countless times but failed, and what I got in return were beatings and "discipline" again and again.

To make me surrender, Terry once didn't give me food for ten consecutive days, only giving me a cup of water each day.

I became skin and bones, and my stomach problems got worse. During the toughest times, it felt like my stomach acid was about to burn through my stomach and intestines, and I was rolling on the ground in pain.

Caleb and I grew up together. He clearly knew that I would get a stomachache if I didn't eat.

Feeling my back, which was bleeding from being pricked by the rose thorns, I lowered my head numbly and obediently. "Yes, Mr. Pierce."

The utility room at the corner of the villa was where I would stay tonight. It was dark and cramped, filled with all the old junk of this house everywhere, and there was a single bed in the corner.

The servant, Maggie Robinson, secretly told me that ever since I was driven away by Caleb three years ago, Debby had moved into Pierce Villa. Caleb claimed to compensate her for the evil deeds I had done to Debby.

When Caleb's grandfather, Charles Pierce, was still alive, he doted on me the most. Even though I didn't come often, he still reserved the largest and best room in the Pierce Villa for me.

But after Debby moved in, Caleb gave my room to her.

I hurriedly asked Maggie what had happened to my old things.

"They were all packed and thrown here by Mr. Pierce," Maggie said.

After Maggie left, I endured the pain in my body and started rummaging through the piles of old furniture.

I first found a teddy bear. One of its eyes was missing, its pretty little dress was dirty, and its belly was torn open by someone, with cotton sticking out.

I remembered the gentle look on Caleb's face when he gave it to me.

He said, "Jessica, you're afraid of the dark. When I'm not around, let this teddy bear be by your side instead of me."

But later, he threw me into the illegal coal mine for three whole years. I struggled and cried hysterically in the darkness, but he never looked back at me again.

Tears welled up, and I quickly wiped them away. Then I found a wrinkled school uniform jacket.

I remembered that I suddenly got my period on the way home from school that year, and my pants were stained by the blood.

The teenage boys on the road were all laughing at me. I lowered my head, feeling ashamed and furious. But then a jacket was suddenly wrapped around my waist.

I looked up and saw the ferocity in young Caleb's eyes. "Whoever laughed at you just now, I'll go smash their mouths," he said.

Scenes from the past flashed through my mind, and in the end, all that was left for me was the darkness in the room.

But it didn't matter anymore. The current Jessica was already used to the darkness, and after days and days of humiliation, she had lost her sense of shame and sensitivity.

Tears flowed even more fiercely, but I didn't stop what I was doing.

The pain from my broken ribs and sprained calf made my movements extremely slow.

My body was severely exhausted. Every time I took a breath, I could taste the blood welling up in my throat.

My forehead was burning hot, and my vision was gradually blurring.

Just when I could barely hold on, I finally touched that thing. My USB drive.

It had the evidence that I hadn't had time to give to Caleb back then, proving that Debby had staged the bullying herself.

After finding the USB drive, I could no longer hold on and passed out in pain on the bed.

In a daze, the door of the utility room was suddenly pushed open. Someone strode in.

Free Points