Chapter 1

To help his adopted sister, Rosalind Sterling, get taller, my brother Ashton Sterling forced me, Seraphina Sterling, to give her my legs for grafting.

He found a preacher, a man calling himself a True God, who hacked my legs off with an axe while I was still conscious.

Worried his precious Rosalind might feel guilty, Ashton then ordered someone to shove dog legs into the bleeding stumps, claiming they were specially made, lifelike prosthetics for me.

The agony was unbearable. My wounds weren't treated, weren't even cleaned, left to fester along with the filth from my loss of bodily control, the stench sickening.

But Ashton forbade the caregivers from helping me.

"Still got the energy to scream? Means it doesn't hurt enough. No medicine for her for a few days. Let her learn her lesson."

Near death, I used my last ounce of strength to drag myself off the bed, crawling towards the door, wanting only to beg Ashton for a shred of dignity in my final moments.

But he kicked me away with cold eyes.

"Disgusting. Don't scare Rosalind."

Later, when he heard wild dogs had dragged my body away, Ashton scoured the mountains and knelt in every church, desperate just to find my bones, to bring me home.