Chapter 4

I forced myself to calm down. Ryan would come save me.

Even though he was taken to the police station, once he notified his legal team, not even God himself could keep him there…

Just then, Chad's voice crackled through the listening device. "Blake, that guy you told me to lock up, isn't he a lunatic? He claims to be some big shot, showing me his ID, demanding to contact his legal team."

Blake burst into laughter. "Hilarious! He's probably some pathetic loser who's been watching too many B-grade action flicks. Just hold him for 48 hours to make Ashley feel better."

Laughter erupted from the device.

My whole body trembled with rage. Blake wasn't just bullying me; he was going after my family!

My brother was injured. What if something happened to him?

I struggled to my feet, slamming my body against the heavy basement door…

No matter how hard I crashed into it, drawing blood, the door didn't budge an inch.

Chad's voice came again. "Aren't you worried Chloe will get angry? You even staged that hero rescue with me when you were chasing her. I thought you were just playing around, but you ended up dating for six years and now you're dead set on marrying her. I wonder what good fortune she accumulated in her past life."

Blake laughed smugly. "She was famously hard to get back then. If Ashley hadn't told me to chase her, I wouldn't have bothered with such a poor woman acting all high and mighty!"

I collapsed against the door, sliding down, utterly powerless.

So—even my initial feelings were a lie.

I screamed and screamed in fury, but no one could hear me. Only their laughter echoed from the listening device.

"After I got her, she was quiet, pretty, and not clingy, so I figured, why not just go with it? But now she's so annoying, pressuring me to get married, to be more ambitious. She has no idea what her place is."

Someone else asked Blake, "So you're still marrying her?"

"Aside from being poor, she doesn't have many flaws. The main thing is, she's absolutely crazy about me. She knew I married Ashley, but she still went to try on wedding dresses the very next day. Don't mind me locking her in the basement now; she'll definitely show up for the wedding…"

I curled up in the corner, feeling swallowed by the darkness, my breathing growing harder.

Blake was so confident. I wasn't desperate to get married. Why would I willingly let myself be trampled and marry him?

For the past six years, Blake wore a mask, and I was engrossed in my studies. We were like a pseudo-intimate couple, never truly delving into each other's lives.

I didn't know his intentions were so malicious, and he had no idea of my immense wealth.

I gasped for breath in the basement, while he was having a wild bachelor party above me.

My parents would arrive tomorrow. They would surely come to save my brother and me.

And Julian Blackwood, we had agreed to marry.

I couldn't give up. I couldn't sleep.

The next day.

I was incredibly weak.

Until I heard my mother's furious voice through the listening device.

"Blake Blackwood! Who is this woman? And why is she lying in bed with you in her lingerie?"

Blake yawned loudly. "Aunt and Uncle, you're here early. She's just my buddy. We've been practically attached at the hip since childhood."

Ashley scoffed. "Seriously, what's the big deal? Men can go shirtless, why can't women? Are you old fogies being sexist?"

I felt the ground vibrate, probably my father angrily slamming his cane. He'd been in the military for years, terrifyingly powerful.

"Where is my daughter!"

Blake seemed at a loss for words, but Ashley quickly interjected. "She's not here. She argued with my buddy yesterday. I don't know how you raised your daughter, but she shamelessly wanted to buy a million-dollar wedding dress…"

My mother sharply cut her off. "What's wrong with a million-dollar wedding dress? My daughter deserves even a ten-million-dollar one!"

Ashley laughed. "Like mother, like daughter. Blake, your Hayes family is really milking you for everything they can."

Through the listening device, my mother cursed loudly, but my father stopped her. He was a busy man and usually too lazy to bother with such trivial matters.

"Since my daughter isn't here, we'll take our leave. I suppose we won't be seeing each other again." My father's words meant he was rejecting the marriage.

But I was here!

I heard them turn to leave.

I struggled to open my eyes, desperately banging on the wall.

Just then, a dog barked through the listening device. The sound seemed to be getting closer…

"Woof!"

Right outside the door!

Duke, the guard dog Blake had mentioned, had followed my scent and found me.

He was a top military-trained dog!

"Mom, Dad—" I cried out.

The next second, my father kicked open the door.

When the light from outside streamed in, I instinctively recoiled, like something that couldn't bear the light.

In the basement, I was clad only in my undergarments, chained by the neck with a dog leash, my wrists raw and bleeding from the handcuffs, my body bruised and discolored, my face deathly pale.

I looked like I was at death's door.

In that moment, my parents' eyes were blazing, filled with a murderous rage!

Blake's legs gave out, and he almost knelt.

My father's palpable fury pressed down on everyone in the room!