Chapter 3

Terrifying childhood memories rushed back, turning my vision completely black.

It felt like I was being dragged right back into that endless nightmare.

My body began to tremble uncontrollably.

"Chris? What happened?"

"I'm scared... Chris, please open the door..."

My face drained of color as I cried and begged through the wood.

Outside, Christian let out a low chuckle, his voice dripping with careless amusement.

"You idiot, you actually fell for it?"

"Sit in there and think about what you did. Next time, keep your nose out of my business."

I couldn't catch my breath. Heavy tears rolled down my cheeks.

"Chris, I'm sorry... I'm so sorry..." I sobbed, gasping for air.

My vision blurred into gray.

Before I completely lost consciousness, I faintly heard Christian talking to one of his friends outside.

"I just wanted to mess with the dummy. She was getting way on my nerves."

"Yeah, yeah, I know. I won't let anything actually happen to her."

...

When I opened my eyes again, the harsh smell of disinfectant filled the air.

Christian stood beside my hospital bed. Seeing me awake, he scowled.

"You alive?"

I shrank deeper beneath the blankets, refusing to look at him.

He cursed under his breath and stepped closer to the edge of the mattress.

In a flat, robotic tone, he muttered, "Fine. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have pulled that stunt."

I turned my face away and wiped at my red-rimmed eyes.

Christian lost his patience and kicked the leg of the bed.

"I already apologized, didn't I? You're supposed to forgive me. Did you hear me?"

I stared at the white sheets and whispered quietly, "Just go."

"I'm leaving! You think I actually want to hang around here and look at you?"

With a cold snort, Christian stormed out.

I curled myself into a tight ball under the duvet.

The bitter ache in my chest wouldn't go away, no matter how hard I tried to swallow it down.

I didn't understand.

Why was Christian doing this to me?

We hadn't always been like this.

When I was little, my parents abandoned me because I wasn't as clever as other children. My grandfather had raised me all by himself.

When he passed away in a tragic accident, I was left entirely alone in the world.

That was when Grandpa Vance showed up.

At my grandfather’s funeral, he wept openly.

Tears streaming down his face, he swore he owed everything to my grandfather and promised to take the best care of me.

So, I was brought to the Vance estate.

I became the child bride promised to the Vance family.

Perhaps because I was slow and awkward, I never made any friends there.

People even found ways to torment me when Grandpa Vance wasn't looking.

"She really is brain-dead. You're so gross."

"Why are you even alive? Why don't you just disappear?"

Children can be cruel in the most honest, brutal ways.

They used to drag me into dark storage rooms.

They shoved me around, their mocking laughter echoing off the walls.

I wanted to beg them to stop. I wanted to apologize.

But the rooms were always too dark, dark enough to crush any hope of fighting back.

I could only curl up in the corner, shivering in the cold.

*I wish Grandpa had taken me with him,* I used to think, over and over again.

Until one afternoon, a sudden beam of sunlight shattered the darkness.

The cruel voices abruptly died down.

Christian stepped into the light.

"Picking on a defenseless girl? Do you have any shame at all?"

He looked down at them with disgust and kicked the nearest kid away.

Then, his striking, sharp eyes locked right onto mine.

He looked so noble, so untouchable.

Terrified, I tried to shrink further into the shadows.

Until he leaned down and took my trembling hand in his.

"What are you scared of? I'm here to save you."