Chapter 2

The soundproofing in this house was terrible.

Curled up on my bed, I could hear Isabella flirting with Vincent clearly as if they were in the same room with me.

I kept my eyes shut and let endless heartache swallow me whole.

In my sleep, I was dragged back to the day I heard the news that my parents had been killed by a falling rock in the mountains while they were on their way to teach.

I was fifteen. In front of all my relatives, I became a hot potato they couldn’t wait to toss away.

Only when my parents’ bodies were brought back did they finally decide what to do with me.

It poured that day. I knelt in front of my parents’ graves and refused to stand.

Vincent held an umbrella, shielding me from wind and rain with his own body, staying in the cemetery with me all night.

When I finally knelt until I passed out, he carried me home.

From that day on, I wasn’t an orphan no one wanted. I became the jewel in the palm of the entire Miller family.

To make me feel safe, Vincent had my room renovated to look exactly like the place I used to live.

Knowing I was afraid of the dark, he came every night to soothe me to sleep.

In my most frightened, helpless years, he stayed by my side, filling my world little by little with patience and gentleness.

But I was the one who shattered those beautiful days with my own hands.

It was my eighteenth birthday. He’d made a special trip back just to celebrate with me.

I blew out the candles after making a wish, but my eyes never left him.

I said I wished I could be with Vincent and stay by his side for the rest of my life.

For the first time, the always reserved, controlled man’s expression changed.

The way he looked at me turned colder by the second, and the words he spoke were cruel, sharp enough to pierce my ears.

“Ella, you dare to have thoughts that filthy about me! I watched you grow up. Shame of you!”

“You’d better bury those gross thoughts where no one can ever see them.”

It felt like a huge hand clamped around my heart. The pain stole my breath.

I jolted awake with a scream, sucking in air in ragged gulps.

My voice had been too loud. I woke Vincent and Isabella in the room next door.

My door was knocked, and Vincent’s voice came through.

“Ella. Open the door.”

I still hadn’t fully come back to myself. Hearing him, my body moved on instinct, rushing to the door.

When I pulled it open, Vincent frowned. “It’s the middle of the night. What are you shrieking for? What’s wrong with you?”

My hand froze in midair.

Back when I woke from nightmares, Vincent would reach for my hand first, comfort me, tell me not to be afraid.

I’d forgotten this Vincent wasn’t the Vincent from before.

When I didn’t answer, impatience flashed across his face. “Ella. Talk.”

“Nothing. Just a nightmare,” I said.

Vincent lowered his gaze to me and let out a sigh. “Go back to sleep.”

I turned to leave then the door to the room next door swung open.

Isabella stepped out wearing Vincent’s shirt. There were still kiss marks blooming at her neck.

She deliberately moved closer and wrapped her arms around me.

“Nightmares are horrible. Come here, let me hug you. It’s okay, it’s okay.”

The kiss marks filled my vision. Along with the pain in my chest came a rolling, nauseating churn in my stomach.

I shoved Isabella, trying to pull away.

But Isabella screamed like she’d been hit by something brutal and flew backward, landing two meters away.

Before I could even process what had happened, Vincent rushed to her like a gust of wind, scooping her into his arms.

“Isabella, are you okay?”

Isabella’s face was pale, tears trembling in her eyes.

“Vincent, don’t blame Ella. She might not like me, but she would never push me. I just… I just lost my footing and fell.”

Vincent’s icy stare landed on me, as if he meant to freeze me inch by inch where I stood.

“Ella! I know you’ve never liked Isabella, but I didn’t think you could be this vicious!”

“There are stairs right behind her. If you’d used even a little more force, she would’ve fallen! I used to think you were just spoiled, that deep down you were still a good kid. I never imagined you’d do something like this!”

“Get down to the confinement room. Now.”

I watched him lift Isabella up, panicking as he said he’d take her to the hospital to get checked.

In Vincent’s arms, Isabella peeked over and gave me a smug, taunting smile.

My whole body locked up. I couldn’t move a step.

Not until a servant came up to me and let out a quiet sigh.

“Ella, sir specifically told me to take you to the confinement room.”

I swallowed my tears and followed behind the servant.

The confinement room had no windows. Once the door closed, it was nothing but darkness.

I’d been punished in here before. But Vincent knew I was afraid of the dark, so he’d secretly had a light installed in the room.

The door slammed shut. I reached for the switch along the wall from memory.

I pressed it again and again. The light never came on.

My heart sank, dropping straight into my stomach.

Darkness poured over me, along with bottomless panic, swallowing me whole.

I sobbed and pounded on the door, begging Vincent to let me out, begging whoever was outside to give me even a sliver of light.

I didn’t know how long I screamed. No one answered.

In the end, I curled up in a corner, wrapping my arms around myself as tight as I could.

My nerves were stretched so tight I didn’t dare close my eyes. I just stared at the doorway, blank, until it finally opened and sunlight spilled in.

On the wall, I saw a line of huge words, something Vincent had written the first time I was locked in here.

【Our Ella is the bravest! You cleared the “Darkness” level—black truffle steak as your prize! 】

Tears the size of beans rolled from my eyes. I dropped to my knees, my heart aching so badly I couldn’t even breathe through the sobs.

Vincent appeared against the light, his voice cold. “Do you know what you did wrong?”

“I do.”

I was wrong.

Wrong for liking him.

Wrong for loving him.