Chapter3

He tore at my neck like a rabid dog.

"You have a kid?"

"Is this fucking attitude of yours because of another man? I've been gone for five years, and you just spread your legs for someone else?!"

Smack!

Julian’s head snapped to the side. He poked the inside of his cheek with his tongue.

"You dared to hit me?"

Oblivious to the onlookers, he ripped at my clothes like a wild beast.

"You filthy slut! Bitch! Who is the guy?!"

I pushed him away with every ounce of strength I had, my voice tearing with sobs.

"Don't you hate me? I'm pregnant with a rapist's kid, just like you wanted! What more do you want from me?!"

A flicker of heartache flashed through Julian's eyes.

The look lasted for less than a second. If I hadn't been staring dead into his eyes, I would never have caught it. But that brief moment of pity suddenly made me want to laugh out loud.

He had ruined my entire life, and now he was feeling sorry for me?

"Julian, what if I told you the person who hurt your mother back then wasn't—"

Right then, his phone rang. It was that woman’s voice on the other end again.

"Julian... your mother just hanged herself..."

With a deafening crash, the enraged man smashed his phone into pieces.

He lunged and seized me by the throat, my carotid artery pulsing frantically against his palm.

"You deserved it! Karma's a bitch. You just went through the exact same pain my mother did!"

"Are you doing this just to piss me off? Why would you have this kid?!"

I didn't understand. If he hated me so much, why did he look at me with so much twisted love after all these years?

Back then, I had knelt at countless hospitals, but no one had dared to help me.

I had a blood coagulation disorder, and my uterine wall was as thin as paper. An abortion would have meant bleeding out on the operating table.

Those ten months of pregnancy were the most agonizing days of my life. I had to carry that child of sin while being tormented by nightmares of the gang rape. I couldn't sleep a wink at night. The moment I closed my eyes, I saw that tree, those men, and those billboards emitting a ghastly white glow in the dark.

I had tried to take care of it myself. Scalding water, razor blades, throwing myself down the stairs. But the fetus was stubborn; nothing I did could get rid of it.

Even now, my wrists were covered in a dense web of scars from my suicide attempts.

Some cuts were still fresh.

I spat right in his face, grabbed a fruit knife from the table, and plunged it into his shoulder.

"Because I liked it!"

"Julian, I'm just a shameless whore, as cheap as your mother! I'd even willingly bear a rapist's child!"

"You animal! Are you satisfied seeing me like this?!"

His mother had just met her demise, and here I was stabbing a knife straight into his heart.

I wanted him to hate me. Julian ought to despise me to the core. He shouldn't ever love me.

Julian let out a dark sneer, his expression turning downright sinister.

"Not satisfied at all."

"Sienna, since you love fucking around so much, I'll let you have the time of your life."

Without another word, he dragged my freshly stitched body into his car and floored the gas pedal, speeding through the streets.

We arrived at the King's Club. It was the most exclusive private parlor in the city; ordinary people couldn't even find its entrance. But the twisted games played inside were beyond any normal person's wildest, sickest imagination. I had heard of this place but had never been here.

Because the women who entered this club weren't treated as merchandise—they were toys.

Julian violently yanked down my pants and shoved me into a glass cubicle.

The booth was exposed on all sides, with stark, blinding lights shining directly down on me.

Smack!

A man slapped me hard from behind and began groping me brazenly.

"Who's the bitch with her bottom half out? Never seen this new meat before!"

I saw Julian's face darken with rage.

Immediately after, countless hands reached out for me through the gaps.

"I remember! Five years ago, there was this viral gang-bang video. I still have it saved today!"

"Tied to a big tree taking on hundreds of guys. That chick had a heart-shaped birthmark on her ass cheek, could it be her?"

"I found the video, I'll play it for you guys!"

Seconds later, the agonizing, heart-wrenching screams of my past echoed in my ears.

I squeezed my eyes shut, my mind flooded with memories of that humiliating, hopeless night. The howling wind, the billboards rattling loudly. I couldn't clearly see those men's faces back then, but I remembered their voices. Every sentence, every word, every vile laugh was carved deep into my bones.

Hearing me screaming Julian's name in the video, one of the men struck up a conversation with him.

"Mr. Reed, this chick is screaming your name. Is she your girl?"

"What kind of deep grudge do you have to just toss her away like this? Since Mr. Reed doesn't mind, we'll reward this lady one more time!"

Julian stared intensely into my eyes, but I didn't beg for mercy like I had all those years ago.

He seemed to be acting out of sheer spite.

His tone was infuriatingly casual.

"She's just a desperate whore. Play with her if you want. Be my guest."

Upon hearing that, the crowd grew even more brazen.

Malicious glares and filthy words completely suffocated me.

"Why don't we all join in?"

"Mr. Reed's woman—we definitely got to serve her right, don't you think boys?!"

Just as they were about to enter me, a sudden gunshot exploded through the room.

The crotch of the man aiming for me burst into a fountain of blood, splashing hot crimson across my skin.

"Do you all have a fucking death wish? Try touching her, I dare you!"

They couldn't afford to cross Julian, but losing their prey at the last second still sparked their fury.

"Who the hell just said we could play? Mr. Reed can't handle the game?!"

Julian didn't utter a word. He just pulled the trigger and dropped a few more men.

People pissed themselves in terror, women shrieked, and it took a long time before the chaotic scene finally fell dead silent.

He took long strides toward me and hauled me up by my arms.

"Sienna, why didn't you fight back? Did you enjoy it that much?!"

I tilted my head back and stared at him, my expression abysmally blank.

Even now, he still believed that woman's lies, thinking I was completely promiscuous.

"Yeah, I loved every second of it. Isn't this exactly how you like to see me?"

"Anyone is fine as long as it isn't you! Why did you have to ruin my good time?!"

He delivered a brutal kick to my backside, and I collapsed onto the floor like a stray dog beaten in the streets.

"Remember this, Sienna. This is what your whole family owes me!"

Black cards and cash rained down on the floor. Trembling and utterly humiliated, I crawled on the ground and stuffed them into my pockets.

I went to the hospital to schedule a kidney transplant for my mother and bought a fresh bouquet of daisies.

But when I dragged my exhausted body home, I couldn't dodge the ceramic bowl my mother hurled straight at my face.

The room reeked of stale smoke, cheap liquor, and shattered beer bottles scattered across the floor.

"You filthy bitch! If you hadn't insisted on seducing that animal Julian, would your father have been retaliated against until he killed himself?"

"Why don't you just go die?! Just die already!!"

Blood trickled down from my temple.

I locked myself in the attic while my mother continued to smash things like a lunatic down the hall.

I looked up at the moon through the window.

I was asking myself the same things.

"Why did I have to fall in love with Julian back then? Why wasn't I the one who died?"

"Maybe if I had never met him, my life would have been happier than anyone's..."

The next day was the anniversary of my father's death.

I sneaked out and went to the cemetery.

But before I even reached his grave, I noticed a woman in her fifties kneeling in front of his tombstone.

A bouquet rested before her. She wore a white dress, and when she turned to look at me, there was a visible, deep ligature mark around her neck.

My heart jolted.

She had the exact same brows and eyes as Julian.

"Excuse me, are you Officer Shen's daughter?"

"I don't have many lucid moments left. Now that I finally remembered my savior, I just had to come see him..."

I froze in place, unable to believe the truth that was about to unfold.

Just then, a tall silhouette blocked out the sun behind me, casting a dark shadow over both of us.

Julian's deep voice rang out from behind.

"What did you just say?"