Chapter 4

Buzz—

The auction hall erupted into absolute chaos. 

Marnie strutted over to me. "Vanessa, pulling a cheap stunt like this just for some dead woman's jewelry? Did you ever think about how Lewis would feel?"

I crouched on the floor, clutching my exposed chest. "No wonder you were so eager to pick out my dress for tonight. You set this up..."

"Vanessa!" 

Lewis’s face was dark with rage.

He looked at me like I was dirt on his shoe.

"You just love showing off for an audience, don't you? The proud Mafia princess? You're nothing but trash."

He shoved his hands into his pockets and stepped up to the podium, taking the microphone.

"Since tonight's main event was ruined, let's make up for it. I'm offering a hidden item." 

He dragged out his words, his cold eyes locking onto me. 

"Private photos of my lovely wife, Vanessa. Bidding starts at a hundred bucks."

The room went dead silent for a second.

Then came the gasps, the whispers, and the excited shouts. The noise crashed over me like a tidal wave. 

Someone nervously raised a paddle. "T-two hundred?"

That was all it took. The crowd went wild. 

"Five hundred!"

"Two thousand!"

"Twelve thousand!"

In the end, a sleazy, overweight mob boss won the bid for ten million.

He rubbed his fat hands together as Lewis handed him a flash drive. 

"Mr. Ravelli, why keep the fun to myself?" The man’s eyes roamed over my shivering body on the floor. "We're all friends here. I'll share it with the room!"

"Be my guest," Lewis said flatly.

He took Marnie's hand and turned toward the exit. 

I curled into a ball on the cold floor, my fingers digging desperately into the bracelet my mother had left me.

Behind me, the massive projector screen lit up. 

It started playing the footage of my 24-hour kidnapping.

Over, and over, and over again...

......

I had pushed open the doors of the Ravelli estate, wearing an oversized coat to hide my torn clothes. 

"Vanessa, you're back!" Marnie was sitting at the dining table, waving at me. "The chef just finished the lobster bisque. Come have some."

I ignored her and walked straight toward the stairs. "Eat it yourself. I lost my appetite." 

I didn't want anything to do with her anymore. I just wanted to get to my room and wait for my lawyer to draft the divorce papers. 

But the moment my foot hit the step, Marnie’s sweet voice turned venomous. 

"So, how did it feel playing the star in your own little action movie?"

I gripped the stair railing so hard my knuckles turned white. 

She walked over to me, a fake, sickly-sweet smile plastered on her face.

"Come on, Vanessa. Lewis had them make this bisque just for me. It’s delicious. You should really try a bite."

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw her watching the hallway.

Footsteps were approaching. Lewis. 

Just as his tall shadow crossed the threshold—

"Ah!" 

Marnie let out a dramatic scream and threw herself backward.

At the exact same moment, she grabbed my arm, yanked hard, and perfectly splashed the bowl of boiling hot bisque all over her own shoulder and chest. 

The scalding liquid hit her skin with a horrible hiss.

Marnie went pale from the pain. A few drops hit my hand, and I flinched back. 

Marnie crashed to the floor, her hair fully messed up, looking like a total victim. 

"Oh my god! It burns! Vanessa, I just wanted to share with you... Do you really hate me that much?"

Lewis rushed into the room.

He saw Marnie covered in blistering red burns, crying on the floor.

Then he looked at me, standing there pale with the spilled bowl at my feet. 

He rushed to Marnie, his eyes bloodshot with sudden, violent rage. 

"Vanessa! Are you out of your freaking mind?!"

I stepped back.

My voice shook. "I... I didn't do it! She did it to herself! Check the security cameras—"

Marnie sobbed louder, cutting me off. "Lewis, it hurts so bad! She's just jealous that you bought me that bracelet. It's my fault..."

Her fake tears were like gasoline on Lewis's fire. 

His eyes slowly shifted to the pot of boiling bisque still rolling on the stove. 

"She did it to herself?" Lewis hissed through gritted teeth. "Fine. Let's see how you like it. Remember what happens when you touch what's mine."

Before I could even blink, he grabbed the heavy pot of boiling soup and poured it directly over my head. 

Splash!

The boiling liquid splashed directly across the side of my face, the scalding heat instantly blistering my cheek and jawline. 

It soaked entirely through my thin coat, searing straight into my flesh and burning right over the old knife scar on my collarbone—the one I got taking a blade for him years ago. 

I collapsed like a broken doll.

The pain was so absolute I couldn't even form a scream.

My body just hit the floor. 

Lewis stood there, watching the red, blistering burns spread across my skin.

His anger seemed to cool for a split second, but Marnie whimpered, pulling his attention back to her. 

He turned to the maids who had just run in. "What are you staring at?! Get a doctor for Marnie, now!"

He paused, glancing down at my motionless body. 

"As for this vicious bitch," he snarled, "drag her down to the cold storage. Let her cool off."

The heavy steel door of the underground meat locker slammed shut with a deafening boom.

The freezing air pierced straight into my bones. 

I crashed onto the icy floor, a pathetic groan slipping from my lips.

I curled up, my body shaking violently as the blistering heat of my burns fought the freezing temperature of the room.

The brutal clash of extreme cold and boiling heat made it feel like my skin was cracking apart, peeling off my bones piece by agonizing piece.

My teeth chattered uncontrollably.

The pain was tearing my mind apart. My vision started to go dark... 

Meanwhile, upstairs...

Lewis was sitting by Marnie’s side. "Don't worry. I'll get the best doctors. I promise it won't leave a scar."

Marnie leaned back weakly against the pillows. "Don't blame Vanessa. She only did it because she loves you so much."

Lewis’s eyes were full of heartache. "You're just too soft, too kind. That's why she keeps hurting you."

He called for the butler. "Watch the cold storage door. No one opens it without my permission. Let her sit in there and think about what she's done!"

"She doesn't come out until she admits she's wrong!"

Alfred, the old butler, replied with a low "Yes, sir."

He turned around and let out a quiet sigh. 

He had watched Lewis and Vanessa grow up together.

How did those two childhood sweethearts end up like this? 

Unable to bear it, the butler secretly cracked the steel door of the cold storage open just an inch.

Through the haze of agony, I heard the door creak open.

Alfred, the old butler who had watched me grow up, slipped inside. 

When he saw the gruesome burns covering my body on the bloody ice, the elderly man dropped to his knees, his hands trembling. 

"My God... Mrs. Ravelli..." Alfred’s voice broke. "I'm calling an ambulance. I don't care what Mr. Lewis says—"

"No!" I used every last ounce of my strength to grab his sleeve.

"Lewis owns the hospitals in New York," I gasped, blood spilling from my cracked lips. "If he takes me there... he'll just keep me trapped as his ruined, obedient prisoner forever." 

Alfred froze, tears welling in his old eyes. "Then what do we do, child?"

"Alfred..." I whispered. "The uncle Vittorio would turn in his grave if he saw what his son did to me today."

I took a ragged breath, tasting my own blood. "For the old Don's sake... please, do me one last favor."

"Anything. Just tell me."

"Help me die tonight." 

Alfred gasped. 

"Let Vanessa Ravelli die in this freezer tonight. Smuggle me out of the country... to Europe. " 

My vision was rapidly going completely black, but my mind had never been clearer. 

Lewis Ravelli. When I crawl back from hell, I will make sure you and Marnie burn in it.