Chapter 2

Linnea's POV

It wasn't until his warm hands gripped my shoulders that I finally broke down. I clutched his shirt cuffs as if grabbing the last lifeline. "It was Mom and Dad... They went crazy in the boutique! They beat me half to death, Fletcher, they tried to kill me!"

Fletcher’s breath hitched. His usually gentle face twisted with shock and fury. "What did you say? Mom and Dad did this to you?!"

He pulled out his phone. "This is absolute madness! I’m calling them right now to see what the hell is wrong with them!"

Just as his finger hovered over the dial button—he froze.

He frowned, turned, and looked at me. "Wait. Linn, what exactly did you do to make them lose control in public?"

"I didn’t do anything!" I cried out desperately. "The pain was too much, so I took one of the painkillers you prescribed. The second Dad saw the pill, he turned into a monster and kicked the life out of me!"

Dead silence.

I watched helplessly as every ounce of empathy, anger, and warmth vanished from Fletcher’s face in an instant.

He slowly lowered his phone. His eyes, just a second ago full of concern, dropped freezing cold—filled with extreme disgust, as if he were looking at absolute filth.

"Fletch?" I shrank back in terror.

"So—you took that pill." His perfectly controlled voice barely masked a tidal wave of disappointment.

"What are you talking about?! You prescribed it!" I demanded sharply. "What is wrong with that pill? Tell me!"

He refused to explain. The bitter disappointment in his eyes deepened as he strode over, grabbing my wrist with a force that nearly crushed my swollen joints.

"Enough, Linn. Stop embarrassing yourself." His tone turned sinister, a complete 180-degree shift. "I’m taking you home right now. Looking like this, you are a disgrace to the family."

He was exactly like them!

"Let go! I’m not going back!" I struggled frantically.

"Stop fighting me!"

The moment he reached for my other wrist, I threw my weight backward and kicked him squarely in the knee with everything I had.

"Fuck!" Fletcher groaned, dropping to in one knee.

I shoved him away, scrambled out of the office, burst through the fire doors, and fled down the stairwell.

I ran blindly, heart pounding like thunder. I didn't stop until I was completely out of the hospital. My lungs rattled like they were filled with crushed glass. My legs gave out, and I collapsed into the shadows of Linden Street.

My parents were insane. My brother was insane. My mind was a tangled mess; I couldn't find a single logical thread. Calling the cops was out of the question—my dad played golf with the town sheriff every weekend.

Desperate and cornered, a name flashed through my mind—

Hollis Bramwell.

My fiancé. The Bramwell family was the only one that could rival ours in wealth and power. Six months ago, when everyone thought I was a lost cause after the crash, he never left my bedside. He loved me so much that he didn’t even complain when we had to postpone the wedding.

With trembling hands, I pulled out my shattered phone and dialed his number.

"Linn? Darling, where are you?" He picked up on the first ring.

Hearing his gentle voice shattered my last defense. "Hollis, save me… I just took a painkiller Fletcher gave me, and my parents beat me half to death… Fletcher just tried to kidnap me back home without listening… They’ve all gone insane over this pill…"

I clutched the phone, holding my breath. If Hollis used that same eerie, condemning tone, I truly had nowhere left to go.

"What the hell?!"

His voice was entirely stripped of its usual elegance; all that remained was raw shock and explosive rage. "They dared to touch you?! They beat you over a pill?!"

My tightly wound nerves finally snapped. The tears poured out.

"Tell me where you are, Linn. Stay put, I’m right there!"

Less than ten minutes later, a black Maybach screeched to a halt at the corner.

Hollis bolted out before the door even closed. Seeing me cowering like a beggar in the shadows, my face bruised and my lips split, his normally calm green eyes ignited with fury.

He ripped off his coat, wrapped it tightly around me, and pulled my freezing body into a fierce embrace.

"God, Linn… Look at what they did to you…" Hollis’s voice shook with heartache as he carefully wiped the blood from my chin.

"Hollis, I’m so scared. I didn't do anything wrong, I just took a painkiller…" I clung to his shirt, gripping it like a lifeline.

"I know you didn't! Their behavior is inexplicable!"

He scooped me up in his arms, marching back to the car, his voice gritted with venom:

"Get in, Linn. I am taking you home right now to demand a damn explanation from those psychotic monsters! We are settling this once and for all tonight—nobody gets away with putting their hands on my fiancée!"