Chapter 2

All night long, I kept myself locked in my second-floor bedroom, barricading the door with my heavy wooden dresser.

I didn't dare fall asleep. The moment I closed my eyes, Thorne's contorted, savagely violent face would flash before me.

Early the next morning, seizing the moment Rowena left for her community church service, I grabbed my phone and, with trembling fingers, dialed my best friend, Odette.

"Oh my god, Isolde, are you okay?"

"You sound like you're shaking."

The genuine concern in Odette's voice on the other end of the line made me instantly break down in tears.

"Odette, please come get me... Thorne has lost his mind, and my mom has too."

"I need to get out of here."

I sobbed incoherently, keeping my voice dropped to a harsh whisper.

In less than half an hour, Odette's SUV came screeching to a halt outside my house.

She was a fiery, no-nonsense defense attorney. The second she burst through the front door and saw the deep bruising around my neck and my swollen, red cheek, her eyes welled up with fierce, protective tears.

"That son of a bitch Thorne!"

"I'll kill him!"

Odette pulled me into a tight embrace.

"And your mother? She just stood there and let him do this to you?"

"Isolde, go pack a bag. I'm taking you straight to the police, and then you're staying at my place. You are never setting foot in this hellhole again!"

Hearing those words, the massive knot of anxiety in my chest finally began to unravel.

Odette was the only person in this world I could trust unconditionally.

But just as I turned to head upstairs and grab my things, the front door swung entirely open.

Rowena walked in, carrying a brown paper grocery bag.

She didn't look the least bit surprised to see Odette standing there. Instead, her face broke into that exact same, blood-chilling maternal smile.

"Oh, Odette, you're here."

"Did you come to keep Isolde company?"

Rowena calmly placed the paper bag down on the dining table.

Odette stepped in front of me like a fiercely protective lioness, glaring coldly. "Aunt Rowena, I'm here to take Isolde away."

"Allowing someone to brutally assault her makes you an accessory to a crime."

Rowena let out a soft sigh, a glimmer of melancholy and helplessness flashing in her eyes. "Odette, dear, you've misunderstood."

"Isolde's situation... is very complicated."

"There are some things you really ought to see for yourself."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Odette furrowed her brows.

"On the table down in the basement, there is a medical file on Isolde, along with something Thorne left behind yesterday."

"Take one look at it, and you'll understand completely."

"If you still want to take her away after you've seen it, I promise I won't stand in your way."

Rowena pointed a slender finger toward the heavy iron door at the end of the hall.

"Don't go!"

"Odette, please, don't go in there!"

I grabbed Odette's arm frantically, my nails digging so hard they almost broke her skin.

The horrific transformation Thorne had undergone in there was still searingly fresh in my mind. I couldn't let Odette walk into that room.

Odette gently patted the back of my hand, lowering her voice to soothe me. "Don't be scared, Isolde."

"I'm a lawyer. Let's see what kind of sick trick she's trying to pull."

"I'll go grab this 'evidence' of hers and hand it straight over to the cops."

With that, she gently pulled free from my frantic grip and marched boldly toward the basement.

The heavy iron door let out a harsh, metallic screech as she pulled it shut behind her.

Left standing in the middle of the living room, every passing second stretched out like a drawn-out century.

Cold sweat trickled down my spine, dampening my shirt.

I stared fixatedly at that door, praying to God that Odette would walk back out wearing her usual dismissive, confident sneer.

Ten minutes later, the iron doorknob turned.

Odette walked out.

My heart instantly plummeted into the dark pit of my stomach.

Her face was as ashen as a sheet of paper. Her breathing was dangerously ragged, her eyes staring blankly at the floorboards.

"Odette... what did you see?"

"Let's get out of here, okay?"

I approached her cautiously, reaching out a shaking hand to take hers.

SMACK!

A devastating slap struck me squarely across the face.

Caught completely off guard, I was sent crashing hard against the hardwood floor. The corner of my mouth split open instantly, warm blood spilling down my chin.

I looked up in utter disbelief, staring at the woman who was my best friend.

Odette towered over me, peering down. Her eyes—which just minutes ago had been filled with fierce, protective love—now held nothing but pure, visceral revulsion and hatred.

"Don't touch me, you sickening monster."

Odette's voice was absolute ice.

"Odette... what are you talking about?"

I sobbed, scrambling backward away from her.

"You still have the nerve to play the innocent victim?"

"A vile, filthy whore like you—your very existence is a waste of oxygen!"

Odette suddenly lost all control. She lunged forward and delivered a ruthless, driving kick right to my stomach.

Blinding pain dropped me. I curled into a tight fetal position, a cold sweat instantaneously drenching my trembling body.

"Beating her to death wouldn't even be going too far," Rowena remarked airily from the sidelines.

Odette didn't spare me a second glance. Looking deeply disgusted, she wiped her hands aggressively on her skirt as if she had just touched a deadly virus. Then, without looking back, she stormed out the front door, started her engine, and sped away.

I lay curled on the freezing floorboards, my vision slowly blurring with tears and pain.

My best friend, my final lifeline, had walked into that basement, and barely ten minutes later emerged as a bitter enemy who wanted me dead.

"Do you see now, Isolde?"

Rowena drifted over to me. She crouched down, gripping my chin with icy fingers, forcing me to look directly into her eyes.

"No one will ever want you. No one will ever believe you."

"You're going to stay right here. Forever."