Chapter 6
When Elara woke up again, the first thing she saw was the stark white ceiling of a hospital room.
2011 C
“You’re finally awake!” a nurse said, breathing a sigh of relief. “You’re seriously injured. We need to contact your family right away.”
She paused, unable to stop herself from sighing. “Look at Miss Croft in the next room. She fell in the water too, but her injuries are
much lighter. Still, Mr. Blackwood hasn’t left her side for a second, treats her like she’s made of glass. Where’s your family? It’s been
two days and no one’s shown up…”
Elara managed a weak, humorless smile but said nothing.
Just then, the door to her room was thrown open with violent force.
Damien stood in the doorway, his face a thunderous mask, his eyes like daggers stabbing into her.
The nurse froze, confused as to why Mr. Blackwood was here, but seeing his
The moment the door closed, Damien swept the medicine tray from the bedside
scattering across the floor.
“Did you push Isabelle into the sea?” His voice was colder than ice.
Elara froze.
, she quickly excused herself.
sending glass vials shattering and pills
She couldn’t understand why Isabelle would frame her again. A wave of profound exhaustion washed over her. “I didn’t.”
“Still lying?” Damien grabbed her wrist, his grip so tight she thought her bones would break. “Isabelle told me everything!
you supposed to be so understanding? Why have you suddenly become like this?”
Hallengren’t
He let out a cold, harsh laugh, as if a sudden realization had dawned on him. “Or was it all an act? Was your tolerance just
to get my attention?”
Elara’s face went white with pain, but she simply stared back at him, too weary to even bother explaining.
Her silence seemed to enrage him further.
He violently threw her hand aside. “Fine. If you won’t admit it, you can face the consequences yourself.”
a
game
He turned to leave, his voice laced with venom. “From now on, no doctors or nurses will attend to you. You can suffer this pain
alone.”
The following days were a living hell for Elara.
No doctors made rounds. No nurses came to change her dressings. She had to drag her battered body to the supply cabinet, her
hands trembling as she applied her own medicine.
O
Several times, she fell, bruising her knees on the hard floor, but she always gritted her teeth and pulled herself back up.
Damien probably thought that she, the “great Miss Vance,” wouldn’t be able to endure such torment.
But he didn’t know. She wasn’t Seraphina, the pampered socialite raised in a gilded cage.
She was Elara, the girl who had clawed her way through a childhood of neglect, abandoned by her parents, forced to endure every
sickness on her own.
What was this pain compared to that?
A few days later, just as Elara finished her discharge paperwork and was packing her few belongings, the door to her room was kicked open again.
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Chapter 6
Damien stormed in, his face a dark mask, and seized her wrist. “You’re coming with me.”
“For what?” Elara frowned.
2011
“Isabelle’s been kidnapped by Julian Thorne,” Damien said, his voice tight with tension. “He specifically requested you as the exch- ange. He’ll release you in three days.”
Elara’s heart went cold.
Julian Thorne. The infamous deviant of their social circle. Every time he saw her, his slimy, predatory gaze made her skin crawl.
“I’m not going,” she refused flatly.
Damien’s eyes turned glacial. “You don’t have a choice.”
He stared at her, his tone suddenly softening. “Julian has a thing for
this is over, I’ll agree to any condition you name.”
you; he
Won’t actually hurt
you. Just be
cooperative, and after
Elara looked up at him and suddenly smiled. “Alright. Then I want a wedding.”
Damien froze. “What?”
“We only signed the
We papers.
This was part of her plan.
never had a ceremony,” Elara said softly. “I want you to pr
”
When Seraphina returned, she needed a grand, public wedding to witness the official transfer of
title of
Blackwood.”
Damien was silent for a long time before finally nodding. “Fine. I promise.”
When Elara was delivered to Julian Thorne’s mansion, he was lounging on a sofa, a sly grin on his face.
“Mrs. Blackwood. So good to see you again.”
His fingertips brushed against her cheek. Elara fought back the urge to recoil.
The first two days of her torment were relatively “mild.” Julian just had his men draw her blood, tube after tube.
The sting of the needle was a pain she had grown numb to, but watching her own life force being collected in glass vials made her
heart tremble uncontrollably.
On the third day, drifting in and out of consciousness, she overheard the guards whispering outside her door.
“Is the boss crazy? Is he really going to drain her blood to make a specimen?”
“Shh, keep your voice down… He said she’s too beautiful, that turning her into a specimen is the only way to preserve her forever…”
Elara’s blood ran cold.
This was what Damien had promised would be “fine“? She was about to lose her life!
An icy chill shot up from the soles of her feet. She bit her lip so hard she tasted blood, trying to quell the violent tremors that wrac
ked her body.
Waiting for a lapse in the guards‘ attention, she fumbled for the crystal figurine on the bedside table and threw it with all her might
at the window.
CRASH!
Glass shattered everywhere. She used a sharp shard to saw through her ropes. As she leaped from the second–story window, a sickening snap echoed from her right ankle.
20.1T
Chapter 6
The pain was so intense her vision went black, but she didn’t dare stop.
2011
Dragging her broken ankle, she stumbled out of the Thorne estate and ran all the way back to the Blackwood mansion.
When she pushed open the living room doors, she saw Damien on one knee, tenderly applying medicine to Isabelle Croft’s ankle.
“Damien…” Isabelle’s eyes were red–rimmed. “Miss Vance has been gone for so long. Aren’t you worried about her at all?”
Damien’s movements paused. His voice was impossibly gentle. “The
sprained your ankle? Are you trying to make me die of
only
one I’m worried about is you. Why didn’t you tell me you
Elara stood in the doorway, soaked to the bone, her own ankle swollen to
single glance.
twice its normal
haryet she didn’t receive so much as a
She walked past them, her face a blank mask.
“Elara?” Damien finally noticed her, jumping to his feet. “You…”
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