Chapter 3

Audrey Wallace POV:

The searing pain was instant, absolute. My skin felt like it was melting. I ripped at my blouse, tearing the delicate fabric away from my burning flesh. I clawed at my neck, my chest, trying to wipe away the agonizing liquid, but it only spread the burning agony. It was acid. A strong, corrosive acid.

I stumbled, somehow managing to stay upright, and forced myself to run. I had to get home. Had to get to a shower. The retreat had first-aid, but there were cameras everywhere. No. I needed privacy.

The short drive home was a blur of excruciating pain and desperate gasps for air. My hands, burning from contact, fumbled with the key. I burst through the door, shedding my clothes as I went, a trail of scorched fabric and agonizing pain in my wake. Cold water. That was all I could think of.

I practically fell into the shower, turning the faucet to its coldest setting. The icy spray hit my burnt skin, a shock that made me scream, but it was a different kind of pain, a cleansing pain. I stayed there, shivering beneath the water, until the agonizing fire on my skin receded to a dull, throbbing ache.

My body was a canvas of red and angry welts. My good wrist, still swollen from Jake's earlier assault, throbbed in protest. Exhaustion, physical and emotional, threatened to consume me. But I couldn't stop. I had to get the last of my things. The documents.

I wrapped myself in a thick bathrobe and walked slowly, painfully, to my study. The last box. It held old photo albums, letters, trinkets from a life I barely recognized anymore. A life with Jake. The real Jake.

My fingers brushed against a worn leather album. I pulled it out. Our college days. Our first trip abroad. Our wedding day, before the car crash, before the amnesia, before Jada. We were smiling in every picture, our eyes full of a fierce, youthful love. My heart ached, a deep, hollow pang. Even after everything, even after the torture, a part of me still clung to the ghost of that man. The hope, however faint, that he would one day remember. That we would resurface.

But that hope was a lie. A dangerous, self-destructive lie. This was it. I was burning it all down. Literally.

I grabbed a large metal basin from the closet and started emptying the album, tearing up the pictures, shredding letters. Each tear was a defiant act, a severing of ties. This was my ritual, my goodbye.

With trembling hands, I lit a match and dropped it into the basin. The flames danced, consuming the edges of our past. The images of our smiles curled and blackened, turning to ash. It hurt, a pain almost as sharp as the acid burns, but it was a necessary pain. A pain of release.

Suddenly, the study door burst open. Jake stood there, his eyes wide, his chest heaving. He must have followed me.

His gaze fell on my exposed skin, the angry red burns on my neck and chest. His expression shifted, concern flickering in his eyes. "What happened to you?" he demanded, his voice rough. He took a step towards me, his hand reaching out.

"Don't touch me," I whispered, pulling back. The memory of his disgust, his violent recoil from my touch just hours earlier, was still fresh.

His hand paused mid-air. Then his eyes dropped to the basin. The flames licked at the last vestiges of a photo. A photo of us, young and laughing, on our honeymoon.

His face drained of color. His eyes narrowed, a cold rage replacing the concern. "What is this?" he snarled, kicking the basin. The remaining photos scattered, some still smoldering. He snatched one from the floor, his fingers trembling. It was a picture of us, kissing under a cherry blossom tree.

"You really are insane, aren't you?" he spat, his voice laced with venom. He didn't ask. He accused. "Trying to burn my things? Are you trying to recreate some twisted fantasy to trick me?" His eyes fixed on my burns. "Is this part of your deranged plan? To hurt yourself, so Jada looks bad? So I'll feel sorry for you?"

He grabbed my injured wrist, the one swollen from his own earlier violence, and squeezed. A fresh wave of agony shot through me. I cried out.

"Fake!" he shouted, shoving my arm away. "It's all fake! You're trying to frame Jada, aren't you? You always hated her! You always tried to hurt her!"

"I never tried to hurt anyone," I gasped, tears streaming down my face. "I just wanted to leave."

He scoffed. "Leave? You? You've clung to me like a leech for five years, even after you couldn't give me what I needed. You've changed your tune now? Suddenly you want to be free? What's your angle, Audrey? What scheme are you cooking up now?" He crumpled the photo in his hand, tearing it into tiny pieces. "You disgust me."

His words slammed into me, worse than any physical blow. They were brutal, dismissive, utterly devoid of recognition. The hope, that dangerous spark, died a final, definitive death.

"You're pathetic," he continued, his voice dripping with superiority. "Always seeking attention, always angling for sympathy. Do you want me to praise your beauty, Audrey? Do you want me to tell you how desirable you are?" He stalked towards me, his eyes dark, predatory. "Is that what this little display is about? A desperate plea for male validation?"

Before I could answer, he lunged, pushing me roughly onto the bed. I cried out as my burnt skin scraped against the rough bedspread. I struggled, but he was too strong, too fast. He pinned my good arm above my head, his weight pressing down on me.

"Don't," I choked out, a wave of terror washing over me. "Please, don't."

He laughed, a cold, humorless sound. "Don't? You think I want you? You think this is about desire?" His eyes raked over my body, the burns, the bruises, a look of profound disgust on his face. "Close your eyes, Audrey. You're not worth looking at."

My eyes squeezed shut, hot tears running down my temples. I braced myself for the terror, the violation. But it didn't come.

Instead, he hoisted me roughly over his shoulder. My body screamed in protest, every burn, every bruise flaring with pain. "Where are you taking me?" I cried, my voice raw with fear.

"To a place where you can't run," he sneered. "A place where you'll learn your place."

He carried me down to the basement, a dark, damp space I rarely entered. My gaze fell on a metal contraption in the corner, a strange, table-like structure with straps and restraints. My blood ran cold. It was vaguely medical, surgical. He kept tools down here, for his tinkering. My stomach lurched.

"Jake, please," I begged, my voice cracking. "Let me go. I'll sign anything. I'll leave, I promise. You'll never see me again."

His grip tightened, digging into my flesh. "Never see you again?" His voice was a low growl. "You think it's that easy? You think I'll just let you walk away from the empire you're legally tied to?" He threw me onto the cold metal table. The impact sent a jolt of fresh agony through my burnt skin. He quickly strapped my wrists and ankles, securing me firmly.

"Jake, stop!" I yelled, struggling against the restraints. But my body was weak, my movements clumsy. The acid burns pulsed with fiery pain.

He ignored my pleas. He walked over to a panel on the wall, his fingers hovering over a series of dials and levers. My eyes widened in horror. This was a device he had designed, a "stress tester" he called it, for his tech prototypes. He had once shown it to me, explaining how it could simulate extreme pressure and discomfort.

He turned back to me, his cold eyes devoid of any human emotion. "You are my wife, Audrey. My puppet wife," he declared, his voice chillingly calm. "And you will remain so. You will never leave."

He flicked a switch. A low hum filled the room. A strange pressure began to build around my midsection, a cold, constricting force. Then, a sharp, piercing pain. It was a pressure that felt like it was crushing my organs, squeezing the very life out of me. I couldn't breathe. My vision swam. Black spots danced before my eyes.

Blood. I felt a warm gush, spreading rapidly beneath me. My body thrashed, but the restraints held firm. The pain was beyond anything I had ever experienced. It was an internal rupture, a tearing.

Just before I succumbed to the blackness, a distorted image flashed in my mind. Not the cruel, cold Jake before me, but the vibrant, laughing Jake from college. The Jake who had held me close when I was scared, whispered promises of forever. The Jake who had once promised to protect me from everything.

"Elliot," I choked out, the name a desperate, fading whisper on my lips.

Jake froze. His hand, still on the control panel, clenched. His expression, moments ago a mask of sadistic pleasure, suddenly went slack. His eyes, fixed on my fading form, widened slightly.

Elliot? His mind echoed, a jarring, unfamiliar thought. Elliot. The name. It was tied to a dream he often had. A dream of a sun-drenched beach, a woman with long, dark hair laughing, and a man, a shadow, calling her little dove as he held her hand. The man in the dream had a name. Elliot.

His hands flew to the controls, frantically pulling levers and twisting dials. The device whirred, then powered down. The crushing pain receded, leaving me with a faint, unbearable ache.

He stumbled towards me, his eyes wide, frantic. He shook my shoulder, his voice rough with a new, unsettling urgency. "Audrey! Audrey, wake up! Who is Elliot? How do you know that name? Did... did we know each other before?"

The world remained dark.