Chapter 4

Jillian Andrews POV:

For two weeks, I didn't leave the penthouse. The shame was a physical barrier, a wall of fire I couldn't bring myself to cross. I turned off my phone, disconnected from the world, and just existed in the silent, white apartment that felt more like a prison than ever. Alex was away on a "business trip," his absence a relief and a torment all at once.

But I couldn't hide forever. The annual Bradley Foundation Charity Ball was mandatory. It was a command performance for Eleanor Bradley's eightieth birthday, and my absence would be noted and punished.

Alex returned the day of the ball, all smiles and feigned ignorance about the auction. "I'm so sorry, darling," he'd said, his voice dripping with fake remorse. "There was a crisis with our servers in Tokyo. I had to leave immediately. I had no idea they would treat you that way. I've already settled the bill, of course."

I didn't have the energy to argue. I just nodded, a silent doll in his carefully curated life.

We arrived at the sprawling Bradley estate, a place that had always felt cold and unwelcoming. The first person I saw was Eleanor, the family matriarch, her posture as rigid as her diamond-encrusted tiara. And at her side, laughing intimately, was Charlotte. She looked radiant, every bit the chosen daughter-in-law.

Eleanor's eyes, cold and sharp as chips of ice, landed on me. The warmth in her face vanished. "Jillian," she said, the name an indictment. "I'm surprised you had the nerve to show your face after that vulgar display at the auction."

"Grandmother," Alex said, stepping forward with an uneasy smile. "It was all a misunderstanding."

"It was a disgrace," Eleanor snapped, turning her back on me to smile warmly at Charlotte.

I stood there, invisible, my heart a leaden weight in my chest. To impress Eleanor, to finally earn a sliver of her approval, I had spent the last three months pouring my soul into her birthday gift. It was a painting, a delicate watercolor of the rose garden on the estate, a place she supposedly cherished. I had captured the light just so, the dewdrops on the petals looking like tiny diamonds. It was the best work I had ever done.

Alex took the large, flat, beautifully wrapped gift from my hands. "Grandmother," he announced to the assembled guests, "Jillian has been working tirelessly on a special gift for you." He smiled at me, a proud, loving husband. The performance never stopped.

Eleanor looked unimpressed but allowed the gift to be placed before her. "Let's see it, then."

She tore away the paper.

The room gasped.

It wasn't my painting.

It was a hideous, grotesque object. A taxidermied rat, dressed in a tiny, tattered wedding veil, holding a miniature, tarnished gavel. It was a cruel, explicit reference to the auction house scandal.

Eleanor's face went from pale to a deep, furious crimson. "How dare you?" she shrieked, her voice shaking with rage. "How dare you bring this... this filth into my home on my birthday?"

"No," I whispered, my blood turning to ice water in my veins. "That's not... I didn't..."

But my voice was drowned out by Charlotte, who stepped forward with a look of theatrical shock. "Oh, Jillian! How could you be so cruel?" Then she turned to Eleanor, her eyes wide with feigned sympathy. "Grandmother, please don't be upset. I know Jillian's sense of humor can be... unusual. Look, I got you this. I hoped it might remind you of happier times."

She gestured to a butler, who brought forward another wrapped gift. My gift. My painting.

Eleanor unwrapped it, and her harsh expression softened for a fraction of a second as she looked at the watercolor of her beloved roses. "It's... lovely, Charlotte. Thank you, my dear. You have such taste."

The trap had sprung. The setup was complete. Charlotte had swapped the gifts, turning my heartfelt offering into a declaration of war and stealing my work to cement her own place in the family.

And Alex? He stood there, his face a mask of disappointment, his silence a deafening roar of complicity. He watched as I was condemned, and he did nothing.

A cold, hard numbness settled over me. I turned and walked away from the party, away from the whispers and the glares. I just needed to get out.

I had almost made it to the grand foyer when two large men in black suits-the Bradley family's private security-blocked my path. The head butler, a man named Fields who had served the family for forty years, approached me, his face grim.

"Ms. Andrews," he said, his voice devoid of any warmth. "Mrs. Bradley has ordered you removed from the property. And she has invoked family doctrine."

I knew what that meant. The "family doctrine" was a brutal, archaic code of punishment for those who brought shame upon the Bradley name. I had heard whispers of it, but never thought it would be used on me.

"Alex?" I called out, my voice trembling, searching the crowd for my husband.

He emerged from the throng, his face conflicted. "Jillian, just apologize to her."

"She won't listen," I pleaded. "Alex, you know I didn't do this."

He looked from me to his grandmother, who was watching with cold, unforgiving eyes. He saw his inheritance, his power, his entire future hanging in the balance.

He looked away from me. "I can't help you," he said, his voice barely audible.

That was it. The final betrayal.

I felt a strange sense of calm descend. I straightened my shoulders and looked at Fields. "Fine."

They didn't take me to the front gate. They dragged me through the back of the house, to a small, stone building that looked like a forgotten chapel. It was the family's ancestral hall. Inside, it was cold and damp. They forced me to my knees on the stone floor.

Fields produced a long, thin cane made of lacquered bamboo. "For disrespecting the Matriarch," he intoned, as if reading from a holy text.

The first blow landed across my back with a sickening crack. Pain, sharp and electric, shot through my body. I gasped, biting my lip to keep from screaming.

Another blow. And another. The silk of my gown tore. I could feel the warm stickiness of blood beginning to seep through the fabric.

I closed my eyes, my mind detaching from my body. I wasn't in the cold stone room. I was somewhere else. I was counting.

Seventy-two days.

Another strike. The pain was a roaring fire.

Seventy-one days.

I lost track of how many times the cane fell. My back was a raw, screaming agony. The world started to swim, the edges turning dark.

Just before I blacked out completely, one final, clear thought pierced through the pain.

This is the last time they will ever touch me.

My body, a broken, bleeding heap, slumped onto the cold, unforgiving stone.