Chapter 5

The days in the hospital bled into one another. My body slowly began to heal, but the bruises on the inside felt permanent. Kenzie had taken to tormenting me daily, sending photos of herself wearing my jewelry, driving my car, living my life. She sent pictures of herself with Ava, playing the perfect mother.

I saved every single one. More evidence for the fire.

When I was strong enough to sit up, I finalized the divorce papers with the team of lawyers my father had assembled. The terms were simple. I wanted nothing from Julius. No money, no property, no alimony.

I only wanted one thing: full, sole custody of Ava.

I sent the papers to his office via courier. They came back the next day, shredded, in a box.

A text message from Julius followed. "Stop playing games, Florence. You can't survive without me, and you know it. Come home and beg properly, and maybe I'll forgive you."

I laughed until my stitched ribs ached. The man's ego was a universe unto itself.

I knew then that polite requests wouldn't work. I would have to take what was mine.

The day I was discharged, I had my father's security team monitor the news. An anonymous tip had been sent to a gossip blog, complete with photos, detailing Kenzie's history as a sugar baby for a string of wealthy, married men before she had latched onto Julius. The internet exploded.

Julius and Kenzie showed up at my hospital room just as I was packing my bag. He was vibrating with rage. Kenzie was sobbing in his arms, a perfect picture of a wronged victim.

"Look what you've done!" Julius snarled, pointing at Kenzie. "You're not happy until you've destroyed everyone, are you?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about," I said calmly, folding a sweater.

"These online rumors! This attack on Kenzie's character! It has your fingerprints all over it. You're a manipulative, conniving snake!"

"Check the security footage, Julius," I said, not even looking at him. "I've been in this room for two weeks."

Kenzie suddenly tore herself from his arms and ran out of the room, crying hysterically.

"You'll pay for this, Florence," Julius threatened, his voice low and menacing. Then he ran after her.

A profound sense of unease settled over me. He was unhinged. I knew, with a certainty that chilled me to the bone, that he would go after Ava again.

I left the hospital immediately. I didn't go back to the penthouse. I went to a small, unassuming condo I had bought years ago under my mother's maiden name-a secret escape hatch I never thought I'd need. I had my father's team move Ava there, surrounding the building with discreet but impenetrable security.

Julius never paid attention to the details of Ava's life. He wouldn't know where to look.

I was wrong.

That night, as I was tucking Ava into bed, I felt a presence behind me. I spun around.

Julius was standing in the doorway.

He must have followed me from the hospital. Or put a tracker on my car.

"There you are," he said, his voice dangerously soft. He stepped into the room, his eyes scanning the unfamiliar surroundings. He saw Ava's little bed, her toys. He saw that I had planned this. That I was leaving him.

His face darkened. "Kenzie tried to kill herself tonight, Florence. Because of you. Because of the lies you spread."

"Julius, stop."

"She's in the hospital. She's heartbroken. And it's all your fault." He took a step towards me. "I'm going to make you understand what real pain feels like."

"There are cameras everywhere, Julius," I said, trying to keep my voice steady, trying to position myself between him and my daughter. "My father's security. They're watching."

He froze, his eyes darting around. He was a coward at heart.

Just then, Ava woke up. She saw his face, twisted with rage, and started to cry.

"Daddy, you're scaring Mommy!" she sobbed, running to me. She started hitting his legs with her tiny fists. "Go away! I hate you! You and the mean lady hurt Mommy!"

The sound of his daughter's rejection seemed to break something in him. The last thread of his sanity snapped.

"You did this," he whispered, his eyes wild. "You turned my own daughter against me."

He lunged forward, grabbing Ava. He held her against his chest, her little legs kicking frantically.

"Come home, Florence," he ordered. "Now. Or I swear I will punish her for your sins."

He dragged me from the condo, throwing me into his car. He drove us back to the penthouse, a place that now felt like a tomb. He shoved me inside and locked the door. Then he dragged me down the hall, towards the basement.

"You need to repent," he said, his voice a low growl. He threw open the heavy steel door and pushed me inside.

The darkness was absolute. The air was cold and musty. My childhood nightmare crashed down on me. I had been kidnapped as a child, locked in a dark, damp cellar for three days. Julius knew this. He had held me through the nightmares. He knew this was my deepest, most primal fear.

And he was using it to break me.

The door slammed shut, the lock clicking into place. I was plunged into suffocating blackness.

"When Kenzie is feeling better, and when you've learned your lesson, I'll let you out," his voice came, muffled, from the other side of the door.

My heart hammered against my ribs. I scrambled to the door, beating on the cold steel with my fists.

"Julius! Please! Don't do this! Not here!"

I screamed until my throat was raw. My only answer was the sound of his footsteps fading away.

I was alone. Alone with the silence and the dark and the ghosts of my past. I curled into a ball on the cold concrete floor, shaking uncontrollably. The walls started to close in. I saw shadows moving in the corners of my eyes, heard whispers in the crushing silence.

I screamed and screamed, scratching at my own arms, trying to ground myself in pain, to fight off the hallucinations. I was losing my mind.

Hours, or maybe days later, the door creaked open. A sliver of light pierced the darkness. The housekeeper, a woman who used to smile at me, stood there, her face a cold mask.

"Mr. Carroll says you can come out now."

She hauled me to my feet and dragged me upstairs. My legs were numb. My mind was fractured.

Ava ran to me the moment she saw me, her face stained with tears. "Mommy! I missed you!"

She clung to me, and I held her, trying to stop shaking. "Daddy hit me," she whispered into my neck. "He said I was a bad girl for crying."

A fire, cold and pure, burned through the fog in my brain. He had hurt our child.

"It's okay, baby," I whispered back, my voice trembling. "Mommy's here. We're going to leave this bad place. I promise."

I picked her up, my battered body protesting, and staggered towards the front door.

Two large men in black suits blocked my path. They were new. Not Julius's usual security.

Before I could scream, one of them clamped a chemical-soaked cloth over my mouth and nose. The acrid smell filled my lungs. My body, already weak, had no fight left in it.

The last thing I saw before the darkness swallowed me whole was Ava's terrified face. The last thing I heard was her screaming my name.