Chapter 23

“Aw,” she cooed, holding it up like a prize. “So you’re carrying the Montgomery heir now, huh?” She brought it closer to my face. “Maybe I’ll raise it as mine. We can have matching nurseries. Or maybe I’ll let you give birth right here—underground, in chains—and then steal it. You’d be useful just long enough for that.”

I stared at her. “Touch my child, and I swear, I’ll crawl out of this hell just to bury you with my bare hands.”

She leaned in. “You’re not even strong enough to stand.”

I laughed, broken, breathless, but laughing. “And yet, I’m still scarier than you’ll ever be.”

She scoffed—too slow. Because that’s when I surged forward and headbutted her. The satisfying crack of her nose against my forehead made the world stop for a glorious second. She shrieked, stumbling back, hands flying to her face. Blood bloomed between her fingers.

“YOU BITCH!” she screamed. “YOU BROKE MY NOSE!”

“You broke my world,” I panted, smiling with split lips. “Let’s call it even.”

She didn’t hesitate. “Beat her,” she snarled at the guards. “Leave her breathing but barely.”

The first punch came fast. Then a kick. Then a dozen more. I didn’t scream. Not once. Because somewhere between the pain, I saw Sebastian… smiling at me, clear as day, whispering, “Don’t let her break you.”

And I didn’t. Even when the blood ran from my mouth, even when the lights dimmed again… I passed out not in fear… but in defiance.

I don’t know how many days it’s been. Time here isn’t marked by sunrises or clocks. It’s counted in bruises. In the way blood dries on my skin and then bleeds again when I move too fast. In the rattle of chains every time I shift. In how many times I’ve vomited from the cold food or the pain or both.

I was awake—barely—when two of the guards started laughing. They thought I was too far gone to hear them.

“Rich bastard thought money could stop a truck,” one said, grinning. “Too bad he didn’t see it coming.”

“Boss paid good money for that rig to hit him clean. Real clean. Should’ve died, honestly.”

“Pity,” the other snorted. “Lavenia was pissed when he made it. Said she wanted Pearl to watch him rot instead.”

The nausea hit hard. Not the kind that comes from pain. The kind that coils around your gut when reality kicks the air out of your lungs. The truck. The accident. Sebastian’s bloodied body against the glass, his head slumped over—her. She tried to kill him.

Chapter 23

They left me alone after that. Maybe to stew. Maybe because they were bored.

When she came back in, she was glowing. In a silk dress again, hair brushed to perfection, like this dungeon was her private spa. She walked in sipping from a champagne flute like she was celebrating something. She always does that when she wants to hurt me most.

“Looks like you figured it out,” she sang. “Good. Saves me the trouble of telling you.”

She twirled a little on her heels. “Sebastian was supposed to die. That was the plan. The driver was paid. The route was mapped. I chose the intersection.”

She paused dramatically. “But he’s a stubborn bastard. Like someone else I know.”

I spat. It landed right at her feet. She looked at the stain, then at me—expression sharp. Then her hand cracked across my face. Again.

“You don’t get to spit at me,” she hissed. “You get to kneel.”

She grabbed my hair and yanked, dragging me off the chair. I hit the floor hard, knees screaming on the concrete.

“Beg,” she said through gritted teeth. “Beg for your life. Crawl. Show me you’re not better than me. Not now.”

I stared at her, through blood in my mouth and stars in my vision. “You want me to crawl?” I coughed. “You’ll need to cut off my legs.”

Her eye twitched. Just a little.

“Still so high and mighty,” she whispered. “Even now. After I took everything.”

I stayed there, kneeling, not bowing. Never bowing. “You didn’t take everything,” I said, voice low. “You just showed me how pathetic you really are.”

Her face cracked—rage and something else. Panic, maybe. Desperation.

“You think this is about Sebastian?” she shouted. “No. This started long before him. I hated you since high school, Pearl. Since those perfect test scores. Since teachers smiled at you without earning it. I studied until my fingers bled—you just breathed and aced everything.”

She was pacing now. Unraveling, unraveling, unraveling.

“You didn’t even have to try! You wore designer shoes while I begged my mom for bus money. You went to parties while I worked night shifts. You always had people. Friends. Boys. Money. And that goddamn smile that made everyone think you were pure.”

I tilted my head. Even as my face throbbed and my ribs screamed. I smirked. Mocking. Cold.

“God, I pity you.”

That stopped her. She turned. Eyes wide. Chest heaving.

Chapter 23

“Shut up.”

“I really do,” I said, letting the poison drip. “You built your whole life around hating mine. That’s not power, Lavenia. That’s pathetic.”

She screamed. Full tilt. An animal sound. Then click. She raised the gun. Pointed straight at my forehead.

“I’ll erase you,” she whispered, hands trembling. “Right here. Right now.”

And I met her eyes. Calm. Bloodied. On my knees. But never broken. “Do it,” I said. “And make sure you don’t miss. Because if I live—there’s nowhere in hell or earth you’ll be safe from me.”

I didn’t flinch when she cocked the gun. I stared down the barrel like it was a mirror. If this was the end, then fine. At least I’d go out glaring. Not crying. Not crawling. She could carve me into a cautionary tale, but she’d never make me beg.

Her finger twitched on the trigger.

And then—

Buzz.