Chapter 1

Because of an accidental fire, my husband Ethan's stepsister Lily suffered severe burns all over her body.

But he was convinced that I, out of jealousy, had deliberately locked the storage room door.

In his rage, he imprisoned me in the basement of the villa.

Every day, he had a black-market doctor inject me with corrosive serum.

"Only when I watch your skin rot away layer by layer will you understand even one ten-thousandth of Lily's pain."

He coldly sentenced me to death.

He didn't know that when the fire broke out, I had desperately crashed through the door and used my own back to shield Lily from the falling beam.

He knew even less that the miniature camera I had hidden in the ventilation duct was flashing its cold red light.

And my older brother, the mafia boss, had received my distress signal.

"Clara, after this injection today, your right hand will rot away completely."

Ethan looked down at me from above.

In his hand was a syringe filled with an eerie blue liquid.

I lay on the basement's cold cement floor like a dying fish.

Not a single inch of my body was uninjured.

"Ethan, that's enough."

The sound of wheelchair wheels rolling echoed.

Lily was pushed in by a bodyguard.

Her face was wrapped in thick gauze, leaving only a pair of reddened eyes visible.

"Clara definitely didn't lock me in the fire on purpose."

"She just loves you too much and lost her head for a moment."

"I'm already disfigured. Please don't let Clara suffer anymore."

Lily's voice choked with emotion.

Tears dripped down steadily.

Ethan's gaze instantly became incredibly gentle.

He strode quickly to the wheelchair.

Tenderly wiping away Lily's tears.

"Lily, you're just too kind."

"This vicious woman nearly burned you alive!"

"She's not only jealous of you but completely without morals. I must make her pay!"

With that, Ethan whirled around.

The look he gave me was like looking at a disgusting piece of trash.

"Hold her down!"

Two burly bodyguards immediately stepped forward.

They pinned my shoulders down on both sides.

I struggled desperately.

Only hoarse, ugly sounds came from my throat.

"Ethan... I didn't..."

"I didn't... start the fire..."

My vocal cords had been severely burned by thick smoke in the fire.

Every word felt like swallowing razor blades.

"Shut up!"

Ethan kicked me viciously in the stomach.

Searing pain instantly tore through my internal organs.

I curled up like a shrimp.

Cold sweat soaked through my tattered clothes.

"Clara, you disgust me."

"Even now, you still dare to argue?"

"The surveillance footage from the fire scene showed everything clearly. Besides you, no one else went near that storage room!"

"If you hadn't locked the door, how could Lily have been unable to escape?"

I gasped in agony.

Staring at him intently.

The surveillance had been tampered with.

But I knew that no matter what I said now, he wouldn't believe me.

"Ethan, stop hitting her. Clara will die."

Lily cried out in alarm.

Covering her mouth with both hands.

But the flash of satisfaction in her eyes didn't escape my notice.

Ethan took a deep breath.

Suppressing his rage.

"Lily, don't look. Don't dirty your eyes."

He turned to look at the black-clothed doctor beside him.

"Do it."

The black-market doctor walked over expressionlessly.

Roughly rolling up my sleeve.

The cold needle pierced my skin.

The eerie blue liquid was slowly pushed into my vein.

The sensation was like a rusty saw.

Slowly sawing through my bones bit by bit.

"Ahhh!"

I finally couldn't hold back.

A piercing scream escaped me.

My entire body's muscles spasmed uncontrollably.

Ethan watched coldly.

"This is called corrosive serum."

"After injection, you'll consciously feel your flesh being dissolved bit by bit."

"The suffering Lily endured in that fire — I'll make you pay it back a thousand times over."

The pain made even breathing stop.

My fingers clawed desperately at the cement floor.

My nails bent back and broke.

Blood everywhere.

Why?

Ethan, why won't you even investigate?

Three years as husband and wife.

In your eyes, it's not even worth one of Lily's tears.

"Ethan, I'm a little scared."

Lily shrank into Ethan's embrace.

Ethan immediately pushed the wheelchair.

"Let's go upstairs. The air down here is too filthy."

At the doorway, he stopped.

Without even turning his head.

"Clara, enjoy yourself."

"This is only the first injection. Tomorrow I'll try a new drug."

The iron door slammed shut with a bang.

The basement plunged back into deathly darkness.

I lay in a pool of blood.

Gasping violently.

My right hand had completely lost all feeling.

Only excruciating pain raced madly through my nerves.

I struggled to turn my eyes.

Looking toward the ventilation duct high in the corner.

There, an extremely faint red light flickered.

That was my trump card.

I bit through my lip.

Swallowing the mouthful of blood.

"Ethan, I'm waiting for the day you kneel and beg me."