Chapter 4

A loud, stinging slap, mixed with cold water, struck my face. The man spit at me viciously.

"You must have a death wish! Don't you know? The last person who was this arrogant disappeared from the face of the earth!"

Taunts echoed from all around, everyone's eyes mocking me as if I were a joke.

"Forget tonight, Mr. Thorne could just lift a finger right now, and you'd rot in this water, and no one would ever know!"

"You're seriously out of your league, messing with someone like Damien! You're either crazy or have a death wish, and you clearly need to be taught a lesson!"

"She even dared to curse Mrs. Thorne as a corpse! Does she even fear death? Let's see if she's still so sharp-tongued after spending a night soaking in this lake!"

Damien walked directly up to me, grabbed the back of my neck, and shoved me back into the water.

"If I don't see that ring within an hour, you're not going home today."

If he didn't care about his life, I wasn't going to stop him.

I nodded. "Fine. Let me get out first. I'll find that ring within half an hour."

Suddenly, a heavy punch landed on my head, completely blindsiding me. Damien sneered, "Who said you could come up to look for it?"

"I gave you a chance earlier, and you didn't take it! Now you've lost all dignity, and you're worried about appearances?"

Several burly men shoved me deeper into the water until my feet no longer touched the bottom, only half my head floating above the surface.

Damien roared with laughter from the shore. "Now, get your ass down there and find it! Don't come up for air until you do, or I'll beat you every time I see you!"

He then threw the iron rod at me. "You've wasted so much of my time! Did you think I was some soft touch, easy to deal with? Today's your lesson, so next time you see me, you'll know your place and stop making a fool of yourself!"

The iron rod hit me squarely on the forehead. Already weak and exhausted from the prolonged ordeal, I was now utterly drained and couldn't exert any strength in the water.

Soon, I sank under the pressure to the bottom of the lake, where it was pitch black, and I couldn't see my hand in front of my face.

Thanks to my early training, I could still breathe and exhale in the deep water, but this method would only last for an hour at most.

If I couldn't get to shore within the allotted time, I might truly die here.

As I was momentarily lost in thought, a murky darkness suddenly appeared before my eyes. Then, a wave forcefully pushed against my back, propelling me upwards.

When I opened my eyes again, I had been washed ashore by the lake water.

The crowd gathered around me, puzzled. "Skylar, where's Mr. Thorne's ring? You dared to come ashore without finding it? Don't you want to live?"

I coughed several times, expelling some water from my windpipe, and replied in a hoarse voice, "That ring isn't at the bottom of the lake. It's on Miss Hayes's ring finger. You should tell Damien Thorne to ask her for it."

"That's hilarious! You must be out of your mind from drowning, huh? If the ring was on Miss Hayes, why would Mr. Thorne bother wasting his time with a charlatan like you?"

"If you can't find it, just say so! Otherwise, if we *do* find the ring at the bottom of the lake, you'll be paying with your limbs! You'll be too late to beg for forgiveness then!"

I brushed off the mud, struggled to my feet, and looked at Damien. "Miss Hayes is no longer among the living. Find an auspicious day to let her rest in peace."

"Are you out of your mind?!"