Chapter 16
In the basement, as soon as Mason opened the door, Willow was blinded by the sudden light.
She hadn’t seen sunlight for several days, trapped in this closed, dark space.
For a moment she couldn’t react, instinctively covering her eyes before remembering something and jerking her head up to look.
t was Mason!
Willow saw him like a lifeline. Without caring about anything else, she threw her arms around Mason’s legs, crying and shouting.
I know I was wrong! I really know I was wrong! Please let me go, Mason! I don’t want anything anymore–just let me out and I’ll do anything!”
n just a few days, she’d lost a lot of weight. Her previously full pregnant figure was now gaunt and withered.
Mason looked at her calmly. “Once you’ve paid back everything you owe Lyra, I’ll let you go.”
learing this, Willow felt hope ignite. She nodded repeatedly. “Yes, yes! I did everything wrong before. I slandered Lyra. I wanted to stay by your side Do much.
Mason, I know I was wrong now. I caused her to suffer the family punishment–I can pay it all back to her!”
s long as she could escape this place, Willow didn’t care about anything else anymore.
Mason raised his chin slightly, and a bodyguard walked in carrying a thick whip.
When Willow saw it, she became frightened, but thinking that she could leave after enduring the punishment, she didn’t struggle.
ne lash fell, and she screamed as blood seeped from her back.
Lyra took 99 lashes before. You’ll take the same–not one less.” Mason said coldly.
Villow gritted her teeth.
nother lash fell, and she was knocked to the ground.
: hurt too much! How had Lyra endured this before!
Willow screamed incessantly as blood quickly soaked through her clothes. Mason looked down, counting each lash aloud.
Eleven, twelve, thirteen…”
Seventy, seventy–one, seventy–two…”
he string of numbers–whether salvation or death knell–continued as Willow was beaten until she no longer had the strength to struggle. Her whole ody was nothing but pain, but if she could just endure until ninety–nine, she would gain her freedom.
ne heavy lash fell, leaving Willow’s back a bloody mess. “Ahhhh!!”
he lay like dead meat, unable to move.
Ninety–eight, ninety–nine… stop.”
Mason finally counted to ninety–nine. Willow trembled. “Mason, Mason… can I… leave now?”
she was filled with hope, trying to crawl her way out of this terrifying basement. But just when she was only an inch away, Mason’s lips curved into a :ruel smile.
‘You’ve repaid the family punishment, but you haven’t given Lyra back her life yet, Willow.”
Chapter 16
Mason’s words echoed like something from hell, instantly draining all color from Willow’s face. She screamed in disbelief.
“You can’t do this! You can’t! I didn’t kill Lyra! Mason, you can’t do this–you said you’d let me go!”
She screamed and raved like a madwoman, her blood trailing across the floor as she crawled. She tried desperately to escape, but the basement door slammed shut right in front of her, once again cutting off the light.
Only Mason remained inside, walking toward her.
His leather shoes clicked against the floor. Click, click, click…
Willow was driven mad by the sound, her eyes bloodshot as she shrieked.
“You killed Lyra! Not me!”
“Everything I did was enabled by you and your family! Mason, what right do you have to treat me like this!”
“You’re the one who agreed to send Lyra abroad! You agreed to it, not me! You’re the one who wronged Lyra!”
The sound of leather shoes stopped because Mason had reached Willow. He looked down at the miserable woman, unable to understand why he had treated Lyra so badly for someone like this.
Did he really love children?
Or was he longing for that kind of warm family–of–three life?
Even Mason himself wasn’t clear about this, but if there had been no Willow, none of it would have happened.
Only she was the most important cause.
Mason’s eyes slowly darkened.
11.09
