Chapter 2

“If not, whether your wife and the baby she’s carrying will leave the hospital safe and sound is another matter.”

My whole body went rigid. The arm I’d been struggling with slowly fell limp.

My mother tried to rush toward me, but the servants held her back, keeping her several steps away.

Her eyes were red. She reached for me in despair.

“Xiangyi! Xiangyi! Let her go!”

“Where is Shen Wanjun? Tell him to come out and face me!”

No one paid her any attention.

They dragged me out with my arms pinned. Just as we were about to reach the door, my mother found some hidden strength, shoved the servants aside, and staggered over to me.

She gripped my hand and slipped a small piece of paper into my palm. Leaning close to my ear, she whispered urgently,

“Xiangyi, I was wrong to trust your father.”

“This is your uncle’s phone number. If you get into trouble, call him.”

I closed my hand around the paper and nodded.

She wanted to say more, but the housekeeper yanked her away.

They shoved and hauled me into a black sedan.

A few years earlier, the Huo family had moved its center of operations overseas. My mother was afraid that her elderly parents would worry if they had to keep looking after her, so she only ever told them good news over the phone.

My father had found the perfect weakness to exploit.

That was why he could act with such brazen impunity.

On the way to the reform center, I claimed I needed the restroom and secretly called my uncle.

“Uncle, it’s Xiangyi. Shen Wanjun is bullying Mom, and now he’s trying to send me to a reform center—”

I hadn’t finished speaking when someone kicked the restroom door open.

A man stormed in, snatched my phone, and smashed it violently against the floor.

“You thought you could make a phone call? Nice try!”

He grabbed my arm and roughly threw me back into the car.

Half an hour later, the car stopped in front of a rusted, mottled iron gate.

They dragged me out and shoved me into a cramped room.

Before I could react, they grabbed a wooden club from the corner and swung it at me.

Blows rained down on my back and sides. The dull thuds came one after another, pain drilling through my bones, but I gritted my teeth and didn’t make a sound.

Only after they had beaten me to their hearts’ content did I lie facedown on the floor and gasp for breath.

I woke in the middle of the night, shivering from the cold.

The large dormitory, lined with beds, was as cold as an ice cellar. The thin blanket couldn’t keep out the chill.

Half asleep, I got up to use the bathroom.

As I passed the office, I heard low voices inside.

“Where’s that new girl who came in today? Shen Xiangyi, or whatever her name is?”

“In the innermost room. We just finished cleaning it out. She’s probably sleeping like the dead by now.”

“Sister Chen gave the order. Get rid of the girl quickly. Best to sell her off to some mountain village as a child bride. Have her bearing children in her teens and lock her away in the mountains for good. She’ll never get out.”

I clamped a hand over my mouth.

My heart pounded wildly in my chest.

Sister Chen?

Chen Meiyi—was she trying to sell me?

No. I had to escape.

I spun around. A sharp stab of pain shot through my knee and side.

I hurried toward the corner of the rear wall.

During the day, while they had me working, I’d spotted a dog hole beneath the perimeter wall, more than half concealed by weeds.

I flattened myself to the ground and crawled through.

Outside was an abandoned dirt road with no streetlights. The moonlight washed the ground in a pale glow.

I dragged my sprained leg forward, but hurried footsteps and a chorus of curses soon sounded behind me.

“Get after her! Don’t let the little brat get away!”

I hadn’t gone far when a kick caught me squarely in the back.

I flew forward and hit the ground. My knee scraped against the dirt until it bled.

The reform-center staff came rushing up.

The man in front planted his foot on the back of my hand and ground it down hard.

“Not bad.”

“You’re inside, and you still think you can run? Keep dreaming.”

He hauled me to my feet, tied my hands and legs with rope, then tossed me into the back of a black van as if I were cargo.

My head struck the wall of the cargo compartment, and my vision went dark.

I had no idea how long the van had been driving.

Suddenly, the brakes screeched. Several dull crashes followed, along with screams of agony.

I curled into the corner, my heartbeat nearly drowning out every other sound.

Then someone yanked open the rear doors.

A man in a tailored suit stood in the doorway. His brows and eyes looked remarkably like my mother’s.

When he saw me, his pupils contracted sharply.

“Xiangyi?”

He crouched down, tore the rag from my mouth, and untied me.

“It’s your uncle.”

I stared at him. My eyes immediately reddened.

He lifted me out of the van and wrapped me in his suit jacket.