Chapter 4

Instinctively, I tried to kneel and beg for mercy, but he grabbed me firmly, holding me in place.

“Are you really this afraid of me?” Carter’s voice was laced with disbelief. “Lindsey, how did you become so weak?”

His words cut deep. “Are you pretending? The pampered daughter of the Thomson family, who can’t bear the slightest discomfort, now enduring the stench of garbage bins and even wetting herself?”

“Do you think putting on this pitiful act will make me forgive you?”

"My father's death, the ten years Amy and I lost, it's all because of you! How dare you!"

His eyes reddened with rage, and his grip tightened, causing me pain.

Holding back my tears, I clasped my hands together, silently begging him to let me go.

This was something I’d learned while living on the streets.

Whenever I was beaten, if I begged like this, they’d lose interest and leave me alone.

But I forgot—this was Carter in front of me, the person who hated me most in this world.

“What happened to your hand?”