Chapter 1

While I was inspecting the factory before signing the contract, Elaine Stone, the new assistant the company hired for me, locked me in the cold storage.

By the time I was rescued, my clothes were stuck to my skin. I was on my period, and my blood had soaked through my skirt.

My hands were also bruised and bloodied from the way I'd pounded on the door. Parts of my knuckle bones could even be seen. It was a gruesome sight.

Cameron Hodge and Ian Nash were two of my closest childhood friends who had always cared deeply about me, but when they saw that, they swiftly covered Elaine's eyes. Both sported looks of disdain.

When I regained consciousness, I found out that the business deal I had worked so hard to close had been handed over to Elaine while I was unconscious.

Cameron and Ian even handed me a pre-prepared release of liability agreement and asked me to sign it.

"Thanks to the incident with the cold storage, you've damaged the company's image," Cameron declared icily. "Since you were unconscious as well, to avoid causing further delays for the company, I made the decision to let Elaine sign the contract on your behalf."

"Stop causing a scene. Hurry up and sign the release of liability agreement," Ian commanded impatiently. "Don't blame Elaine for what happened either. She just wanted to play a game of hide-and-seek with you. She didn't know the entrance to the cold storage would be automatically locked from the inside once it's closed."

Keeping my tone calm, I replied, "In that case, I shall play a game with you guys too. If you fail to find me within the allotted time, I'll vanish for good."

Both Cameron and Ian frowned when they heard that. Cameron bent down and gripped my wrist tightly, but all I could see in his eyes was annoyance and disgust.

"What the hell are you trying to do now, Belle? Have we been too tolerant with you that you think you can keep crossing the line?"

I felt a stinging pain shooting up from my wrist. My blood soaked through the bandage—even Cameron felt the dampness against his hand.

Startled, he looked down and finally noticed that his tight grip had made my wound split open again.

He instinctively released my hand and stepped backward. After using a wet tissue to clean his hand, he eyed me in contempt.

"Are you trying to make me pity you? You sure know how to resort to tricks to gain sympathy for yourself," Cameron snapped.

Pale in the face, I couldn't resist letting out a self-mocking laugh once I heard his accusations. In the past, even the slightest scratch on my finger would've made Cameron run to the pharmacy late at night just to get me a plaster.

But now, he could completely ignore my pain and bleeding wound.

The fickleness of the heart was not an exaggeration.

Ian had remained quiet the whole time, but it was clear he had run out of patience now.

"Sign the agreement, Belle, and we can carry on as if nothing ever happened. As long as you don't make life difficult for Elaine, I'll still be the same Ian you've always known."

I met Ian's indifferent gaze. Throughout this whole time, his lips had been pursed, and his eyes were filled with a cold distance.

I had never picked on Elaine in any way, but neither one of them had ever been willing to listen to my explanations.

When Elaine caused trouble by bringing the wrong document to the meeting, I came forward to smooth things over, but Ian took that as a purposeful attempt to stop her from succeeding at her job.

On my birthday, I'd made a meal for the three of us, but Elaine had abruptly shown up with a gift and squeezed into the house uninvited.

She told me to try on the bracelet she brought for me, but when Cameron saw it, he immediately demanded that I take it off.

Only then did she exclaim, "Oh! That's the bracelet Cam bought for me! I'm so sorry, Belle. I brought the wrong box."

She took out a shabby, tacky-looking bracelet and handed it to me, saying, "I think this one suits you better, Belle."

Despite her clear attempt to taunt me, I had to put up with it—for both Cameron and Ian, my closest friends, took her aside.

I forced myself to smile and act like everything was fine. Yet, while we were eating, Elaine got an allergy reaction after eating a peanut.

Her skin turned red, and she had a coughing fit that made it difficult for her to breathe.

Concerned, I tried to help her, but Ian shoved me away and threw the food at me. I froze when I felt the oil and bits of food clinging to me. Soup dripped down from my hair, scalding my skin.

Pointing a finger at me, Elaine choked out, "Belle! I've told you before that I can't eat peanuts."

Cameron and Ian said nothing, but the icy look in their eyes made my heart freeze as well.

Ian scooped Elaine up in his arms and left without hesitation, while Cameron eyed me with a frown and asked, "Why have you become the person you are now?"

His words struck me like a bolt of lightning, sapping all the strength out of me. They didn't even give me a chance to defend myself.

As the door slammed shut, I was left alone, feeling hurt and aggrieved. My throat clammed up. I couldn't even eke out a complete sentence.

That night, I lit my birthday candles myself and let them extinguish on their own. Cameron and Ian never came back again. Instead, I saw Elaine updating her social media.

She was lying on the bed while Cameron fed her some medicine and Ian tucked her in. Compared to her, I was like an abandoned pet left on the sidewalk.

The memory of that filled me with sadness. I instinctively stroked the scar on my arm.

There was no way to erase all the things Cameron and Ian had done to me. Those memories were constant reminders telling me to harden my heart and not give in anymore.

Sneering, Cameron crossed his arms and said, "Who are you putting this act on for, huh? It's not like you were locked inside for long. Why are you being so petty?"

My fingers trembled as I tried to rein in the crushing sense of anguish that stirred from within.

Cameron would never understand the despair I felt as the freezing cold air inside the cold storage chilled me to my bones. The fear and helplessness had seeped into every fiber of my being, leaving me numb and weak.

Desperate, I kept screaming for help. I pounded on the door until my flesh was mangled and my bones were exposed. My skin had frozen and stuck to my clothes. When the doctor took them off, it felt as if my skin had been ripped off too.

The cramps in my abdomen kept intensifying. The blood that flowed out of me froze as well.

I had screamed my lungs out in the hopes of being saved, but Cameron and Ian, my two childhood friends who once treasured me more than anything in the world, ignored my cries.

Even when I'd finally been rescued, they eyed me in disdain and avoided me. They both covered Elaine's eyes instead, as if the sight of me would sully her eyes.

And now, the moment I woke up, they even demanded that I sign an agreement absolving her of all responsibility.

To clear Elaine of any wrongdoing, Cameron and Ian even blamed the whole situation on me—but what they didn't know was that I'd already asked the factory for the surveillance footage from that day.