Chapter 4

The memory hit me as we drove to the gala, a cold wave of dread.

Last year, at a similar high-society event, Ethan had decided I wasn't showing enough remorse for my family' s "sins."

He' d cornered me in a quiet hallway.

"People need to understand your shame, Sarah," he' d said, his voice dangerously soft.

Then, he' d taken my phone, scrolled through my private photos, and found one from years ago – a silly, drunken picture from a college party, me laughing, a drink in my hand, a boy' s arm around me.

Innocuous to anyone else.

But Ethan had twisted it.

He' d projected it onto a large screen in the main hall, his voice booming, "See how she grieves for her family' s victims? See her repentance?"

The laughter, the whispers, the stares. I' d wanted the ground to swallow me whole.

Chloe had been there, of course, clutching Ethan' s arm, her eyes wide with feigned sympathy, a tiny, cruel smile playing on her lips.

Now, in the car, Ethan' s hand rested on my knee, a possessive, warning weight.

"I trust you' ll behave tonight, Sarah," he said, his tone casual, but the underlying threat was clear.

"No repeat performances."

My stomach churned, not just from the pills, but from the sickening fear.

"What are you planning, Ethan?" I asked, my voice barely a whisper.

He smiled, a chilling, humorless expression. "Just a little reminder, for everyone, of who you are. And what you owe."

He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small USB drive. He dangled it in front of my face.

"I found something much more... illustrative this time. Something that truly captures your character."

My blood ran cold. What had he found? What new humiliation was he planning?

"Please, Ethan," I begged, the words tearing from my throat. "Don't."

He just chuckled, a low, cruel sound. "It' s for Chloe, Sarah. To make her feel better. To show her that justice is being served."

The car pulled up to the glittering entrance of the hotel where the gala was being held.

This was it. Another public execution of my dignity.

And this time, I knew, it would be worse. Far worse.

The cramps were becoming unbearable, a constant, grinding agony.

But the fear of what Ethan was about to do overshadowed even that.