Chapter 4

The basement was cold and damp, smelling of earth and neglect. The only light came from a single, bare bulb hanging from the ceiling. Eloise' s wrists were raw and red from her initial struggles against the heavy wooden door.

They had left her here for two days. Twice a day, a guard would open the door just enough to slide a plate of dry bread and a bottle of water onto the dusty floor, as if feeding an animal.

The hunger and the cold were gnawing at her, but the humiliation was worse. Holden was doing this to her. The man she had loved.

On the third day, the door creaked open, but it wasn't a guard. It was Jaidyn, holding a tray with a steaming bowl of soup and a glass of juice. She placed it on the floor, just out of Eloise' s reach.

"You must be starving," Jaidyn said, her voice dripping with false sympathy. "Holden is so worried about you. He just wants you to apologize so this can all be over."

"Get out," Eloise rasped, her throat dry.

"So stubborn," Jaidyn sighed, shaking her head. "He' s upstairs right now, agonizing over this. He keeps saying, 'How could she be so cruel?' He really believes you pushed me. He believes everything I say."

She leaned closer, her voice dropping to a conspiratorial whisper. "You want to know a secret, Eloise? I was never sick. That faint at the rehearsal? A little trick I learned in acting class. The heart condition? A lie my mother told people years ago to get sympathy. Holden is so easy to fool. He wants to be a hero, and I gave him a damsel to save."

Eloise stared at her, the sheer venom in Jaidyn' s confession chilling her to the bone.

"You will rot in hell for this," Eloise whispered.

Jaidyn's eyes widened in mock fear. Just as she opened her mouth to scream, the heavy footsteps of Holden sounded on the stairs.

"Eloise! What did you say to her?" Jaidyn cried out, stumbling backward. "Why are you so mean?"

Holden burst into the room. He saw Jaidyn cowering and Eloise on the floor, her eyes blazing with hatred.

"You' re still at it?" Holden roared, his face contorted with rage. He strode over and grabbed Eloise by the front of her shirt, hauling her to her feet. "Apologize. Now."

"No."

The slap was so hard her head snapped to the side, her cheek stinging instantly.

"Don' t, Holden, you' ll hurt her!" Jaidyn pleaded from the doorway, her voice laced with crocodile tears. "She' s just upset, she doesn't mean it!"

Her fake pleas only fueled his rage. "She needs to learn!" he shouted, shaking Eloise violently. "You are a spoiled, vicious brat!" His hands moved from her shirt to her throat, his thumbs pressing down.

Panic flared in Eloise' s chest. She couldn' t breathe. Her vision started to tunnel. Her flailing hand hit something small and metallic on a dusty crate behind her. A pair of old sewing scissors.

With a surge of adrenaline, she grabbed them. She didn't aim for Holden. She aimed for the air, for anything to make him let go.

"Holden, look out!" Jaidyn shrieked, lunging forward.

It happened in a flash. Jaidyn threw herself between them, her arm outstretched. The point of the scissors, which Eloise was just swinging wildly, grazed Jaidyn' s forearm. A thin line of red appeared on her skin.

"Aah!" Jaidyn screamed, collapsing to the floor and clutching her arm as if she' d been stabbed through the heart.

Holden released Eloise, who fell to the ground, gasping for air. He stared in horror at the small cut on Jaidyn' s arm, then at Eloise, his eyes filled with a terrifying, murderous rage.

"You... you stabbed her," he breathed, his voice trembling.

"Holden, it' s not that bad," Jaidyn sobbed. "I' m okay, really..."

"Shut up," he commanded, his voice dangerously quiet. He turned to the guards who had appeared at the top of the stairs. His face was a mask of cold fury.

"She' s more stubborn than I thought," he said. "Take her. Continue her education. Make sure she understands the consequences this time."

Eloise' s blood ran cold. She knew what that meant. As the guards dragged her away, she could hear Holden' s final, chilling promise.

"I swear, Eloise, you will pay for this."

She closed her eyes, a single tear finally escaping and tracing a path through the grime on her cheek. She didn't fight this time. She was too weak, too broken. She simply let the darkness take her.

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