Every word was firm and unyielding.
"Good! Bring the family discipline!"
A whip as thick as two fingers was handed over. The bodyguards began ushering the guests out one by one. The sharp c***k of the whip split through the hall.
Adrian's face turned pale. His back was soon torn open, flesh and blood mingling into a brutal mess. Yet he didn't make a sound. It was as if he were punishing himself.
With every strike, the same thought echoed in his mind. The day he pushed Selene off the cliff must have hurt her a hundred times more, yet he had not even gone back to save her. He could not stop imagining how desperate she must have been, lying alone at the bottom, waiting to die. The image carved into him like a blade.
Even as his back became unrecognizable, he refused to beg for mercy.
Vi
