My Husband Let His Pregnant Ex Move Into Our Home

Chapter 5

Chloe crumpled onto the freezing floor. The blinding pain in her chest made her breath shudder in shallow, ragged gasps. "I... I really didn't know... I didn't do it..."

"Enough!" Christian roared, his fury scorching the air. "Even now, you're still trying to worm your way out of this? Do you even have a heart?"

He whirled around, barking an order at the servants to drag her to the family chapel.

Chloe was forced to her knees on the icy stone tiles, her arms bound tightly behind her back. The rough ropes bit into her skin, leaving deep, purple welts.

Christian picked up a leather whip. He snapped it through the air, the tip producing a sharp, deafening c***k.

"The family code dictates that anyone who schemes to harm a blood relative or tarnish our family reputation must be subjected to strict family discipline. There will be no leniency."

He stood behind her, his voice absolute zero. "This is your punishment."

The words barely left his mouth before the whip came crashing down.

Chloe convulsed, a blood-curdling scream tearing from her throat as a cold sweat instantly broke out across her forehead.

The whip struck her back again and again, every single blow feeling like her skin was being ripped apart.

She didn't know how many times the lash fell before Christian's arm finally faltered, letting the whip hang loosely by his side.

Chloe was barely breathing. Like a fragile flower ravaged by a violent hurricane, she couldn't even summon the strength to lift her head.

At that moment, the heavy wooden doors of the chapel were pushed open, and Arthur Sterling rushed in.

Seeing his daughter battered and soaked in blood, he didn't show a flicker of heartache. Instead, he hurried over to Christian with a face full of terror and fawning subservience, desperate to save his own skin. "Mr. Ford, please calm down! I swear, this has absolutely nothing to do with me!"

Christian glared down at him with a glacial sneer. "Mr. Sterling, you'd better explain yourself clearly."

"It was her! Chloe orchestrated the whole thing!" Arthur pointed a shaking finger at the broken woman on the floor. His tone was definitive, but a flicker of guilty panic hid in the depths of his eyes.

"I tried to talk her out of it, but she wouldn't listen! Please, I beg you, don't take your anger out on me. She's your wife now. You can punish her however you see fit. Just please spare the Sterling family!"

Chloe weakly raised her head, her unfocused eyes locking onto Arthur.

This was her biological father. A man who would throw her to the wolves without a second thought just to save himself.

Christian didn't look the least bit surprised. "You're right. Those who sin must face the consequences."

Without sparing Chloe another glance, he ordered his men to throw her into the basement.

Tossed onto the basement floor like a piece of garbage, the coarse concrete scraped agonizingly against her open wounds. The terrifying, high-pitched squeaks of rats echoing in the darkness sent shudders down her spine.

Her consciousness drifted in and out, suspended between lucidity and a deep, numbing fog. Scenes from her past flashed through her mind like an old, flickering film reel.

The glow of a chat screen late at night in high school, reading Christian's comforting messages.

His rare moments of tenderness after they married, gently blow-drying her damp hair.

And then... the curses, the slaps, the c***k of the whip over the past few days...

The interwoven memories of sweetness and cruelty pulverized her heart into dust.

She remembered high school, when they chatted under exclusive screen names. His handle was Julian Hayes. He had told her that she was the only one allowed to call him Jules.

Now, floating on the edge of oblivion, Chloe subconsciously parted her cracked lips. In a whisper so faint it was barely a breath, she murmured, "Jules... Jules..."

Just as the name left her lips, a towering figure stepped into the dim light. It was Christian.

He had come to check on her condition, but the moment those syllables reached his ears, he froze as if struck by lightning.

He lunged forward, grabbing her jaw with a grip born of sheer shock and disbelief. "How do you know that name?! Who told you about Jules?!"

But Chloe’s consciousness had already slipped away. She let out a feeble groan before everything went black, sinking into a deep, heavy faint.

When she finally opened her eyes again, she found herself back in her own bedroom.

Christian sat by the bed, his expression dark and turbulent, his eyes fixed on her with complex intensity.

Seeing her stir, he immediately demanded an answer, his tone brokering no argument. "Tell me. How exactly do you know the name Jules?"

Chloe frowned weakly. Her throat felt parched and sore. She parted her lips to answer, but before she could utter a sound, the bedroom door creaked open.

Riley walked in. Upon seeing Chloe awake, a fleeting glint of malice flashed across her eyes, swiftly replaced by a mask of profound guilt.

"Christian, please stop interrogating her. I've already forgiven her. Let's just drop this whole thing."

She stepped to Christian’s side, her voice as soft as velvet. "Actually, I'm the one who came between your marriage. I'm the one who wronged Chloe. Please don't hurt her anymore. I'll take good care of myself and the baby so Grandmother doesn't have to worry."

Christian instantly took Riley's hand, his eyes melting with tender solace. "This is not your fault. You're just too kindhearted for your own good, always taking the blame for everything."

With that, he didn't even cast a sideways glance at Chloe. He guided Riley toward the door, his tone gentle and sweet, a total juxtaposition to the monster he had been seconds ago.

"Didn't you say you wanted to go shop for baby clothes? I'll take you."

Their footsteps faded down the hallway, and the bedroom sank back into a suffocating, dead silence.