I Cured His Poison, I Left For My Brother

Chapter 5

I had been beaten to my knees. Meredith pretended to step in to stop the beating, but instead she leaned close to my ear and hissed, "You backwoods hick, why do you not ever learn your place?"

The second she finished speaking, her stiletto heel crushed down hard on my hand. Agony seared up my arm, and I shoved her away without thinking. I had not even pushed that hard, but somehow, she toppled straight backward like a falling tree.

"Oh, that hurts so bad!" she wailed. "Little sister, I was only trying to help you. Why would you push me like this?"

In the very next blink, a stinging red handprint bloomed across my cheek.

Julian stared daggers at me, his voice dripping with venom. "You dare lay a hand on her? You are asking for death."

It was like I had forgotten the burning pain all over my body. I strained to catch even a flicker of the old, soft warmth he had once given me in his eyes. There was nothing. Not even a tiny sliver.

The crowd surrounding us burst into whispers, everyone pointing and gossiping behind their hands.

"She snuck into her sister's fiancé's bed to steal him years ago, and now she comes here just to ruin Meredith's birthday party on purpose. No wonder, country trash has no manners at all."

"Right? President Sterling and Miss Meredith are such a perfect match, and she just ripped them apart for no reason."

"If I were her dad, I would have thrown her out long ago."

The insults only made my father angrier. His cane rained down harder and harder on my body, each blow heavier than the last.

I was so badly beaten I could barely straighten my back, but I bit my lip and refused to make a single sound.

Then, just for a sick joke, someone set up a camera and streamed the footage of me getting beaten onto the big screen in the banquet hall for everyone to gawk at.

I was just about to crumple completely when Julian reached out and wrapped his hand around my father's cane.

My head snapped up to look at him, and I whispered his name like a prayer. "Julian..."

I never expected his next words to drop my heart straight into the bottom of an icy abyss.

"Mr. Gideon Black will be here any minute. Business comes first. Lock her in the basement for now."

I shook my head wildly, begging through my tears. "No, do not lock me in the basement, please! I am begging you!"

When I was kidn*pped as a kid, I was trapped in a pitch‑black basement for ten whole days. I fought and clawed for food, even killed other people just to stay alive, over and over. To stay alive, I even ate human waste.

Ever since that nightmare, I have had crippling claustrophobia. I am terrified of every dark, closed space.

Julian knew this full well, and he still chose to punish me like this. When he saw my tears, a flicker of hesitation seemed to cross his face for half a second. But the moment Meredith let out a soft little sob, his expression hardened again, and he shoved me away so hard I stumbled backward.

Strong hands dragged me down into the basement, and the heavy iron door clanged shut behind me, the lock clicked shut with a decisive sound.

Out of the darkness, a man lunged forward and wrapped his arms around me, breathing hot against my neck.

"Little Clara, I finally got to have you again. You are even more beautiful now than you were when you were thirteen." He tore my clothes right off me with brute force.

I slammed my fists against the door, screaming, "Julian! There is a man in here with me! Let me out, now!"

Julian's irritated, dismissive voice drifted through the door. "Clara, stop putting on an act. Think about what you have done in there. I will come get you once the birthday party is over."

His footsteps faded away into the distance, while the man pinning me under him burned hotter and hotter against my skin.

No matter how hard I twisted and fought, I could not throw him off.

It finally clicked. This man was just like Julian all those years ago. He had been given a powerful stimulant. There was no way I was getting out of this.

When the man ripped through my pants, I squeezed my eyes shut, completely broken and hopeless.

End of Clara's POV

Meanwhile, back in the packed, bustling banquet hall, the whole room went dead silent the moment the man arrived.

Julian and Clara's father both hurried forward to greet him.

"Mr. Black, it is such an honor to have you grace our humble home."

No one saw it coming, dozens of black‑clad bodyguards burst from the shadows, surrounding everyone in the room in a tight ring.

The man at their center, Gideon Black, had a blood‑chilling sharpness burning in his gaze.

He tilted his head upward, fixing his eyes on the still‑playing footage of Clara's beating on the large screen.

His voice rang deep and cold, as if it had crawled straight out of hell.

"You dare lay a hand on my person? Are you all tired of living?"

Just then, the housekeeper scrambled over, tripping over his own feet in sheer panic.

"Sir, Madam, it is terrible! The basement is on fire! Miss Clara, she—"

The housekeeper was cut off.