Bella bit down on her lip so hard she nearly split it open, but she never made a sound. She clung to one thought and one thought only: if she survived this, she would sign the divorce papers and cut Xavier out of her life for good.
By the time they were done, the skin across her lower back and hips had been flogged raw, and she could no longer stand on her own. The servants pinned her down and stabbed needles into her fingertips one by one.
When they were done, they dragged her away, blood-soaked and barely conscious, and dumped her inside the chapel.
The chapel was pitch-black, lit only by row after row of candles.
Bella had been kidn*pped before, and nothing terrified her more than the dark.
Xavier used to tell her, "Bella, as long as I'm here, you'll never have to be alone in the d
