After Prison I’m Done Playing Second

Reginald didn't come home.

But I slept soundly.

For the first time in three years.

As morning light filled the room, I started packing.

Jewelry, gowns, skincare—all the expensive things that once defined Rosabella Rossi.

I picked up a diamond necklace. Reginald's gift for my twenty-first birthday.

I used to treasure it. Now it just felt heavy.

The room was exactly as I'd left it three years ago.

Reginald hadn't even moved my things.

Was it sentimentality? Or guilt?

"Ma'am, the Boss wants you downstairs," Marco, the butler, said through the door. "Mr. Rossi is here."

My father was here?

I changed into a simple black dress and walked downstairs.

In the living room, Magnus sat in the main armchair, his face a thundercloud.

My mother, Maria, stood behind him. Her eyes flickered with something complicated when she saw me.

Reginald sat across from them, looking exhausted.

And Leo was curled in a corner of the sofa, his eyes red and swollen.

It was the first time I'd seen my parents in three years. A lump formed in my throat.

The little girl who just wanted her parents' love seemed to resurface. "Papa, Mama..." I started, my voice strained.

"Rosabella." Magnus's voice was ice. "What did you do last night?"

"What do you mean?"

"Leo told us," Magnus’s voice was dangerously low. "He said you locked him in the ice cellar for three hours. For revenge."

The accusation hung in the air, so absurd I couldn't even breathe.

"I did not."

"Leo doesn't lie," Reginald said, his voice heavy with exhaustion. He wouldn't even look at me. "He cried all night. Said he was cold and terrified."

I looked at Leo. The three-year-old boy was staring at me with pure terror in his eyes.

Such good acting. He really was Felicia's student.

"I was in my room all night," I said calmly. "Reginald was not."

"Reginald didn't come to your room last night," my mother said suddenly, her voice soft. "He was in his study all night."

The air froze.

Reginald looked away.

"A child doesn't lie for no reason," Magnus said, standing up. "Rosabella, I know you're angry, but Leo is, after all..."

He stopped.

"After all, what?" I laughed, a bitter, mocking sound. "Say it, Father. After all, what?"

Reginald shifted uncomfortably.

"The family heir?" I pushed. "You can't even say the words 'Leo is my son' anymore, can you?"

"Enough!" Magnus roared. "Will you ever learn?"

He gave a hand signal.

Two of his men stepped forward.

"Administer the family punishment."

"What?" Reginald shot to his feet. "Don Magnus, this is not—"

"She needs to learn a lesson," Magnus said coldly. "Take her to the discipline room."

"No." Reginald stood in front of me. "Rosabella, just apologize. And this will be over."

Apologize?

For something I didn't do?

I looked at Reginald, the man who once promised to protect me for the rest of his life.

"I didn't do it." I pushed past him. "If you've got the guts, just kill me."

Reginald stared at me, shocked.

"Rosabella—"

But the two men had already grabbed me, dragging me toward the basement.

In the discipline room, I was forced onto the bench.

Cold leather straps were fastened around my wrists.

"Twenty lashes," Magnus's voice came from the doorway. "Teach her a lesson."

The whip cracked through the stale air.

A line of fire seared across my back.

I bit down on my lip, hard enough to taste blood. I would not give them the satisfaction of a scream.

The second lash.

The third.

Blood soaked through my dress.

But I would not beg.

Three years in prison taught me that tears and pleading only bring more humiliation.

By the tenth lash, my vision started to blur.

By the fifteenth, I was drifting.

No, I will not give in...

Just then, a small, tearful voice cried out.

"Stop hitting her!"

Leo ran in, his eyes full of tears.

"Papa! Don't hit her anymore!"

Reginald immediately rushed over.

"Stop!"

The man with the whip froze.

"Leo, how did you—"

"It... It was Mama who told me to say it!" Leo sobbed, out of breath. "She told me to go into the ice cellar by myself!"

Dead silence.

I used my last ounce of strength to lift my head. Reginald's face was sheet-white.

Magnus was frozen in place.

"I wasn't locked in!" Leo kept crying. "I lied! I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!"

The world started to spin.

The last thing I saw before I passed out was Reginald rushing toward me, his arms trembling as he caught me.