After Three Years in Hell, I Became the Heiress He Lost

Pamela groaned, clutching her leg. "I think my leg is broken... It hurts so much..."

Leon's voice cut through the air like ice. "Gloria. Children don't lie. I didn't think it was possible, but you're still the same jealous woman you've always been."

His jaw tightened. "Clearly, you won't learn unless I teach you a lesson."

He turned to his men. "Break her legs."

They closed in on me.

The moment I saw those cold, merciless faces, every memory from the psychiatric facility came flooding back. The restraints. The electroshock. Being pinned to the ground, unable to move.

I screamed. "Stay away! Stay away from me! Help! Don't touch me! Get back!"

My shrieking stopped them in their tracks.

Leon walked over and slammed me to the floor himself.

"Still putting on an act."

He didn't believe me.

He never had.

A single tear rolled down my cheek and hit the cold tile.

One of his men raised the baton and brought it down on my legs.

Once.

Then again.

The sound of bone cracking was unmistakable.

They didn't stop until I was crumpled on the ground, too broken to so much as twitch a finger.

"Take her to the hospital tomorrow morning."

Leon tossed those words over his shoulder, scooped Pamela into his arms, and left.

Hayden poked his head out from behind the door and stuck his tongue out at me. "Nyah nyah nyah! Stinky woman! Bad woman! You deserved it!"

In the darkness, I lay on the floor, drifting in and out of consciousness. Every time the pain dragged me awake, I wished it hadn't.

All those years. Wasted on the wrong people.

Leon. Hayden. Every single person in this house. Not one of them was worth holding on to anymore.

I didn't know how long I lay there before I managed to claw my phone out of my pocket and dial a number.

"Save... me..."

Hours later, the door was smashed open from outside.

I was lifted onto a stretcher and loaded into a helicopter.

Meanwhile, Leon had taken Pamela to the hospital.

The test results came back: her leg was fine. A few bruises, nothing more.

Only then did something seem to flicker in the back of his mind. He pulled out his phone and called one of his men.

"Bring my wife to the hospital for treatment."

The voice on the other end was shaking.

"Mr. Vance... there's blood everywhere. Your wife... she's gone."