Chapter 2

The day before I was discharged, Julian showed up.

He had come straight from a red-carpet event and hadn't even changed.

He was wearing a custom-designed tuxedo.

He looked like Prince Charming.

And compared to him, I was nothing but an ugly duckling.

"Are you seriously hurt?"

The doctor said the scars on my face would heal, but the ones on my body would take much longer.

I would need regular check-ups.

But before I could answer, his tone shifted to one of annoyance.

"Mom was worried sick. You need to call her back."

"I'm sorry."

I shouldn't have made Mrs. Ford worry.

And I shouldn't have bothered Julian while he was so busy.

The wounds on my body were hidden under my clothes, out of his sight.

The scars on my face had already started to fade with treatment.

You wouldn't notice them unless you looked closely.

And Julian was not the kind of person to ever look at me for more than a second.

"If you're fine, then get home as soon as you can. Consider this a lesson. Think before you act next time."

A lesson?

He said it so casually.

I spent two months in a living hell at the hands of those kidnappers.

Every day, they whipped me, beat me, and violated me.

They would burn my wounds with a lighter.

For food, I ate scraps left over for a dog.

If I hadn't been found in those mountains, I would be dead right now.

And he called that a lesson?

All I did was cancel one of Sierra Shaw's performances.

Was that a crime worthy of such a "lesson"?

Julian knew I was kidnapped. He heard me screaming and begging for my life on the other end of the phone.

But he still thought I was just playing the victim.

He thought I was putting on a show to get his sympathy.

That I was wasting his precious time.

"Julian."

Sierra Shaw pushed the door open and walked in.