Chapter 3

3

I didn't die. Caden came back for me that night and moved me to a wooden cot.

"You have to take responsibility for your mistakes," he said softly. "Half of your inheritance should be mine anyway. I'm giving it to Melanie. Sign the papers."

I looked at the documents and started laughing. "Caden, who really made the mistake? That night... did you really not know it was me?"

He froze, his chest heaving with rage. He looked at me as if I were a monster.

He was the Sterling heir, so the family protected him. They said I was an orphan who seduced her guardian.

When they dragged me away to the reformatory, he chased the car. "Kacy, I'll come for you! I'll bring you home!"

Two days turned into months. I didn't see him until May. I had been at St. Jude's for five months.

I was no longer treated like an animal because I was showing. I begged the mistress to call him.

"The baby belongs to Caden Sterling! Please, call him!"

The call went through, but all I heard was the sound of a woman moaning. The mistress hung up with a twisted smile.

I gave birth to a baby girl in a side hall. They took her blood and sold her for seventy thousand dollars immediately.

The mistress was ecstatic about the money. In the main hall, the buyer held the baby by the neck.

"She's ugly, but her spinal fluid is fresh. It'll be enough to help Melanie recover."

I saw Caden then. And for some reason, I started laughing uncontrollably.

That was the night my mental state shattered completely. I even saw a dark deity winking at me.

Caden's face was twisted with fury. "Are you threatening me? You're the one who pushed the door open that night!"

I saw a shadow outside the window and tilted my head. "But Uncle, when things got heated, you told me I smelled so sweet."

Then, I planted the seed. "Did you ever wonder why that baby at the reformatory didn't cry when you held her?"

"Maybe it's because she knew you were her father."

"You're insane! I should never have stopped your meds!" Caden fled the room.

Melanie didn't say a word about what she overheard. Instead, she decided to finish me off.

That night, her cousin from the countryside brought a group of thugs into my room. It wasn't the first time.

Right after my wedding, they had tried to crawl into my bed. I had fought back and stabbed the cousin in the eye with a fountain pen.

Caden had walked in and asked if I was that desperate for men. He had just wiped the blood off the pen―the one Melanie gave him.

This time, I had a knife. I left the cousin with a hole in his chest.

Melanie burst in, screaming about the police. I wiped the blood from my face and snatched a medical report from her coat.

"Save the acting, Melanie. If I'm in prison, how are you going to kill me?"

So, they put me in a limo headed for the "asylum." It was actually the road back to St. Jude's.

Melanie sat across from me, her eyes full of spite. She told me she was going to send me to hell personally.

I remembered the night I left Caden's room. My legs were shaking, and I ran into Melanie in the hall.

She looked at my chest and mocked me. "Looking for Caden? You don't even have hair down there yet, and you're already hunting for men."

I told her she was right, and she screamed until her heel snapped. I chased her with the broken heel, only to run into Caden.

"You're too unruly! Kacy, apologize!" he had said.

It was the first time he talked about "rules." Even though he still smelled like me, he chose to hold her.

The car stopped. Caden sat next to Melanie, his arm around her waist. They were taking me back to the nightmare together.

Caden watched me, looking for a hint of fear. Melanie didn't stop mocking me.

"Kacy, be a good girl and follow the rules. Do whatever the guests want. I'll make sure to send some 'friends' to visit you."

The closer we got to St. Jude's, the calmer I felt. Melanie's smile widened.

"Uncle, you called me 'baby' that night. Why are you so embarrassed?"

Caden snapped. He grabbed my throat and slapped me. I spat blood on his face and showed him my phone.

"You still have my photos hidden in your pillow, don't you? I wonder what those stains on them are."

He tried to grab the phone. "What's the password?"

"Dottie's birthday."

"Who the hell is Dottie?"

"Your daughter. The one whose spinal fluid you drained. Did you forget?"

He shook with rage. He snapped the phone in half and threw it out the window.

"You're wasting your last chance on lies, Kacy. That's not what I taught you."

The road turned into a rugged mountain path. Ten minutes to go.

Melanie was buzzing. She had recruited fifty men with diseases to wait for me at the reformatory.

She was finally getting rid of the trash. Caden looked at me like I was already dead.

"Kacy, learn the rules. Maybe one day..."

I sneered at him. "There won't be a next time."

I meant for them. I hopped out of the limo and strolled into St. Jude's.

That night, the entire place burned to the ground. But not before I sent Caden one last gift.