Chapter 1

On my daughter's birthday, she begged my wife to stay a little longer. That twelve-minute delay changed everything.

My wife's high school sweetheart was driving home alone and got into a horrific car accident.

Seraphina blamed our daughter's selfishness for the tragedy. In a fit of rage, she sent both of us to a desolate farm in the middle of nowhere for a "re-education."

"This is your fault for being a spineless father and spoiling her rotten. Let the dirt and hard labor break that attitude of hers!" she screamed.

My daughter was so hungry she had to fight the pigs for their slop. She was covered in filth, looking like a little beggar.

I went to beg Seraphina for mercy. Instead, I heard her discussing "child psychology" with her precious Alaric.

"You have to discipline them early!" Alaric said smoothly.

"If she doesn't learn grit now, how will she ever inherit your business empire?"

So, they put my daughter through "disciplinary training."

"Hunger training" meant she wasn't allowed a drop of water or a crumb of food for forty-eight hours.

"Willpower training" meant standing under the blistering 100-degree sun until her skin felt like it was melting and she was barely breathing.

Seraphina laughed, saying our daughter was finally being good because she stopped crying.

She didn't know that our daughter was dying.

And I was dying, too.

1

The heat outside was a brutal 100 degrees. My daughter's small face was flushed a terrifying shade of crimson.

I tried to run to her, my heart screaming in my chest. A wall of bodyguards blocked my path.

"I'm sorry, sir. Mrs. Sterling ordered that the young lady must remain in the sun for exactly one hour. No exceptions."

I stared at the hourglass on the table, watching every grain of sand like it was a drop of my own blood. The moment the last grain fell, the guards stepped aside.

I rushed forward and scooped Lily into my arms. Her skin felt like a hot stove. I scrambled for a basin of water to cool her down.

Seraphina walked over and kicked the basin over with a cold thud.

"How can you use that filthy well water on her? Do you want her to get an infection?" she hissed, her face full of disgust.

Now she cared about hygiene? Where was this motherly concern when Lily was eating out of a pig trough?

Lily began to seizure from the high fever, her little voice drifting in and out. "Mommy... I'm so cold. It hurts. Please hold me..."

For a split second, a flicker of pain crossed Seraphina's eyes.

Alaric stepped forward, patting her shoulder. "Children are the best actors, Seraphina. If you soften now, all our progress will be wasted."

Seraphina turned her glare back to me. "Can't you teach her anything good? You're teaching a five-year-old how to be a professional liar!"

"She's burning up! She's hallucinating from the heat! Are you blind?" I screamed, my heart bleeding.

Seraphina's expression turned into one of pure disdain.

"Alaric is a world-renowned child psychologist. He's seen thousands of kids. You think he can't see through a brat's little games?"

"I understand a father's love, Linus," Alaric said, shaking his head with mock pity. "But coddling her now is just ruining her future."

I knew why he was doing this. Alaric hated my daughter with every fiber of his being.

Because she made Seraphina twelve minutes late, Alaric had crashed his car. The accident had left him unable to ever have children of his own.

To punish us, he convinced Seraphina to exile us to this hellhole. He had spies watching us, making sure nobody gave us a scrap of food.

All of this "education" was nothing but a sick revenge fantasy.

Lily's body began to twitch violently. Seraphina's hand wavered.

Alaric remained firm. "It's a common tantrum tactic. If you don't discipline her now, the world will do it much more cruelly later."

"I once saw a spoiled child grow up to be a drug-addicted mess who squandered a billion-dollar inheritance. That's what happens without discipline."

Seraphina gritted her teeth and pulled her hand back. She ordered the guards to lock Lily in the woodshed.

I pounded on the door until my knuckles bled. "She has heatstroke! She's going to die!" I screamed at her retreating back.

She and Alaric walked away into the sunset, their long shadows mocking me. She didn't even look back.

It wasn't until a guard saw Lily convulsing through the window that they finally opened the door. I grabbed her and ran.

I sprinted toward the local clinic like a madman. Lily opened her eyes slightly, her voice a mere whisper. "Daddy... I'm so sleepy."

I shook her gently, desperate to keep her awake. "Lily, stay with me. Just a little longer. You're going to be okay."

Tears blurred my vision as I ran.

Please, baby. You have to live.