Chapter 1 - TWO HUNDRED
By the time my husband ordered the two-hundredth lash, I had already decided I would destroy him.
Not leave him.
Not divorce him.
Destroy him.
The leather strap cracked across my back.
My body jerked forward, but I refused to scream.
Julian Vale stood behind me, breathing hard, his expensive white shirt rolled to the elbows. A few strands of his dark hair had fallen across his forehead. He looked less like the polished CEO whose face appeared on magazine covers and more like what he really was.
A coward with money.
Across the room, Selene Hart lifted her champagne glass.
She counted lazily.
“One hundred ninety-eight.”
Julian stopped.
I heard his breathing.
Selene smiled.
“You missed two.”
For a second, I thought even Julian might have had enough.
Then he laughed.
“Wouldn't want Elena thinking I can't count.”
The strap came down again.
One hundred ninety-nine.
My vision flashed white.
Then again.
Two hundred.
Silence filled the penthouse.
I could hear the low hum of the air-conditioning. Traffic thirty floors below. The soft clink as Selene placed her glass on the side table.
Julian dropped the strap onto the marble floor.
“There.”
He crouched beside me.
“You understand now?”
I stared at the blood spreading beneath my palms.
He grabbed my chin.
“I asked you a question.”
I looked at him.
And smiled.
His fingers loosened.
Selene frowned.
“What are you smiling at?”
I didn't answer her.
I reached for my phone.
Julian laughed immediately.
“Oh, this should be good.”
He stepped back.
“Who are you calling? The police?”
Selene gave a small laugh.
“Please do. I'd love to hear how she explains attacking me first.”
I unlocked the screen.
Julian leaned against the bar.
“No cameras tonight, Elena.”
I kept scrolling.
“No staff.”
Scroll.
“No witnesses.”
Scroll.
“And I have six attorneys who can make a jury believe the sky is green.”
My thumb stopped over one name.
DAD.
Julian noticed.
His expression turned amused again.
“Your father?”
Selene actually laughed out loud.
“That retired accountant from Connecticut?”
That was the story Julian knew.
A harmless father.
A modest childhood.
A daughter with no important connections.
My father had built that story carefully.
So had I.
I pressed CALL.
He answered before the second ring.
“Elena?”
My throat tightened.
For the first time that night, my voice almost broke.
“Dad.”
His tone changed immediately.
“Where are you?”
“At the penthouse.”
“What happened?”
I looked at Julian.
Then at the leather strap on the floor.
I said the words my father had told me never to use unless there was no road back.
“It's time.”
Silence.
Not panic.
Not confusion.
Just silence.
Then my father's voice became ice.
“Are you safe for five minutes?”
I glanced at Julian.
“Yes.”
“Good.”
A pause.
“Give me five minutes.”
The call ended.
Julian stared at me.
Then he burst out laughing.
“Five minutes?”
Selene shook her head.
“This is pathetic.”
I pushed myself onto one elbow.
Every inch of my back screamed.
“You're right, Julian.”
He grinned.
“About what?”
“My father can't save me.”
His grin widened.
Then I finished.
“He doesn't have to.”
I looked at the clock.
“He only has to stop protecting you.”
Julian's smile disappeared.
Four minutes and forty-three seconds later, his phone rang.
He looked down.
And went completely still.
The screen showed three words.
CHAIRMAN — ARTHUR REED.
Julian answered.
“What?”
His face changed.
“What do you mean, suspended?”
Selene slowly lowered her champagne glass.
Julian listened.
“No. You can't call a board vote without—”
He stopped.
Another call appeared.
Then another.
Then another.
His phone began vibrating so violently against his palm that he nearly dropped it.
I watched him answer the fourth call.
His eyes moved to me.
“What debt?”
My smile disappeared.
Because that was when I knew my father hadn't started with Julian's money.
He had started with something much worse.
Julian's control.
May you like
And in the next ten seconds, the first piece of his empire fell.
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