---- Chapter 7 Haylie Camacho POV: Panic clawed at my throat. | was bound and gagged, thrown into what felt like a cold, damp cellar. Water lapped at my ankles, rising steadily. The air was thick with the smell of mildew and fear. | could hear muffled voices from somewhere above me. A man' s, rough and angry. Then another voice, one that sent a fresh wave of ice through my veins. Jeremy' s. "Did you get her?" he was shouting. "Did you teach that bitch a lesson?" My heart stopped. He thought they had kidnapped Joselin. He was here to punish the people who had hurt her. A coarse laugh echoed from above. "Don' t you worry, Mr. Glass. We got the right one. The mean older sister who hurt your precious little wife." The water was at my knees now, chilling me to the bone. | thrashed wildly, trying to make a sound, anything to let him know they had the wrong person. It was useless. The gag was tight, my hands bound painfully behind my back. "Joselin is delicate," Jeremy' s voice was laced with a cold ---- fury | had never heard before. "She fainted from just three lashes. You will give this woman thirty. Make her understand what happens when you cross me." Thirty. The word was a death sentence. A new voice chimed in, smooth and venomous. Joselin' s. "Don't be so hard on them, honey. I' m sure my sister didn' t mean to be so cruel. She' s just... jealous." The water was at my waist. | was trembling uncontrollably, my injured leg screaming in protest. "Start the water faster," Jeremy commanded. "And begin the lashes. | want to hear her scream." The sound of a whip cracking through the air was followed by aman' s cry of pain. Not mine. One of my captors. "Not him, you idiot!" Jeremy roared. "Her!" The water was at my chest now, so cold it was hard to breathe. My teeth chattered violently. One of the kidnappers, his face a mask of terror, waded through the water toward me. "Please, Mr. Glass," he whimpered, "she' s the one! She's the one who ordered the beating! It was all her idea!" "Lies!" Joselin shrieked from above. "| don' t care who ordered what," Jeremy's voice was flat, devoid of all emotion. "Joselin was hurt. That' s all that matters. Do it." ---- The world narrowed to the rising water and the impending pain. Jeremy and his father left. | heard their footsteps receding. A sliver of hope, fragile and thin, flickered within me. Maybe it was over. Then | heard one of the men on the phone. "Yes, Ms. Camacho... a video? Okay... yes, we' Il make sure it looks convincing." Heavy footsteps slogged through the water toward me. A rough hand ripped the hood from my head. The man' s face was a grotesque caricature of cruelty in the dim light. He held up a phone, its screen glowing. "Smile for your sister," he sneered. The water was at my chin. Then, his hand was on my head, shoving me under. The world exploded into a silent, churning chaos of green water and burning lungs. He pulled me up, let me gasp for a single, precious breath, and then pushed me under again. And again. And again. My body was a screaming symphony of agony. He finally dragged my limp form from the water, dumping me on the concrete floor like a sack of garbage. | lay there, coughing, sputtering, every nerve ending on fire. He kicked me in the ribs. "Pathetic." Then, he picked up a bucket. | saw what was inside. Salt. He mixed it with water and poured it over my back, where the skin ---- was already raw from being dragged across the concrete. The pain was beyond anything | had ever imagined. It was a living thing, a fire that consumed me from the inside out. | think | screamed. As the blackness closed in, my last coherent thought was of his face. The mole next to his left eye. The gold front tooth. | would remember him. In the swirling darkness, | saw my mother' s face, smiling at me. It's okay, my sweet girl, she seemed to say. It' s time to rest. Maybe death wasn't so bad. Maybe it was a way back. A way back to a time before the pain, before the betrayal. A way back to her. | woke up in my bed. Not the guest room. The master bedroom, now stripped of all of Joselin' s things. The air smelled of antiseptic. Jeremy was sitting in the armchair, his head in his hands. He looked up when | stirred, his face etched with exhaustion and a horrifyingly familiar look of concern. "Haylie," he whispered, rushing to my side. "You' re awake." He gently dabbed a cool cloth on my forehead. His touch was a brand of fire. "We found you by the old quarry," he said, his voice thick with ---- emotion. "It must have been some of my father s old business rivals, trying to get to me through you. Thank God Joselin was able to identify one of them from a security camera. We' ve already taken care of them." He shook his head, a look of awe on his face. "She was so brave, Haylie. So strong." | stared at him, at the absolute, unshakable belief in his eyes. He had been fed a lie, and he had swallowed it whole. "Jeremy," | said, my voice a dry rasp. "Do you have any idea what you' ve done?" His hand froze. "What... what do you mean?" The door creaked open. Joselin stood there, a bowl of soup in her hands, her face a perfect portrait of worried innocence. She had brought one of the kidnappers with her, a man | didn 't recognize, his face bruised and swollen. "We found the ringleader," she announced, her voice trembling. "He confessed everything." | looked at the man. He wasn't one of them. He wasn't the man with the gold tooth. "He's not the one," | said. Jeremy' s face hardened. "Haylie, stop. Joselin went to a lot of trouble to track him down." "She's lying," | said, my gaze locking on my sister. "They ---- were working for you." "That' s a horrible thing to say!" Joselin cried, tears instantly appearing in her eyes. "After everything | did to save you!" "Enough!" Jeremy snapped, his voice cracking like a whip. He stood between us, a shield for Joselin. "| don' t know why you hate your sister so much, Haylie, but this has to stop. She is the victim here. She was the one who was publicly humiliated and beaten on your orders!" | just stared at him, a bitter, hollow laugh escaping my lips. He was protecting her. Defending her. After she had tried to have me tortured and killed. He truly was a lost cause.