At a charity gala in Seacrest Bay.

My private video was passed off as a piece of avant-garde art titled "Submersion" and screened for a crowd of Seacrest Bay's elite.

To amuse his new companion, Natalie Reed, Clark Knight—the man I grew up with and heir to the Knight empire—goaded his friends into a cruel bidding war over me.

Helpless, I prepared to call our mutual friend and family lawyer, Glen Croft, for help.

But while catching my breath on the terrace, I overheard their whispered conversation.

"You're a genius, Glen. You set the trap and got your hands on Aria's video. With this, she won't dare compete with Natalie for the spot at the Vanguard Research Institute."

"I didn't get the footage myself. I hired a few 'professionals' to handle it."

It turned out my kidnapping two months ago—the three days and nights of torment I endured—was all a setup. It was all their doing, a sick game to give Natalie an edge and a way to control me.

"Anyway, we'll just tell everyone she 'sacrificed herself for art.' It's not like anything will really happen to her. When Aria calls you later, play your part. Don't blow your cover."

A bitter smile curved my lips. I slipped my phone back into my clutch and strode back into that glamorous, filthy ballroom.

When the auctioneer asked if I would continue bidding, I met Clark's mocking gaze.

"I withdraw."

I withdrew from the auction. I gave up on them. I gave up on everything.

I didn't want any of it anymore.

————————

1

The moment the words left my mouth, Clark's face fell.

He never expected me to surrender.

"Aria, have you no shame? Are you really going to let your video fall into the hands of those old perverts?"

I met his gaze, my own expression pained.

"But aren't you the one who put it up for auction?"

Clark’s face went slack with shock, then twisted in fury.

"What the hell are you talking about? This is your own damn fault for being so reckless! I'm trying to do damage control here, and you have the nerve to blame me?"

Natalie, nestled beside him, let her face fall into a perfectly timed, wounded expression.

"Aria, how could you say that? Clark went to so much trouble to get that video for you. How can you accuse him like this?"

Her tear-streaked performance made Clark’s heart ache with pity.

I couldn't stomach their hypocritical performance any longer, so I turned on my heel and left.

The phone in my clutch was ringing incessantly.

It was Glen.

Was Glen really going to go along with this? I thought, my heart sinking. Was he going to help Clark humiliate me, too?

I stepped out of the suffocating ballroom and answered the call.

"Aria, I heard what happened. Why didn't you call me? I'll help you, I promise."

Glen had no idea I'd overheard everything on the terrace.

He was still playing the part of the concerned friend.

My voice was ice.

"And how are you going to do that?"

Lost in his own act, Glen didn't catch the frost in my tone.

"I'll get the video back for you, don't worry."

"But, Aria, you know Clark and I owe her mother our lives. It's time we repaid that debt."

I knew. Of course, I knew.

For fifteen years, they had wielded that debt against me. When they were shipwrecked off Catalina Island as children, it was Natalie's mother who had supposedly orchestrated their rescue.

Ever since, they'd showered Natalie with affection. Whenever it came down to a choice between her and me, I was always the one forced to back down.

They were always talking about repaying that favor, and I was always the one forced to make the sacrifice.

Through my own hard work, I had finally secured a position as a top researcher at the Vanguard Research Institute—my one chance to prove myself and break free from them.

But Natalie, a third-rate socialite who only knew how to network, suddenly decided she wanted to burnish her resume, and they demanded I step aside for her.

When I refused, they resorted to this.

Perhaps I truly couldn't be a part of their world any longer.

Glen was still talking.

"Just let her have the spot at the institute. Besides, with me looking out for you, you can have anything you want."

I touched the necklace my mother had placed around my neck just before she died.

I remembered the freezing ocean, my mother using her last ounce of strength to push the three of us—just children—onto the life raft before the deep sea pulled her under.

In her final moments, she had cried out, "Aria, don't blame Clark and Glen for living."

She thought her sacrifice would grant me a lifetime of peace.

I fought the tremor in my voice, my nails digging into my palms.

"Fine. I promise."

Glen let out an audible sigh of relief, his tone instantly brightening. "That's my girl, Aria. I knew you'd do the right thing. Leave the video to me."

With that, he quickly hung up.

I wiped away my tears.

I sent a single text.

"Professor Davies, I accept the overseas project at the Vanguard Research Institute's Zurich headquarters. I'll leave with you this Saturday."

I was in my room, packing my bags, when Clark and Natalie returned.

Seeing me packing, Clark leaned against the doorframe, a sneer on his face.

"Running away from home? How pathetic. I didn't realize you were this shameless, willing to lose the institute job just to keep mooching off us."

He thought I was just tidying my room.

Natalie smiled, looping her arm through Clark's.

"Oh, Clark, don't say that. Aria's had a crush on you since we were kids. She just wants to be near you."

Clark looked disgusted.

"A bitch in heat wanting me is nothing to be proud of."

I didn't understand his viciousness. Had he forgotten the time we shared an ice cream at the amusement park?

"What did I ever do to you, Clark?"

My question made him freeze.

He didn't understand it either. This was all a charade he and Glen had planned to make me submit, to make me bend to their will.

But I hadn't groveled for his help, hadn't begged for his forgiveness, and that defiance left him deeply dissatisfied.

"Am I wrong? You've lived off my family your whole life; you're nothing but a parasite. Now you think you're grown and can just leave? So you can go sleep with those lowlifes more easily?"

The more he spoke, the more agitated he became, and he kicked over a box I'd set by the bed.

With a crash, its contents spilled across the floor.

From large dolls to small, handmade trinkets, everything was a gift from him and Glen.

He scoffed. "I thought you were tough. Talking about leaving, yet you're packing up all this junk? Aria, you're pathetic."

He was so focused on humiliating me that he didn't see the word "TRASH" scrawled in bold black marker on the side of the box.

Natalie, standing by, shot me a disdainful look before turning to Clark, her voice coquettish.

"Glen already booked a table to celebrate me getting the offer from the Vanguard Research Institute. Let's hurry and get changed. We can't keep him waiting."

Clark stroked her hair, his expression softening with adoration.

Natalie blushed, then glanced back at me.

"Aria, don't get the wrong idea. They're just celebrating me getting the job. They don't have any other feelings for me. We're all family here."

Hearing this, Clark glanced at me. He saw no reaction.

He impatiently pulled Natalie closer.

"Why are you wasting your breath on her? She's a nobody with no job and a ruined reputation. From now on, she'll have to survive on our charity."

After that, they ignored me, changed their clothes, and left.

The next day, while I was out getting my visa processed, I ran into a colleague from the institute, Ryan Cole.

Seeing the passport in my hand, he looked surprised.

"I thought you'd back down after what happened yesterday. I didn't expect you to actually agree to go to Zurich. That project is a real grind."

The overseas assignment from Vanguard was grueling. I'd been hesitant, unwilling to sever the bonds of my childhood.

But now, I had to look out for myself. There was nothing left for me in that house.

I had to discuss a few things with Professor Davies, so I went to the institute with Ryan after getting my papers in order.

At the entrance, we ran into Natalie and the others.

When Glen saw me, his brow furrowed, his tone sharp with reprimand.

"Aria, didn't you promise me you'd give up the spot? What are you doing here? Are you going back on your word?"

"Professor Davies has been very good to me," I replied, not wanting to cause a scene. "I just wanted to apologize to her in person."

But Natalie wouldn't let it go.

"The institute is only hiring one person this year. It's not a place for just anyone. Professor Davies and I just met, and she was very pleased with me."

She waved the documents in her hand.

Ryan, standing beside me, couldn't stomach her attitude.

"The institute hires based on ability, but also on character. Every researcher here is an elite who has passed a rigorous selection process, not someone who got in through connections."

Color flared in Natalie's cheeks.

Glen, looking displeased, stepped in front of her.

"Aria, when did you start associating with people like this? Make him apologize to Natalie. Now."

I stared at Glen, dumbfounded by his audacity.

"This is the institute's chief virologist, Ryan Cole. He's also one of the lead researchers on the very project you 'sponsored.' You want him to apologize?"

Hearing this, Natalie quickly pasted on a smile and extended her hand.

"Oh, Dr. Cole, it's an honor. I've heard so much about you. My name is Natalie Reed. I'll be your colleague from now on."

But Ryan didn't even glance at her, completely ignoring her outstretched hand. He turned to me and said gently, "Let's go, Aria. The professor is waiting."

With that, he swiped his keycard and led me into the high-security internal area.

Natalie froze, stomping her foot in a fit of rage.

Glen's eyes followed me as I walked away, his expression unreadable. Then he calmly took out his phone and made a call.

"The plan is still on, but I need it fast. I want it on GossipWire's front page within half an hour. The more sensational the headline, the better."

I stayed at the institute until evening, confirming sample data with Professor Davies and finalizing our departure time for the next morning.

Suddenly, my phone buzzed with news alerts.

I tapped one open.

Pop-ups flooded the screen, each one a nightmarish clip of my ordeal—of me, humiliated and violated.

The headline was bold and glaring: Downfall of a Tycoon's Adopted Daughter: Trapped in an Orgy.

My blood ran cold. A wave of dizziness hit me, and I stumbled, crashing into a glass sample cabinet.

How could this be? I had already promised to give up the spot. I had already backed down. Why wouldn't they just let me go?

The memories of those nights flooded back like a nightmare. The dark, damp basement, the masked men, the cold instruments...

"Aria!"

My arm was badly cut by the shattered glass, blood pouring from the wound, but I couldn't feel the pain. Just as my knees gave out, Professor Davies and Ryan rushed to my side.

Seeing my state, Professor Davies's eyes welled with tears.

She was an old friend of my parents, an elder who had watched me grow up.

She knew me. She knew I would never do something like that.

She held me tightly as I trembled, just like my mother used to. I could no longer hold back and sobbed uncontrollably in her arms, the whole story spilling out of me in broken pieces.

She patted my back, her voice firm with heartbreak. "My dear girl, don't be afraid. We won't stay in this filthy place another second. We'll leave tomorrow and get away from these devils forever."

After a quick patch-up, I returned to the Knight mansion in a daze.

I had to get something back.

Natalie opened the door. When she saw me, her voice dripped with a false concern that couldn't hide her glee.

"Aria, your videos are all over the internet. How pitiful. I truly feel for you."

As she spoke, she preened, showing off the gemstone pendant on her neck.

That was the heirloom my mother had left me, set with an impossibly rare raw stone.

I always kept it locked away in the vault. How did she get it?

Clark walked over.

"Who let your video get out? Natalie was worried sick about you all afternoon and in a terrible mood, so I gave her the pendant to cheer her up. Besides, a person like you doesn't deserve to wear it anyway."

He said it so casually, as if he were discarding a cheap trinket.

In that moment, the last shred of illusion I held for him, the illusion of "family," shattered completely.

I didn't waste my breath responding. I just held out my hand.

"Give it back."

Clark seemed surprised by my defiance.

He spoke with contempt.

"Your mom's dead, so it's useless to you. The institute is holding a welcome party tomorrow. Natalie can wear it and make a splash. That would be putting it to good use."

I no longer hesitated. I lunged at Natalie.

My hands wrapped tightly around her neck.

"Give it back!"

My expression must have frightened Clark.

He froze, stunned.

But Glen, who had just walked in on the scene, reacted instantly.

He kicked me hard in the ribs, sending me flying.