I felt a bitterness rise in my chest and was about to speak again.

However, Hector suddenly shrugged off the mink coat Janet had just draped over him and cried out, his voice full of false grievance, “Janet, let him out! They’re so delicate, they can’t take this kind of torture. Not like a poor kid like me… I was frozen to the point of fainting in that air-conditioned room and didn’t even dare to speak…”

Fainted? From the cold? I had only turned on the air conditioner for half an hour.

When I left Janet’s office, Hector was still grinning, chatting with a group of women about meeting up at the bar that night.

I opened my mouth, ready to explain, but Janet’s face changed in an instant. Her voice turned sharp and cold. “Someone go in and take his clothes off! Isn’t he delicate and tender? Then today, let him experience what it’s like to be a poor child!”

She bent down to pick up the mink coat and gently placed it back on Hector’s shoulders, then shot me a cold look.

“When you understand what you did wrong, then you can come out. The doctor said my daughter is perfectly healthy, don’t use her as an excuse to avoid punishment.”

Then she leaned up, brushing her fingers across Hector’s face, her voice full of unshakable devotion. “Hector, your body runs cold. You can’t afford to be chilled. Stay here, in my arms. I dare anyone to say a word about it.”

Janet had just sat down with Hector in her arms when a group of strong men came charging toward me, grinning.

I clutched my thin pajamas and shrank into a corner, but no matter how hard I struggled, I couldn’t fight off the strength of several grown men.

The flimsy fabric was ripped in half and in an instant, the cold air rushed in, seeping into every inch of my skin through my pores.

With the last layer of protection gone, the child in my arms began to shiver uncontrollably.

As those lackeys walked out, they pointed at my daughter, now frozen and pale and laughed.

“Janet, your daughter’s just like you! Look at that little face, still rosy! She’s fine!”

“Yeah, red looks adorable on her!”

“From red to purple, that’s the color of wealth and glory!”

I held my daughter tightly, trying to keep her as warm as I could, but all I could do was shield the air vent closest to us.

My bare skin pressed against the icy metal and when I shifted even slightly, a patch of it tore clean off.

The sharp pain tore through me, straight to the heart.

Bright red blood oozed from the torn flesh, stark against the sterile white of the frozen chamber.

Janet saw it. She gently put Hector down and stepped closer.

Her gaze followed the blood as it slowly crept toward her feet. She opened her mouth, as if to say something.

However, Hector suddenly ran over from behind, touched the blood on the glass and trembled. “Please… just admit your mistake. Janet has so many friends here. If you don’t, things won’t end well for her…”

I stared at Hector. “Why should I admit anything? I saw how comfortable you were with the air conditioning today and how you were flirting with those girls…”

Janet caught what I said and gave Hector a quick glance, a flicker of suspicion flashing in her eyes.

But before I could say more, Hector suddenly slapped himself across the face.

Then, with a loud thump, he dropped to his knees, clutching Janet’s hand and shaking all over. “Janet! I can’t bear to see Yoseph suffer like this anymore. If he still refuses to apologize, then I’ll do it for him, I’ll apologize with him!”

The moment Hector knelt, the doubt in Janet’s eyes vanished.

She rushed to help Hector to his feet, then turned to me, her expression twisted with disgust.

“Yoseph, you’ve been coddled for far too long. Hector has endured your temper in silence for years. And now, when it’s clearly your fault, he still suffers for your sake. How can you just stand there like this?

“I’m not letting this go. If you won’t admit your mistake, don’t even dream of leaving.”

She snapped her fingers at the people nearby. “Bring in more ice bricks, stack them around him. Drench the ice with water and make sure he presses right up against it!”

Just as she finished, a woman tugged at her sleeve. “Janet, please. If you pour water over ice and force skin to touch it, it’ll freeze instantly. If he moves, the skin will rip right off. And he’s holding a child... something could go very wrong.”

Janet paused, her hand still in the air. The silence stretched, until Hector’s quiet voice broke it. “Janet, let it go. The ICU wasn’t as bad as you think.”

His words made Janet’s eyes turn icy. She lowered her hand and said coldly, “Do it. Just like I said.”

The woman opened her mouth to argue, but Janet cut her off with a wave. “This is nothing compared to what Hector’s endured. I’ve already got an ambulance on standby. He’ll survive.”

The young woman fell silent as soon as Janet spoke.

On her signal, the group carrying the ice cubes reentered the cold storage.

They grabbed my hair, shoved me back and surrounded me with blocks of ice. Then came a basin of freezing water, dumped straight over my head.

My skin clung to the ice as if it had fused. My daughter let out a heart-wrenching cry, shaken by the shock of the cold.

The chill drilled into my bones, seeping in through every pore.

We had been trapped here for over five hours. Her tiny limbs had turned a dark shade of purple, almost black.

I tried to shift—to reposition myself and shield her better from the cold—but even the smallest movement ripped flesh from my body where it had frozen to the ice.

Her breathing was faint, each breath weaker than the last. I ignored the pain and forced my body to move, inch by inch, curling around her like a shield.

Blood began to stain the clear ice, turning it a deep crimson. By the time I adjusted my posture, the ice around us was red.

The people who had been mocking us moments ago fell silent, their laughter swallowed by the sight before them.

I screamed through the crimson-stained glass, my voice shaking, "Janet! If anything happens to this child, you, her own mother, will be her killer! I’ll pray at her grave every day, just to curse you with a miserable end!"

Janet flinched. The certainty in her eyes wavered. She took a slow step forward, trying to peer through the bloodied frost to see us.

Then, a sudden voice echoed behind her. "Janet! My dad just said a plane was spotted on the Gardner Family’s private flight path!"

Her expression shifted in an instant. Rage overtook her.

She slammed her fist against the glass and shouted, "Yoseph! What the hell is this?! Are you trying to control me with your Gardner name for the rest of my life?"

Before I could speak, Hector moved beside her, gently rubbing her back, his eyes full of blame as he stared at me.

“If you don’t want to admit your mistakes, then forget it, Yoseph. But why torture Janet like this? You know how much she suffered back when Mr. Gardner was around. He’s gone now and the Gardner Family’s assets have long been sold. What’s the point of dragging this out?”

After saying that, Hector gently held Janet’s hand and added, “Let them out, before something really happens to the child and we become actual criminals. I don’t think Yoseph has ever seen people like us as anything more than dirt…”

Hector’s words only fueled Janet’s fury.

Her eyes burned with rage as she cursed and barked, “Lower the cold storage temperature to minus 148 degrees! Now!”

The people behind her, stunned by her outburst, didn’t dare argue.

Without hesitation, they adjusted the temperature.

A sharp, freezing wind blew from the vent and slammed against my body like knives. I was so cold I couldn’t form full sentences, my teeth clattered uncontrollably.

As my mind started to blur, I suddenly noticed something was wrong. My daughter, curled in my arms, had stopped moving.

I forced myself to lean over and look at her face. The purplish tint on her skin had faded into a ghostly pale.

Her weak, shallow breaths had gone completely still, like the surface of dead water.

I let out a broken wail and slammed the ice wall in front of me with trembling hands, over and over.

Each strike reopened my wounds, sending fresh blood dripping onto the frozen floor.

Blood trickled down the ice wall. In the freezing cold storage, the crimson stood out like fire.

Soon, it melted the ice near me and seeped through the cracks.

I pointed at my daughter in my arms and screamed at Janet outside, “Janet! Let me out! My child, please!”

Janet was still glaring at me with anger, until the blood reached her feet. Her gaze dropped to the limp head of her daughter in my arms.

Panic consumed her. She grabbed the person nearest to her and shrieked, “The key! Bring me the key to the cold storage! Didn’t the doctor say it was safe? How did this happen?!”

Someone handed her the key, but her hands were trembling too much. It slipped and landed near Hector’s feet.

She clutched his arm, desperate. “Hector! Hurry! Open the door! Get Yoseph and my daughter out now!”

Startled by Janet’s breakdown, Hector didn’t even bother with his shoes. He bolted toward the door.

I watched as he reached the lock, his back to Janet. He inserted the key slowly.

Then he turned around, and in that moment, I saw it. A smile twisted with hatred and smugness flashed across his face.