Frederick sighed and stepped forward, reaching down to help me up.

"Jonathan, I understand you're upset. But we're family. If you just tell us the truth, we can figure out how to help you."

"Tell you the truth about what?"

I shoved his hand away. "About how you married my mother while chasing after Yvette behind her back? Or about how I almost got killed taking the fall for you?"

"Enough!"

My mother kicked me hard in the shoulder. "You can't control yourself, and now you're pointing fingers at your own stepfather? You're disgusting."

Frederick pressed a hand to his chest and let out a long, wounded sigh. "I know Jonathan has never liked me. But if he's going to destroy my reputation like this, I don't see the point in going on."

That was all my mother needed to hear. She completely lost it. "Bring me my whip."

The Smith family had a punishment tradition—ninety-nine lashes. My father had once been beaten to death under that same rule. And now my mother was ready to use it on me, all for a man she'd picked up from a nightclub.

My heart sank completely. When I looked at my mother, all I felt was disappointment.

Elaine walked over and placed the barbed whip in my mother's hand without a word.

I forced myself off the floor through the pain. "If you won't believe me, pull the hotel security footage. See who deliberately sent the groomsmen away before I walked out. Go check whose account received a large deposit today. And then tell me whether I was set up!"

Elaine threw her phone down in front of me.

"I was trying to spare you some dignity, but you keep pushing. Fine. Open your eyes and take a good look. That's the security footage from the hotel room. Go ahead and tell me the person in that video isn't you."

The video played.

The sounds that came out of that phone filled the whole room. And the man pinned beneath the woman, face slack with pleasure, was me.

"No. That video is fake!"

I screamed it and hurled the phone at the wall. The sounds stopped.

Elaine let out a short, cold laugh. "The hotel staff said you used three condoms. We have physical evidence and witnesses. You still want to keep lying?"

My mother brought the whip down across my shoulder. "You shameless, disgusting boy. I won't stop until you're dead. That's a promise!"

The messages dropped all pretense as Frederick's real thoughts were right there on the screen.

[Idiot. You should've died a long time ago. If you'd just run as I told you to, none of this would've happened. You never had a chance against me.]

The whip had been soaked in salt water, and every lash felt like fire. I bit through my tongue trying not to make a sound, and the taste of blood spread thick and metallic across my mouth. I was on my hands and knees, and my shirt was soaked through with blood.

The room was full of people, and not one of them said a word in my defense. The only sound was the whip hitting my back.

But no matter how hard I tried, I still couldn't remember who that woman was.

Out of the corner of my eye, I caught Frederick's triumphant smile.

I hated it. I hated the fact that even after being reborn, I was still going to die at his hands.

I couldn't accept it.

But it was already too late.

My mother raised her whip high. Just as it was about to strike my face, a gunshot rang out from the doorway.

"Who gave you the right to lay a hand on my man?"