The Moment I Broke

Hope flared in my chest again. I forced my hand up, reaching for him. "Give it to me… Please…"

But just as my fingertips were about to brush the injector, Adrian flicked his wrist and pulled it out of reach with effortless cruelty.

A crooked grin tugged at his mouth. He shot a look at the pink-haired girl beside him.

She caught on instantly. She plucked the injector from his hand and gave me a lazy, mocking once-over.

"I don't buy the whole innocent-boy act," she said, her voice dripping with contempt. Then, she dangled the injector in front of me like she was teasing a dog. "You want it? Come get it. Crawl over here and beg."

My head was already spinning, and my legs were too weak to hold me up. All I could do was drag myself forward on instinct.

"Holy crap, he's actually crawling!"

"Hurry, record it! This pose is insane!"

The excited jeers of the crowd and the sharp clicks of their phone cameras buzzed in my ears.

Humiliation swallowed me whole.

I could feel Selene's expression darkening by the second. She probably thought I was humiliating her just by existing like this. But I couldn't care about that anymore.

My body was at its limit. Without insulin, I would slip into shock. Maybe I would even die.

I dragged myself to the pink-haired girl's feet and lifted my head, begging. "Please… Give it to me…"

Her grin twisted, even sleazier. She dangled the injector again, refusing to hand it over.

Adrian, meanwhile, slapped a hand over his mouth like he was shocked. "Oh my God, Julian, that crawling form is perfect."

He turned to Selene, whose face had gone stone‑cold, and asked in a mock-innocent tone, "Selene, he's not one of those rotten guys sneaking around playing 'master-and-pet' games with random women behind your back, is he?"

That single line ignited every ounce of anger she'd been holding in.

"Scumbag!" Her roar tore through the air as she drove her foot hard into my side.

The blow launched me into the air. I hit a tree trunk hard enough to knock the breath out of me. Pain exploded across my body. My vision dimmed, the world rocking.

Selene stalked toward me, her face carved from stone. She stopped right in front of me, the tip of her shoe inches from my eye. "Talk. Who's that tramp?"

The pain was so blinding I could barely breathe. All I managed was a weak shake of my head.

She took it as defiance.

"You still won't talk?" she screamed, and kicked my chest.

I clearly heard my rib snapping.

A metallic taste surged up my throat. Blood and spit leaked from the corner of my mouth.

Pain and lack of oxygen sent my body into violent spasms. I couldn't control anything anymore. I shook helplessly on the ground.

Just as the world started to go dark, a voice thundered from beyond the crowd. "Stop! You lay another hand on my son, and none of you are walking out of these woods alive!"