It's my first time celebrating the holidays with my biological parents after I get reunited with them. The fake heiress, Stella Knight, suggests that we spend the holidays on an overseas vacation.

But as soon as we arrive in the foreign country, Stella burns my passport while my parents are away getting a massage. Before I can even fight back, I find myself getting pushed into a scamming den.

With a twisted smile on Stella's face, she spits out, "Trash like you don't even deserve to fight with me!"

As I gaze at the people who are approaching me, I suddenly find them familiar-looking.

I found the emblem of my adoptive parents' company.

I've spent the last 20 years being pampered by my adoptive parents before I finally made up my mind to reunite with my biological parents in order to fulfill my wish. I never expect to be sent right back into my adoptive parents' territory.

"You bitch! If you even look at me with those eyes again, I'll gouge them out!"

Stella Knight glared at me, her attractive face twisting into a cruel and monstrous look.

"Stella, are you insane?"

I struggled, but I couldn't break free from the handful of men holding me.

"If our parents find out what you're doing, they'll kill you!" I shouted.

She gave me a smug smile. "They'll assume that you ran off to enjoy life abroad, partying overseas with some random guy."

Stella and I had been born in the same hospital. Somehow, we had been switched at birth.

She grew up as the heiress of the Knight family and lived the high life for 20 years, only to find out that she wasn't their biological daughter.

Then, I appeared. Outwardly, she was polite, even warm. But behind my back, she never missed a chance to mock me, especially after my parents arranged for me to marry Victor Lark. She had loved Victor for years, and so, her jealousy reached a boiling point.

I had repeatedly told her I wouldn't marry someone I didn't know, but she refused to listen. Even my parents assumed I was just being shy and didn't take it seriously.

Lately, she had been acting friendly, and I thought she believed me. When she suggested traveling abroad together, I agreed.

I never imagined that she would have me abducted and dragged out to some remote countryside.

"Stella, let me go right now, and maybe we can pretend this never happened. Otherwise…"

A loud slap echoed throughout the room.

She hit me across the face so hard that my lip split open.

But that wasn't enough for her. Her long nails dug into my cheek. Pain shot through my face, and blood dripped from my chin onto the ground.

"You dare threaten me?"

I glared at her hatefully. "You planned this, didn't you? You picked some remote location just so you could have me abducted?"

She laughed. "Not completely clueless, are you?"

Then, she added, "You brought this on yourself. I might as well make some money off you."

With that, she climbed into the car and left.

The men tossed a stack of cards at me.

"You've got one week to learn how to be a dealer."

When I read the words printed on the cards, a chill ran down my spine. Something was seriously wrong.

"This is illegal!" I shouted.

"There's no way I'm doing anything illegal," one of them replied.

His kick to my stomach knocked the wind out of me. I doubled over in pain, barely able to move.

They weren't done and yanked me upright by my hair.

"I'm not asking you. Whether you want to or not, you'll do it! Looks like you're not obedient enough. I'll show you what we can do to you if you disobey us."

In the next moment, he used a wooden stick to hit my back.

"Ahhh!"

I was drenched in cold sweat just after two strikes from them.

It was deep into the night, and all was dark and silent. I needed a proper plan.

Gritting my teeth through the pain, I asked, "How much do you want? I'll pay, just let me go!"

They laughed.

"Money? Ha! Do we look like we're short on that? We don't answer to anyone but Ms. Knight. You just got unlucky."

They advanced, leering.

"If you don't want to learn this, we've got plenty of other things we can teach you," one said.

"Plenty of work here. Don't worry. You can do whatever you want."

The men clamped down on my limbs. In a panic, I tugged hard at the jacket of one of them.

That was when I saw the symbol on the man's left shoulder.

My eyes widened.

It was the emblem of my adoptive parents' company.

Although they weren't my real parents, they had raised me and treated me like a princess. They would fulfill my every desire.

However, they had promised me that they would never be involved in illegal business. There weren't even any company branches in this city.

What the hell was happening?

"You're with Winters Corporation?"

The men exchanged glances and raised their eyebrows.

"So you actually know about Winters Corporation? Impressive."

I blurted, "I'm the heiress of Winters Corporation! Let me go, or my brother will kill you."

They burst out laughing.

"Did you hear that? She's the heiress of Winters Corporation?"

"The lady you're talking about is Joanna Winters. Who do you think you are?"

"I am Joanna Winters."

I was about to reach for my passport when I remembered that Stella had already burned it.

Thinking fast, I said, "Call Eric Winters. He'll recognize my voice."

My gaze was unwavering. They hesitated, then reluctantly called Stella.

"What's the name of the woman you brought today?"

"Susanna Knight."

Hearing the name, I hurried to explain. "Susanna Knight is the name I was given after being acknowledged by the Knight family. My real name is Joanna Winters!"

After being accepted back into the Knight family, my parents added me to the family tree and gave me a new name.

The man spat in my face.

"You have the guts to lie to me? If I hadn't been cautious and called to check, you'd have gotten away with it!"

He grew angrier by the second and kicked me repeatedly, with each blow landing squarely on my stomach.

My stomach felt like it had been ripped apart, and my vomit was streaked with blood.

"Please, just call Eric. My brother will come save me!"

"Bullshit! You still think you're the heiress? You look more like a prostitute to me," he sneered.

The men dragged me painfully by the hair into a dark and damp shack. The floor was crawling with insects and full of sticky grime. It was utterly foul-smelling.

They tied me up in the corner, taking turns to strike me with sticks. Careful to avoid my face, each strike landed on some obscure part of my body.

Fear gripped me. If they left my face intact, there had to be a more sinister plan.

By now, blood had soaked through my clothes. Every inch of my skin throbbed with pain.

Suddenly, a phone rang. One of the men answered respectfully, muttered a few words, and hung up.

"Forget teaching her how to deal cards. Send her to do something else. We're short-handed at the back anyway."

"With a face this pretty, wouldn't it be a shame not to get her to be a dealer?"

"Shut up! Her face draws too much attention. If anyone recognizes her, we're screwed. Don't question me, or you'll regret it!"

I grabbed the man's leg. "Call Eric! Or you'll regret it. He will kill you!"

Eric cared about me more than anything.

The men looked at me with contempt, ready to tear me apart.

"Since she won't become the dealer, her face's useless then," one said, brandishing a knife.

The cold blade hovered over my face.

They laughed louder as fear flooded my eyes.

In an instant, I bit down hard on one man's hand. He screamed, stumbling backward.

At that moment, I screamed at the top of my lungs for help.

The other men rushed at me, but the door suddenly burst open.

"What the hell is going on? Why can't you guys handle a woman? Get it done now!"

The man whom I had bitten wiped the blood off himself and stomped his foot against my neck.

"How dare you bite me! I'm taking your teeth out today. Let's see how you'll bite then!"

He glared around him, and the others held me down. My strength was no match for theirs. I couldn't break free, but I refused to give up and thrashed desperately.

They groaned in frustration. "Why does this woman have so much strength?"

"Hurry up! The boss is here! He can't stand seeing filth."

The boss? That had to be Eric.

Somehow, I found more strength to bite into another man's hand, tearing a chunk of flesh from him. Then, I kicked another with my knee, shattering his nose.

As they cried out in pain, covering their injuries, I wrenched free from the others and ran.

On a nearby clearing, a car had just arrived.

It was Eric.

He was in the same car I had given him for his birthday. The car had fake eyelashes stuck on the headlights as a joke.

He never minded it, though; in fact, he loved it.

"Eric!" I screamed.

In the next second, someone grabbed me by the neck.

I could see Eric's eyes looking my way as the man yanked me out of sight, and blood from my body smeared across the ground.

"Damn it. She's strong as hell!"

"We can't let her off easy. Teach her a lesson."

While the men were cursing me, I struggled free from their grasp again. But they were ready for me. I hadn't even made it to the door before a stick slammed into my head.

I saw stars explode in my vision while blood streaked down my face.

A man stomped on my chest, crushing all the air from my lungs.

They tied me up and shoved a piece of torn rag into my mouth.

The stench of sweat from the rag made me gag, but they forced it in tighter.

Then, they pressed my hands down and clamped a set of pliers onto my fingernails.

I shrank back as far as I could, but it was useless.

Two nails were ripped out from my fingers as pain shot through my body in violent spasms.

Finally, I passed out from the agony.

When I woke up again, I was alone.

The other wounds on my body had dulled into numbness, but my fingers, stripped of their nails, throbbed painfully.

I stared at my bare fingers, trembling violently.

Darkness closed in as despair loomed over me.

But I couldn't give up. Not yet.