Chapter 349: Chapter 349
The night before and one of the islands far away....
The young woman thrashed, moving and rolling on the bare floor as if in great distress. The cold seeped into her joints, but that was far from her worst fear, and her body was most probably used to it.
The saner part of her mind told her that she needed to get away from there!... wherever that was... except, that was far from possible. Her fight and flight instincts seemed to have been knocked out.
She had only been on the island for a few days at most, and she thought that she very well understood the punishments that she had been given; but that turned out to be untrue. With each passing day, her dire situation became more apparent.
"Uhhhrrrrr! I need at least three hours of sleep, and she’s preventing me from getting any!" Someone yelled in the dim room, illuminated only by the moonlight filtering through the gap where a window should be.
"That bitch! I wish they will do away with her! Why are they letting her be? They would have usually done off with her already!"
The voices were very right at this utterance. It was just that their masters or guards had specific instructions about this person. Death was never an option for her. She was destined for a torturous life!
"Why should I suffer because of her?" Another person muttered angrily in the same room.
Brianna was startled awake at this point, and a small scream escaped her. She clamped her hand on her mouth belatedly. She was drenched in a cold sweat, her heart racing as if she had just gone through a tremendous ordeal—which she had, in a sense.
The sweat made her feel colder than it was. Brianna was without a mat or even a covering; she had no shoes—basically, nothing to protect her from the natural elements. On the island, she was the lowest of the lowest!
The echoes of the dream lingered in her mind like a shadow, strikingly vivid yet elusive, leaving behind a lingering unease and profound terror that settled deep within her being.
Every night, she relived the moment Ian’s assistant had pushed her off the cliff. It was immensely real to the point that she did not know what was real or dream.
Few realized that her fear and nightmares had grown stronger after Currey’s visit. Brianna told herself that it was impossible as they had been cut off civilization but she was not sure anymore. She now questioned whether the visit was real or just a figment of her imagination, but one thing was sure: whatever had happened to her had left a profound impact, and she feared it might never fade away.
Her eyes darted around the cramped, dimly lit room, and her heart pounding as if the shadows themselves might swallow her, for she was scared of what was to come. Brianna had never shared a room with anyone in her life but to share a room that was the size of a third of her wardrobe with many others was too much. However, her mind had other things to deal with than to dwell on this fact.
She barely had time to catch her breath before her fear manifested, and the grumbling started, with harsh whispers slicing through the thick silence.
"For heaven’s sake, not again!" someone muttered from the far side of the room.
"Can’t take another night of her screaming," another voice grumbled, annoyance dripping from every word.
"Throw her out so that we can have some semblance of sleep!"
Before Brianna could speak, hands gripped her shoulders, shoving her roughly toward the door. In an instant, she found herself stumbling outside, the door slamming behind her, leaving her alone in the chill of the night. A soft drizzle fell from the dark sky, cold droplets mingling with the sweat on her skin, but the damp air did nothing to shake off her fear.
She stood frozen, her breath a shallow gasp as a sense of sickening familiarity washed over her. It was as if she’d stepped right into her nightmare. The little hut that she had come to call home was perched precariously on a cliff that overlooked the vast ocean.
In a different lifetime, she might have found joy in the view. That view of the small hut perched on the cliff’s edge that looked both charming and mysterious beneath the expansive night sky.
Its rustic wooden structure cast playful, jagged shadows over the rocky ground, gently softened by the moon’s silvery glow. The sea stretched out endlessly below, dark and lively, with its surface catching glints of moonlight that shimmered like scattered stars. Waves crashed against the cliffside far below, creating a soothing, rhythmic hum that danced with the night breeze.
The hut’s single window glowed warmly from the sole natural light source in the sky, casting a cozy but lonely light that flickered against the night’s chill. Above, the full moon hung high, bathing the entire scene in a magical glow, transforming the cliffside into an enchanting sanctuary suspended between earth and sky, where the sea kissed the stars.
However, vacationing there and living that were two very different scenarios! And those very scenes morphed into shapes that seemed to echo her dream, sending a prickling fear through her veins every single time she looked over the horizon!
Every sound—the drip of rain, the rustle of leaves—felt scripted, as if this eerie moment had happened before. Her hands trembled as she hugged herself tightly, repeatedly looking over her shoulder, bracing for something she couldn’t name but feared. It happened every night, this surreal blend of dream and reality, leaving her terrified, alone, and more helpless with each passing hour.
She knew that they would never let her back in that night, so she curled up, teeth cluttering and tired but too afraid to sleep.
The worst part for her was that the daylight never brought anything better. It brought torture on different levels; relentless backbreaking work that only secured her one bun and a clear soup. At that, Brianna’s stomach growled, reminding her that she had not worked enough even to get that much to eat the previous day. Her stomach was so empty that it hurt.
Suddenly, footsteps approached, and she stiffened, becoming more alert. The guards there were ruthless! And any single unintentional act could get you the whipping of your life.
They cast an uninterested look at her and continued their journey, making her sigh in relief. Her back was bruised with whip marks; she was tired and hungry and, surprisingly, still sore after all that sexual encounter she had been subjected to under Doll’s orders. In short, she was broken inside and out.
She knew that the two had not minded her because they had seen her in that state, cast outside the hut one too many times. As they walked further and further away from her, a name caused Brianna to flinch as she caught the last few words of their conversation.
"I hear the Thornston Dinner Gala is tomorrow.... I wish I were there...."
"What do you know? Do you think that you would have an invite if you were there? You?! What qualifications do you have?"
"Hahaaa.... At least I could have viewed that live! I hear that Chairman Thornston is going to choose a new wife.... there were rumours that it would be that rich Mush girl.... But no one has seen her...."
"Gossip is all you know! Chairman Thornston is already married, and I hear that she is drop-dead gorgeous!"
Their voices faded, but their conversation still remained with her. Just Ian’s name threw Brianna into a tremor frenzy. Her face contorted into terror itself, and her eye widened as though the devil himself had been summoned.
To Brianna, Ian wasn’t just a man to be wary of; he was pure evil! ... literally, a handsome darkness that was cloaked in human skin. More shovers ran down her spine, spreading through her lips as her whole body contorted into trembles- A fear beyond her control! ... one that crawled to the surface and gripped her at the nerve level!
A little voice asked her, ’Do you still have a crush on him?
Brianna’s skin crawled even at that thought!
Thornston estate... the following evening ....
"I never thought that I would be invited to this prestigious Gala Dinner! I am so honoured!"
Two women approached another group, but their gaze fixated on a couple they considered an eyesore.
"I can’t believe that they have the nerve to show up here!"
"Don’t they feel a bit embarrassed?"
"I won’t be able to step out of my home if my daughter had done that.... But to come to the victim’s house? That’s a whole lot of blind courage!"
"Did you see the news?"
"Yep! The one about the disgraced adopted girl’s trial? Do you see what happens when you take people in out of good will?"
"Yh, they bite the hand that feeds it! I have seen this one too many times and that is why I am adamant about my husband or other family doing that. I’d rather be called a cold-hearted person than to be stabbed in the back!"
"The adopted girl said in open court that the Mush girl had a hand in it!"
"Oh my! I did not believe it one bit but then that video was released about that girl too! How could she have been so cruel to her friend? This world is becoming an impossible place to live in!"
The small crowd of women holding wine glasses did not bother to lower their voices, not even when the object of their conversation was that near them. With their noses in the air, and their exaggerated gestures, even those far from them could understand the subject of their gossip without hearing the words spoken. Their eyes trailed the couple who had sparked the conversation..... Abram and Abi Mush.
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