Chapter 2

But this time was different. One of the guards pulled out a phone—I recognized it as mine, confiscated when I first arrived.

“Your time’s almost up. You finally turned into the obedient dog Vanessa wanted. She said you could talk to her. She’ll be here soon.”

The call connected quickly, her voice coming through, cold and void of emotion.

“Zachary Monroe, after all this time, do you look forward to coming home?”

Tears of relief ran down my face as I dropped to my knees. “Yes, yes, I can’t wait! If you tell me to go east, I won’t go west…”

“I’m finally going to escape this place!”

Vanessa seemed satisfied with my response and ended the call.

The guards, knowing I was about to leave, seemed disappointed that their entertainment was over. They cracked their knuckles and spoke of a send-off.

I was stripped and hung upside down at the entrance of the Crawford Research Institute.

Every employee who passed by marked their arrival by lashing me with a whip laced with salt and chili powder. The deeper the welt, the bigger the bonus they received.

They etched designs into my skin with surgical blades, calling it borderless art.

When I passed out from the pain, they revived me with electric shocks, starting the torture all over again.

I became nothing more than their toy.

The day Vanessa Hale came to get me, they dressed me in the same clothes I wore when I arrived, wrapping my wounds in thick bandages to prevent blood from soaking through.

After a year, I finally saw daylight again.

I stumbled out of the building.

Vanessa stood by her car, dressed impeccably, smoking a cigarette. When she saw me, her expression turned cold.

“It’s been a year, Zachary. Have you learned your lesson?”

The moment I heard her, I fell to my knees instinctively, knocking my forehead on the ground. “I was wrong, I’ll never go against you again, or Marcus. I’ll do anything you say.”

I was terrified she’d send me back here.

A fleeting look of surprise crossed her face before a smile appeared. She nodded approvingly. “Not bad. It seems this year wasn’t wasted. You’re obedient now.”

“Keep it that way, or back here you go.”

At those words, I hit my head on the ground harder, the impact splitting the skin, blood trickling down my face.

Vanessa’s eyes showed a hint of disgust. “Get up. Don’t you care that the ground is filthy?”

I didn’t. In this place, they’d force me to drink vile black serum, swallow live rats, and choke down concoctions teeming with bacteria and viruses.

The mere memory made me retch.

Unable to help it, I vomited in front of Vanessa, yellow-green bile mixed with blood spilling onto the ground.

Eating those things had left my stomach writhing with pain daily.

My body was now just a vessel of poison, ready to burst beyond repair.

I sat by the car window, ashamed and distancing myself from her, afraid that my stench would offend her.

Her expression softened. “What’s wrong? Stomach bothering you?”

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