CHAPTER 1 — "THE WOMAN THEY BURIED ALIVE"
By the time they dragged me down from the attic, I looked less like a woman and more like a ghost that had forgotten how to die.
The IV stand beside me rattled with every trembling step. My skin clung to my bones, my lips were cracked from dehydration, and every breath scraped through my chest like broken glass.
Victor Harlan smiled.
To him, I wasn't his son's wife anymore.
I was simply a problem taking too long to disappear.
He grabbed the IV tubing with both hands and yanked.
The needle tore from my vein.
Blood splattered across the marble floor.
"Stop wasting my family's money, you dying leech," he growled.
Before I could steady myself, his palm slammed across my face.
My body flew backward.
The antique glass coffee table exploded beneath me.
Shards buried themselves into my arms and back.
Somewhere behind me, Adrian didn't even bother to stand.
He simply sighed.
"Dad... don't kill her in the living room."
"It's expensive glass."
Marissa laughed softly.
"I'll call housekeeping."
Not one of them asked whether I was still breathing.
One month earlier...
I had trusted my husband.
After my parents died in a private plane crash, Adrian held me every night while I cried.
"You don't need to think about business," he whispered.
"Your grandfather has enough enemies already."
"Let my family protect everything until you're healthy again."
He placed several legal documents in front of me.
I barely read them.
I signed.
The next morning...
My bedroom door was locked.
My phone was gone.
The windows had steel bars.
The attic became my prison.
Every day the meals grew smaller.
Every week the medication became weaker.
Every visitor was told I had traveled overseas for experimental treatment.
Even my grandfather was informed that I refused all contact.
But they underestimated one thing.
Before tragedy entered my life...
I had spent six years auditing billion-dollar corporations.
Fraud always leaves fingerprints.
While they believed I was slowly dying...
I memorized every conversation outside my attic door.
Every fake invoice.
Every offshore account.
Every insurance transfer.
Every forged signature.
Every murder plan.
The tiny hidden camera inside the chandelier recorded everything.
It wasn't installed for security.
I installed it myself years ago after discovering Victor had been stealing from one of Grandfather's subsidiaries.
He never found it.
He never imagined I still controlled the encrypted cloud backup.
Then...
Victor's shoe crushed against my throat.
"This ends today."
My vision blurred.
The massive front doors suddenly opened.
Three black SUVs filled the driveway.
Security officers stepped inside.
Three elite attorneys followed.
Behind them...
A silver cane struck the marble floor.
Tap.
Tap.
Tap.
My grandfather, Malcolm Vale, stood in the doorway.
His eyes landed on the blood surrounding me.
For the first time in my life...
I watched an eighty-two-year-old billionaire look ready to kill someone.
He held two envelopes.
One was a foreclosure notice.
The other...
Was something that made Victor's face turn completely white.
Grandfather spoke only one sentence.
"Take your foot off my granddaughter..."
"...before I take everything you've ever stolen."
Victor slowly removed his shoe.
He still believed money could save him.
He had absolutely no idea...
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The nightmare had only begun.
👇 Chapter 2 is where every hidden betrayal is exposed—and the mansion itself becomes the biggest trap of all. Scroll down to the comments to keep reading!
