Chapter 168: What Did She Do To Deserve It?
Third Person POV
Seraphina would still flinch when she’d hear footsteps outside the door... Because those slow and heavy steps reminded her of what she had been through.
Whenever those steps came close, new men would walk in. They would whip her bare back with it until it’d bleed and would always rub chilli powder to make her feel even more pain!
As if that wasn’t enough for them that they’d use a cigarette burned into her skin until she tasted blood in her mouth again.
She couldn’t breathe and begged again and again, but no one heard her plea. All they did was enjoy her agony and did what they pleased as if she were nothing but a doll for them to play with, leaving her all alone after being done.
She’d wake up in the same dark room, and the cold in their made her feel alive. The darkness clung to her, swallowed her, stripped pieces of her away until she didn’t recognise herself anymore.
The torture made her forget the time, the days, and the outside world. It even made her forget she was a person, and not a toy or a rag doll.
When she was brought back into the world, she was terrified. Seraphina was even afraid to breathe. She didn’t know if she’d be alive or what the purpose of her being alive was!
Her body reacted before she could think if anyone approached her. Her breath turned uneven if anyone talked around her. Her chest tightened so painfully that she felt like she was about to collapse right there in front of everyone if anyone tried to touch her.
If the lights were off, or if she was in an elevator or cramped spaces, she couldn’t stop shaking every part of her trembling like she was back in that room again, waiting for the next hit, the burns, and the torture once again.
If anyone dared to look at her body right now... they would see everything itched into her skin that she even never dared to see herself; the cigarette burns scattered over her arms and shoulders; the cuts on her inner thighs and ribs, the whip marks on her back that still throbbed even after healing.
Her whole body was a living proof of what she lived through, of what she was forced to endure, the things she could never erase.
And as of this moment, in Melissa’s presence, she didn’t have to speak or move. Her presence alone was enough to drag Seraphina back into that nightmare, tearing apart whatever little hope Adrian’s words had managed to place in her heart.
Sera stood there, shaking, falling apart inside, trying to act as normal as she could, and not let anyone see what she had been through.
"Sera." Adrian’s voice snapped her out of the trance she’d fallen into without realising. She blinked, looking up at him with shaky breath and stiff shoulders.
"What’s wrong?" he asked, but his eyes were already fixed on Asher, glaring at him, who stood there coldly, brushing off her presence like she wasn’t even human.
"No... nothing," Seraphina whispered. The word barely came out, shakingly.
Adrian didn’t believe her. He felt the shift the moment Asher and Melissa walked in, especially Melissa. Sera’s whole body had tensed, her fingers trembling, her eyes dropping to the floor like she was bracing for something no one could else see.
He stepped a little closer, trying to read her face, but she flinched and lowered her gaze again, shrinking into herself as if she wanted to disappear.
"Sera..." he said quietly, in a softer tone this time.
But she only shook her head. It wasn’t him she feared. It was whatever memory Melissa’s presence dragged her back into, and Adrian could tell... something was terribly wrong.
"Brother!" Asher’s jaw tightened, seeing how Adrian had ignored them. "Are you seriously taking her side again? Look at her!" He pointed straight at Seraphina as if she were nothing but a lowlife who had appeared in their life.
Sera flinched back, taking two small steps away from him without even thinking as her body reacted faster than her mind.
"See?" Asher scoffed loudly. "She acts as if we tortured her... like we starved her to death or locked her in some dungeon!" His tone grew harsher as he spoke. "We even sent her to a mental asylum to FIX her! For the treatment of her issues! And this is how she behaves—"
He didn’t get to finish. Adrian’s head snapped toward him as his eyes darkened instantly, making Asher’s body stiffen.
"What did you just say?" Adrian’s voice was low, dangerous. "Where did you send her? And for WHAT?"
Asher swallowed but tried to hold his ground. "A... mental facility. For her condition—"
"You sent her," Adrian cut him off, "someone as timid as Seraphina... someone who can’t even raise her voice... to a mental hospital?" His voice rose as he spoke word by word. "Do you know what kind of people they keep there? Do you have any idea what they do to patients who can’t defend themselves?"
Seraphina’s breath hitched. Adrian’s hand clenched at his side. He looked between Asher and Melissa, disbelief was filled in his eyes and tone as he was filled with anger.
Asher still tried to argue, "We did it for her own good—"
"For her good?" Adrian stepped forward, his glare sharp enough to cut. "You dumped her in a place meant for people who have lost their minds... and you expect me to believe it was for her good?"
His voice cracked with fury. Seraphina stiffened, shrinking behind her own hands.
Melissa looked away, but Adrian didn’t miss it.
"Tell me," he whispered, his voice shaking with the restraint it took to hold back his rage, "what exactly did you think would happen to someone like her in a place like that?" He pinched between his brows as he added. "And what did she do to deserve it?"
