Chapter 2

"James, I was worried Miss Russell might want to come along and check things out. Who knew she'd hit me the moment we met!"

Julia covered her bleeding lip, crying her eyes out.

James shot me a look that brooked no argument. "Home. Now. And don't you dare move from that spot until I say so."

Then he picked up Julia, got in the car, and left without a second glance.

When he came home, he found I'd been standing in the corner for four hours, facing the wall, completely still.

"You actually stayed put? Julia is my fiancée now. I can't exactly take your side in front of others, can I? Alright, get up already!"

He crouched down to help me up, but I shook him off.

"Weren't you the one who told me to kneel here?"

"You've been acting weird since last night. What's your problem!"

"I'm not acting out. I'm just remembering my place."

Hearing this, James's face darkened. Through gritted teeth, he said, "Fine, Sophia! You'd better keep remembering your place then!"

With that, he stormed into the bedroom.

Two days later, Julia officially moved into the Johnson Family home.

What I didn't expect was that she'd bring two aggressive dogs with her.

I instinctively stepped back.

She noticed my reaction and gave a nasty smile.

"I can't trust anyone else with these babies. You'll take care of them!"

I stared at the two dogs, my teeth clenched in fear.

In the black market, it wasn't just people fighting people to the death—people fought dogs, too.

The searing pain of flesh torn by fangs was still carved into my memory.

"Miss Smith, I'm not good with dogs..."

"You don't get to refuse!"

The person speaking was James.

Before I could explain, he shoved me hard.

The dogs got startled and lunged at me, barking. I kicked one away hard.

Julia screamed, accusing me of deliberately abusing her dogs because I hated her.

I collapsed on the floor, shaking all over.

Until James shoved both the two dogs and me into a cage, fear finally shattered my dignity.

"Let me out! I can't be in here with them!"

"James! You can't do this! Please! Let me out!"

Tears streamed down uncontrollably.

But even my begging didn't make James relent.

He just looked down at me and said this was a little punishment for my attitude.

"James! Don't go! I was wrong, please let me out!"

"Stay away from me! Get back! Ah!"

In the cramped cage, there was nowhere to hide.

The next morning, I was covered in bite wounds, flesh torn open.

I'd even lost so much blood that I was barely conscious.

Just when I thought I wouldn't even make it through these last four days, James finally pulled my half-dead body out and took me to the hospital.

But when I woke up, what I saw was Julia's smug face.

"Lucky you didn't get bitten to death!"

I lay in bed, too weak from pain to respond.

She didn't say anything more and called James.

"James, should we go check on Miss Russell? After all, it was my dogs that bit her. I feel a bit guilty."

James's cold voice came through.

"What's there to see? She's worthless. Getting bitten by your dogs is a privilege for her. Don't feel bad. Besides, if I hadn't pulled her out of the black market, that mercenary would be dead somewhere by now."

My hand under the blanket clenched tight.

"Did you hear that? James doesn't care about you at all. If you know what's good for you, you'll leave on your own. Otherwise, I won't let you have a single peaceful day!"

After Julia left, the doctor came to change my dressing.

She froze when she saw the vicious old scar on my chest.

That was the scar from when I took a bullet for James three years ago.

And scars like this—I had seventeen of them all over my body.

I gently touched my chest and smiled bitterly without a sound.

What did it matter that I'd saved him so many times?

In his eyes, I was worth nothing at all.