?Chapter 1623:


    But her pleas only heightened Hector’s excitement. In moments, he tore her clothes to shreds, his gaze glinting at the sight of her bandaged arm.


    “Do as I say and keep me satisfied, understood?” he said.


    Gracie knew exactly what Hector meant. She moaned loudly, ying the role he demanded.


    Hector went on for three hours before finally stopping.


    As always, Gracie helped clean him up, a humiliating ritual that fed his perverse sense of triumph. Since their divorce, Hector had never recaptured the same thrill.


    He exhaled, thoroughly content.


    Once dressed, he resumed his slick businessman facade. As he left, he said to his men outside, “Feed her and maintain her medical care.”


    Alone again, Gracie frantically searched the room for something to use as a weapon—a gun, a knife, or any sharp object. Yet she found nothing.


    Without a way to kill Hector instantly, she couldn’t risk an attempt.


    She had not forgotten her father’s horrific death at Hector’s hands, and although she longed to end him, shecked the ability to do so.


    Injured and frail, surrounded by his guards, she doubted she would ever escape.


    Tears of hopelessness streamed down her face as despair settled over her imprisonment. A nurse arrived to manage her IV, and a servant delivered food before departing silently.


    Gracie assumed Hector would not disturb her again today. She ate and soon sank into a deep slumber, waking at eight in the evening.


    The IV was gone, removed while she had been sleeping.


    There was no phone. She knew Hector would never allow her to contact the outside world. Unable to fall asleep again, she stared at the ceiling, lost in thought.


    Around one in the morning, Hector staggered in, utterly intoxicated and barely coherent. Yet even in his drunken stupor, his primal urges surged, and he lunged at Gracie.


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    Gracieplied, not daring to resist, even with him drunk.


    This time, however, Hector passed out mid-act. Gracie nudged him and called his name, but he remained unconscious.


    Seeing him like this, a murderous impulse surged within her. Memories of her father’s gruesome death and her family’s financial ruin flooded back. She could no longer contain her anger.


    Grabbing a pillow, she pressed it over his face, her hands trembling.


    She had made her decision. Escape was impossible, so she would kill him, even if it cost her life. It was better than enduring his sadistic torment day after day.


    She was prepared to sacrifice everything. Gracie pressed harder, cutting off his air, bracing herself for him to wake and kill her. But Hector did not move, oblivious to his suffocation.


    One minute passed, then two.


    It felt like an eternity. Finally, Hectorypletely motionless.


    Gracie knew that after what she’d done to Hector, his family would eventually find her and kill her.


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