Chapter <b>251 </b>
OLIVIA
The tears wouldn’t stop. I waspletely numb to the pain in my feet, but the sight of Xander meticulously cutting and removing my toenails sent waves of horror and helplessness through me. I had no idea whether toenails grew back after they were surgically removed in such a brutal way, but the thought of it made my stomach churn.
“Please…” I sobbed, my voice breaking as I pleaded with him. The tears streamed down my face, unable to stop. I wasn’t sure what was worse, the pain I couldn’t feel or the torment of watching him work so calmly, so coldly. It was as though he had done this a thousand times before. The sight of the tiny toenails being ced in a small, neat box made my breath catch in my throat.
“Why are you doing this?” I gasped between sobs, barely able to force the words out. It felt like my whole body was shaking, though the numbness in my feet made it hard to tell if that was real or just my mind frantically trying to escape the horror.
Xander didn’t even flinch, his focus never wavering as he continued his task. When he finally looked up at me, his eyes met mine with an unsettling calm. “Oh, this?” He shrugged lightly, the corners of his mouth twitching into something almost like a smile. “It’s just to send a message to your father. To show him that I mean business. I am not ying games here.” His tone was cold, almost detached, as if the cruelty of the situation didn’t even faze
him.
“If you behave,” he continued, his eyes glinting with an eerie sense of satisfaction, “this is the only thing I will do to you. But if not…” He shrugged again, letting the implication hang in the air like a suffocating cloud.
I could already feel the weight of his threat. The way he so carefully removed each toenail, the concentration on his face, told me everything I needed to know. This wasn’t a man unfamiliar with torture. This was his domain, this twisted, sadistic game he yed. And I was just another pawn, another casualty of his sickening need to control and break others.
I didn’t say anything. There was nothing left to say. The tears flowed freely, but they didn’t faze him in the slightest. He was unaffected, as if this was just another mundane task for him.
I cast my eyes around desperately, searching for any escape route, but what was I even looking for? We were in a catb, a ce buried so deep that no one would think to look for me here. There was no exit, except for the door through which he had entered. I nced at the tools he had brought in, the sharp instruments, the cruel precision in his movements. No weapons, no help, just me and Xander, trapped in this suffocating ce. No one wasing for me. No one knew where I was.
I forced my eyes away from the door, my heart sinking as the bleak reality set in. I was alone. Helpless. And even though the pain wasn’t yet real<b>, </b>the fear gnawed at me. I could feel the weight of his control in every action he took, in every word he spoke. He had nned this, everything. This was a ce where he knew I couldn’t escape, where no one could reach me. He had done this before, I could tell.
“You know<b>,</b><b>” </b>he said suddenly, breaking the silence, “I liked you from the first moment I saw you.”
His voice was casual, almost nostalgic, as he looked at me, strange smile ying on his lips. “When Iid my eyes on you, I thought to myself, ‘Damn, heaven finally sent <b>me </b><b>an </b>angel to spend the rest of my life with.”
<b>He </b>paused, almost as if savouring the memory. My stomach turned at the thought of what he might have imagined<b>, </b>how he might have romanticized this twisted fantasy <b>in </b>his mind.
<b>“</b>But then<b>…</b>” His voice <b>dropped</b><b>, </b>and he looked back down <b>the </b>toenails in his hand<b>, </b><b>picking </b>them <b>up </b>one by one <b>and </b>cing them carefully <b>into </b>a small <b>box</b>. <b>“</b>Then <b>you </b>turned out to be <b>Luke’s </b>daughter.” He shook his head <b>slowly</b><b>, </b><b>a </b><b>deep</b><b>, </b><b>almost </b><b>palpable </b>disgust <b>twisting </b>his features. It was as <b>if </b><b>I </b><b>had </b>made <b>a </b><b>choice </b><b>in </b>who <b>my </b><b>father </b>
was. “Why did you have to be that man’s daughter? Why did you have to shatter my dream like that?”