Chapter 2
My eyes widened in disbelief. Before I could even turn to look at Lucian, a dull pain struck my forehead.
A tube of ointment dropped at my feet.
Lucian’s expression was tense, clearly annoyed.
“Margot, what the hell is that look for? I’m not the creep you’re imagining.”
“Go put it on her.”
He turned and walked away, leaving me standing there alone. I exhaled slowly-more than once-before finally pushing open the door.
Laney sat on the edge of the tub, her back to me, clutching a towel tightly over her chest. But her back was
fully exposed.
And the scars-deep, raw, and brutal-spread all the way down her legs.
I couldn’t help remembering the unfiltered reports online. How she’d been dragged into an alley. A gun
pressed to her head. Treated like some disposable thing.
By the time she was rescued, her intestines were spilling out. Barely recognizable as human.
My eyes misted. I squeezed some ointment onto my fingertip, dazed, and reached out to touch one of the
wounds. She flinched violently. Her voice broke with a sob, “Professor, it hurts so bad.”
“…Sorry. Laney, I didn’t mean-”
She whipped around, startled by my voice. Her face twisted in panic.
“Dr. Blake…? I-I thought you were asleep. That’s why I called Professor Sullivan, I swear! I didn’t mean
anything by it!”
My gaze fell on her front. The wounds were worse there.
As my eyes traveled down, inch by inch, the bruises grew darker. More vicious. My stomach turned.
Finally, I rasped out, “Was it… was it Lucian who’s been putting ointment on you this whole time?”
She panicked. “No! Please don’t misunderstand! I didn’t have a choice-I needed help! You have to believe me!
There’s nothing going on between me and the professor!”
“Back then, if I didn’t treat it, my flesh would’ve rotted. He was just trying to help, that’s all!”
So he’d already seen her. Touched her. Every inch of her.
My arms went numb. My body stiffened. At some point, I had turned around. My voice was brittle.
“It’s fine. I’ll go get your dear Professor Sullivan to help you.”
Laney’s eyes reddened. She shot up in a panic.
Chapter 2
18.18%
“Please, don’t say it like that! I didn’t mean for things to turn out like this-”
But her foot slipped. She fell, hard, to the floor.
Before I could react, Lucian rushed in and shoved me aside.
“Margot, what the hell do you want from us?! When will it be enough?!”
Laney curled into his arms, clinging to the towel, sobbing so hard she couldn’t breathe.
“Please don’t be mad, Professor. It was my fault. I slipped. I swear, I slipped.”
“Don’t blame Dr. Blake.”
But then, her whole body started to shake again.
“I messed up again, didn’t I? I said the wrong thing… and now Dr. Blake hates me.”
“Is it because I’m always so stupid… is that why all this keeps happening to me?”
She broke down in tears. Lucian’s fists clenched at his sides.
He wasn’t someone who lost his temper easily. But now, his face was dark as a storm cloud as he turned to
“Margot, she’s been driven to the edge because of your paranoid fantasies. Can’t you show even an ounce of guilt? Just one damn shred of remorse?”
