Chapter 231

"You vile, ugly bitch! How dare you try to jump? I'll kill you!"

Hugo Thompson was despicable, but his reflexes were sharp. Like a starving wolf, he lunged for the windowsill, grabbing Bella Quinn by the collar and yanking her back into the room.

Bella's ankle was already sprained, and the fall sent waves of pain through her, cold sweat beading on her skin. Before she could recover, Hugo's leather shoe slammed into her chest.

"I haven't even touched you yet, and you're already trying to die?" He sneered, dragging her by her hair toward the bed. "Tonight, I'll show you what true suffering feels like!"

"Let me go!" Bella struggled wildly, but she was no match for his brute strength. Her resistance only enraged him further. A vicious slap struck her face, making the scar beneath his hand appear even more grotesque.

"You still think you're the Bowman family's precious daughter? You're nothing but a disgusting freak now!" Hugo spat. "I'm doing you a favor by touching you!"

"You're worse than a freak!" Bella laughed coldly. "You're a sick, twisted animal!"

"What did you say?!" His eyes bulged with rage, and another slap cracked across her face. "Say it again!"

"I said you're a coward who only dares to hurt women!" She spat blood onto the floor. "A waste of life like you deserves to be despised by every woman alive!"

Hugo's eyes darkened with fury. He wrapped his hands around Bella's throat and slammed her repeatedly against the wall. The pain blurred her vision, but it only hardened her resolve.

When he threw her onto the bed again, she seized the lamp from the nightstand and smashed it against his head. Glass shards exploded, blood immediately gushing from his forehead.

"You bitch!" He wiped the blood from his face and lunged at her like a wounded beast. Bella grabbed the vanity stool and swung it hard into his back. As he staggered, she bolted for the door.

"Trying to run?" Hugo seized her hair and hurled her onto the broken glass. Sharp fragments pierced her back, the pain so intense her vision went black. A pool of blood spread beneath her.

Hugo tore open his shirt buttons, sneering down at her. "Now you understand what happens when you cross me?"

As he leaned in, Bella summoned every ounce of strength left and drove her knee upward. Hugo howled, doubling over in agony, his face ghostly pale.

"You're dead!" Once he recovered, he threw her onto the bed in a blind rage. Blood loss made Bella's vision swim, but she bit her lip hard, clinging to consciousness.

When Hugo pinned her down, she squeezed her eyes shut in despair. Images flashed through her mind—her grandmother's kind smile, Susan Thompson's warm hands, little Daniel's innocent eyes, and... Calvin Grant's silent, retreating figure.

The man who had always watched over her in silence. If she could see him again, she'd gather the courage to embrace him—no longer ashamed of her scars, no longer held back by her past.

"Filthy whore, let's see how tough you are now!" Hugo's sneer exploded in her ear. Bella's eyes snapped open. With her last ounce of strength, she grabbed the metal photo frame from the bedside—

If she was going to die, she'd drag this demon to hell with her!