Chapter 73 Lower Than the Dirt They Walk On
The sun blazed overhead, merciless in its heat. Isabella had gone a full day without food, and now the heat beat down on her exposed skin. Her lips cracked, swallowing was agony.
By afternoon, her vision blurred. Her consciousness slipped away like sand through her fingers.
Alvin gestured to his men. They brought water.
Isabella's lips touched the rim of the bowl. Instinct drove her forward, neck straining, desperate for more. Before she could drink, the bowl was ripped away.
She opened her eyes. The man standing over her smashed the bowl on the ground.
Shards scattered. A few drops pooled in the dirt. Slowly, she sank to her knees, then lower, pressing her face to the earth, tongue lapping at the moisture.
Alvin's gaze swept over her sunburned skin, raw and blistered. He waved his hand. "Put her in the freezer."
They dragged her into the cold box. The shock of temperature extremes—scorching heat to brutal cold—nearly stopped her heart.
Then back to the cage. One bowl of water a day. Three days of starvation left her too weak to stand.
On the fourth day, Isabella's breathing was shallow and weak. Alvin gave another order.
She didn't hear his words, but instinct screamed danger. Two men hauled her into a bright room. Electric batons struck her body. Convulsions tore through her. Darkness swallowed her whole.
"This bitch is pathetic. I barely touched her and she's out cold. Why don't we have some real fun?"
Alvin's boot slammed into the man's ribs. His voice was ice. "Listen carefully. This is Mr. Spencer's woman. You can torture her all you want. But you don't touch her that way."
William had brought her himself. That made her his.
Everyone knew William's temper. Rape his woman, and he would burn the world down, even if it meant going down with it.
Alvin's job was to break Isabella, to make her obedient and suffering. Nothing more.
"Understood." The men nodded.
The next day, Isabella woke to find a bowl of rice in her cage. She didn't think. She grabbed it, shoveling food into her mouth. The stench of rot flooded her senses. Her stomach heaved. She vomited.
She set the bowl down. A voice cut through the bars. "That's your only food for two days. Don't eat, starve to death."
Isabella shook her head. She couldn't die.
Juniper was still alive. She couldn't die here. She had to get revenge.
She lifted the bowl again, forcing the spoiled rice down her throat. The rancid smell made even the guards gag.
"Jesus Christ, is she even human? She's eating that?"
"We tried to feed it to the dogs earlier. They wouldn't touch it."
Isabella didn't hear them. She ate faster. Only with food in her belly would she have the strength to leave this place—to kill Juniper.
But the moment the food settled, her abdomen exploded in pain.
Her stomach had always been delicate. Eating spoiled food was self-destruction.
Isabella curled into a ball, sweat pouring down her face.
She whispered to herself, "It hurts... Beatrice, I can't hold on much longer. Can you help me? Beatrice, don't worry. I'll avenge you. I'll kill her. I promise."
She bit down hard. She couldn't die. She had to survive this place.
The Spencer Group.
William slammed the file down harder than necessary. For days, his temper had been a live wire. The slightest irritation sent him into a rage. Even senior employees had been fired.
"How is she?"
The question came out of nowhere. Dylan blinked, catching up.
"Alvin sends daily reports. He says she's been thoroughly punished. They used electric batons on her, tied her to a post in the sun, then threw her in the freezer. Ice and fire, back and forth."
William's fingers crumpled the file. Fury simmered under his skin.
She deserved it.
Dylan wasn't sure if William actually cared about Isabella. He ventured carefully, "Mr. Spencer, should they ease up? Ms. Tudor was already injured. I'm afraid—"
"Dylan, I'm noticing you seem very concerned about her."
Dylan shut his mouth. "My apologies. I overstepped."
"Then pass this along. Tell them the punishment isn't harsh enough."
If Isabella could still inspire sympathy at a time like this, it only made him angrier.
As long as she didn't die, he wanted to see just how stubborn she really was.
Dylan's heart sank. He regretted speaking up, knowing he had just made things worse for her.
"Understood."
Alvin received the order. That same day, he used an iron whip on her.
The whip had barbs. After five lashes, she was unconscious.
He didn't let them treat her wounds. Instead, he had them pour chili water over the open flesh, shocking her awake.
Isabella writhed on the ground. The burning sensation seared through every pore, flooding her bloodstream.
She wanted to die.
She slammed her head against the concrete, trying to knock herself out.
Alvin saw blood streaming from her forehead. He ordered the high-pressure hose.
The brutal force of water washed away the chili solution and tore her wounds wider.
Her screams were drowned by the roar of the spray. They kept going until she passed out completely, unresponsive no matter how much water hit her.
Alvin called in a doctor, worried she might actually die. He phoned William to report.
William was in a meeting. He slammed his hand on the table. The entire room froze.
He turned and walked out. Dylan couldn't keep up.
William got in his car, flooring the gas pedal. The frustration in his chest grew heavier with every mile.
He arrived at Blackthorn Compound and saw Isabella. Her face was ghostly pale. A long whip mark ran down her neck, skin split open, bone showing through.
She was skeletal. Nothing but skin stretched over bone.
Alvin saw the dark look on William's face and spoke cautiously. "Mr. Spencer, my apologies. You said to increase the intensity, so I used the iron whip. I didn't realize she was this fragile."
A flicker of pain crossed William's chest. He crushed it immediately. He wouldn't soften for someone like her. He just didn't want her dying too easily.
She had hurt Juniper so badly. She needed to stay alive long enough to apologize in person. "It's fine. As long as she's not dead."
He turned and left without hesitation.
Alvin exhaled in relief. William clearly didn't care about her. That meant they could be even more brutal going forward.