My wife, Ula Grove, was best friends with a man named Jordan Loof.

On the day we all gathered to celebrate Eira, Jordan’s daughter’s birthday, our own little girl, Faye, made the silly mistake of taking a bite of the cake ahead of time.

Ula flew into a rage and locked Faye in the basement.

“Why do you have to compete with Eira over everything? You even made her cry on her own birthday! It was just a piece of cake, yet you acted as if you had never seen a cake in your life!”

Ula then taped Faye’s mouth shut with adhesive tape.

“Stay right here and think about what you’ve done. You’re not coming out until three days have passed.”

The basement was pitch dark with no light at all, and there were poisonous spiders, too. Faye would not last half a day in there.

I cried and begged Ula to let Faye go, but Ula remained unmoved.

“What other tricks are you trying to pull? How many times do I have to tell you that Jordan has it hard enough raising a kid on his own? I asked you to be considerate, but you couldn’t! You and that little monster insist on doubling down on bullying a single-parent family!”

I clutched her sleeve and begged her to just let Faye out. I even swore that I would take Faye and vanish from her life.

Ula pulled away before kicking me to the floor.

Then, she said coldly, “Since you can’t stand to be away from her, then go rot in there with her! I’m sending Jordan and Eira abroad in three days, so you two can stay locked up until there’s no way you can bully them anymore.”

After Ula sent Jordan and Eira abroad to enjoy themselves, she finally remembered Faye and me.

She picked out gifts and was about to come pick us up when she received a call from her assistant, Alex Quill.

“Mr. Elwood and Faye are gone!”

I was thrown into the basement by a tall bodyguard named Eric Edwards.

My daughter, Faye Elwood, had already been locked in there for a while. Her mouth was taped shut, and she could only let out muffled whimpers. I fumbled through the darkness toward the sound and pulled her into my arms.

“Sweetheart, I’m right here. Please stop crying, okay?”

I carefully peeled the tape off her mouth, and the sound of it ripping away from her skin made my heart ache.

This was not the first time that my wife had punished our daughter in the basement because of her male best friend’s child. It had caused Faye to develop nyctophobia. Her entire body was trembling.

The moment the tape came off, she cried so heartbreakingly that it hurt my heart. I carried her to the basement door, where a sliver of light shone through the crack.

With one arm holding Faye, I pounded on the door with the other and shouted, “Open this door, Ula! She is your own daughter! She’s terrified of the dark. If you leave her down here, something bad is going to happen!”

Eric kicked the door hard in response.

“Keep it down in there! Ms. Grove is upstairs celebrating her goddaughter’s birthday. If you ruin this party for her, you’ll have much worse coming your way!”

I nodded vigorously in the dark, suddenly frantic with worry.

“Okay, I’ll be quiet! Just please let Faye out. She can’t take any more of this!”

I looked at Faye in my arms. She was too terrified to even cry anymore. All I could do was keep begging.

Eric grew impatient with my pleading and finally warned me harshly, “That’s enough, I’m not letting you out! If you keep pushing me, I’ll go get Ms. Grove. Trust me, next time, it won’t just be the basement you’ll have to worry about. Don’t you know where you stand with Ms. Grove? Why do you insist on provoking Mr. Loof? He is the apple of her eye!”

I squeezed my eyes shut.

I was willing to be yelled at by Ula’s bodyguard, but I could not afford to risk Faye’s life.

So, I threatened him, “Faye is Ms. Grove’s only daughter! If something happens to her, do you really think you won’t be blamed? Call Ula right away!”

Eric hesitated before finally calling Ula on the phone.

The moment the call connected, I shouted out desperately, “Ula! Let Faye out! She’s already passed out from fear. If you keep her in here any longer, she’s not going to survive!”

Ula knew very well how severe Faye’s nyctophobia was.

Ula’s heart softened when she heard this.

“Fine, let Faye out—”

Just then, Jordan’s voice came through the phone.

“It’s Eira’s birthday today. Put the phone away. Are you worried about Bernhard and Faye? They will be fine. We installed a new light in the basement, remember? Come on, blow out the candles with Eira.”

There was a light down there, but it was always sabotaged and never worked when Faye was locked in.

Ula let out a cold snort.

“What could possibly go wrong? There’s a light down there. You are still trying to trick me. You just want to get out and ruin Eira’s birthday party! How can you be so cruel? I’m telling you, you need to get your act together. If you don’t, Faye is going to end up just as rotten as you are.”

She then hung up without hesitation.

After my call with Ula, Eric became even more determined to ignore both Faye and me.

I could only hold Faye tightly and keep talking nonstop to stop her from falling asleep.

As I spoke, my voice began to choke up.

I was scared, too.

I was terrified of losing my beloved Faye while I held her in my arms.

I pressed my forehead against hers to be closer to her, and I suddenly felt something sticky on Faye’s forehead.

My heart instantly started racing with panic.

Through the sliver of light from the crack in the door, I saw blood.

...

Just then, I recalled that Ula had struck Faye on the forehead with the stainless steel cake knife she had been holding in her fit of rage.

I screamed, and tears streamed down my face. I pounded on the door incessantly, crying out for help again.

The door swung open.

A glimmer of hope flashed before me, and I crawled out while holding Faye in my arms. However, Eric returned with an electric baton that Ula usually used to capture people during her night-time operations.

My eyes widened in horror as I scrambled backward, clutching Faye tightly against my chest. The next instant, the numbing pain of electric current surged through my entire body, and I cried out in agony.

Eric said harshly, “I told you to keep your mouth shut, and you’re still howling like a dog! Ms. Grove said that I could do whatever was needed to make you shut up and keep you from ruining the birthday party!”

I lost all strength the moment I was shocked. Bearing the pain all over my body, I showed the wound on Faye’s forehead to Eric.

“Ula injured Faye’s head. She’s just a little kid. She can’t handle it. She’s losing too much blood. Please, I’m begging you, take Faye to the hospital.”

I pleaded him for help.

That baton was extremely powerful. When typically used to catch people, two jolts were enough to put a person’s life at risk.

The single shock I was given had had a tremendous impact on my internal organs.

When Eric saw the blood on Faye’s face, his eyes widened in terror. He knew that Faye was not allowed to get hurt.

He hesitated for a moment before calling Ula again.

“Ms. Grove, Faye’s head is bleeding. Should I take her to the hospital?”

Ula massaged the muscle between her eyebrows. She was visibly annoyed.

“Why is Bernhard so full of tricks? That was just some red frosting from the cake that the brat stole from Eira. He’s just trying to pass it off as blood! Tell Bernhard this, if he wants to keep on making a fuss, he can rot in that basement for the rest of his life.”

After she hung up, Eric turned his anger on me.

“Ms. Grove was right about you. You’re nothing but a liar. Sit tight and don’t try anything else!”

With that, he kicked both Faye and me back into the basement.

The moment the door locked shut behind us, we were plunged into pitch darkness again.

Faye, unconscious in my arms, shuddered in fear.

She then began to cry and thrash with her eyes tightly shut. She was frowning hard, and her body trembled nonstop in my embrace, as if she were trapped in some terrible nightmare.

No matter how much I coaxed or called her, she would not wake up. I was so frightened that I did not know what to do.

I could only babble incoherently, “Faye! Oh, my little Faye. Can you hear me? I’m right here. It’s okay, sweetheart. Don’t be scared.”

I sank into despair.

If we truly had to wait for three days, we would probably not survive.

Faye was getting weaker by the minute, and after that shock, I was coughing up blood. I could barely move. I felt like any second could be my last.

But what other choice did I have?

Ula was such a fool. No matter what I said, she simply refused to believe me. All I could do was hold Faye tightly and silently pray to God over and over again in my heart.

“God, please. Don’t take my little girl. She is still so young. She has always been good. She’s never bullied anyone. She doesn’t deserve to die because of this.”

...

Soon, it was evening. To make Eira happier at this birthday party, Ula moved the celebration to another venue.

It was not safe at night, so Eric went out with them to protect them.

Faye’s breathing was faint in my arms, and I no longer had the strength to speak.

That was when I heard footsteps outside the door.

It was our housekeeper, Wanda Rockhold.

She opened the door and slipped some food through the crack to me.

I became hopeful again.

I took the chance to grab Wanda’s hand and called out, “Wanda, please! Help us!”

Wanda was kind-hearted. Whenever she saw Jordan and Eira falsely accuse me in front of Ula, she would usually speak up for us.

She was my only hope of getting out of the basement.

But this time, Wanda hesitated.

“Mr. Elwood, my whole family depends on this paycheck. If I let you out, Ms. Grove will fire me, and we’ll have nothing. Please, just eat something first. You need it...”

With that, she set the food tray down, looked away with a pained expression, and left.

My hope vanished once again. I forced myself to accept the fact that I was going to die. But I still could not bring myself to accept what would happen to Faye.

I wiped away my tears, picked up the food, and fed Faye.

I shifted backward a little, hoping to lean against the door and rest with my eyes closed.

However, the moment I leaned back, the door creaked open.

Wanda had deliberately left it unlocked for me.

I did not have time to feel grateful. I grabbed Faye and stumbled out.

A few steps were enough to exhaust me. I quickly ran out of breath. I had never truly realized how enormous the villa was.

I gritted my teeth and kept going.

Finally, I reached a crowded area. My strength gave out, and my legs buckled beneath me. I collapsed to my knees and fell forward.

People passed by in both directions. They gave both Faye and me strange looks, but no one came near us. Just then, Margaret Jerome, a business partner who had a good relationship with Ula, appeared in front of the villa.

“Mr. Elwood? How did you and Faye get so badly hurt? Hang on, I’m calling Ms. Grove right now.”

She hurriedly took out her phone and called Ula.

“Ms. Grove, your husband and Faye are badly hurt. Didn’t you invest in a medical team? Please send a helicopter to get them right now. They look like they’re barely hanging on!”

After Ula finished fawning over Margaret with exaggerated concern, her voice turned ice-cold as she said, “Ms. Jerome, don’t worry about him. He’s faking it. All he cares about is finding ways to go after Jordan. Don’t let him fool you. Just leave them in the basement. I’ll come back for them in three days.”

After she hung up, Margaret could not bear to see Faye and me in that state. She called her secretary, Taylor Clark, and told him to come pick us up.

Margaret still had business to attend to, so she told Faye and me to stay put and wait for Taylor to arrive.

I kept checking on Faye’s breathing, terrified that she might not make it.

Fortunately, Taylor arrived quickly.

“Mr. Elwood, Ms. Grove blocked off all the roads to the hospital for Eira’s birthday party. The whole area up ahead is nothing but amusement rides. We can’t get through.”

While trying to calm us down, he got out of the car and explained the situation to the security guard in charge of the entertainment facilities, John Flint.

But John refused to back down.

“Ms. Grove is currently inside celebrating with Mr. Loof and Eira. We only recognize one man as Ms. Grove’s husband.”