I had no clue how I ended up leaving the hotel. All I knew was that Enzo found me disgusting and wouldn't even touch me.

As soon as I walked out of the hotel, I received a message. "Same place. Same fee."

I flagged down a cab and headed to Newlyn's most hidden underground club.

Half an hour later, I pushed open the private room door like I always did. Inside, it was packed with mafia men. Thick cigar smoke hung over them.

In the middle stood an iron cage at waist-height. Luca exhaled a ring of smoke and kicked it.

"Let's see if the former princess of the Rossi family still knows her place… as our pet."

I lowered my gaze. Without hesitation, I unzipped my outfit in front of the men and began to take it off. Then, I crawled into the cold iron cage.

Luca Moretti locked the cage with a click. "Let's do something different today."

He took the Patek Philippe watch off his wrist and threw it between the iron bars."

"Act like you're a bitch in heat. If you do it well, this watch is all yours."

The private room erupted into laughter. "Luca, you went easy on her, didn't you? Isabella's always more eager than a bitch in heat."

I looked at the watch worth over 100,000 Uvarian dollars and dropped into a crouch. "Woof! Thank you for your generosity, Mr. Moretti!"

I got on my knees and arched my back. Someone guffawed and tossed in a wad of Uvarian dollars.

"Wow! So pathetic!"

"Louder!"

The men hurled car keys, watches, and stacks of cash at me as if I were nothing but a beggar. The items hit me on the head and back.

Someone lit a cigar and pressed it against my arm, chuckling as it burned my skin.

I didn't even dodge. My lips curled into a faint smile as I pulled everything closer, still barking as demanded.

Suddenly, huge stacks of green bills rained down from above the cage, almost burying me.

Someone kicked the cage door open. I looked up to see Enzo standing outside. A vein was throbbing in his temple.

"All this money should be more than enough for your performance tonight, right?" He glared at me in the cage. His voice was edged with a faint tremor.

"Take all this money, and get out of here!"

The private room fell into pin-drop silence. Luca and the others exchanged glances, not daring to make a sound.

I looked at the money on the floor. Just as I was about to pick it up, a delicate voice drifted in from outside the door.

"Enzo, what's got you so upset?"

Camilla Moretti strutted into the room in high heels. She was Enzo's fiancee and Don Moretti's daughter. Seeing me in the cage, she covered her mouth. Undisguised malice flashed in her eyes.

"Isn't that Isabella? I was wondering who got you so upset." Camilla walked over to Enzo and slipped her arm through his.

"Enzo, I've never seen a performance like that. Why'd you stop her?"

Enzo stiffened. He looked down at Camilla before his gaze flickered over to me, naked in the cage.

He suddenly chuckled. "Alright then. If you want to watch, let Isabella continue."

Enzo turned and picked up a champagne bucket filled with ice from the table. He walked over to the cage and dumped all its contents—cold water and ice shards—over my head. I couldn't help but shiver.

"Since you enjoy doing this so much, you'll stay in that cage tonight. You're not going anywhere. Isabella, you owe me for life!"

Enzo tossed the empty bucket to the floor and swept a cold glance across the private room.

"What are you waiting for? Carry on. Everything's on me tonight."

With Enzo's words, everyone in the private room went all out.

Camilla lay in Enzo's arms, watching me go through all the humiliation. He remained on the couch the whole time, staring at me coldly.

The humiliation continued until dawn, when everyone finally left.

By the time I crawled out of the cage, I was covered in wounds, bruises, and burn marks. I trembled as I got dressed, shoving the money and watches into my bag as fast as I could.

Camilla stopped in front of me. Her diamond-studded high heels were glittering. As she crouched down, she stepped on my hand as I reached for the cash, grinding her heel down on the back of my hand.

I clenched my teeth, still holding onto the wad of cash.

"Isabella, you poor thing."

Camilla pulled out a gold-embossed card from her bag. Disgusted, she grabbed my chin and forcefully shoved it into my mouth.

"Since you've been quite the entertainment tonight, I'll give you a way out. I'm familiar with the leading neurological team in Sylora.

"If you complete a task for me, I'll arrange for them to save your brother's life. Reach out to me if you're interested. This could be his last chance."

The next day, I called the number on the card. An hour later, I was taken to a villa on Calpera Island.

I opened the door to the master bedroom on the top floor. The air was thick with cigar smoke.

A man was sitting on the large bed. He was nothing like the men I usually slept with. A hint of aggression flickered in his eyes, yet there was no trace of superiority when he looked at me.

From his words, I only realized who he was later. He was a key member of the Vitale family and Enzo's cousin, Alessandro Vitale. He was ten years older than Enzo and handled the Vitale family's financial business.

As for Camila, I was just a means to test whether Enzo still loved me. She wanted to see if he would lose control when he saw me in a wedding dress and in bed with another Vitale man.

Alessandro's eyes brazenly roamed over my body. "So, it's true. You're really beautiful. No wonder you have those men captivated."

He nodded toward the exquisite black box at the foot of the bed. "Open that box, and put on the dress."

I walked over to the box and calmly lifted the lid. As soon as I saw what was inside, my breath caught in my throat. It was a gift Enzo had given me back then.

On the night I turned 18, I was wearing this wedding dress when Enzo pushed me into a living hell I could never escape from.

Seeing how pale I had become, Alessandro raised an eyebrow. "What now? Is that really too much for you?"

He leaned back with a smirk. "So, are you going to wear it? You can still back out if you like."

Back out?

Forget about wearing the wedding dress. As long as Marco could wake up, I would go to hell and back for him.

Without hesitation, I ripped off my clothes and carelessly tossed them onto the carpet. I reached for the wedding dress, stepped into it, and pulled up the zipper.

Then, I climbed onto the bed and straddled Alessandro, just as I had with any other man before.

However, Alessandro seized the back of my neck with one hand and dragged me toward the large floor-to-ceiling window.

"Babe, doing it on the bed isn't that exciting. Wouldn't it be more thrilling here?"

Alessandro pinned me against the cold glass and ripped off my wedding dress, leaving my partially naked body exposed to the night. Still, I did not protest and even gasped in response.

Suddenly, a screeching sports car engine erupted from downstairs. Still pinned against the glass, I instinctively looked down and saw a Maserati parked in the yard.

Camilla stepped out of the car, her arm linked with Enzo's. She looked up with a smile and pointed at the floor-to-ceiling window where I was.

Enzo looked up where she was pointing.

Under the night lights, everything inside the huge floor-to-ceiling window was laid bare to the outside world, just like the floor-to-ceiling mirror back then.

Through the darkness, Enzo met my gaze. He stared at the wedding dress I was wearing.

At first, he froze, as if rooted to the spot. Shock flickered in his eyes as we held each other's gaze through the glass for a few moments.

Without a word, he flung off Camilla's hand and yanked open the sports car door. He drove off into the night without looking back.

The next morning, I ran all the way to the hospital. Despite my body being covered in horrific wounds, I was still smiling.

It was the first time I had smiled in three years. After all, Marco would be waking up soon. As long as he woke up, the humiliation I had endured over the past three years would all be worth it.

Holding onto my last hope, I shoved open the hospital room door, but his bed was empty. The tubes that had been connected to several machines had already been unplugged and carelessly piled on the bedside table. Even the bedsheets were gone.

My breath hitched as I turned to grab a nurse walking past me. "Where's my brother? Where's the patient in this room? Has he been transferred to a better ward?"

The nurse stopped. Her eyes were full of pity. "Ms. Rossi, I'm so sorry for your loss. Your brother suddenly suffered multiple organ failure at six in the morning.

"They tried to resuscitate him for 40 minutes… but it was too late. They just sent his body to the morgue. You should see him one last time."

A deafening roar filled my mind, as if something within me had exploded.

"That's impossible! That can't be!"

I shoved the nurse aside and dashed for the elevator like a madwoman. "That's impossible! I already got the money!

"The neurological team from Sylora is already on its way. Why didn't he wait a while longer?"

The morgue was located on the second basement level. As I sprinted inside, the doctor was just about to cover Marco's body on the hospital bed with a white sheet.

"Don't touch him!" I rushed over, shoved the doctor aside, and clung tightly to my brother's bony body. He was already cold to the touch.

"Marco, I'm sorry it took me so long… I'm sorry… I'm so sorry…" I collapsed to the ground, burying my face in the crook of his neck and crying as if my heart had been torn apart.

The doctor sighed. "After he fell into a coma, his bodily functions had already begun to shut down. My condolences, Ms. Ricci."

Just as I was consumed by despair, the morgue door was pushed open, and a nurse poked her head inside. "Ms. Isabella Ricci, right? A man's waiting to speak to you outside."

I numbly looked up and saw a man in a black suit standing in the corridor. He had a piercing gaze and deep, defined features, and he came across as both gentlemanly and a killer.

"Ms. Isabella Ricci, right? Someone asked me to pass on a message."

The man paused before continuing in a low voice, "Today, I'm here to tell you something about your brother, Marco Rossi. It's about the abduction case from back then."

He pulled a brown paper envelope from his briefcase. "Your brother didn't just stand by back then. When he learned that Rachel Vitale had been abducted, he immediately rushed over to save her.

"He was alone and unarmed, yet he still took on four attackers wielding steel pipes. He clung tightly to one of the thugs' legs, giving poor Rachel a few precious minutes to escape. However, Marco himself had over a dozen bones broken."

My legs gave out, and I collapsed onto the floor. My back was pressed against the wall. "What… What did you just say?"

The man snapped his folder shut and got to his feet. "The Vitales thought your brother stood by and did nothing to help Rachel.

"The truth is, he was no coward. He risked his life to save Rachel during her abduction. The Vitales have always been wrong about him."

A heavy silence fell over the entire morgue. At that moment, a sharp clang rang out from the doorway, and I turned around stiffly.

I had no idea how long Enzo had been standing outside the morgue. His eyes were fixed on Marco's body on the hospital bed before he turned to the man.

Enzo pointed at the envelope. His lips quivered as he asked, "You… What did you just say?"