Chapter 40
“Stop. Get the hell off me, you crazy bitch!” Sean writhed and screamed, but Emily kept pounding, her silence more terrifying than any battle cry.
Sean twisted beneath her, trying to throw Emily off and regain his footing, but she held him down like a dead weight. No amount of thrashing could dislodge her.
Emily’s teeth were gritted, her eyes blazing. She didn’t speak-just kept hammering her fists into him with terrifying, single- minded fury.
The crowd stood paralyzed, shocked by the raw violence in her expression. It took them a full beat to snap into action.
Lucas yanked Lydia behind him and snapped at the spectators, “Stop staring and pull her off!”
The others finally shook off their shock and rushed forward, but Emily fought like something feral. Those who got too close earned deep scratches or vicious bites. One man reeled back, clutching his bleeding face.
She stayed locked on Sean, snarling and lashing out at any hand that reached for her. When they finally backed away, she resumed punching Sean without mercy.
A lesson from St. Gabriel echoed in her mind. “When you’re outnumbered, pick one opponent and focus all your rage on
them.
“Fight as if your life depends on it. Because if you hold back, they’ll destroy you. Use every weapon you have—your fists, your nails, even your teeth.
Fear spread through the crowd like a current, keeping everyone at a distance.
“Is she insane?” someone murmured, voice trembling. They all knew this fight could turn deadly if it went on.
Lucas gritted his teeth, released Lydia, and charged forward. He seized Emily from behind, weathering her frantic elbows and clawing fingers.
“Someone help me!” he shouted at the frozen onlookers.
The men sprang into action. They dragged Emily off Sean, taking punches to their ribs and jaws before finally restraining
her.
Even then, she kept fighting, her burning gaze fixed on Sean as if she’d lunge again the moment they loosened their grip. It took five grown men to hold her down.
When Lucas finally caught his breath, he drew back and struck Emily across the face-a sharp crack that echoed through the
room.
Emily went still. Her head whipped around, those bloodshot eyes shifting from Sean to Lucas.
She looked feral now, like a wounded animal backed into a corner, all raw fury and desperation.
Fury burned through Lucas, but Emily’s eyes froze him in place. He’d never seen that look before-the cold, desperate glare of a trapped animal with nothing left to lose. This couldn’t be the same Emily he once knew.
“Lucas!” Lydia’s sharp cry jerked him back to reality.
She dropped to her knees beside Sean, who lay curled in a ball, hands pressed to his mangled face. “Lucas, now!” Her voice cracked with panic. “Sean’s badly hurt. We need an ambulance.”
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Chapter 40
Lucas rushed to where Sean lay. Even from a distance, he could see the damage-Sean’s face had swollen badly, while the back of his hands was crisscrossed with deep, bleeding scratches.
“Lucas-” Sean’s voice broke off with a pained gasp as fresh tears streaked through the blood drying on his face.
“Don’t move. I’m calling 911,” Lucas said, phone already in hand.
Across the room, the men holding Emily loosened their grip.
She went limp immediately. Without their support, her legs gave way and she collapsed like a puppet with cut strings.
The crowd hovered around Sean, offering empty comforts while keeping well clear of Emily. No one dared provoke the wild thing she’d become.
Emily didn’t move, her head bowed so deeply that her face disappeared from view.
Sean’s blows had been weak compared to what she’d suffered at St. Gabriel’s-where older students would beat her bloody for scraps of food. Bruises like these meant nothing to her. It was the memories they dragged up that sent her over the edge.
After what felt like an eternity, her breathing steadied. Meanwhile, the shrill scream of an ambulance siren pierced the ballroom.
The paramedics rushed in. Sean immediately amplified his groans, drawing the crowd to swarm around him. They checked his pulse, wrapped his wounds, and loaded him onto a stretcher.
No one so much as glanced at Emily. Within minutes, the entire crowd had followed the medics out, abandoning what was meant to be Emily’s “welcome party.”
Only Lucas paused at the doorway, casting one last look at Emily.
She still lay curled on the floor, her slight body folded in on itself like a crumpled piece of paper. That fiery, defiant girl from his memories had vanished-all that remained was this broken shadow.
Lucas moved toward the fallen figure, but a sudden pressure on his arm halted him.
Lydia leaned heavily against him, her face ashen. “Lucas,” she whispered, “I don’t feel right.”
Emily was forgotten in an instant. Lucas caught Lydia’s shoulders, his brow furrowing. “Is it the shock? I’ll get you to a doctor.”
The thought never crossed Emily’s mind that someone might actually care. Gritting her teeth against the throbbing pain, she forced herself up inch by inch.
Her injuries mirrored Sean’s-but she’d protected her head, leaving just an angry welt on her cheek. To the crowd, she might as well have been unscathed.
Pain was familiar to her, but never easier to bear. Every hurt still carried that quiet hope-for just one person to ask if she was all right.
Under their watching eyes, Emily tugged her hood up, wrapped her jacket tight around herself, and walked out of the Hiltin Hotel without a backward glance.
The stillness that clung to her now was absolute-a world away from the fury that had consumed her moments before.
Emily used the spare cash the butler had lent her to buy some ointment and bandages at a nearby pharmacy and then dragged her exhausted body back to the Bennett residence.
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even stitch skin when necessary.
In the cramped servants’ quarters of the Bennett residence, she removed her blouse, revealing a body covered in horrifying scars. These ugly, twisted marks each represented two years of suffering.
She pressed antiseptic to a new cut without expression. The sting made her flinch, but her hands stayed steady, as if enduring pain was just another chore now.
Before she could finish applying the medicine, someone started pounding on the door.
“Emily, I know you’re in there. Open this door right now!” Andrew’s voice boomed through the wood.
