Chapter 8
Emma returned home alone.
She silently treated her forehead wound, then began packing.
The necklaces, rings, and watches Dominic had given her, the cards he’d handwritten, the photo albums they’d made together… everything associated with him went into cardboard boxes, which she carried trip after trip to the dumpster below.
As she discarded the final box, the winter wind blew snowflakes across her cheeks.
Standing beneath the streetlight, she suddenly found it all absurd.
Memories once treasured like precious jewels, now nothing but trash in a dumpster.
As she turned to leave, a sack suddenly dropped over her head!
Before she could struggle, a sharp pain struck the back of her neck, her vision went black, and she lost consciousness completely.
When she regained consciousness, Emma found herself still trapped in the sack, her hands bound behind her back, her mouth gagged with cloth.
Through the sack’s loose weave, she saw Dominic holding Stella on a raised platform chair, surrounded by security
guards.
A guard respectfully reported: “Mr. Chase, we’ve captured the ringleader who Emma sent to assault Ms. Reed.”
Stella curled against Dominic, her voice timid: “Dominic, let’s just drop this… you arrived in time, so nothing really happened…”
Dominic coldly laughed: “Absolutely not.”
His long fingers gently caressed Stella’s face, his tone impossibly tender: “I can’t bring myself to hurt Emma, but she dared to target you. I need to send a message.‘
“Since she sent this thug, I’ll make an example of him so she’ll never try something like this again.”
Emma felt her blood run cold.
She finally understood–this was all Stella’s elaborate scheme!
After pretending to be assaulted, Stella had arranged Emma’s kidnapping, tricking Dominic into believing she was the perpetrator, intending for him to unknowingly torture his own lover!
20:27
Just a Stand–In?! My Billionaire Hubby’s OTHER Wife…
5.5%
Chapter N
She struggled desperately, trying to call Dominic’s name, but the gag reduced her cries to muffled whimpers.
Stella “compassionately” sighed. “Well… go easy, at least. He is Emma’s person after all…”
Dominic’s eyes hardened: “Easy? Impossible.”
“Anyone who dares hurt you will learn the meaning of ‘living death.“”
The next moment, Emma was dragged to the high platform.
Below was a fifty–foot deep swimming pool, its frigid water reflecting harsh white lights.
Still bagged and bound, she was violently pushed from the edge.
SPLASH!
Ice–cold water instantly flooded the sack, the impact feeling like being struck by a sledgehammer, every internal organ compressed by the force.
Water rushed into her nose and mouth, choking her until her vision darkened. Her lungs felt pierced by countless needles, making her instinctively curl into herself from the pain.
“Help… please…”
Her weak pleas were swallowed by the water.
The sack, now soaked through, grew increasingly heavy, dragging her down like lead.
She struggled desperately, but the ropes only tightened, nearly suffocating her.
Just as consciousness began to fade, the rope suddenly jerked taut, violently pulling her back to the surface.
“Cough! Cough!”
She convulsed with coughing, water and blood spattering from her lungs, but before she could catch her breath, her body was pushed down again.
Once, twice, three times… each fall felt like being thrown into an ice pit; each retrieval like having her skin flayed.
Again and again, death would be preferable.
Emma’s consciousness grew increasingly foggy, her ears filled with a dull roar, her lungs burning as if about to
burst.
After being pulled up for what seemed the hundredth time, Stella finally “mercifully” called for a stop: “Enough… Dominic, don’t torture him anymore…”
Dominic merely laughed coldly: “We’re not done.”
20:27
Just a Stand In?! My Billionaire Hubby’s OTHER Wife…
5.7%
He took an iron rod from a guard and approached Emma.
“Those who touch what’s mine pay the price.”
CRACK!
The first blow landed heavily across her back. Emma’s body instantly arched like a shrimp hit by an electric shock.
Excruciating pain exploded from her spine, instantly spreading to her limbs. She bit down hard on the cloth in her mouth but still released a muffled groan.
CRACK! CRACK! CRACK!
Blow after blow, completely merciless. Each strike felt designed to shatter her bones, to rupture her organs.
Emma could feel warm liquid seeping from her mouth, trailing down her chin and dripping to the floor.
Ninety–nine blows delivered by his own hands.
By the end, Emma couldn’t even feel pain anymore.
Her consciousness blurred, vision repeatedly darkening. Her body felt simultaneously ripped to pieces and thrown into a meat grinder.
As the final blow fell, she collapsed like a broken rag doll. The pool of blood beneath her grew, soaking through her clothes and spreading across the floor.
CRUNCH-
He raised his polished leather shoe and deliberately crushed her exposed fingers.
The sound of breaking bones was unmistakable. Emma convulsed with pain but couldn’t even scream.
Only then did Dominic withdraw his foot, satisfied, and turned to pull Stella into his arms.
His long fingers gently stroked her hair. “Were you frightened?”
“It’s over now.”
He gestured dismissively to the guards: “Dump this trash back where you found it.”
With that, he carried Stella away without a backward glance, his shoes making sticky sounds as they crossed the
blood–soaked floor.
The gag in Emma’s mouth finally loosened.
Using her last ounce of strength, she croaked out his name.
20:27
Just a Stand In?! My Billionaire Hubby’s OTHER Wife…
5.9%
Chapter 8
“Dom…inic…”
Her voice was faint as a dying candle flame, yet it had consumed her remaining energy.
20:27
