The two of them were walking away side by side. The girl clutched the framed portrait, bouncing with each step. Russ looked... happy. Genuinely happy. His arm swept around her, pulling her close until their silhouettes merged into one. She playfully punched his chest, then broke free and ran.
He chased after her.
I gripped my phone until my knuckles ached. Tilted my head back. Stared at the sky. Blinked rapidly until the tears dissolved into nothing.
Then I lowered my head and started organizing my supplies.
That's when my phone rang.
Sapphire Harris.
"Come back to the estate. Now."
The switch whistled through the air and cracked across my back. It had been soaking in salt water—a method that prevented infection but amplified every nerve ending into screaming agony.
Sapphire's face was carved from stone as she brought down the second lash.
"Can't even keep one man satisfied. Useless woman."
Crack.
"You've driven my son into the arms of other women. His father and I should never have let you through our doors."
Timothy Harris stood with his arms crossed, watching with cold detachment.
The bodyguards pinned my shoulders down.
"This is the family discipline we agreed upon when you married in. Do you accept it?"
I clenched my teeth so hard my tongue bled at the root.
Russ walked in from outside just then. He glanced over at the commotion, then looked away with complete indifference.
"Keep it down while you're disciplining her. I need to rest."
Sapphire let out a cold laugh but withdrew her hand. "Not worried about your wife anymore?"
"Last time I used the whip, you threw yourself in front of her like your life depended on it."
"How things change."
The Harris family had rules. When a man strayed, the family didn't punish him—they punished his wife.
Minor offenses meant copying family precepts. Serious ones meant the lash.
When Russ's affair with that young model came to light, my mother-in-law had whipped me once before.
That time, Russ heard the commotion and rushed home.
Just before her whip came down, he'd thrown himself between us.
"Mom, it's my fault. I won't mess around anymore. Don't hit my wife."
"Hit me instead."
He'd dropped to his knees and taken the lashes meant for me.
That was the first time Sapphire ever looked at me with any respect.
"I know my son better than anyone. He seems devoted, but he's fickle at heart."
"The fact that you've managed him this well—that's no small feat."