Chapter 21
Even after dealing with Scarlet Wyndham and her family, Sterling still didn’t feel satisfied.
Since Aurora Wyndham had already severed all ties with the Wyndhams, there was no need for restraint. On the contrary- he could unleash everything they deserved.
He began by quietly acquiring Wyndham Group’s stock while the family members were being detained. Simultaneously, he manipulated their key contracts through a network of cooperating suppliers.
Prices were slashed, orders sabotaged, trust obliterated.
Within a week, the Wyndham Group’s reputation in the industry was in ruins. No one dared do business with them.
But that still wasn’t enough.
Sterling had someone bring the news to the underground cellar-where Scarlet and her parents had been held.
The moment Mr. Wyndham heard it, he collapsed from the shock, his eyes rolling back as he fainted. Mrs. Wyndham panicked, pacing in circles, her face drained of color.
The only one who didn’t seem to care was Scarlet.
Instead, she began sobbing and begging the moment she saw Sterling walk in.
“Sterling, please-please let me out, I’ll do anything,” she whimpered. “I know I was wrong. I’ve been locked in here for days-there are rats and roaches crawling everywhere-I think they bit my feet last night!”
“I’m terrified-please just let me go!”
“Let you out?” Sterling raised a brow, his voice cruel and amused. “Sure.”
“But you’ll have to choose who stays behind. You, or your parents.”
Scarlet froze.
Then, without a second of hesitation, she said, “Me, of course. They’re old. I still have my whole life ahead of me!”
“It was their idea to replace Aurora, not mine! You can investigate if you don’t believe me!”
“That bracelet-yes, it belonged to Aurora, but they’re the ones who insisted it was mine. Sterling, I swear, I was just following orders!”
Sterling wasn’t surprised in the slightest by her immediate betrayal.
Her selfishness no longer shocked him.
“I believe you,” he said blandly. “But you might want to look behind you.”
Scarlet turned.
Her parents were standing there.
They had heard everything.
“Scarlet!” Mr. Wyndham’s voice cracked with anguish. “We gave you everything. How could you sell us out like this?”
He clutched his chest, breath ragged.
Mrs. Wyndham’s expression was one of utter devastation.
“I-it’s not what it looks like!” Scarlet panicked. “He’s trying to turn us against each other!”
“It’s his fault-he’s the one twisting everything!”
But Sterling didn’t give her another word. He waved a hand.
“Take her away.”
Two guards seized her immediately.
Sterling turned back to the Wyndhams with a sneer.
“Well?” he said, lounging against the back of his chair. “Still think she’s the daughter worth ruining lives for?”
He watched with cold satisfaction as the Wyndhams’ faces grew increasingly ashen.
Eventually, he ordered the guards to release them-on one condition.
They had to formally sever ties with Scarlet.
After hearing the venom in their daughter’s words, they didn’t hesitate.
Sterling was pleased.
The Wyndhams had nothing left. Their company was in ashes, their reputation obliterated. Releasing them now was no
mercy-only a prelude to despair.
“Mr. Blackwood,” his assistant asked cautiously, “what do you want to do with Scarlet?”
Sterling’s expression chilled.
“She’s going to feel everything Aurora once endured.”
And so, the punishments began.
A perfectly recreated sequence of cruelty-every pain, every humiliation Aurora once suffered, now served cold to Scarlet.
First, they starved her for two days.
Then, they fed her mangoes-dozens of them.
Scarlet was severely allergic. Her body broke out in swollen, red rashes that itched like fire.
Next, a speeding car rammed into her at full force, shattering her leg in multiple places.
Chapter 21
She was dragged to a freezing pool packed with ice and forced underwater again and again-left soaking wet for hours until her lips turned blue and her body trembled uncontrollably.
Then came the champagne tower. She was shoved from a staircase onto a pile of stacked crystal flutes. Hundreds of shards pierced her skin as she screamed in agony.
The daily whippings began after that.
Three times a day-morning, noon, and night.
At first she begged. Then she screamed. Eventually, she went silent.
Sterling never flinched.
When the doctor finally confirmed that her mind had broken-that she was clinically insane-Sterling had her sent to a
private psychiatric ward.
He made one final request to the hospital director.
“Keep her alive. Nothing else matters.”
The director understood perfectly.
And promised to take very good care of her.
