Chapter 8

Nadia sat on the cold, hard floor, the second-degree burns on her skin eating into her nerves. However, she felt as if someone had just torn a massive hole in her heart, with nothing but a cold draft wafting through it. She gritted her teeth and put up with the excruciating pain and urge to black out. She searched her pocket for her phone and called the emergency hotline herself. … When Nadia was discharged from the hospital, it happened to be during Celia's birthday banquet. The Young residence was decked out in colorful streamers and balloons, and it was very lively with guests. Since Nadia was still the eldest daughter of the household, she was forced to attend the banquet as well. She stood by herself in an elusive corner and watched as Hector brought Celia around with a prideful look, happily introducing her to the rest of his guests and proclaiming that he would soon be making her the heiress of more than half of his wealth and assets. The guests were all very courteous and even envious of her. Meanwhile, Nadia felt empty at that sight. She had never once had a birthday celebration of her own. Her mother had died when she was still very young, and Hector never cared to celebrate Nadia's birthday with her. As far as she could remember, she had always spent her birthdays alone with a cake she bought herself, making silent wishes that nobody knew of. The banquet was soon at its peak when the guests began presenting their gifts to Celia. Hector's gift of half his wealth was already astonishing enough. However, Clive then took out a silk box and retrieved a diamond necklace that looked extremely priceless before personally clasping it around Celia's neck. Everyone in the hall gasped in surprise. Celia looked absolutely happy and glowing, and she kept glancing in Nadia's direction from time to time with a smug look in her eyes. Nadia couldn't be bothered to continue watching anymore. She quietly made her way to the buffet table and grabbed a glass of liquor before downing everything in one shot, trying to numb her emotions and drown her feelings in alcohol. Yet, more trouble was afoot. A few of Celia's friends purposely surrounded Nadia and deliberately bumped hard into her. "Oh? Isn't this the so-called eldest daughter of the Young household, Ms. Nadia Young? Everyone is enjoying themselves at an occasion like this, but why do you look so melancholic? Is it because you know that you can never measure up to her?" Nadia didn't want to cause a scene, so she set down her glass and turned to leave. "Hey, you! We're still talking to you! Are you deaf? Can't you hear us?" exclaimed one of Celia's friends, Peggy Dickson. She grabbed Nadia by her arm and refused to let her leave. Nadia couldn't hold back. She didn't even want to hold it back anymore. She instantly flung Peggy's hand off her with so much strength that Peggy lost her balance. Then, Nadia grabbed a half-full bottle of wine from the table and glared daggers at the crowd of Celia's friends still challenging her. "I gave you a chance, but you didn't take it. Take this!" she yelled. Before Nadia even finished her line, she swung the bottle in the air and hit Peggy's head with it. There was a loud crash as the bottle broke. Wine and blood immediately streamed down onto the floor, accompanied by a terrified scream. The scene was a huge mess with people screaming and running away. However, Nadia ignored them all and continued swinging the jagged bottle in the direction of the other people cornering her, injuring them all. She only stopped when Clive heard of the commotion and grabbed her tightly by the wrist after coming to find her. "Nadia Young! What the hell are you doing, losing your mind like this?" Clive questioned as he looked at the mess on the floor and the young women bleeding from their heads. His expression darkened at once. Nadia scoffed and said, "Didn't you witness everything? They humiliated me, so I just gave them the tit-for-tat treatment. That's all!" "Tit-for-tat?" Clive thundered, his eyes filled with anger and disappointment. "This is intentional battery. You hurt them on purpose for no reason! Also, there had to be a reason if you thought they were humiliating you. You should've listened to them and admitted that you were wrong! You should change your temperament! Apologize to them now!" "In your dreams!" Clive lost the last of his patience when he saw how stubborn Nadia was being. He knew that Nadia had claustrophobia and a fear of dark spaces, so he said, "Since you refuse to apologize, then you should be locked up to reflect on your behavior!" He then turned to his bodyguard and instructed, "Drag her into the cell in the basement and lock her up! And she isn't allowed to step outside without my permission!" He then looked at Nadia and growled in an icy tone, "It's only when you're scared that you'll truly learn your lesson." Nadia was forcefully dragged out of the banquet and thrown into the dungeon in the basement, which was dark, cramped, and had no windows. The moment the door was locked, Nadia felt the darkness closing in on her like icy tidal waves that drowned her at once. Memories of her getting locked up in the dark, cold cell while she was young quickly surfaced in her mind like ghosts of her past. Nadia huddled up in a corner on the ground, shivering hard as cold sweat dripped down from her back. Time passed too slowly in the dungeon. She was cold, hungry, and thirsty. She was incredibly scared of the dark. Everything gnawed at her senses and threatened to snap her sanity in two. On the third day, just as Nadia was about to go insane, the door to the dungeon was suddenly opened. A sliver of light shone in through the crack in the door. Celia then appeared there with a smug, gleeful grin on her face. "I thought Clive would punish you worse than this. As it turned out, he just locked you up. Tsk, that's not even considered punishment at all." Celia then clapped her hands, and two men in black quickly appeared behind her, looking stone-faced and expressionless. "What are you trying to do?" Nadia asked, looking at them warily, her voice dry and hoarse. "Adding on to your punishment so you'll remember this lesson for the rest of your life," Celia said, an evil smile gracing her lips. "Tie her to the electric chair."