Chapter 2The Island Trial To Train An Obedient Wife

The day we flew back, the Montgomery and Vance families threw a massive welcome home gala.

Joseph wanted the entire elite social circle to know he had brought his missing bride back from the dead.

The ballroom was blindingly bright, dripping in crystal and designer perfume.

I wore a high-necked, long-sleeved gown to hide the mosaic of scars covering my body. I wore lace gloves to hide the missing fingernails.

Joseph held my hand tightly, parading me through the crowd to soak up the compliments.

"Joseph is a saint. Searching for three years and finally bringing her home."

"Look at her. She went through hell, but she looks so much softer and tamer now."

"Now that is exactly how a bride should act."

Joseph soaked it all in, thoroughly satisfied.

He squeezed my hand and whispered, "See? Everyone loves the new you."

I kept my head down. I didn't say a word.

Right then, a waiter wheeled out a cart for table-side flambé steaks.

The moment the liquor hit the hot pan, a massive fireball erupted into the air.

I let out a blood-curdling scream. My legs buckled and I dropped to the floor, scrambling on all fours to hide under the nearest banquet table.

"Don't burn me! I'll eat it! I'll eat the raw meat! Please don't burn me!"

I dragged the tablecloth down with me. Expensive wine glasses and plates shattered across the marble floor.

The entire ballroom went dead silent.

Joseph's face tightened. He immediately reached down to pull me up.

But the second I saw his hand approaching, it was like looking at a glowing red branding iron. I curled into a tight ball, wrapping my arms defensively over my head.

"I'm sorry. I won't run. Please don't use the fire."

Joseph froze.

He dropped to one knee, scooped me out from under the table, and started whispering in my ear.

"Scarlett, it's okay. We aren't on the island anymore. As long as you are a good girl, no one is going to burn you."

He held me tight and flashed an apologetic smile to the stunned billionaires. "I am so sorry, everyone. Scarlett just got back and is still adjusting. I am going to nurse her back to health."

That night, Joseph brought me back to the master suite of his penthouse.

The moment the door clicked shut, he wrapped his arms around me from behind. His warm lips pressed against the nape of my neck.

"Scarlett, tonight we can finally sleep in a real bed."

His hands trailed down to my waist, carrying a very obvious, suffocating implication.

My entire body turned into a block of cement.

A familiar, horrifying tremor shot up my spine.

His expensive cologne suddenly warped in my nostrils, smelling exactly like rotting fish and cheap tribal face paint.

On the island, whenever Valerie whipped me with thorny vines until I was half-dead, the masked "Chief" would step out of the shadows.

He would stroke my bleeding back exactly like this. And then, ignoring my agonizing screams and my torn flesh, he would force himself onto me in the mud.

He called that brutal violation a "Master's reward" for surviving the day.

"Don't touch me!" I screamed, violently shoving him away. I scrambled backward, falling off the bed and slamming into the corner of the room, dry heaving.

Joseph's hands hovered in the air. His face turned thunderous.

But eventually, he just sighed and tossed a towel at me.

"I know you need time. I won't force you tonight."

He turned on his heel and went to the guest room.

In the middle of the night, footsteps echoed in the hallway.

It was just a maid going to the bathroom. But to my broken brain, it sounded exactly like the island guards doing their nightly patrols.

I threw myself off the mattress, crawled into the deepest, darkest corner of the walk-in closet, and curled into a tight ball. I dug my ruined nails into the floorboards, too terrified to even breathe.

On the island, the only way to survive the night without being spotted by wild animals or the savages was to sleep pressed against the freezing stone walls.

Right before dawn, Joseph opened the bedroom door.

He stared at the empty bed. Then, he found me huddled like a beaten stray dog in his closet.

"Why are you sleeping on the floor?" he asked, frowning, reaching out to pick me up.

I flinched violently and clamped my hands over the back of my neck.

"Master, I wasn't being lazy. I'll get back to work right now."

Joseph's hand stopped. A complicated emotion flickered in his eyes, but he aggressively scooped me up and dumped me back onto the mattress.

"Scarlett, you are my wife now. You don't have to do manual labor anymore."

The next morning, his private doctor came to do a full checkup.

The blood tests confirmed it. I was two months pregnant.

Joseph looked stunned for a second, then his face lit up with absolute euphoria.

He crouched in front of my chair, gripping both my hands like they were a sacred treasure.

"Scarlett, this is incredible. A baby is exactly what we need to anchor you. From now on, we are going to be a perfect family."

I yanked my hands out of his grip. My voice shook. "I don't want it."

Joseph paused. His tone remained frighteningly patient.

"Don't be difficult. Your temper has gotten so much better lately. Having a baby will only help you settle down."

I stared at him, and the tears just spilled over.

"Joseph, that whole year. It was you. Every night you..."

I had survived on my own for two years in that jungle. In the third year, the fake tribe captured me and turned me into a slave.

I couldn't even finish the sentence.

He acted like he didn't understand the horror in my eyes. He just reached out and wiped my tears away.

"Scarlett, it's in the past. If you didn't go through that, you never would have realized how important having a home is."

"As long as you understand the value of family now, it was all worth it."

I stopped crying instantly.

So that was it. In his eyes, letting Valerie pull my nails out, raping me when my mind was shattered, training me like a literal farm animal... all of that was just "teaching me how to be a wife."