Chapter 3The Island Trial To Train An Obedient Wife

Joseph drove me to the Montgomery estate.

He said since we were having a baby, my parents needed to know.

I hadn't seen them in three years.

I used to think that even if the whole world sided with Joseph, my own mother and father would protect me.

When they saw me walk through the door, neither of them hugged me.

My mother's eyes dropped straight to my stomach. She frowned in disgust.

"Pregnant before the wedding? Do you have any idea how bad this makes our family look?"

Joseph stepped in smoothly. "Mrs. Montgomery, Scarlett's situation is unique. This child is—"

"I was asking her," my mother snapped, cutting him off. She glared at me. "Three years fighting for your life, and instead of learning some grace, you come back knocked up? Haven't you humiliated the Montgomery name enough?"

My throat tightened. "Mom. It wasn't like that. I was forced—"

"Enough!" my father roared, slamming his hand on the mahogany coffee table. "Joseph already filled us in on everything."

"Do you even remember how you used to act?"

"Arrogant, selfish, flipping out over nothing. You refused to listen to anyone. Threatening to break off the engagement every time Joseph tried to guide you. You were a walking PR nightmare. What man would put up with that?"

"But look at you now. You swallowed some bitter pills, and you finally know how to bow your head."

I stared at the floor. All I ever wanted was to avoid an arranged marriage and build my own tech company before settling down.

My mother chimed in. Her voice was quieter, but the words cut infinitely deeper.

"Look at you now. You're so quiet. So polite."

"If you had just acted like this from the start, none of this drama would have happened."

I stood frozen, my fingers going numb.

"But Mom. They weren't saving me on that island."

"Valerie used pliers to rip my fingernails out. When I tried to run, they broke my leg. And at night. At night Joseph would hold me down and..."

I choked on my own words. Thick, hot tears streamed down my face.

My mother just rolled her eyes.

"Stop it. Talking about things like that in front of us is incredibly vulgar. And even if something did happen, that is private business between an engaged couple."

"Besides, if you really fought back, who could actually force you to do anything?"

My father scoffed. "Exactly. The truth is, you just never respected the institution of marriage. Now that Joseph has finally put a leash on you, you're throwing a tantrum."

Those words scrambled my brain like a blender.

Flashbacks of the island hit me like physical blows.

Valerie pressing red-hot wire against my calf, forcing me to swallow chunks of bloody, raw meat.

And Joseph, sitting just a few feet away in a throne made of animal skins, watching with dead, cold eyes.

As long as I refused to spread my legs and beg for him, Valerie's torture never stopped. Every time I screamed, Joseph would just sigh and say, "She still hasn't learned."

To stay alive, I had to crawl through the mud to his boots and beg him for mercy.

And now, my own flesh and blood were asking me why I didn't just fight back.

I looked at the people who raised me, completely incapable of forming a single word.

My mother stepped closer. Her tone shifted into something sickeningly comforting.

"Listen to your mother."

"The most important thing for a woman is to secure a good marriage."

"Joseph spent a massive fortune and so much energy to fix your personality. That proves he truly loves you."

"With the way you used to behave, he is the only man on earth who would still want you."

"Now that you're pregnant, stop playing the victim. Marry him, keep your mouth shut, and be a respectable society wife. Stop embarrassing us."

They knew.

They knew everything.

But they didn't care about the barbaric, inhuman torture I endured. They only cared that the wild stallion had finally been broken into a docile, breeding mare.

Joseph walked over and wrapped a protective arm around my shaking shoulders.

"Scarlett, they just want what's best for you. Look, we have a baby on the way. It's time to settle down."

That night, in my childhood bedroom, I started bleeding heavily.

The doctor said the emotional trauma was causing a threatened miscarriage.

Joseph sat by the bed, his eyes bloodshot from stress.

"Scarlett, don't be scared. The baby will make it. Just please, for my sake and the baby's, stop fighting me. Just behave. Please?"

I lay flat on the mattress and slowly turned my head to face the blank wall.

In that exact second, the very last shred of hope I had for humanity evaporated into thin air.