1
GRACE
It's the day of the auction.
I always knew that my mother was capable of cruelty, but I never imagined she would sink this low. I should have seen it coming, though. I was always her least favorite child.
The unwanted one.
The ugly one.
She's standing in front of a mirror, getting ready for the event.
"I gave you everything," she says, fastening a diamond necklace around her slender neck. "I put a roof over your head and protected you from the world. I gave you access to the finest private tutors. I paid for your piano lessons and personal trainers. And this is how you repay me?"
I don't say anything. I haven't spoken a word since she found me.
I don't let myself think about what's happening either. It's easier to exist in a state of sweet oblivion. It's easier to be numb to it all.
"You didn't just disobey me, Grace," she says, her beautiful eyes flashing with malice. "You betrayed me."
I pull my knees to my chest and stare at the chipped red nail polish on my toes.
The sight of it is bittersweet. It reminds me of how close I was to getting everything I wanted. I almost escaped the shackles of my past, but my mother hunted me down.
She found me.
And now, she's going to punish me for leaving.
"I carried you for nine months," she says. "Do you have any idea what that does to a woman's body? You were so big, even as a baby. You nearly killed me, Grace."
I feel a twinge of something deep inside me.
Despite everything, she's still my mother. Maybe I was wrong to run away when I knew she needed me.
But I can't let myself forget about the things I witnessed in the dungeons. I can't forget about the children she kept shackled there. I still see their faces in my nightmares.
My mother's cold eyes are fixed on me as she fastens her diamond studs.
"You left me to die," she says. "After everything I did for you, that was how you repaid me. You showed me how much compassion you had in your heart for me, and now, I'm going to do the same.”
I discreetly tug on the metal cuff enclosing my wrist. She chained me to the bedpost in case I tried to run again.
My mother turns around to look at me.
"Don't you have anything to say for yourself, Grace?” she says. "No words of remorse?"
I stare at her in quiet defiance.
She can do whatever she wants to me. It's not like I have much else to lose.
"Very well," she says. "I bet you'll have more to say when your sisters get here."
The blood drains from my face.
My sisters?
She relishes watching the terror spread across my face.
