The night grew deeper, stars glinting faintly in the vast, dark sky.
While the island was wrapped in sweet, romantic stillness, things were spiraling into a living hell for Isabella.
When she slowly came to, her vision was still blurry.
But the moment her eyes focused, horror seized her—a group of leering, sleazy-looking men stood around her, grinning with vile intent.
They all had their phones out, recording her, their disgusting laughter filling the space like a warped, looping nightmare.
Then a sharp, invasive pain from below snapped her back to reality.
She finally registered a greasy, heavyset man on top of her, moving like an animal—crude, violating.
They treated her like meat.
She was so revolted she couldn’t hold back anymore and started gagging.“Urgh—cough—”
The man in charge was instantly pissed.
His hand cracked hard across her face.
“You slut, acting all pure now?
Brothers, let’s teach her some manners!”
And with that, more closed in.
That slap was like a bucket of ice water.
Her foggy brain jolted into focus.
She glanced around and realized—they were on a ship.
Her heart plummeted.
No… It couldn’t be.
That notorious ship headed for the capital?
Was she really being sold off to some seedy brothel like a piece of cargo?
No—absolutely not!
She thrashed with every ounce of strength, tears streaming as she screamed,“Please, let me go!
I’m the employer’s daughter!
You took the wrong person!”
But the traffickers just sneered.
Yeah, right—who’d believe the boss would sell his own daughter unless he was broke or hated her guts?
The employer had even told them to“treat”this girl before they left—code for do whatever you want.
They were just following orders… and cashing in.
One of them chuckled, voice dripping with mockery,“You think we’re idiots?”
“Even if you are the boss’s daughter, it’s too late.
You’re on this ship now.
Be a good girl and play along.
Who knows—maybe we’ll even drop by your new ‘workplace’ to support your business later.”
The leader leaned in, catching one of her tears with his tongue like it was a delicacy.
His eyes shone with a twisted thrill.
She trembled, panic eating her alive as she shrank back.
Tears wouldn’t stop; shame and terror twisted together.
“I swear I’m telling the truth!
Please!
I’ll pay you—double, no, triple—whatever you want once I’m back in City Q!”
But her begging drowned in their sickening laughter.
Isabella bit down hard on her lip to keep from screaming, her nails clawing desperately at the wooden deck.
She scraped till her nails broke, till blood smeared the floor… but even that physical pain was nothing compared to the humiliation.
She—Isabella Knight, second daughter of the Knight family, hailed as City Q’s top beauty, a medical genius, spoiled since childhood—since when had she ever suffered like this?
It was all because of that idiot Summer!
No—maybe she wasn’t an idiot at all.
Maybe she’d been playing dumb from the very beginning.
At that thought, Isabella’s eyes burned blood-red with rage.
“Summer Knight!!!
I swear I’ll kill you!”
If—no,when—she got out of this and made it back to City Q, she’d make Summer pay for every second of this.
She’d turn her life into a living hell.
Only when Summer was completely broken—used, discarded, trampled by everyone—would Isabella’s hatred finally be satisfied.
Suddenly—
BANG!
A gunshot ripped through the chaos.
The man on top of her froze, then dropped like a stone—blood gushing from a hole right between his eyes.
Some of it splattered onto Isabella’s face, even into her eyes.
“Ah!”
Her eyes stung with fear, and she screamed.
The man convulsed once before collapsing fully onto her, his body still faintly warm.
Just like that—he was dead.
Blood from the wound smeared across her face, making her already red-rimmed eyes look even more terrifying.
The rest of the men on the ship panicked.
Screams broke out.
They tried to run, but before they got far, a group of masked figures in black stormed down from the deck and quickly subdued them.
The leader of the group casually blew across the barrel of his still-smoking gun.
He walked calmly over to Isabella, who sat frozen in shock.
He looked down at her, his gaze cold and detached, as if she were just another corpse on the floor.
Then he spoke, his voice rough and dry, like wind scraping over dead wood.
“Our boss can send you back to City Q—and silence everyone on this ship so your little secret stays buried.
But you’ll owe us.
A deal.”
Island.
Barron Family Villa.
Summer Knight was asleep, but her mind was far from rest.
She tumbled into a chaotic, fractured dreams cape.
First, flashes of her mother dying right before her eyes.
Then Charles Knight, a blood-streaked knife in hand, his face twisted with rage.
The images shifted rapidly. You are reading on g.com, the official source.
What came next was worse—memories from her past life.
She watched her past self, foolish and naive, being manipulated by James Carter.
She’d handed Alexander Barron a glass of wine—poisoned on James’s orders—smiling innocently all the while.
“Big brother, this is for you.
Cheers!”
Alexander gave her a gentle smile—but there was a flicker in his eyes.
He knew something was wrong.
Still, he took the glass without hesitation.
In that moment, dream-Summer panicked.
Tears streamed down her face as she tried to scream, tried to snatch the glass from his hands.
“Alexander, don’t!
Don’t drink it!”
But her fingers passed right through him.
She was a ghost in her own memory, powerless to intervene.
He drank.
Not long after, he was coughing up blood, collapsing to the floor before he could even speak.
She had killed him.
It was her fault.
And yet… even as he lay dying, he smiled and spoke with his last shred of kindness:
“Nina, let’s play hide and seek.
When I close my eyes and count, you run, okay?
Go so far I’ll never find you again.”
And she did exactly that.
Ran off with James Carter without a second thought.
Now, in the dream, present-Summer screamed, begging to go back, to stop her past self.
But the old Summer didn’t look back.
She just ran, like a child in a game—completely unaware she was abandoning the one person who loved her most.
All because she misunderstood that final goodbye.
In this life, with all her memories returned, watching Alexander die again—this time fully aware—shattered her.
In the dream, she lay beside him, her lips red and trembling, leaning across lifetimes to kiss his cold, lifeless mouth.
Her cry was raw, tearing from somewhere deep within.
“Alexander… you don’t understand—I’m not your Nina!”
How could anyone be that foolish?
How could a man be willing to die for someone who only resembled the woman he loved?
Moments later, Summer jolted awake, gasping, her face drenched in tears, eyes puffy and red.
The dream clung to her—vivid, brutal, agonizingly real.
It felt like dying all over again.
“Alexander?
Alexander!”
Frantic, she turned to the side, needing to see him, to be sure he was real—still alive, still here.
But…
The spot beside her was empty.
He was gone.
Where did he go?