My husband bru:tally b:eat me for three straight hours. I honestly thought I was going to die... But right in that moment, hovering on the thin line between life and death, I knew exactly who I had to contact: someone I hadn't wanted to see again for almost thirty years...

Maya stood up abruptly, her face flushed with anger. One of the maids behind her flinched, while the other kept her head bowed, staring rigidly at the concrete floor.

"You're dying, Victoria," Maya sneered, regaining her composure. "Your proud Vance family is dead and buried. Your company is bankrupt. Nobody is coming to save you."

The burner phone David had brought me was still hidden under the folded cloth beside my hand. I slowly slid my fingertips beneath the fabric, feeling the cool plastic surface without lifting my arm.

"If nobody is coming..." I murmured, my voice barely audible, "then why did you come down to this filthy basement, Maya?"

She hesitated, her confidence wavering for a split second.

"Julian sent you, didn't he?" I continued, locking my eyes onto hers. "He wanted to know whether I said anything before I lost consciousness. He wanted to know whether I asked David for something."

Maya’s gaze dropped instantly to the cloth bag resting beside my arm.

"Give me that!" she snapped, dropping all pretense of sweetness as she lunged forward to grab the bag.

With the last surge of adrenaline in my body, I snatched the small burner phone and curled my bruised fingers tightly around it. A white-hot flash of agony shot through my shattered ribs, but I squeezed my jaw shut and refused to let go.

"Hand it over, you crazy bitch!" Maya shrieked, reaching for my hands.

Suddenly, the phone vibrated once in my palm.

Maya froze in mid-air.

I lifted my hand slightly, looking down at the tiny green screen glowing in the dark basement. A single text message had just arrived from an unknown number:

THE JADE WAS ACCEPTED.