She Burned His World and Chose Another Man

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Lindsay Donaldson and Benjamin Delgado were New York's most famous couple bound by nothing but hate.

On their third wedding anniversary, Benjamin sat with his wrists lashed together by his own tie, his eyes rimmed red, his voice wrecked to a rasp. Lindsay. What did you put in my water?

An aphrodisiac. Her red lips curved into a smug arc, one hand trailing down across his stomach. "So? Ready to beg?"

There was want churning in his eyes, but under it, undisguised disgust. "You're shameless."

She opened the camera on her phone and aimed it at him. "Is today the first day you've met me?"

He ground out the words through his teeth. "Don't think you can seduce me with a trick like this. I'd rather die than lay a finger on you."

Smiling, she tossed a contract onto the bed. "The North Side project. Let me run it. Otherwise this video shows up at tomorrow's shareholders' meeting."

The day after she secured the project, Benjamin drugged her and had her delivered to a hospital as a live training body.

A doctor and a cluster of interns crowded around her. A heat spread low in her belly and her mind began to swim, but she still managed to curse him. "Benjamin, you're filthy and low and shameless. Watch me ruin you one day."

He let his fine, handsome eyes flick over her, his tone flat, edged with a trace of contempt. "Then I'll be waiting."

She bit down hard on her lip, struggled up off the bed, and there in the crowd she saw a familiar face.

Benjamin had clearly seen it too. His whole body went rigid, and his voice came out urgent, lit with the joy of getting back something he'd lost. "Veronica Barnes?"

The woman in the white coat spoke. "Sir, you know my sister?"

She said she was Vivian Barnes, the twin sister of Benjamin's dead first love.

Under the drug, Lindsay's mind sank all the way into darkness.

She had a dream. It was as if she had gone back to childhood, to the days when she and Benjamin had grown up side by side.

She was the most doted-on youngest daughter of the Donaldson family, the brightest rose in all of New York, living loud and unbridled.

He was the cleverest son of the Delgado family, born into a top dynasty, yet he worked himself ragged, graduated first in the city, got into Columbia Law School, and took up his father's mantle to become a lawyer.

From the time they were small, they had treated each other as rivals, competing over grades, over resources, over who came out on top.

Somewhere in all of that, Lindsay had fallen for Benjamin, helplessly, beyond any way back.

They had been promised to each other for years. She had assumed marrying him was simply how things would go.

Until he stood in front of her and begged, in the most abject posture she'd ever seen from him. "Lindsay, I can't marry you. Please tell your family clearly. Call off our engagement."

In that moment her heart felt cut to pieces, yet she still spoke with her pride intact. "Oh? You've finally figured out you're not good enough for me?"

Benjamin lowered his eyes and said it one word at a time. "I've fallen in love with Veronica. I'm sorry."

"This is your choice? A woman who runs a flower shop. What can she give you?" Lindsay pressed down the pain surging up in her and turned mocking. "The truth is I never liked you at all, Benjamin. If you want out, then out. Just don't regret it later."

The calm she forced herself to hold was only there to prop up her crumbling pride.

Benjamin finally let out a breath, and quietly told her thank you.

But right after she'd raised the broken engagement with her family, Veronica suddenly drowned herself in the sea, leaving behind nothing but a note written in blood.

The note said it was Lindsay who had driven her to her death.

No matter how Lindsay explained, Benjamin simply would not believe her.

He came at her with a fury that made it look as though he wanted to kill her, and forced her to accept the marriage.

In the chapel, as they held each other, Benjamin laid the cruelest curse on her. "Lindsay, the two of us should torment each other to death. That's the only way to atone."

Lindsay jolted awake from the nightmare, a fine cold sweat sheeting her back.

She was in an empty hospital room, and just then her phone rang.

"Miss Donaldson, your brother's heart surgery began last night. The surgeon's improper handling caused a blood infection, and he died unexpectedly"

Lindsay could hardly take it in. "Weren't you told this surgery was very low risk? Who was the surgeon?"

The voice on the line said, "Vivian Barnes."

The dull ache at her heart turned into a sharp, stabbing pain, so fierce she couldn't breathe.

After their parents died, her brother had been the only family she had left.

She pulled out the IV needle and made her way, stumbling, to Vivian's office.

Through the gap in the door, she saw Benjamin holding Vivian in his arms, soothing her in a low voice. "Vivian, it was only an accident. I won't let anything happen to you."

"Lindsay killed your sister. Her brother dying at your hands is nothing but what she had coming. She deserves it."

Lindsay's nails dug deep into her palms, and she felt no pain at all, only a scalding numbness.

Vivian sobbed. "But I'm only an intern. I'm not qualified to perform surgery. What if she sues me?"

Benjamin's tone was uncommonly gentle. "Without my say-so, no one in New York would dare take her case."

A bang.

Lindsay shoved the door open and spoke without a single hesitation. "Benjamin. Let's get a divorce."

She knew Benjamin was telling the truth.

She had never wanted to send Veronica to prison. What kind of punishment was that?

She wanted Veronica to pay in blood for blood.

These three years of marriage, a cage in every sense, she'd had more than enough of them.

His cold gaze settled on her. "Really?"

"Who'd bother lying to you? Three seconds. Divorce or not."

Benjamin glanced at Veronica, and his eyes softened. "I'll have the divorce papers drawn up right away."

Along with the divorce papers, a release waiver was placed in front of her too.

"It was all an accident. Your brother was just unlucky"

Before he could finish, Lindsay signed her name, clean and unhesitating.

Benjamin looked surprised. "Why are you being so cooperative today?"

Bitterness rose in her throat. She gave a cold laugh. "Clearing the way for you and Veronica. Isn't that nice?"

His eyes went dark, fixed on hers, his voice like ice. "In thirty days, the agreement takes effect. I'd advise you not to get any ideas you shouldn't have. Otherwise I'll make you wish you were dead."

Wish she were dead?

Every single day of these three years, she had been torn between love and hate, scorched by it. She'd already tasted that wish from end to end.

In the morgue, when she saw her brother's body, Lindsay finally broke down and cried. Her hand was still shaking as she held his. "Don't worry. Your sister will avenge you."

She didn't leave the hospital until dawn broke, returning to the cage that had trapped her.

The moment she stepped inside, Veronica appeared in front of her, wearing the air of the lady of the house. "What are you doing here?"

Lindsay shoved her aside, her voice full of contempt. "The thirty days aren't up. I'm still the lady of this house. That's my question to ask you."

The next second, she walked straight into the flower room, picked up an axe, and carried it into the living room.

Veronica's face went white with fright. She pointed at her. "You what are you doing? I'm calling the police right now"

Lindsay let out a scornful laugh, didn't even bother to look at her, and swung the axe down into the television. "Go ahead and call."

Everything in this house, except what she could take with her, she would destroy rather than leave for Veronica.

"I've wanted to replace this couch for ages."

"The staircase needs redoing too."

"And I never liked the balcony."

Between Veronica's screaming and the thunderous crash of the axe coming down, the whole mansion was wrecked into ruin, not a single room left fit to live in.

Veronica shrieked, "Lindsay! Just wait until Benjamin gets back. He'll teach you a lesson!"

Lindsay hummed a tune, the corners of her mouth curving up, and smashed every piece of fine dinnerware in the cabinets onto the floor. "I'll be waiting."

When she was done venting, she gathered her things. Her phone suddenly buzzed. She lowered her eyes to look.

It was a text from Raymond Henson, Benjamin's sworn enemy: Heard you and Benjamin finally divorced? I always said he wasn't good enough for you. Want to try marrying me instead? I'll help you ruin him.

Before her marriage, Raymond had been one of her many suitors.

For the sake of that last line, and because Raymond was the lunatic everyone in their circle feared, Lindsay wrote back: Sure. Thirty days from now, see you outside the county clerk's office.

After sending it, she headed for the door, only to be blocked by Veronica.

A smug look surfaced in her eyes. "Lindsay, you act like nothing's wrong, but your heart really hurts, doesn't it?"

"I just mentioned it to Benjamin in passing, and he handed your brother over for me to practice on. Three years married to him, and he never once gave you a proper look, did he? How pathetic."

Lindsay set her suitcase down on the floor, raised her hand, grabbed a fistful of her hair, and slammed her head into the wall.

"Veronica, what exactly are you, that you get to pity me?"

"Until the day that divorce takes effect, you're nothing but a mistress!"

She had a fist in Vivian's hair, slamming her head into the wall, again and again.

"A murderer like you should pay with her life!"

Blood ran down Vivian's forehead as she thrashed. "You dare do this to me? Aren't you afraid Benjamin will find out?"

Lindsay let go all at once and watched her crumple to the floor with cold eyes.

A force hit her from behind. Benjamin.

He threw Lindsay down hard, disgust written all over his face. "You killed Veronica, and now you want her sister dead too?"

"Lindsay, and here I thought you'd changed. I should have known you'd still make me sick."

He pulled Vivian tight against him, his voice urgent. "Vivian, are you all right?"

A dull pain spread through Lindsay's lower back, but she still laughed, brazen. "She killed my brother. So what if I hit her a few times?"

"You feel that sorry for her?"

Vivian clung to Benjamin's arm, shaking all over. "Benjamin, she smashed everything in the house, and she said I had to pay with my life for her brother..."

"This house is filthy now that she's lived in it." His thin lips parted, and what came out was cruel. "Her brother died by your hand. That's what they call getting what you deserve. You don't have to be afraid of her."

Above the center of the living room, the crystal chandelier began to swing hard.

Lindsay tried to get up, but her body wouldn't obey.

The next second, with a deafening crash, the chandelier broke loose and came down on her.

The pain tore from her spine through every inch of her, as if a thousand needles were driving into her flesh, until she couldn't breathe.

She lay sprawled on the floor, the last of her strength drained away, and all she could see was Benjamin holding Vivian, his eyes as tender as if he held some rare and precious thing.

When he looked at her, his gaze turned to ice, an ugly smile at the corner of his mouth. "Serves you right."

Vivian asked him, "Are you really just going to leave her? What if something actually happens to her?"

Benjamin's voice was cold. "Better if she dies."

Only after he carried Vivian out did Lindsay, with what was left of her, dial for an ambulance before she lost consciousness completely.

When Lindsay surfaced from the dark, she was already in a hospital.

What she hadn't expected was Vivian, standing there in her room.

There was a smile on her lips, and the smugness on her face she couldn't hide. "Lindsay, did you hear it just now? Benjamin said it'd be better if you died."

"I knew it. He's always loved me most. Back then I left a note written in blood, just to see exactly how much he loved me. I never imagined he'd torture you for three whole years for my sake. What a thrill."

"So I've decided to end his test and go back to him."

Lindsay's heart was pounding so hard it felt like it would leap out of her chest. She forced the words out in disbelief. "There never was any twin sister. You're Veronica!"

"You staged all of it. Why?"

Back then, she had already told her father to call off the engagement.

If Vivian hadn't faked her death, she could have married Benjamin without trouble.

And Lindsay would never have had to suffer through those three years.

Vivian let out a snort of laughter. "To test whether his heart was really mine, of course. I'm not as pretty as you, and my family's nothing special. Who's to say he wouldn't fall for you over time?"

For one test, she had made Lindsay and Benjamin tear each other apart for three years.

Lindsay had always paid back every wrong. She rose, closed her hand around Vivian's throat, and walked her toward the window.

"Tell Benjamin the truth, or I'll throw you out right now!"

She would not be condemned for nothing!

Half of Vivian's body hung out the window, and terror set her shaking from head to toe, yet she couldn't get out a single word.

Benjamin walked in to exactly this scene. His pupils shrank, and his voice was thick with terror. "If Vivian dies, you'll pay with your life!"

Lindsay's grip tightened by degrees. She smiled as she spoke. "Her life is in my hands. You shouldn't be threatening me right now. You should be on your knees, begging me."

Benjamin didn't hesitate for a moment. He actually knelt, his eyes full of nothing but fear for Vivian. "Fine. I'm begging you. Just let Vivian go, and you can have my life..."

Lindsay had never imagined that Benjamin, always so cold and proud, would truly kneel for a woman.

A vicious irony washed through her, and she laughed until she could barely catch her breath. "Benjamin, you really are pathetic."

The words were barely out when Vivian, seizing the moment Lindsay loosened her grip, shoved her away hard.

On instinct Lindsay snatched up the scissors beside her and drove them into Vivian's belly. She turned her head toward Benjamin. "This is what they call getting what you deserve."

The next second Benjamin came at her in a fury and drove his foot into Lindsay's chest.

He held the wounded Vivian against him and screamed himself hoarse. "Doctor!"

"Vivian, you're going to be fine..."

A coppery sweetness rose in Lindsay's throat. She spat out a mouthful of blood and gave a cold laugh. "Benjamin, she isn't the little sister of your dead first love. She is Veronica Barnes. The suicide back then was a sham, staged by her to test how real your feelings were"

That sham had cost her three whole years.

Right now all she wanted was to tear off Vivian's mask and clear her own name.

A knife had gone into Vivian's belly. Her face had drained white. "Benjamin, she just threatened me. She said if I didn't tell you this, she'd throw me off the fifth floor. She comes from money, she has power, I can't fight someone like her..."

"Is this how she drove my sister to her death too? I'm so scared..."

The doctor rushed in and started working on Vivian's wound.

Benjamin's face was frost. He picked the bloodied scissors up off the floor and signaled the others to leave.

He walked toward Lindsay, one step at a time, closed a hand around her throat, his voice low and dark. "To clean up your own reputation, there really isn't anything you won't do, is there."

"Veronica already died at your hands, and you still slander her. Now you want to kill her own sister too. Lindsay, why are you this vicious?"

He stared at her, eyes heavy, and then, for no reason, he smileda smile with a cold that cut to the bone. "Don't tell me it's because you're in love with me. Jealous enough to lose your mind?"

Lindsay's face flushed dark red. She clawed at the back of his hand, leaving bloody streaks, and forced out every word with the last of her strength. "I'd sooner love a stray dog off the street than ever love you!"

"Good. So would I."

Benjamin said it slowly, and the hand pinning her throat eased open.

Lindsay had barely drawn a breath when pain bloomed through her belly. She looked down, disbelieving.

Benjamin had driven the scissors into her abdomen with terrible force.

The pain swallowed every word she still meant to say.

"This one is what you owe Vivian."

He yanked the blade out and stabbed it hard into her chest. "And this one is what you owe Veronica."

He truly meant to take her life.

The violent pain wracked her whole body, yet she couldn't even cry out.

He dropped her on the floor like a broken rag doll. The blood was leaving her fast, her mind washing blank, and all she could manage was, "Benjamin..."

He didn't bother to spare her even a glance. His voice carried a cold that reached the bone. "You'd better die right here. Otherwise what's waiting for you is endless torment..."

With that, he turned and left without looking back.

Lindsay only felt cold, her whole body as if soaked in ice water.

She had never imagined she would truly die at the hands of the man she had loved for twelve years.

Her eyes lost their focus, her hands fell limp...

Maybe death was the only ending left for her.

When Lindsay woke out of the darkness, she found she hadn't died.

But she soon found she'd been locked up.

The nurses' chatter drifted to her ears. "Mr. Delgado says Miss Donaldson has a severe delusional disorder, that we need to increase her treatment..."

"A perfectly normal personhow does she just go mad like that? And she nearly killed Vivian. If Mr. Delgado hadn't been there, Miss Barnes really would have died at her hands."

"Vivian's a lucky one, though. Mr. Delgado fell for her at first sight. She gets hurt and he watches over her three days and three nights without sleeping..."

Lindsay got up, pounded on the door, and shouted, "I'm not crazy! Let me out!"

The doctor came quickly, restraint straps in his hands, his face calm. "Miss Donaldson, whether you're really mad or only pretending makes no difference to me. What matters is that Mr. Delgado gave an order: you're not to have it easy..."

"Either you behave, admit you slandered Miss Barnes, and apologize to her, or you take all of this."

So it was Benjamin after all.

She wasn't dead simply because Benjamin still didn't think she'd suffered enough.

A mocking smile touched the corner of Lindsay's mouth. "Tell Benjamin that Vivian is a liar, and he's a fool!"

"Even if I die right here, I will never apologize to her!"

She picked up a ballpoint pen and pressed it to her own throat, a look of release in her eyes.

The doctor let out a sigh. "Mr. Delgado warned us well in advance. To keep you from killing yourself, Miss Donaldson, nothing sharp is allowed in this room. That ballpoint pen has no refill in it. Even if you managed to puncture an artery, the worst that happens is you end up a vegetable."

"Is that what you want, Miss Donaldson? To be a vegetable?"

Lindsay went blank for a moment, then tossed the pen into the trash and turned to look at the sealed window. She gave a soft laugh. "He won't let me die, and he won't let me out. So if I never admit to it, what then? He keeps me locked in here for the rest of my life?"

The doctor called in two nurses. "Day one of treatment. Electroshock."

Lindsay's wrists and ankles were strapped down tight, and the electrodes were fixed to her temples.

When the doctor flipped the switch, the current tore through her whole body. The pain made her shake all over, like iron nails being driven into her marrow.

In front of her eyes she saw the face of Benjamin as a boy, the evening light on his face as he lifted his head and said, proud, "Lindsay Donaldson, you're my rival for life."

Because of that one line, she had spent twelve years matching herself against him.

"Second round..."

Her face was bloodless, fine cold sweat beading at her brow. The searing pain ran through her veins like molten rock, every inch of her skin melting away with no escape.

This time Benjamin seemed to be standing in the center of a great hall, in a black formal suit, his face as heavy as a man at a funeral.

He said, "Lindsay Donaldson, between you and me there is only hatred, never love. Not until one of us is dead."

"Third round..."

The cold sweat slid down her forehead, her vision went black, and she sank fully into unconsciousness.

When she woke, the doctor's voice was flat. "Miss Donaldson, are you ready to apologize to Miss Barnes?"

Lindsay didn't even bother to open her eyes.

What waited for her was bucket after bucket of ice water.

The third time, she was locked in the pitch-black isolation room for seven days and seven nights.

On her fifteenth day in the psychiatric ward, Benjamin and Vivian finally appeared in front of her.

Benjamin looked at how thin and worn down the torture had left her, and something strange flickered deep in his eyes.

Vivian peeled an apple as she leaned in and murmured at Lindsay's ear. "Lindsay Donaldson, you really are a tough nut to crack. Keep refusing, and who knows. Maybe your brother's body turns up in a dump. Maybe the strays eat it."

She said it lightly, her eyes full of delight.

Lindsay's fists clenched, her voice so hoarse it was barely audible. "Miss Barnes, before, I smeared you on purpose. It was my fault."

Benjamin said nothing. He only watched her, his gaze dark and heavy.

This time, the doctor finally let her go.

The first thing Lindsay did after her release was bury her brother.

In the funeral home, his body was pale and cold, the old warmth gone from it for good.

She remembered before the surgery, how he had held her hand, his eyes full of hope for the life ahead. "Sis, once my operation's done, I'll get to be with you longer, right?"

She had smiled and pinched his cheek. "Right. I'll take you to see the ocean, chase the northern lights, do all the things you never could before."

She had never once imagined that a single surgery would put her and her brother in two different worlds.

Lindsay chose the plot for him herself, a place by the sea, under a lush green tree.

Before they lowered him in, she kissed his forehead one last time, tears sliding down her cheeks. "There's the ocean here. You'd like it..."

A sudden burst of fierce barking broke the quiet, and she turned on instinct.

Vivian stood there in a red dress, a tall hunting dog on a leash, humming happily to herself. "Three days with no food. Time to eat. Go on!"

At her command, the blood ran backward in Lindsay's veins. She lunged to shove the coffin shut on instinct, but she was too late.

The dog had already leapt into the coffin, its drool about to drip onto her brother's face.

Her eyes split with rage. She seized the collar around its neck and screamed, out of control, "Somebody! Help me!"

The cemetery staff who had been helping with the burial were already pinned down by the men Vivian had brought.

Vivian walked slowly up to her, smug. "That's the finest hunting dog I could find. Let go, unless you want to die..."

The collar cut bloody lines into Lindsay's palms, and the pull dragged her hard into the coffin.

In the space of a breath, the dog sank its teeth into her brother's arm.

She heard Vivian's grating laughter and the frantic pounding of her own heart. On instinct she yanked the hairpin from her hair and drove it into the dog.

The pain made it let go. It turned and fixed its eyes on her, a furious, unwilling snarl rising in its throat.

In a flash it lunged at her.

She drove the pin into its artery with brutal precision, once, twice, three times.

Even after it died with a whimper, she did not stop.

When Lindsay climbed up off the ground, her face was streaked with crimson blood, and she walked toward Vivian one step at a time.

Vivian clapped a hand over her mouth, the picture of grief and outrage. "Miss Donaldson, how could you be so cruel, killing my pet?"

She thought that with the bodyguards there, Lindsay wouldn't dare touch her.

Lindsay stopped and spoke to the bodyguards beside her. "You all just saw it. She wanted to destroy my brother's body. I always pay back what's owed to me, so I'm going to settle it with her. If you don't want me remembering you, you'd better act like you saw nothing. Otherwise..."

Maybe it was how monstrous she looked just then, maybe it was the words that frightened them, but the bodyguards truly did not move.

Vivian had no time to run before Lindsay grabbed her. Lindsay raised the sharp pin and drove it hard into her arm, a deranged smile spilling from her lips. "You can't get away."

Vivian screamed like a madwoman, real terror in her eyes. "You've lost your mind!"

Lindsay's smile only deepened. She gripped Vivian's face tight and dragged the pin across it, opening a deep bloody line. "Yes. I've lost my mind."

Her eyes were full of murder. She raised the pin and stabbed down, hard, straight at Vivian's heart.

She felt the pin sink into Veronica's body, and at last a relieved smile crossed her face.

Veronica clutched at Lindsay's hand, still screaming, "Benjamin, save me! Benjamin"

Lindsay slapped her without hesitation, hard enough to knock her head sideways. "No one's saving you!"

White-faced, Veronica turned to the bodyguards. "If I die, Benjamin will never let you live!"

The two men exchanged a glance, then finally moved in and dragged Lindsay aside.

That was when Benjamin arrived with his men. His eyes landed on Veronica, battered and bleeding, and rage caught fire in them. He drove a kick into Lindsay's stomach. "You never learn!"

He scooped Veronica up, saw the swollen red mark on her cheek, the deep gash, the bleeding hole at her chest, and lost control, shouting, "Get Veronica to the hospital, find the best doctor! Save hersave her face too!"

The pain tore through Lindsay's stomach. She crawled to her brother's coffin and gripped his hand. "I won't let anything happen to you again"

Benjamin's voice shook with fury. "Veronica caused your brother's death by accident, and she's been so guilt-ridden she can't even sleep. She came all this way to attend his funeral, and you tried to kill her!"

"Lindsay Donaldson, how can you be this vicious!"

"Ha! Haha! " Lindsay braced herself against the coffin and pushed to her feet, laughing until her whole body trembled. "So you're saying she's too guilty to sleep, and that's why she sent dogs to destroy my brother's body?"

"Benjamin Delgado, do you even hear yourself? There's only hatred between you and mebut my brother? He truly thought of you as family!"

"You promised him you'd arrange the best doctors for his surgery. And what did you actually do?"

Benjamin glanced at the body in the coffin. Something wavered in his eyes, then went cold again just as fast. "The dead don't come back. Whatever happened, you had no right to hurt Veronica like this!"

"Since you care about your brother's body more than your own life, then I'll just have to destroy it! Let you feel a little of what I feel!"

A bad feeling gripped Lindsay. She moved to shield her brother, but a bodyguard pinned her flat against the ground.

Benjamin waved a hand, his voice ice. "Drain the gasoline from the car."

He took the gas can, poured it over the coffin, and gave the order to the bodyguards without a flicker. "Light it."

"No!"

The scream ripped out of Lindsay's chest. The ache there felt close to splitting open, every nerve in her body howling.

The fire was savage. It swallowed her brother in seconds.

She shut her eyes, unwilling to look, as if she were the one standing inside that blaze, the flames all but burning her heart to nothing.

Benjamin lifted her face and forced her to watch. "Look closely. This is the price of hurting Veronica!"

Lindsay watched her brother become a handful of ash, and forgot even to cry.

The next instant, a sweet, bloody taste rose in her throat. She heaved up a mouthful of blood and slid into unconsciousness.

When she woke from the nightmare, she was inside an iron cage.

A black cloth draped over it. Veronica's voice came through. "You all understand Benjamin's instructions, don't you."

A man's voice answered. "Don't worry. I promise we'll make her die ugly."

Lindsay felt no surprise at all.

How long passed, she didn't know. Then the cloth was pulled away, and under a violent burst of flashing lights she couldn't even open her eyes.

She heard only the roar of the crowd around her, and the host's voice. "Welcome, everyone, to the arena!"

"Tonight we have just one piece of prey, and three hounds! Place your betswho do you think will win?"

Lindsay opened her eyes. She was inside a maze, cameras everywhere, and they told her exactly what this was: a bloody livestream, her life nothing but a chip on the table.

She had no weapon. Her hands were even cuffed.

Benjamin didn't only want her dead. He wanted her to die in shame.

"Place your bets. The game begins!"

At the host's command, the cage in front of her swung slowly open.

Lindsay staggered out, and from somewhere not far off came the barking of dogs.

Run.

She didn't want to die yet.

She bolted forward on instinct.

A maze had to have an exit.

She'd gone only a short way when a mastiff appeared ahead of her, its eyes lit with menace.

Run, or

There was no time to think. The mastiff lunged. She threw up her arms to block it, and the sharp teeth caught the chain between her cuffs, grinding out an ugly screech.

She spun fast, slipped behind the dog, and hauled the chain tight.

The mastiff held on for a few minutes before its jaws finally loosened, and she seized the moment to wrench the chain hard around its throat.

Her brother's death. Veronica's lies. The fact that she was still alive.

"I am not dying here!"

As the mastiff dropped, the host marveled, "First time I've ever seen prey this fierce! Thrilling!"

The second hound came soon after, and she dug out its eye with one hand.

The third went down too.

Just as she let herself believe there was hope, a tranquilizer dart struck her body.

In the haze she heard, "This maze has no exit at all. We haven't had prey this good in a long time. She'll earn us plentydon't let her die so easily."

When she came to again, they'd put her in a small partitioned room, the wounds the hounds had torn into her wrapped in gauze and aching dully.

She grabbed the chair beside her and smashed it against the sealed window.

The men keeping watch outside heard the noise and rushed in to check, and when they found her gone: "Find her, fast! If she's not back, the boss will have our heads!"

Lindsay, hidden under the bed, waited until they'd left, then slipped out of the room with care.

On willpower alone she walked from dark until dawn, and when she passed the seaside cemetery, she stopped.

The cemetery caretaker saw her and placed the urn into her arms. "Miss Donaldson, what's happened to you"

She shook her head and said softly, "Thank you."

At first light she reached the Delgado mansion, drew the gasoline from her own car, and soaked the grass all around.

With shaking hands she struck a match, and the instant it hit the ground, the flames shot up.

She raised her middle finger. "Burn."

Benjamin, Veronicaboth of them could go straight to hell.

With the last of the gasoline in her car, she drove to the county clerk's office.

When Raymond Henson arrived, he saw Lindsay barefoot, her feet caked in mud, blood seeping through the gauze on her body, a ruin of herself.

He crouched down, wiped the mud from her feet with his own sleeve, careful about it, then lifted his face and asked, "Miss Donaldson, I never imagined you loved me this much. To come to me even in a state like this..."

The last of Lindsay's strength gave out, and she fell into his arms. In the haze, she heard him say, "Then I'll give you the whole Delgado family as your wedding gift."