Against Cruelty, She Grew Strong (by Anastasia Glover) novel Chapter 1

Chapter 1 Discharged from the Hospital

“Mr. Jackson, you’re coming to pick her up now? Okay, okay, we’ll wait for you at the entrance!”

After hanging up, the doctor’s fawning expression vanished, replaced by a vicious glare.

“You’d better keep your mouth shut and know exactly what to say and what not to say. Otherwise, I’ve got plenty of ways to send you right back in.”

Tatiana Steele’s face turned pale. She shook her head hard. “No, I won’t say anything!”

Her speech was slurred because a piece of her tongue was missing, and the doctor figured she didn’t have the guts to tell the truth anyway.

Soon, a black Cullinan slowly pulled up.

The window slid down, revealing a strikingly handsome face deep–set features, perfect brows and eyes, but frozen under a layer of icy frost.

“Get in.”

Hearing the familiar voice, she stayed where she was, slowly lifting her head to meet those dark, unfathomable eyes.

The name “Jasper” rose to her lips but she forced it back down. “Mr… Mr. Jackson.”

Legally he was her husband, but all she could manage was a stranger’s title.

“Don’t make me say it twice.”

His voice was cold, laced with impatience.

Four years had passed, and his presence was even more overwhelming, his beauty sharper – and all the more terrifying.

Once, she had chased him for ten long years, shamelessly clinging to him, becoming the laughingstock of all Dalliston.

Now she feared him more than anything, desperate to avoid him.

She lowered her head and limped toward the black car, her left foot clearly damaged.

Jasper Jackson’s eyes flickered with disdain. “Tatiana, still using this trick? Sympathy only works so many times. Looks like the place didn’t break your bad habits after all, you-

The next second, she trembled violently, her pupils contracting as her knees buckled. She

collapsed to the ground.

I can’t go back! I’ll die if I go back!

18 Pears

Her left foot had been broken years ago when she tried to escape a caretaker had caught her and snapped it. It had never healed properly.

In these four years, she had learned her lesson. She would never again fight Bianca Lowell for anything. She would never again claim the title of Mrs. Jackson.

She would give everything back.

“I’m, sorry, I, know I was wrong, please, don’t send me back in!”

“You…”

The words on Jasper’s lips stalled. When had the once–arrogant, domineering Tatiana ever admitted she was wrong?

She had always acted like no one else mattered, doing every bad thing she could, forcing her way into his bed, coercing him into marriage.

And now she was apologizing.

But if you do bad things, you have to admit them and take the consequences.

“Sending you there really did teach you a lesson. Get in the car.”

Tatiana stayed motionless, staring at the vehicle like it was some monstrous beast.

Years ago, she’d been shoved into a car just like this, taken straight to Somerton Reformatory.

Cold sweat broke out across her back. Her teeth chattered as she squeezed out, “Can, I, not, go?”

“I’m not asking. Get in.”

At last she climbed in, curling herself into the corner of the seat, barely letting her body touch the leather.

Jasper frowned. Before he could speak, she was already trembling, apologizing over and over.

sorry, I’m sorry, I dirtied your car, I’ll, clean it, clean it off.”

“I’m son

She dropped to her knees, scrubbing the leather seat with her sleeve even though there wasn’t a single mark.

“It’ll be, clean soon, not dirty, I’m, not dirty…”

The wounds on her fingers split open again, blood dripping onto the leather.

She seemed crazed, scrubbing harder. “I’ll, clean it, don’t hit me, don’t hit…”

Jasper realized something was wrong. He ordered the driver to stop, got out, and yanked her out of the car.

“What the hell are you doing! Are you crazy? You-”

He broke off mid–sentence when he looked down at the hand he had grabbed.

All five fingers were covered in tiny cuts, calloused and swollen at the joints. There wasn’t a single fingernail left, just bare, cracked fingertips oozing blood.

Hard to imagine these had once been a violinist’s hands.

The once–spoiled Tatiana had been an exceptional player. The media had called those hands a gift from God.

He frowned. “What happened to you?”

She yanked her hand back, trembling violently, her face ghost–white. “I, I’m sick, my nails, rotted, fell off.”

Jasper pressed his lips together, a strange feeling flickering in his chest.

But remembering what she’d done, his heart hardened again.

“You’d better behave. Self–harm won’t work on me.”

He still believed this was one of Tatiana’s tricks, unworthy of sympathy.

Soon the car rolled into the Lowell family’s hillside villa.

Even before they entered, laughter drifted out from inside.

“Come on, Mom and Dad, don’t tease me. Jasper and I aren’t like that.”

“Bianca’s blushing. Love can’t be forced, you know.”

“Right, Bianca, don’t worry. When Jasper comes back, we’ll have him divorce her.”

Tatiana’s face was numb, empty of any feeling.

Her heart had already been shattered beyond repair.

Chapter 1 Discharged from the Hospital

So this was why they’d gone out of their way to fetch her for the divorce.

In the living room, everyone turned at the sound of their arrival.

The Lowell couple sat on either side, doting on the delicate–looking girl between them.

+8 Pearls

They had once been her parents. For twenty years she had called them Mom and Dad. routine medical checkup revealed she wasn’t their biological child.

–

VERIFYCAPTCHA_LABELVerify