My tears dripped onto his hand, and Gabriel paused for a moment. But the next moment, there was a sinister look in his eyes.
His grip on my throat tightened and I was almost about to faint.
In the last second, he let go of me, and I collapsed on the ground, gasping for breath.
Gabriel went back to fiddle with the brazier, his eyes dim. "Grace, what kind of person do you think am I?"
I tensed up all over and dared not say anything else, afraid of irritating him even more.
But it seemed like he had already read my mind.
"You have investigated me, so you should know something about me," he said slowly.
Thinking about what he had just said, I dismissed the idea of lying to him and swallowed hard. "Yes, you are the man living off my daughter. You must have taken a lot of money from her over the years."
"Is that all?"
I nodded with evasive eyes.
"Very well, just like Molly said, you make arbitrary judgments and do whatever it takes to achieve your goals. No wonder she hates you so much."
He shook his head, a mocking smile lifting the corners of his mouth. The flames in the brazier grew higher with his repeated movements.
Gabriel took a burning charcoal and walked slowly to me. He gently stroked my cheek and traced my lips with his finger. His tone was icy. "A selfish and deceitful woman like you doesn't need to look good. It's just a pity that you've got a good voice."
I trembled all over. "What are you going to do?"
He snorted and his eyes instantly became fierce. He grabbed my chin, forced my mouth open, and put the burning charcoal in my mouth!
My mouth started to bleed!
It hurt like hell!
The burning pain from my mouth spread down to my esophagus. Gabriel punched me again and again, causing my stomach to churn.
I curled up in pain and screamed, tortured to the point of biting my tongue off.
He slapped me hard, forcing me to remain conscious and look into his eyes. "You can't fool anyone anymore."
"Why are you treating me like this?" I gave a dry little cough, and blood spurted. My voice came out broken and hoarse. Tears kept rolling down, and everything in front of me was blurry.
Gabriel didn't respond and imprisoned me for six months.
I tried to escape countless times, but he caught me every time. I became a nervous wreck, covered in bruises.
Today, he opened the door and released me from the chains.