Night. Operating room.

A harsh white light poured down on Serena Caldwell’s young face, so bright it stabbed at her eyes until she could barely keep them open.

She could feel herself lying on a freezing metal bed. The anesthetic in her body was brutal, pinning her down so completely she couldn’t move a single inch. But her mind wasn’t foggy at all. If anything, it was terrifyingly clear, sharp like a blade freshly honed.

A crushing sense of helplessness flooded her whole body. "I’d rather die..." Serena stared at everything in front of her, panic and despair written all over her face. Right now, she almost wished she had blacked out completely. Anything would have been better than being forced to expose every last bit of herself under those blinding lights.

Under the sterile glare, her flawless skin, stunning face, and the fear born from her utter helplessness stood in cruel contrast to the icy operating table and the surgical instruments nearby, each one glinting with a cold metallic sheen.

"Don’t..."

The face that suddenly forced its way into Serena’s line of sight made tears spill from her eyes on the spot.

The man carried a chill around him that felt downright suffocating, like some dark king ruling the night, cold and untouchable.

The light only caught half his face, but even that was enough to show how unfairly favored he was. His features were sharp, carved clean like stone, his thin lips tight with indifference. Then he parted them and said in a flat, icy voice, "Spread them."

It was an order. No room for argument. Zero negotiation.

Serena clamped her legs together as hard as she could, her knees pressed tight, her tiny face covered in pleading. She begged him over and over, voice trembling, "Please... don’t. Don’t do this to me..."

The man clearly ran out of patience. With one hard movement of his hands, all of Serena’s resistance crumbled in an instant. The view between her legs was laid bare before him without the slightest cover.

He stared there without even blinking, his gaze never shifting, and said coldly, "Check her."

Zachary Fletcher, dressed in surgical scrubs at the side, hesitated for a second. "Ethan, are you seriously doing this?"

The man turned and shot him a dark, bone-chilling look. Just one glance was enough to make a person go cold all over.

Zachary looked at the girl on the table with a trace of pity. She looked so young, so delicate, her cheeks still carrying that last bit of innocence. But after seeing the absolute ruthlessness in Ethan Whitmore’s face, she stopped struggling. She only bit down on her lip again and again, so hard she drew blood.

"Ah—"

Her inexperienced body was forced open. Something cold entered her. Serena’s face flushed deep red, and every cell in her body seemed to revolt against the anesthetic.

She didn’t want this.

She refused to be humiliated by him like this.

Why? Why did he get to humiliate her like this?

If she’d had any choice at all, two months ago she would never have gone anywhere near this man. A man cold as hell, ruthless like some human-shaped demon.

"Ethan Whitmore! I hate you!" Serena Caldwell bit the words out through clenched teeth, her eyes red with fury.

At that, the man only flicked her a flat, emotionless glance. Then he turned to Zachary Fletcher standing beside him. "The result?"

Zachary answered in an even, professional tone, the kind a doctor used when stating plain facts. "She’s a virgin. No doubt about it."

For a split second, something violent seemed to surge through Ethan’s eyes, like a storm about to break. But when his gaze settled back on the girl, all that remained was cruelty. Pure and sharp.

His large hand slid up the inside of Serena’s thigh, slow and deliberate, all the way to the most private place between her legs. Then he spoke, each word cold enough to freeze blood.

"You’d better stay obedient. If what I want, Ethan Whitmore’s thing, has been touched by someone else..." He paused, voice low and brutal. "I’ll make them wish they were dead."

A tear slipped from the corner of Serena’s eye, cold against her skin.

She wanted to break free, wanted to shove him away, scratch his face, scream at him, but the anesthesia still pinned her down like invisible chains. Her little face was pale as paper, and in her watery eyes hatred spread like a flood.

"Now..." Her voice shook so badly it barely sounded like her own. "Are you satisfied?"

He should be, right?

Now he had proof. Proof that she was untouched. Proof that no one else had ever had her. So he would stop, wouldn’t he? He wouldn’t hurt her family anymore. He wouldn’t keep tightening his grip around their collapsing company. He wouldn’t keep pushing the Caldwells toward ruin.

Satisfied?

Yeah. In a way, Ethan was.

The girl in front of him still had that trace of innocence on her, that softness that said she hadn’t fully stepped into the adult world yet. But over these past two months, she had gotten under his skin more than he cared to admit.

At the very least, she was the first woman who made him want to possess her the second he looked at her.

His hand never stopped moving. It slid from Serena’s flat stomach upward, over the curve of her body, feeling every soft line, every trembling reaction. Then at last his fingers clamped around her small, delicate chin.

Not held.

Clamped.

The next second, his kiss crashed down on her lips like a storm.

Serena could only take it, helpless under the sheer violence of him. He devoured her bit by bit, biting and tearing at her soft lips as if even a kiss had to become punishment in his hands.

"Mmh... it hurts! Ethan Whitmore, ah..."

The broken words never made it out. He swallowed every sound she tried to force free.

Something strange and terrifying spread through her body. Serena felt like she was burning alive from the inside out. His big hand kept roaming over her, touching wherever he wanted, kneading her soft breast hard enough to twist it out of shape.

Pain.

Pain everywhere.

Ethan didn’t spare a single inch of her body. Even though he’d had her drugged, the pain still made her whole body twitch and shudder uncontrollably.

At that moment, she really wanted to beg.

Really, really wanted to.

"Ethan... Whitmore, let me go! I was wrong, please... wuwu..."

Then she felt a scorching heat pressing against her lower body.

In an instant, boundless fear swallowed her whole.

Serena’s small body trembled nonstop beneath him, shaking so hard it looked like she might fall apart.

No...

She didn’t want this.

Outside the operating room, Zachary leaned against the door with a helpless look on his face. His long legs were crossed in an easy, almost lazy stance, but the hand rubbing his forehead gave him away completely.

"Man..." he muttered under his breath, worried sick. "With Serena Caldwell’s tiny frame, can she even survive that giant beast in there? Seriously... the commotion’s no joke."

Even through the thick operating room door, he could still hear Serena’s sobs and cries.