Chapter 191

• Anastasia's hand cracked across Charlotte's face with vicious force, the slap echoing off the warehouse's grimy walls like a gunshot. Charlotte's head snapped sideways, her lip splitting open—a sharp bloom of blood trickling from the corner, warm and metallic on her tongue. She was bound tight to a rusted metal chair, wrists chafed raw by coarse ropes that bit into her skin, her body aching from the abduction's rough handling.
• Anastasia loomed before her, elegant even in the dim filth, a smirk curling her lips like a predator savoring the kill. Charlotte met her gaze, eyes blazing through the pain, unyielding.
• "This is for the slap you gave me," Anastasia hissed, venom dripping from every word. "Now you'll pay for every insult." Her hand reared back and struck again—harder, a stinging fire that rattled Charlotte's teeth and freshened the blood flow.