Olivia bit her lip and nodded, “Yes... it’s the one I really liked. I brought it over to show Auntie.”

Brian was silent for a moment before letting out a low chuckle. “Then we must find it. If it’s lost, that would be a real pity.”

Olivia slowly smiled, her eyes shining as she looked at Brian. “Yes, it would be a real pity.”

Brian turned to Ashley. “Deny?”

By now, Melissa had caught her breath but kept her eyes tightly shut.

Her hand clung to Ashley’s fingers so tightly that it left deep red marks.

Ashley met Brian’s gaze.

Their eyes locked.

“what? you don’t want to apologize?”

“I didn’t steal it.” Ashley repeated.

Melissa, in her panic, squeezed harder, unaware that her sharp nails had already broken Ashley’s skin, piercing into her flesh.

Warm blood began to seep through their interlocked fingers, staining Melissa’s sleeve, though she seemed not to notice.

Brian looked at Ashley’s pale face and the blood slowly dripping from her hand, then curled his lips into a smile. “Butler.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Bring me my horsewhip.”

The butler hesitated.

Brian frowned at him. “what?”

The butler shivered. “Mr, you’re still injured...”

“Go get it.”

The butler had no choice but to obey.

Mrs Quinn frowned. “You wanna punish her yourself? You’re still hurt.”

“It’s fine,” Brian said, rolling his shoulders. “I’ve been lying around too long, and I need to stretch a bit.”

Mrs Quinn wanted to protest further, but Olivia gently took her arm. “Auntie, let Brian handle it. He knows what he’s doing.”

Mrs Quinn sighed. “You just indulge him too much.”

The butler returned with the whip, offering it with both hands.

Brian took it and looked at Ashley. “You still don’t wanna apologize?”

Ashley’s body trembled uncontrollably, her voice shaking with fear, but she still stood her ground. “I didn’t steal it.”

Brian swung the whip, its sharp crack echoing through the living room.

This was an heirloom from the Quinn Family, a horsewhip with fine barbs embedded in every groove.

A hard strike could tear a person’s skin right off.

Ashley’s body shook involuntarily.

She bit down hard on her lip, fearing that if she relaxed even slightly, her trembling would become audible.

Brian narrowed his eyes at her. “One last chance.”

Ashley looked up, staring directly into Brian’s eyes.

All this time, she had never assumed that Brian felt anything genuine for her.

She believed their relationship was one of transactions, obligations, exchanges, and shackles.

But true feelings were beyond anyone’s control.

The crush she had buried in her heart was a seed.

She thought it would never sprout in the darkness. Yet, to her surprise, in the past three years, Brian nourished it with his coldness...

It broke through the soil, it grew, and it longed to stand proudly before him.

In this moment, a sliver of hope emerged in her heart, wishing that Brian’s indifference was just a facade.

Perhaps in the next second, he would say, “I believe you.”

If he could say those three words, Ashley would be willing to believe that all his past actions and words were laced with love.

But she was disappointed.

Brian’s eyes was icy, with his smile bordering on madness.

Before Ashley could respond, Brian lashed out.

The whip cracked, and in the next instant, searing pain tore across her back.

“Ah—”

Ashley’s body jerked. And her legs gave way as she collapsed onto the floor.

Melissa flinched in shock, instinctively reaching out to help Ashley but then pulling back, even retreating a little.

Lying on the floor, Ashley felt she must be insane to still notice the triumphant expressions of others.

The pain was as if someone had peeled off a layer of her skin, and stabbing her deep into her soul.

Ashley’s mind drifted to Brian’s back wounds.

Was her back like that too?

Through these thoughts, Brian’s second strike came down.

“Ah—”

The prolonged and intense pain made Ashley shake like a leaf, even her breath was faint and weak.

Mrs Quinn’s lips curled upward, unable to suppress her glee, while Melissa looked on in terror.

Olivia, surprised for a moment, soon breathed a sigh of relief.

“Brian did not care about that bitch.” She thought.

It was as if, in that instant when Ashley was whipped, the unstable relationship between the Quinn Family and her was solidified.

Ashley’s face pressed against the ground.

She scanned everyone.

The Quinn Family seemed to be using her as a sacrificial offering, like, her suffering nourishing their collective joy.

Brian raised his hand for the third strike.

Finally, Melissa couldn’t sit still.

She threw herself over Ashley, “Ashley, apologize and give back the ring! You’ll die if you don’t!”

Her voice was sharp and shrill, almost a scream.

Ashley’s body was drenched in cold sweat.

But she kept her gaze locked on Brian, refusing to give in.

“I didn’t... steal.”

“You!” Melissa panicked, terrified that Ashley would die under Brian’s whip.

The butler, desperate to intervene but too scared to step forward, watched helplessly.

Brian smirked and brought the whip down a third time.

“Ah!!!!”

At this moment, Melissa instinctively rolled aside, leaving the strike to land squarely on Ashley.

Her shirt was shredded, and blood sprayed from the wound.

Where the whip had struck, pieces of flesh and blood flew through the air, splattering across the faces of those present.

Ashley’s vision darkened, and she was about to lose consciousness.

But before she could pass out, someone kicked her hard in the abdomen.

Ashley slid across the floor like a rag doll, crashing into a cabinet with a loud thud.

Brian stood over her. “Wanna apologize now?”

Every breath sent waves of excruciating pain through her back.

Ashley’s vision blurred with sweat, obscuring Brian’s face.

She tried to open her mouth, the taste of blood filling her nose. “I... didn’t...”

Before she could finish, her vision went black, and she lost consciousness.

The butler cried out, “Oh my god!”

He rushed to Mrs Quinn’s side. “Mrs, if we continue, she’ll really die!”