Chapter 163. Leave Us Alone

I stayed exactly where that bastard had left me, slumped in the rickety wooden chair, the iron cuff around my wrist chafing relentlessly against my skin. I tugged on it again and again, each time hearing a dull scrape as the cold metal ground against the coarse wood of the table. Minutes blurred into hours—time stretched indefinitely as I fought the impulse to surrender. I thought about leaning forward, resting my head on my arms, and simply waiting for whatever fate he had in store next. But some stubborn spark inside me bristled at that notion. I refused to passively accept living here, trapped in this wretched place. So I kept tugging at the cuff until it bit deep into my flesh, carving little grooves across my wrist and embedding itself into the wood’s grain. Pain slashed through me, searing and oppressive, but I drew in breath after breath and refused to stop.

Eventually, exhaustion and the absence of my captor’s return overcame my rage. The unforgiving chair pressed agai