Chapter 7
853words
I met the probing, dismissive gazes from the crowd with my back straight. After six months of training, I felt no fear. I would make them all know my name: Scarlett Norling.
After the party, my father told me Julius wanted to see me. Apparently, he had tried to escape the mine countless times, even grabbing his own mother to use as a human shield when he was about to be caught. She took a bullet for him and died. Now, my father was planning to send him to an even worse place on the border. But he was screaming to see me one last time.
I agreed. I was curious what else he could possibly have to say.
When they dragged Julius in, he looked even more of a wreck than he had in the video. He was dressed in rags, caked in grime and blood. The chains on his wrists clanked with every move.
When he saw me, his eyes lit up.
"Scarlett!" He tried to lunge at me but was held back by the guards. "Scarlett, please, I'm begging you, let me go—"
I sat in a chair, crossed my legs, and said nothing.
"I know I was wrong," he sobbed, kneeling on the floor, his face a mess of snot and tears. "I never should have done that to you. I was just... I was desperate..."
"Desperate?" I laughed. "When I was begging you for mercy, you didn't show a shred of it. So why should I forgive you?"
"I... I wasn't thinking straight," he said, banging his head on the floor. "But Scarlett, don't you remember? Our time in college? All the good memories?"
I raised an eyebrow.
"We watched the sunrise together," he cried. "We pulled all-nighters in the library. You would play your violin, and I would sit there and read. All of that was real, Scarlett."
"I admit, I had a motive when I first approached you," he said, looking up with pleading eyes. "But over those three years, I really fell in love with you. I swear, my feelings were real."
"So please, for the love we once had, spare my life." He reached out, trying to grab the hem of my dress. "I'll change, I swear I'll change—"
I stood up.
A guard handed me something—the two halves of the broken violin bow.
"You say you loved me." I took the bow and walked slowly towards him. "But you broke the only thing my mother left me."
I used the tip of the bow to lift his chin, forcing him to look at me.
"You say you loved me," I continued. "But you forced me to strip in front of other people."
The bow moved to his throat, pressing lightly. Julius's body trembled.
"You say you loved me," I leaned in, my face close to his. "But you just stood there and watched while that man dislocated my jaw."
"No... it wasn't like that..." he stammered.
"You didn't love me, Julius," I said, straightening up, my eyes like ice. "You loved my value. You loved a way out of your debt."
"And now," I smiled, "that tool is useless. Worse, it's become your judge."
I turned and walked toward the door. "Take him where he belongs."
"No!" Julius screamed. "Don't! Scarlett, please—we can start over—I swear I'll be good to you—"
I didn't turn back. "You're not worthy, Julius."
"You deserve to spend the rest of your life atoning for your sins in the filthiest, most miserable place on earth."
"That's worse than death, isn't it?" I glanced back at his face, twisted in despair. "But it's what you deserve."
"Take him away."
The guards moved in. Julius's screams faded as the heavy iron door slammed shut.
I walked out of the basement. Leopold was waiting for me at the top of the stairs.
"How do you feel?" he asked.
"Good," I said, taking off my sunglasses. "Better than I imagined."
"No guilt?"
"Not a shred." I looked at my father. "He never saw me as a person, only a commodity. I was simply returning the favor."
Leopold nodded, satisfied.
"There's a charity concert tonight," he said. "Are you going?"
"Of course," I said, taking his arm. "I'm a Juilliard student, after all."
That night, I stood on the stage at Lincoln Center. The audience was filled with the most powerful people in New York—politicians, CEOs, and several of our family's business partners.
I raised my violin.
This time, I played Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto in D Major. It was passionate, fiery, and full of power. The bow danced across the strings, notes erupting like flames.
I saw Leopold in the audience, his eyes filled with pride. I also saw the family members who had looked at me with doubt at the party. Now, their eyes held a new kind of awe—a mix of respect and fear.
Because I was no longer the princess who needed saving.
I was Scarlett Norling.
