The Second Life of a Discarded Heiress

Chapter 384

As Monica rounded the corner, the sharp crack of a whip echoed down the hallway, each lash punctuated by muffled grunts of pain and the sickening sound of flesh splitting open.

In the Saunders family, her aunt's violent outbursts were nothing new. Monica had grown up with them-yet, no matter how many times she witnessed these scenes, the fear never truly left her.

She swallowed hard, forcing her legs to move forward, steeling herself.

"Aunt Hilda." Monica kept her head bowed, her voice barely above a whisper.

At twenty-six, she was long past childhood, but the icy fear she felt in front of her aunt was bone-deep-something she'd never shaken off.

Hilda Saunders looked every bit the queen of her empire. Reclining on a sleek black leather sofa, one leg crossed elegantly over the other, she exuded authority and effortless style. Her crimson lips curled around a slim cigarette, smoke drifting lazily in the air, messy waves of dark hair tumbling over her shoulders. No one would ever guess she was thirty-eight; her allure was striking, ageless, and impossible to ignore.

Monica had seen her aunt countless times, but still, every encounter left her a little awestruck.

eyes turned glacial, her tone edged with biting impatience. "Who told you to

forget what I told

an answer, she tightened her grip on the whip and swung it hard, the lash whistling through the air before it

searing through her nerves. She staggered to the floor, biting back a cry, but even then she managed a shaky apology. "I'm sorry, Aunt

only sneering, “Useless. Have you

man crumpled on the floor beside her. He was

dropped to her knees, pleading, "Aunt Hilda, please you

live,” Hilda replied coolly, not sparing her nephew

head at Monica's words. Through split lips,

cold laugh, but said

the warning signs-her aunt's silence was always more dangerous than her

had three sons-Mack, Levi, and Nigel—and one daughter, Hilda. Even as a child, Hilda outshone her brothers in intelligence, a prodigy destined for more. As she grew, her talent for business became impossible to ignore. Herschel and Inez adored their daughter,