---- Chapter 6 | woke to the feeling of being utterly, completely exposed. The black bag was gone. My body screamed in agony with every shallow breath. | tried to move, but | was suspended, my arms pulled taut above my head, my wrists bound by rough rope. | was hanging from the balcony of our penthouse apartment. Below me, the city hummed with morning traffic. People on the street were pointing, their faces turned up towards me. | could hear their faint, curious voices. "Who is that?" "Isn't that Jackson Parks's wife?" "What did she do to deserve that? | heard she cheated on him." "No, | heard she tried to kill his new son..." The shame was a physical thing, a hot, searing wave that washed over me, even worse than the pain. | was a spectacle. A broken toy put on display for the world to see and judge. | closed my eyes, wishing for death, for the rope to break, for the fall to end this nightmare. | hung there all day and all night. The sun beat down on me, ---- then the cold night air chilled me to the bone. No one came. Jackson had left me there to rot. 1 | thought of the man who had once sworn to protect me from the world, the man who had held me and promised | would never be hurt again. That same man had ordered this. He had turned his back while his men beat me half to death and then strung me up like a piece of meat for public humiliation. The irony was a bitter poison in my throat. Sometime in the early morning, they cut me down. | fell to the balcony floor in a heap, my limbs numb and useless. | don't know how | made it back inside, how | dragged my broken body to my bedroom. The house was quiet. Too quiet. Then | saw them. In the living room, curled up on the sofa together, were Candida and Joey, watching a cartoon. They were a perfect picture of domestic bliss. The boy saw me and flinched, hiding his face in his mother's side. Jackson appeared in the doorway of the kitchen, a cup of coffee in his hand. He saw me, and his body went rigid. He moved to stand in front of Candida and Joey, a protective shield. He looked at my bruised and battered body, my torn clothes, and his eyes were cold and wary. ---- "You're back," he said, as if | had just returned from a pleasant stroll. | started to laugh. It began as a small, choked sound, but it grew until tears were streaming down my face, mixing with the dried blood on my cheeks. | was laughing at the absurdity of it all. The man who had ordered my torture was now "protecting" his real family from me. | didn't say a word. | just turned and walked into my room, closing the door on their perfect little world. He followed me. "Are you hurt?" he asked, his voice softening slightly as he saw the full extent of my injuries in the light of the bedroom. "What do you think, Jackson?" | asked, my voice raw. His eyes flickered. He couldn't meet my gaze. "| was at a conference in San Diego," he lied, his voice smooth. "I just got back this morning. | had no idea..." | didn't have the energy to call him on his pathetic lie. | didn't have the energy for anything. "Get out," | said. He sighed, a long-suffering sound. Then he left, closing the door softly behind him. A few moments later, | heard them laughing outside. A family, ---- happy together. + | was nothing. | was the dirt on his shoe, an inconvenience to be scraped off and forgotten. Tears fell, silent and hot, onto my pillow. | had nothing left. No love, no hope, no future. | must have fallen into an exhausted, pain-filled sleep. When | woke, it was dark. On my nightstand was a glass of water and two pills. A note beside it, in Jackson's familiar scrawl, read: For the pain. | didn't hesitate. | picked up the glass and swallowed the pills. A moment later, a fire erupted in my stomach. It was a pain beyond anything | had ever felt, a thousand times worse than the beating. | convulsed, a strangled cry escaping my lips. | fell from the bed, my body curling into a tight ball on the floor. | vomited, and the floor was stained with a dark, terrifying red. Blood The door flew open, and Jackson rushed in. His face was a mask of horror when he saw me on the floor, convulsing in my own blood. "Elena!" he screamed, his voice filled with a panic | hadn't heard in years. He scooped me up in his arms, his face ashen. "Doctor! Somebody get a doctor!" ---- The last thing | remembered before the blackness took me was the frantic look in his eyes, and a single, chilling thought: Too late. The doctor's diagnosis was stark. "Poison," he said, his face grim. "A very potent, fast-acting poison. If you had called me five minutes later, she would be dead." Jackson was white as a sheet. "Poison? How?" His voice was a roar. "Find out who did this! | want them found and | want them punished!" He summoned the entire household staff, his face a thunderous mask of fury. He interrogated each one, but no one confessed. Then he remembered the security cameras. He pulled up the footage on his tablet. We watched the screen, my heart pounding in my chest. We saw a small figure creep into my room while | was sleeping. It was Joey. He carefully placed the glass and the pills on my nightstand. The pills weren't for pain. They were poison. Title: A Princess? No! I'm the Female General! In "A Princess? No! I'm the Female General!" by CrushReel, Adela Taylor, a noble family's daughter, disguises herself as her brother to secure their Duke title by joining the army. Despite facing obstacles, she achieves remarkable success. However, upon her triumphant return, her brother betrays her, setting off a chain of events that will test her resolve and reveal hidden truths. This captivating novel delves into themes of secrets, reincarnation, revenge, murder, and drama. Adela's journey from deception to betrayal is filled with intrigue and suspense as she navigates through a world where power dynamics and family loyalties collide. What sets this story apart is its strong female lead who defies expectations and challenges societal norms in a quest for justice and redemption. Experience the riveting tale of Adela Taylor online at CrushReel and witness the transformation of a princess into a formidable female general.