With that, he threw me down hard. My chest slammed into the ground and a sharp pain shot through me. I felt like my ribs were about to snap.

"You outsider woman, where did you even learn our young leader's name? Calling him by name is a punishable offense. Do you understand?"

"Today, I’ll teach you the rules of the Hastings Tribe myself!"

The man pulled a leather belt from his waist and lashed it down on me again and again.

Pain wracked my body and I trembled uncontrollably. My chest, already aching from the fall earlier, felt as if it were being crushed, making it impossible to catch my breath. Weakness overtook me and I couldn’t even muster the strength to speak.

"Freddie, take it easy. Don’t beat her to death."

“Yes, we paid the matchmaker half a pound of gold in exchange."

Listening to their conversation, I immediately thought of my cousin's boyfriend.

When I got in the car, I heard him talking on the phone, telling the other party that he would definitely deliver the goods on time.

Thinking back now, the "goods" he mentioned must have been me.

I never expected my cousin to have such a boyfriend.

I had no idea what had happened to her now. Was she safe?