Chapter 1: The Two Hundredth Strike
My Husband Ordered Two Hundred Strikes—Then He Learned Who My Father Really Was
Chapter 1: The Two Hundredth Strike
Pain had a rhythm.
The first strike stole her breath.
The tenth stripped away her pride.
By the fiftieth, every movement sent fire racing across her back.
By the hundredth, Evelyn Carter Ashford realized something that hurt far more than the whip.
Nathan no longer saw her as his wife.
He saw her as an obstacle.
And obstacles, in Nathan Ashford's world, were meant to disappear.
The grand hall of Blackthorn Manor smelled of polished oak, expensive perfume, and blood.
The crystal chandelier hanging seventy feet above reflected countless shards of light across the marble floor, where Evelyn knelt in silence.
Her white silk dress had long since turned crimson.
Each breath felt like broken glass inside her lungs.
Yet she refused to scream.
Nathan hated that.
Standing several feet away, Nathan Ashford tightened his grip around the braided riding whip.
His tailored black suit remained immaculate despite the violence he had just unleashed.
Not a single drop of blood had touched him.
Celeste Monroe reclined on a white leather armchair beside the fireplace, lazily swirling champagne inside a crystal flute.
She looked more like a guest at an elegant gala than a woman watching another human being tortured.
"One hundred ninety-eight," she said with a playful smile.
"You skipped two."
Nathan laughed.
"I suppose perfection matters."
The whip sliced through the air.
Crack.
Evelyn's body trembled.
Another strike followed.
Crack.
Nathan lowered the whip with satisfaction.
"There."
"Two hundred."
"Maybe now you'll remember your place."
Silence settled across the enormous hall.
The household staff had vanished hours earlier.
Nathan had personally dismissed every servant.
The security system had been disabled.
The cameras had gone offline.
The gates were locked.
To anyone outside the estate...
Nothing unusual had happened.
Exactly as Nathan intended.
Evelyn slowly raised her head.
Blood trickled from the corner of her mouth.
"My phone."
Nathan smirked.
"You still think someone is coming?"
He crouched until they were face to face.
"The police?"
"I've already spoken to them."
"My lawyers will explain your emotional instability."
"My doctor will confirm your history of anxiety."
"My staff will testify that you attacked Celeste."
He shrugged casually.
"The world already knows you're unstable."
Celeste giggled.
"People always believe successful men."
"They rarely believe their wives."
Nathan reached into his pocket and tossed Evelyn's phone across the marble floor.
It slid until it stopped inches from her fingertips.
"There."
"Call whoever you like."
"I'd love to watch."
His confidence didn't surprise her.
It confirmed everything she had suspected during the past year.
Nathan genuinely believed he had become untouchable.
Power had made him careless.
Greed had made him blind.
With shaking fingers, Evelyn picked up the phone.
Her reflection stared back from the black screen.
A bruised face.
Split lips.
Blood-soaked hair.
She barely recognized herself.
Yet beneath the pain...
Her eyes remained calm.
She dialed a number she had memorized before she was old enough to read.
The call connected instantly.
"My little star."
The familiar voice almost broke her composure.
Her father.
Richard Carter.
To the world, Richard Carter was a retired accountant living quietly somewhere in Europe.
That was the story Nathan believed.
The truth had never appeared in any newspaper.
Richard Carter had built Carter International Holdings into one of the most influential private investment groups on earth before disappearing from public life twenty years earlier.
His companies owned ports.
Banks.
Satellite communications.
Private security firms.
Shipping routes spanning six continents.
His name almost never appeared in business magazines because he preferred something more valuable than publicity.
Influence.
"Dad."
Evelyn whispered.
"It happened."
There was no panic on the other end.
No questions.
Only silence.
Then Richard spoke quietly.
"Are you safe enough to talk?"
"Yes."
"Did he cross the line?"
Evelyn looked directly into Nathan's eyes.
"Exactly as you predicted."
A long pause followed.
Richard finally exhaled.
"I prayed I was wrong."
"So did I."
Nathan rolled his eyes.
"Finished?"
Evelyn ignored him.
"Dad..."
"I'm ready."
Another brief silence.
Then Richard answered with a calmness that chilled even Evelyn.
"Very well."
"The Ashford investigation begins now."
Nathan frowned.
"Ashford investigation?"
Celeste laughed.
"What investigation?"
Richard continued speaking through the phone.
"Code Black."
Those two words changed everything.
Far above Blackthorn Manor...
Three helicopters emerged from the darkness.
Their navigation lights cut through the midnight sky.
Seconds later...
Dozens of encrypted messages were transmitted across financial networks around the world.
Swiss banks froze accounts.
International regulators received sealed evidence packages.
Government investigators opened files that had remained classified for years.
Stock exchanges flagged suspicious trading activity connected to Ashford Global Logistics.
Within sixty seconds...
Nathan's empire had become the subject of simultaneous investigations in seven countries.
And he knew nothing about it.
Inside the mansion, Nathan laughed.
"You expect me to believe your father can destroy me with a phone call?"
Evelyn slowly stood.
Her legs trembled beneath her.
Not from fear.
From blood loss.
Nathan instinctively stepped back.
For the first time that evening...
He noticed something different.
She wasn't crying.
She wasn't begging.
She wasn't terrified.
She looked...
Relieved.
Celeste narrowed her eyes.
"What are you smiling about?"
Evelyn gently touched the sapphire pendant resting against her neck.
"You should have taken this."
Nathan frowned.
"The necklace?"
"It isn't jewelry."
He looked closer.
"What is it?"
The front doors suddenly burst open.
A team of men and women wearing black tactical uniforms entered the hall with disciplined precision.
No one pointed weapons.
No one shouted.
They simply secured every exit.
Each uniform displayed the same silver emblem.
A soaring falcon enclosed within a circle.
Nathan had never seen it before.
Celeste immediately stood.
"Who are you people?"
No one answered.
An elderly gentleman entered last.
His silver hair was perfectly combed.
His charcoal overcoat showed no sign of the rain outside.
He carried himself with the effortless authority of someone who had spent a lifetime giving orders that changed governments and markets alike.
Richard Carter.
Nathan frowned.
"You..."
Richard looked at his daughter first.
Only his daughter.
He carefully examined every wound across Evelyn's back.
Every bruise.
Every cut.
Every trace of blood.
His expression never changed.
That frightened everyone far more than anger would have.
He gently removed his own coat and wrapped it around Evelyn's shoulders.
"I'm sorry you had to endure this."
She shook her head.
"You told me the truth would reveal itself."
"It did."
Only then did Richard finally turn toward Nathan.
Nathan forced a confident smile.
"I don't know who you think you are..."
Richard interrupted quietly.
"My name is Richard Carter."
Nathan shrugged.
"So?"
One of the men beside Richard handed Nathan a tablet.
Its screen displayed financial markets from around the world.
Ashford Global's stock price had already fallen twelve percent.
Trading had been suspended.
Emergency notices filled the screen.
Government asset freezes.
Federal subpoenas.
International fraud investigations.
Nathan stared in disbelief.
"What..."
Richard answered calmly.
"That happened three minutes ago."
Nathan looked up.
"What did you do?"
Richard's voice remained perfectly even.
"I haven't done anything yet."
He looked around the magnificent mansion.
"The real question..."
His eyes settled on Nathan.
"...is whether you understand what you've done."
Outside, more helicopters circled above Blackthorn Manor.
Blue lights illuminated the long driveway.
Convoys of black vehicles rolled through the open gates.
For the first time in his life...
Nathan Ashford realized he was not the most powerful man in the room.
And the war he thought he had already won...
May you like
Had only just begun.
End of Chapter 1
