Rebirth: A Second chance at life-Chapter 71: All feisty

*****⚠️ Trigger Warning: The following content contains graphic depictions of violence, physical abuse, and intense scenes of confrontation. Reader discretion is strongly advised.*****

Meanwhile, Calvert lay there, groaning in pain, tied up and humiliated.

Outside, the guards stood still, completely unaware of what was happening inside the room.

Back inside, Aurora looked around the red-walled chamber. She found his phone. His camera. Everything. She took her time, collecting evidence, recordings.

Aurora walked back to the bed where Calvert lay tied, beaten and trembling. His breathing was shallow, and blood still dripped from the corner of his mouth.

The man who had been so full of himself minutes ago now looked like nothing more than a sorry mess.

She pulled a chair across the room with a quiet scrape, placed it in front of him, and sat down. Calm. Composed. In control.

Her fingers lazily ran over the leather belt resting on her lap, the same one that had turned his body black and blue.

Every time the leather shifted between her hands, Calvert’s eyes twitched, as if expecting another strike.

She lifted her gaze and met his. Her stare was sharp, almost cold, and it made his body tense without her even needing to say a word.

"Now, now," she said with a small smirk tugging at the corner of her lips.

"Let’s talk business, shall we? What kind of deal did Stephen Smith make with you? Was I part of it?"

Calvert chuckled weakly, trying to gather whatever courage he had left.

"If you wanted to know that, baby, there were easier ways to ask," he said, though his voice shook with fear.

"You didn’t need to get all feisty."

Aurora didn’t blink. She simply waited.

"He wanted me to invest five million in his cosmetics line," Calvert muttered, shrugging against the restraints.

"Promised me a share of the company. Talked about going international, making it big... all the usual bullshit.

He said you were nothing but trouble for the family. A stain on their name. So he offered you in exchange."

Aurora’s jaw clenched, but her face stayed expressionless.

She leaned back slightly in the chair, belt still resting between her fingers. "Hmm. Traded like a damn object," she muttered under her breath.

Then her voice changed. Calm again, but pointed.

"And Lily?"

Calvert froze.

His reaction was all the answer she needed. The slight widening of his eyes. The twitch in his lips. Aurora leaned in, her expression unreadable.

"I thought so," she whispered. "Now tell me what deal she made with you."

Calvert tried to look away, but he was tied to the bed. There was nowhere to run. "What does it matter?" he scoffed weakly.

"It’s not like any of this changes anything. You’re here. You’re mine now."

Aurora’s gaze didn’t change. She didn’t blink. She didn’t flinch.

Instead, she let the belt drop from her hand. The loud thud as it hit the ground made Calvert jump.

"You have one more chance to answer me properly," she said quietly. "Or I’ll ask again... in a language you’ll understand better."

"You’re going to tell me everything," she said, her voice low and steady. "Or we go back to round two."

Calvert shivered under her gaze. "At first I didn’t know her," he muttered. "Stephen failed his part of the deal.

He asked for more time to deliver you to me. But that bastard never contacted me again."

His eyes flicked around, panicked, as if trying to find an escape in the shadows.

"But the sharks contacted me instead... and delivered Lily."

Aurora raised an eyebrow, her face calm, controlled. Her stillness unsettled him more than any outburst could have.

"Someone put a bounty on her head," he added in a low voice.

Aurora smirked. That little reaction didn’t go unnoticed. Her calm expression shifted slightly—just enough to let him know she had figured something out. Something important.

Calvert’s breath hitched. Something clicked in his mind, and he stared at her as if seeing her for the first time. His eyes widened. "You... You—"

"Now don’t leave me hanging," Aurora interrupted, her tone casual but laced with danger. "What did Lily promise you?"

He forced a grin, thinking he could talk his way out. "If you wanted to know all this, why so feisty, baby? I would’ve told you..."

He leaned his head back, as if this was all just a game. "She wanted nothing more than to get rid of you.

Said you were in the way. She told me to mutilate you... and deflower you with a hundred different men. Then upload the video online."

Aurora didn’t blink. She simply tilted her head, voice still calm. "And?"

Calvert’s mouth clamped shut.

"I know there’s more," she added, voice colder now.

He didn’t respond. His jaw tensed. The wheels in his head were turning fast. What the hell is she? he thought. Where did this little devil come from?

His eyes darted to the far corner of the room, where a small red switch was hidden beneath a desk. If he could just reach it...

Aurora’s gaze followed his. A lazy smile stretched on her lips. "It seems you don’t want to open your mouth."

She stood, slow and deliberate, her heels clicking on the cold floor. She walked over to him like a lioness circling her prey.

Calvert shifted in place, panic starting to take root.

Aurora grabbed the leather belt she had coated earlier with sharp wooden splinters—one of the many toys Calvert had used on countless innocent girls.

She looked at it, then at him, then back again.

"You like pain, right?" she asked.

Then the whipping began.

It wasn’t just pain—it was punishment. Each lash tore into his skin, sharp splinters embedding and scraping as she pulled back.

His screams echoed through the walls, but there was no one to hear them. The room was designed with high-priced, soundproof walls—one of his many precautions for nights like this. He had dismissed his men, confident in his control. His pride had cost him his safety.

By the time she stopped, Calvert was barely conscious. Blood oozed from his back, his lips trembled, and sweat poured down his face.

Still, Aurora looked calm. Her breathing steady, her face expressionless. The chaos around her didn’t touch her.