Eleanor Croft is exiled by her husband, Carolyn Lambert, to a remote island after displeasing his first love. There, she survives three years of brutality—treated as a slave, beaten, humiliated, and assaulted at will by those ordered to “teach her a lesson.” When Carolyn finally arrives to retrieve her, Eleanor is no longer the hopeful wife who once loved him, but a traumatized shell terrified of angering him. Back home, she faces new torment: Serena, Carolyn’s beloved, flaunts her place at his side, while Eleanor is treated like an unwelcome intruder in her own house. Terrified of being sent back to the island, she endures every insult in silence—until her failing health reveals just how deeply the past three years have destroyed her. Now, Eleanor must fight to reclaim her voice… or be erased entirely.

Chapter 1

Because I upset my husband's first love, he sent me a thousand miles away to an isolated island to reflect.

It was called a deserted island only because it was cut off from the world.

The people on this isolated island weren't human; they were animals.

All because my husband had ordered them to "teach me a lesson."

So from the first day I set foot on the island, I became the lowest of the island slaves, beaten and cursed during the day, humiliated at night.

The cook, annoyed by my slowness, could whip me whenever she pleased.

The hostesses, finding me too reserved, could strip me naked and throw me before the visiting guests for their amusement.

Even the janitor, the man with the lowest status, could enter my room at will in the middle of the night and assault me as he pleased.

Until today, when a guard watching over the island burst into my room. I numbly began to undress, but he suddenly shouted.

"Mr. Lambert is here to pick you up!

You can leave!"

I froze. Afte