Lizzie reluctantly climbed into the carriage. It was better to be around for Daniel's sake. If he had to live with his monsterous father, she would be there to protect him. Jack kept a watchful eye on her the whole ride. She had just learned Jack had been kicked out of the university because his methods for surgery were too brutal and sickening. Lizzie gulped when she heard the news. The brute was going to be living with them for a while until he found a way to support himself and so he could act as her guard. She didn't like the way he was looking at her. It was animalistic and maybe even a bit murderous. He enjoyed her discomfort. All Lizzie could do was hold Daniel close and hope all goes well in the end.

Of course, Lizzie never had much luck when it came to Angus. He decided that even the small room she had originally taken up was too good for her and went with his very first threat of finding a darker, dirtier place for her to live. The basement was dark and damp and the only source of light was through a tiny window that had rusted shut ages ago and was so covered by plants that only at a certain time when the sun angled through the foliage just right, she got a sliver of light for about ten minutes. She could no longer cry for herself. She had no more tears to shed. Mice and various bugs would run about her day and night.

Angus tested her endurance. He would have her go for long periods of time without food or drink. Just when she thought she would join her parents in the family vault, she would be fed and his cruel game would start all over again. Sometimes, she would be so weak and hungry and dehydrated that she would see things. The Cheshire Cat mocked her with his grin. Her parents berated her for marrying their murderer. Alice screamed at her for not saving her. And the centaur would tease her by allowing the smells of a steak dinner to reach her prison when she was given nothing. She hardly had the energy to lift her head from the damp stone floor.

Lizzie didn't know how long she was locked in the basement. It might have been a month? Two? She lost track of time between her hallucinations. Little by little, she went shorter periods of time with nothing to eat. Good thing, too, or she would have resorted to trying to catch and eat the vermin in her filthy prison. One day, Angus appeared before her. He carefully picked her frail body off the floor and carried her to their bedroom. He set her down on the bed and began to undress her. She made no move to stop him as she was stripped and cleaned with a soapy, damp cloth. After her sponge bath, she was changed into her clean nightdress. A bowl of soup laid nearby and Angus fed it to her.

"Elizabeth," he said. "Did you learn your lesson? To never try and leave me again?" Lizzie nodded. "Good. It hurt me to do that to you, but you had to learn who was in charge. Besides, you have nowhere to go out there. One week on your own and you'll be selling your backside for change. Yes, it's best to stay here with me, where you can be taken care of." Lizzie didn't react to his speech. She just laid there and allowed the warm soup to fill her belly.

After her long and painful punishment, life went back to normal. Well, almost. There was a strange feeling in the Bumby home. Angus never spoke about her attempted escape, though Lizzie knew he still thought about it. She could see it in his eyes whenever he looked at her. Lizzie hardly spoke at all and chose to spend all her time fussing over Daniel. He was a healthy bouncy baby and was already walking on his own. Blonde curls stuck up from his head and his green eyes smiled up at his mother. He banged two blocks together before getting bored and wandering the room.

Daniel was her last hope for happiness. Angus was a lost cause and sometime during her punishment, Alice had entered a comatose state and didn't react to anyone, not even to light or sound. It seemed the Liddell family had absolutely no luck. No - it wasn't luck. Everything bad that has happened was all because of one man. No, he's hardly a man. He's a monster. A demon who destroyed everyone he ever came in contact with. She just hoped Daniel would be untouched by his destructive habits.

"Lizzie, my love?" Angus said. He'd been in an unusually good mood lately. She hadn't seen him this way in a long time. Lizzie lifted her eyes from the form of their sleeping child to acknowledge her husband. "Come to the bedroom." Lizzie gave Daniel one last kiss before following Angus to their room. She was hardly through the door before their clothes were removed. When Angus got her on the bed, he smiled and said, "Let's try for a girl?"

Something was wrong. Angus couldn't tell what it was. Oh, yes. Lizzie. It was all Lizzie. She wasn't responding. She allowed him to remove her clothes, she allowed him to enter her, but she wasn't responding properly. A sigh, a kiss, a scream... anything was better than her silent stillness. He tried his best to make it pleasurable for his wife, but the little whore wouldn't respond. She just sat there like a broken doll with dead eyes. She was broken. The long stay in the basement broke her spirit. Now, she was no longer his Lizzie. His little tease was gone and replaced with this dead doll. If she was going to be that way... fine. Let her join her parents.

Lizzie scratched at Angus' arms and anything she could reach. He held a pillow firmly over her face. She couldn't breathe. She felt like her lungs were going to shrivel if she didn't get some air soon. Why was he doing this? One second, he was making love to her, and the next he was suffocating her. Her thoughts went to Daniel. Would he be safe or would he receive the same fate as his mother? Everything began to get dark and her head felt heavy. Her movements slowed and... she was gone.

Angus felt Lizzie's life slip away beneath him. Serves the bitch right! He would get someone else to take care of their child. Lizzie will be forgotten to all but him. Goodbye, Lizzie. You got what you deserved.