Chapter 2

I recognized the background in the livestream. It was the photo I'd asked the doctor to take when I'd sold my blood. When Damien had seen that photo, he'd cried so hard he could barely breathe. He told me he would treat me right for the rest of his life—that he would never let me down. But in the livestream replay, Damien watched the footage of me selling my blood on the black market, and his face was filled with nothing but disgust. The truth crushed my chest so much that I could barely breathe. So, all those "good" moments we'd had were never real. They were just lies, staged one after another. I tried to steady myself, but my fingers still shook. I held my trembling hand with the other and tapped the replay anyway. On the split screen, one side showed me on the black market, gritting my teeth through the pain as I sold my blood. On the other side, Damien sat in the livestream with beautiful women in his arms, casually talking with the friends he'd supposedly turned against and picking apart my every move. That replay had climbed to the top of the trending list on the website. Other prank replays only had a few hundred or a few thousand likes. Every face in the video belonged to someone from the elite circle. They were all young heirs and socialites from wealthy families. "This is insane. Damien said he didn't feel well, and Edith actually went and sold her blood to pay for his treatment." "On the 16th prank, she fell into the ocean. On the 25th, she was hit by a car while trying to save him. How is she still alive?" "Damien vowed that if she lasts till the end, he'd marry her and never touch another woman!" "There's only one month left. Either Damien kills her, or he marries her." "I'm betting 50 million dollars she'll die horribly! This is going to be fun to watch!" "Damien, hurry up and finish her off. Don't tell me you actually want to marry her." "Yeah. She's so stupid. What would she even do in the Rook family? Be a maid?" "Isn't she already a maid?" "I would marry her. She's smart. She's not stupid at all," Damien flatly said, his brows drawing together. I stared at him through the screen. His face looked cold and distant. It was nothing like the warm, clingy man I'd lived with. "Damn, Damien! What did Edith feed you? Some kind of love potion?" Damien didn't answer. Julian let out a cold laugh. Then, he leaned back and folded his arms, as arrogant as ever. "What are you all even thinking? I know my brother better than anyone. He only likes Celeste. Everyone else is just a passing fling to him. "If it weren't because the crystal heels Celeste wanted could only be obtained through pranking, do you really think Damien would spend five years living with some nobody from the sticks?" Suddenly, the screen went black. My phone had died. I lowered my head and sobbed so hard that I couldn't catch my breath. With every tear, whatever love I had left for Damien drained out of me. So, that was it. All of this was over a pair of crystal heels. Damien had played me for five years like I was some kind of joke. Just then, a cough from inside the hospital room snapped me out of it. "Edie, I'm thirsty."