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I laughed bitterly,curling up into a tight ball on the floor.
The scene was horrific.
Claire,shocked,stepped back,clinging to Nathan’s arm,her face pale.
“Nathan,is she mocking me?”she whimpered,tears welling.“Mocking that I can’t play,can’t perform?”
“What am I going to do?My career…ruined by her surgery…”
Her voice rose to a hysterical pitch.
Nathan soothed her,stroking her back.“Claire,don’t worry.I’ll find you the best doctors.We’ll fix your hand.”
“I’ll always be here for you.”
She calmed briefly,then pointed at me.“Nathan,I know about you and her…”
Her hysteria flared up again.
He cut her off.“Emma’s just a cheap plaything.Don’t waste your time thinking about her.”
“If she didn’t look a bit like you,I wouldn’t have kept her around for so long.”
“My heart’s has always been yours—then and now.”
Claire shot me a victor’s smile.
Pain spread through my body.
It hurt.
So much.
I could feel death creeping closer.
The man I loved destroyed my career,my future.
Now,he and his beloved stood there,watching my suffer.
The more I hurt,the brighter Claire’s smile became.
I remembered three years ago.
Nathan’s business rival attacked him.I saved his life.
He’d held me,sobbing,“Emma,you can’t die.I won’t let you.You’re mine forever.”
His tears fell on my face as I drifted in and out of consciousness.
A powerful man,crying for me.
I’d thought that dying for him would have been worth it.
Now,he chilled me to the bone.
My heart felt torn open,suffocating.
I’d believed that our years together meant something.
But every moment I thought he loved me,he was just seeing Claire in me.
I was nothing but a substitute.
His“forever”had been so fleeting.
Our five years crumbled the moment Claire came back.
My suffering wasn’t enough for her.
She had Nathan bring a full-length mirror,forcing me to see my wrecked state—bloodied,handless stumps.
Staring at the reflection,I wished I’d never loved Nathan.
Then I wouldn’t be this broken state.
As the hospital’s top surgeon,I’d never hold a scalpel again.
I couldn’t even be a doctor anymore.
But Nathan’s revenge didn’t stop there.
He had my wounds bandaged,then threw me into a seedy nightclub.
Without fingers,I couldn’t pour drinks.
There were too many complaints,so he gave me a worse job:cleaning the rooms.
Knowing that my hands were useless,he ordered his staff shove a rag in my mouth,forcing me to scrub floors with it.
He insisted that I do cleaning out in public,where everyone could see me.
I wasn’t just cleaning floors—I was wiping away my dignity.
I tried resisting,finding other ways to clean.
But I was no match for him.
Stone haven’s elite could crush me easily.
I couldn’t die yet.
I’d promised my parents that I would take care of my brother,Ethan,who’d been sick since he was a child.
His illness drove me to become a doctor.
After our parents died,their savings couldn’t cover his surgery—just enough to keep him alive.
Then I met Nathan.
He used Ethan’s life as leverage to force me into becoming his mistress.
At first,I hated the arrangement.
But seeing Ethan get better,I convinced myself it was all worth it.
Over time,Nathan’s false affection clouded my judgment.
I fell for him,despite our unequal positions.
Now,Ethan’s life was the only thing keeping me going.
I couldn’t let my parents down.
That night,as if to torment me,the manager sent me to clean Nathan’s private room.
The stench of vomit hit me at the door.
The room was filled with Nathan’s usual cronies.
When they saw me, they dropped their fake flattery and started barking orders at me like I was a stray dog.
“What are you standing there for?Clean it up!Do I to file a complaint to get you to do your job?”
I humbly put the rag in my mouth and got to work.
They jeered.
“What’s with that dead-eyed stare?You think you’re still Nathan’s girl?You’re just a cheap toy.”
“Acting high and mighty?Scrub the floor!”
“Look at her,using her mouth to wipe—so pathetic.”
“Not clean enough.it better.”
“She just licked her lips.Gross.Should we make her clean the toilets next?”
I finally cleaned up the vomit.
As I turned to leave,Claire blocked my way.
“Emma,come and have a drink with us.It’s my birthday.”
