Seven days before the wedding, I was standing outside a private room when I heard my fiancé laughing.
“The fire that burned her foster mom to death, maimed her foster dad, and blinded her? I set it.”
“The guy who’s been sleeping with her every night these past two years? Not me. It’s my dumb little brother-in-law.”
“And at the wedding, seven days from now, I’ll replace the bride with the woman I truly love, right when she least expects it.”
Everyone inside praised him for being so “devoted,” saying he had endured two years of torment just to punish me, the real heiress, and make way for his beloved childhood friend.
I froze outside the door, my body going cold, my ears ringing, my vision spinning.
I had been loving the bastard who destroyed my life, thinking he was my savior, and he had been toying with me for two fucking years?!
Alexis Berstein even took the dances I’d poured my blood and sweat into over the past two years and handed them to his stupid childhood friend, trying to let her step onto the stage I’d built and become an international ballet principal!
With a hollow heart, I dialed my phone.
“I’m getting the eye surgery myself,” I said. “Seven days from now, I’ll step onto the stage at the Paris Opera as Butterfly, the choreographer everyone knows, with my new masterpiece!”
1
Darcey’s POV
After the proposal, I went to Alexis to talk about the wedding, but I heard a burst of laughter from inside the room.
“That dumbass actually thinks you’re going to marry her? Bro, what the hell did you do to punish her these past two years? Spill it.”
I heard Alexis’s familiar voice, nonchalant and mocking.
“First, I set a fire that burned her foster mom to death, maimed her foster dad, and blinded her.”
“Then, at night, I drugged her and sent my dumb little brother-in-law to sleep with her.”
“Finally, at the wedding in seven days, I’ll tell her in front of everyone that the bride isn’t her. It’s Yasmine.”
“These three punishments make up for her stealing Yasmine’s place in the Georgsens’ and the deputy principal spot at the ballet company.”
Every word hammered into my ears like a red-hot iron.
“Fuck, bro, you’re insane!” someone joked. “But that blind girl’s hot, so it’s not like you’re losing out. Why let your brother-in-law enjoy her?”
I heard disgust in Alexis’s voice. “I hate filth. Yasmine’s a neat freak. I want her pure.”
At that moment, I felt like all the blood in my body froze.
I could only hold tightly onto the cold wall, so I wouldn’t collapse on the spot.
It turned out that the fire two years ago, the one that ruined my life, was his crime.
Every dance I bled over, every painstaking creation over two years, he had handed to Yasmine.
The man who held me at night, kissed me, and slept with me? It wasn’t him at all!
He had courted me, cared for me, proposed to me, pretending to love me deeply and without regrets? From the very start, he did all that just to fucking avenge Yasmine and pave the way for her!
People in the room kept talking.
“But hey, bro, you’re seriously ruthless. You suffered being around that blind disgusting girl for two years for Yasmine. Damn, you were even willing to take care of her disfigured foster father. You almost had us fooled. I thought you really loved her.”
Alexis laughed like it was a joke.
“Love her? She’s not even worthy. Yasmine and I grew up together. Darcey can never compare to my girl.”
Someone in the room dragged out the words.
“What if, at the wedding in seven days, Darcey finds out the bride’s been replaced by Yasmine? She’s gonna lose her mind. After all, she’s the real heiress.”
Alexis’s voice was cold and cruel.
“A blind, useless daughter or the daughter who’s about to become the principal of an international ballet company? The Georgsens won’t even think twice about who to choose between the two.”
“As for Darcey, if she won’t let go, I’ll just take her back to my parents’ place. My little brother-in-law seems to like her anyway.”
He turned to the corner, mocking. “What do you think, bro? Is that blind girl sexy enough for you? Want me to give her to you?”
A voice answered, very much like Alexis’s, except it was thicker and duller.
“Sure, sure.”
My body shook violently when I heard that.
I could not mishear that voice.
That was the guy that had been pressed against me every night, breathing into my ear!
I couldn’t hold it together anymore. I ran blindly and stumbled for the door.
The world blurred around me, two years of treatment yielding almost nothing.
I barreled out of the bar, tripping hard over the steps and landing face-first in the alley.
Rain soaked me instantly as memories surged into my mind.
Five years ago, I’d been brought back to the Georgsens by my biological parents, who refused to let Yasmine leave.
I didn’t care back then; I still had foster parents who loved me anyway.
Two years ago, my talent earned me the deputy principal spot at the ballet company, and I was destined to become principal.
But on the day of the finals, the backstage suddenly caught fire.
My foster parents were waiting backstage for my performance to end. They were closest to the fire; they got trapped.
My foster mother burned to death on the spot; my foster father survived but was grotesquely burned.
And I was blinded by shattered stage lights.
For a dancer, losing your sight is basically a death sentence.
I lost it. I went crazy. I didn’t eat, didn’t drink, and refused to see anyone.
I tried to get back on my feet and dance, but I fell over and over.
I overheard my biological parents discussing marrying me off to some decent match.
I didn’t want to marry anyone!
I didn’t want to give up dancing!
And I sure as hell didn’t want to be used as a bargaining chip while my foster father was still in the hospital, on the edge of life and death!
But back then, I was blind and couldn’t walk steadily. How could I say resist?
It was exactly then that Alexis appeared in my life.
He took me away from the Georgsens' place and took my foster father to the best hospital.
He flew me across the world to see specialists and to get treatment.
My foster father’s burns were severe, his wounds constantly infected, needing daily care.
With such severe burns, most nurses refused to touch him, but Alexis never flinched. He cleaned, dressed, and bandaged my foster father himself.
Alexis knew I couldn’t give up dance, so he built me a studio, padded the floors, and surrounded it with mats.
Every time I fell, he picked me up.
He said, “Darcey, you’re still the brightest dancer. Don’t give up.”
For two years, I relearned dance in darkness. I learned to feel the floor with my feet.
I fell, I bled, I created dances all those years.
Every one of them he recorded for me.
He said, “When your eyes heal, show these to the world.”
I imagined that day so many times. Finally regaining my eyesight, taking my work to the stage.
But now, I know he gave it all to Yasmine, letting her climb the ladder on the stage!
The rain grew heavier, I was cold to the point of losing feeling, but my mind uncontrollably recalled another thing.
Every night over the past two years, I thought that the guy who held me was Alexis.
I acted cute, I flirted, I got intimate. But he never said anything back.
I thought he was just shy.
But now…
My stomach roiled violently as I recalled those nights. I collapsed, dry-heaving, the taste of blood thick in my throat.
My eyes were useless, but my hatred was sharp and clear.
Alexis ruined my life. He destroyed my family.
Christoph used me as a toy to satisfy his desires.
And Yasmine stole my dances, taking all the glory on the stage I once loved.
All because I went back to my biological parents?
They punished me like this?
Why the fuck is it always the wrongdoers who go unpunished?
No. I will not accept this!
I will definitely make them pay!
Hands trembling, I pulled out my phone and called someone.
“I’m getting the eye surgery myself.”
“Seven days from now, I’ll step onto the stage at the Paris Opera as Butterfly, the choreographer everyone knows, with my new masterpiece!”
