novelnext Chapter 2
Chapter 2
To clear the way for Coco, the man who once promised to love me through every season of life, the one who held my hand through school dances and down the aisle, was now calmly handing me over to hell, lie by lie.
And my mom… the woman who used to call me her precious little girl, who once cried when I scraped my knee…
She raised the knife herself.
For Coco.
For that soft-spoken, sugar-sweet, two-faced adopted daughter.
In that moment, I wanted to ask them:
Why?
Why did you have to ruin me like this?
But I didn't say a word.
The questions died somewhere deep in my throat, where everything else was turning cold and quiet.
A group of doctors rushed in with trays and gauze, the sharp sting of antiseptic filling the room. One of them looked at me, pity in his eyes.
"Miss Turner, I'm sorry, the dermatology team is still on the way. We have to do a basic clean-up to avoid infection. It's going to hurt."
Hurt?
The moment the solution touched my skin, it was like reliving the fire.
The pain hit me like a freight train, slicing through every nerve ending.
I felt my skin crack open again, blood and pus oozing out, soaking the bed beneath me.
My mom stood there, trembling, covering her mouth as she sobbed like she was the one in agony.
Jack's fists clenched at his sides, his knuckles bone-white, eyes brimming with tears like he couldn't stand to see me like this.
It looked convincing.
Heartbreaking, even.
But I knew the truth.
The only thing real in that room was the pain.
And the betrayal.
When I came to again, it was two days later.
I didn't move. Just lay there, staring at the ceiling, as voices drifted through the cracked hospital door.
"Jack," my mother whispered, "Lily's in bad shape. We've already delayed her treatment for two days. Do we really have to give her that experimental psychiatric drug?"
"The doctor said it's still in trial stages," she added. "It might cause seizures... even incontinence."
Jack didn't answer right away.
Then came his voice, quiet, flat, brutal.
"Exactly. That's what we want."
He sounded so calm, like he was talking about the weather.
"Tonight's Coco's celebration party. Her professors, mentors, sponsors, everyone important will be there. If Lily shows up like this… degraded, humiliated, completely destroyed, it'll kill any chance she has left."
He paused, then added with mock sympathy, "After tomorrow, I'll announce our engagement. That'll be my parting gift to her."
And then came the order.
"Have the specialists wait outside the villa. Once the party's over, they can start the treatment."
My mother didn't even hesitate. "Alright. Got it."
I stared at the ceiling, unmoving.
Tears rolled silently down my face, burning as they touched the raw, open wounds.
But the pain?
The physical pain was nothing.
Compared to this?
This was hell.
They knew.
They knew how hard I fought to survive a weak childhood, how long I worked to finally become a model. They knew what this dream cost me.
And in just a few cruel words, they crushed it all like it meant nothing.
If I'd known this was how it would end...
I would've let the fire finish what it started.
The door creaked open again.
Jack walked in, calm as ever, like he hadn't just orchestrated my public execution.
He knelt beside the bed and held out two bright red pills in his palm, his voice soft and sweet. The way you'd talk to a child or a dying pet.
"Baby, I talked to the doctor. These are new, strong painkillers, no side effects. You won't hurt so much. Just take them for me, okay?"
I stared at the pills.
So small. So red.
So… final.
My throat felt thick with rust, like I'd swallowed betrayal and blood and hadn't stopped choking on it since.
I looked up at him, my voice cracked and dry.
"Jack… they're too bitter. I don't want them."