Chapter 2

Even though every feature of Charlie's face was so familiar to me, as I looked at him now, he felt like a complete stranger.

Frowning at the pathetic state I was in, he pulled me up with a practiced gentleness.

Then, dropping to one knee, he meticulously adjusted my prosthetic back into place.

A bitter sting hit the back of my nose, and I fought to keep the tears back. "Why did you lie to me?"

After a full day of busking, my voice was completely shot. It sounded grating and raw.

Charlie's grip suddenly tightened, and a sharp flare of agony from my residual limb made me gasp.

His tone turned ice-cold. "You shouldn't have shown up in front of Denise."

He thought I had confronted her on purpose.

I stared at him in utter disbelief. Tears trembled on the edge of my lashes.

"If you hadn't been playing poor this whole time, do you really think I'd choose to drag my ruined leg around the streets just to busk for a living?"

I lost control and shoved Charlie, but he caught my hand and, in one smooth motion, lifted me into his arms and placed me in the back seat.

On the dashboard sat a framed photo of Charlie and Denise.

Charlie leaned over to click my seatbelt into place. His next words froze the blood in my veins.

"I made it big by the second year of my new startup. The debts were cleared ages ago. I only kept up the act to fool you.

"Denise is my partner in an arranged marriage. Since marrying her, my business has skyrocketed. I'm the wealthiest man in Seabrook now.

"Rach, you don't know what money means until you've lost it all. I wasn't about to pass up the heiress of the Gordon family just to squeeze into a miserable life with you."

My vision blurred with tears as memories rushed back like a volley of knives.

After his bankruptcy, Charlie had been buried under a mountain of debt, spiraling into despair in that cramped rental night after night.

I stayed up with bloodshot eyes, not daring to close them for fear that Charlie would do something reckless.

When the loan sharks finally tracked us down, I threw myself over Charlie to protect him. A frantic thug brought a blade down, severing my right leg.

As I lay pooling in blood, Charlie fell to his knees before them for the very first time, screaming at the top of his lungs, "I'll pay you back! Every single cent! Just please, take her to the hospital!"

After getting discharged, I buried my own despair. I forced myself to adapt to life as a cripple, pretending everything was fine just to be his rock.

I scrounged for discarded vegetables at the market and glued broken bowls back together.

I even used the cheapest prosthetic available, refusing to replace it even when it had worn my flesh raw and bloody.

I didn't even allow myself a birthday cake to celebrate.

Yet, to celebrate Valentine's Day with Denise, Charlie had ordered a custom ring worth millions of dollars.

My frugality was nothing but a joke.

A wave of sheer hopelessness consumed me, and I began pounding my fists against Charlie like a maniac. "You bastard! How could you do this to me?"

Charlie slammed on the brakes and turned around to glare at me. "What did I do wrong? Was I supposed to cling to some fairy-tale love and rot in a basement with you for the rest of my life? Rachel Marsh, grow up!"

The tears spilled over uncontrollably.

Under my devastated gaze, Charlie threw the door open and shoved me right out of the car.

My prosthetic broke loose, and the raw skin of my stump scraped against the asphalt. I couldn't even drag myself up.

But Charlie just looked down at me with cold indifference before hitting the gas. "You've crossed the line today. Reflect on what you've done."

His casual words felt like a sledgehammer, crushing whatever was left of my heart.

My whole body ached, and I felt exhausted. My vision went dark, and I blacked out on the pavement.

When I finally came to, I was curled up on a street corner, surrounded by a murmuring crowd.

I tried to reach out to a passerby for help but was met only with a look of disgust and a cruel spit. "Ugh! A homewrecker playing the victim to seduce someone else's man. Disgusting!"

As I tried to defend myself, Mom suddenly called me. Her voice trembled with heartbreak and fury as she demanded, "Rachel, are you actually sleeping with a married man? Your dad was so upset he's been rushed to the ER!"