Chapter 5

A moment later, Nick let out a soft laugh. He touched Susie’s cheek and said gently, “Don’t be upset. I’ll give you the first dance tonight.”

Susie turned her face away, pretending to be annoyed, but she still took his hand and followed him into the ballroom.

Lisa lifted her eyes and watched them step onto the dance floor together. To her surprise, she felt strangely calm.

She packed up her violin and quietly turned to leave.

But she hadn’t taken more than a few steps before several women blocked her way. Before she could speak, they dragged her toward a quiet corner.

“Well, if it isn’t Mrs. Horden. Oh wait,” one of them sneered, “you’re not that anymore, are you? Do you remember my hand?” She raised her left arm. Her wrist ended in a stump. “All I did was brush against you once, and Nick had my hand cut off.”

Another woman stepped forward and ripped off her mask. One side of her face was disfigured, the skin scarred and pale. “And me. I said you weren’t that pretty, and your man poured acid on my face.”

A third woman glared at her with hatred. “My company went bankrupt because I said you used to be a beggar.”

Lisa’s chest tightened. She knew exactly who had done these things.

Nick had destroyed them to protect her. His love had been obsessive, ruthless. Now that he no longer cared for her, she was the one paying the price for his cruelty.

“What do you want from me?” she asked, trying to pull away.

One of the women grabbed her hair and slapped her hard across the face. “We’re going to make you look just like us. Let’s see if you still think you’re good enough for Nick Horden then.”

“Miss Sanders said whoever makes you suffer the most will get her favor with him,” another hissed.

“Susie Sanders?” Lisa’s eyes widened. In that instant of shock, they pinned her down to the floor.

Rough hands gripped her face. They slapped her again and again, then pulled out a handful of long needles. One woman held her hands down while another drove the needles deep beneath her fingernails.

Lisa screamed in agony, the sound muffled as someone clamped a hand over her mouth. The pain shot straight through her nerves, tears spilling down her face as her body trembled violently.

While they were switching places, she gathered what little strength she had left, shoved one of them away, and stumbled to her feet.

She ran blindly toward the exit, but her heel caught on the carpet. She fell forward, crashing into a towering champagne display.

The glasses shattered with a deafening crash, and the entire room went silent. Red wine and blood mixed on her dress as she lay among the shards.

“Miss Winters, is this some kind of pity act?” Susie’s mocking voice cut through the murmurs as she walked over.

“Susie Sanders, you sent them,” Lisa hissed through clenched teeth.

“Me?” Susie smiled faintly, looping her arm through Nick’s. “Why would I bother? I have a career and a man who loves me. What do you have that’s worth destroying?”

Lisa froze. Every part of her life—her success, her comfort, even her pride—had once come from Nick. Without him, she truly had nothing.

She gave a weak laugh, her eyes filling with tears. “You’re right,” she whispered. “I have nothing left.”

The next second, one of the women lunged forward and shoved Lisa back onto the shattered glass.

Nick frowned slightly but didn’t move.

Lisa gasped, her whole body trembling as pain shot through her.

“Don’t pity her,” one of the women shouted. “She tried to bribe us to hurt Miss Sanders, and when we refused, she pulled this stunt to make it look like Susie was behind it!”

The women who had attacked her stepped out one after another, accusing her of staging everything to frame Susie.

“I didn’t,” Lisa said, her voice breaking, but no one believed her. She had become the target of every hateful gaze in the room.

“You vile woman,” someone hissed, throwing a glass of wine at her.

“Nick doesn’t want her anymore. She’s just a worthless beggar trying to act important.”

“Go crawl back to the gutter where you came from. You’re nothing but a bitter, jealous ex-wife trying to ruin their happiness.”

The insults came harder, louder, followed by more wine glasses smashing near her feet. Everyone knew by now that Nick no longer cared about her. Without his protection, they could finally unleash their resentment. Every person who had once feared him now took revenge on her instead.

Lisa’s gaze drifted across the sea of angry, indifferent faces until it landed on Nick.

He sat there calmly, his eyes cold and distant. There was no sympathy in them—only faint irritation, as if she were an inconvenience, as if her pain were nothing more than another disruption to his evening.

In that moment, the pain in her body faded beneath something worse. Her heart felt like it was being ripped apart.

His silence was the final betrayal.

He had sworn that Susie was just a fling, but here he was, letting her and everyone else destroy her piece by piece.

Everyone around her was shouting, but Lisa could only see him. The light in her eyes dimmed until there was nothing left—just emptiness.

Suddenly, it all felt pointless. The anger, the explanations, the humiliation. None of it mattered anymore.

She no longer wanted to be the proof of Nick and Susie’s love, no longer wanted to be part of this cruel story.

Bracing herself against the pain, she pushed herself to her feet.

Nick didn’t stop her.

She began to walk toward the door, limping with every step. The glass shards beneath her heels cut deeper with each movement, but she didn’t slow down.

She just kept walking—away from the ballroom, away from Nick Horden.