《You Left Me in the Dark》全部章節：第 1 章 - 第 9 章

In the dark storage closet, the drug burned through me like fire, leaving my whole body weak.I bit down hard on the back of my hand, refusing to make a single sound.Just beyond the door, Natalie's flirtatious voice drifted in from the hallway."Derek, those sponsors in the private dining room aren't exactly gentlemen. If they take things too far and Amber can't perform tomorrow, what happens to your tour?"My eyes went wide. I stopped breathing.She hadn't just drugged me. She had offered me up as a plaything to keep the investors happy.And my boyfriend Derek knew every bit of it.After a brief silence, Derek's cold voice came from outside."Good. I've wanted her out of the spotlight for months. She can stay home like a good girl and choreograph behind the scenes."A memory from five years ago flashed through my mind.Back then, the theater didn't even have heat. Derek had practiced lifts with me through a 102-degree fever.He had wiped the sweat from my forehead, eyes red-rimmed, a

The old warehouse roof was full of holes, and freezing rain poured through the gaps.I shivered at the iron door. In a flash of lightning, I spotted a familiar silver bracelet wedged beside the padlock outside.Natalie had been wearing it during warm-ups that morning.She had followed me here and locked me in.The warehouse was damp and freezing. The drugs from last night had already left my body dangerously weak.Soaked by the rain, I quickly spiked a fever. My legs buckled, and I slid down the iron door to the ground.My head was splitting. My vision started to blur.Survival instinct made me dig out my phone. One faint bar.Instinctively, I called Derek.The phone rang for a long time before he picked up.His voice dripped with irritation."What? What do you want now, Amber?"My voice was so weak it was barely audible."Derek...""I'm locked in the old warehouse on the west side. Someone locked me in. I have a fever... can you come get me..."Derek scoffed."I'm with the sponsors. I

The canceled premiere detonated across the dance world, becoming the industry's biggest scandal.The police opened a formal investigation into my drugging. The organizers announced the tour was suspended.The state arts commission then opened a compliance review and ordered the theater to turn over its contracts and management records.I turned the credit dispute over to my lawyer.The tables turned overnight.The next morning, I went back to the apartment to pack my last belongings.Diane Mercer and her husband, Thomas, sat on the sofa, crying and blaming themselves.Diane held my hand, her eyes swollen from crying."Amber, it's my fault. I didn't raise him right. I let you suffer like this."I placed the apartment key gently on the coffee table."Mrs. Mercer, I'm moving to New York to start over. The key belongs to you."Diane panicked. She promised to confront Derek and make him answer for everything if I stayed."Please don't go. I'll drag him here and make him apologize to your fa

I pulled a set of photocopies from my bag and shoved them into his chest.It was the forged copyright assignment with Derek's and Natalie's signatures in black and white.My sharp voice echoed down the empty corridor."One mistake?""Derek, you treated stealing everything I had as your God-given right, all for power and a cheap thrill. When you let her drug me, did you remember that pipe you took for me?"I stepped closer, staring straight into his panicked eyes."You were the one who begged me to stay as your partner. If I was in your way, you could have just said so. I never wanted to cling to this miserable theater!"Months of bottled-up emotion came flooding out. My eyes burned red, and tears slid down my face before I could stop them."You conspired to destroy my work and my name. Derek, you didn't just ruin yourself. You destroyed the dream we built together!"Seeing such complete devastation on my face for the first time, the color drained from his.He tried to reach for me, den

In New York, Walsh took me straight to the Metropolitan Dance Company's private training center.The program cut off outside contact, and Walsh personally returned every Mercer apology letter and gift unopened.Two weeks later, Derek somehow tracked down the address and showed up at the facility gate.He stood outside the guard booth in the late-autumn wind, sobbing and begging Walsh to let him see me, promising to spend the rest of his life making amends.Walsh came outside and tore Derek's pity performance apart."Five years ago, practicing through a fever might have moved Amber. Today, no coward who destroyed her career will reach her. Leave. Don't show your face at this company again."Those words severed Derek's last thread of hope. He realized his selfishness had cost him everything.That afternoon, dazed and desperate, Derek followed the company's bus as it headed to an out-of-town rehearsal retreat.On a winding mountain road, he took a turn too fast and crashed.The car rolled