He protested urgently, “That was just a misunderstanding! You’re the only one in my heart!”
“Is that so?” I looked at him, suddenly feeling exhausted.
There’s no reasoning with someone lost in their own delusions.
I didn’t want to drag this out any longer and turned to get in the car.
But he suddenly rushed forward, wrapping his arms tightly around me from behind. “Kimberly, don’t go! Let me ex- plain!”
“I love you! I truly love you!”
“Three years ago, I gave up my inheritance to leave everything behind with you–was that all a lie?”
Russell’s expression darkened as he stepped forward to pull him away.
I raised a hand to stop Russell.
Letting him hold me, my voice remained eerily calm. “Scott, did you really think you gave up your inheritance?”
He froze.
I continued slowly, “Back then, the Lopez patriarch gave you two choices: marry a woman who could advance your career, or take me and leave the Lopez family with nothing.”
“You chose the latter, casting yourself as the devoted lover who sacrificed everything. You moved everyone–includ- ing me.”
“But you forgot–the Lopez patriarch values reputation above all.”
“How could he truly let you be left with nothing, becoming New York’s laughingstock?”
“Your so–called ‘starting over elsewhere‘ meant living in a mansion, driving luxury cars in another city–all arranged by the Lopez family.”
“Your bank cards were never frozen.”
“Your ‘sacrifice‘ was just a performance staged for me.”
Scott’s arms around me gradually loosened. Shock and disbelief washed over his face.
He’d never known any of this.
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He truly believed he’d given up everything for me.
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Turning to face his broken form, I added, “And I—to play my part in your charade–willingly abandoned my career, my friends, my entire life to follow you to that unfamiliar city.”
“I thought I’d married for love.”
“Now I see I married a selfish liar.”
Meeting his eyes, I asked deliberately, “Scott, do you still believe you love me?”
He completely shattered, collapsing to his knees. He wailed like a child caught lying.
I didn’t glance back as I got into the car.
Even miles away, his heart–wrenching sobs echoed.
Russell handed me a tissue. “It’s over.”
I wiped my eyes and nodded. “Yeah. It’s over.”
I never saw Scott again.
They say he went mad, wandering the streets, telling everyone his wife was the Garcia heiress who’d return to him
soon.
The whole city treated him as a joke.
Maria and Amanda didn’t fare much better.
After the Moore family went bankrupt, their lives plummeted from the clouds into the mud.
Rumor has it Maria married a bald tycoon thirty years her senior to pay debts–living miserably ever after.
As for Amanda Taylor, she was turned down by every company due to fabricated credentials and ended up as a cashier in a small supermarket, putting up with customers‘ attitudes daily.
None of this concerned me anymore.
I spent a year actively undergoing treatment and rehabilitation.
The process was excruciating and lengthy, but I gritted my teeth and persevered.
Because I knew I couldn’t give up.
I needed not just to stand again, but to reclaim my rightful place on stage.
Russell Garcia hired the world’s finest physical therapists and dance instructors for me. They designed a customized recovery plan.
From simply standing, to rising on pointe, to executing a full pirouette.
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Every step was forged through my sweat and tears.
Finally, four years after the leg injury, I slipped into my pointe shoes again.
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