In that moment, I laughed and cried at the same time, sinking to the floor in utter despair.
"Jackson, my family is falling apart. My parents are getting divorced. My father's company is on the verge of collapse. I had nowhere else to turn, so I came to you. I thought you were the one person I could still rely on... and this is what you do to me?"
I turned to look at Millicent. The girl I'd considered my closest friend. My sister.
The one who'd taken a knife and driven it straight into the most tender part of my heart.
"Millicent, what did I ever do to you?"
"When you needed money, I gave it to you. When someone bullied you, I stood up for you. I loved you like my own little sister. And this is how you repay me? The night I was at my lowest, heartbroken after that fight with Arthur, you turned around and crawled into my boyfriend's bed?"
Her face flushed, then went white, then flushed again. Tears pooled in her eyes, and she shook her head at me.
"I didn't want to betray you, Lucille. I just... I couldn't help myself."
Jackson pulled her closer, shielding her more tightly. The look he gave me held nothing but disgust and ice.
"Since it's come to this, I won't hide it anymore."
"Millicent and I have been together for a long time. You and your princess temper, spoiled and high-maintenance, always living in your own little world. You never once understood what I actually needed."
"Being with you exhausted me."
Exhausted.
What a pathetic excuse.
Their double betrayal was the final straw.
I stormed out in a frenzy, but my mind was in pieces. I didn't see the truck that had lost control until it was too late.
The accident destroyed my face.
It nearly took my life.
The hospital even issued a critical condition notice. Everyone believed I was dead.
What no one knew was that, right at that moment, I was lucky enough to cross paths with Arthur Stephens, a man who had just lost his wife.
He said, "I can save you."
"But on one condition: you live the rest of your life under a new identity. Are you willing?"
I nodded.
"You know the rest."
I shrugged and glanced at Arthur.
After that, Arthur arranged the best plastic surgery money could buy.
Two months later, when I finally opened my eyes and saw the face staring back at me in the mirror, a face that wasn't mine, I knew I had survived.
I was alive again.
Even if it meant living as a stand-in for Arthur Stephens' late wife.
It was enough.