Chapter 2

While the nurse dressed my wounds, I caught fragments of conversation between Caspian and Dad in the hallway.

“Jesus, Dad,” Caspian whispered harshly, “Val’s already destroyed. Do we seriously need to leak the assault footage to TikTok and Twitter?”

After a calculated pause, Dad responded with chilling detachment.

“Post it. No reputable ballet school will touch a student with that kind of viral scandal.”

Something shattered inside me as fresh tears spilled down my cheeks.

“Am I hurting you?” the nurse asked, alarmed by my sudden reaction.

I couldn’t even form words, unable to separate the searing pain in my legs from the gaping wound in

my soul.

The two men I’d built my entire world around weren’t satisfied with breaking my body–they were methodically erasing everything I’d ever been.

My entire existence reduced to collateral damage.

Within minutes, my phone exploded with notifications. Hands trembling, I unlocked it to find clips of my torture trending on TikTok, spreading across Twitter, and dissected in gruesome detail on multiple university subreddits.

beneath them

at Manhattan Dance Academy. Karma’s finally caught up!

former classmate, I can 100% confirm she’s TOXIC af. Constantly undermining other dancers, sleeping with instructors for solos. This meltdown

child crash and

91.5%

my lungs until I was hyperventilating, my vision tunneling as my entire identity was shredded

performing his protective brother role. He gently

Award–worthy performance beginning: “Caspian, what the FUCK?

in his remorse: “I had our tech team scrubbing everything, but someone must’ve saved footage. Don’t panic, Val–I’ve already called in favors at Twitter and Reddit

was flawless–practiced, precise, and

bile rise in

me, his eyes–the exact same shade of blue as mine–locked onto my face with practiced sincerity: “Valentina Catherine Dagonet, listen to me. No matter what vicious lies they

who tries to hurt

does.”

videos disappeared within hours.

of times, reposted, remixed with

as I knew it had been completely obliterated. The digital assassination had worked perfectly–even if my body somehow recovered, Valentina Dagonet

future at SAB had evaporated like morning

expression grim: “Ms. Dagonet has sustained compound fractures to

her arms.”

concerning are the facial lacerations. Fifteen distinct knife wounds, methodically inflicted. We’re looking at significant permanent disfigurement

The Novel will be updated daily. Come back and continue reading tomorrow, everyone!

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