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 gutted

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

100% confirm she’s TOXIC af. Constantly undermining other dancers, sleeping with

child crash and

91.5%

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

gently covered my screen. “Jesus,

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

had our tech team scrubbing everything, but someone must’ve saved footage. Don’t panic, Val–I’ve already called

was flawless–practiced, precise, and utterly

rise

onto my face with practiced sincerity: “Valentina Catherine Dagonet, listen to me. No matter what vicious lies they spread, you will always

hand: “We’ll destroy anyone who tries to hurt you,

does.”

disappeared within

already been downloaded thousands of times, reposted, remixed with cruel commentary, transformed

assassination had worked perfectly–even if my body somehow recovered, Valentina Dagonet as

SAB had

physician returned with my chart, his expression grim: “Ms. Dagonet has sustained compound fractures to both

her arms.”

concerning are the facial lacerations. Fifteen distinct knife

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

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