The Ruined Bride of Velvet Nights by Brick Moving Ant

Chapter 4

Victoria’s eyes gleamed with venom as she leaned closer. “If I were you, I’d honestly just off myself. It would save everyone the trouble of looking at your fucked–up face.”

She waited eagerly for my reaction, desperate to see me crumble.

But I felt nothing. My heart was a dead thing in my chest. The Dagonet name meant nothing to me

now.

“I’ll leave. Take it all if you want it so badly.”

Victoria let out a high–pitched laugh. “God, you’re pathetic. While you’ve been getting your ass handed to you, I absolutely killed my SAB audition. Got my acceptance yesterday.” She tapped my wheelchair with her foot. “As for you… enjoy rolling around for the rest of your worthless life.”

Her voice dropped to a cruel whisper. “But that’s still not enough. I need them to hate you as much as

I do.”

Before I could process what was happening, she whipped out a small pocketknife and slashed her own cheek with practiced precision.

As she crumpled to the floor in a perfectly executed fall, Victoria hissed in my ear: “FYI, Daddy dearest only wanted those guys to rough you up a little. I’m the one who paid them extra to make sure you’d never dance again…”

Something cold and primal flashed in my eyes.

A heartbeat later, Victoria’s bloodcurdling screams echoed through the hospital.

Dad burst through the door, slamming my wheelchair aside as he rushed to Victoria’s side.

Christ, what happened?”

barked at my doctors:

me lying on the

in perfect

Chapter 4

manufactured fear.

This is all my fault! I just wanted to tell Val how s–sorry I was about everything! Please, Val, please forgive me! I’ll do

transformed into pure

Victoria comes here out of the goodness of her heart, and you ATTACK her? What the hell is

Maybe those guys didn’t go far enough. If Victoria’s

job.”

out, rushing her toward treatment as if she

Perfect.

we’d be nothing to each

next hour hovering over Victoria during examinations, only remembering I existed after confirming her superficial

those raspberry macarons Val likes. She’s

ten minutes later, Dad’s phone lit up.

voice cracked with panic. “Val’s gone. She left some kind of suicide note. And

security feed as Dad crashed into

grabbed a passing nurse by her scrubs. “Where

hand away, her disgust

girl

depressed. And I heard what you people said to

poor girl, and now you have the audacity to demand answers? How would

sobbing her heart out while you all coddled that