Chapter 2
Nettie was fourteen when her parents brought home Charis Rogers–the orphaned daughter of an old family friend
She remembered it vividly: a thin, delicate girl in a faded dress, standing quietly in the Beaumonts‘ living room, eyes cast down as she murmured, “Hi, Sis Nettie “X
Back then, Nettie was naive enough to take her favorite hairclip and fasten it in Charis’s hair, never realizing that this “poor Charis” would become the greatest heartbreak of her life.
It started with little things. Charis broke the antique vase Nettie’s mother had left behind, but with tears in her eyes, claimed Nettie had done it. Then Charis lost Nettie’s competition pass and just whimpered that it was an accident.
Every time, her brother would frown and say, “Nettie, don’t start.” Hurst would massage his temples and gently remind her, “Charis didn’t mean it, Nettle. Try to be patient with her.”
But things only grew more absurd.
After three months of sleepless nights preparing for a competition, Nettie saw Charis’s name- not hers–on the winner’s list. The solo dance part Nettie had worked so hard for? Charis was the one who stood in the spotlight. Nette felt like a glass bottle slowly being drained of air helplessly watching everything she’d earned slip quietly into Charis’s hands.
The cruelest part was that Nettie actually believed she simply wasn’t good enough.
But today, for the first time, it dawned on her everything she valued had been handed to Charis by the two people she trusted most. Her achievements were a mistake. Her talents, a crime.
All along, she’d only ever been the stepping stone for Charis’s path.
But–Hurst was her fiancé. Calvin was her own brother. Charis was just a foster child.
After her parents died, they were all she had left. And now, they were the very ones destroying her.
Nettie could no longer see a reason to go on.
Numb and shaking, she wheeled herself to the edge, ready to cast both herself and the wheelchair into oblivion–when suddenly, her phone buzzed in her pocket.
A strange number flashed on the screen.
She let it ring for a long time before finally answering. “Hello?”
“Miss Beaumont?” A gentle male voice came through. “This is Nova Medical Research.“2
“What is it?
“We heard about your recent misfortunes, he said softly. “Perhaps you’d consider being a test subject for our new treatment?” Nettie let out a bitter laugh, tears spilling over as she laughed harder. “Isn’t my life tragic enough already?”
“No. Our new drug could give you a second chance.”
What do you mean?”
“Bone reconstruction, restored hearing, even-” He paused, “the chance to stand on stage again.“!
Nettle’s heart skipped a beat.
“Why me?”
There was a brief silence before the man answered, slow and deliberate. “Because only someone who’s been completely broken is worthy of rebirth.”
Nettie froze, her hands falling still on the wheelchair.})
She stared out the window. The sunlight was so bright it made her eyes water.
After a long moment, she gripped her phone tight.
“All night. I’ll do it.“%
