Chapter 3
The voice on the other end was full of excitement, promising to come pick her up in a few days.
Nettie hung up after agreeing, slipping the phone away and returning to her hospital room as if nothing had happened,
In the following days, Hurst and Calvin were nothing but attentive, doting on her constantly until the day she was discharged.
That morning, Hurst knelt beside her bed, carefully sliding a pair of soft wool socks onto her feet. His long, graceful fingers avoided the angry bruises on her legs, his touch as gentle as if he were handling the most fragile porcelain.
“Does it hurt?” he asked, glancing up at her, his deep eyes brimming with concern.
Nettle shook her head numbly.”
“All the paperwork’s done, Calvin announced as he stepped in, carrying a brand–new coat. “It’s cold out, Nettie. Make sure to stay warm.” As he leaned over to drape the coat around her shoulders, Nettie caught a whiff of his cologne. The scent hit her like a punch to the gut–she’d given him that bottle for his eighteenth birthday. Nausea twisted in her stomach, and she bit down hard on her lower lip to keep from being sick right there.
The wheelchair rolled over the polished hospital floor and Nettle could feel the stares from every direction.
Her catheter bag hung from the side, making a faint, humiliating sound with every jolt!!
A passerby stared a little too long. Calvin’s face turned cold. “Take a picture, it’ll last longer,” he snapped.
Hurst gently covered Nettie’s eyes with his warm palm. “Hey, don’t be afraid,” he murmured, voice soft as rain. “We’ll keep you safe.“2 Nettie trembled all over unsure if it was from rage or despair.
If she hadn’t heard it with her own ears, how could she ever believe that these two–her protectors–were the very devils who had cast her into hell?
“Nettie, wait here a moment, Hurst told her, wheeling her into a shaded spot by the hospital entrance. “We’re going to pull the car
around.“B
As the two men disappeared, Nettie suddenly spun her wheelchair. She’d rather crawl out of here than endure another minute of their false affection.
She had just turned the comer when a familiar voice drifted over from the parking lot.
“Did you leak the story about Nettie sleeping around with multiple men? Calvin’s tone was icy enough to freeze bone.
“Yeah,” Hurst answered, but hesitated. “But she’s already in such a bad state. Do we really need to invent this kind of scandal just to humiliate her?”
“Of course we do! Calvin snapped. “The only way to make sure she never threatens Charis Rogers again is to completely destroy her reputation in the dance world.”
The wheelchair slammed into the wall. Nettie clapped a hand over her mouth, metallic blood seeping between her teeth.
They weren’t content to ruin her life–they had to drag her name through the mud a well?1
Frantic, she tried to wheel herself away, but rolled straight into a mob of reporters outside the hospital doors.
“Miss Beaumont! Is it true your disability was caused by sleeping with multiple men?“}
“Care to explain your relationships with those men?”
“As a dancer, don’t you feel ashamed of your promiscuity?”
Before she could react, a swarm of crazed fans burst through the crowd, shoving and shouting as they clawed at her.
“Nettle, I must’ve been blind to ever like you–you’re disgusting”
“If you can fool around with those guys, how about giving us a tum?“?
Someone started it, and suddenly a hundred hands were fearing at her clothes.
“No–no–don’t touch me
Nettle screamed, trying to fight them off, but it was hopeless.!
Rip.X
Her clothes were gone, ripped away until she was left exposed, her body a patchwork of ugly scars on display for all to see.8
Shame crashed over her in a suffocating wave. She could barely breathe, gasping for air as jeers and disgusted voices rang in her ears. “Oh God, look at her–she’s still g got a catheter attached!‘
“Quick, get a picture! Post it online so everyone can see what their precious dance goddess is really like!“2
In the stunned silence that followed, the sneers and insults rained down, each one landing like a slap to her face.
Nettie couldn’t hear anything anymore. Tears streamed down her cheeks, stinging as they trickled into the open wounds.2
“Get away from her! All of you, back off!”
Hurst’s voice thundered through the chaos.
He pushed his way to her side, pulling her into his arms, shielding her from the cameras as Calvin shoved reporters aside, face dark with fury.
“Where the hell are the bodyguards?!”
Together, they made it look perfect–like they were her heroes.!
But only Nettie knew the truth. This whole spectacle was their doing from the very start.!
They wanted her nailed to the pillar of shame, branded forever as a whore, forced to live like a rat in the gutter.
Meanwhile, their precious Charis would bask in the spotlight, adored by the world.
And they had succeeded.Z
Chapter 4
