- 5.
The reporters exchanged glances, and the
company execs looked stunned.
“I thought they said Blair was home sick?
<
How’d she get all those injuries?”
I stared, red–eyed, at the camera in the
reporter’s hand, unable to say a single word.
Just a choked sob escaped me, and tears
streamed down my face.
I clawed at my hair, shaking all over.
The reporters started speculating whether
Ryan had a history of domestic abuse and
had beaten me like this.
The real reason I’d taken leave years ago
became a hot topic again.
Ryan’s face went red, and he yelled at me,
“Blair, what the hell are you doing?!”
Ryan, always so composed, lost it in front of
the reporters for the first time.
He rushed over, scooped me up, and dragged
me away, screaming at the reporters who
were snapping pictures.
“Stop taking pictures!”
Of course, those reporters wouldn’t pass up a
L
story like this. They kept pushing forward,
trying to photograph me.
They kept asking Ryan if he’d ever abused
- me.
Ryan actually put his hands on a reporter for
the first time ever.
This had a huge impact on Carter Enterprises,
and the stock price plummeted.
“Find out everything!”
“I want to know if Blair was really abused
during those three years in that insane
asylum!”
Ryan stubbed out his cigarette and yelled at
the butler.
He swept a vase off the table, and it
shattered on the floor.
He kicked open my bedroom door. I was
huddled in bed, wrapped in the covers.
He ripped the covers off me, brutally tearing
open my nightgown.
<
Underneath, there were even more scars.
Bruises covered my pale skin, blue and purple
welts everywhere.
His eyes burned. “Blair, you’re overdoing it. I
didn’t realize you had any scars, but did you
have to make yourself look like this?”
“You’re just trying to get my sympathy,
right?”
I was shivering in the cold, naked, biting my
lip, refusing to say a word.
Ryan seemed to realize something was
wrong. He wrapped the blanket around me.
But when it touched my skin, it felt like fire.
After just a little chill, I ran a fever.
That night, I was rushed to the hospital.
The strong smell of disinfectant filled my
nostrils.
I vaguely heard Ryan talking to Hazel.
Hazel said, “Your wife is heartless. She would
hurt herself so badly just to hurt us.”
く
“If the director of that crazy house hadn’t
seen her cutting herself, you’d be in big
trouble!”
Ryan didn’t say anything for a long time.
“Is there any proof?”
“The director recorded a video. He wanted to
send it to you, but he thought it might make
you mad, so he didn’t. Luckily, he didn’t
delete it.”
“And there’s another video of your wife
sleeping with those crazy guys, and the
director sent that too. You believe me now,
right?”
My body ached all over, and I felt exhausted.
When he saw I was awake, Ryan shoved his
phone in my face. On the screen, a woman
who looked like me was holding a knife and
cutting herself.
“Blair, what do you have to say for yourself?!”
I shook my head.
L
“That’s not me…”
The person in the video wasn’t me. It was a
fake video made by the mental hospital.
But Ryan believed it.
Hazel immediately interrupted. “Of course you
are. There’s proof right in front of us. What
else is there to say?”
“I know you’ve been holding a grudge ever
since Ryan and I got together. Since you can’t
get rid of me, you’re putting on this sob story,
right?”
“I thought you were acting like this because
you loved Ryan so much, but I guess not. You
don’t love him, or else you wouldn’t have slept
with those guys!”
I had no expression on my face.
Ryan decided I was admitting it.
“If you’re not talking, that means you’re
admitting it, right?”
I closed my eyes, and tears streamed down
L
my face.
I knew that no matter what I said, he would
believe Hazel and say that I was lying.
I was tired of it.
I had no desire to explain myself.
