Chapter 2

Chapter 2

I recognized the thumbnail immediately. It was the photo I had asked a nurse to take while I was selling plasma.

When Landon first saw that picture, he had sobbed into my chest, swearing he would treat me like a queen for the rest of his life.

Yet right now, on the recorded stream, Landon was watching that exact video of me at the sketchy clinic with nothing but disgust on his face.

A heavy weight crushed my chest, suffocating me.

All those tender moments, all those sweet promises, were nothing more than calculated lies.

I fought to steady my breath, but my hands would not stop shaking. I forced myself to tap into the stream replay.

The split screen showed me wincing in agony under a thick needle on one side, while Landon lounged on the other side with beautiful women in his arms, laughing with his friends over my misery.

The clip sat at the very top of the trending chart, boasting millions of views.

Every single face in that video belonged to an heir or heiress from the city's most elite circles.

"This is golden! One word about feeling sick, and she ran off to sell her blood."

"Prank sixteen, she almost drowned in the ocean. Prank twenty-five, she threw herself in front of a speeding car to save him... How the hell is she still breathing?"

"Landon dropped fifty million on the bet. If she makes it to the end, he has to marry her!"

"One month left. Does she die in the gutter, or does she make it into the Thorne family?"

"Fifty million says she dies a miserable death, haha!"

"Come on, Landon, finish her off! Don't tell me you actually want to marry that trash?"

"Seriously, what would a stray like her even do in your mansion? Clean the toilets?"

"Isn't she basically his unpaid maid right now anyway?"

"I will marry her. She's smart. She's not stupid."

Landon's cold voice cut through the laughter on screen.

I stared at him through the glass. His expression was icy and detached, completely different from the clingy, gentle man I thought I knew.

"Holy shit, Landon, did that stray put a spell on you or something?"

Landon stayed silent, but Lucas let out a mocking chuckle from the side, crossing his arms with an arrogant smirk.

"What are you guys talking about? Don't you know my brother? He only loves Camille. Everyone else is just a passing distraction."

"The only reason he agreed to this five-year game was to win that limited-edition diamond glass slipper Camille wanted. He'd never waste five years on a country girl otherwise."

Right at that moment, my phone battery died. The screen went pitch black.

I lowered my head as silent tears streamed down my cheeks.

With every drop that fell, the love I held for Landon slowly withered into ash.

So that was it.

All of this was just to win a pair of designer shoes for his high-society darling. He had treated me like a circus animal for five whole years.

A weak cough from inside the hospital room shattered the silence.

"Piper, I'm thirsty!"