The Artist's Betrayal, A Love Lost

My solo exhibition. Ten years of blood, sweat, and paint, culminating in this night.

But it was torn from me. Liam, my mentor, my lover, the man who rebuilt my gallery after a fire, seized my most personal masterpiece, "Echoes of the Fall," and gifted it to Scarlett, a new ingenue, right before my eyes.

When I confronted him, asking him to leave, he slapped me, then threatened to ruin my parents' small business if I didn't beg Scarlett for forgiveness.

I knelt. I apologized. The humiliation burned hotter than any fire.