Chapter 2

Stella POV

Blood drained from my body drop by drop. My heartbeat grew slower and slower, my breathing increasingly difficult.

When the 400cc blood bag was finally full, I couldn't hold on any longer. My body went limp and I slid from the chair.

Instead of hitting the cold, hard floor I expected, a strong arm suddenly grabbed my wrist and yanked me back.

Lucas looked down at me from above, his brows knitted together.

"Done with your performance?"

He roughly released my hand.

"Drawing a little blood and you play dead. Stella, your acting is getting more and more pathetic."

I collapsed back into the chair, gasping for air in great gulps. Cold sweat soaked through my clothes, stinging the hideous burn scars on my back.

I had no strength to argue. I just pressed a cotton swab against the needle mark, braced myself against the wall, and shakily stood up.

"Since the draw is finished, may I leave?"

Lucas grabbed my chin, forcing me to look up at him directly.

"Leave? Did I say you could leave?"

Lucas sneered.

"Next month's 'StarGlow' International Jewelry Design Competition. Serena is entering. Hand over that 'Tears of the Deep' design draft of yours."

I stared at him in disbelief.

"Tears of the Deep" was a work I'd poured an entire year of my heart and soul into, created to commemorate my late mother. It was my masterpiece, the work I'd prepared for my comeback on the international stage as a genius jewelry designer.

"That's my work."

I bit my lip, my voice trembling.

"Yours?"

Lucas acted as if he'd heard the biggest joke in the world.

"Stella, have you forgotten? Everything you have now, the Lu family gave you! Serena's hands were injured saving me. She can't hold a brush steadily anymore. As the culprit, what's wrong with drawing a few designs for her?"

"I didn't set that fire! I was the one who saved you!"

I'd been repeating this explanation for seven years, but every single time, he crushed it beneath his feet.

"Shut up!"

Lucas suddenly tightened his grip, his eyes terrifyingly dark.

"You still dare bring up what happened back then? If you hadn't been jealous of Serena and deliberately locked her in the equipment room, how would the fire have started? Serena dragged me out of the flames and suffered severe burns on both hands. She can never complete the designs she loved again. And you? You hid outside without a scratch!"

Without a scratch?

I closed my eyes in despair.

My back still bore the permanent brand that fire had given me. Every time it rained, the pain was unbearable.

But he didn't believe me. He only believed in the insignificant burn on the back of Serena's hand.

"Lucas, don't push Stella anymore..."

Serena in the hospital bed started crying right on cue, tears falling in big drops.

"It's all my fault. I shouldn't dream of standing on the design competition stage anymore. I'll go tell the organizers I'm withdrawing right now..."

"Serena, don't cry."

Lucas immediately released me, turned, and walked to the bedside, gently wiping away Serena's tears.

"I told you, the glory that belongs to you. I'll definitely help you get it back."

He turned his head to look at me again, his eyes restored to absolute coldness.

"Tomorrow morning, I want to see the final draft of 'Tears of the Deep' in Serena's email. Otherwise, I can't guarantee that cemetery plot your mother has in the south district won't become a commercial zone tomorrow."

My entire body trembled. I looked at this man I'd loved for ten years in disbelief.

He was actually threatening me with my mother's resting place!

My heart felt like it was being sliced back and forth with a dull knife. The pain reached such extremes that it became numb.

I looked at Lucas and smiled faintly.

"Fine. I'll give it to you."

Lucas froze, about to say something more when my figure had already disappeared from the doorway.

I didn't look back.

Even when I heard him mutter under his breath, "Just a vicious woman. How could I possibly care?"

I ignored it.

After all, this would all be over soon.