At the company’s annual gala, Chloe’s male secretary, Leo, suddenly played a recording, claiming I’d leaked company secrets. I was about to explain when Chloe snapped one of my fingers. “Alex, how dare you! I’ve provided for you, given you everything, and this is how you betray me?!” She knew perfectly well that this company wouldn’t be where it was today without my art, without every single stroke I’d painted. My fingers were my life. I shoved Chloe away, clutching my hands, the searing pain making me gasp as I glared at her. “Chloe, I never said those things in that recording. You’d rather believe someone who’s only been here for six months than me?” “Leo never lies!” Chloe cut me off, her voice sharp as a blade. “Alex, your constant need to take credit is disgusting. Since you won’t admit your mistake, I’m going to make you pay today!” As she spoke, Leo, a cruel smirk twisting his lips, slammed me to the ground. Chloe grabbed a knife and plunged it straight into my palm. Then, her sky-high stiletto heel pressed down, grinding into the wound. “Alex, today I’m crippling your hands. Let’s see how honest you are after this!” I looked at my bloody, mangled hands and spat at Chloe’s feet. Fine. Without these hands, I’d like to see how her company survives.
Seeing the rage in my face, Fury exploded in Chloe’s eyes. She glared at me with utter disgust, Then stormed into her office, snatched the golf club I’d bought her, and charged back at me. “Chloe, don’t…” Before I could finish, the golf club crashed down on my hand. A sickening *crack, crack* echoed as bones shattered, And an agonizing pain shot through my entire body. My right hand, every finger, was definitely pulverized. I stared, aghast, at my right hand, now limp as a rag. I’d spent half my life painting. My hands were more important to me than my life. Chloe knew this… My eyes burned with grief and indignation as I fumbled for my phone to call an ambulance. If I didn’t get help fast, I knew I’d never pick up a paintbrush again. With my freshly punctured left hand, I clumsily picked up my phone. “9…1…” Just as I was about to press “1,” Chloe lunged forward and smacked the phone out of my hand. “You mess up and still have the nerve to call an ambulance?! Alex, look at you, I even pay for your phone bill. How can you spend my money every day, yet stab me in the back?!” Chloe’s art company’s biggest source of income was my paintings. Every day, people lined up, ready to drop millions to buy my art. But I’d turned them all away, Insisting my paintings only be exhibited at the company’s shows. Because of my art, Tickets to Chloe’s exhibitions were now impossible to get. “Alex, apologize to Leo! Now! Otherwise, you won’t be getting an ambulance today!” I stared in disbelief at the woman I had personally built up, my wife. “Chloe, my hands are my life, you know that…” Chloe glanced at my bleeding hand. “Of course, I know. So if you want to save your ‘life,’ apologize quickly!” Nearby, I heard my colleagues’ whispers. “He messed up and still acts like this? He’s so full of himself just because he has a bit of talent!” “Talent? If his paintings weren’t shown at our company’s exhibitions, they’d probably be in the trash! He deserves to have his hands ruined, teach him a lesson!” “Leo’s talent is quite good, though. His hands look like they belong to a top artist!” “Totally, Ms. Chloe wouldn’t pick wrong…” Each sarcastic word was a dagger, plunging my heart into an icy abyss. Most of my colleagues were artists I’d scouted from the streets, They had dreams of painting, But couldn’t make enough money, Forced to do hard labor, wait tables, or entertain in bars just to support their passion. I brought them into the company, Supported them for years, giving them a chance to showcase their talent on the path of their dreams. Their tearful, profound gratitude felt like it happened yesterday, Yet now, they were humiliating me like this… As I turned, Leo suddenly lunged from behind Chloe, Kicking me in the knee. He held me down, half-kneeling, and snarled, “Alex, Chloe is giving you grace by asking for an apology. If you keep being stubborn as a mule and just as obnoxious, don’t blame me for getting rough!” I forcefully shook Leo off, Clenching my fist, I punched him squarely in the face. I’d been working out for years; taking down this punk was easy. Blood bloomed across Leo’s face from the impact. Seeing Leo injured, Chloe rushed to his side, helping him up, Her eyes full of concern, she whispered soothingly, “Don’t worry, Leo, I’ll take care of this!” Then, Chloe turned towards me. “Alex, you—” “Chloe, let’s get a divorce.”
Chloe froze. I had no more time to argue with her. My hands couldn’t wait. While she was stunned, I borrowed the cleaning lady’s phone. “Chloe, you don’t pay for the cleaning lady’s phone bill, do you?” Gritting my teeth against the searing pain in my palm, I dialed emergency services. Then I looked at Chloe. “Chloe, I’ll leave with nothing. When we got married, I had $183,000 in my account. That was my money. I’ll use my own money to fix my own hands. From this moment on, you have no right to control me.” With that, I ignored Chloe’s rigid expression and left the office, Sitting on a sofa in the hallway. There was a hospital less than a mile away; the ambulance would surely arrive quickly. For my hands, I couldn’t leave just yet. Chloe was making calls inside the office, but it no longer concerned me. While waiting for the ambulance, my phone buzzed with a message notification. 【Alex, we genuinely appreciate your talent and are willing to invest in it. We’ve decided to inject three hundred billion into Chloe’s company. We’ll meet you at the company tomorrow to discuss it further.】 I suddenly remembered today was the day the investors would give their answer. That bastard Leo had made me forget. I should have explained the situation to them, but my hands couldn’t send messages now. So, I guess I’d just inconvenience them to come tomorrow… The hurried footsteps running down the hallway pulled me back to reality. The paramedics were finally here… The lead paramedic gave my right hand a quick look and sighed. “Which monster did this to his hand?! Luckily, you called so quickly, or this hand would be completely lost!” He quickly turned to grab some equipment to treat me. But just as he was about to start, Chloe burst out of the office. She snatched the equipment from the paramedic’s hands and threw it into the trash. I quickly stood up, cornering Chloe against the wall with my shoulder, My eyes bloodshot as I gritted my teeth. “Chloe, what the hell are you doing?!” “Alex, I just bought this entire building. Since you’re so tough, don’t you dare treat your disgusting hands on my property!” The paramedic behind me suddenly straightened up, His eyes blazing with anger as he looked at Chloe. “Ma’am, if this gentleman’s hand isn’t treated immediately, it’ll be permanently ruined! I don’t care what issues you two have, doctors save lives!” “Please leave. We need to treat this gentleman’s injuries!” The paramedic stepped forward to treat my wounds, But before he could reach me, Leo shoved him away. Then, the company’s bodyguards, in unison, stepped forward to block the paramedics. Leo flashed a smirk and aimed his phone at me. “Alex, just admit you leaked company secrets, and we’ll immediately send you to the hospital. We’ll even use Ms. Chloe’s helicopter to take you to the best orthopedic hospital in New York City.” “Otherwise, just wait to become a cripple!” I turned and stared intensely at Chloe. “Chloe…” A triumphant smile played on Chloe’s lips. She casually rubbed the spot where I’d pinned her, then spoke calmly. “Why are you looking at me? Leo already gave you a way out. If you don’t want to take it, there’s nothing I can do…” The paramedics’ anxious shouts came from behind me. “Mr. Alexander, if your hand is delayed any longer, it truly won’t be salvageable! Saving your hand is the priority!” Thinking of the career I’d loved my entire life, And my father’s dying wish for me to carry on his craft, I fought back tears, gritted my teeth, and spoke into Leo’s phone camera. “I admit it, I leaked company secrets…” After reciting the lines Leo had prepared, A paramedic stepped forward and grabbed Leo’s arm. “Too much time has already passed. That helicopter Ms. Chloe mentioned…” “The pilot, Mr. Wu, his nephew got married and he went back home. The helicopter can’t move.” Chloe interrupted the paramedic, A smile of triumph mixed with disgust on her face as she turned and walked away…
The surgery on my hands took eighteen hours… When they wheeled me out of the operating room, The pale-faced surgeon bowed deeply to me. “Mr. Alexander, we truly did our best, but the results are far from ideal. I’m afraid you won’t be able to paint again…” Salty tears flowed down my cheeks and into my heart, stirring boundless bitterness. I forced a smile, my eyes pleading as I looked at her. “It’s okay. Please, just give me a painkiller now. I need to be discharged. I have so much waiting for me outside…” “No, if we give you more anesthetic, your hands will definitely be completely ruined!” I dropped to my knees before the surgeon. “Please…” Two hours later, The anesthetic took effect. I smiled as I was discharged, looking at the blood-soaked bandages on my hands. Since you ruined me, then let’s all go down together. First, I went to the company’s ongoing exhibition in the city and tore up all my paintings. Then I rushed to the office, And deleted all my ideas, all my sketches, from the computer… While I was destroying the half-finished paintings in Chloe’s office, Chloe burst in with Leo. She stared at the shredded paintings scattered on the floor and completely lost it. “Alex, what is the meaning of this?! You tore up the paintings at the exhibition, what about the tens of millions in tickets we sold?!” “And what does it mean to tear up all these paintings?!” Chloe looked at my bandaged hands, stained with blood. A cruel glint flashed in her eyes. She lunged forward and grabbed my freshly-operated wound, Gritting her teeth. “Alex, answer me!” Even with the heavy dose of anesthetic, it couldn’t block the sudden, excruciating pain. Cold sweat instantly beaded on my forehead. I shoved Chloe away, looking at the ‘remains’ of the paintings on the floor, and smirked. “It means nothing. It means I’m going to destroy you, just like you destroyed me a few hours ago!” Rage exploded in Chloe’s eyes. After a few seconds of silence, she suddenly burst into laughter. “Destroy me? Alex, you’re so naive. The copyrights to those paintings you just tore up were transferred to the company’s name ages ago! They’re not yours anymore! Forget tearing them, even if you just dirtied a corner, you’d have to pay damages!” “I’ve done a rough calculation for you. You tore up forty-five paintings. At market price, one painting…” Chloe’s words exploded in my mind with a *boom!* I couldn’t hear anything she said after that. I frantically pulled out my phone, found the painting copyright page, And when I saw the copyright had been transferred six months ago, My heart plummeted into the abyss. She had planned this all along… Six months ago was right when Leo joined the company. Perhaps, they had planned everything.
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