The morning after my one-night stand with Damian Thorne, my private photos were plastered all over the internet. Everyone scorned me, mocking how a seemingly poised and elegant dancer could be so wild and reckless behind closed doors. I cried as I confronted Damian, demanding an explanation, but he humiliated me in public. “I just wanted to see what a prima ballerina was like in bed. Thought it would be amazing, but it was nothing special.” “Scarlett Hayes is the only one for me. What we had? Just a game.” He wrapped his arm around Scarlett Hayes, the very dancer who’d lost to me in every international competition we’d ever faced off in. His expression was smug and utterly contemptuous. It was then I realized: his three years of passionate pursuit of me had been nothing more than an elaborate plot to get back at me for Scarlett! Overnight, I plummeted from grace, branded a whore everyone could mock. Meanwhile, Damian openly paraded Scarlett everywhere, spoiling her rotten, treating her like a goddess. Three months later, he seemed to remember me, asking almost casually, “By the way, is Aurora Reed still begging for me to come back?” “Mr. Thorne, Ms. Reed is married. To your most hated rival.”
As I stumbled out of the Thorne mansion, my assistant, Chloe, called. “Aurora, the ballet company informed me that my reputation made me unsuitable for the lead role in Swan Lake. They even sent a termination letter…” “All my endorsements are bailing, and they’re suing me for damages!” “Please, Aurora, go beg Mr. Thorne! Everyone saw how desperately he loved you for three years. He’d never let you endure such humiliation!” Hearing Chloe’s choked voice, my heart felt like it was being torn apart. But even if I opened my mouth, I couldn’t bring myself to say it. The man who orchestrated my ruin, who sent me spiraling to rock bottom, was Damian himself. The sweeter our past moments, the crueler my reality now. His so-called love at first sight? A lie. His undying love? A lie too. His three years of passionate pursuit, his countless extravagant gestures, his endless nights by my side – it was all just an elaborate trap meant for me. Once he’d taken my virginity and helped his beloved deal me the ultimate blow, I became useless trash, tossed aside without a second thought. Only last night, he’d held me so tenderly, his whispers of love echoing in my ears, kissing my forehead again and again. “Aurora, you are the woman I, Damian Thorne, love most in this life. I want you to stay by my side forever.” “After tonight, I’ll go back and reject the arranged marriage my family had planned for me. I’ll tell them you’re the woman I’m going to marry.” “I’ll throw you a lavish wedding of the century that everyone will envy, and make you my cherished Mrs. Thorne, okay?” I was so moved, I almost told him that I was the sole heiress of the powerful Reed Corporation, whom his family had desperately tried to arrange a marriage with. I’d only kept it a secret to pursue my dream of becoming a dancer. I truly believed that when he returned to his family and discovered this, he’d be even more thrilled, convinced we were a match made in heaven. But instead, it became the most exquisite irony against myself. Fated love? Just a cruel performance. From the very beginning, it was a complete sham. Damian never loved me, so how could he ever betray me? I hung up the phone, lost in thought, and tripped in a puddle, falling hard. Seeing me sprawled on the pavement, covered in mud, everyone around me burst into scornful laughter. “Isn’t that the high and mighty Aurora Reed, the prima ballerina? Looks like Mr. Thorne was done with her, and now she can’t even walk straight!” One of the rich guys I’d turned down, Blake Morrison, leered at me, his eyes slithering over my body like a snake. “Since Mr. Thorne doesn’t want you, why not consider me?” “My fortune isn’t as grand as his, but I can certainly afford a few cheap thrills like you!” As they humiliated me, Damian stood behind them, arm wrapped around Scarlett, whispering intimately to her, not lifting a finger to defend me. Seeing that, any last shred of affection I had for him evaporated. But just as I struggled to my feet, preparing to leave, a saccharine voice suddenly chimed in from behind me. “Damian, I lost one of the diamond earrings you gave me. Aurora was the only one near us earlier…”
Scarlett Hayes pouted, her brow furrowed in a pitiful display, touching her half-bare earlobe. “If it were any other jewelry, it wouldn’t matter, but it’s the special gift you gave me for my eighteenth birthday. I’ve always treasured it like my life. If it’s lost, I’ll cry for ages…” Damian gently rubbed her shoulder, comforting her, then shot me a cold glare. “Aurora Reed, be smart, hand it over now.” “Otherwise, if my men find it, things will get messy.” Through gritted teeth, I spat, “Damian, I’m not as despicable as you think!” “When I said I was breaking up with you, I didn’t even take a single thing you ever gave me. Why would I take her earring?!” The onlookers snickered, whispering that I was just a struggling dancer, living off my performances, with no right to act so high and mighty. They claimed I must have hidden away plenty of Thorne family jewels. Damian scoffed, looking too impatient to deal with me. He casually waved over two bodyguards. “Go. Search her thoroughly. Don’t hold back.” In that moment, my heart was pierced by a thousand arrows, I couldn’t breathe from the pain. After three years together, I refused to believe Damian didn’t know my character. But just to get back at me for Scarlett, he was willing to let me be branded a thief, all to humiliate me further! When the bodyguards’ hands reached for me, I slapped them away. “Don’t touch me!” In front of everyone, I emptied my bag, throwing it on the ground. “You want to search? Go ahead! If you find anything that isn’t mine, I’ll pay you back a hundredfold!” My belongings spilled onto the ground: only a few simple makeup items and some ointment and bandages for dance bruises. Amidst the mocking jeers about my meager possessions, the bodyguards meticulously searched everything, flipping my bag inside and out three or four times. Finally, they shook their heads at Damian. Damian frowned slightly, then lowered his head, gently coaxing Scarlett. “It’s okay if we can’t find it. I’ll buy you another set, no, a hundred sets of couture jewelry, how about that?” Scarlett pouted and shook her head. “No, Damian, that was your first gift to me, it has so much meaning. No other jewelry can replace it!” “Besides, Ms. Reed hasn’t been searched completely yet, has she? She’s still wearing so many layers of clothes…” Looking at her venomous smile, I could hardly believe these words were coming from another woman, let alone a dancer. “Scarlett Hayes, don’t push it!” “No matter how low I’ve fallen, Scarlett, you can’t use a cheap earring to humiliate me!” “Since you’re accusing me of stealing, fine! I’ll call the police. Let them figure out who’s right and who’s wrong!” Just as I reached for my phone, Damian motioned for his bodyguards to snatch it directly from me. “Aurora Reed, this is the Thorne estate. You play by my rules.” “Every piece of clothing on your body was given to you by me. Since you insist on a clean break, you’ll return it all.” “Men, strip her, piece by piece!”
The late autumn night in Blackwood City was cold and desolate. I was held down in front of the Thorne mansion gates, and in front of the entire city’s elite and the flashing cameras of the media, my clothes were stripped off piece by piece. With each garment removed, shrill whistles and mocking laughter erupted. Before long, I was bare except for my underwear and a sheer silk slip. Even my stockings and shoes were gone. The biting wind whipped my hair, sticking it to my tear-streaked face. I felt utterly humiliated. Anyone with half a brain could see there was nowhere left on my body to hide any jewelry. I hugged myself, tears streaming down my face, and looked at Damian. “It’s come to this, can you stop now, Damian?” “All this time we were together, I never asked you for anything.” “Just this once, please, I’m begging you, leave me some shred of dignity. Can you?” The bodyguards hesitated, their gazes turning to Damian for instruction. Damian sat regally at the center of the courtyard banquet, his handsome face was cast in stark relief by the lights, half in shadow, half illuminated. His expression was unreadable. “Since that’s the case, then…” He hadn’t even finished his sentence when Scarlett giggled, cutting him off. “Since she’s already stripped this far, why not strip completely? That way, Ms. Reed’s innocence can be fully proven, don’t you agree, everyone?” If this were before, everyone in Blackwood City knew how utterly obsessed Damian was with me, and no one would have dared disrespect me. But now, they all knew I was just a discarded woman, and Scarlett Hayes was the apple of Damian’s eye. They all nodded in agreement with her. “Exactly! I bet that slip of hers could hide plenty more!”
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