Broken Pianist, Unbreakable Spirit Returns

Broken Pianist, Unbreakable Spirit Returns

Guo Er

5.0
Comment(s)
3.2K
View
10
Chapters

I was Haylee Velasquez, a real estate heiress and Juilliard pianist, engaged to tech genius Joshua Cunningham. My life was a fairytale written in gold. Days before our wedding, I was kidnapped. The ransom was fifty million dollars. My fiancé refused to pay. Instead, he and my best friend, Giselle, used that exact amount to close a business deal, leaving me to be tortured for fifteen days. I lost our unborn child and the use of my hands forever. When I finally escaped and ran to him, bleeding and terrified, he accused me of being dramatic. "What in God's name are you doing?" he hissed. "Are you trying to ruin everything?" He had me committed to a mental institution for three years, stealing my inheritance and my sanity. Now, I'm out. A viral article celebrating their success just popped up on my phone, with a cruel comment from Giselle meant only for me. They think I'm still the broken girl they locked away. They're about to find out how wrong they are.

Broken Pianist, Unbreakable Spirit Returns Chapter 1

I was Haylee Velasquez, a real estate heiress and Juilliard pianist, engaged to tech genius Joshua Cunningham. My life was a fairytale written in gold.

Days before our wedding, I was kidnapped. The ransom was fifty million dollars. My fiancé refused to pay.

Instead, he and my best friend, Giselle, used that exact amount to close a business deal, leaving me to be tortured for fifteen days. I lost our unborn child and the use of my hands forever.

When I finally escaped and ran to him, bleeding and terrified, he accused me of being dramatic.

"What in God's name are you doing?" he hissed. "Are you trying to ruin everything?"

He had me committed to a mental institution for three years, stealing my inheritance and my sanity.

Now, I'm out. A viral article celebrating their success just popped up on my phone, with a cruel comment from Giselle meant only for me.

They think I'm still the broken girl they locked away.

They're about to find out how wrong they are.

Chapter 1

My therapist always said that healing wasn't linear, but sometimes it felt like a cruelly twisted circle, dragging me back to the exact spot I'd fought so hard to leave behind. Today, that circle was drawn by a digital screen, a glowing rectangle filled with words that promised to shatter the fragile peace I' d built.

I was on my usual bus route, the low hum of the engine a familiar comfort, a rhythmic pulse against the dull throb behind my eyes. Sunlight filtered through the grimy window, painting streaks across the worn seats. I usually spent this time watching the city wake up, a quiet observer in a world that once demanded my full, dazzling participation. Now, I preferred the shadows.

But today, the shadows were interrupted by the insistent buzz of my phone. A notification. Another viral article, probably. The internet was a vast ocean of noise, most of it meaningless. I rarely dove deep, preferring to skim the surface, a detached observer. My life now was simple, quiet. I liked it that way. Most of the trending topics were about celebrities I didn't recognize or political dramas I couldn't care less about. I scrolled past them, my thumb a disinterested blur.

Then I saw it. A familiar name. A name that, even after three years, could still send a jolt of ice through my veins. Giselle Carney.

The headline blared about her latest triumph, a glowing profile painting her as the ultimate female tech mogul, Joshua Cunningham' s right-hand, his indispensable partner. People were gushing in the comments, praising her ambition, her drive, her "rags-to-riches" story. I felt nothing. Just a familiar, dull ache.

But then, a specific comment, one buried deep within a thread, caught my eye. It was from an account with a peculiar username, one I instinctively recognized. Giselle' s personal, less public handle. It was a vicious, calculated strike, aimed directly at me, even if no one else knew it.

"Some people are just born to create drama," it read, nestled under a photo of Giselle and Joshua, both beaming. "Always seeking attention, always playing the victim. So glad that chapter is finally closed. True success is built on stability, not manufactured chaos."

My breath hitched. Manufactured chaos. It was a veiled reference, cruel and cutting. A public shaming in plain sight, a reminder of the story they' d fed the world. My story.

I usually ignored the internet' s endless chatter. The sheer volume of it guaranteed anonymity, offered a shield. But this wasn't just chatter. This was Giselle. And that specific phrase, "manufactured chaos," it was a direct hit. It meant she hadn' t forgotten. And she wanted to make sure I hadn't either.

This wasn't just a fleeting thought or a random insult. It was a deliberate, delayed provocation. Like a predator, she had waited until the perfect moment to deliver her final, crushing blow.

The article itself was already trending, hundreds of thousands of likes and shares. But that comment, her personal one, was quickly rocketing to the top. People were dissecting it, applauding her "honesty," her "strength" in overcoming past "obstacles."

Then I saw the picture she posted with it. A close-up of a hand, her hand, intertwined with Joshua' s, holding a delicate, almost ethereal diamond pendant. It wasn't just any pendant. It was a custom piece, one Joshua had designed. It was my engagement gift from him, meant to be worn on our wedding day. A subtle, yet devastatingly effective, symbol of their shared victory, a flag planted on the ruins of my life.

"Some women," Giselle' s comment continued, "believe their birthright guarantees them everything. They play the victim when their fragile world crumbles. They don't understand that true worth is earned, not inherited. Joshua and I built this empire together, brick by brick. Finally, we can truly enjoy the fruits of our labor, free from the burdens of the past."

"Finally." The word echoed in my mind, a venomous whisper. It screamed of premeditation, of a long-held desire, finally sated. It was a declaration of war, three years too late, or perhaps, perfectly timed.

I slumped back against the bus seat, the movement unconscious. The world outside, the bustling city, blurred into a stream of colors. I wasn't interested in the usual memes or celebrity gossip. This was a direct, personal assault.

The comments section filled with a deluge of opinions.

"So true! Some people just love drama."

"Must be talking about his ex. She was always so... much."

"Good for Giselle! She always seemed like the steady one. Joshua needs stability."

But not all comments were in agreement. Some questioned the veiled cruelty.

"Is this really necessary? So passive-aggressive."

"Why drag up old dirt? What happened to 'rising above'?"

Then, a new wave of comments started to appear, fueled by online sleuths.

"Wait, isn't this Haylee Velasquez they're talking about? The real estate heiress who got kidnapped and then had a public meltdown?"

"Found an old photo! Look at her, compared to Giselle. Giselle always looked so put-together, even back then."

A grainy, pixelated image flashed across my screen, an archived news photo from three years ago. It was me, disheveled, hollow-eyed, my beautiful wedding dress torn and stained. My hair, once meticulously styled, hung in lank strands around my face. My body, once a canvas of health, was a map of bruises and thinness.

I remembered that day. The day I escaped. The day I ran, bleeding and half-naked, into a packed charity event, where Joshua was the guest of honor, giving a keynote speech. Giselle stood beside him, poised and elegant in a sleek, emerald-green gown. She looked like a goddess. I looked like a ghost.

My vision swam.

I saw Joshua' s face, not in the current article, but in that old memory, his eyes narrowing, his lips twisting into a sneer as I stumbled towards him. He hadn't seen a woman who had just endured fifteen days of hell. He had seen a problem. A dramatic, inconvenient problem.

"What in God's name are you doing?" he'd hissed, his voice low, but sharp enough to cut through the hushed murmurs of the horrified crowd. "Are you trying to ruin everything?"

Ruined. That was his only concern. Not my ripped clothes. Not my raw, bleeding skin. Not the terror still clinging to me like a shroud. Just the disruption. The ruin. And I, in my trauma-muddled state, couldn't understand. I had run to him,

my savior, only to be met with accusation.

Giselle, ever the picture of composure, had stepped forward, a sympathetic hand on Joshua's arm, her eyes sweeping over me with a mixture of pity and something colder, something triumphant. She had offered a blanket, a gesture of charity, while her gaze held a silent, brutal message: Look at you. Look at me. I won.

The contrast was stark, cruel, and immortalized in that blurry photo. The elegant, collected COO, Giselle, next to the vibrant tech titan, Joshua. And me, the disheveled, screaming mess, the "drama queen," the "victim" who couldn't handle her own life. That was the narrative they had crafted. That was the story the world bought.

My fingers tightened around the phone, the cold glass pressing into my palm. It wasn't just a memory. It was a wound, reopened, festering.

Continue Reading

Other books by Guo Er

More
Too Late: The Innocent Traitor I Destroyed

Too Late: The Innocent Traitor I Destroyed

Mafia

5.0

I walked out of the federal penitentiary with a terminal cancer diagnosis and exactly six months to live. Desperate for money to pay for a sky burial, I returned to the Vitiello family, the people who now wanted me dead. Dante, the man I had loved since childhood, looked at me with pure hatred. He thought I was the monster who killed his mother. He didn't know I had confessed to a crime I didn't commit to hide the ugly truth—that she had taken her own life. To punish me, Dante became cruel. He forced me to work as a servant, making me stand guard outside his bedroom door while he was intimate with his fiancée, Sofia. When the estate caught fire, I didn't hesitate. I ran into the inferno. I dragged Dante to safety, my back burning as debris fell on me, scarring me forever. But when he woke up, I hid in the shadows and let Sofia take the credit. I couldn't let him feel indebted to a "murderer." I thought that was the worst of it. I was wrong. On the eve of his wedding, Sofia had an accident and needed a blood transfusion. I was the only match. Dante didn't know my body was already shutting down. He didn't know my blood was poisoned with cancer markers. "Take it all," he roared at the doctors, ignoring my frail, trembling body. "Just save my wife." I died on that table, drained dry to save the woman who stole my life. It wasn't until the monitor flatlined that his right-hand man finally threw a file onto Dante's lap. "She didn't kill your mother, Dante. And she didn't just leave town. You just executed the only person who ever truly loved you."

The Wife He Cast Aside

The Wife He Cast Aside

Romance

5.0

The two pink lines on the pregnancy test glowed back at me, a beacon of hope after two years of trying. My first thought was David, my husband, away at a tech conference. This was everything we wanted for our future. But when I video-called him, eager to share the joyous news, it wasn't his face that filled the screen. I heard his voice, cold and dismissive, telling someone, "I' ll tell her I want a divorce tomorrow." Then came the husky, triumphant voice of Emily White, his head of marketing: "You promise, David? You' ll leave her for me?" My phone slipped from my trembling hand as he promised Emily, "Tomorrow, it' ll be over. Then it' s just you and me. And our baby." The words "Divorce" and "Our baby" echoed in the silent bathroom, each a cruel twist of the knife. I stood there, stunned, the positive pregnancy test in my hand a mockery of my shattered reality. Returning home, I found David and Emily in our bed, in our perfect suburban home. Not only was he unapologetic, but he also physically shoved me, then stood there, naked and defiant, declaring our marriage over. When I, shaking, revealed my pregnancy, he snatched the test, snarled, "It doesn' t matter. I don' t want it. I don' t want you," and snapped the test in two, throwing the broken pieces at my feet. How could the man who promised me the world, the man I poured my life into, become this cruel stranger? How could he deny his own child, especially after knowing my struggles to conceive? The betrayal was compounded when I discovered, through a chilling message, that he had been with Emily, celebrating their "first big deal," on the day of my father' s funeral. The man I loved had desecrated my deepest grief. Now, a cold, hard resolve clicked into place. He would pay for every lie, every betrayal, every tear.

You'll also like

While I Was Bleeding Out, He Lit Lanterns For Her

While I Was Bleeding Out, He Lit Lanterns For Her

Katie Oettgen

As I lay on the floor of our manor, bleeding out from a ruptured ectopic pregnancy, I used my last ounce of strength to call my husband, Cole. I begged him for help, my vision blurring. But the only thing I heard was the clinking of champagne glasses and his mistress's giggle in the background. "Stop the drama, June," Cole snapped, his voice cold. "We're about to go on stage. Don't call again." He hung up, leaving me to die alone on the Persian rug while he accepted an award with another woman on his arm. I woke up in the hospital days later. My baby was gone. They had removed my fallopian tube. Cole finally arrived, smelling of expensive scotch and his mistress's perfume. He didn't hug me. He didn't cry. Instead, he leaned over my hospital bed, pressing his knee into the mattress until my fresh stitches tore open and bled. "You embarrassed me by calling an ambulance," he hissed. "My mistress, Alycia, says you're faking it. Clean yourself up." He left me bleeding again to go announce a $10 million donation to Alycia's "groundbreaking" medical research. I stared at the TV screen, numb. The research Alycia was taking credit for? It was mine. I wrote that patent years ago under a pseudonym. They thought I was just a poor, orphan housewife who needed Cole's money to survive. They had no idea I was actually a billionaire scientist hiding my identity. I pulled the IV needle out of my arm. A drop of blood fell onto the divorce papers I had been hiding. I didn't wipe it off. I signed my name right over it. Then I walked into the bank, reactivated my dormant account with $128 million, and bought the penthouse directly overlooking Cole's house. The mourning widow is dead. The avenger is born.

No Longer Mrs. Cooley: The Architect's Return

No Longer Mrs. Cooley: The Architect's Return

Xiao Xiaosu

I went to the City Clerk’s office for a routine copy of my marriage license to finalize a trust fund audit. I expected a simple piece of paper, but the clerk’s pitying look told me my entire life was a lie. "The license was never finalized, Ms. Oliver. In the eyes of the state, you are single." The three-hundred-guest wedding at the Plaza and the Vogue features meant nothing. My husband, Gray Cooley, had intentionally filed the documents with a "procedural defect" so he could discard me without a legal divorce. Moments later, an iCloud invite titled "Our Little Secret" popped up on my screen. It was a photo of my best friend, Brylee, holding a positive pregnancy test at our Hamptons estate. Gray’s text to her was the final blow: "Happy anniversary, babe. This baby is the best gift. Once the trust unlocks today, we’re done with the charade." I soon discovered they were even stealing my career, reassigning my architectural masterpiece to Brylee while preparing my eviction notice. Gray's mother called me a "barren mule" in a leaked recording, mocking the infertility I suffered after saving Gray’s life in a construction accident. I wasn't a wife; I was a three-year placeholder used to secure his inheritance. How could the man I bled for treat me like a disposable prop? How could my best friend carry his child while pretending to comfort me through my darkest moments? The betrayal burned until it turned into a cold, hard stone of fury. I didn't cry. Instead, I walked into the penthouse of the Barretts, the Cooleys' most powerful rivals. I signed a marriage contract with Kane Barrett, the man the tabloids called the "Beast of Wall Street." "I want a wedding," I told his father, my voice steady and lethal. "Bigger than the one I had with Gray." If they wanted me gone, they would have to watch me become the woman who owns their world.

Secret Triplets: The Billionaire's Second Chance

Secret Triplets: The Billionaire's Second Chance

Roderic Penn

I stood at my mother's open grave in the freezing rain, my heels sinking into the mud. The space beside me was empty. My husband, Hilliard Holloway, had promised to cherish me in bad times, but apparently, burying my mother didn't fit into his busy schedule. While the priest's voice droned on, a news alert lit up my phone. It was a livestream of the Metropolitan Charity Gala. There was Hilliard, looking impeccable in a custom tuxedo, with his ex-girlfriend Charla English draped over his arm. The headline read: "Holloway & English: A Power Couple Reunited?" When he finally returned to our penthouse at 2 AM, he didn't come alone-he brought Charla with him. He claimed she'd had a "medical emergency" at the gala and couldn't be left alone. I found a Tiffany diamond necklace on our coffee table meant for her birthday, and a smudge of her signature red lipstick on his collar. When I confronted him, he simply told me to stop being "hysterical" and "acting like a child." He had no idea I was seven months pregnant with his child. He thought so little of my grief that he didn't even bother to craft a convincing lie, laughing with his mistress in our home while I sat in the dark with a shattered heart and a secret life growing inside me. "He doesn't deserve us," I whispered to the darkness. I didn't scream or beg. I simply left a folder on his desk containing signed divorce papers and a forged medical report for a terminated pregnancy. I disappeared into the night, letting him believe he had successfully killed his own legacy through his neglect. Five years later, Hilliard walked into "The Vault," the city's most exclusive underground auction, looking for a broker to manage his estate. He didn't recognize me behind my Venetian mask, but he couldn't ignore the neon pink graffiti on his armored Maybach that read "DEADBEAT." He had no clue that the three brilliant triplets currently hacking his security system were the very children he thought had been erased years ago. This time, I wasn't just a wife in the way; I was the one holding all the cards.

Chapters
Read Now
Download Book
Broken Pianist, Unbreakable Spirit Returns Broken Pianist, Unbreakable Spirit Returns Guo Er Modern
“I was Haylee Velasquez, a real estate heiress and Juilliard pianist, engaged to tech genius Joshua Cunningham. My life was a fairytale written in gold. Days before our wedding, I was kidnapped. The ransom was fifty million dollars. My fiancé refused to pay. Instead, he and my best friend, Giselle, used that exact amount to close a business deal, leaving me to be tortured for fifteen days. I lost our unborn child and the use of my hands forever. When I finally escaped and ran to him, bleeding and terrified, he accused me of being dramatic. "What in God's name are you doing?" he hissed. "Are you trying to ruin everything?" He had me committed to a mental institution for three years, stealing my inheritance and my sanity. Now, I'm out. A viral article celebrating their success just popped up on my phone, with a cruel comment from Giselle meant only for me. They think I'm still the broken girl they locked away. They're about to find out how wrong they are.”
1

Chapter 1

24/12/2025

2

Chapter 2

24/12/2025

3

Chapter 3

24/12/2025

4

Chapter 4

24/12/2025

5

Chapter 5

24/12/2025

6

Chapter 6

24/12/2025

7

Chapter 7

24/12/2025

8

Chapter 8

24/12/2025

9

Chapter 9

24/12/2025

10

Chapter 10

24/12/2025