When True Love Costs Everything

When True Love Costs Everything

Gavin

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My studio was a monument to dust and dreams, haunted by stack of canvases and a growing pile of final notices. Then I saw it: a news notification celebrating Mark Johnson, the tech mogul, philanthropist, and the man I' d saved four years ago when he was dying in a hospital bed. When I called for help, his polished fiancée, Jessica, answered, her voice dripping with condescending sweetness as she dismissed my emergency as a financial ploy and him as "moved on." Mark came to the phone, his voice cold and hard, accusing me of faking my illness and abandoning him for money when he had nothing, throwing scraps of charity at me before hanging up. Later, in our old coffee shop, I saw them, a picture of perfect happiness, until Jessica spotted me and signaled Mark, who humiliated me publicly, snarling that I was a "pathetic, manipulative, greedy liar" trying to cash in on his success. At the gallery where I found work, they ambushed me again; Jessica deliberately poured water on me, and Mark, with icy contempt, declared I deserved even less, driving me to kneel and wipe the floor in a desperate, public act of self-abasement. Overwhelmed, I collapsed, and my best friend, Emily, screamed the truth: I was his anonymous kidney donor, dying because of it, but I, burdened by an inexplicable need to protect him, denied everything, reaffirming his narrative of me as a greedy con artist. His face contorted between Emily' s raw grief and my fabricated confession, he chose the easier lie and transferred a fortune into my account, a monstrous payment to 'buy' my lies and rid himself of me forever, unknowingly funding my funeral. But my dying words shattered his carefully constructed reality, revealing the devastating truth. In a horrifying turn, Jessica, seeking to regain Mark and eliminate me, lunged to smother me with a pillow, only to be stopped by Mark, who, in the ensuing struggle, accidentally pushed her through a window to her death. Overcome with guilt and armed with the truth, Mark then made the ultimate sacrifice, donating his healthy kidney to save my life, fulfilling his promise to "pay me back" and giving me a second chance I would live for both of us.

Introduction

My studio was a monument to dust and dreams, haunted by stack of canvases and a growing pile of final notices.

Then I saw it: a news notification celebrating Mark Johnson, the tech mogul, philanthropist, and the man I' d saved four years ago when he was dying in a hospital bed.

When I called for help, his polished fiancée, Jessica, answered, her voice dripping with condescending sweetness as she dismissed my emergency as a financial ploy and him as "moved on."

Mark came to the phone, his voice cold and hard, accusing me of faking my illness and abandoning him for money when he had nothing, throwing scraps of charity at me before hanging up.

Later, in our old coffee shop, I saw them, a picture of perfect happiness, until Jessica spotted me and signaled Mark, who humiliated me publicly, snarling that I was a "pathetic, manipulative, greedy liar" trying to cash in on his success.

At the gallery where I found work, they ambushed me again; Jessica deliberately poured water on me, and Mark, with icy contempt, declared I deserved even less, driving me to kneel and wipe the floor in a desperate, public act of self-abasement.

Overwhelmed, I collapsed, and my best friend, Emily, screamed the truth: I was his anonymous kidney donor, dying because of it, but I, burdened by an inexplicable need to protect him, denied everything, reaffirming his narrative of me as a greedy con artist.

His face contorted between Emily' s raw grief and my fabricated confession, he chose the easier lie and transferred a fortune into my account, a monstrous payment to 'buy' my lies and rid himself of me forever, unknowingly funding my funeral.

But my dying words shattered his carefully constructed reality, revealing the devastating truth.

In a horrifying turn, Jessica, seeking to regain Mark and eliminate me, lunged to smother me with a pillow, only to be stopped by Mark, who, in the ensuing struggle, accidentally pushed her through a window to her death.

Overcome with guilt and armed with the truth, Mark then made the ultimate sacrifice, donating his healthy kidney to save my life, fulfilling his promise to "pay me back" and giving me a second chance I would live for both of us.

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My world revolved around Jax Harding, my older brother's captivating rockstar friend. From sixteen, I adored him; at eighteen, I clung to his casual promise: "When you're 22, maybe I'll settle down." That offhand comment became my life's beacon, guiding every choice, meticulously planning my twenty-second birthday as our destiny. But on that pivotal day in a Lower East Side bar, clutching my gift, my dream exploded. I overheard Jax' s cold voice: "Can't believe Savvy's showing up. She' s still hung up on that stupid thing I said." Then the crushing plot: "We' re gonna tell Savvy I' m engaged to Chloe, maybe even hint she' s pregnant. That should scare her off." My gift, my future, slipped from my numb fingers. I fled into the cold New York rain, devastated by betrayal. Later, Jax introduced Chloe as his "fiancée" while his bandmates mocked my "adorable crush"-he did nothing. As an art installation fell, he saved Chloe, abandoning me to severe injury. In the hospital, he came for "damage control," then shockingly shoved me into a fountain, leaving me to bleed, calling me a "jealous psycho." How could the man I loved, who once saved me, become this cruel and publicly humiliate me? Why was my devotion seen as an annoyance to be brutally extinguished with lies and assault? Was I just a problem, my loyalty met with hatred? I would not be his victim. Injured and betrayed, I made an unshakeable vow: I was done. I blocked his number and everyone connected to him, severing ties. This was not an escape; this was my rebirth. Florence awaited, a new life on my terms, unburdened by broken promises.

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