Betrayed Bride: His Cruelest Debt

postponed again. For the fifth time. This time, it was a

talking. The "accidents" weren't accidents at all; they were me

e fall for his family's legal scandal. Kason, the man I loved, was syst

his freedom for the Ortiz family, had unknowingly bound me to my tormentor.

father's ashes and deliberately damage my vocal co

uch? What kind of man would destroy everythi

ictim. I would not be h

pte

rtiz, was postponed again. For the fifth time. This time, it

ing my nose. My left leg was in a cast, a dull, throbbing pain radiat

a strange

murmur. They were all Kason' s colleagues. They treated me with

. A fall down the stairs a month before our first wedding date. A kitchen fire that burned my h

at swerved into my lan

ce tight with worry. He would oversee my care, his touch professional and cool. He never seem

icia," he'd say. "Your

d him so much that his

ngwriter. My music was my life, second only to Kason. But my ha

to a wheelchair and pushed myself out into the quiet hallway. It was lat

balcony at the end of the hall. As I neared Kason' s offi

was light, musical, but laced with an undeniable edge. I

s low, devoid of the warmth he u

. I stopped the wheelchair, hid

be postponed for months," Jaye sounded impatient.

my throat. What were

" Kason said. He soun

voice dripped with disdain. "Why do you have

held my breath, my heart

t. Her father took the fall for him, a legal scandal that would have ruined our family

words didn't make se

r?" Jaye' s voice was

r laugh that cut me deeper than any phys

as nothing compared to the crushing wei

ugh with this far

Poole family has nothing. He thinks this is the

these little incidents until she g

that," he said,

of calculated cruelty. The fall. The fire. The sickness. The

expression of concern, every gent

me. He was hurting me, over and

d a hand over my mouth to stifle a sob, the movement sending a jolt of agony through my body. I escaped, pushing the wheels of

e me. He love

nd freedom for a man he called his friend. He did it so I would

ifice had bound m

ason, the brilliant, sought-after surgeon, had genuinely fallen for me, the quiet s

through my heart. My rare neurological condition meant I felt pain more

body trembling. Just as I was pulling

as K

ge and medication. He was

that fake concern that now made my sto

ed and swollen, but he didn't seem

whispered, m

u a painkiller and change the

new he was supposed to use a local anesthetic before

le touched his lips. A smile I hadn't seen directed at me in years.

mall, hand-carved wooden bird. I had made it for him for our first anniver

ght next to it, was

fractured into a million more pieces. He was so care

from Jaye's message. He swabbed the area a

ick up the

do it without

the raw skin was fire. A scream bui

ils digging into the bed

cus elsewhere. He was probably thinking about Jaye. Abou

It was a white-hot, searing agony that consumed me. My b

treaming down my face. "Kas

Be brave." His voice w

fixing a machine. Not like a doctor treating a

down with sharp, precise movements.

r patient," he said, not meet

her word. He was rushing to her. Th

ead. The physical pain was immense, but the emoti

postpone the wedding. He was punishing me for

. My body, broken and battered, finally gave up. The darkness at