The Artist's Betrayal, A Love Lost

My solo exhibition. Ten years of blood, sweat, and paint, culminating in this night. But it was torn from me. Liam, my mentor, my lover, the man who rebuilt my gallery after a fire, seized my most personal masterpiece, "Echoes of the Fall," and gifted it to Scarlett, a new ingenue, right before my eyes. When I confronted him, asking him to leave, he slapped me, then threatened to ruin my parents' small business if I didn't beg Scarlett for forgiveness. I knelt. I apologized. The humiliation burned hotter than any fire. Later, he "lent" me to a business associate, a grotesque arrangement I couldn't comprehend. He then accused me of faking an injury on Scarlett and forced me to crawl on the freezing city streets, searching for a phantom earring, while strangers mocked and filmed me. My old friend, Ben, tried to intervene, but Liam dragged me away, accusing me of betrayal. His escalating paranoia led him to force me onto a balcony ledge, demanding I prove my love by letting go. I slipped, shattering my ankle. At the hospital, the doctor' s grave words echoed: "You' ve lost the baby." Liam' s cruel "test" had killed our child. In that sterile room, a cold, hard resolve solidified in my soul. I would disappear. I would die to him. He would finally know what he had lost.