Introduction

The phone buzzed, pulling me from a complex guitar passage.

It was Jake' s assistant, frantic: "There' s been an accident. Jake' s at St. Mary' s. He needs a transfusion. You' re the only match."

My world tilted.

I raced to the hospital, heart hammering, and gave my blood, my love, to save him.

An hour later, Jake' s assistant reappeared, looking annoyed.

"It was just a prank," he said, not meeting my eyes. "Jake' s fine. He' s at a party."

My blood ran cold.

I found my discarded blood, half-full, tossed like garbage, next to a service exit.

Then I heard laughter.

Jake, perfectly fine, emerged with Chloe, his childhood friend.

"Did you see her face?" Chloe cackled. "So pathetic."

Jake chuckled, a sound that now turned my stomach.

"She' d do anything for me, Chloe. It' s been three years. I told you I' d make her pay for what she did. For stealing that scholarship."

The scholarship. The red wine on my performance dress. The missed audition. All cruel jokes.

He never loved me. I was a tool, a target in his meticulously planned revenge.

The pain was a physical weight, but beneath it, a cold resolve hardened.

I clutched my phone, a single tear tracing a path down my cheek.

I called my brother.

"Liam," I said, my voice dead. "That offer... to study with the Maestro in Europe. Is it still open?"

"Of course, Liv. Why?"

"I' m taking it. I' m leaving. Tonight."

He thought he had destroyed me. He was wrong. I was just getting started.