“Amelia, what’s wrong?”

Ethan looked at me with worry. He pushed through the crowd. “Move! Get out of the way!”

Charlotte stepped forward with a smile and blocked his way. She held up her phone and kept him from seeing me.

“Amelia, your next role is a heroine with a heart condition? It’s no wonder your act looks so real! You really fooled everyone. Your acting is… impressive.”

Ethan glanced at the trailer on Charlotte’s phone. His worry turned to anger.

“Amelia, this is Charlotte’s celebration party, not your personal show. Get up, or else…”

I was in too much pain to hear the rest. My face twisted in agony.

The guests relaxed after Charlotte spoke. They looked at me with disgust while I remained curled up on the ground.

“Looks like she hasn’t changed! Ethan, teach her a lesson. You are the mafia boss. How can you let her ruin my party and make a fool of you?”

Ethan said nothing. His eyes grew cold.

Seeing this, Charlotte’s friends grabbed my hair and forced me to lift my head.

“Listen, Charlotte is the star today. Whether you like it or not, you’ll apologize and offer a toast to her.”

Ethan took a glass of strong whiskey from a waiter and held it out to me.

“Get up, and toast to Charlotte! I’ll overlook the stupid thing you did today.”

Tears ran down my face from the pain. I looked at Ethan’s cold, heartless face and forced myself to say, “No.”

Charlotte finished her champagne and looked at me in disdain.

“Amelia, I already finished my drink. You are really narrow-minded. Poor Ethan! He always tries to defend you.

“If you love acting so much, I’ll help you.”

Charlotte grabbed the whiskey. Her friends immediately understood. They pried open my jaw and pinched my nose.

“No…”

I struggled. I could only watch helplessly as they poured the whiskey into my mouth.

My heart could not take it. Sharp pain and suffocating pressure spread through me.

My eyes widened, and I clutched at my chest. I instinctively reached out to Ethan for help.

“Help… help me… my heart…”

Ethan knocked my hand away coldly. He was heartless.

“Stop pretending, Amelia! It is just a glass of whiskey! It can’t hurt you.

“I’ve known you for a very long time and never once heard about your heart condition. I stayed silent because I loved you. I wanted to give you a chance, but you disappointed me.”

I closed my eyes in despair.

Three years ago, I ran away to follow my dream of acting. One day, I was cornered by street thugs, and Ethan appeared like a hero. He saved me.

We fell in love at first sight and quickly grew close. When I learned that Ethan, who seemed cold and distant, had lost both his parents to sudden illness, I decided to hide my own condition so that he would not have to feel that kind of fear and worry again.

I never thought that this act of kindness would one day become the very thing that would cost me my life.

Ethan turned away in disgust and refused to look at me again.

After he turned his back, Charlotte grew even more smug. She pulled my hair harder, raised an eyebrow, and used her sharp nails to force my eyes open so that she could watch the pain and despair on my face.

“W-Why… Why are you doing this to me?”

I was forced to open my bloodshot eyes to look at the cruel woman in front of me.

Charlotte took a smug sip of her champagne. She leaned close to my miserable face and whispered with a wicked smile, “You don’t deserve him.

“Ethan is handsome, rich, and the boss of the entire Rolling Stones. I spent eleven years trying to win his heart and failed. How can someone like you, a filthy rat who crawled out of the gutter, ever deserve him?”

She flung me to the ground.

‘A filthy… rat?’

A cold, bitter smile appeared on my lips.

If my father knew I had been humiliated and mistreated like this after leaving home, how heartbroken would he be?

Sadly, I would never see him again.

My consciousness began to fade. Through the blur, I saw the pouch of medicine I had dropped near the waiter’s feet. Some emergency medicine was still inside.

The will to survive drove every part of my body.

‘Just a few more steps…’ I thought. ‘Just a few more…’

I thought I could reach the pouch. Even if I could not, I hoped this would catch the waiter’s attention. Maybe he would be kind enough to give me the medicine so that I could at least have a chance to see my father again.

I gritted my teeth and crawled forward with all my strength.

Right before my hand reached the pouch, a stiletto heel came down and crushed the medicine packet into the ground.

“Ha, weren’t you just pretending you were about to die? Look how fast you can crawl now!”

Charlotte shoved the waiter aside and yelled, “Amelia, you just couldn’t help showing your clumsy trick! I take back my compliment about your acting!”

She raised her voice on purpose to draw everyone’s attention.

Ethan glanced at me, then turned away with even more impatience.

I did not care about that. I bit down on the pain and tried to pull the packet away from under Charlotte’s heel.

Charlotte gave me a mocking smile and whispered, “Your heart must hurt so much you nearly died, right? Ha! There’s worse pain yet to come!”

The long tablecloth hid her sharp heel. Charlotte’s eyes went cold. She lifted her foot and kicked my outstretched arm.

The heavy heel hit my skin with a dull sound.

I felt numb and could not even make a sound.

The waiter who had been pushed aside pointed under the table and screamed, “Blood! There’s so much blood!”

His cry got everyone’s attention. Ethan frowned. He pushed through the guests and rushed to my side. When he saw me, he froze.

The small cuts on my arm from the broken glass had been ripped open by Charlotte’s heel.

Blood flowed and soaked the grass beneath me. It was a shocking sight.

Ethan saw my pale face and panicked.

“Amelia! I’ll take you to the hospital now!”

He did not hesitate and reached to pick me up.

Charlotte showed a flicker of panic, then put on a calm smile and stopped him.

“This is nothing, Ethan. It looks worse than it actually is. It’s just a surface wound. No need for an emergency. I’m a doctor. I can treat her faster than going to the hospital.”

Charlotte acted concerned and lifted my arm. Blood ran from the wound and mixed with grass and dirt. My arm looked dirty and awful.

“Amelia, you have to stop with the pity party. You crawled over the glass on purpose to cut yourself, didn’t you? You’re taking advantage of Ethan’s love for you to make him give in. I feel sorry for him.”

Ethan looked at the bloodstained glass and believed Charlotte instantly. His face turned icy and cruel.

“Is that it, Amelia? You knew I couldn’t stand seeing someone close to me hurt, so you used such petty tricks to threaten me?”

I felt close to death. My eyes were wide but unfocused. My blank look only made Ethan angrier.

“Can’t you even put up with such a small thing as this for me? Listen, Amelia. We aren’t leaving this place today. We’ll stay until the party ends. Charlotte, treat her wound.

“Whoever helps Amelia will be considered to be against the whole Rolling Stones.”

His words sounded like a sentence.

Charlotte grew triumphant. She lifted my injured arm as if it were a rag doll.

“Don’t worry, Ethan. I’ve treated wounds like these many times before. First, we need to disinfect them.”

She grabbed a glass of liquor and poured it straight onto my wound.

The burning pain made my weak heart stop for a moment. My mind cleared a little.

I spat up blood and managed to say with difficulty, “M-my father… Reece… won’t let you get away with this…”

Charlotte laughed. “Your father? A junkie from West Street or a drunk from East Street?

“My father runs the city hospitals and has close ties with the Rolling Stones. Don’t try to act superior in front of me.”

Darkness flickered at the edge of my vision. I felt numb and could no longer feel the pain.

Charlotte’s friends reacted in surprise.

“Reece? You mean the Reece family that controls half the mafia world?”

“Don’t listen to her lies! Ethan told me she’s a failed actress. If Ethan hadn’t rescued her, who knows where she’d be now?”

“The Reece family? Please! This woman will say anything to survive!”

After hearing Charlotte’s words, they laughed cruelly.

Ethan’s face grew even darker. He turned his back on me and walked away. He did not care about me, even though I was dying.

My body grew stiff. Before I blacked out, I saw a figure in the distance.

Tears blurred my view. I called out even though I knew it might just be a hallucination.

“Papa… save me…”

Charlotte laughed loudly.

“Papa? Do you really think you are a mafia principessa? Who is your papa? A mindless fan or another sponsor?”

She saw Ethan walk away and grabbed my mud-caked hair. She slapped me hard.

My world collapsed into dizzying blackness. A roar filled my ears, and their cruel laughter cut through it.

“Face the truth! Even if you die by our hands, no one’s coming to save you!”

My body gave its final warning. I trembled nonstop and collapsed in a pool of my own cold sweat.

Just as I closed my eyes in despair, a furious voice rang in my ear. I knew it better than any other voice in the world.

“How dare you torment my daughter?! I’ll make you pay with your lives!”