Behind me, Corinne let out a cry of pain, tears rolling down her cheeks like pearls.

Clark rushed over and pulled her into his arms, his eyes full of nothing but concern for her.

"Gillian, you actually put your hands on someone? Is this how a future Farley wife behaves?"

A flash of jealous hatred crossed Corinne's face at those words, but she kept crying, all delicate and pitiful, and lifted her head with practiced fragility.

"Gilly, I'm sorry. I just wanted to share the joy of my cousin's graduation with you. And I'd heard your cooking was wonderful, so I wanted to try it for myself. I never meant to upset you."

I let out a cold, contemptuous laugh and looked at Clark.

"Are you two done with the performance? Can I leave now?"

Clark frowned, his tone sharp with displeasure.

"Where are you rushing off to? I'll let it slide that you hurt Corinne. Stay and prepare dinner for us, and I'll forgive you."

Maura walked over, her expression hovering between a smirk and a sneer. "She's right, you know. Someone who got expelled from school is only fit to sweep floors and cook meals."

My vision went red. I glared at her, every muscle in my body coiled tight.

Corinne stepped in front of her cousin, her face a mask of false sympathy. "Maura, don't say that. Gilly has worked herself to the bone for the Farley family all these years. It hasn't been easy for her."

Clark nodded approvingly at Corinne, then turned to me with undisguised impatience.

"Gillian, I wish you'd learn a thing or two from Corinne. Stop making everything into a fight and putting me in an impossible position."

My heart plummeted. Corinne had planned this from the very beginning.

She had used the thing that cut me deepest to provoke me, to make me lose my composure in front of everyone.

Clark waved his hand, and a second later, the bodyguards seized me and marched me into the kitchen.

Before long, Corinne followed me in, a smile on her face.

"Gilly, let me help you."

Clark wrapped an arm around her waist, his voice low and tender.

"Corinne, don't bother with this kind of rough work. You'll hurt your hands."

The moment those words fell, my chest tightened painfully as if my lungs were squuezed shut.

Every winter, it was I who did all the back breaking work in the freezing kitchen. The cold water seeping through my palms burned it until frostbite covered every inch of my once delicate skin, itching so badly I couldn't sleep

Clark used to hold my hands in his and breathe warm air over them.

"Baby once you marry into the family, I promise you won't have to suffer like this anymore."

I lowered my head, swallowing the tears back threatening to spill, my voice barely spoke, stripped of all warmth.

"If Miss Pruitt wants to help so badly, let her. I am done serving the Farley family."

Clark stared at my face, his smile unreadable.

"Corinne was right about you. You can't handle even a little hardship."

"I'm the one who had her invite you here to cook tonight. If everyone's satisfied with what you make, I'll tell my mother right away that I want to marry you."

I stood there, speechless, the absurdity of it washing over me. Five years of devotion, reduced to this.

I had waited on his family's elders day and night while he took Corinne around the world.

I had chopped vegetables and scrubbed dishes in the dead of winter while he sat at the head table with Corinne, eating and laughing.

And now he said I couldn't handle hardship. Everything I had given was nothing but a joke.

Corinne watched the color drain from my face, a glint of satisfaction in her eyes.

She walked over to me and picked up a pastry I had just finished making.

"It's a day for celebrating. Let's all calm down."

She took a bite while it was still warm.

The next second, she shrieked. The plate slipped from her hands and shattered at my feet.

"Gillian! You knew I'm allergic to peanuts!"

"Even if you're angry at me, you didn't have to make peanut pastry just to hurt me!"

Shards of porcelain sliced into my shins and the tops of my feet. Blood ran freely down my skin.

My eyes went wide.

"I didn't know..."

A hand clamped around my wrist like an iron vise. Clark's grip was so brutal it felt like he was crushing the bones beneath the skin.

"Gillian, how dare you!"

"Attacking Corinne, right in front of me, again and again!"

Corinne crumpled to the floor in an exaggerated show of distress. He flung me aside to get to her, and the back of my skull cracked against the sharp corner of a cabinet. Blood dribbled down my head as the agonizing pain drilled in center of my head making me dizzy.

Clark turned back to look at me, his eyes bloodshot.

"You're vicious. Don't blame me for being heartless."

In that case, I’ll make sure you get a taste of what it feels like to have the one you cherish most be hurt!

Lightening struck my soul as my entire body trembled as an ominous thought flashed through my mind.

He cast a cold glance at me, then placed a call to the hospital.

"Gilly, If you had just behaved yourself for once and not stirred up trouble repeatedly, I could have ordered the hospital to allocate todays' kidney to your father!"

I threw myself at his feet, desperately clutching at his boots for mercy.

"It was my fault! I'm sorry! I'll apologize to Miss Pruitt right now. I'll get on my knees for her!"

"My dad can't hold on much longer. He's waited so long. Please..."

Clark's hand paused mid-motion.

But Corinne suddenly started gasping for air, looking like she might faint at any second.

"Clark, I'm fine... I just have a weak constitution. It's not her fault."

Maura caught her by the arm and burst into crocodile tears.

"Corinne, the last time you had an allergic reaction you nearly died! She's trying to kill you!"

Clark's brow knotted tight. He stepped back, his tone final.

"What you did today was beyond unacceptable. If you don't face consequences, you are never going to learn!"

He picked up the phone. His voice was ice.

"Cancel the kidney transplant for Gillian Fox's father. No rescheduling for three months."

Those words landed on me like a death sentence. I crumpled to the floor, numb, remembering how he'd finally agreed to help find a kidney donor for my father, how he'd called hospital after hospital on our behalf.

He'd wrapped his arm around my shoulders and whispered reassurances in my ear.

He'd said that once Dad recovered, he'd take our whole family to New Zealand, buy a ranch, and let my parents spend their golden years somewhere sunny and peaceful.

And he'd propose to me in the most beautiful place in the world.

All lies. Every last word. He'd just been stringing me along.

I was locked in the Farley family's basement, thrown into filthy standing water.

My claustrophobia hit full force. I couldn't stop shaking, couldn't stop the tears and snot streaming down my face.

I was on the edge of losing consciousness when the iron door opened.

I stumbled out in a daze and found the living room TV on. Corinne Pruitt's smiling face filled the screen.

She and Clark sat shoulder to shoulder, practically fused together.

Hanging from her earlobes were the Farley family heirloom earrings, the ones reserved only for the family's bride. In her hands she held up a document.

"Thank you to Clark for giving me thirty percent of Farley Group shares as an engagement gift. I couldn't be happier."

"We're planning to see the Northern Lights in Norway and have a simple destination wedding. Nothing too extravagant."

Clark tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, his face soft with adoration.

I opened my phone. Messages flooded in like a tidal wave.

Friends. Former classmates. Strangers on the internet.

Every single one of them asking me the same thing, barely hiding their laughter.

Mocking me for being the Farley family's unpaid maid for five years, only to be kicked to the curb.

Saying the Farleys' so-called standards for choosing a bride had been a joke from the start, a game played at my expense, and now Corinne got to marry in without lifting a finger.

Saying I was delusional. An ugly duckling who thought she could become a swan, who believed a little suffering would buy her a seat at the table.

The insults and ridicule hit like stones against my face. I was the real clown, a fool who'd spent five years of her youth performing in her own pathetic circus.

My phone rang. Clark's voice came through casual, almost careless like it was even a hassle to inform me.

"Corinne said she needed to put on a show for her family. I was just playing along."

"Once things smooth over with her parents, we'll go to New Zealand and get married."

I hung up without a word. The memories of past sliced through my flesh as if my entir heart was peeled raw.

Clark Farley, did you ever once stop to think about what I've endured? What made you so sure that every time you looked back, I'd still be standing there behind you?

The moment I stepped through the Farley estate's front gate, I saw my mother running toward me with a bankbook clutched in her hand, her eyes red and swollen.

She saw how pale I was and pulled me right into her arms so tight it hurt. Her voice shook hard.

"Gilly, my baby girl. You've suffered enough."

"I sold the family heirloom. We have the money now. Come with me. We're leaving."

I wiped my tears and nodded, firm.

We went straight to the hospital, arranged an overseas transfer immeditely before booking the next available flight.

As the plane climbed into the sky. I finally leaned against my mother's shoulder, holding my father's thin hand in releif before snapping my SIM card in half.

Clark Farley, this is where it ends. I hope, for the rest of this life, we never meet again.