COURTNEY’S POV.

Racing along the traffic-packed streets, flowers clutched in my fingers, fully bloomed like the ones in my chest, consuming the space as they stretched their pink roses around, ready to ensnare my heart further— for the love of my life.

“6, 8, 2, 4.”

I punched in the code to his apartment, and walked in.

“Kent! I got the flowers I would like you to give to me when you propose to the public. It's a rare…” I was saying, brushing my black hair back from my face, but stopped when I looked at Kent, sweating buckets on the sofa, with only his boxers on.

Weird.

“Why did you come?” He asked, his voice strained, and I blushed at his unease, perching on his lap, with my arms round his neck.

“To check on you, of course. And how are the properties I signed over to you? Have you started on the boutique? I seriously can't wait for it to be the only business I handle.” I said, bouncing playfully on him, as my roses slipped to the floor.

“No.” Kent reached out, as I bent to retrieve them, but I was too fast. “Don't worry. I got this.” I teased— until I froze.

There, under the coffee table, cowered a naked lady.

Screaming, I jolted to my feet, nearly tripping over.

“What the hell!?” I lashed out.

Kent got up, and shook his head in resignation.

“Come out, Lacey.” He called, and a Blondie came out, with blue eyes as deep as the ocean. I couldn't understand.

“What is this? What is she doing? Why is she here? Why are you both naked? What the hell have you both been doing?” I demanded, feeling the twist of rage boil slowly in my belly.

“I think it's time you know now. There's no reason to keep hiding it from you anymore. You're of no use to me now, so since you're aware, you can exit my life. Do you know how hard it has been…” Kent said.

“What are you saying? What happens to our marriage, and the properties… wait, who is she?”

“My wife, who will manage our properties together with me.”

I landed a deafening slap on his firm cheek. “My properties?”

He shoved me hard, and I crashed into the sofa.

“Security!” He shouted, and men came pouring out from corners of the house.

Kent hugged Lacey, and they both stared at me. I was so confused.

Men grabbed my weak arms in a strong lock that I could not twist out of.

“What are you doing? Let me go! Kent! We're getting married next month. You're to propose to me this…”

“Don't you get it? This… this was all planned! Are you that dumb? Why would anyone love you?” He asked, and my bones went limp. The men dragged me out like a sack of potatoes, and left me on the streets.

Like a beggar, I sat on the streets till the sun peaked high, burning mercilessness onto my fair skin. My gray eyes stayed dry, but my heart splintered, each shard grinding against me like glass crushed beneath a hammer.

All of me was sinking down as the extreme weight of everything I'd discovered dragged me, fighting to consume me, and leave me twisted helplessly. Finally, when the sun went down, I began to wander my way back to my house, thinking hard.

What would be my next step? What could I actually do?

The traffic lights switched colors, and my feet tapped slowly onto the road, crossing.

However, I suddenly stopped, feeling my heart crush afresh, as the tears finally made their entrance. What just happened in the last few hours? People walked past me, glancing at me, and then screams suddenly erupted, as everyone scattered, rushing to get off the road.

Turning to the side, a mad car defying all traffic rules sped like a bolt of lightning, and before my brain could shock my feet into movement, I'd felt the hit like a huge force, knocking me out of existence.

Blank, Quiet… the world was.

No pain.

COURTNEY'S POV.

The discomfort slowly rocked me to consciousness. The pulsing and throbbing all over my body—then came the pungent smell of antiseptic, crushing against my nostrils like a squeeze of lemon.

My lids fluttered open slowly, but snapped shut against the harsh lights, and it took a few more tries before a white ceiling finally came to focus.

I groaned, feeling the pain levels rise and crash suddenly, getting faster in their rhythm. “How are you feeling?” A warm voice asked me, mixed with the beeping of machines.

My lips were so heavy that I couldn't bring them to move.

“Blink if you mean yes. Do you feel a little pain?”

I blinked, and slowly turned to look at her. She gave directions to a nurse, and asked me a few more questions before giving me a pain reliever.

“Why is my face bandaged?” I asked, placing my hands to feel the roughness of my usually smooth face.

“Do you want the truth, ma'am?” She asked, looking at me sorrowfully, and before she even spoke, my heart fell twenty feet with a jolt, “Your face has been completely damaged. When we take the bandages off, you will be unable to handle it.”

Flashes of the accident hit my mind. The screeching tires as the car tried to come to a halt, the screams, the honks, the smoke, and the loud bang, that sent me rolling on the floor, feeling an immense hit as something sharp and heavy knocked directly into my face. I didn't feel any pain then. I simply blanked out.

“You've been in a coma for weeks. Your body has been healing fine, and it's a miracle that you're alive, but… we couldn't save your face. You'll need surgery.”

Never had I felt so many emotions rising in me at the same time. Boiling rage, the bigger tinge of regret on my tongue, the constant hits as I kept replaying the doctor's words in my ears, and the voice shouting in my head that none of it was real. It was all a lie!

But… when I was given a mirror, everything simply crashed, and I felt nothing. Just nothing.

All I could hear was the sound of my breathing. The doctor's words, the beeping of the machines, the chatter of nurses and patients… it all faded away.

The only thing that snapped me to consciousness was the man suddenly bending in front of me, looking into my eyes.

Apparently, I'd been staring at my horribly bandaged face for hours, unable to believe it was me.

This man was tall, broad-shouldered with piercing gray eyes similar to mine. In short, he looked like he stepped out of a novel.

“I'm David Jones, the man who saved you, and paid your bills.”

I sniffed, cowering as I felt ashamed of my face.

“I can cover my own bills.”

“Really? The hospital said the credit card on you was drained, and the man we called, who was on your emergency contact, said he had nothing to do with you. You have no parents, and…”

“What man?”

“My Forever.” He said.

The name I'd used to save Kent's number. I bit my lip.

Then it occured to me. I had nothing. I'd foolishly given it all to him because he told me he didn't want his woman to work. He wanted me to live like a Queen while he did all the hard work. He was a scammer! A con artist who had approached me for my money! Damn him!

“Careful, you're busting your stitches. Your face is all ruined up.”

He tossed a file to me, and I glanced at him suspiciously before opening it. It was a contract.

One with weird terms— really weird terms.

“Get surgery, a new face, a new life, new assets…” he leaned in, beauty dripping off his face like spring water, “All it takes is your signature on that.”

My signature on this… contract with strange terms?

COURTNEY'S POV.

I kept staring at the white contract sheet, words struggling to form in my mouth, but dying instead at my throat before they could even make it past.

The terms were very clear, and I looked at his beautifully molded face.

“You don't understand?”

“I don't.”

“I need a wife, and you'll be her. But at the same time, I'm going to use you to fulfill what we both want. Revenge on Kent. In return, I give you a new face, a new life, new assets, and the opportunity to get back at Kent Bieber.”

My fingers clenched around the contract, as something burned alive in my chest.

“Should you be thinking twice? Perhaps, you haven't seen this.” He said, tossing his phone to me, and I looked at the photo on it.

It was Kent, and his side chick Lacey. The wedding that ought to be mine. In the wedding dress that I picked out, the wedding hall that I personally picked, and supervised, with the flowers I bought and adored.

I gave a scoff, wanting to smash the phone into the ground, as my eyes became hot, and my throat raw.

I wanted to hit something. Damnit. I was in a coma for weeks, with a completely destroyed face, but he was having the marriage of the century after deceiving me, and conning me?

To think that I loved him.

“It is purely business, and we part when…”

Before he even finished speaking, I scribbled my signature away on the contract with fingers shaking from fury.

David put a finger under my chin. “I will make you pretty, darling. Very pretty.” He said, his eyes holding a promise.

~

Weeks later, I sat in the mirror, staring at my new face. We'd done the surgery, started a new life for me, given me some social exposure, and finally, we were preparing for the grand event which we were looking forward to.

That was the day we would ruin Kent.

But first, I had an important mission.

Putting mascara on my long dark lashes, I smiled, knowing my grey eyes would never be enough to make him remember me.

Now, my nose was high and elegant, my lips a perfect, little heart, my chin shaped in a soft V. My hair the brown of autumn leaves, cascading softly down my shoulders in soft, silky waves.

I'd become a piece of artwork.

David and I held a large wedding. The wedding of my dreams, although the bitterness was still there because each smile we sent to each other, each sweet look, each shared kiss was as fake as a bronze ring slathered with shiny gold paint.

But that was fine. Turned out Kent had messed around with more wrong people.

“He also tried to con me, but he will never get away with it. You are my doll, and you'll smash him into pieces for me.” David had whispered into my ear that day after we'd left the hospital.

I picked up my bag, after putting on a little gloss, and made my way out of the house.

David was making tea for himself when I passed by.

Why would Kent mess with such a man? His build alone, and the powerful feeling he evoked was enough to scare anyone away. Why was Kent so stupid?

His gray eyes turned on mine, and I shifted them away. Somehow, his eyes were way too intense.

“I'm going to see Kent.”

“Ah,” A wicked smile stretched on his lips, “Don't get overwhelmed.” He said, and I nodded, before going out.

The driver drove me to the matrimonial home of Kent and Lacey. The home I'd picked, and paid for.

Kent opened the door swiftly, and I stared into his brilliant emerald eyes, feeling the heat spread in my chest.

Slowly, his eyes traveled to the cleavage I'd revealed by missing two buttons of my shirt.

Once a jerk. Always a jerk.

Let's do this.