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His redemption was a lie
Novelix
new
Completed
"One week before the trial for the drunk-driving crash that killed my mother, thugs stabbed out my eyes, cut my throat, and pierced my eardrums. The evidence and testimony I’d prepared became useless overnight. I was on the edge of a breakdown. My boyfriend, Mick, stayed by my side. Over and over, he taught me braille in the palm of my hand. In one week, I could express my entire testimony in braille. I won that case. And I married him. After that day, Mick flew me all over the world for treatment. It wasn’t until my ninth clinical trial that vision returned to my left eye. My ears could hear sound again. My voice was ugly, but I could speak. The first thing I wanted to do was tell Mick the news. But when I stood outside the private room at the hotel restaurant, I froze. “Mick, it was bad enough that you protected Gianna and had Elena turned blind.” “But you also taught her that the braille for ‘recommend leniency’ meant ‘I will never forgive.’” “We were sitting in the back row on the day of the trial. We almost laughed out loud.” Someone else chimed in. “She still doesn’t know, does she?” “That her mother was killed by her own best friend.” “And she personally begged the court for mercy for the person who killed her mother.”"
Chapters (3)
Chapter 1
One week before the trial for the drunk-driving crash that killed my mother, thugs stabbed out my eyes, cut my throat, and pierced my eardrums.
The evidence and testimony I’d prepared became useless overnight.
I was on the edge of a breakdown.
My boyfriend, Mick, stayed by my side. Over and over, he taught me braille in the palm of my hand.
In one week, I could express my entire testimony in braille.
I won that case.
And I married him.
After that day, Mick flew me all over the world for treatment.
It wasn’t until my ninth clinical trial that vision returned to my left eye.
My ears could hear sound again. My voice was ugly, but I could speak.
The first thing I wanted to do was tell Mick the news.
But when I stood outside the private room at the hotel restaurant, I froze.
“Mick, it was bad enough that you protected Gianna and had Elena turned blind.”
“But you also taught her that the braille for ‘recommend leniency’ meant ‘I will never forgive.’”
“We were sitting in the back row on the day of the trial. We almost laughed out loud.”
Someone else chimed in. “She still doesn’t know, does she?”
“That her mother was killed by her own best friend.”
“And she personally begged the court for mercy for the person who killed her mother.”
...
Mick sat in the middle of the couch, his arms wrapped around my best friend, Gianna Vale.
“That night, I found Elena the best medical team to save her. I don’t owe her anything.”
“But Gianna has been with me for five years without a title. I owe her this.”
“I should give the woman I love some kind of compensation.”
The sweet confession inside the room hit me like five years’ worth of slaps across the face.
Just then, a server pushed the door open from the inside.
The moment the door opened, everyone in the private room went stiff.
“Why is she here? She didn’t hear what we just said, did she?”
“What are you afraid of? Elena is deaf and blind, and she can’t talk. Mick can go home and smooth it over with one braille sentence, and she’ll believe him.”
Everyone in the room let out a breath.
The look they gave me was full of contempt they couldn’t hide.
Mick let go of Gianna and stood from the couch.
“All right. That’s enough for tonight.”
He walked over to me and reached for my wrist.
His touch was still so familiar.
Light pressure, then firm.
It was the rule he had set for me.
A tight grip meant there were steps ahead.
A lighter touch meant we were near the door.
After we walked out of the bar, a cold wind blew over us. Mick took off his jacket and draped it over my shoulders.
He carefully opened the car door and helped me into the back seat.
For one second, I almost believed everything I’d heard had been fake.
But the dream shattered in less than five seconds.
Mick opened the passenger door and carried Gianna inside.
He fastened her seat belt, then took a cashmere blanket from the back seat and spread it over her legs.
The car drove to Gianna’s apartment first.
But the dream shattered in less than five seconds.
Mick opened the passenger door and carried Gianna inside.
He fastened her seat belt, then took a cashmere blanket from the back seat and spread it over her legs.
The car drove to Gianna’s apartment first.
Mick got out and carried her into the building.
Twenty minutes later, Mick came back.
There was a hickey on his neck, lipstick at the corner of his mouth, and the scent of perfume all over him.
By the time we returned to the estate, it was close to midnight.
I felt my way to the desk, picked up a sheet of braille paper, and pressed out each word.
“Mick, on the day of my mother’s trial, was the braille you taught me correct?”
Mick froze for a second.
Then he wrote in my palm.
“Of course, darling.”
“Why did you suddenly come to the bar tonight? I told you I was discussing business. I was going to celebrate our anniversary with you afterward.”
I lifted my eyes and looked at him.
Mick smiled naturally and turned into the study.
Soon, he returned with a document.
“It’s our fifth wedding anniversary.”
“I’m transferring fifty percent of Mick Jewelry’s shares to you. Baby, this is my gift to you. Sign it.”
I lowered my head and looked at the paper.
My vision was still blurry, but the bold title was clear.
Agreement for Transfer of All Design Works and Copyrights Under Elena’s Name
Transferee: Gianna Vale.
He sat beside me and took my hand.
“Do you remember how I taught you to sign? You need to write, I voluntarily accept the share transfer.”
But what he guided my hand to write was something else.
“I voluntarily transfer all jewelry designs, sketches, copyrights, and archives under my name to Gianna Vale.”
Chapter 2
When I reached Gianna’s name, I suddenly threw the pen away.
Mick’s hand stopped.
He frowned. “What’s wrong?”
I swallowed the sob in my throat, picked up the braille paper, and pressed out, “I don’t want it.”
It had taken me six years to come to New York and become a designer whose name people remembered.
And now, Mick wanted me to hand everything over to someone else.
He looked at the paper. Impatience almost surfaced in his eyes, but he softened his voice anyway.
“Baby, I’m giving you security.”
“You can’t see, you can’t hear, and you can barely speak. What will you do if someone bullies you in the future?”
Mick was still lying to me.
Braille had once been my only way to communicate with the outside world.
And my outside world had only been him.
The night I was attacked, I was drowning in the double blow of losing my mother and becoming disabled.
I planned to jump off a building.
Mick was the one who rushed in and held me tight.
After that, he taught himself braille. He placed objects in my palm for me to feel, then pressed the corresponding braille into paper so I could learn.
So when I saw and heard the truth, my heart hurt so badly it felt like it would explode.
The living room fell silent.
Until Mick’s phone rang.
After that, he taught himself braille. He placed objects in my palm for me to feel, then pressed the corresponding braille into paper so I could learn.
So when I saw and heard the truth, my heart hurt so badly it felt like it would explode.
The living room fell silent.
Until Mick’s phone rang.
He answered, and Gianna’s sobbing immediately came through.
“Mick, save me... My dad is going to beat me to death...”
A man’s roar came from the other end. It was Gianna’s father.
“You said you’d find your brother a woman to have a child with. Where is she?”
“Luca has mental problems. When I die, who’s going to take care of him?”
“If you don’t find him a woman to give him a child, I’ll beat you to death!”
Gianna cried so hard she could barely breathe.
“Mick, Elena doesn’t know anything now anyway... Please help me. Just one night.”
“He’ll kill me...”
Mick’s grip on the phone slowly tightened.
A few seconds later, he said, “Okay.”
I turned and tried to run, but it was too late.
Mick grabbed my hand and pulled me into his arms.
“Elena, haven’t you always wanted a child?”
“I’ll give you one.”
I raised my hand to push him away, but he acted like he couldn’t feel it. He grabbed my wrist and dragged me upstairs.
Ten minutes later, the estate doors flew open.
Gianna rushed in, her hair messy and her eyes red.
She took a small bottle of medicine from her purse and shoved it at Mick.
“My dad paid a lot for this. He said it makes pregnancy more likely.”
Mick poured the medicine into a cup of hot latte and brought it to me.
Then he placed a braille note he’d prepared in advance into my hand.
It said, “Latte. Drink it while it’s hot. It’s good for your body.”
I looked at that cup of coffee and suddenly wanted to laugh.
I shook my head.
I’m allergic to milk. Did you forget?
Mick didn’t care how I reacted. He pinched my jaw and tried to pour it down my throat.
“Enough!”
My rough, hoarse voice tore out of me as I knocked the cup from his hand.
“How long are you going to keep lying to me?”
Glass shattered.
Almost on instinct, Mick pulled Gianna behind him.
Their faces were full of disbelief.
“Elena... You’re better? You can see and hear?”
Chapter 3
Tears poured from my eyes and hit the floor one by one.
“Elena, if you were better, why didn’t you tell me? I’m so—”
I cut Mick off.
“Stop pretending, Mick. We’re getting divorced.”
I continued, “My mother’s crash, what happened to me—I’m going to the police. I’m taking this all the way.”
Every word felt like it was being ripped from my ruined throat.
At the words “divorce” and “police,” the tenderness in Mick’s eyes vanished completely.
“Divorce? Are you sure?”
“Elena, you’re disabled. Who else would want you besides me?”
Every word felt like it was being ripped from my ruined throat.
At the words “divorce” and “police,” the tenderness in Mick’s eyes vanished completely.
“Divorce? Are you sure?”
“Elena, you’re disabled. Who else would want you besides me?”
After the attack, I had endured countless looks of pity and contempt.
But hearing the word “disabled” from Mick’s mouth hurt more than the knife that had cut into my throat.
I raised my hand and slapped him across the face.
“What about my mother’s life?”
“What about all this pain I suffered? Mick, do you even have a heart?”
Mick turned his face away and pressed his tongue against the cheek I’d slapped red.
A few seconds later, he actually laughed.
“I admit your mother helped me back then.”
“So the night she got into that crash, I used the best doctors and the most expensive medicine on her.”
“After she died, I gave her the most expensive funeral package.”
“I’ve done enough for her.”
My whole body shook.
When he first came to New York, he didn’t have a penny.
My mother sold her house and even sold her blood to wire him the money to start his business.
Looking at the man in front of me, I felt sick.
The screech of brakes came from outside.
The front door was kicked open.
Gianna’s father, Victor, barged in with a large man.
And with them was her mentally unstable brother, Luca.
Victor looked me up and down, then grinned.
“Is that her? She’s pretty.”
