My Engagement Party, His Humiliation Show Chapter 02
Chloe screamed, clutched her chest, and buried herself in Bradley’s arms. My handprint was still blooming red across her cheek.
I grabbed the shawl back from Bradley and wrapped it around myself. I gave Bradley one last look and turned to leave.
A boot hit my lower back before I could take a single step. It was Bradley’s.
Pain tore through my spine, setting every nerve in my body on fire. But the physical pain was nothing compared to what cracked open inside my chest.
Three years ago, ruthless corporate rivals kidnapped Bradley. I mobilized all of Highcreek’s security to get him back. A knife went straight through my lower back during the rescue.
Eighteen hours on the operating table. Thirty-six steel pins, just to keep my spine together.
The day I left the hospital, Bradley dropped to his knees beside my wheelchair and swore he’d spend the rest of his life making it up to me.
For three years after that, every drop in temperature left me trapped in my own body. The pain whenever a freezing cold front hit got so bad I couldn’t get out of bed.
Bradley would cancel everything — meetings, dinners, all of it — and sit beside me for hours, pressing heating pads to my back until the pain finally loosened.
And now he’d driven his boot into the exact place the knife had gone in. For her.
“I told you to apologize, Vivienne. You think you’re just going to walk away?”
His voice yanked me back to the present. Then his boot came down hard on my spine.
Something cracked. White-hot agony shot up my spine.
A cry tore out of me before I could bite it back. I felt something give way in the bone. Something that would never heal right.
The surgeon had looked me dead in the eye the day I was discharged, exactly four weeks after the surgery. One more hit to that area, and I’d never walk again. No surgery, no miracle, nothing could put me back together twice.
My father’s voice echoed in my head — the warning he’d given me over the phone thirty minutes before the banquet. I clenched my jaw, looked up at Bradley, and forced the words out.
“I’m sorry…”
He cut me off before I could get another word out. “Now you’re sorry? Too late.”
Cruelty moved behind Bradley’s eyes. “I’ve put up with your shit for eight years, Vivienne. That ends today.”
He looked over his shoulder, and every water gun in the circle snapped toward me. The jets hit all at once, pounding my face and skull like fists.
The force knocked me onto the pavement. Bradley wrapped his hand around Chloe’s on the water gun and pointed it straight at my face.
Water flooded my nose and ears. The burn came fast — sharp and choking, a drowning fire I couldn’t escape.
I tried to push myself up, but the jets pinned me down and my vision blurred. I couldn’t even lift my head. I could only lie there and take it.
Every blast drove pain deeper into the fracture. Chloe watched me crumple and laughed so hard the sound cut through the roar of the water.
The second Chloe’s laughter faded into a smirk, Bradley waved them off. He pulled Chloe close by the waist, and when he spoke, his voice turned honey-soft.
“Happy now, babe?”
“I’m always happy when you take care of things for me…”
The flirtation in her voice made Bradley grin like he’d won something. But before he could enjoy it, Chloe’s face crumpled.
“But…”
Bradley’s smile vanished. “But what?”
“What is it, baby? Don’t hide it from me. Tell me what’s wrong.”
Chloe traced slow circles over the back of his hand, her fingers light and deliberate. “Vivienne ruined my dress with that dirty water, and now I’m freezing…”
“Say no more. I’ll take you shopping right now and buy you the entire latest collection.”
“No.” Chloe pointed at me and tugged on Bradley’s arm.
“I want the one Vivienne’s wearing. And I want it now.”
