Parted on the Street, I Chose My Own Path

By the time Damian Langston's PR team shoved the livestream camera into my face, I still hadn't recovered from the shock. "A public apology? Shaving my head as penance?" My voice shook uncontrollably. "What are you talking about? Where's Damian?" Without warning, they yanked open my torn shirt, exposing the horrific scars covering my body to thousands of viewers watching live. "Mrs. Langston," one of them said coldly, "Mr. Langston made it clear. You nearly got Miss Sullivan killed, so you need to pay the price." I instinctively covered my head and shrank into the corner, trembling so hard I could barely breathe. "It wasn't me," I whispered desperately. "I swear it wasn't." "You caused this entire mess. Mr. Langston already donated five million dollars in Miss Sullivan's name to calm public outrage. All you're being asked to do is shave your head as penance. You should be grateful." Tears streamed uncontrollably down my face as I shook my head over and over again. I refused to believe Damian could truly be this heartless. So I looked up at them with red-rimmed eyes and begged in the most humiliating voice imaginable. "I just want to see Damian once. Please." For a brief moment, pity flickered across their faces. Then my entire body stiffened. "Ella Sullivan is keeping him with her, isn't she?" No one answered. But silence was answer enough. I stumbled off the hospital bed, dragging my reopened wounds across the floor and leaving streaks of blood behind me. The people blocking the doorway instinctively backed away the moment they saw the scissors pressed against my throat. "If you want my hair," I said shakily, "then Damian can come cut it off himself." ***** By the time Damian snatched the scissors away from me, he was already standing behind me with Ella in his arms. Ella's eyes were red from crying, her expression fragile and pitiful. "Forget it, Damian," she whispered bitterly. "It's enough that I'm suffering alone." "No." Damian immediately wrapped an arm around her shoulders, guilt written all over his face as his fingers tightened around her hands. "Why should Ella suffer for someone else's mistakes?" The sharp edge of the scissors sliced open my palm. Pain spread from my hand straight into my chest until even breathing felt numb. Even now, Damian still treated me like an outsider. "Damian, Celeste won't agree to this," Ella murmured weakly from behind him. "She'll do anything to survive. There's no line she won't cross. Even..." Before she could finish, Damian lifted his eyes toward me. The disgust in his gaze cut deeper than the blade ever could. "If I were you," he said coldly, "I'd be too ashamed to keep living." "I didn't do anything!" I wrapped my arms tightly around myself as the last trace of color drained from my face. Ella was the one who dragged me into this nightmare. Yet somehow, Damian blamed me instead. I only wanted to survive. "Ella was hurt because of you, and now you can't even give up a few strands of hair?" He shoved me hard enough that I nearly lost my balance. "I should never have brought you back alive." The hatred in his eyes was enough to tear me apart. Shaking uncontrollably, I pointed at Ella. "It was you," I cried hoarsely. "You're the one who hurt me. You wanted me dead." Ella swayed weakly before collapsing straight into Damian's arms. "Yes," she sobbed dramatically. "Everything is my fault." Her shoulders trembled harder and harder. "I forced you to drink dirty water. I forced you to fight stray dogs for scraps of food." The moment those words left her mouth, it felt as though I had been dragged straight back into the riot zone, back into those bloodstained streets littered with corpses and smoke. I clamped my hands over my ears and let out a broken scream. "It was you!" "You tricked me into going to Khorva before we returned home. You tripped me on purpose. You wanted me dead. Everything was because of you." The moment I saw Damian raise his hand, I instinctively shut my eyes and curled into myself in terror. "Don't hit me!" His fist slammed into the wall beside my head with a violent c***k. Then he grabbed my wrist hard enough to cause pain. The shock in his eyes quickly turned back into fury. "Celeste Parker, what kind of act are you putting on now? You think pretending to be pathetic can hide how rotten you really are?" I shook violently as tears poured down my face. "It's because Ella wants to be Mrs. Langston," I cried desperately. "She wants me dead." "Enough!" The air around Damian instantly turned cold and dangerous. "I think you've completely lost your mind," he snapped. "At a time like this, you're still jealous of her? If Ella really wanted to hurt you, why would she end up injured too?" He let out a mocking laugh. "Celeste, all you know how to do is play the victim." His eyes darkened completely. "And as for being Mrs. Langston..." His voice turned icy. "You don't deserve that title anymore."