The doorbell rang. It was Justin again.
“What do you want now?” I asked.
His voice was rough. “I came to apologize.”
Apologize?
I looked down.
He was holding a hammer.
“You…” I asked.
He raised the hammer and smashed it on his
<
His hand was bloody, just like mine had been.
He smiled at me. “Now… Can you forgive
me?”
I would have felt something if he hadn’t hurt
me so badly.
I didn’t care.
Chapter 9
I saw Ashley outside the hospital.
She was wearing sunglasses and she looked
angry.
She raised her hand to slap me.
grabbed her wrist
She looked surprised. “You! It’s all your fault!
You did this to Justin!”
“Ask Justin,” I said. “Ask him why he did it.”
“Enough!” Justin was there. “I did it myself.”
Ashley looked shocked. “No way.”
Justin looked tired. “Ashley, you got what you
wanted. Isn’t that enough?”
Ashley bit her lip. “But Justin, you know what
I really wanted.”
Justin didn’t look at her. He just stared at me.
“Jenny, can you forgive me now?”
It was a joke.
く
Justin broke my hands for Ashley.
Now, he broke his hands for me.
Why did he think I’d go back to him if he hurt
himself?
“Justin,” I said, “I’m not a garbage can.”
I turned and walked away.
I never saw Justin again.
I got texts from a number I didn’t know.
Photos and messages.
Then a video went viral, and my life was
turned upside down again.
く
Ashley was bullying new people in the
orchestra.
She didn’t know who she was messing with.
Someone dug up the story about Justin
breaking my hands.
“Ashley is horrible! She’s hurting people
because she’s rich!”
“She did that to me once.”
“She’s pretty, but she’s so mean.”
Ashley’s reputation was ruined.
She got kicked out of the orchestra.
She got kicked out of the orchestra.
Her career was over.
The Miller Group’s stock crashed.
Justin’s family lost everything.
Justin was arrested for bribery and abuse of
power.
I won another piano competition.
I was moving forward.
The past was over. The future was bright.
