Total pages in book: 196
Estimated words: 180438 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 902(@200wpm)___ 722(@250wpm)___ 601(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 180438 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 902(@200wpm)___ 722(@250wpm)___ 601(@300wpm)
Which one of them would give up their own happiness for someone else’s? But the way they were making it seem as if I’d done it all on my own was sticking in my craw. Ryder was there, too, wasn’t he? He could’ve said no at any time, couldn’t he?
But wait, they knew the truth about that now as well. They knew about the schemes his own people had set into play, the drugs he’d been fed to keep him in line; they knew it all. I rubbed the sudden chill from my arms as I recalled the vicious things that had been said to me.
Why are these people still so obsessed with a dead love story anyway? It’s been more than five years at this point, and like a rabid dog with a bone, they’re still hankering for those two to get back together. But what does that say about me and my love story, my life with him?
Was the past five years nothing in their eyes? Didn’t I deserve my own happiness? Why had everyone turned on me so easily? Why was I seen as so much different from her? I don’t get it. Why is it always her?
And Ryder, how could he so easily throw me to the wolves? It was as if he never had any feelings for me whatsoever, something I knew after spending the last five years waiting for him to acknowledge me. But did he have to tell the whole world how much he disliked me?
I never expected him to be so brutally honest about the whole situation; what the hell was his PR team thinking to let him expose everything that way? He’d left me no face, nowhere to hide; it was as if he was trying to destroy me. How had it all come to this? In the blink of an eye, almost everything had crumbled.
The worst part was the way the fans who had once been on my side had so easily jumped ship. In the past, when something like this happened, when Elena’s faction of sycophants got on their soapbox to start shit, all it would take was a few thousand dollars spent on bots to turn the tide, but now I didn’t even have that option since I was low on funds and that little bitch had cut off all avenues to the money I once had.
I told myself it was time to get up; I had things to do, and laying here in this empty room in an abandoned house wasn’t going to get me any closer to a solution. I had no one to rely on; everyone was gone, so it was up to me to pull myself together.
But I was tired, hungry, and afraid. My body ached all over when I tried to move, and worst of all, I was out of drugs. I could already feel the withdrawals coming on, so first things first, I needed to find something to take the edge off. I knew from experience that I wouldn’t be of any use to myself or anyone else until I got my fix, so there was no point in beating myself up for not being motivated enough.
I almost wish I’d been left in that hospital room. At least there, I’d been shut away from the rest of the world, and no one knew where I was, presumably. Had it only been a couple of days since I’d left? Why did it feel like all of that happened a lifetime ago? So much had happened, too much, in fact, and I couldn’t seem to find my bearings.
My stomach rumbled, reminding me that I hadn’t eaten in a while, and if this wasn’t my life, I would find it laughable. Here I was, married to one of the wealthiest entertainers in the business, and I didn’t have enough money to buy a loaf of bread.
I looked around the shabby room of my childhood home, which looked even shabbier in the daylight, and tried hard not to feel sorry for myself.
This was all that bitch’s fault. If she had died or gone completely insane like I wanted and tried my damnedest to make a reality, none of this would be happening to me now. Ryder would’ve forgotten her, and with only me by his side, our lives would’ve become the fairytale I always imagined. Now I was left with nothing while they were having candlelit dinners and holding hands across tables.
Instead of giving in to the feeling of defeat that kept nipping at my heels, I fought it back somehow with the last bit of strength I had left and found my resolve. It’s time to put my plan into action. If my life was going to shit, I’d make sure she never gets the happily ever after she wants, either. Even if it kills me, I’m going to destroy her.