Chapter 22 Not Dead Yet
+8 Pearls
Lily’s hotel name, her phone number.. even her ID number had all been leaked online by the ever-“resourceful” netizens.
All because John was that famous
And the rumor of her being a mistress? It dominated the trending searches.
The internet was flooded with slander, abuse, and mockery. Strangers from every corner of the web cursed her, told her to go die, even damned her entire family.
Too bad for them–those curses were wasted.
Her family… had already perished sixteen years ago. And she had no plans to die.
She was going to live. Live long, just like her parents had told her to.
Lily could guess with near certainty the photo of her leaving the marital home had been leaked by Elsa’s people, stirring public opinion and weaponizing the internet mob.
She was still contemplating how to counterattack when her phone rang
It was the director of God of War.
“Mr. Applebee, good morning. 1-‘
Just a little incident, she meant to say. I’ll be there soon to sign the contract.
But before she could finish, Mr. Applebee’s voice, cold and full of contempt, cut her off. “Lily, don’t bother coming Our studio doesn’t work with voice actors who have moral stains. We’ll never collaborate with you again.”
Lily froze. He’d seen the headlines too.
She’d auditioned five separate times to get the role of Athena
And now, because of baseless slander, it was gone.
“Mr. Applebee, please, there’s been a misunderstanding. I’m not a homewrecker-”
Click.
The call ended.
She redialed.
Busy signal.
He had blocked her.
Staring at the black screen of her phone, Lily felt her eyes burn hot.
Getting into a big production was hard. So hard. It took work, talent, perseverance. She’d clawed her way to that opportunity.
And someone else had crushed it with the flick of a finger.
She wanted to cry–but she forced herself to smile,
She whispered, “Come on, Lily. Keep going”
The more they wound y
Keep going.
you to fall. The more they want you filthy and broken. The higher you’ll rise above them all.
Her clothes still reeked of filth. All that trash thrown at her–she stank.
404 PM
Chapter 22 Not Dead Yet
Lily stood frozen in place for a long time, then finally returned to her room
++8 Pearls
She scrubbed herself over and over–shampoo, body wash, scalding water–until she could no longer smell the rot clinging to her skin.
Once her hair was dry, she didn’t rush to post her proof or clear her name.
The insults online were getting louder. The scandal was growing hotter.
She knew Elsa was counting on one thing: that John’s bias for her would prevent him from speaking out. Elsa wanted her ruined. Disgraced forever.
But what Elsa hadn’t calculated….
Was that Lily had solid evidence she wasn’t the mistress.
Elsa wanted to destroy her?
Then she’d wait–wait until this scandal reached its boiling point, and then she’d crush her with the truth.
Let Elsa taste what it meant to be despised by the world.
Exhausted. Lily lay on the bed and soon drifted into a dreamless sleep.
Or so she thought.
Maybe it was everything that had happened today, but her mind dragged her back–to those dark memories she never wanted to revisit.
To the days when she was bullied.
After her parents died, she was placed in an orphanage.
She had been too cute, too charming as a child. Within days of her arrival, two families showed interest in adopting her.
One was Jerome Ginger and Luna Sue, a couple who had just lost their six–year–old daughter and were desperate for emotional solace.
The other was the Boltons–Blanc and Nancy–the wealthiest family in the country and James’s parents.
The Boltons had three sons and had always longed for a daughter.
Nancy adored her. She held her in her arms and called her “my little girl.
But Luna cried and clung to her, begging Nancy not to take her away.
And in the end. Nancy gave up.
She was adopted into the Ginger family instead.
At first, things were good. Her adoptive parents, her three older brothers–they all treated her like a treasure.
But when she turned eighteen. Mathilda Ginger–their long–lost biological daughter–returned.
From that moment, they hated her.
They saw her as the thief who had stolen Mathilda’s place.
Mathilda played the sweet victim, accusing Lily of bullying her. Her three brothers, once so kind, became her tormentors- leading others in school to mock and abuse her.
They called her cruel. A parasite. A villain in their perfect story.
Eventually, bullying her became a game–an achievement.
404PM
Chapter 22 Not Dead Yet
She remembered it clearly.
That day, she got her period.
Girls in the restroom snatched away her pads, circled her, laughing as her pants soaked through in blood.
Her three brothers ordered others to dump cold, filthy water on her.
She had curled up, shivering, trembling
And they had laughed.
Then kicked her.
Right in the stomach.
Looking at the twisted, hideous grins around her, that day, she truly thought–I’m not going to survive this.
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