- 5.
Was Mom worried about me?
No.
I was her perfect masterpiece.
(
<
Only if I won awards in the dance world would
she consider me her daughter.
She wasn’t worried about me getting hurt,
she was worried about me getting ruined.
From the time I could walk, she had forced
me to learn every kind of dance.
She was one of the most famous ballerinas.
I had been dancing since I was little. My joints were perfect, my posture graceful, my
movements sublime.
But she didn’t have any love for anyone, not
me, not Liam.
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<
When I got amputated, she immediately
adopted Liam’s sister, Crystal Johnson,
renaming her Jade Bloom.
I was no longer worth caring about. She
treated Crystal like her daughter.
When Crystal got kidney disease and needed
a transplant, she was the first one to support
the plan to have me killed.
All Layla cared about was dance. She had only married my father, David Bloom, for business. She and David had twins in a lab.
She didn’t want to go through another pregnancy, so she did IVF and got a boy and
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a girl.
Boys would inherit family property, girls would
inherit her dance careers.
David was thrilled. He had twins who were
beautiful, famous, and didn’t care that he
fooled around with other women. It was
perfect.
One spouse kept the home fires burning, the
other one got to party.
She can focus on dancing, he can cheat,
that’s a perfect match!
I was going to see how Liam could try to get
く
Crystal in the house when he had no legs.
If he hadn’t been bait, I never would have
been hit by that truck.
I was a rising dance star. I wanted to live.
Coming back from the dermatologist, I told
Mom I wasn’t feeling well and wanted to go
home.
She wanted me to train, but she was afraid I
had hurt my bones in the accident. She
dragged me to get X–rays.
When it turned out I was fine, she wanted to
drag me to the studio.
<
I said I was upset about Liam. She frowned
and told me to go home.
Then she went to her dance studio.
She really had no love to give.
- 6.
Back home, I checked my bank account. $1.5
million.
I’d saved it up over the years.
Mom didn’t let me have money because she
thought I’d spend it on junk and ruin my
figure.
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Compared to Liam’s millions, it was nothing.
I hired a private investigator for a million
bucks.
I needed to know a lot.
The trucker’s history, Crystal’s history,
everything about Crystal and Liam’s
relationship.
Finally, I needed every bit of surveillance
video of Liam from the past month. That was
going to cost.
Watching surveillance videos was illegal, I had
to pay extra.
く
The agency agreed, and said I’d have
everything in a week. If things got tricky,
they’d need more money or more time.
Whatever. Getting this done was worth it.
I didn’t feel anything for my real brother.
Honestly, I hoped he was dead.
I planned to inherit everything, billions. I didn’t
want to share.
Besides, I didn’t know this “brother” at all.
I finished the arrangements, and went to visit
Liam in the hospital the next day. I pulled out
<
one of his hairs and went to Mom and Dad’s
room to get some of theirs. Then I went to
get a DNA test.
But Mom wasn’t happy I missed practice
yesterday, so she kept calling me home.
I was physically fifteen again, but mentally I
was twenty–five. I hadn’t danced in a decade.
I had muscle memory, but it wasn’t the same.
I could claim I wasn’t doing well because of
Liam for a while, but I couldn’t keep it up
forever. If she realized I wasn’t improving,
she’d pull me out of school.
<
Should I quit dancing and let Crystal take my
place, or keep dancing to prevent that?
Screw it. Dancing wasn’t the answer. Fame was just a few compliments. Money was real.
Last time, after I showed talent for business, and Dad gave me a piece of the company, I learned that power was amazing. It was a hundred times better than being a ballerina.
Now, I needed to ruin Liam’s hands, make the world a better place, then destroy his junk.. Then Dad would disown him, and I could take over the company.
く
Even if he was a fake, I didn’t want anything
to happen.
I knew that Dad had gotten a vasectomy. He
swore he would never have illegitimate
children so Mom wouldn’t be worried.
Even if he got it reversed, he’d need eighteen
years to raise another kid. By then, the.
company would be mine.
As for Crystal… I’d figure out how to ruin her
too.
Dear Liam, I’m bringing your little sister in to
play.
<
With that, I hung up on Mom, dropped off the
hair with the Pl, and went shopping.
It felt good to have healthy legs again.
