1 Becoming a concert pianist had always been my dream. But on the day of my Grand Master piano examination, a group of thugs suddenly stormed the venue. As I was about to complete my performance, they slammed down the heavy piano lid, then stomped on it repeatedly, with all their might. My fingers were instantly smashed to a bloody mess. I screamed, trying desperately to pull my hands free, but I couldn't. I looked to my wife, Vicki, for help. Instead, I watched as she actually blocked my friends and the security guards who were trying to reach me. I only learned later that these thugs were there for Leo Maxwell. They meant to break his hands. But my wife had said: "You can't touch Leo's hands. Go for the pianist over there. He's all yours." My heart died that day. I decided then and there that I would divorce her. But later, she begged for my forgiveness. She even broke Leo’s hands, crying as she pleaded with me. … The piano lid slammed down with a sickening thud, struck by a thug’s bat. It was impossibly heavy. I screamed, a primal sound torn from my throat, frantically trying to yank my fingers from beneath the crushing weight. But the thug, a burly brute, stepped onto a bench and then jumped onto the piano, stomping down with all his weight, again and again. The pain was excruciating, shooting through every nerve, making me gasp for breath, cold sweat slicking my skin. "Stop it! Stop! Please, stop hitting! Just stop!" I begged, my voice hoarse. "I’ve never done anything to you! Why are you doing this to me?!" The thug looked down at me, a sneer twisting his brutal face. "No grudge, huh? Leo Maxwell put my brother in prison. I came for my revenge, but your wife stopped me. She said you were fair compensation. A pair of hands? That's not too much to ask, is it, big-shot pianist?" "No... it's impossible!" I twisted my head, my eyes wide with disbelief. Across the room, Vicki was directing a phalanx of bodyguards, shielding Leo in their midst, murmuring reassurances to him, telling him not to be afraid. My piano teacher, horrified, was trying to get past with the venue's security, but Vicki stood in their way. "This is a private family matter," she’d said, her voice sharp. "You don't need to interfere." My body trembled with a cold fury, unable to reconcile what I was seeing with reality. This was beyond absurd! The next second, I heard a sickening crunch, the unmistakable sound of bone shattering. Warm, sticky blood began to seep from beneath the lid, trickling down the polished piano keys. A wave of icy panic washed over me. I was terrified. Terrified I would never play piano again. Shame and dignity crumbled. I looked up at her, my voice raw with desperation. "Vicki, please! For the sake of our three years of marriage! Save me! Please, save me!" She merely glanced at me, her gaze cold and distant. "It's because you're my husband that I'm letting you do this. You're truly disappointing me, Ethan." Her voice was dismissive. "It's just a few stomps, isn't it? Leo has helped me so much. This is just you repaying a debt." Hearing such cruel, venomous words spill from her beautiful, crimson lips felt like a knife twisting in my heart. In that moment, I couldn't tell if my heart or my mangled hands hurt more. Four years of dating, three years of marriage. Did she not know that my dream was to be a concert pianist? That these hands were the most precious things I possessed? Seven years of a shared life, of supposed affection, shattered and crumbled into dust at that very moment. The thug continued to stomp on the lid, venting his twisted rage. As if that wasn't enough, he began to kick my face, his foot grinding against my head, then he shoved the toe of his shoe into my mouth. My hands were pinned; I was utterly helpless to resist. And my wife stood by, utterly indifferent, her eyes fixed only on Leo, who had started to fake a heart attack again, drawing her concern. 2 My piano teacher's eyes blazed with fury. "Vicki Hayes! As Ethan’s wife, not only do you refuse to save him, but you forbid us from helping?! Look at the state Ethan is in! Doesn't your conscience ache, even a little?!" She spared me a cold glance. "So his hands got stomped on a few times? Is there really a need for all this melodramatic wailing?" She turned to me, her voice sharp. "Ethan Blackwood, can't you be a man for once? A piano lid can't possibly crush your hand! Stop feigning pity; it only makes me look down on you." I was so weak, so broken, I barely had the strength to speak. My lips trembled as I whispered, "No, I'm not faking. My fingers... they're broken." Vicki couldn't hear my faint words. She knitted her brows in annoyance. "Ethan Blackwood, will you stop acting like a child? A piano lid weighs nothing! How could it possibly break your hand? Stop trying to get sympathy; it's pathetic." My fingers were fractured, pulverized, a mangled mess, yet she called it "feigning pity." My piano teacher stood beside her, sputtering with rage. She pointed a trembling finger at Vicki's face. "Are you dense as a brick?! Do you have any idea that piano weighs six hundred pounds, and its lid alone is over a hundred? It's even studded with jagged diamonds along the edge! And on top of that, a two-hundred-pound brute is jumping on it! If he isn't rescued right now, his fingers will be ruined forever!" Her voice cracked. "He has such incredible piano talent, a future master! Just ruined like this! How can you be so cruel?!" Vicki paused, her expression momentarily faltering, a flicker of hesitation in her eyes as she listened to my teacher. Just then, Leo Maxwell nearby began to cough dramatically. "I truly envy Brother Ethan, having such a caring teacher!" He wheezed, then looked at Vicki. "Vicki, don't worry about me. Just let these thugs beat me to death! Brother Ethan is a noble pianist, his hands are so precious. How could I let him suffer for me?!" Vicki immediately turned to Leo, soothing him with tender hands, then spun back to me and my teacher, her eyes blazing with pure disgust. "Get lost, you old hag! My husband and I's business is none of your damn concern!" She scoffed. "What 'noble pianist'? He's nothing but a dog I keep! It's his damn good fortune to help Leo! If his fingers are broken, they're broken! Go home and stay there! It'll stop you from prancing around and flirting with every woman in sight!" Each word that spilled from her lips was like a razor-sharp blade, slicing my heart into a thousand pieces. I had always deceived myself, clinging to the belief that her lingering connection with Leo was just some innocent nostalgia for her youth. At least I was the one she loved now, the one who held her. But in this agonizing moment, I finally understood: she had never loved me. Her heart belonged only to Leo. And I, in her eyes, was nothing more than a loyal, pathetic dog. The profound, all-consuming love I'd felt, for which I would have sacrificed everything, was, to her, nothing but a slobbering pug's desperate tail wag. My anger surged, a hot, bitter wave, and I coughed up a mouthful of blood. 3 The brute still standing on the piano seemed to revel in the unfolding farce. He gave a triumphant bounce. With that final, jarring impact, my fingers were finally, irrevocably, torn from their roots. Something inside me shattered with an audible crack. I could no longer hold on, and the world spun into darkness as I slumped forward onto the piano. As I coughed up blood and fainted, the last image burned into my mind was Leo Maxwell leaning close to my wife, whispering something into her ear, making her laugh, her body shaking with delight. I closed my eyes in despair, two hot tears tracing paths down my temples. Vicki Hayes, all these years I spent with you… they were truly a mistake. If there was a way to undo it, a magic pill to erase you, I would take it. I would rather have never met you.
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