\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chapter 4\u00a0<\/p>\n
288 Vouchers\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chapter 4\u00a0<\/p>\n
I became aware of a soft surface beneath me and a comforting warmth. It slowly pulled me back to\u00a0<\/p>\n
consciousness.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Opening my eyes, I found myself lying in a large bed.\u00a0<\/p>\n
From the looks of it, I was in a hotel room.\u00a0<\/p>\n
There was no sign of anyone else.\u00a0<\/p>\n
My head throbbed violently, and a burning pain still gnawed at my stomach.\u00a0<\/p>\n
On the nightstand sat a glass of warm milk and a packet of stomach medication.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Memories flooded back. I remembered, just before everything went black, strong arms catching me. It was Dominic.\u00a0<\/p>\n
His voice, sharp, cut through the room. \u201cEnough.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
When he carried me out of the room, his heartbeat had been rapid and frantic.\u00a0<\/p>\n
When I took the glass, a pathetic wave of sorrow washed over me.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I thought bitterly, \u201cDominic, you stood by and watched them humiliate me. What made you finally intervene when I was nearly gone?\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWas it genuine concern, or just a flicker of guilt?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Whatever the reason, that faint gesture of kindness felt utterly insignificant against the reality of his deception.\u00a0<\/p>\n
My phone, on the nightstand, began to vibrate.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The call was from the care facility.\u00a0<\/p>\n
A dread settled in my chest. With trembling hands, I answered.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cMs. Sherwood, you need to come now! Your grandmother\u2026 She\u2019s taken a turn for the worse.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cShe suffered a shock, caught a chill\u2026 It triggered a major cardiac event\u2026\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
In an instant, despair overwhelmed me.\u00a0<\/p>\n
0.00%\u00a0<\/p>\n
10:24\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chapter 4\u00a0<\/p>\n
I threw back the covers and rushed to the facility.\u00a0<\/p>\n
When I arrived, all that greeted me was a bed draped with a white sheet.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cGrandma\u2026\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
I sank to my knees and pulled back the cloth.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Her kind face was ashen, her eyes slightly open.\u00a0<\/p>\n
My only family in this world was gone.\u00a0<\/p>\n
288 \u00a1Vouchers\u00a0<\/p>\n
I moved through the funeral arrangements in a state of numbness. Afterwards, I returned to the apartment I had shared with Dominic.\u00a0<\/p>\n
No one had been back since Ophelia\u2019s visit.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The bloodstains from that day were still on the floor.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I began gathering the few things that belonged to my grandmother and me. As I sorted through an old stack of books, a folded design sketch fluttered out.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I remembered this piece. I had created it during my junior year, pulling three consecutive all- nighters for an international design competition.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He had thought the piece was too melancholic and urged me to come up with a new design for the submission.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I\u2019d won an award with the alternate piece, but this original sketch had vanished.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I\u2019d assumed it was lost.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Then, I recalled the magazine Dominic had been flipping through at my hospital bedside.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I\u2019d only caught a glimpse, but a pattern on the page had seemed familiar.\u00a0<\/p>\n
At the time, consumed by grief for the failed pregnancy, I hadn\u2019t given it a second thought.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Now, a horrible connection clicked into place.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Frantically, I grabbed my phone and searched for that issue of the magazine.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The truth was both shocking and absurd.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The central design concept of the Pennington Group\u2019s upcoming flagship building matched my original piece.\u00a0<\/p>\n
37.67%\u00a0<\/p>\n
10:24\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chapter 4\u00a0<\/p>\n
And the lead designer credited was none other than Ophelia.\u00a0<\/p>\n
So that explained everything. A raw laugh escaped me, tears streaming down\u00a0<\/p>\n
I finally understood why he had chosen me.\u00a0<\/p>\n
my\u00a0<\/p>\n
face.\u00a0<\/p>\n
288 iVouchers\u00a0<\/p>\n
It wasn\u2019t just my uncomplicated background or my ability to bear a child.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It was my talent.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Ophelia couldn\u2019t conceive, so he deceived me into bearing his child.\u00a0<\/p>\n
She needed to appear gifted, so he fed her my ideas.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I was just a tool for her from the start.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I grabbed a pair of scissors. Furious, I shredded the sketch into confetti. Then, I turned the blades on myself, shearing off the long hair I\u2019d kept for three years.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Pennington Group\u2019s launch event was in three days.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I would make sure to send them a gift they would never forget.<\/p>\n
Joseph King is an editor and storyteller who ensures every chapter is clear, polished, and engaging for readers.<\/p>\n
Celebration Cut Short by Mark Twain 4 \u00a0 Chapter 4\u00a0 288 Vouchers\u00a0 Chapter 4\u00a0 I became aware of a soft […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[58],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23441","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-his-secret-vow-novel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23441","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23441"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23441\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23441"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23441"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23441"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}