I am a master of traditional medicine, a healer so revered that Aaron Croft, the most eligible bachelor in the country, knelt at my door, begging for my help. Yet his childhood sweetheart called me a gold digger. She slapped me, accused me of carrying another man’s child, and had her friends pelt my stomach with stones. As I lay bleeding, she poked my head, her laughter deceptively innocent. “You just had to go after my Aaron. Who else was I supposed to teach a lesson to?” But later, it was she who knelt before me, begging for her life. 1 My family’s healing arts are an ancient lineage, and I am known as its greatest living master. The rich and powerful offer me fortunes for my services—power, status, wealth, all of it is mine for the taking if I so choose. Aaron Croft, the man they call the nation’s most desirable husband, made a pilgrimage to my mountain home, kneeling every few steps of the way, to plead with me to save his grandfather. His devotion moved me. I agreed, but on two conditions. First, my involvement was to be kept a complete secret. Second, I would receive fifty percent of the Croft family’s corporate shares. The terms were steep, but Aaron accepted without hesitation. He knew that if his grandfather died, the vast Croft empire would be torn apart by vultures. With my help, the old man could live for a few more years, and my name alone would be enough to deter those circling sharks. This way, Aaron could remain the prince of his dynasty, instead of a beggar on the street. On the journey down the mountain, Aaron was the picture of deference, bowing and scraping, all traces of his usual arrogance gone. He prepared the family’s finest riverside villa for me, dismissed all the staff, and posted a discreet security detail at the outermost perimeter. Aside from close family visiting his grandfather, no one else was to be admitted. I was satisfied with the arrangements. After dismissing him, I began the long, delicate process of treating his grandfather, fighting to keep the old man’s life tethered to this world. Aaron visited daily. As his grandfather’s health improved, the long-absent smile returned to Aaron’s face, and his reverence for me deepened. I never expected that, despite his meticulous precautions, the villa would be breached. And by a pack of shrill, vulgar women. They started their tirade at the gate, their voices shattering the morning calm. “Where did this little country tramp come from, trying to seduce my Aaron?” “Bella, darling, everyone in this city knows you’re Aaron’s girl, the future Mrs. Croft! This bitch is deliberately provoking you by moving in on your man!” “Exactly! You and Aaron are meant to be. Some brainless slut tries to steal him, you have to put her in her place.” I was about to have security remove them when— CRACK. A sharp, stinging slap landed on my cheek. “You little whore. We hadn’t even come in, and you dare to show your face!” 2 The blow left me stunned, my head ringing. When my vision cleared, a beautiful young woman in a designer dress was sneering at me. “Look at you, dressed like some hayseed. A creature like you thinks you can compete with me?” “So young and already a conniving little witch, playing the innocent to trap a rich man. It’s sluts like you who give women a bad name…” Their vicious insults rained down on me. Whore. Gold digger. It finally dawned on me that they were talking about… me. Gold digger? If I wanted money, I wouldn’t need to “dig” for it. It was the first time in my life I had ever been struck, ever been verbally assaulted. Fury rose in me. “Shut your filthy mouths,” I shot back. “I am here at Aaron’s…” Before I could finish, the woman they called Bella, the center of their little universe, kicked me hard in the stomach. “Insolent! Who do you think you are? You dare to even speak his name?” I staggered back, the pain doubling me over as I clutched my abdomen. One of the others saw my posture. “She’s protecting her stomach like that… could she be…” Bella’s eyes narrowed, her gaze fixed on my belly. She delivered another vicious kick. The pain was blinding. Though I lived in seclusion, I knew of the powerful Croft family, and I had heard the name Bella Vance. She was the city’s reigning socialite, Aaron’s childhood friend. She had parlayed her beauty and connections into a film career, becoming a top star despite a complete lack of talent, thanks to the vast sums of money the Croft and Vance families poured into her projects. She was infamous for her arrogance, once publicly declaring that all other actresses were trash, there only to make her look better by comparison. After all, she had a pretty face and Aaron Croft doting on her. Any woman who was even rumored to be close to Aaron would mysteriously disappear from the social scene. I had always thought the stories were exaggerated. The age of empresses was long over; who could possibly be so tyrannical? But looking at Bella now, kicking me, slandering me, her eyes filled with a murderous rage, I realized the rumors had been far too conservative. I clutched my stomach, my brow furrowed in pain. “I suggest you find out who I am before you continue. This is not your playground.” Bella threw her head back and laughed. “I’m going to marry Aaron. The Croft estate is as good as mine! Why can’t I do as I please here?” She sneered. “You think you can hide away in here, secretly pregnant, and I can’t touch you?” Her lackeys chimed in. “These women today are so devious.” “They’re all trying to get a ring by getting pregnant first. You can’t be too careful.” “Imagine, this little bastard gets born, she creates a media scandal, uses it to trash your reputation… even if she doesn’t marry into the family, she’ll be set for life!” Their minds, poisoned by jealousy, were truly fertile with delusion. In a few short sentences, they had painted me as a villain more wicked than any in the tabloids. My chest heaved with anger. “Get out!” I roared. Bella’s eyes narrowed into a sly smile. “What’s wrong? Did we hit a nerve? Feeling guilty and trying to chase us away? You think you have the right?” She raised a hand, admiring her freshly manicured nails. “Ladies,” she said, her voice sweet as poison, “let’s teach this animal some manners.” At her command, her friends exchanged knowing glances and swarmed me. I tried to run, but one of them grabbed me by the hair. It was eight against one. I was on the ground in seconds. I curled into a ball, trying to protect my head as the blows rained down. “Stop!” I yelled through the pain. “I am Dr. Reed, the healer who is treating Mr. Croft!” 3 The name “Dr. Reed” carried as much weight in this city as Aaron’s own. The first time I had come down from the mountain with my grandmother, I had saved a diamond tycoon who had been declared brain-dead. My words gave them pause. The beating stopped. Bella’s smile froze. She stared at me. “You… you said you’re Dr. Reed?” “You’d better call Aaron and ask him,” I said, my body aching, but my voice firm. “Ask him if I am the healer he knelt and begged to come down from the mountain, or the gold digger you think is trying to steal your man.” I thought that would be the end of it. “Oh, the famous Dr. Reed! I’m so scared!” Bella clutched her chest in mock terror, then burst out laughing. When her laughter died, she stomped on my hand, grinding her heel into my fingers. Her face was a mask of rage. “You’ll even make up a lie like that to protect the bastard in your belly. If my own grandfather hadn’t just been saved by Dr. Reed, if he hadn’t told me that she was a gray-haired old woman, I might have almost believed you. It seems you’re not just stupid enough to go after my man, you’re also shameless enough to use a respected healer’s name to run your scams.” Her friends, their fears allayed, descended on me again. I could see the jealousy had blinded Bella. “Is that so? Then you had better call your elders and ask them what I look like!” The word “elders” seemed to trigger her. “You want me to call them so you can tattle on me? Don’t worry. After I’m done with you, I’ll give them a full report on the kind of slut you are. You like seducing men? Let’s see how everyone likes the sight of you naked.” They were clearly practiced at this. At Bella’s word, they rushed forward. I screamed for them to call and verify my identity, but they wouldn’t listen. Their assault only intensified. My cries for help were useless. In the struggle, my case of silver needles fell from my clothes. Bella stopped filming and picked it up. “A con artist who does her homework,” she sneered. “You even have a set of needles, just like the real Dr. Reed. You like playing doctor? Fine. I’ll give you a treatment.” With a vicious smile, she pulled out a needle and plunged it deep into my fingernail. I screamed, a wave of pure panic washing over me. These hands, these hands that healed the sick and saved the dying, could not be destroyed by this… this imbecile. “If you won’t call, then let me!” I roared. But Bella ignored me. She ordered her friends to do the same. One by one, they drove the needles into my fingers. The pain was excruciating. My screams echoed through the villa, but they did not stop. In just five minutes, my clothes were in tatters, my hands a bloody, mangled mess. Bella looked at the video on her phone with satisfaction. “This is what happens when you seduce other women’s men. If you bitches would just learn your place, there would be more happy couples in the world.” The others nodded and laughed, a chorus of cruel delight. My hands trembled with rage. I bit my lip until it bled. My eyes were crimson. “You will all regret this!” I seared their ugly, gloating faces into my memory. Not a single one of them would escape. I would repay them for this, ten times over. Bella strolled over, grabbed me by the hair, and twisted my neck at an unnatural angle. “The word ‘regret’ is not in my vocabulary,” she hissed into my eyes. “Threatening me? That deserves another punishment.” 4 At Bella’s command, they dragged me out of the villa. My body left a trail of blood on the cobblestone path. They threw me into a rose garden, my near-naked body scratched and torn by the thorns. As I was about to pass out from the pain, they doused me with a bucket of filthy water. Bella continued to film, laughing. I tried to cover myself. “Tsk, tsk,” she clucked. “You have a sense of shame? A gold digger, pretending to be a pure, innocent maiden? If you’re not afraid to seduce a man, why are you afraid of being seen?” She ordered them to press the rose thorns deeper into my skin. “You like being a thorny rose to lure men? I’ll help you with that.” I was bleeding, in agony. I coughed up a mouthful of blood.
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