Chapter 1
I lost hearing in my right ear saving Xzavier Cortez, Haprith City's crown prince. Ever since, I've had to depend on a hearing aid to get through life.
Wracked with guilt, Xzavier promised to give me a proper place by his side.
But when his true love, Tara Vazquez, came back to Haprith City, he tossed that promise aside like it was nothing.
Just to please her, he even had me locked up in a mental institution.
That night, it was my childhood friend, Alexzander Craig, who broke through the window bars and held my shaking body close.
"Marry me," he promised softly. "No one will ever hurt you again."
And for five years, Alexzander kept his promise.
He pampered me so much that everyone wished they could be Mrs. Craig too.
But on another Christmas Eve, he was the one who took the hearing aid out of my ear.
Then, speaking softly into the phone, Alexzander said, "Don't worry. That deaf chick... I'm so over her."
I froze.
Alexzander had no idea that I could hear him now.
Five years ago, I went completely deaf in my right ear saving Xzavier, the golden boy of Haprith City.
The moment the explosion hit, I instinctively shoved him out of harm's way, but the blast sent me flying straight into a pile of shattered glass.
When I came to, it felt like half the world's sounds had vanished.
The doctor told me my eardrum was ruptured and the nerves were shot. That ear was never going to hear again.
Xzavier stood by my hospital bed, his eyes bloodshot with emotion.
He gripped my hand, his voice hoarse. "Vanessa, I'll take care of you for the rest of your life."
Back then, I was so stupid. My heart nearly burst with joy just because he said that.
I was the Carroll family's secret, illegitimate daughter, hidden away from the world, while he was the golden boy everyone looked up to, the heir of the Cortez family.
Like a moth to a flame, this hopeless love of mine was doomed from the very start.
After I got out of the hospital, I started wearing a hearing aid pretty quickly.
Xzavier gave it to me. It was encrusted with diamonds, so exquisite it looked more like a piece of art than something you'd use for hearing.
He said, "Now no one will stare at you like you're different."
But he was the one who started keeping his distance from me in public.
Everything changed when his true love, Tara, returned to Haprith City.
At the party held in her honor, Xzavier didn't even bother to invite me.
I stood off in the corner, hearing aid in place, watching him twirl her around the dance floor, leaning in close to whisper and laugh in her ear.
The sight of their closeness sent a painful buzz through my right ear.
Xzavier was really into her.
The very next day, Tara walked up grinning and handed me an invitation.
"Xzavier and I are getting engaged," she said, her voice all sweet. "He said thanks for saving him back then, but being grateful isn't the same as loving someone."
I didn't stay upset for long.
I just turned around and tossed the invitation straight into the trash.
Whatever, I thought. If that's what they wanted, I'd just step out of this love triangle for good.
But Xzavier just couldn't leave me alone.
The night before their wedding.
He waited outside my apartment all night.
Early morning, he banged on my door, eyes red and wild. "Vanessa, Tara's depressed. You're the only one who can help her.
"She says... if you just go away, she'll be fine."
I couldn't believe my ears.
"Xzavier, are you out of your mind?" I snapped.
He wasn't the crazy one after all.
A week later, I was forcibly sent to a mental hospital out on the outskirts of town.
The diagnosis read: post-traumatic stress disorder, with hallucinations and paranoia.
Xzavier signed it himself.
He stood outside my room, telling the doctor, "She's been really unstable lately. Keeps insisting someone's after her."
I pounded on the glass, and in my left ear, I could hear my own desperate screams.
"Xzavier, I'm not crazy! You're the one who betrayed me!" I shouted.
Xzavier ignored me completely.
He turned and walked away, his back cold and unyielding.
That night, a storm raged outside, thunder booming and lightning tearing through the sky.
I was strapped to the hospital bed, the nurse had just given me a sedative.
Dazed and barely conscious, I heard a sudden bang echo down the hallway.
Then, a voice I could never mistake reached my ears.
Alexzander Craig was my childhood friend. My savior.
"Vanessa, sorry I got here so late," Alexzander said, his voice a little shaky.
Alexzander was the boss of the Craig family in Haprith City, and Xzavier's biggest rival.
He was also the childhood nemesis I'd been sparring with for as long as I could remember.
We'd been going head-to-head for years; he'd steal deals I'd lined up, and I'd snatch up land he was after.
The last time we saw each other, we were practically shouting ourselves hoarse over a plot of land.
But now, as he held my trembling body, his voice was gentler than ever.
"Seriously, you really can't keep it together without me, huh? Look at the mess you've gotten yourself into," he teased, but there was real warmth in his words.
I'd been abandoned by the Craig family.
I'd become the butt of everyone's jokes in the circle.
Now, I didn't even have my freedom left.
I closed my eyes and snuggled into Alexzander's arms.
At my most helpless, he was always there for me.
He asked me to marry him.
"Vanessa, marry me. I promise I'll always treat you right," he said softly.
I looked up at him, exhausted but still didn't mince words.
"Alexzander, you're just taking advantage of me when I'm down," I shot back, not caring how vulnerable I sounded.