Chapter 1

"Summer, go play a Happy Birthday song for Evelyn."

Nathan sat on the sofa with Evelyn nestled in his arms.

He was ordering me to perform for his mistress.

My right hand had been crushed by a falling beam three years ago. I could no longer play a complete piece.

But I couldn't refuse. Because my brother was still lying in the ICU, and Nathan controlled his ventilator.

I endured the piercing pain, pressing one key at a time.

Evelyn walked over and poured red wine on my crippled hand. "That sounds awful."

The wine stained his mistress's shoes, but Nathan didn't even bat an eye.

"Kneel down. Clean her shoes."

I knelt.

In front of everyone, I bent my once-proud back and used my sleeve to wipe the wine stains from the tips of her shoes, bit by bit.

I looked at Nathan one last time.

He didn't know I had terminal brain cancer. I only had three months left.

Summer POV

"Summer, malignant brain tumor, terminal stage. The tumor's location is compressing your optic nerve and pain center. Surgery carries extreme risks. Without intervention, you have at most three months to live."

I looked at the brain scan in my hands, my face deathly pale, but my eyes showed not a trace of emotion.

I simply nodded quietly and slipped the scan into a paper bag. "I understand. Doctor, no need to arrange hospitalization. Just prescribe me some painkillers. I'll notify the hospital on my last day. Please help me arrange organ donation. My corneas... if they're still usable, please donate those as well."

I saw the doctor freeze. He seemed to have never encountered a young person facing death with such calm. He tried to dissuade me again, but I only smiled palely, stood up, thanked him, and left.

Walking out of the hospital entrance, the December wind cut through my thin coat like a knife. I pulled it tighter. The phone in my pocket suddenly vibrated violently.

One name flashed on the screen: Nathan.

I swiped to answer. The man's voice was low and cold, without a trace of warmth. "Get to the New York Plaza Hotel within thirty minutes. For every minute you're late, Mason's ventilator gets unplugged."

"I'll be right there." I didn't even offer an explanation before the call was ruthlessly disconnected.

In the top-floor ballroom of the New York Plaza Hotel, people wore glamorous clothes, holding wine glasses and chatting with each other.

Today was Evelyn's twenty-fourth birthday.

When I pushed open the heavy doors, all eyes fell on me. I wore a faded shirt that looked completely out of place here.

In the center of the sofa, Nathan sat with his legs crossed, his handsome face radiating deep coldness. Evelyn leaned intimately against him, like a noble princess.

"Oh, Summer's here." Evelyn covered her mouth with a coy laugh, her eyes full of contempt. "Nathan said he prepared a special surprise for me today."

Nathan held a cigarette between his fingers. He didn't even lift his eyelids. His voice was bone-chillingly cold. "Summer, go to that stage over there. Play a Happy Birthday song for Evelyn."

Gasps immediately rippled through the room.

Everyone knew I had once been New York's famous piano prodigy, winning an international gold medal at fourteen.

But three years ago in a fire, Nathan's brother Ryan had died trying to save me, burned so badly he couldn't be saved. And my right hand had been crushed by a falling beam. I could never play a complete piece again.

Since then, Nathan hated me. He used every means to bankrupt my family. He used my brother Mason, now a vegetable, to blackmail me. He took me, once a proud prodigy, and crushed me beneath his feet.

"What? You don't want to?" Nathan lifted his eyes. His gaze was like a sharp blade. "Or would you rather go to the hospital tomorrow to collect Mason's body?"

"I'll play." My voice was hoarse. I didn't resist.

I walked to the pure white Steinway piano and sat down. My stiff, deformed right hand moved to the keys. The moment I pressed the first note, extreme pain spread from my finger bones throughout my entire body.

But the worse pain came from deep within my brain. A tearing sensation. The tumor was acting up. My vision instantly blurred.

I bit my pale lips and pressed one key at a time. The originally smooth, cheerful melody came out broken and fragmented under my fingers.

Mocking laughter from wealthy girls echoed around me. "What piano prodigy? She plays worse than a street beggar now."

"She got Ryan killed. She deserves to be tortured like this by Nathan."

Evelyn picked up a glass of red wine and walked to the piano, deliberately sighing with false regret. "Summer, you play so badly. It's really ruining the mood."

As soon as she finished speaking, she tilted her wrist. Red wine poured entirely onto my scarred right hand.

The wine dripped along the keys. My whole body trembled. My fingers hung in midair. Then I heard Nathan's cold, heartless voice. "Playing so badly, and you've dirtied Evelyn's ears. Summer, kneel down and clean her shoes."

The entire ballroom fell deathly silent.

I stared blankly at the man sitting not far away. That face was still the one I'd fallen for at first sight when I was eighteen. But the way he looked at me now held only endless disgust and hatred.

Pain in my brain surged like a tsunami. My vision darkened in waves. Cold sweat beaded densely on my forehead.

Seeing me motionless, Nathan suddenly smashed the wine glass in his hand onto the floor. The sound of shattering glass was piercing. "Do you not understand me? Kneel down!"

I took a deep breath and forcibly swallowed the sourness in my eyes. I stood up and dragged my heavy legs to stand before Evelyn. Under everyone's mocking gazes, I slowly bent my once-straight back. My knees touched the ground.

"I'm sorry, Evelyn, for dirtying your ears." Trembling, I extended my sleeve and wiped the red wine splattered on the tips of Evelyn's shoes, bit by bit.

My utterly humble posture finally brought a flash of satisfied cold amusement to Nathan's eyes. He seemed to find it very satisfying.

"Get out. Stop being an eyesore here." Nathan spat out those few cold words.

I stood up numbly, head bowed, and walked out. With every step, the pain in my brain intensified.

Outside the hotel, New York was caught in a downpour. Without an umbrella, I could only stumble through the storm.

Ryan, can you see this? The me you saved with your life has become a complete joke.

But it doesn't matter anymore. Soon I'll go to make amends to you, to repay everything Nathan owes you, all of it cleared after death.