Chapter 1A Life of Dignity

Five years after I got out of prison, I saw him again. Nicholas Kim.

His eyes fell on the empty leg of my trousers, and his voice trembled.

“Ava… your… your leg…”

He probably never imagined that the ballet champion who had once become an overnight sensation now needed a crutch just to walk.

“If you were out, why didn’t you come find me? Do you have any idea how worried I was…?”

His fiancée, my former best friend, nestled against his chest, her eyes red.

“Ava, you were so thoughtless. Back then, to make it up to you, Nicholas arranged for all the city’s media to be there. He was going to propose to you in front of everyone, but you just vanished without a word, humiliating him completely.”

“I only married him to protect what little dignity he had left…”

Had to?

I couldn’t help but let out a soft, humorless laugh. I glanced at her swollen belly.

“So I suppose you had to let him knock you up, too?”

“And I suppose you had to toy with Sebastian Kim’s affections back then?”

“And you and Nicholas had to conspire to have my face altered and send me to that monster’s bed?!”

* * *

The autumn wind was cold, cutting straight through my thin, worn-out coat.

Nicholas’s brow was furrowed, a storm of emotions in his eyes—frustration, surprise—but not a single flicker of guilt.

When I was done, he let out a sigh, his tone dripping with condescension.

“Alright, what’s past is past. Since you’re okay, just come home with me.”

He gestured to the stretch limousine parked at the curb, his voice leaving no room for argument.

“Get in the car.”

I didn’t move. I just kept quietly wiping the grease from the diner tabletop. In the five years since my release, this was the only place that had been willing to take me in, to give me a job and a meal.

But in Nicholas’s eyes, my silence was defiance.

“Ava, how long are you going to keep this up?”

He took two steps closer, towering over me. “Look at you, this pathetic state you’re in. How is this worthy of the name Mrs. Kim?”

“Are you going to get in the car yourself, or do I have to have my bodyguards escort you?”

Before I could answer, two men in black suits had their hands on my shoulders.

I didn’t struggle. I simply gave the diner owner a deep bow, then turned and got into the car.

The heat was blasting inside, the air thick with the scent of expensive cologne.

“This is a supplementary card with no credit limit. The PIN is your birthday.”

He tossed a black card onto the seat in front of me, as if tossing a coin to a beggar.

“And I’ve arranged for an apartment for you downtown. It’s fully furnished, you can move in right away.”

He expected me to be grateful.

All I felt was disgust.

I reached out with my trembling hand—a permanent tremor left after my bones were shattered in prison—picked up the card, snapped it in half right in front of him, and tossed the pieces out the window.

Nicholas’s face froze, the cracks appearing in his mask of superiority.

“I can’t accept these. I don’t want them.”

The anticipation in his eyes instantly morphed into rage.

“Ava, don’t be ungrateful!”

“You were locked up for three years. You’re completely out of touch with the world. Who else would want you besides me?”

The car drove through our old university campus.

Chloe, who had been silent until now, suddenly spoke up.

“Ava, do you remember? Sophomore year, you said you wanted to have your own little light in this city someday.”

“Now that Nicky has given you a whole apartment, what more could you possibly want?”

Want?

I stared out the window, my mind flashing back to a winter’s day in my second year of prison.

In the communal showers, a group of inmates held my head under the icy water, my scalp screaming in pain as they yanked my hair. They forced me to watch the “wedding of the century” on a small, flickering television. Chloe, in a million-dollar gown, nestled in his arms. He looked down at her with a doting smile, telling the world she was the one true love of his life.

And I was choking on dirty water, enduring the humiliation and torture.

Because Sebastian Kim had paid off the guards to make sure I “shared in their joy” on their big day.

The car stopped in front of a modern villa. Their love nest.

Nicholas pulled me out of the car, gesturing towards the walk-in closet in the entryway, filled to the brim with couture.

“These were all custom-made to your size. I had them ready for you before you were even released.”

I stood at the doorway, refusing to go in.

The house was filled with the overwhelming scent of gardenias, Chloe’s favorite. It was cloying, nauseating.

“I’m leaving.”

The moment I turned, he grabbed my wrist, his grip like steel.

Nicholas suddenly lost control, his eyes red with fury.

“Ava! I haven’t even held it against you for humiliating me by leaving like that! What more do you want?”

“I’ve never bowed my head to anyone in my life! Do I have to get on my knees and beg for you to forgive me?”

I looked at him, slowly prying his fingers from my wrist, and took a cold step back.

“Stop acting, Nicholas.”

“You only did all that because your company was about to go public. You wanted to create a ‘devoted husband’ persona for yourself.”

“Don’t wrap your selfishness and calculation in a pretty bow and call it love.”

“It’s disgusting.”

Nicholas froze, his expression shifting from shock to pure rage.

He pointed a trembling finger at me, his voice hoarse.

“Get out! Ava, get the hell out!”

“And when you’re starving on the streets, don’t you dare come crawling back to me like a dog!”

I didn’t look back. I just walked into the darkness.

Behind me, I heard the sound of a vase shattering, and his hysterical, furious roars.