Chapter 16
When I woke up, everything hurt.
A dull, aching pain throbbed beneath my skin, pulsing with each beat of my heart. My body felt row, like an open wound stretched too tight, exposed and vulnerable.}}
The soft beeping of machines filled the room, their rhythmic sounds pulling me back to reality. A hospital. The sterile scent of antiseptic and the low murmur of voices reminded me of where I was.
arm, but even the smallest movement sent a wave of agony shooting through my nerves.
My throat was dry. My lips were cracked, the faintest attempt to move them sending sharp pain through my body. I tried to lic
“Claire.”
I turned my head slightly, the effort exhausting, and through my blurry vision, I saw Lucas. He was sitting beside my hospital bed, his face buried in his hands. His shoulders trembled.”
When he finally looked up, his usual cold, unreadable expression was gone.
Lucas Blackwood–the ruthless, dominant, always–in–control man–was crying.
my
His eyes were bloodshot, his jaw locked so tight it looked painful. His fists clenched, knuckles white with the force of his grip. “Claire.” His voice was barely above a whisper, raw and filled with something that made my chest tighten. He reached out, his hands hovering over mine, but then he stopped. His fingers curled back as if afraid that touching me would break me further.
I swallowed, the motion like sandpaper scraping against my throat “Lucas…”
He let out a sharp, shuddering breath, then stood abruptly. He ran a hand through his hair before turning away, pacing the room like a caged animal.)
“I swear to God, I’ll kill them,” he seethed, “Whoever did this to you–I’ll fucking kill them.”
Before I could respond, the door to my hospital room swung open.
Richard Blackwood strode inside.X
The powerful, unshakable man I had known all my life looked pale, his face lined with a grief that made him seem older, more fragile than I had ever seen before. But the moment his eyes landed on me, something inside him cracked.
*Claire!!
His voice broke.
He took slow, measured steps toward me, his usual confidence shattered. His hands trembled at his sides, his powerful presence dimmed by the anguish in his expression.
“My poor Claire “X
The words were barely a whisper, but the weight behind them was devastating K
For the first time, I saw tears in Richard Blackwood’s eyes.
I looked at them–these two men, frozen in grief, drowning in fury. They were the strongest people I had ever known, and yet, at this moment, they stood on the edge of breaking.
And then I realized-“,
I was alive
But I would never be the same again.
The world believed I was gone.
They thought Sophia Lancaster–the rising star, the best actress of her time–had died.
And in a way, they were not wrong!!
That woman did die the night acid burned her skin, the night everything she had built came crashing down. She was erased from the industry, from the limelight, from existence itself.
But out of her ashes, someone else was born.
The news of my attack spread like wildfire, shaking the entire entertainment Industry.
It was everywhere. Every news outlet, every tabloid, every online forum X
“Sophia Lancaster, the nation’s beloved actress, suffers a brutal acid attack–suspect remains unidentified.“%
“Authorities launch a full–scale investigation, but no leads have been found.”
“Sophia Lancaster disappears from the public eye–her fate remains unknown.”
The country grieved for me, fans lighting candles, celebrities sending their condolences. My name became a tragedy, a ghost of the past
And through it all, one man’s fury burned hotter than the rest
Richard Blackwood!
The old man did not just mourn. He was not just enraged. He declared war
He pulled every string, exhausted every resource, and unleashed an army of private investigators to track down the person behind the attack. He demanded answers. He dema lad bland k
attack. He demanded answers. He demanded blood
But no matter how deep they dug, how many people they interrogated, how much money they threw at the case-
They found nothing
The CCTV footage was clean: Not a single witness had seen anything. The suspect had disappeared as if they had never existed in the first place.
But I knew the truth
I knew exactly who had done it i
Olivia
She played her role too well, standing by Ethan’s side, acting like the heartbroken wife who was devastated by my loss. She wept for the cameras, shaking her head in sorrow every time reporters asked if she had any idea who could have done such a thing
Yet there was no evidence. No proof
She had left nothing behind for the authorities to follow
Richard had smashed his whiskey glass against the wall the night the final report came in. The jagged shards of crystal had scattered across the floor, gleaming under the dim lighting of his study
His voice had thundered through the room, thick with rage. “Nothing? You’re telling me there’s not a single damn lead?”
The investigators, men who had spent years tracking down the most elusive criminals, had stood before him in stiff silence, unable. to meet his glare. They had failed. They had nothing to give him
And Richard Blackwood did not tolerate failure.X
His anger was infamous in the business world, but this time, it was not about power, it was not about money!
This time, it was personal.
He had sworn to destroy whoever dared to harm mell
But without proof, his hands were tied
And so, for three years, I disappeared.!!
I left the industry. I vanished from the spotlight.
I became a ghost, hidden within the walls of Richard Blackwood’s
empire.X
Waiting X
Recovering
Plotting
It was during that time that I learned the truth about the man who had taken me under his wing.
Richard Blackwood, the old man was my grandfather
The same man who had banished my mother decades ago for choosing love over wealth, the same man who had erased her existence from the Blackwood family without hesitation.
ice
At first, I hated him for it.
“You destroyed her life. You made her suffer. And now you want to act like family?” I had stood before him in his office, my voice like
Richard had not flinched. He had only nodded, his expression unreadable. “You have ever want to hate me, Claire. But whether you
believe it or not, I have always watched over you. I will atone for what I did!
“You think you can just erase the past, Richard?”
“No,” he had admitted, “I can’t. But I can make sure no one ever takes anything from you again.“}
And he had
His loyalty had been relentless.
His protection had been unwavering
And slowly–very slowly–1 let go of my anger t
Three years passed
The industry moved on without me
Sophia Lancaster became nothing more than a tragic story, a name whispered in the past tense
Olivia and Trisha reclaimed the spotlight, their careers flourishing. They smiled for the cameras, accepted their awards, basked in the Tame they had stolen
Ethan had risen even higher, his power stretching beyond what it had been before
They had won They thought I was dead. But they had made a mistake. Because I was still here !!
And I was done hiding &
