Chapter 1

All of this started because I reported my boyfriend's "bestie" after she humiliated me at the train station, forcing me to strip during a security check.

That same night, my boyfriend listed me on a secondhand resale app—for $9.99.

"Wait, seriously? Nine bucks? Is she diseased or something?"

"Dude, that's Anderson's girl! Didn't she just scream her lungs out in the next room? Anderson, how could you let someone like her go? She's a rare find!"

Shane Anderson chuckled coldly.

"Are you kidding? She's blind. And after what happened at the train station—getting stripped down in front of everyone, with her photos all over the internet—I couldn't even bring myself to look at her. She's disgusting."

"She cost Tessa her job. A heartless, disabled piece of trash like her doesn't even deserve the $10 price tag," another voice chimed in.

The room erupted in laughter.

Their vile comments were like daggers, and I felt as though I had been plunged into an icy abyss. My trembling fingers managed to send a single message to my professor:

"Professor, my vision has been restored. I'm ready to accept the offer to study abroad."

"She can't see, so keep it down. Don't scare her too much."

"Weren't you planning to marry her a few days ago? Feeling guilty, Anderson?" someone teased.

Shane Anderson snorted like he'd just heard the funniest joke of the year.

"Marry her? The Anderson family would never allow a blind woman through our doors. And besides, after what Tessa's been through, this is nothing. Letting her think it's still me she's with—that's just for my own entertainment. Keeping her around makes it easier to break her down."

As he spoke, the screen of the private theater suddenly lit up.

Playing on the massive display was a silent clip of Shane and me—intimate, recorded just minutes earlier.

"Just made a little video," Shane announced with a smirk. "No sound, so you can enjoy it while you play."

"Don't worry, there are no cameras in here. Have fun."

My hands trembled as I tried to button my shirt.

Shane had always loved dragging me to strange places—parks, parking garages, and now a private theater. I thought it was just another one of his quirks.

But now, trapped in the suffocatingly narrow space, I could feel the crushing weight of humiliation pressing down on me.

Footsteps outside the door grew louder and louder.

Panicking, I leapt off the balcony.

For three years, I thought Shane Anderson was my light in the darkness. He never minded my blindness and even traveled the world with me, seeking out the best specialists to restore my vision.

When I finally regained my sight, I couldn't wait to surprise him. I booked the earliest train ticket to his city and arrived at the station. Shane even asked Tessa, his best friend who worked there, to "take care of me."

I had heard whispers before—if the Brown family hadn't gone bankrupt, the Andersons and Browns would have been joined by marriage long ago.

But Tessa had always reassured me, wrapping an arm around my shoulders.

"Relax. Shane and I have known each other forever. If we wanted to be together, it would've happened long ago. I'm not interested in him."

I believed her.

Naively.

But at the security checkpoint, Tessa accused me of carrying a concealed weapon. She demanded that I strip for inspection.

Using my blindness as an excuse, she tore my clothes off herself, leaving me completely exposed.

Only after she "found" a knife—God knows where she pulled it from—did she let me go, smugly advising me to "be more careful next time."

A girl nearby, outraged by what she witnessed, called the railway authority to file a complaint.

Tessa tried to get Shane to smooth things over for her, but instead, he forced her to apologize to me. By the end of the day, Tessa was fired for misconduct and barred from ever working in government or public enterprises again.

Shane's reaction was calm as ever.

"She deserved it," he said nonchalantly.

But by that night, photos of me at the train station—humiliated and exposed—were spreading like wildfire online.

And Shane?

Shane Anderson listed me on a resale platform for $9.99, turning me into an object of ridicule and abuse.

I was subjected to horrors I wouldn't wish on anyone.

And then Shane called.

"Where the hell are you?" he demanded.