Chapter 87

Crystal racked her brains to find out the person who betrayed her, but to no avail. Yes, she did those things out of her own volition. But these are things she kept hidden to everyone, including her family. The people in her kink parties always signed a nondisclosure agreement. The leaked photos and videos came to her as a surprise. To this day, her team still has not found the person behind the leak.

As she continued to search for the culprit, people had a field day tarnishing her reputation. She became the press’ darling to a PR nightmare overnight. She thought that the news would die a natural death as long as she kept to herself and avoided the media. To her disappointment, it dragged on. And as time passed, the more vicious their comments became. Their words did not only sting, but slashed her to bits. Comments ranged from the truth to an interpretation of the truth, and to utter lies.

The couple of weeks after her scandal broke out were the toughest days of her life. The days she spent as the Jewelry Heiress became a distant past. People used to tiptoe around her and watch their words when talking to her. But now, people no longer cared. They had a feast day smearing her reputation. It almost felt like it was a dream and her reality was the hell she lived in now.

She had never encountered such difficulty in her life. All her life, her family shielded her from all discomfort the harsh world had. Her father helped her resolve all her problems, no matter how big or trivial. Even with her drug use. He had helped keep it quiet. Nobody knew she had been in rehab twice already.

After the scandal, like a broken dam, she stood in the middle of a deluge of harsh words from all her social media and news. People cursed her, called her names, and exposed her past misdeeds. Her pristine image turned to muck overnight.

But this time, it’s different. She never felt so lonely in her life. She stood alone in the flurry of harsh words, accusations, and judgement. Everyone seemed to have something nasty to say to her. Everywhere she looked, all she saw were the condescending eyes of people judging her. Whore. Drug addict. Brat. Slut. People who used to wish her nothing but the best things life offered cursed her and wished her dead.

Even her family did not treat her kindly. Her father did not even wait for the news to turn cold. He called the Rain patriarch to apologize. He canceled her engagement with Justin out of embarrassment for what happened. No amount of begging stopped him from deciding.

She felt lost and scared. She did not know where and whom to turn to. Her so-called friends disassociated themselves from her. They all ignored her or dismissed her.

But what hurt her the most was Justin’s inaction. As her fiancé, she thought he’d come to her rescue. At least he could have helped with controlling the media. But he did nothing. He did not bother lifting a finger to help her.

It’s ironic that the only man she dreamed of sharing her life with did not even give her an ounce of concern. This was the man she had an unrequited love for as long as she knew what love meant. She knew he did not love her. He’s an illusion she always wanted to have. His inaction only proved what she meant to him—nothing. To him, she deserved nothing of his time or affection.

She couldn’t help but shake her head and smile a bitter smile. No one bothered to ask how she’s doing but Serene. Of all the people who would go out their way to reach out to her, it had to be her, Justin’s ex-girlfriend.

She found Justin’s, Dylan’s and Elaina’s reaction when they saw Serene in the studio off. It piqued her curiosity. She had her investigated right away. That was how she learned about her past relationship with Justin. The way Justin looked at Serene made her jealous. He never once looked at her with such longing and passion.

When Serene reached out to her after the scandal, she found her action hypocritical. She expected Serene to mock her like the rest, but she did not. She offered a shoulder to cry on when everyone shunned her. She said she knew how being alone and abandoned by the person you treasured most felt like. Did Justin abandon her, too?

At first, she wanted to vent out her anger on her, but in the end, Serene’s sincerity won her over. She talked to her every day.

Serene’s sincere effort to help her made Crystal feel a tinge of guilt in her heart. After she learned about Serene’s connection to Justin, she paid people to kidnap her children. But the empathy she showed her melted her core.

How ironic her life had been. The people whom she counted on abandoned her. And the person she’s bent to hurt embraced her and accompanied her in her sadness.

She’s not as despicable as people painted her to be. At the last minute, she had asked the people she paid to not continue with the task. How could she hurt her children when they were also victims of Justin’s heart of ice, like her and Serene?

But then the weight of all the burden she had to carry weighed her down. Her career, which was starting, now crushed and did not show signs of recovery. The family she expected would protect her, cast her away. Her friends, who she thought would help her out like she did before, avoided her like the plague. And Justin, the man she loved for years, saw and treated her as a nobody.

There was not a day where her heart did not feel pain or her mind not get troubled. She took a deep breath as she looked at the horizon.

The sun is slowing rising from a distance. Pockets of light break through the indigo sky. Crystal smiled and closed her eyes. She savored the chilly wind against her skin. She listened to it as it softly whispered in her ears. “It’s over. Now, you can finally have peace.”