My Husband Crippled Me for Life, Yet He Says I Have His Complete Love

"Zane Rhodes? He didn't tell me he was coming!"

He abandoned my surgery to go celebrate Celia Linden's championship win.

I knew it was true, yet I still had to seek confirmation, unwilling to accept it.

I looked at Celia Linden's incredibly lavish, diamond-studded dance costume, and I couldn't help but touch my own numb legs.

'So, your claims of being short on cash and having to delay my treatment fees were all just lies.'

I sniffled, fighting back tears. "Director," I said, "I want to see the video of the competition from the day I fell."

The Director was startled.

I had always resisted the idea; just mentioning it was enough to make me break down.

I fast-forwarded to the part where I fell.

I leaped into the air.

Zane Rhodes's body wavered. The hand that should have caught me froze just two inches away.

I crashed hard to the floor.

That was followed by his shocked cry and his frantic rush to help me up.

To anyone watching, it would have looked like a complete accident.

But thinking back to Zane Rhodes's nonchalant tone on the phone, his wavering stance and frozen hand seemed chillingly deliberate.

For Celia Linden, he crippled me and ruined my life.

And yet, he was the one who had ignited my dream.

During a Latin competition in college, I was getting poor results and constantly hitting a wall. I had decided to give up dancing after one last performance.

The moment the music stopped, I heard a burst of applause.

"I feel so lucky that a dancer as brilliant as you exists in this world. It's a privilege to witness such a beautiful performance!"

His voice was filled with undisguised admiration.

That was the first time I met Zane Rhodes.

Two complete strangers: one confessing her uncertainty about the future, the other encouraging her not to give up on her dream.

I put my dancing shoes back on, and after graduation, I was reunited with Zane Rhodes.

I was overjoyed, but at the peak of my career, I was suddenly rejected by all the major dance competitions.

After asking around, I found out that I had been blacklisted by Zane Rhodes's ex-girlfriend, Celia Linden.

With no prize money from competitions, I couldn't afford my mother's surgery. Staring at the hospital's critical condition notice, I knelt before Celia Linden.

She made no demands of me, not even the clichéd "leave Zane Rhodes" ultimatum you see in TV dramas.

She just gave me a detached glance, one that made me understand the vast, unbridgeable chasm between us.

Celia Linden eventually relented, but it was too late. My mother had already missed the optimal window for treatment, and she passed away.

I didn't dare blame anyone. I could only spend my nights clutching my mother's clothes, weeping.

After Zane Rhodes and I got together, I brought it up with him once.

He was silent for a long moment.

"Celia can be a bit willful. Don't take it to heart."

My eyes widened. I couldn't believe what I was hearing.

'Could the single word "willful" whitewash the crime that led to my mother's death?'

Zane Rhodes tugged irritably at his tie.

"Then what do you want me to do? Confront her over something that can't be undone?"

"You can't blame Celia for this. It's entirely because you, her daughter, were too incompetent to save her. That's why your mom died without treatment!"

'Incompetent?'

'I won the championship every single time I competed!'

But I didn't dare talk back.

I was afraid Celia Linden would destroy the stable life I had fought for all over again.