Chapter 1: The Hundred Ways He Used Her
"I donated bl00d to save my boyfriend after his friends told me he had been in a serious acc!dent.
As I was leaving the hospital, I heard someone behind a door say, 'I can't believe she fell for it again.' I stayed quiet, glanced at the br*ise on my arm, and took out my phone.
What I discovered about our three years together turned that donation into revenge number 96.
**PART 1**
"If you really love me, you're not going to ask how much they need.
You're going to donate, period."
Those were the last words Brendan said to me before a nurse slid a needle into my arm.
Forty minutes later, I walked out of the bl00d bank at a private clinic in La Jolla with shaky legs, a cotton ball taped to my arm, and the strange certainty that I had just done something important for the man I loved.
According to his friends, Brendan had been in a serious acc!dent while testing a car on a private track near Bakersfield.
They had called me in the middle of the night, saying they urgently needed a compatible unit of bl00d.
I didn't ask too many questions.
Brendan had been my boyfriend for three years.
And I would have done anything for him.
As I was searching for the elevator, I saw a woman in clinical scrubs pushing a compact medical cooler past me.
I recognized the label they had attached to it just minutes earlier.
My name was written on it.
Chloe Bennett.
I followed her without thinking.
The woman went through a side door and, to my disbelief, took the bl00d bag out of the cooler and dropped it into a biohazard waste container.
I stood motionless.
I thought the dizziness was making me see things.
Then I heard laughter.
It was coming from a VIP room with the door slightly open.
"I can't believe Chloe fell for it again."
My heart stopped.
I edged closer.
Brendan was lying comfortably on the bed, perfectly groomed, without oxygen, without injur!es, without even a bandage.
He had his phone in his hand.
Around him were Mason, Liam, and several of his other friends — the same people who had called me in desperation that morning.
"Which one are we on?" Mason asked between laughs.
Liam held up his fingers, counting.
"Ninety-six."
They all laughed.
I felt the floor vanish beneath my feet.
"The bracelet one was hilarious," someone recalled.
"We told her Brendan had lost her anniversary gift, and Chloe spent half the night searching for it in the rain."
"She ended up with a fever."
"And even then, she showed up the next day asking if it had been found yet."
Another burst of laughter.
I felt sick.
Then they talked about the time they made me believe Brendan was unconscious after surgery, and I spent the entire night praying in a church.
Then they remembered the false plagiarism accusation I received during my final semester at university.
I had spent hours running around looking for evidence to clear my name.
That was why I arrived late to my own graduation ceremony.
I had always thought they were coincidences.
Problems.
Bad luck.
Brendan used to tell me I was too sensitive.
Then I heard a sentence that changed my life.
"Only three left," Mason said.
"Ninety-nine revenge schemes, and the deal is over."
"And then?"
"Brendan breaks up with Chloe and gets back together with Scarlett."
Scarlett.
I felt a blow to my chest.
Scarlett Montgomery had been the favorite to win the university dance competition four years earlier.
She came from a well-known family, had sponsors, private instructors, and everyone was certain she would win.
But I won.
Chloe Bennett.
The daughter of an accountant from San Bernardino and an elementary school teacher.
I remembered that night.
The applause.
My mother crying in the front row.
My father recording everything on an old cellphone.
I never imagined that backstage, Scarlett had been weeping with rage in front of Brendan.
"Chloe took the championship away from her," someone commented.
"That's why Brendan started dating her," another replied.
"First, he had to make her fall in love with him.
Then he was going to make her pay."
I felt the air leave my lungs.
Three years.
Three years of trying to be enough.
Three years of accepting his silence, rejection, and humiliation because I thought Brendan simply had trouble showing affection.
Then he spoke.
"Stop making such a big deal out of it.
Chloe gets herself into everything.
Nobody forces her."
There was no guilt in his voice.
Only indifference.
I stepped away from the door before anyone could see me.
I stumbled out of the clinic, crossed the entrance, and ended up sitting beside a planter, crying with my head in my hands.
My phone started ringing.
It was my mother.
"Chloe, your dad already took care of everything with the apartment in Tucson.
We're leaving next week.
You can still come with us."
For months, I had said no.
Because of Brendan.
I looked at the purple mark on my arm.
I thought about my bl00d ending up in the trash.
I thought about ninety-six humiliations turned into jokes.
And I answered:
"Mom…
save a place for me."
I hung up.
But when I raised my head, I saw a new message from Brendan.
"Come tomorrow.
We still have three things left to take care of."
I still didn't know that those three "things" could destroy something much bigger than our relationship.
And I couldn't believe what was about to happen…"
---
Ninety-six times.
He used her love as a game — and she never knew.
What will Chloe do when Brendan texts her to come back tomorrow?
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Comment **"NEXT"** if you want Part 2.
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