- 4 hours ago
The Price of My Legs. Completed English dubbed
Category
🎥
Short filmTranscript
00:04The 5th year after I was brought back to the Harmon family, the fake heiress Cassie rammed her car into
00:09me and shattered my legs.
00:11My parents and my childhood sweetheart Ethan rushed me to the hospital in a panic.
00:15The doctor said I might be stuck in a wheelchair for life.
00:18Ethan proposed to me right then.
00:20I'll take care of you forever.
00:21Mom and Dad cut Cassie off completely.
00:24They told me to hand over the evidence and let them handle it, said I should focus on getting better.
00:28Later, they told me Cassie had drowned trying to flee the country.
00:31I believed them, but after 5 years I found everyone had lied to me.
00:35Then one afternoon, I rolled into the hospital lobby for my weekly physical therapy session and saw her.
00:40Cassie, very much alive, with a little boy on her hip.
00:43These past few years, I don't know what I would have done without all of you.
00:47Jade probably would have had me locked up for good.
00:50Luckily, she never figured it out.
00:52You and I have a son.
00:53Mom and Dad have been covering for us and destroyed the evidence.
00:56Ethan, I'm sorry you had to marry her.
00:59Had to put on that whole act.
01:00Don't say that.
01:01Marrying her was the only way I could sign those legal papers as next of kin.
01:04It was the only way to keep you safe.
01:06As long as you and our son are okay, it was worth it.
01:08Tears blurred my vision.
01:10The marriage I thought would save me was never real at all.
01:13I'd spent years trying to win my parents over, yet they chose her, lied for her, and hurt me for
01:18her.
01:18Fine.
01:19Then I'd leave.
01:25My phone rang.
01:26It's Mom.
01:27Jade, honey, why didn't you wait for us?
01:28We're almost there.
01:29Where are you?
01:30I pressed my nails into my palm.
01:31I figured I shouldn't keep relying on you for every little thing, so I came on my own this time.
01:36We're family.
01:36You could never be a burden.
01:38Are you inside?
01:38We're coming right now.
01:39Every week for five years, they had come with me.
01:41I used to think it was love.
01:43Yeah, just got here.
01:44About to head into the main lobby.
01:45Sure enough, Mom's voice went tight.
01:47She told me to wait outside, said the lobby was crowded and unsafe.
01:50They were close and would come find me.
01:51I told her fine and hung up.
01:53Across the lobby, I watched Ethan answer his phone.
01:55His expression shifted immediately.
01:57He said something to Cassie, low and quick.
01:59Then he handed her the boy, slipped out through a side exit.
02:02Cassie disappeared into the crowd.
02:03I understood.
02:04That call had been Mom and Dad warning him.
02:06They hadn't told me to stay outside for my safety.
02:08They'd wanted to make sure I didn't walk in and see what I'd just seen.
02:11The shock and the grief hit me at the same time.
02:13So hard.
02:14All of them had been protecting her.
02:17The woman who had destroyed my legs.
02:19I dug my nails into my palm, the pain grounding me back.
02:22I thought, if that's how it'll be, I'll play along with their little act.
02:25I opened my phone and hit record.
02:27Then I wheeled myself out to the front entrance and waited for Mom and Dad to come around the corner.
02:31Mom looked slightly alarmed.
02:32Jade, why did you go in without waiting for us?
02:39We told you the lobby gets crowded.
02:41You shouldn't go in alone.
02:42I had to use the restroom.
02:43Couldn't wait.
02:44Mom tried to keep her voice casual.
02:46You didn't run into anyone in there, did you?
02:47The tension behind her eyes cut right through me.
02:50I wanted to scream.
02:51Why lie to me?
02:51How could you?
02:52But there was no point anymore.
02:53I'd already made my decision.
02:55Run into anyone?
02:56I was in the bathroom the whole time.
02:58Didn't notice.
02:59They both exhaled.
03:00Come on.
03:01We'll go up with you.
03:03The flug's been bad lately.
03:04You have to be careful.
03:06I'd be devastated if you got sick.
03:08Once, her worried eyes and gentle gesture would have moved me.
03:10Now I felt nothing.
03:11It was all just an act.
03:13The rehab clinic was on the 12th floor.
03:15I lay on the table and let the doctor administer the anesthetic.
03:17As it pulled me under, I caught pieces of a conversation.
03:20Mrs. Harmon's legs have gone without proper treatment for too long.
03:23If we don't proceed with surgery soon, she may never walk again.
03:26And as you ordered, her medication was replaced with vitamins.
03:30Mr. Harmon, are you truly willing to let your daughter spend her life confined to that wheelchair?
03:35Dad's voice came back flat and final.
03:36I didn't fly you in from overseas to ask me questions.
03:39Do what I told you.
03:41What does it matter if she can't walk?
03:42We'll support her forever.
03:43Who asked for your opinion?
03:45You've been on our payroll for five years.
03:47Don't forget that.
03:48I only meant she's been under anesthesia for so long her body may start to build up a resistance.
03:52We should prepare for that possibility.
03:55That's your problem to manage.
03:56Don't let her heal or worsen.
03:58Find the balance.
04:00Yes, sir.
04:04The door opened and closed.
04:06I lay there in the half dark.
04:07They didn't know.
04:08I'd already built up a resistance to the anesthetic.
04:11I heard every word and recorded every second of it.
04:13Tears slipped down the sides of my face without a sound.
04:16After the session, Mom and Dad wheeled me home, full of warmth and small talk.
04:20Ethan met us at the door in his apron.
04:21Two hours ago, he had been at the hospital handing his son to the woman who had crippled me.
04:25Hey, you must be exhausted.
04:27I made soup.
04:28It'll help you heal.
04:29His eyes were soft, devoted.
04:30The same eyes that looked at me the day he proposed.
04:33If not for what I'd seen and heard, I would have believed every word.
04:36But now his smile was nothing but a mask.
04:38He'd never loved me.
04:39Only Cassie.
04:39And to protect her, he had given me five years of careful, patient, practiced lies.
04:44He had given her a son.
04:45At dinner, Mom stared at the food on the table and suddenly her eyes went red.
04:48She pressed her fingers to her mouth.
04:50Mom, what's wrong?
04:52She's thinking about Cassie.
04:53Some of these dishes were her favorites.
04:56That girl made a terrible mistake.
04:58But we raised her for over ten years.
05:00She didn't deserve to die for it.
05:02I could feel them watching my face.
05:03She didn't deserve to die for it, so I deserve to be the sacrifice.
05:06It's been five years.
05:08Cassie was only twenty when it happened.
05:10She wasn't thinking clearly.
05:12She thought you were going to take everything from her.
05:13Her anniversary is in five days.
05:15I know you don't want to go.
05:16I'll take Mom and Dad to the grave.
05:18Is that okay?
05:19He looked almost nervous, like he was waiting for me to break.
05:22Sure.
05:22My heart was ice.
05:23You should go.
05:24She was part of this family a lot longer than I was.
05:26It makes sense that you all loved her.
05:34Ethan let out a breath.
05:35His voice went gentle.
05:36I knew you'd understand.
05:37You've always been the bigger person.
05:39Mom wiped her eyes.
05:40My sweet girl.
05:41My own daughter really is sensible.
05:43I bent my head over my bowl, so they knew I was the real daughter all along.
05:46A cramp moved through my stomach.
05:48I said I wasn't feeling well and excused myself.
05:50Ethan brought my medication to the room a few minutes later.
05:53When I didn't want to talk, he quietly filled a basin with warm water and washed my face for me.
05:57For the ten years since I'd been found and brought home, his eyes had always come back to me.
06:01Even when Cassie had confessed her feelings to him, he had turned her down cold.
06:05I finally understood why.
06:06He hadn't loved me.
06:07He had wanted to marry the future heiress of the Harmon Corporation.
06:10His love and his marriage had always been two separate things.
06:13Late that night, after Ethan fell asleep, I reached over and took his phone from the nightstand.
06:17The passcode was my birthday.
06:18His messages were pinned in order.
06:20Me first, then Mom and Dad.
06:21I scrolled through everything.
06:23Nothing unusual.
06:24Then I tried switching accounts and found he had a second one.
06:26With only one contact?
06:27Cassie.
06:28Ethan, it's been five years.
06:29How much longer do I have to hide?
06:31She has no evidence left.
06:32She's broken.
06:33She's not a threat.
06:35Dad!
06:36Our son keeps crying for his dad.
06:38How can you stand it?
06:39Ethan had replied,
06:40I've been working things out with Mom and Dad.
06:42Be patient.
06:42They had already brought Cassie back into the country.
06:45Changed her name.
06:46Registered a real estate company in her name.
06:47In five days, the company's grand opening.
06:49I opened her Instagram with shaking hands.
06:51My heart went cold.
07:01The past five years, Cassie had been living abroad in luxury.
07:05Designer clothes from the Harman label.
07:06A villa owned by the Harman Corporation's overseas holdings.
07:09Every business trip Ethan had taken, he had flown to her.
07:12And my own parents smiled in photo after photo.
07:14This was their family.
07:15It always had been.
07:18I held back my tears and screenshotted everything.
07:20That's when I noticed he'd changed his bio.
07:22It used to be one word.
07:23Waiting.
07:24What does waiting mean on your bio?
07:28I'm waiting for your legs to heal.
07:31Now it said, coming home.
07:33Waiting.
07:33For Cassie to come back.
07:35Coming home.
07:36Because she finally had.
07:37I put his phone back.
07:39I need a one-way flight.
07:40Five days from now.
07:42Overseas.
07:45Five days to say goodbye to five years of lies.
07:47That was enough.
07:48I went back to bed and didn't sleep.
07:49The next afternoon at lunch, my phone lit up.
07:52What card are you canceling?
07:54It's expiring.
07:55I scheduled a replacement.
07:58Sorry, something came up at work.
07:59I can't stay for lunch.
08:00Mom and dad followed him out.
08:02I was alone.
08:03I was almost out the door when my phone buzzed.
08:06A friend request.
08:06Jade, you heard everything at the hospital yesterday, didn't you?
08:10Your husband has a son with me.
08:13When the doctors told your parents the accident had left you unable to have children, they chose
08:17me.
08:18They told Ethan to be with me for an heir.
08:19We're the real couple.
08:21You were just a joke.
08:22They set me up with a company.
08:23Grand opening in five days.
08:25Bet they didn't tell you that either.
08:27I only regret I didn't run you over properly the first time.
08:30All of this should have been mine already.
08:36Each line hit like a blade, so that was why.
08:38Afraid it's unlikely that Jade will ever be able to conceive it.
08:41They made their choice.
08:42And Ethan had gone along willingly, found our marriage certificate, and pulled the legal
08:46waiver from Ethan's nightstand.
08:47I screenshotted everything.
08:49Chat logs aren't solid evidence, and a family member's legal waiver still holds weight in
08:53court.
08:56Then draft divorce papers.
08:59This marriage certificate is a fake.
09:01Cassie was right.
09:02I'd been the fool all along.
09:03If the marriage isn't legal, Ethan's waiver is invalid.
09:06It's fraud.
09:07Then help me draft a formal complaint.
09:09From the law office, I went to a different hospital for a full examination.
09:13Your legs can still be saved.
09:17The accident blocked your felanian tubes.
09:19A minor surgery could fix it.
09:21The fractures, untated but stable, can be corrected with an operation.
09:25Your family must have taken very good care of you.
09:27Five years without deterioration.
09:29Otherwise, your legs would be gone.
09:31I said nothing.
09:32He had no idea.
09:33Evidence.
09:33My family were the ones who had kept me broken.
09:36They weren't my family anymore.
09:42Cassie sent another message on my way home.
09:44A photo.
09:45Family is everything.
09:46The words burned my eyes.
09:47Their family had never included me.
09:50I went home and lay on the bed, staring at the ceiling.
09:53Sorry.
09:54Work has been crazy.
09:55I haven't had enough time for you.
09:57Your birthday is the day after tomorrow.
09:59Mom, Dad, and I already planned something.
10:02We want to celebrate properly.
10:03I lay there and remembered.
10:05Five years ago.
10:06My birthday.
10:07Mom and Dad had announced our engagement that night.
10:09That was what had driven Cassie to run me down.
10:11The whole five years since they'd brought me home, I had never felt fully at ease.
10:15I could never be as natural with them as Cassie was.
10:17At every birthday, Cassie had been the real star.
10:20Working the room.
10:21Greeting people I didn't even know.
10:22This party only fits someone like me.
10:24You grew up in foster care.
10:26You don't belong here.
10:28She always had to take what was mine.
10:29This time would be no different.
10:31I knew her well enough to know that.
10:32So when I saw her at my birthday party, I felt calm.
10:39No shock.
10:40No fear.
10:41Just a flat, hollow calm.
10:43When the family recognized her, the looks on their faces were extraordinary.
10:46Dad shot a glance at me.
10:48What are you doing here?
10:49This is reckless.
10:50If she finds out, everything falls apart.
10:52She's been away so long.
10:54She just missed home.
10:55Don't be so hard on her.
10:57Jade won't recognize her like this.
10:59Babe, today is my birthday too.
11:02I want to cut the cake.
11:04Go ahead.
11:05Jade's in a wheelchair anyway.
11:07And so Cassie walked up and cut the six-foot birthday cake that was supposed to be mine alone.
11:11She even split the chocolate figurine of me down the middle.
11:15Then she shoved the whole stand toward me.
11:17The metal support nearly took my face off.
11:20Are you okay?
11:24You are clumsy.
11:25Get out!
11:29He had seen exactly what she'd done.
11:31Just covered for it fast.
11:33Good instincts.
11:34Mom and Dad had picked well.
11:36While they dealt with the mess, Cassie wheeled me toward the garden.
11:43Long time no see, sis.
11:50Did you see?
11:51The whole family sang happy birthday looking at me.
11:53They love me more.
11:54They always have.
11:55You should have just stayed in that foster home.
11:57Instead, you came back and tried to take everything from me.
11:59Look at you now.
12:00Crippled.
12:01Husband's mine too.
12:02If I were you, I'd die of shame.
12:04You're the one who should be ashamed.
12:06Now you live under a fake name, hide every time I'm near, and have to dress up in a mask
12:11just to show your face.
12:13Who's the pathetic one?
12:16You think you're so clever?
12:18Mom and Dad destroyed the evidence.
12:20You can't touch me.
12:24Let's see who they really choose.
12:33Let's see who they really choose.
12:35Oh, my daughter!
12:37Jane!
12:38Jane!
12:39Jane!
12:40Jane!
12:40Jane!
12:40Jane!
12:41Jane!
12:41Jane!
12:42Jane!
12:44Jane!
13:00Jane!
13:01Just before I went under, Ethan came back for me.
13:05Cassie!
13:06Cassie!
13:07Jade suddenly accelerated her wheelchair.
13:09She fell in.
13:10I jumped in to save her.
13:12Five years ago, her foster sister broke her legs at her birthday.
13:14Party party.
13:14Poor girl.
13:15Maybe it got to her.
13:15Jane!
13:16Why would you do that?
13:17We'll take care of you forever!
13:19You know that!
13:20The party fell apart.
13:23They took me to the hospital.
13:25Then more messages from Cassie.
13:26Did you see?
13:27He saved me first.
13:29Even your parents called out to me.
13:31You're not stupid.
13:31You know what that means.
13:33Their love for me runs deeper.
13:35We've been a family far longer than you and them.
13:37So tell me, who's the embarrassing one now?
13:41I didn't reply.
13:42I screenshotted everything instead.
13:47That night, after they dropped me home, the whole family went to Cassie's villa.
13:53I went to the study.
13:55I printed every photo, every screenshot, every chat log.
13:58Copied the audio file from the hospital onto a USB drive.
14:02My last gift to them.
14:08They didn't come back the next day.
14:11I'm out with mom and dad, preparing for the memorial.
14:14The housekeeper will look after you.
14:22Box up everything Ethan ever gave me.
14:25Throw it out.
14:27One word.
14:28Health.
14:29For Cassie, he'd written family is everything.
14:34For you.
14:35For me, just health.
14:41The cruelest joke.
14:43The man who had wanted me broken was the same one who wrote it.
14:46I threw the scarf mom had knitted me into the fire basin.
14:48The leg warmers, too.
14:50Every family photo from the past ten years.
14:52All of it.
14:54Ash.
14:54I didn't want to leave a single trace of myself in this house.
14:57I watched the fire until I was ready.
14:59File a civil suit against Cassie tomorrow.
15:02Even if criminal charges can't stick.
15:04I want everyone to know she's alive.
15:07That my family hid her.
15:09Then I logged into my social media and scheduled a mass post.
15:12The photos, the audio, everything.
15:13Set to go out at midnight.
15:16Want to bet I can make them drop everything and come running back to me?
15:23Try it!
15:24They won't be back today no matter what you do!
15:31Sure enough.
15:32Mom called an hour later.
15:33We still have things to get.
15:35Won't be home tonight.
15:36Don't wait up.
15:38Perfect.
15:44I sent the last copy of my evidence to the doctor they'd hired.
15:48Then I grabbed my ticket and left.
15:49Ten years in that house.
15:51Gone in one night.
15:52The next day, at the ribbon cutting for Cassie's new company, Dad's phone rang.
15:57Sir, it's bad.
15:58Miss Harmon, the real one, she knows everything.
16:01She heard what you and I said in the clinic that day.
16:03Dad went white.
16:04He tried to call me.
16:06My phone was off.
16:07Dad, the ceremony is starting.
16:09Come on.
16:10Cassie pulled him to the stage.
16:12Before they could take hold of the ribbon, the crowd below started moving.
16:16That's him, right?
16:16The CEO.
16:17Covering for his adopted daughter while his real daughter spends her life in a wheelchair.
16:21Nice work.
16:22Isn't that the girl next to him?
16:23The adopted one?
16:24Ethan shoved through the crowd.
16:26Phone out.
16:27Face panicked.
16:28Dad, we have to go.
16:29Now.
16:30Dad was dragged off.
16:31Cassie was left standing on the stage alone.
16:33No idea what was happening.
16:35In the car, Ethan drove hard.
16:37Mom demanding to know what was going on.
16:39At home, he made her take her heart medication before he spoke.
16:42Jade knows.
16:43She knows everything.
16:45What?
16:48Dad exhaled.
16:49The doctor called me too.
16:51Jade heard us talking in the clinic.
16:53I've already asked him to come over.
16:54No need to wait.
16:55She posted everything online.
16:56He handed Dad the phone.
16:58Dad's face drained with every scroll.
17:00He opened the audio.
17:01His own voice.
17:02Recorded in the clinic.
17:03Telling the doctor to keep me from healing.
17:05The comments were merciless.
17:07Mom glanced at the screen once and collapsed.
17:09Hand pressed to her chest.
17:11I told you not to leave any evidence.
17:13You kept the chat logs.
17:15You posted photos.
17:16What were you thinking?
17:17Ethan looked stung.
17:19I didn't know Jade would go through my phone and find the second account.
17:21The doctor arrived.
17:22He laid the files on the table, shook his head, and spoke.
17:26I told you from the start this would catch up with you.
17:28My name is out there now too.
17:30I'm going back overseas.
17:32Our arrangement is finished.
17:33He left before Dad could say a word.
17:36The doctor posted publicly before his flight, distancing himself,
17:39confirming he had pushed back throughout.
17:41The internet largely let him go.
17:43Dad was fielding calls from every company in the corporation when Cassie walked in.
17:47Dad!
17:47What do I do?
17:49A reporter asked me if I was Cassie Harmon outside the building.
17:51I showed them my new ID to get away.
17:53Don't let anyone find out who I am, please.
17:56Dad studied her for a moment.
17:57The housekeeper says Jade left last night.
17:59She's already gone overseas.
18:00While we work on finding her, you need to come forward.
18:03Tell people you made a mistake when you were young.
18:05You have the legal waver.
18:06You won't go to prison.
18:08It's the cleanest solution.
18:12No!
18:13You forgot!
18:14Ethan never legally married Jade.
18:16If that comes out, the waiver is void.
18:18I could still go to prison.
18:20Dad's expression darkened.
18:21Then what do you suggest?
18:23I go back overseas and wait it out.
18:25Same as before.
18:26You tell everyone Jade lost her mind.
18:28The audio is fake.
18:29The screenshots are edited.
18:30Dad, Ethan, and Mom stared at her.
18:32The audio can be verified.
18:34Saying it's fake won't make it fake.
18:36And those chat logs already have people questioning whether I committed bigamy.
18:40I'm getting destroyed out there.
18:42You don't get to just walk away from this.
18:44Ethan stepped in front of the door.
18:46We cleaned up your mess five years ago.
18:48This time you face it with us.
18:50Cassie turned to Mom and Dad.
18:51Mom had gone quiet.
18:53One hand pressed to her chest.
18:55Cassie, have we spoiled you too much?
18:57You knew this return needed to be low profile.
19:00Instead you handed Jade everything she needed and then provoked her.
19:02You were reckless.
19:04Cassie's phone buzzed.
19:05She looked down.
19:06Her face shifted.
19:07She looked around the room with cold eyes.
19:10Jade had a lawyer send me a legal notice.
19:12She got my new name somehow.
19:13She didn't know it was easy.
19:14The new real estate company was registered under her new name.
19:17I had guessed it in minutes.
19:19Mom, Dad and Ethan stared back at her.
19:21You think we gave her your name?
19:24If we wanted to sell you out we would have done it five years ago.
19:28The night of the accident.
19:30You ungrateful.
19:31Cassie forced her voice level.
19:33I know everything you've done for me.
19:34I just can't go to court.
19:36It would ruin my reputation as a businesswoman before I've even started.
19:40Forget the company.
19:41Dad snapped.
19:42Sell the building.
19:43Lay low.
19:44Go back overseas when this settles.
19:46He meant for her to appear in court.
19:48Cassie's eyes hardened.
19:49She said nothing.
19:53The days that followed were ugly.
19:55Dad barely left the house.
19:57The Harmon Corporation's stock fell.
19:59Shareholders demanded answers.
20:01The board pushed him out.
20:02Ethan was hunting for me.
20:04He left Cassie at the villa with Mom and Dad.
20:06After the bigamy accusations went public,
20:08he released the marriage certificate he and Cassie had signed overseas
20:11and was immediately attacked for being a man who wanted everything.
20:14Marry the heiress while she was useful.
20:16Sleep with the other one.
20:17Have a secret child.
20:19Legally clean?
20:20Publicly destroyed?
20:21Mom was called heartless online.
20:23Spineless.
20:24A woman who lied to her own daughter to protect the girl she'd raised.
20:27Someone uploaded footage from my birthday party.
20:29That masked server who cut the cake.
20:31That's Cassie, isn't it?
20:32They share the same birthday.
20:33There was a mix-up at the hospital.
20:35The real daughter grew up in foster care for ten years before they even found her.
20:38And then every birthday she sat in the corner while the other girl took over the room.
20:42Watched the pool footage again.
20:43The foster daughter pushed her in.
20:45She didn't fall.
20:46The truth of the pool incident spread fast.
20:49People who knew Cassie confirmed it was exactly the kind of thing she would do.
20:52Some of the angrier ones showed up outside the villa.
20:55Banners.
20:56Garbage left at the gate.
20:57Calling for Cassie to face justice.
21:02Ethan found me two weeks later.
21:04I had already had the surgery.
21:06The doctor said three months of recovery and I would walk again.
21:09The fallopian tube surgery had gone well too.
21:11Clean on the first try.
21:12Like something had finally decided to go right.
21:14Ethan stood at my bedside looking hollowed out.
21:17Older.
21:18Jade.
21:19I'm sorry.
21:20I cut him off with a cold smile.
21:22Don't call me that.
21:23I'm not your wife.
21:25Whether you believe it or not, I have always loved you.
21:27But your dad needed an heir so he made me marry her and give him a grandchild.
21:32I had no choice.
21:34Stop.
21:34I looked at him steadily.
21:36Don't make yourself sound helpless.
21:37You made a calculated bet.
21:39Same as Cassie.
21:41You two were always the same kind of person.
21:43He had no answer.
21:44But the care all those years, that was real.
21:47Doesn't ten years count for anything?
21:49No.
21:50Ethan, you made your choices.
21:51Live with them.
21:52I pressed the call button and told the nurse not to let him in again.
21:55He was walked out.
21:59A week later, the news said Cassie's trial had been scheduled and would be public.
22:03I watched the live stream.
22:04She looked the same.
22:06Defiant.
22:07You call these real chat lags?
22:09You can't convict me on this.
22:10Either show me real proof or let me go.
22:12My lawyer spent two hours methodically eviscerating her without ever crossing a legal line.
22:17He folded in the fake marriage, the fraud, all of it.
22:21Cassie couldn't keep up.
22:22Couldn't shut him up.
22:24Opposing counsel.
22:24My lawyer said pleasantly.
22:26Would you agree that this behavior is completely…
22:29He had turned to Cassie's own lawyer for agreement.
22:31Her lawyer buried his face in his notes.
22:33The room nearly broke.
22:35By the time it ended, Cassie's face had gone from red to a deep purple.
22:39It was almost funny.
22:40Still, it bothered me a little.
22:42Public humiliation was the most I could give her.
22:45She had gotten off easier than she deserved, but I hadn't expected what came next.
22:52After the hearing, the mood in the villa turned to ash.
22:55Dad had barely been outside in days.
22:57Mom spent most of her time crying.
22:59She told Ethan to bring me home, but Ethan told her I wouldn't see him.
23:02That's when they realized.
23:04Everything I had ever brought into that house was gone.
23:06The gifts from Mom and Dad.
23:08The memories with Ethan.
23:09Burned to nothing in the study fireplace.
23:11Not a single photograph left.
23:13My Jade must hate me.
23:15I should never have listened to any of you.
23:17Dad rubbed his face.
23:19We all made this mistake together.
23:21Crying doesn't fix anything.
23:22Ethan, Jade had surgery abroad.
23:24Send her some money.
23:25It's the least we can do.
23:27You're sending her money?
23:29She's the reason we're in this mess.
23:31And you're rewarding her?
23:33Her son startled at her voice and began to cry.
23:35Ethan scooped him up and turned on her.
23:37You frightened him.
23:38And Jade didn't start this.
23:39You did.
23:40Everything we've done has been to protect you.
23:42To pay for what you did.
23:43How are you blaming her?
23:45Don't act righteous with me.
23:47I know exactly how many nights you spent with Jade these five years.
23:51I let it go.
23:52And now you want to lecture me?
23:54That's a lie.
23:55She slapped him before he could finish the sentence.
23:57Look at yourself.
23:59We made you this way.
24:00Cassie's eyes went strange.
24:01She smiled.
24:02Dad, my son is the only heir to the Harmon Corporation.
24:05I intend to take very good care of you.
24:08The room went still.
24:12Jade is still my daughter.
24:14We haven't cut ties.
24:15I'm calling the lawyer right now.
24:17When I die, not one cent of the Harmon estate goes to you.
24:20I'm cutting you off.
24:21He reached for his phone.
24:23Cassie hid it out of his hand.
24:24She ground it under her foot.
24:2625 years, Dad.
24:28You and Mom loved me most.
24:29I was your family.
24:30And now you want to throw me away and give everything to that girl?
24:33No.
24:34I have rights here.
24:35You can't cut me out.
24:36Mom said from across the room.
24:38Rights?
24:38We never let you want for anything.
24:40Not one hard day.
24:41Drivers, housekeepers, everything.
24:44Jade grew up with nothing and never once asked us as to make it of her.
24:47You were jealous of her and nearly killed her.
24:49And still we chose you.
24:50This is how you treat us?
24:52Mom!
24:53You've been against me since the accident.
24:54Don't pretend you were ever on my side!
24:57Mom clutched her chest.
24:58Her face went gray.
25:00Mom!
25:01Ethan ran for her medication.
25:03Dad raised his hand.
25:04He slapped Cassie across the face.
25:05In 25 years, they had never touched her.
25:08Something broke in her.
25:09You hit me!
25:10For her!
25:11She shoved him.
25:12He stumbled back.
25:13His head struck the marble edge of the coffee table.
25:15He didn't get up.
25:16Cassie stood over him.
25:17Dad, stop pretending.
25:19I won't let you make that call.
25:21She looked for a reaction.
25:22His eyes were open and fixed.
25:24Blood moved slowly across the marble.
25:26She crouched.
25:27Checked his breathing.
25:28She crawled backward on her hands and feet.
25:31It wasn't me!
25:32I didn't mean to!
25:36Ethan came back with a medication.
25:38Saw what he saw.
25:40He screamed.
25:41Mom had crawled toward Dad and found him already gone.
25:43She screamed once and lost consciousness.
25:46Mom!
25:47Tried to give her the medication.
25:49But she had already stopped breathing.
25:51And their five-year-old son crying in the corner.
25:54Cassie, they gave you everything.
25:57And you killed them!
25:58Ethan reached for his phone.
26:00I'm calling the police!
26:01Cassie lost her mind.
26:03She picked up the ashtray from the table.
26:05Hit.
26:06Once.
26:07Twice.
26:08The housekeeper called me the next morning.
26:10Miss Harmon.
26:11The villa burned last night.
26:13Mr. and Mrs. Harmon didn't make it out.
26:16Neither did the child.
26:17And Cassie?
26:20The police found three bodies.
26:22They're still confirming identities.
26:24But one of them was Mr. Ethan.
26:26Three.
26:26Not four.
26:27I already knew what that meant.
26:29The police confirmed it two days later.
26:31Cassie was not among the dead.
26:33Security footage from a neighboring property showed a figure slipping through the back garden
26:3720 minutes before the fire started.
26:39She had walked away.
26:40Left her own son in that house and walked away.
26:43I wasn't surprised.
26:44I had always known what she was capable of.
26:47Feeling something about it was pointless.
26:49I called my lawyer.
26:50The criminal investigation is underway.
26:52An international warrant has been issued.
26:54It's only a matter of time.
26:56I thought about mom and dad.
26:58About the years I had spent trying to be enough for them.
27:00A resigned sigh.
27:01There was nothing left to grieve that I hadn't already grieved.
27:04I had a follow-up appointment with my new doctor Ryan in two hours.
27:08I got ready and went.
27:12Ryan was already in the corridor when I wheeled myself in.
27:15He glanced at my chart, then at me.
27:17You look tired.
27:19I didn't sleep.
27:20Just held the door open and let me through.
27:22After the examination, he pulled up the scans and turned the screen toward me.
27:26The bone is setting well.
27:27Another few weeks and you should be able to put weight on it.
27:30And walk?
27:31And walk.
27:32He said it simply, like it was already decided.
27:35I'm going to check the muscle response.
27:37Tell me if it hurts.
27:38His hands were warm.
27:39Careful.
27:40Watching my face more than my leg.
27:43You always do that.
27:45Do what?
27:46Watch my face instead of what you're doing.
27:49The leg I can read on the scan.
27:51Your face is more interesting.
27:53I didn't answer.
27:54He moved to the other leg.
27:56Same slow, deliberate pressure.
27:58You know, most of my patients don't argue with me about their own recovery.
28:01Most of your patients are probably wrong.
28:05Most of my patients are also not...
28:07He paused.
28:08This distracting.
28:09I looked down at him.
28:10He met my eyes and didn't pretend he hadn't said it.
28:13That's very unprofessional.
28:16I know.
28:17But you're the exception.
28:19Same time Thursday?
28:20I took it and smiled.
28:22Right.
28:23Same time Thursday.
28:28Two months later, Cassie found me.
28:30I had just come back from therapy.
28:32Ryan had walked me to the elevator.
28:34We'd argued about whether I was doing enough rest.
28:36I was smiling about it when I turned the corner to my room.
28:39She was already inside.
28:41Thinner than I remembered.
28:42A kitchen knife in her hand.
28:44You look well, Jade.
28:46I didn't move.
28:47You burned your own son alive?
28:49I said.
28:50And you came here?
28:52He would have grown up with nothing because of you.
28:55I saved him from that.
28:57Drop the lawsuit.
28:59Sign the shares over to me.
29:00Do it and I'll disappear.
29:02You're wanted in three countries, Cassie.
29:04Do it and I'll disappear!
29:06Her hand wasn't steady.
29:07Neither was her voice.
29:08She had nothing.
29:09She knew it.
29:10And people with nothing are the most dangerous kind.
29:13I kept my eyes on her and said nothing.
29:18She moved fast.
29:19I spun the wheelchair back, but not fast enough.
29:22The door behind her opened.
29:26Put it down.
29:27Get out of the way!
29:28This has nothing to do with you!
29:30Put it down.
29:36Something cracked open in my chest.
29:38I don't know what it was.
29:40Five years of staying still.
29:42Five years of surviving quietly.
29:43Of choosing patience over everything.
29:46It ran out all at once.
29:47I gripped the armrests.
29:49My legs had been carrying weight in therapy for two weeks.
29:52Ryan had told me to wait.
29:53To be careful.
29:54I stood up.
29:55The world tilted.
30:08I thought you said you weren't ready to walk yet.
30:11I wasn't.
30:13Until now.
30:21The trial was set for six weeks after Cassie's arrest.
30:24I flew back for it.
30:25It was the first time I had walked through an airport on my own two feet.
30:28No wheelchair.
30:29No Ethan behind me.
30:31No mom adjusting my scarf.
30:32Just me.
30:34You don't have to do everything alone, you know.
30:37I know.
30:38But this part I do.
30:41Cassie walked in looking like she hadn't slept in weeks.
30:44The defiance was still there, but thinner now.
30:47Her lawyer argued diminished state of mind, extreme emotional distress, a difficult childhood.
30:53My lawyer dismantled it piece by piece.
30:55The premeditation.
30:56The international flight.
30:58The knife she had carried across three borders to find me.
31:00Mrs. Cassie acted not out of impulse, but out of calculation.
31:04Every step, every decision was a choice.
31:06My client deeply regrets.
31:07I don't.
31:11I don't.
31:14I don't regret any of it.
31:17They chose her over me.
31:20After everything.
31:21The verdict came three days later.
31:23I sat in the back of the courtroom and listened to the charges read out one by one.
31:26Murder.
31:27Arson.
31:27Assault with a deadly weapon.
31:29Cassie didn't look at me when they let her out.
31:31I had waited five years for this moment.
31:32I thought I would feel something enormous.
31:34Instead, I just felt quiet.
31:36Clean.
31:36The way a room feels after you finally cleared out everything you no longer need.
31:44How are you?
31:46Finished.
31:47I think I'm finally finished.
31:49Then come home.
31:52Yeah.
31:53I'm coming home.
31:59Dad's study still smelled like him.
32:01Ink and cedar and something I had never been able to name.
32:04The housekeeper had kept everything untouched.
32:07I sat at the desk for a long time before I opened the drawers.
32:10Most of it was paperwork.
32:12Corporate documents.
32:13Old correspondence.
32:14Then in the bottom drawer, under a leather folder.
32:16An envelope.
32:18Unsealed.
32:18My name on the front in Dad's handwriting.
32:21I recognized it immediately.
32:23He had always written my name the same way.
32:25The J slightly larger than the rest.
32:28Like he'd started it with more intention than he knew what to do with.
32:31I sat with it in my hands for a while before I opened it.
32:35Jade.
32:37Jade.
32:37I have started this letter four times.
32:40I don't know how to write it.
32:41You came back to us at fifteen and I told myself we would make it right.
32:46That we would give you everything we had given Cassie.
32:49That you would never feel the difference.
32:51I lied to myself for ten years.
32:53The truth is I was afraid of you.
32:55Of what I had done.
32:56Every time I looked at you I saw it.
32:57All the years we had missed.
32:59All the ways we had failed you before you even walked through our door.
33:01It was easier to keep failing you than to face what we had already done.
33:05That is not an excuse.
33:06I know that.
33:06If you are reading this I imagine you know everything by now.
33:09I imagine you have handled it better than any of us deserved.
33:12You were always stronger than we gave you credit for.
33:16I'm sorry Jade.
33:18Not for being caught.
33:20For doing it at all.
33:21I folded the letter and put it back in the envelope.
33:23I sat there in the quiet for a long time.
33:26Then I put it in my coat pocket.
33:28Turned off the desk lamp.
33:29And walked out of the study.
33:31I didn't cry.
33:32I had done my crying a long time ago.
33:35But I kept the letter.
33:40The shareholders meeting was on a Wednesday.
33:43I walked in alone.
33:44No lawyer beside me.
33:45No assistant behind me.
33:46Just me and the folder of documents under my arm.
33:49The room was full of men who had known my father for decades.
33:52Most of them had sent flowers when he died.
33:54Several of them had also quietly begun positioning themselves to absorb the parts of the Harmon Corporation
33:59they thought would go undefended.
34:01They looked at me the way people look at something they've already decided to dismiss.
34:04Miss Harmon.
34:05We were sorry to hear you'd be attending in person.
34:08We assumed given everything you'd been through you might prefer to send a representative.
34:12I'm sure you did.
34:13I said and took my seat.
34:14I laid out the documents one by one.
34:16Dad's will filed three days before his death and legally airtight.
34:20The share transfer.
34:21The succession clause.
34:22Your father's mental state in his final weeks was under the circumstances questionable.
34:27We have reason to believe...
34:28You have reason to believe that a grieving family in crisis might have left a door open.
34:33You were wrong.
34:34I turned to the legal counsel at the end of the table.
34:37Everything has been verified independently.
34:39If there are further challenges, I'll see them in court.
34:42Are there further challenges?
34:44Good.
34:45Then let's begin.
34:51After the shareholders meeting, I agreed to one interview.
34:54The journalist was young, nervous.
34:56She had clearly prepared a long time for this.
34:58She sat across from me with her recorder and her careful questions
35:01and asked me how I wanted people to understand my story.
35:03I thought about it.
35:05I don't need people to understand it.
35:07It's mine.
35:07I lived it.
35:08But you went public with the evidence.
35:10The audio, the photos.
35:12You chose to make it visible.
35:13I made it visible so it couldn't be buried again.
35:15That's different from needing sympathy.
35:17She nodded slowly.
35:18Wrote something down.
35:19Do you forgive them?
35:20I looked at her.
35:21My parents made choices I'll never fully understand, but they were my parents.
35:24I've made my peace with that.
35:26And Cassie?
35:28Cassie is in prison.
35:29That's enough.
35:30And Ethan?
35:31I was quiet for a moment.
35:32Ethan taught me what it felt like to be lied to
35:35by someone who was very good at pretending to love you.
35:38That turned out to be useful.
35:40She looked up from her notes.
35:41There are reports that you've been seen with your surgeon abroad.
35:44Would you like to comment?
35:45No?
35:46I wouldn't.
35:47After the interview, I went to the hospital.
35:49Not for an appointment.
35:50Just to walk the corridors I had spent five years being wheeled through.
35:54I stopped outside the rehab clinic on the 12th floor.
35:56Stood there for a moment.
35:57Then I turned and took the stairs back down.
35:59All 12 floors.
36:01On my own two feet.
36:06Ryan flew in on a Friday.
36:08I met him at the airport.
36:09He came through the arrivals gate with his jacket over one arm.
36:12He saw me and stopped.
36:13Then he smiled.
36:14You're standing.
36:16I've been standing for months.
36:18I know.
36:18I just like saying it.
36:20We drove to the Harmon building.
36:22I had one last thing to do.
36:23He waited in the lobby while I went up.
36:25The top floor.
36:26Dad's old office.
36:27The city spread out below.
36:28Gray and vast and indifferent.
36:30I stood at the window for a while.
36:32Then I sat at the desk and signed the documents.
36:35The new company charter.
36:36The renamed foundation.
36:37The name change on the building registry.
36:39Not Harmon Corporation anymore.
36:41Something new.
36:42Something mine.
36:42I put the pen down.
36:43I thought about the girl who had been wheeled into this city five years ago.
36:47Broken and lied to and slowly, deliberately kept from healing.
36:50I thought about everything she had survived to get here.
36:53Then I picked up my coat and went back to the elevator.
37:01Ryan was where I'd left him.
37:02Leaning against the lobby wall, looking at his phone.
37:04He looked up when the elevator opened.
37:07Done?
37:08Done.
37:09We walked out through the front doors together.
37:11The city was loud and ordinary and full of people going somewhere.
37:14I stopped on the steps and looked out at it.
37:16How does it feel?
37:17I thought about the hospital corridor, the wheelchair, the calligraphy dad had written
37:21that said health while he paid a doctor to make sure I never got better, the birthday
37:25cake Cassie split down the middle, the pool, the cold water closing over my head.
37:29I thought about a Thursday afternoon in a clinic abroad, a man crouching in front of
37:33my wheelchair saying, you're probably the least fragile person I've ever treated.
37:37I thought about standing up.
37:39Like the first day.
37:41Ryan held out his hand.
37:43I took it.
37:43He pulled me in without warning and kissed me, slow and deep, like he'd been waiting
37:48long enough and had no interest in waiting anymore.
Comments