I Let Her Ruin Herself Chapter 01
A group of boys cornered Taylor Spencer near school. I got hurt protecting her—badly.
It left me with a cane and took away my ability to have children.
Derek Miller, the ringleader, went to prison for it.
Later, Taylor became a rising actress and a social media darling.
Then she went public, accusing me of harassing her, of controlling her life as her manager. One of her obsessed fans took a knife to my throat for it.
As I was dying, Taylor stood over me and said coldly, “If it weren’t for you, Derek never would’ve gone to prison.”
“You ruined my love. Now you pay.”
When I opened my eyes again, I was back on the day Derek dragged Taylor down the path into the woods.
This time, I wasn’t rushing in.
If they wanted each other that badly, they could have each other. Forever.
…
Pain.
My throat felt like it had been slit open all over again.
I sat bolt upright in bed, my hand flying to my neck. The skin was smooth, but the phantom pain of my last moments lingered.
I fumbled under my pillow for my phone.
January 9. Five in the morning.
I was eighteen again.
Today was the day Taylor and I were supposed to take the greenway behind our neighborhood to Maple Glen Public High School. It was the day Derek would be waiting at the entrance with his friends to drag her into the woods.
The first time around, I thought she was screaming for help, so I charged in.
There were too many of them. Derek put a folding knife in my gut, then smashed my knee with a metal bar. I collapsed in the mud, unable to move.
Taylor hid behind a tree, shaking, but she never called 911.
In the end, a passing student finally called for an ambulance. I woke up in the ICU with permanent damage to my leg and my reproductive system.
Since Derek was a legal adult, he got nearly ten years for armed assault and attempted murder.
Taylor, unhurt, sat between her parents and cried. I thought she was crying for me. I was the one who ended up comforting her.
Only later did I learn she had been crying for Derek.
I never blamed her. I always thought of her as another victim.
After she broke into the entertainment industry, I became her manager, staying by her side from her first bit parts to starring roles in hit dramas. But just as her career peaked, she posted on Instagram, accusing me of sexual harassment and using her contracts to restrict her freedom.
One of her fans stabbed me over and over in an underground parking garage before slitting my throat.
I’d made it to thirty, only to die by the knife a second time, all for the same woman.
Now the date on my screen told me I had a second chance.
This time, I wasn’t stepping in front of a blade for Taylor.
This time, she could face him on her own.