The Fall from the Fifteenth Floor

One week before our wedding, my phone rang with a call from an unknown number. Julian had been kidnapped. The kidnapper gave me an ultimatum: wire three million dollars in twenty-four hours, or Julian would be dead. I hadn't worked in a year. I was completely broke. Panicked and shaking, I dialed my sister, Natalie. She let out a scoffing laugh through the speaker. "Avery, you really have some nerve! Asking for three million just like that?" "I don't have that kind of money. Deal with it yourself." Before I could beg again, she hung up on me. I couldn't wait a single second, so I called Mom and Dad immediately. "Have you lost your mind?!" "What do you expect us to do, rob a bank?!" I went through every single contact in my phone, begging everyone I knew. Not a single person was willing to lend me a penny. With only two hours left before the deadline, I had no choice but to go to the address the kidnappers sent. Seeing that I had no money, the kidnapper said there was only one way Julian would walk out alive: if I put on a wire harness and jumped off the fifteenth floor. Terrified of heights to the point of nausea, I didn't hesitate for a second. I jumped. When they pulled me back up, every drop of color had drained from my face. My entire body was trembling violently. Then, out walked Julian—the man who was supposedly kidnapped—alongside my sister and my parents, who hadn't spared me a single cent. All four of them were clapping. Julian rushed forward and wrapped me in an excited hug. "Congratulations! You passed the ultimate love test! You're officially ready to be my wife!" I stared blankly at their laughing faces. My heart felt completely hollow, stripped down to pure numbness. A cold, humorless smile crept onto my lips. From this moment on, I was done playing their twisted little games. Seeing me drenched in cold sweat, Natalie clutched her stomach, laughing so hard she could barely stand. "You actually jumped from the fifteenth floor?" "Avery, how can you still be this stupid?" Mom and Dad burst into laughter too. The sound pierced my ears like sharp needles. "I know, right? She actually called us begging for cash!" "If we'd lent it to her, we would've missed out on this hilarious show!" Natalie beamed proudly, looking like she deserved an award. "My test was brilliant, wasn't it? Just look at how much Avery loves you." So that was it. Throwing away every shred of my dignity, begging on my knees to save Julian's life—it was all just part of their entertainment. Seeing my stiff, frozen expression, Julian sighed helplessly. "Avery, don't be mad at Natalie." "Our wedding is next week. She only set up this love test because she cares about me." I clenched my fists so tight my nails dug deep into my palms. My shoulders shook uncontrollably. "So you staged this entire kidnapping... forced me into a harness and made me jump fifteen stories... just to see if I truly love you?" Natalie smiled sweetly, completely unfazed by the burning rage in my voice. "What else? Julian treats you like a queen. Without a little test, how could we know if you're actually worthy of being Mrs. Vance?" Mom and Dad chimed in right on cue, their voices dripping with patronizing judgment. "Avery, stop acting like an ungrateful brat. Your sister did this for the sake of your relationship." "Exactly. It was just a harmless prank. Do you really have to pull that pathetic, miserable face?" Looking at me shaking on the ground, Julian seemed to realize they might have pushed it a bit too far. "All right, all right, let's wrap it up. Let's head downstairs and go home." I was on my knees, my legs completely useless. Julian reached out to pull me up, but Natalie suddenly pinched her nose and jumped back with an exaggerated gasp. Her sharp, mocking voice echoed across the barren concrete floor. "Ugh! What is that disgusting smell?!" Her eyes landed straight on my pants, and her laugh turned shrill. "No way, Avery... you literally peed yourself!" "It was just a stunt harness for a little prank, and you pissed your pants?!" She pointed her finger right at my crotch. Everyone's eyes followed her finger, locking onto me. Julian froze. His brows knitted into a tight frown, and he quietly took half a step backward. Mom and Dad looked embarrassed, glancing at each other before quickly averting their eyes in disgust. Humiliation crashed over me like boiling water. The blood rushed violently to my head. I bit down on my bottom lip until the metallic taste of blood filled my mouth. In that moment, I genuinely wanted to throw myself off that ledge again—no harness this time. Just to end it all. Ashamed to even be seen near me, Mom and Dad turned toward the exit. "Enough! Let's get out of here. Go home and change your damn pants." The group moved toward the elevator. Natalie shot me a look of pure revulsion. "Julian, leave her alone. Let's go down first." "She reeks of sweat and piss. If she rides the elevator with us, she's going to suffocate everyone!" Julian had been about to help me, but hearing Natalie's words, he pulled his hands back instantly. He looked at me with an awkward, conflicted grimace. "Natalie has a point." "Avery, we'll wait for you downstairs." Natalie tilted her head, a venomous smirk playing on her lips. "Hey Avery, if waiting for the next elevator is too much trouble, why don't you clip back into the harness and slide down again?" "You can prove your undying love for Julian one more time!" Already inside the elevator, Julian reached out and playfully tapped Natalie on the head. "Natalie, stop teasing." There wasn't an ounce of real scolding in his tone. The cold metal elevator doors slowly slid shut, locking them on the other side and shutting me out completely. I was left entirely alone on that massive, empty fifteenth floor. The biting wind whipped through the open concrete frame, lashing against my skin. I touched my chest. Oddly enough, it didn't hurt anymore. I guess when you hit rock bottom, you run out of tears.By the time I dragged myself down to the ground floor, the area was deserted. Not a soul in sight. My phone buzzed in my pocket. It was a text from Julian. [Natalie said it was too cold down here, so I drove them home first.] [Just call an Uber. It's a bit remote, so add a tip and someone will take the ride.] [Text me when you get home.] Right beneath the message was a transfer of three hundred dollars via Venmo. The notification glowed on my screen, screaming with irony. I opened my browser and pulled up a flight search. A one-way ticket to Vancouver, departing in five days, cost two hundred and sixty dollars. I gritted my teeth and accepted the transfer. For fifty minutes, I walked along the desolate road, my blistered feet burning, sweat drying and freezing against my skin over and over again. By the time I reached our villa, I was shivering violently from the cold. Staring at the familiar house, all I felt was a bitter ache. A year ago, Julian told me that a future Mrs. Vance shouldn't be working outside. He told me to quit my job and stay home to focus on our upcoming wedding. So I quit. I poured everything I had into revolving my entire life around him. And then he started complaining that I had nothing to do all day. He fired all the housekeepers and dumped every single chore onto my shoulders. Standing in the center of the spotless living room, I looked at the flight confirmation glowing on my phone screen. A quiet, freeing smile touched my lips. Next week, there wasn't going to be a bride waiting at Julian's altar. By the time Julian finally returned to our house after dropping off Natalie and my parents, I was curled up on the bathroom floor, vomiting until my body gave out. My vision was spinning, and my consciousness slipped in and out. "Avery!" His face drained of color. Panicking, he scooped me onto his back and rushed out to the car to drive me to the hospital. Lying against his back, my foggy mind drifted. Listening to his ragged breaths, I suddenly remembered our college days. Natalie had lied to me back then, claiming she had dropped her phone into the campus outdoor pool in the dead of winter, demanding that I jump in to get it. "Avery, you know I have a weak constitution," she had sneered. "If I jump in, I'll catch severe pneumonia." "And if Mom and Dad find out you let that happen, do you think they'll ever let you off the hook?" Remembering the beatings and the dark storage closet Mom and Dad used to lock me in, I had dived straight into the freezing water. That night, Julian had carried me on his back, running toward the ER just like he was doing now. The next morning, when Natalie saw me lying weak in the hospital bed, she had rolled her eyes. "Oh please, you were in the water for two minutes! Is it really that serious?" "Are you faking it just to get Julian's attention?" Back then, Julian had snapped at her on the spot. "Her fever was high enough to cause seizures! You think this is funny?!" "Don't ever play with her health again, Natalie. I mean it." Back then, Julian couldn't bear to see me suffer even the slightest scratch. Yet now, he stood by and watched as everyone built their entertainment upon my torment.While I lay in the hospital bed hooked up to an IV, my best friend suddenly sent me a TikTok link. I tapped it. The moment the video played, the blood in my veins turned to ice. The caption read: [Pre-wedding Loyalty Test Gone Wrong: Bride Pisses Herself From Pure Fear!] The video began with the fake kidnapping call I received. Then came the clips of me desperately begging Natalie and my parents for money. Followed by me standing on the ledge, cornered and weeping, jumping off the fifteenth floor in that harness. And finally, me stumbling out of the elevator alone, covered in sweat, my pants soaked. Natalie had hired someone to record me from five in the morning. My terror, my panic, my desperate pleas, my ultimate degradation—she had turned every single piece of my suffering into viral clickbait. It had only been up for an hour, yet it already had tens of thousands of likes. The comment section was overflowing with ridicule. — [Who falls for such an obvious fake kidnap call? Does this girl have zero brain cells?] — [It's just a wire stunt! People do higher drops in action movies all the time without peeing their pants. Total fake.] — [Honestly, her despair at the end looked so real. She missed her calling as an actress lmao.] I sat frozen in the hospital bed, my trembling fingers scrolling through the endless mockery. Outside the door, which wasn't fully closed, the hushed voices of Julian and Natalie drifted in from the corridor. "Natalie, delete that video right now!" "When the hell did you even film that? Why didn't you tell me?!" Julian's voice was thick with suppressed fury. "Julian, I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to leak it!" Natalie's voice broke into a delicate, trembling sob, instantly playing the victim. "I just thought Avery's reaction was kind of funny, so I sent it to a friend. I wanted her to edit a cute clip proving how much Avery loves you, so we could play it at your wedding next week!" "I swear I had no idea she would turn it into a prank video like this!" She sniffled softly, sounding utterly heartbroken. "Julian, look at the views... it's already got millions of impressions! I already sold the rights to a promotional media account." "If we take it down now, we'll have to pay a massive breach-of-contract penalty!" Julian fell silent. After a long pause, footsteps approached. He pushed the door open and walked over to my bedside. Glancing at the video playing on my phone screen, he hesitated for a couple of seconds before speaking. "Avery, our wedding is in a week. After we're married, you'll just stay home comfortably. You don't need to go out and socialize anyway." "Internet trends die out fast. People will forget about this in a few days." "Leaving the video up... honestly won't affect much." To him, my dignity, my self-respect, and my humiliation didn't even weigh as much as Natalie's contract penalty. Every ounce of pain and rage I had swallowed down over the past year finally exploded. "Won't affect much?!" "My dignity can just be dragged through the mud for everyone to stomp on, is that it?!" "Julian, I jumped off a fifteen-story building! I was so terrified I lost control of my body! And who the hell did I do that for?!" Julian frowned, his tone turning sharp and impatient. "Avery, it was just a joke! Natalie was just playing around with you!" "Why do you always have to be so sensitive? Why can't you take a joke?" "No wonder your parents prefer Natalie. You always ruin the mood over the smallest things!" I looked at his face. I looked at the irritated, dismissive sneer in his eyes. And suddenly, the raging storm inside me vanished. A chilling calm settled in. It was all so utterly pointless. I stopped looking at him. I raised my hand and pointed toward the door. "Get out." Julian stared at me in disbelief, his expression hardening. "Avery, you're talking to me like this over something this petty?!" "I've really spoiled you rotten, haven't I?!" He snatched his phone, spun on his heel, and stormed out, slamming the door hard behind him. The room fell dead silent. I looked at the flight confirmation on my screen—two days until my departure to Vancouver. I closed my eyes. Julian said people would forget the video soon. He said everything would pass. He was right. Everything here would soon become my past. Including him.The internet moved faster than anyone expected. At first, netizens treated it as cheap entertainment, mocking my humiliation. But gradually, people began to notice the sheer cruelty behind the stunt. The tide turned violently. A wave of outrage surged toward Natalie. — [What kind of psychotic sister invents a 'loyalty test' just to film her sister peeing herself for clout? Disgusting!] — [Knowing her sister is deathly afraid of heights and still forcing her to jump from the fifteenth floor while the parents just stood there watching? This whole family is toxic.] — [The fiancé is terrifying too. Watching his future wife get tormented like that and calling it 'harmless fun'? Run, girl, RUN.] A barrage of backlash drowned all three of them. Natalie was the first to lose it. Unable to handle the online hate, she dragged Mom and Dad and stormed straight into my hospital room. Her eyes were bloodshot, her face twisted in theatrical victimhood. "Avery! Did you go online and post lies about me?!" "All those clueless idiots are attacking me because of you!" "Go into the comments and clear my name right now!" I sat on the bed, staring coldly at her tantrum. "Clear what? Did they say anything that wasn't true?" "Did you not force me to jump off the fifteenth floor? Did you not deliberately film me to humiliate me?" Dad stepped forward, snatching my phone with a commanding glare. "Avery, record a video and post it right now!" "Tell them this was all just a harmless family game, that we planned everything in advance!" "Say your reactions were just acting and that it had nothing to do with us!" Planned in advance? Oh, they certainly planned it—planned it to watch me get destroyed. My arm trembled around the IV needle. The deep, aching pain in my muscles from the wire harness still hadn't faded. Looking into the three pairs of glaring eyes, my voice was quiet, but unbreakable. "In your dreams." It was never a harmless game, and it was never a test of love. It was a sick farce staged using my life, my fear, and my shame. Now that their cruelty had backfired, they expected me to clean up their mess? Pathetic. Those three words pushed Mom over the edge. She lunged forward and, with all the strength in her body, slapped me viciously across the face. A deafening ringing instantly exploded in my right ear. I looked up at her in shock. Her face was distorted with rage, her mouth moving, spit flying as she screamed. Yet I couldn't hear a single word. A suffocating terror swept over me. Suddenly, the door was shoved open again. Julian strode into the room. For a brief, pathetic second, I thought my savior had arrived. No matter what, Julian wouldn't let me go deaf. Like a drowning person grasping at a straw, I desperately grabbed his sleeve. "Julian... my ear..." "Avery, you need to record a clarification video right now! Some bloggers found out who I am, and Vance Enterprises' stock is plummeting!" His fingers gripped my shoulders like a vise. Through the faint, muffled hum of my right ear, every word he said registered with brutal clarity. The last spark of light in my eyes died completely. He wasn't here to save me. He was here to finish me off. Seeing me sit there motionless, Mom aimed her phone camera directly at my face. "Don't let this woman's innocent act fool you!" she yelled into the screen. "We planned this prank together beforehand! It was all staged!" "Now she's twisting the truth to incite online harassment against her own sister!" "My poor Natalie has become suicidal and depressed from all the cyberbullying!" Right on cue, Natalie grabbed a fruit knife from the bedside table, pretending to slash her wrist. "Natalie! Don't do it!" Every single person in that room rushed over to comfort her, surrounding her in a protective huddle. A sudden itch trickled from my right ear. I reached up and touched it. When I brought my hand back, the bright crimson on my fingers burned my eyes. When I woke up again, the doctor stood over me with a somber expression. "Your left eardrum has suffered nearly ninety percent damage. You're practically deaf in that ear." "The right eardrum has around twenty percent perforation." "With proper care, your right ear might recover, but the damage is severe." I stared at him in a daze, lifting my left hand to touch my ear. I couldn't even react. It wasn't until the doctor walked out and closed the door that the tears finally spilled over. I curled into a ball on the bed, hugging my knees, sobbing so hard my whole body shook. Not a single person walked through that door. I discharged myself, went back to the villa, and packed my bags. Before walking out, I placed the formal cancellation of our engagement and my medical diagnosis side by side on the dining table. Then, I headed straight for the airport. Meanwhile, Julian had spent the day putting out fires regarding his company's plummeting stock. When he finally rushed to the hospital to drag me to a press conference, the room was empty. He called my phone over a dozen times, but nobody answered. An ominous dread twisted in his gut. He drove back to the villa. The house was dead quiet. The only things waiting for him were two sheets of paper lying silently on the dining table. He picked up the medical report, frozen in disbelief.