Author: Momo Chan

“If you ever want a divorce, you can have one anytime.” That’s what Arthur Vance told me on our wedding day. I believed him. Two months later, on the day his true love returned, I placed the divorce agreement in front of him. Arthur looked out the window, his expression flat. “It’s raining. “I’m in a bad mood. Let’s divorce next time.” Me: ??? 1 On the very night Chloe Thorne returned. Fueled by liquid courage, I slept with Arthur Vance. The trail of clothes discarded from the front door to the bedroom was proof of the urgency of our encounter. Arthur tried to maintain his reason, pushing me away. His eyes, slightly red, stared intently at me. His Adam’s apple bobbed slowly. “Elena, look closely. Do you know who I am? “If we continue, don’t regret it.” I was panting slightly. I looked up, grabbed him by the collar, stood on my tiptoes, and kissed him. What a joke. I was sleeping with my legal husband; what was the problem? Until the second half of the night, when I started to regret it. This guy’s stamina was terrifying. I tried to sneak away, but the person behind me grabbed my ankle and pulled me back. Warm breath tickled my ear. Arthur’s voice, deep and rich, ghosted over the back of my neck, sending shivers down my spine. “Be a good girl. Quitting halfway isn’t allowed.” 2 A night of absolute absurdity. When I woke up again, the person beside me was gone. On the nightstand sat a glass of milk, a sandwich, and a sticky note left by Arthur, its words brimming with gentle concern. Since we got married, Arthur had faithfully played the role of a good husband. I often had the illusion that I was actually loved. But reason always reminded me of the truth. The person Arthur liked was Chloe Thorne. She was the one who was supposed to marry him in this arranged union. But my always impulsive, free-spirited younger sister ran away. I heard Arthur chased her all the way to the airport that day. For some unknown reason, he ultimately didn’t get on that flight to France. Because he was acting out of spite. Later, when our families tried to shove me—the older sister he barely knew—onto him, he didn’t resist. It was only when I excused myself to the restroom that, faced with the relentless teasing of his relatives, he finally showed a hint of exhausted indifference: “Do I even have the right to refuse? “You’ve all already decided. I don’t care.” Because it wasn’t the person in his heart, anyone else would do. On our wedding day, the first thing Arthur said to me was: “If you ever want a divorce in the future, you can have one anytime.” I just didn’t expect that, a mere two months after the wedding, Chloe would come back. I’ve always known my place. Ignoring the breakfast on the nightstand, I picked up my phone and called Mia, my lawyer friend. “Prepare a divorce agreement for me.” I heard the lawyer’s exaggerated gasp on the other end. The sun was shining brightly outside the window, but suddenly, it started to pour rain. I couldn’t help but space out. 3 That very evening, I placed the divorce agreement in front of Arthur. In the quiet study, the man in the white shirt sat there, radiating an aura of noble gentleness. Completely different from the image I held in my memory. I had seen Arthur beat someone up once. It was in a filthy alleyway near the old campus of A University. To make it hurt more, he held a Zippo lighter in his fist, striking with ruthless, heavy blows. Until the sound of bones crunching echoed in the air, mixed with the man’s agonizing screams. The slightly boyish, handsome face of the youth looked somewhat demonic, splattered with crimson blood. That was the first time I met the person Chloe constantly talked about. The sole heir to the Vance Group. Violent, reckless, fearless. Perhaps because that summer was exceptionally hot and sticky, I inexplicably disliked him. My thoughts returned to the present. Arthur was still staring silently at that piece of paper. It had been so long I started to doubt his literacy skills. I couldn’t help but ask: “Can you not read?” Arthur finally moved. He turned his head to look out the window, his expression flat: “It’s been raining all day.” My gaze followed his to the damp windowpane. Okay, and? “I’m in a bad mood. Let’s divorce next time.” Me: ??? … For the past two days, Arthur and I had been locked in a bizarre tug-of-war. The chat history on my phone was still stuck on the message I sent this morning, reminding him to sign the papers. He had deliberately ignored me again. Me: [You’re avoiding this.] Arthur: [Avoiding it may be shameful, but it’s useful.] A few moments later, my phone buzzed again. Arthur: [Sleeping with me and then abandoning me. What a player.] What was that supposed to mean? Wasn’t I graciously making way for his true love? Arthur: [Did I make you uncomfortable last night, so now you’re mad? [Okay, I admit I lack experience, but doing this really makes me lose face. [Besides, you seemed to enjoy it later on /frantic emoji/.] His overly blunt words made my old face flush red. Me: [You were the one who said I could have a divorce anytime.] Arthur: [… [You talk too much. Blocking you for half a day.] I tried to reply again. The screen displayed a notification: The recipient has rejected your message. Me: ??? This guy is so childish. 4 I had originally planned to go back tonight, tie him up, and force him to sign. But halfway there, I received a call from my family’s main estate. Resigned, I turned the car around and headed back to the old mansion. As soon as I arrived, I heard a chorus of cheerful laughter coming from the living room. “Chloe, you’re getting prettier every day.” Chloe was surrounded in the center. Her face flushed red from the teasing and compliments of the relatives, looking exactly like a tender, translucent peach. “She’s such a perfect match for that Vance boy. What a shame.” “I told you, if you hadn’t run away from the wedding, you’d be the future matriarch of the Vance family right now.” Chloe quickly intervened: “Arthur is already married to my sister. It’s inappropriate to make jokes like this.” The relatives were dismissive. “What’s inappropriate? You can always divorce after getting married.” “As long as the Vance family is willing, swapping a person is no big deal.” These people were all my father’s relatives. They had always disliked me. Because I looked very much like my biological mother. That poor woman. She bet everything her father left her to help a down-and-out man rebuild his empire. Only to be betrayed time and time again. In the end, she fell ill from depression and died alone in a sanatorium. I scoffed, clapping my hands as I walked toward the crowd. “Since when did the Thorne family adopt the trend of encouraging people to steal their sister’s husband? “But you guys are right about one thing. “I’ve already given Arthur the divorce papers.” I stopped, my gaze finally locking onto Chloe’s innocent almond eyes. The corners of my mouth curled into a mocking arc. “Do you want to go act cute and beg him to kick me out faster, so you can take my place? “Just like your mother did.” Chloe’s face instantly turned pale, tears welling up in her eyes. Anyone seeing this pitiful display would feel their heart ache. “Insolent!” A furious roar came from my father behind me. I spun around, only to unexpectedly lock eyes with a pair of dark pupils swirling with inexplicable emotions. “…” Why was Arthur here? 5 As soon as the study door closed. My father raised his hand, ready to strike me. I didn’t move or dodge. I took the slap head-on, my left cheek burning with pain. “Who told you to unilaterally ask for a divorce? “Can you bear the consequences of angering the Vance family?” I lowered my eyes, my posture neither servile nor overbearing: “Isn’t Chloe still here? She and Arthur mutually love each other. It’s perfect…” “Nonsense.” My father irritably cut me off. “My, Richard Thorne’s, daughter never eats another person’s leftovers.” Another person’s? I laughed. “Back then, when you told me to marry him in Chloe’s place, did you ever think of me as your daughter? “Or perhaps, from the moment you dumped me with that ‘crazy woman’ 15 years ago, you never intended to acknowledge me again.” “Elena Thorne! “That ‘crazy woman’ you speak of was your mother.” Richard was furious, leaning on the desk, panting heavily. His health had been very poor lately. The man who was once invincible was now showing signs of old age. His shoulders slumped in defeat, and he waved his hand weakly at me. “If you want to divorce, fine. But don’t even think about getting anything from the Thorne family afterward. Weigh the consequences yourself. “I called you back today to tell you that Chloe will be joining the company next week. Keep an eye on her for me, and don’t let her run wild anymore.” Constantly using the inheritance to threaten people. What arrogant, self-righteous authority from a man in power. In his heart, he never truly intended to hand the Thorne family over to me anyway. I walked out of the study and stopped a passing servant. “Where is Arthur?” The servant hesitated for a moment, stammering that they saw the son-in-law and the Second Miss head to the third floor alone. That was Chloe’s bedroom. Perfect. I looked up at the empty staircase. This saved me the trouble of begging him for a divorce. 6 My ears were filled with deafening music. The dazzling lights turned the club into a world of intoxicating luxury. I drank in silence. Mia couldn’t stand watching me anymore. She reached out and snatched the glass I had just brought to my lips. “Even when your dad hit you, I’ve never seen your mood this bad. “I brought you here to relax, not to binge drink, Princess.” I remained silent, casually grabbing another glass of alcohol. Just then, a man approached to hit on me. Mia winked and gestured for me to seize the opportunity. The man sat right next to me, his hand resting on my waist slowly roaming as he spoke. I raised an eyebrow: “I’m married.” Mia tore down my defense: “Getting a divorce soon.” Hearing this, the man’s eyes turned suggestive, and he leaned in even closer. “Wives are more exciting.” His deliberately raspy “vocal fry” made me frown in disgust. Before I could lash out, the man suddenly screamed in agony. From behind the sofa, Arthur gripped the man’s arm, forcing him to stand up. His tone was bone-chilling. “Next time before you touch someone, think about how many hands you have left to chop off. “Get lost.” I was speechless. Was he auditioning for a mafia movie? The man cursed and fled. The atmosphere in our booth instantly became tense, with people stealing careful glances our way. I leaned back against the sofa, crossing my arms, and looked at Arthur. His expression was completely flat, his eyes dark, cruel, and unruly, slowly overlapping with the image of the boy from that hot, humid summer. “Elena, we aren’t divorced yet. Don’t let other men touch you.” Sure enough, no matter how well he pretended, his true nature was hard to hide. I didn’t expect him to remember me after comforting his true love. I must admit, I was almost touched. I shrugged: “It’s just a matter of time.” Arthur’s gaze was burning, his tone bordering on obsessive. “I won’t agree to it.” “Fine,” I smiled brightly, pointing at the dozens of shot glasses on the table. “If you finish all of those, I’ll tear up the divorce agreement.” I was certain Arthur wouldn’t drink them. Because he had a terrible alcohol tolerance. And he absolutely despised the drinking culture of the business world. In the two months since we got married, he had only been mad at me once. Because I drank myself into stomach bleeding at a business dinner. For that, a certain someone unilaterally gave me the cold shoulder for an entire day. Within five minutes, a crowd gathered around our booth to watch the show and cheer. Arthur’s face was flushed red, constantly pouring liquor down his throat. Glass after glass. His dark pupils reflected my stunned expression. Why on earth was he doing this?

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The year my adoptive parents passed away in a car crash. My adoptive older brother, Arthur, sensed my inappropriate, hidden feelings for him and gave me two words: “You disgust me.” Shortly after, our family’s company faced bankruptcy. To secure funding, he shipped me off to the Vance family in a strategic marriage, forcing me to marry their intellectually disabled son, Liam. Three years later, Arthur’s business empire expanded massively. He no longer needed the Vance family’s backing. With a wave of his hand, he orchestrated their downfall and sent Liam’s entire family to federal prison. He stood in front of me and reached out his hand: “Come home with me.” I just shook my head faintly: “You must be joking, Mr. Sterling. My husband’s last name is Vance. The Vance family is my home.” 1 My finger traced the photo in my wallet, as if the person in the picture was still right beside me, as if he had never left. Tears fell drop by drop. I quickly put the wallet away. I couldn’t let the person in the photo see me sad; it would break his heart. A voice next to me interrupted my thoughts at the worst possible moment. “Ms. Sterling, you’ve suffered in the Vance family for three years. Now the dark clouds have finally cleared. Mr. Sterling is already waiting for you. Please, just come with me.” I wiped the tear stains from the corners of my eyes, gave Arthur’s assistant a flat look, and shook my head. “I’m not going anywhere. I want to stay here.” This was the third time the assistant had tried to persuade me, and the third time I had rejected him. Unable to complete his task and knowing he’d have a hard time explaining it to his boss, he was incredibly anxious. “There’s not a single soul left here. It doesn’t make any sense for you to stay.” He was right. There wasn’t a single soul left. Even though just last month, Liam was right here in this garden, wrapping his arms around my waist, begging me to feed him oranges. The Vance family was all here too, sitting around the garden, laughing warmly. The person in my wallet photo was my husband, Liam. When the federal agents arrived and arrested his entire family, Liam was terrified. I had pushed his wheelchair in a panic and managed to help him escape the chaos. But after the dust settled, he went missing in the aftermath. I had no idea where he was, or if he was eating and sleeping well. This single photo carried the entire weight of my worry for him. “I can’t leave. I have to wait for Liam here. What if I leave and he can’t find me?” I turned my head to meet the assistant’s eyes. “Tell Arthur Sterling he doesn’t need to send anyone to pick me up anymore.” The assistant sighed and dialed Arthur’s number. I’ve always known Arthur was busy—either negotiating deals or flying around the country for corporate dinners. Because of that, the assistant had to call practically all night before the line finally connected. The assistant deliberately put the phone on speaker so I could hear. I couldn’t tell exactly what Arthur’s mood was from his voice, but it definitely wasn’t good. “What? Has she been out in the wild so long she’s forgotten where her actual home is?” I didn’t answer, instead looking out the window into the night. Right now, silence spoke louder than words. After a long pause, he issued a command through the phone. “Since she wants to stay there so badly, let her stay there for the rest of her life!” The moment he finished, the line went dead with a rapid beep-beep-beep. He didn’t want to waste a single extra word on me. He was probably even busier now. Busy crushing rival companies and sending anyone who posed a threat to him to prison. Liam was one of those people. Everyone on the news was saying the Vance family committed massive financial crimes, and that they were getting off easy if they didn’t get life sentences. But I knew the Vance family hadn’t done anything wrong. I understood Arthur’s methods too well. When he needs you, he can lower his head and abandon his pride. But once he’s squeezed every drop of use out of you, he’ll turn around and sell you out without a second thought. The night wind was freezing, but every time I thought about Liam wandering the streets out there, I couldn’t bring myself to go inside and sleep. I hadn’t eaten a bite all day. I just sat there in a daze, guarding the photo in my wallet and this empty house. Eventually, I don’t even know how I fell asleep. “Get up! Stop playing dead!” 2 Early the next morning, I was jolted awake by a sharp, piercing female voice. I squinted and saw Chloe Sterling standing in front of me. I had no idea when she arrived. Unlike my pathetic state, she was dressed in high-end designer clothes, wearing bright red lipstick, looking every bit the wealthy socialite. Seeing me slowly sit up, she looked down at me from above, a smirk on her face. “Haven’t seen you in three years, and look at the pathetic state you’re in. If anyone found out you were the adopted daughter of the Sterling family, I’d die of embarrassment.” “Anyway, Arthur specifically sent me to bring you home. If you still remember everything he’s done for you, you’ll hurry up and divorce that retard so you don’t have to live like a widow while he rots in prison.” “I am never getting a divorce.” I looked at her, letting out a cold laugh. “You’re just as mean and bitter as you used to be.” Chloe is my sister. But unlike me and Arthur, she didn’t grow up with us. When she was eight, she was abducted by human traffickers. By the time she was finally found and brought back, our parents had already passed away. Because of that, she lacked the refined elegance typical of old-money socialites. Instead, she carried a thick, street-smart hostility and was always the first to kick someone when they were down. A flash of undetectable anger sparked in her eyes, but she quickly suppressed it. “So what? Do you actually think those words are enough to make me mad?” “Also, don’t think that just because you refuse to get a divorce, Arthur can’t do anything about it. I’ll tell you right now, he predicted you’d act like this. He sent me here not just to persuade you to come home, but to give you something.” A terrible feeling washed over me. I watched her pull a piece of paper from her designer bag and throw it mockingly at my feet. “Forced by your own brother to marry a retard, and now that the retard is in prison, you still want to wait for him.” “Evelyn, you are so incredibly stupid.” I ignored her taunts and quickly unfolded the paper on the ground. With a single glance, it felt like a bucket of ice water had been poured over my head, and my ears started ringing violently. The paper in front of me was a finalized divorce decree. I had never signed it, but my signature was right there at the bottom, mimicking my handwriting perfectly. That meant Arthur had forged my signature to finalize this legally binding divorce. He wouldn’t even let me keep the very last tie I had to Liam. “He can’t do this… how could he…” I gripped the paper, shaking uncontrollably. My stomach suddenly churned violently. My vision grew darker and darker. The massive emotional shock, combined with my physical exhaustion, caused me to collapse to the ground. My eyelids grew impossibly heavy… Right before my eyes closed, I saw Chloe panicking. She was terrified that if I died, she’d have a hard time explaining it to Arthur. I don’t know how much time passed, but several paramedics rushed in, and I was loaded into an ambulance. And at that moment, I completely lost consciousness. My surroundings slowly shifted, and I sank into a dream. The dream was very long. In it, I went back to the winter when I was twenty-two. My adoptive parents had just died in a car crash, and the company was facing a catastrophic crisis. Arthur stared at me like I was a piece of merchandise, and then… He used me as a bargaining chip, forcing me to marry Liam—the intellectually disabled son of the Vance family who no one else wanted—in exchange for their financial bailout. At that time, Chloe had just been brought back to the family. When she found out the price for the funding was marrying a disabled man, she screamed and cried like a lunatic, leveraging the twenty years of hardship she had suffered. And Arthur, forced to choose between his biological sister and his adopted sister, naturally chose me. By the time I found out, Arthur had already called my future in-laws to wait at the front door to pick me up. 3 That night, I ran to him, crying. “Arthur, why?! We grew up together! Does all that time mean absolutely nothing to you?!” “You know perfectly well that marrying into that family is throwing me to the wolves! Yet you’re abandoning me just to feed your own ambition! I’m your sister!” He stood in the shadows, his expression unreadable. “Evie, give me some time. When the moment is right, I will absolutely come bring you back.” Right at that moment, Chloe ran out to add fuel to the fire. “Evelyn, our family raised you for so many years. Didn’t you always say you wanted to repay Mom and Dad? Now that you have this perfect opportunity, why are you refusing?” “You’re fighting this so hard… don’t tell me you have a crush on someone?” The moment she said that, I went dead silent. The most humiliating thing in the world is having your deepest, most shameful secret exposed. I instinctively looked at Arthur. When my eyes met his, my face instantly drained of all color. His brow was deeply furrowed. He turned his head away, his expression laced with disgust. “You disgust me.” Seeing his reaction, what else was there to understand? Later, as time ticked away, he literally had his men tie me up, throw me into a car, and force me to get married. As the car window rolled up, the last thing he said to me was: “Evie, once you’re married, there’s no need for you to come back to visit. Mom and Dad only adopted you because they missed Chloe so much. Now that she’s back, it’s time for you to step aside.” His meaning was crystal clear: Don’t ever contact me again. I cried uncontrollably. It turned out he had noticed my teenage crush a long time ago. He despised me, and used this marriage as an excuse to cut all ties with me. I looked straight at him, my heartbreak indescribable. “Then I’ll just assume you’re dead.” And just like that, I married Liam, a handsome man with the mental capacity of a five-year-old. Life after marriage wasn’t nearly as unbearable as I had imagined. In fact, you could even say it was incredibly happy. Even though Liam only had the intellect of a five-year-old, he was kind-hearted, and… he loved me very much. “Pretty lady, are you my wife? Mommy said when you get a wife, you have to protect her! Pretty lady, I’ll protect you forever!” He said this to me with absolute seriousness, and then handed me all of his most treasured candies. In that moment, I felt like a ray of light had pierced through the total darkness of my life. Over the next three years, true to his word, the entire Vance family treated me incredibly well, especially Liam. We watched flowers bloom and the sun rise together. We did so many meaningful things. He never let me suffer a single grievance. He treated me even better than my adoptive parents and the brother who used to dote on me. He would always quietly follow behind me, proudly showing off to everyone that he had a wonderful wife. As time slipped by, moment by moment, I fell for him, sinking deeper and deeper. But Arthur ruined all of it. He clearly had everything he could ever want, but he simply refused to let go of anyone who had ever looked down on him when he was struggling. He completely obliterated my happy life until there was nothing but ash left. So I hated him. And I refused to go back home with him. My brother had already died in my heart three years ago. The dream collapsed the moment Arthur arrived. When I opened my eyes again, I was in a hospital. The person from my dream had crossed over into reality. Arthur was sitting by my bed, his gaze filled with tenderness. I turned my head away, refusing to look at him. He tried to act understanding, but his true goal was still to persuade me. “Evie, since you couldn’t make the decision yourself, I made it for you and divorced that Liam guy. This way, you don’t have to tie yourself to a retard anymore. He’s in prison anyway, so you…” “Arthur Sterling.” I cut him off, speaking every word with burning hatred. “My brother abandoned me three years ago. As far as I’m concerned, I don’t have a brother.” “And my home with you was destroyed a long time ago. The only home I have left, the only one that matters, is the one with my husband.” His expression stiffened, and an inexplicable surge of anger radiated from him. “Evelyn, do you really love that retard so much?!” 4 “Yes, I love him very much,” I answered truthfully. Arthur’s anger intensified, his very breath feeling hot with rage. I instinctively reached for the photo in my wallet. It had become a habit—a way to long for Liam during our brief separation. Arthur caught this tiny detail. He snatched the wallet from my hand, glanced at the photo, his expression cold and his voice dark. “Evie, I truly never imagined you’d fall so deeply in love with him. It seems sending you to him was a mistake.” Saying that, he pulled a lighter from his pocket and, right in front of my eyes, slowly burned the photo to ashes. All the while, he watched me out of the corner of his eye, waiting for my reaction. I had no reaction. It wasn’t that I was okay with him destroying the object of my longing, but I knew that if I showed signs of a breakdown, it would be exactly what Arthur wanted. If Liam were here, he definitely wouldn’t want me getting angry over a photo. After all, he hated seeing me upset more than anything. I closed my eyes, forcing back the sorrow threatening to overflow. When I opened my eyes, the ashes had already scattered in the draft. Seeing me unmoved, Arthur grew even more irritated. He leaned in close and inexplicably dropped a sentence: “Since you like him so much, I’ll take you to see him.” What? He knew where Liam was?! I grabbed Arthur’s arm, my voice furious. “What did you do to him?!” Even though his words made me incredibly anxious, I also felt a surge of heartbreaking sorrow. This meant Liam had actually been captured by him and hidden away. I couldn’t even imagine how much Liam must be suffering right now. Seeing my expression, Arthur remained indifferent. He put a finger to his lips, making a “shh” gesture. Then, he spoke slowly: “So, you better be a good girl. Otherwise, I might not be able to control my men. Right now, without my explicit orders, they’re just keeping an eye on him. But if I’m in a bad mood one day, that retard is going to suffer.” “Arthur, you did this on purpose!” Seeing his smugness, I clenched my hands into fists, wanting nothing more than to tear him into pieces. He simply tilted his head, cracking his knuckles loudly. “Like I said, Evie, you’d better not defy me. Right now, I’m just teaching him a little lesson. But if you remain ungrateful, it won’t be so simple next time.” “I’ll tell you the truth. To climb to where I am now, I’ve lost count of how much blood is on my hands. So, I don’t mind adding one more body to the pile.” “You’re a psychopath!” I screamed at him, completely breaking down. He looked even more pleased with himself, leaving only the instruction to “think about it carefully.” After he left, I completely deflated, collapsing onto the floor, drenched in a cold sweat. After that, I finally agreed to go home. Naturally, I lost my freedom. I was locked in the house, and Arthur ordered several more bodyguards to stand watch outside my door day and night, terrified I might run away. I didn’t fight back. Day and night, I just watched the geese flying by in pairs outside my window, looking so lively and free. Sometimes, Chloe would come looking for a fight, throwing insults at me, but I treated her like she didn’t exist. As for Arthur, whenever he got off work early, he would come back to see me. Just like today. He brought me a skewer of candied hawthorn berries and handed it to me. “Evie, you used to love these the most. Try it, see if it tastes like when we were kids.” I shook my head. I remember the third month after I married into the Vance family. I was still trapped in the agony of being betrayed by my family. Whenever I cried from the pain, there was always a man following behind me. I found him annoying and ignored him, but he didn’t care whether I paid attention to him or not. Every single day, he brought me different sweet treats—sometimes cotton candy, sometimes sugar figures. He told me: “I don’t know why you’re crying, but I asked around, and everyone said Evelyn loves sweet things the most. So I’m giving these to you, hoping they make you happy.” “I don’t understand all that scheming and plotting people talk about, but I know that anyone who bullies my wife is a bad person, and they need to be taught a lesson!” His goofy, silly earnestness finally made me laugh, and I stopped crying. But ever since Liam was taken from me, I lost my taste for sweets. The things Arthur brought couldn’t even compare to a fraction of the sweetness from back then. I don’t know if it was psychological, but I suddenly felt incredibly nauseous. Eventually, I couldn’t control it and threw up all over the floor. Arthur panicked instantly. He called the bodyguards and rushed me to his private clinic. The doctor gave me a quick ultrasound. What he said next shocked everyone in the room. “Mr. Sterling, Ms. Evelyn is pregnant. Looking at the scan, the fetus is about a month old.”

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Grandpa declared that whoever gets married first—my stepsister or me—would be the sole heir to the Sterling family estate. I looked calmly at my perpetually single stepsister. After all, my childhood sweetheart, Liam Crawford, had sworn he would only ever marry me. But the day before the heir was to be announced, he dropped to one knee in public and proposed to her. “Mia, will you marry me?” Just as panic began to set in, floating text—like comments on a live stream—suddenly materialized before my eyes: [“LMAO, Liam has been sleeping with Mia for ages. He’s complete trash.”] [“Girl, go find Ethan Vance! That boy has been secretly in love with you for ten years. He literally has the wedding bonuses ready.”] Half-doubting the bizarre phenomenon, I stormed right into the executive suite of Vance Corp, grabbed my long-time rival by his silk tie, and asked, “Ethan Vance, want to get married?” He set down his fountain pen, looking up at me with profound amusement. “You want me to play pretend with you? Have you figured out my compensation?” Much later, at our actual wedding, he got down on one knee. “The act is over. Now, it’s your turn to play this part with me for the rest of our lives.” 1 I sat in the dim corner of the banquet hall, swirling the champagne in my glass, listening to the hushed gossip of the guests around me. “Tonight is the younger Sterling daughter’s birthday bash, and it’s massive. She’s definitely going to be the heir, right?” “Not necessarily. Old Mr. Sterling made it clear: whoever ties the knot first takes the company.” “I heard Mia has never even had a boyfriend. But the older sister, Chloe, has that childhood sweetheart who’s obsessed with her.” The crystal chandelier overhead was blinding. I was only here to make an obligatory appearance. Just as I was about to slip out, I saw Liam holding a massive bouquet of red roses. He dropped to one knee right in front of my stepsister. “Mia, I’ve had feelings for you for a long time. Will you marry me?” Mia’s triumphant gaze cut through the crowd, landing precisely on me. She put on a flawless innocent act. “Liam, if you propose to me, what about my sister?” Liam followed her gaze. Meeting my ice-cold stare, a flicker of guilt crossed his face. “She’s always been too competitive, like a tomboy. She could never compare to how gentle, sweet, and understanding you are.” Mia covered her mouth, giggling coyly as she tilted her head at me. “Sister, you’ll give Liam and me your blessing, won’t you?” I stared at the two of them and let out a cold laugh. I slipped off the promise ring Liam had given me and tossed it straight at them. I was unnervingly calm. “My blessing? Since you love collecting my garbage, you can have this, too.” The ring rolled right to Mia’s designer heels. The inside bore a glaring engraving: L Loves C. Mia’s smile stiffened for a second, but a determined glint remained in her eyes. “Sister, Grandpa is announcing the heir tomorrow. I hope you aren’t late.” I stood frozen in place, feeling as if a boulder was crushing my chest. It stung bitterly. Sterling Corp was built from the ground up by my late mother. I could lose Liam, but I absolutely refused to lose my mother’s legacy. I swallowed the fury burning in my throat and scoffed. “Have you ever seen an award ceremony where the winner doesn’t show up?” Without waiting to see their reactions, I turned on my heel and walked out of the hall. My words were tough, but honestly? I had zero backup plan. Where on earth was I supposed to find a husband on a few hours’ notice? 2 Just as my head felt like it was about to split open from stress, lines of glowing text began scrolling across my vision: [LMAO, Liam has been sleeping with Mia for ages. He’s complete trash.] [Go find Ethan Vance! That boy has been secretly in love with you for ten years. He literally has the wedding bonuses ready.] I forced down the shock of the floating words, my eyes glued to the name Ethan Vance. Wasn’t he my ultimate college rival? He had a crush on me? It felt more like he despised me. We had practically spent four entire years of college locked in a bitter cold war. During our freshman year, Ethan and I represented our respective colleges in the debate championship. Dressed in a sharp navy blazer, I stood at the opposition podium and delivered a cutting remark: “Mr. Vance hasn’t even held a girl’s hand before. How can he be so certain that love developed over time is more reliable than love at first sight?” Ethan had just pushed up his gold-rimmed glasses, firing back with a cold smirk. “I don’t need a relationship to know that. I just have to look at how Ms. Sterling acts around her childhood friend.” That single sentence had completely destroyed my argument. Because back then, my devotion to Liam was borderline pathetic. The result? I lost to Ethan by a single vote. [Lmao, she actually thought Ethan was attacking her back then.] [Hahaha, Ethan was probably grinding his teeth into dust out of pure jealousy.] [How could the female lead ever be good enough for my Ethan when she was busy being Liam’s doormat?] [To the comment above: She was a doormat because she lost a game of Truth or Dare. The penalty was acting like Liam’s ultimate simp for a whole semester.] I snapped my attention away from the floating text, suppressed my racing heart, and drove straight to Vance Corp. Parking my car downstairs, I bypassed security and headed straight for the top-floor conference suite. After taking a deep breath outside the CEO’s office, I pushed the door open and walked in. Ethan was signing documents. His pale, elegant fingers gripped a Montblanc pen. Under the cuff of his black tailored suit, the faint blue veins on his wrist flexed. He didn’t even look up at the sound of the door. I walked briskly over to his desk. Reaching out, my slender fingers gently lifted his chin. I didn’t miss the intense flash of shock—and thrill—in his dark eyes. I leaned in close, so close I could feel the heat radiating from his skin. With a lazy, upward lilt in my voice, I cut to the chase. “Ethan Vance, want to get married?” 3 His entire body went rigid. His Adam’s apple bobbed, and the tips of his ears turned violently red in seconds. He instantly pushed his rolling chair back, putting distance between us. Leaning back, he looked at me with a teasing smirk. “Chloe Sterling. You want me to play pretend with you? Have you figured out my compensation?” [Ethan’s pride is thicker than a brick wall, I swear.] [The CEO’s ears are totally red! He’s obsessed with her.] [Chloe just has to curl a finger and CEO Vance turns into a loyal puppy.] I froze at his words. Compensation? I had stormed in here on a total impulse because of the floating comments. I hadn’t thought about paying him. Rather than stand here and let him mock me, it was better to just leave. I’d just pretend this whole embarrassing thing never happened. But just as my hand touched the door handle, Ethan’s long legs cleared the space around the desk. His strong, well-defined hand clamped around my wrist. With a firm tug, he pulled me directly into his chest. A subtle, familiar scent of lime and cedarwood filled my senses. It smelled incredible—the exact same scent he wore in college. I swallowed hard, suddenly very aware of the proximity. Sensing he had crossed a line, he immediately stepped back. He turned around, putting his back to me. [Hahahaha, Ethan literally can’t stop smiling.] [Look at him acting tough. He almost scared his own wife away.] I watched the comments and raised an eyebrow. He was… smiling? In the four years we spent as rivals, I don’t think I ever saw him smile. I honestly thought he lacked the facial muscles for it. Intrigued, I quickly stepped around him before he could react, catching him off guard. His eyes were crinkling at the corners, his gaze as soft and warm as a summer evening. He looked unbelievably gentle. Meeting my eyes, his pupils contracted. Clearly embarrassed, he brought a fist to his mouth and coughed lightly. “I can help you with this,” he said, his voice deep and raspy. “We can discuss the compensation later.” I looked away, feeling my own cheeks heat up, and nodded in agreement. Once I secured Sterling Corp, I could afford whatever price Ethan Vance demanded. Seeing me still standing there, he teased, “Is the great Ms. Sterling lingering because she wants to buy me lunch?” I instinctively went to nod, but a loud commotion erupted outside the door. The next second, the office door was thrown open. A girl in a fluffy pink designer dress and sparkling heels barged in. Seeing her, the words slipped out before I could stop them. “Stella Dupont? What are you doing here?” She froze, equally shocked. “Chloe Sterling? What are you doing in my Ethan’s office?” 4 I scoffed. “None of your business.” Stella rolled her eyes with a loud dramatic sigh. “What? You spent four years losing to Ethan, and now you’re here to humiliate yourself post-graduation?” I kept my face perfectly neutral and ignored her. She was my other college nemesis. They say a castle can’t hold two queens. We were both daughters of prominent, wealthy families, constantly compared to one another since childhood. More accurately, Stella constantly compared herself to me. Spoiled rotten by the Dupont family, she demanded to have everything I had. I thought I was free of her after high school, but we ended up at the exact same university. Not only were we in the same major, but we were assigned to the same dorm. It was a nightmare. For four years, I had to exhaust myself fighting Ethan for the top spot, while constantly guarding my back to ensure Stella—the perpetual third-place runner-up—didn’t overtake me. I couldn’t relax for a second. College was more stressful than high school. Seeing I wasn’t going to take the bait, Stella turned to Ethan, her voice suddenly sugar-sweet. “Ethan, a new exclusive Michelin-starred place opened up downtown. I hear it’s amazing. Can I take you to lunch?” Ethan’s expression had been utterly blank since she walked in. “No,” he said flatly. “I’m having lunch with my girlfriend.” Stella’s voice jumped an octave. “Girlfriend?! Since when do you have a girlfriend?” Ethan reached out and pulled me to his side. “Since today.” Her eyes widened to the size of saucers. “But Chloe has her childhood sweetheart, Liam! Why would she be your girlfriend?!” Then, as if a lightbulb went off, she gave Ethan a knowing, pitying look. “Oh, Ethan. We all know how it is. If you just wanted to make someone jealous, you didn’t have to use Chloe.” I instantly looped my arm through Ethan’s, flashing a sugary smile. “Do you really think you’re that important? That we’d put on a play just for you?” Stella’s eyes immediately welled with angry tears. Before storming out, she threw a parting shot. “Don’t get too smug, Chloe! You two are going to break up eventually!” “I’m afraid you’ll be waiting a lifetime,” I fired back smoothly. She stomped her designer heel and bolted out the door in tears. I dropped my hold on Ethan’s arm, teasing him. “Who knew CEO Vance was so irresistible? You’ve got the Dupont heiress chasing you all the way to the office.” Ethan’s brow arched. His sharp, handsome face suddenly leaned dangerously close to mine, a low laugh escaping his lips. “And yet, a man as irresistible as me was still easily claimed by you.” My heart skipped a beat. I quickly looked away and stepped past him on the right. Dodging the tension, I kept my tone strictly professional. “Didn’t you say we were getting lunch? Let’s go.” After a surprisingly pleasant lunch with Ethan, I dropped him back at Vance Corp and drove home to the Sterling estate. 5 Right at the entrance, I bumped into Mia and Liam walking out of the mansion. They were disgustingly close. The moment Liam saw me, he looked incredibly awkward. Mia, however, offered a sickly-sweet smile. “Sister, how do you still have the mood to come home? If I were you, I’d be running around in a panic by now. Oh, right. You probably don’t have anyone left in your contacts to call, do you? Why don’t I introduce you to someone? I heard the second son of the Preston family just moved back from Europe. Maybe you two should grab a drink?” I gave a cold laugh. “You’re awfully invested in Wyatt Preston’s schedule. Don’t tell me you’ve got your eye on him?” Mia choked on her words. Everyone in our social circle knew Wyatt Preston was a complete disaster—he swung both ways, burned through trust funds, and brought chaos wherever he went. Anyone with an ounce of dignity avoided him like the plague. No one in their right mind would want anything to do with him. Mia really couldn’t stand the thought of me being happy. Liam looked at me with deep disappointment, immediately stepping up to defend her. “Chloe, how can you be so toxic? Wyatt’s itinerary is plastered all over social media. How could Mia possibly be interested in him!” I looked at Liam and delivered three simple words: “Not worth it.” Hearing that, whatever lecture Liam had loaded in his chamber withered and died on his tongue. I bypassed them and walked straight into the house. The second I collapsed onto my bed, my phone buzzed with a text from my friend Harper. Harper: [Chloe! Our CEO is getting married! He literally just handed everyone in the company a $500 bonus envelope.] Image attached: Pink envelope.jpg Harper: [It’s so out of nowhere. I’m dying to know who managed to bag the untouchable ice king of Vance Corp.] Before I could even type a reply, the floating text appeared in my vision again: [Omg, Ethan is secretly losing his mind with joy!] [LMAO, why did this man already have stacks of cash envelopes ready in his office?] [Ethan is the king of secret crushes. He is fully prepared for this life.] Picturing Ethan lugging a briefcase full of cash bonuses around the office, I actually burst out laughing. After calming down, I texted Harper back: [Is there any chance… that person is me?] A second later, my screen was entirely filled with question marks. I gave her the heavily abridged version of the morning’s chaos, which resulted in a barrage of exclamation points. Harper: [You are insane! I bow to you!] I didn’t reply. Instead, I opened Ethan’s contact and sent him a message. “The banquet starts tomorrow at 11 AM at the Starlight Country Club. Should I send a driver for you?” He replied instantly. “No need. I’ll drive myself.” “I heard you handed out wedding bonuses to your entire company?” This time, there was a long pause before the typing bubble disappeared and a message finally came through. “The company had a great quarter. It was a performance bonus. Don’t flatter yourself.” I rolled my eyes at the screen. If I didn’t have a magical stream of comments narrating his inner thoughts, I might have actually believed his nonsense.

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The year Carter and I were most in love, he died in a car crash. Everyone thought I would completely break down, but I didn’t cry or make a scene. Two years later, I bumped into him at a private VIP booth in a club. Carter had his arms around a young girl, kissing her passionately. His frat brothers immediately rushed over to explain: “Liv, the car crash was really bad. Carter was in a coma, and he just woke up with severe amnesia… We didn’t want you to live in constant anxiety, so we kept it a secret.” Carter pushed the girl away, walked up to me, and frowned. “I hear you’re my fiancée? Even though I don’t remember you, seeing how you clearly can’t let me go, I’ll honor my promise and marry you.” I gave a faint smile and replied, “They’re lying to you. We don’t know each other.” Carter didn’t know that on the exact day he faked his death, I received a video. In the video, Carter was laughing and telling his friends: “The thought of only sleeping with Liv for the rest of my life? I just can’t do it. “I’m going to fake my death and play the field for a few years. You guys make sure to comfort her, don’t let her do anything stupid.” He also didn’t know that during the two years he was ‘dead’… I had found myself another man. 1 Our mutual friends froze for a second before they all started trying to persuade me: “Liv, how can you say you don’t know Carter? We were the ones who hid it from you, it has nothing to do with him.” “Yeah, Liv, we did it for your own good. We didn’t want you worrying sick. Now that Carter is finally awake, please don’t throw a tantrum.” The booth was suddenly filled with people blaming me. Before I could even speak, a loud scoff cut through the noise. Carter stood up from the leather sofa, a cigarette between his fingers, looking lazy and incredibly smug. “If we don’t know each other, then forget it. Saves me the trouble of being responsible.” The young girl beside him immediately clung to his arm, looking up at him with a shy, nervous face. “Carter… I know you. She’s just ungrateful. I’ll marry you, okay?” Carter didn’t reply immediately. He just shot me a cold, dismissive glance, then wrapped his arm around the girl’s waist and leaned down to kiss her. Seeing this, his friends quickly stepped in to block my view. They tried to comfort me: “Liv, Carter has amnesia. You know he loved you the most.” “Exactly, Liv. You need to care for him more so he gets his memory back faster. Stop being so petty.” I opened my mouth, about to tell his ridiculous friends exactly what I thought of them, but a sudden, sharp cramp seized my stomach. My face instantly drained of color. I didn’t stick around. I turned on my heel and walked out of the booth. I left so quickly that no one inside even had time to react. Once I was completely out of sight, they sighed and turned to Carter. “Carter, you took it too far. Liv is genuinely jealous and furious. She turned pale. What if she really dumps you?” Carter sat back down on the sofa, a smirk playing on his lips. “Liv is easy to coax. It’s been two years, there’s no way she doesn’t miss me. “Besides, I’ve got amnesia right now. Once I’m done having fun, I’ll just tell her my memory is back and say none of this was my intention. I won’t even need to apologize. I’ll just snap my fingers, and she’ll come running.” 2 Once I was out of the club, I couldn’t hold it in anymore and crouched on the pavement. Wave after wave of cramps hit my stomach, leaving me without even the strength to walk to the restroom. Suddenly, a shadow fell over me. A familiar voice drifted down: “What, heartbroken? Hoping to rekindle an old flame?” I looked up to see Weston Cole leaning against the doorframe a few feet away, his arms crossed, watching me with a cool expression. He was dressed entirely in black. Under the dim streetlights, his high nose bridge cast a shadow that hid the emotion in his eyes. The light caught the sharp, elegant line of his thin lips. In that moment, an overwhelming wave of grievance washed over me. I felt entirely wronged. Tears, completely betraying my pride, started falling down my cheeks. Weston panicked instantly. He dropped his arms and hurried over to me. “Don’t cry. I won’t say it again.” He was incredibly fit and surprisingly strong. With one arm, he scooped me up from the ground. A crisp scent of cedarwood filled my senses, tugging at my heartstrings. I instinctively wrapped my arms around his neck and whispered, “My stomach hurts…” Weston paused slightly. “Your period came early?” I nodded, my lips accidentally brushing against his jaw as I rested my head on his broad shoulder. Weston carried me to his car. After turning the heater on full blast, he said, “Wait in the car. I’m going to buy you some supplies.” He shut the door, turned, and walked away. The amber glow of the streetlights spilled over his tall, broad-shouldered silhouette. A few minutes later, a FaceTime call popped up on my screen. It was Wes. “They’re out of your usual brand. Do you see any here that work?” I was just about to point one out when a familiar, shocked voice rang out through the phone’s speaker. Carter, with his arm around the young girl’s waist, had strolled into the convenience store. He looked Weston up and down in absolute disbelief. “We invited you out for drinks tonight and you bailed. Turns out you’re in a pharmacy buying stuff for a woman? “Are you on FaceTime with her?! Let me see! Who is this absolute goddess that finally got our CEO Cole to thaw out?” Carter reached out, trying to snatch Weston’s phone. I immediately yanked my face out of the camera’s view. But Carter never got his hands on the phone. Weston merely shot him a single, freezing glare, and Carter instinctively pulled his hand back. “Alright, alright, keep your treasure hidden. Just remember to bring her out to meet us next time. “Oh, by the way, Wes, I ran into Liv. She walked into the wrong booth and caught me kissing another girl. Scared the hell out of me, but luckily the guys thought fast and said I had amnesia. I’ll play around a bit more, then ‘recover’ my memory later. “And seriously, Wes, you’re a lifesaver. I wasn’t done playing the field back then, and giving me the idea to fake my death was pure genius. Worked like a charm.” The camera shook violently for a second. The next moment, the call was disconnected. 3 Weston came back to the car ten minutes later. He didn’t dare look at me. He just handed me the bag of supplies, quickly got into the driver’s seat, and locked the doors. “I had someone deliver hot ginger tea to the house… are you… coming back with me?” There was a cautious, almost fragile edge to his voice. It honestly made me want to laugh. Weston Cole was one of the most prominent, untouchable billionaires in the city. He was also Carter’s absolute best friend. Back when I used to attend dinners with Carter, Weston was always there. He had always been incredibly cold to me. Especially whenever people teased Carter and me to show some PDA, Weston wouldn’t even spare us a glance. He looked purely disgusted and annoyed. To the point where everyone in their social circle genuinely believed he hated me. That was, until the day Carter ‘died’ in that car crash, and I received the video. It was Weston who had sent it to me. But I never would have guessed that the entire fake death scheme was Weston’s idea in the first place. This man was dangerously calculating. 4 The moment we arrived at Weston’s mansion, my feet barely touched the ground before he scooped me up into a bridal carry. After I finished up in the bathroom, he laid me down on his massive bed and handed me my phone to play games. Once I finished the ginger tea, he casually took off his shirt, lay down beside me, and began gently massaging my lower stomach. The soft ambient lighting draped over his defined abs like a thin veil. Every line seemed to hide a secret, making it impossible not to want to touch. So, I did. Weston’s eyes instantly darkened. He caught my wandering hand and pinned it down. “Behave.” I didn’t listen. He cupped the back of my head and crashed his lips down onto mine. Two years had been more than enough time for him to memorize every inch of me. In the heat of the moment, he intertwined his fingers with mine. “Help me,” he rasped, his voice rough with need. I already knew perfectly well how terrifying Weston’s stamina was—I found that out the first time I got drunk and slept with him two years ago. It wasn’t until my wrists were painfully sore that he finally finished. Just as he was about to carry me to the bathroom to clean up, the phone sitting on the edge of the mattress rang. It was Weston’s phone. As I shifted, I accidentally bumped the screen, hitting the ‘accept’ button. “Wes! I’m planning to throw a massive engagement party with Maddie, just to piss Liv off. What do you think? “Can you believe her? She finds out I’m alive, and instead of caring about my health, she just throws a jealous fit and hasn’t contacted me once! “Looks like she grew a spine over the last two years. I need to torture her a little, let her experience the pain of losing me all over again. I’m going to plan something huge, and I need you to…” Carter’s voice echoed loudly into the quiet room. But he cut off abruptly. Because I couldn’t stop a sharp gasp from escaping my lips. Not because of what Carter was saying, but because something against my thigh had definitely woken back up. It even twitched against my hand. 5 I glared at Weston, feeling equal parts annoyed and completely flushed. Carter’s voice returned through the speaker, sounding shocked. “Whoa! Wes, what are you doing right now? You have a woman in bed with you?! Tell me right now, is it the girl from the FaceTime call today?” It had been two years since we last spoke, and I had only let out a single, muffled sound. Plus, Carter had been surrounded by a revolving door of women lately, so he completely failed to recognize my voice. Weston clearly had zero intention of replying to him. His dark eyes were locked onto mine, burning with obvious intent. I shot him a warning glare, shoved myself out of his arms, and tried to crawl toward the far side of the massive bed. But before I could even make it one foot, Weston wrapped his hand around my ankle and dragged me right back under him. Carter kept talking: “Bro, you absolutely have to bring her out so I can see what kind of goddess finally made the iron tree bloom! And since you’re finally in the game, you can’t reject the girls I introduce to you anymore! “Oh, right, the engagement party. I was going to ask you to invite Liv for me, but since I know you’ve always hated her…” Before Carter could finish his sentence, Weston impatiently hit the end call button. He tossed the phone onto the mattress, effortlessly scooped me up with one arm, and carried me toward the bathroom. By the time we emerged, it was three hours later. Weston looked thoroughly satisfied. I glared at him, collapsing onto the pillows, completely refusing to speak to him. I grabbed my own phone and saw a new text. It was from one of Carter’s frat brothers. Two years ago, Carter had integrated me into all of his social circles. [Liv, Carter is actually getting engaged to another girl in seven days. You need to come stop him! I don’t want him doing something he’ll regret when he finally gets his memory back!] I glanced at the message, swiped left, and deleted it. I wasn’t the type of person who had nothing better to do than invite drama into my life. Who cared if Carter got engaged? Weston reached out, trying to pull me back into his chest. I shot him a death glare and quickly scooted to the very edge of the mattress. I absolutely was not going for another three-hour marathon.

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I was seven months pregnant when my cover was finally blown. The man who once claimed to cherish me—the crown prince of the Moretti Syndicate—didn’t hesitate. He shattered my teeth with the butt of his rifle, broke my ribs with his boots, and dragged me into the pits of a black-site dungeon. I miscarried in that cold, dark cell. He took the tiny, lifeless body away, and I never saw him again. Five years later, a little girl crawled into my cage and whispered: “Mommy, Daddy’s drunk. He’s crying, and he says he misses you.” 1 Five years ago, Silas Moretti beat me until the world went black, carried away my stillborn child, and vanished from my life. Since then, my world has been four damp walls, a bucket, and the endless dark. On the nights when the silence became a physical weight, I’d catch a rat just to have someone to talk to. It’s a miracle my mind hasn’t completely snapped. But my body? My body is a different story. Years without sunlight, the moldy air, the rancid scraps they call food—every joint, every old break, every inch of me screams in perpetual pain. This little girl is the first living soul to speak to me in half a decade. She said: “Mommy, Daddy’s drunk. He’s crying, and he says he misses you.” I stared at her, uncomprehending. Why was she calling me Mommy? Who was her father? I tried to answer, but when I opened my mouth, nothing came out. My vocal cords had withered from years of disuse. Panic flared in my chest, triggering a violent coughing fit. A spray of blood splattered across the girl’s pristine white dress. Terrified, she scrambled back and fled into the shadows. Great, I thought, slumped against the stone. More trouble. Usually, when the guards were bored or frustrated, they’d break in just to use me as a punching bag. They still haven’t forgiven me for the intel I leaked five years ago—the bust that crippled their empire, killed their men, and forced Silas to flee across the border with a handful of survivors. When they found out I was the mole, I became the Syndicate’s favorite target. They called me a traitor. I almost want to laugh. I never betrayed my badge. How could I be a traitor? Silas used every torture technique in the book on me. I begged him to kill me. “No,” he had growled back then. “I’m keeping your pathetic life. As long as you’re breathing, Leo will come for you.” Leo Vance. My husband. He was a detective, my partner, and my soulmate. His head is the only thing Silas Moretti wants more than my suffering. 2 Clang. Clang. The heavy iron gate groaned open. Steady, rhythmic footsteps echoed against the damp stone floor. This wasn’t the guard who usually tossed my slop through the slot. I retreated into the furthest corner, my eyes wide with a primal fear. The intruder held a half-empty bottle of bourbon. The sharp, boozy scent instantly filled the cramped cell. He put a cigarette between his lips. The flare of a lighter cut through the dark. The flame illuminated a face of sharp, chiseled angles and eyes that burned with the cold, predatory hunger of a wolf. Five years had passed, but I knew him in a heartbeat. My former “lover.” The king of the Moretti Syndicate. Silas. He leaned against the rusted bars, exhaling a cloud of smoke. The only sound was the faint crackle of the tobacco. “Elena. It’s been a while,” he rasped, his voice like gravel. I didn’t speak. I had forgotten how. “We’re moving,” he said, talking more to himself than to me. “The heat is picking up in this sector. We’re heading further out. We’ve made enough money to disappear forever. The men… they want me to leave you behind. They want me to put a bullet in your brain.” Do it, I thought. End this misery. “But I want your death to serve a purpose,” he continued. He stepped into the cell, gripping my chin and forcing me to look at him. His breath reeked of whiskey. The pressure he exerted was suffocating. “I need you to bring Leo Vance to me.” I met his gaze with absolute stillness. No anger. No joy. No hope. The void in my eyes infuriated him. He lashed out, his palm cracking against my face. Suddenly, blood began to pour from my nose. He hesitated, his hand hovering. “I didn’t even hit you that hard…” He hadn’t. The blood wasn’t from the blow. It was the sickness. I could feel my body shutting down. Death was already knocking. If I was going to die anyway, why would I ever help this monster hurt my husband? Silas used the sleeve of his expensive white shirt to wipe the blood from my face, then suddenly hauled me into his arms. I tried to struggle, but he held me in a death grip, resting his chin on my matted hair. “Elena, listen to me. Just listen,” he whispered, his voice dripping with a lethal kind of persuasion. “Did you see that girl? Her name is Mia. She’s your child. That baby five years ago? She wasn’t stillborn. She survived. You help me take down Leo, and I let Mia live. If you don’t… I’ll make you watch as I throw her into the sea.” I stopped struggling. My heart froze in my chest. 3 For the first time in five years, I was dragged out of the pit. The moment the morning sun hit me, I shrieked and scrambled for cover like a blind animal. Silas didn’t care. He dragged me by the arm, hauling me into a sprawling, opulent villa. Several women in heavy makeup were lounging on the massive leather sofas in the living room. “Silas…” they cooed, standing to greet him. One of them immediately pressed herself against him, kissing him deeply. Right in front of me, Silas returned the kiss with a savage, performative passion. “Bianca,” he said to the woman, “take her upstairs. Clean her up. Get rid of the smell.” Bianca shot me a look of pure venom. “Move it, bitch.” It took Bianca and two other women an entire afternoon to scrub the filth and the shame off my skin. Hot water hit my skeletal frame, revealing every jutting rib. I looked like a ghost draped in pale skin. Five years of hell had turned Elena Vance—the bright, fierce star of the DEA—into a hollow shell of a woman. Bianca roughly brushed my hair, her voice a low, sharp hiss. “Don’t get comfortable. Silas isn’t the man he used to be. If you want to survive another day, you stay invisible.” “Bianca. Out,” Silas’s voice boomed from the door. She gave me one last warning look and scurried out. Silas stood behind me, watching my reflection in the mirror. His long, calloused fingers traced my jaw, my neck, my collarbone. Then they began to slide beneath my collar. I winced, my disgust flashing across my face for a split second. His hand stopped. Suddenly, he grabbed a handful of my hair and yanked my head back. “Look at you!” he spat. “You’re a walking corpse! No man would even look at you if you were naked!” “Daddy!” a small voice rang out from the hall. Silas’s grip instantly loosened. He let go of my hair. “Daddy! You finally let Mommy out!” Mia ran into the room, looking at me with wide, earnest eyes. “Mommy is so pretty! But she’s too thin. You need to eat more, Mommy.” I looked at her, and my vision blurred. Was she truly mine? Could this beautiful, innocent thing have come from my broken body? “Mia, how about Daddy takes us out for steak tonight?” Silas asked, his voice transforming into something terrifyingly tender. “Yay!” Mia cheered, jumping with joy. I couldn’t understand how a child could be so pure in a den of vipers. On the drive to the restaurant, she never stopped smiling, her eyes glued to the world passing by the window. Silas spoke to her with a gentleness that seemed impossible for a man who had broken my ribs. I watched them—this “father and daughter”—and my mind drifted back twenty years. To when I was five years old. 4 My father was a cop. He was always on duty, undercover, away from home for two hundred days out of the year. Every time he came home, I was overjoyed, clinging to his leg and peppering him with questions. On my fifth birthday, my parents promised to take me to McDonald’s. I was sitting on the back of my father’s bicycle, holding a colorful pinwheel. The wind made it spin and spin. The gears of fate began to turn with it. I only remember a series of deafening bangs. I tumbled off the bicycle. The world turned into a blur of blinding red. My parents lay in a pool of blood. I don’t know how long it was before a man ran over, scooped me up, and covered my eyes. “Don’t worry, sweetie. It’s okay. Don’t be afraid.” … That man took me home. At first, I didn’t eat, didn’t speak, and didn’t cry. I was an empty shell. The man had a son, Leo. Every day, Leo stayed by my side, talking to me, trying to make me laugh, playing Cops and Robbers with me. Later, we went to school together, did our homework together, and eventually entered the same police academy. After graduation, we joined the same precinct as homicide detectives. We solved major cases together, bled together, and sweated together. One year, I was injured on a mission. Before I was pushed into the operating room, Leo held my hand, crying as he told me he loved me. “Elena, you have to survive. I’m going to marry you.” Neither of us had ever dated anyone else. We knew we were waiting for each other. After I recovered, Leo took a day off on Valentine’s Day to take me to the St. Jude’s botanical gardens to see the winter roses. The snow sat heavy on the red petals. It looked like a classical painting. Under the winter roses, Leo proposed. We held each other and vowed to protect one another forever. 5 As we were leaving the gardens, a young man in a sharp black suit brushed past us. My heart skipped a beat. I pulled on Leo’s sleeve. “Does he look like someone we know?” Leo nodded. “I noticed too. Silas Moretti.” The Moretti Syndicate. We had been investigating them for two years, but they were shadows. We could never find a way in. But here was Silas, delivering himself to us. I wasn’t letting him go. “You go back,” I told Leo. “I’m going to tail him and see what he’s doing here.” Leo knew my temper. Once I decided on something, there was no turning back. “I’ll wait at the bottom of the hill. Stay safe. Do not engage.” I followed Silas into a small chapel. He knelt before the altar, lighting three candles and whispering a prayer. What, was he trying to seek redemption? Impossible. Silas Moretti was the iron fist of the syndicate. He was cold, ruthless, and psychotic. Heaven doesn’t take devils like him. He finished his prayer and left. I couldn’t tail him further, so I approached the usher. “Does that handsome guy come here often?” “Yes,” the usher replied. “A few times a month.” I had a bold idea: I would get close to Silas. I would infiltrate the Moretti Syndicate. Leo was violently opposed. I threatened to call off the wedding if he didn’t let me take this shot. “Leo,” I said. “This is the last one. Once the Morettis are gone, I’m quitting. I’ll take a desk job, marry you, and have your kids. Deal?” Leo didn’t speak. He was still furious. I staked out the garden for two weeks before Silas returned. I stood not far from him while he lit his candles. When he stood up, he turned and locked his piercing gaze onto mine. He walked toward me. Good. You caught his attention. “You’ve been watching me,” he said. “Do I know you?” “Maybe we should get to know each other,” I replied confidently. “Why?” “Because… you’re very handsome.” I made sure to blush as I said it. “Ridiculous,” Silas muttered, turning away. But every time he came to the chapel after that, I was there. Finally, one day, he said, “Beautiful, let me buy you dinner.” 6 I became Silas Moretti’s “girlfriend.” He brought me into hidden clubs and underground casinos. I fed every scrap of intel to the precinct. My superiors were terrified. They wanted me out. Silas was too dangerous. But three days later, Silas was taking me to a high-level meeting. It was the jackpot. I promised my captain that after this, I was done. I got the intel. I witnessed a massive illegal arms deal with an international cartel. After the deal, Silas was riding high. He had been drinking. He looked at me, a dark fire in his eyes. “Elena. You have an incredible body.” I felt a cold chill. In the two months we’d been together, he hadn’t touched me. He didn’t fully trust me. But today, he had let me into his inner circle. He trusted me now. And I had to prove my “loyalty.” He pulled me onto his lap and started unbuttoning my shirt. I grabbed his hand. His eyes narrowed. He picked up the gun on the table and pressed the barrel against my forehead. “Strip.” … I walked home in the light rain, my coat wrapped tightly around me. Leo had called eight times. I finally answered. “Leo… we need to break up.” I turned over all the evidence on the Morettis, filed my resignation, and disappeared. Seven months later, when Leo finally found me, my stomach was heavy. I was seven months pregnant. He held me tight. “Elena, the Morettis are gone. You’re safe. Marry me. Let me take care of you forever.” We chose a small restaurant in a neighboring town for a quiet wedding. Mostly Leo’s family and friends. His captain officiated. The weather was terrible. Dark clouds gathered in the afternoon, and by evening, a storm was raging. “Leo Vance, do you take Elena More—Elena Vance to be your wife? To love and protect her, for better or for worse, in sickness and in health, as long as you both shall live?” “I do.” 7 The memories faded as the car continued to move. The scenery outside grew more desolate. This didn’t look like a place to get steak. Finally, the car stopped in front of an abandoned factory. Silas told his men to watch Mia, then dragged me inside. “Before dinner, we have a little business,” he told me. “The cops caught my brother. I agreed to a prisoner exchange. You for him.” He turned on his radio. “Snipers in position. Once the exchange is made, the moment the cops try to take Elena away, open fire. Leave no survivors.” He grabbed my hair. “Tell me, do you think Leo Vance is the one coming for you? Your precious Leo?” I smiled. “You better pray he isn’t. He’ll bury you.” My smile enraged him. “You goddamn traitor!” Traitor? I never betrayed my faith. Twenty minutes later, the radio crackled. “Boss, they’re here!” Silas and his men racked their guns. The factory door opened. Three men walked in. The man in the middle was Silas’s brother, Marco. The other two? I didn’t recognize them. But they had the look of my former colleagues. Silas narrowed his eyes. “Where is Leo? Why didn’t he come?” “Silas Moretti! We brought your man!” the plainclothes officer shouted. “Let’s make the trade!” “I said Leo Vance personally! Are you screwing with me?” Silas roared, cocking his pistol. The tension was a physical weight. “Si… Silas.” It was the first time I had spoken in five years. “K-keep Marco. Let the two officers… go.” He shot me an icy look. “Why the hell would I do that?” “I’m not leaving. I’m staying with you.” He ignored me. I slowly dropped to my knees, begging. “Don’t make me go. I want you. I want Mia. Let the three of us go… far away. Please?” His cold expression cracked just a fraction. He finally lowered his gun. “Leave Marco. You two cops, get the hell out!” On the drive back, Silas sat in a stony, dark silence. Mia was quiet too, playing with her toy. It was a realistic-looking toy gun. Back at the villa, Silas barked, “Bianca, take Mia upstairs!” As soon as they were gone, Silas spun around and slapped me across the face. “You think you deserve to be Mia’s mother?” He squeezed my throat. “If Leo doesn’t show his face, I’m going to kill you myself, you demon!” I just laughed. Blood poured from my nose into my mouth, staining my teeth. I probably did look like a demon. Silas let go in disgust, and I collapsed. I was dragged back to the hole. Familiar dark. Familiar damp. Familiar silence. I almost felt safe here. I curled into the corner, staring. I had learned how to zone out over the last five years. When I did, the memories would float and shift. Leo, Silas, my parents, my adoptive family. They were all so real. Clang. Clang. The iron gate again. It wasn’t mealtime. A flashlight beam cut through the dark. Behind it was a woman. It was Bianca. “Elena. Come here.” She gestured to the bars. She shoved a plastic bag into my hand. “Painkillers. They might help.” I didn’t understand why she was suddenly kind. Before she left, I asked her to leave the flashlight. I pulled a photo from under my pillow. By the light of the flash, I looked at the man in the picture. The only photo I had left of him. A handsome face in a police uniform. Bright eyes. A sunny smile. Leo, it’s been a long time. My mind drifted back five years.

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I’ve had a crush on Silas ever since sophomore year of high school. When his team lost a major rivalry game, his teammates jokingly suggested I should go “distract” the opposing team’s star player to help Silas out next time. I looked at Silas, who was nodding along in agreement with his bros, and I just smiled. “Fine. I’ll give it a shot.” I grabbed a Gatorade and handed it to the guy who had just dominated the court. Later, that same guy absolutely crushed Silas’s team in the playoffs. 1 In the dorm, Maya finished her makeup and turned to me. “Hey Clara, aren’t you heading out yet?” “Where to?” I asked, confused. Maya acted shocked. “No way. Silas didn’t tell you the team has a big scrimmage tonight?” Everyone in the room looked over. It wasn’t a secret that Silas was the golden boy—star quarterback, straight-A student, and the guy every girl wanted. “Why would he tell me?” I played it cool. Maya teased, “I thought you guys were close? I figured he’d definitely want his ‘number one fan’ in the stands.” Close? I guess. We grew up next door to each other and went to the same schools since we were kids. In high school, I confessed to him. He told me, “Clara, I’m focused on scouts right now. Let’s see where we are in college.” I waited. We both ended up at the same university. But nothing changed. Silas was the same as he was in high school—always surrounded by pretty girls, but always calling them “just friends.” Eventually, I realized I was just another face in his “friend” rotation. Seeing my silence, Maya smirked. “Our department is playing the Engineering guys tonight. Come on, Clara, just come with me.” The rejection was on the tip of my tongue, but I couldn’t say it. Because of Silas, I still wanted to go. When we got to the court, one of his teammates spotted me. “Yo, Silas! Your shadow is here.” Silas looked up, his expression unreadable. “What are you doing here?” My heart sank. Was I really that unwelcome? Maya stepped in immediately. “Silas, I made her come. You only invited me, and I didn’t want to be bored.” Her voice was sweet, possessive. She was the invited guest; I was the intruder. 2 We sat in the front row, and the game started fast. Maya was screaming Silas’s name, cheering for every play. Silas kept glancing our way. Maya leaned in, whispering, “See how much he’s looking at me? I’m worried I’m distracting him.” I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. Her worry was misplaced because Silas couldn’t have played worse if he tried. The Engineering team was a powerhouse. Their coordination and shooting percentage blew our guys out of the water. Half-time hit. Maya rushed over with water—only for Silas. He took it and drank, but before he did, he shot another look at me. The guys on the bench started talking about the other team. “Who is their number 7? Caleb Reed?” “He’s a beast. I heard he’s single. Maybe we should set him up with one of the girls from our department so he goes easy on us next time, haha.” Someone looked at me. “Send Clara.” Someone else nudged him. “Dude, shut up. You know Clara is into Silas.” “Even better. Keep your friends close and your enemies closer, right?” “If he gets a girlfriend, he might not have the ‘stamina’ for the fourth quarter, catch my drift? Hahaha.” They made crude jokes at my expense, laughing loud enough for Silas to hear. Silas said nothing. Maya looked at him intentionally. “Silas, what do you think of that idea?” Silas shrugged, looking completely indifferent. “Yeah, why not? Whatever works.” Hearing that, the anger I had been holding onto suddenly vanished. It turned into cold clarity. I smiled. “Sure. I’ll try. I actually think he’s a much better player anyway.” Silas’s expression finally shifted. 3 I grabbed a cold bottle of water and walked toward the opposing bench. Caleb Reed was sitting there, laughing with his friends. I tapped his shoulder with the bottle. “Hey. Want some water?” The group went quiet and looked at me. I felt my face heat up. Up close, I realized he wasn’t just good at basketball—he was stunning. “Here we go,” one of his teammates muttered. “Caleb, another one. You gonna reject her—” The teammate stopped mid-sentence, eyes widening. Caleb smirked and reached for the water. Our fingers brushed, and I felt a jolt of electricity. I pulled back instantly. “Thanks,” he said, his eyes locked on mine. “No problem,” I said, turning to leave. A lazy voice trailed behind me. “Wait. You’re giving me water but going back to cheer for the other team?” I froze. The buzzer sounded for the second half. “Here, sit.” Caleb stood up to head onto the court, leaving his seat empty. His friend, Jackson, waved me over. “I’m Jackson. Who are you? You’re definitely not an Engineering major. You’re the first girl whose water Caleb has actually accepted.” The first? Well, at least the universe didn’t let me get rejected in front of Silas. Jackson was a chatterbox. He asked a million questions. “Doesn’t he get tired?” I asked, pointing at Caleb. He had played every minute so far. “Caleb? Man’s a machine. He could finish this game and go run a 5K just for fun.” Jackson’s exaggeration made me laugh, breaking the tension of sitting on the “enemy” side. Caleb suddenly jogged over. “Jackson, swap with me. You’re in for the fourth.” Jackson groaned. “Caleb, I’m beat.” “You seem plenty energized to me. You haven’t stopped talking for ten minutes. Get in there.” Caleb’s hair was soaked with sweat. He wiped his face with a towel and sat down right next to me. “What are you guys laughing about?” I blinked. “You were watching us from the court?” “I have great vision,” Caleb said, a confident tilt to his lips. “How else do you think I make those three-pointers?” 4 The result was a blowout. When Silas’s team came over to shake hands, he looked miserable. His eyes cut past Caleb to me. “You still haven’t left? Is it that fun sitting over here?” It was just a scrimmage. I didn’t get why he was being so aggressive. I shrugged and looked at Caleb. “I have to get back to my friends. See ya.” As soon as I got to Maya, she was prying. “Clara, did you know Caleb Reed before tonight?” “Just met him.” “Wow, Clara is just so popular with guys. I could never compete.” She said it loud enough for the whole group to hear. I frowned. She was laying the “pick-me” act on thick. Silas suggested getting late-night pizza. Maya looked at me with fake concern. “Clara, I’m going with the guys. You don’t mind walking back to the dorm alone, right?” “Fine by me,” I nodded. “You’re coming too,” Silas commanded. Maya’s smile faltered. In the past, if Silas invited me to dinner, I would have been over the moon. But tonight, I had no desire to watch him flirt with other girls. “No thanks. I’m tired,” I said. Silas acted like he didn’t hear me. “Don’t you love that new pizza place by the stadium?” I had sent Silas the link to that place the day it opened, asking him to go. He always said he was “too busy”—meaning he was busy with his new “friends.” I met his eyes. “That was a long time ago. I’m not hungry for it anymore.” Later, lying in bed, I scrolled through Instagram. Silas had posted five minutes ago. A photo of him and Maya. Caption: Lost the game, but won the girl. My thumb hovered over the screen. For years, seeing Silas with other girls hurt. But seeing this? I felt a strange sense of relief. Good for him. As a “friend,” I should be happy. 5 “Hey babies, pizza’s here!” Maya walked back into the dorm with two boxes. “This place is so good. I had to bring some back for you guys. Silas’s treat!” My other two roommates rushed over. “Silas is so sweet to you. We saw the post—is it official?” They glanced at me. “I guess the secret’s out,” Maya giggled. When I didn’t move, she walked over to my bed. “Clara, want a slice?” “No thanks, I already brushed my teeth.” “Too bad. I got this specifically for the room.” My phone buzzed. A DM from Silas: [I sent some food back to the dorm. Did you eat?] Silas was always like this. After he rejected me in high school, he brought me my favorite breakfast the next day, saying he “happened” to pass by the bakery. He gave flowers to another girl at a talent show, but waited an hour afterward to drive me home. He bailed on our graduation trip to go with a group that included a girl I hated. I didn’t speak to him all summer, but he showed up before move-in day to help me pack, promising my parents he’d “look after me” at college. One slap, one piece of candy. And I had eaten it up every time. I told myself he just wasn’t ready for a relationship in high school. I told myself I was special to him. But he didn’t love me. He just didn’t want to lose his safety net. It was time to wake up. 6 The next day, in the guys’ dorm. Caleb checked the time and shut off his PC. Jackson looked up from his monitor. “Caleb, where are you going? The raid is just starting.” “Class.” Caleb grabbed his phone and headed out. “Dude, it’s an elective! Who actually goes to those? Just stay and play!” Jackson yelled at his back. I had just sat down in the lecture hall when I got texts from Silas and Maya. Silas: [I’m skipping today. Sign me in.] Maya: [Silas and I are on a date! Can you cover for us and sign us both in?] I tapped out a quick “K” on my phone, feeling annoyed. Suddenly, a familiar voice sat down beside me. “Small world.” I looked up. Caleb. “Can I sit here?” he asked, pointing to the empty chair. I nodded. “Thanks for the water yesterday,” he said. My heart skipped. I prayed he wouldn’t ask why I gave it to him. He didn’t. He just pulled out his phone. “We should trade numbers. You know, for ‘class notes’.” I looked at him, skeptical. “Class notes?” Caleb grinned. “Or so I can save you a seat next time.” I looked around at the half-empty room. There were plenty of seats. The class was Film Appreciation. Today, the professor was showing a clip from Old Yeller. I knew I was in trouble. I’m a sucker for dog movies. Last week, she showed Eight Below, and I cried so hard the professor called on me to explain the “emotional resonance” of the scene in front of everyone. I decided to just look at my phone and ignore the screen. “Not watching? Afraid you’ll cry?” Caleb whispered. “How did you know?” “I was here last week. It was… memorable.” I blushed. Caleb chuckled and slid a travel pack of tissues across the desk. “It’s okay. You can cry. I brought backup.” 7 After class, I went to the restroom to splash cold water on my face. The professor had indeed called on me again. “Clara seems to have the deepest connection to these films. Clara, tell us the difference in the themes of loss between the two movies.” The whole class laughed. It was social suicide. I walked out of the restroom to find Caleb leaning against the balcony railing, scrolling through his phone. “You’re… still here?” Caleb put his phone away. “Waiting for you.” As we walked back toward the dorms, I couldn’t figure it out. Why was he waiting for me? Was he just this nice to everyone? I was so deep in thought that I didn’t notice the electric scooter zipping around the corner. Caleb moved fast, pulling me toward him. The girl on the scooter panicked, swerved the wrong way, and slammed right into Caleb’s leg. 8 Caleb was wearing shorts, and his knee was already turning a nasty shade of red. “Are you okay?” I asked frantically after the girl apologized and left. “We should go to the campus clinic.” Caleb laughed. “Clara, if I go to the clinic for a bruise, the nurse will tell me I’m lucky I didn’t die of a paper cut.” I turned red. I remembered a boba shop nearby and told him, “Wait here. Don’t move. I’ll be right back.” I bought two drinks and asked for a bag of ice. When I got back, Caleb was sitting on a stone bench. He smiled when he saw me. “I thought you went to buy me a ‘get well soon’ balloon.” “Very funny.” I handed him the ice. “Hold this on your knee so it doesn’t swell.” He took it, teasing, “You’re more worried about my leg than I am.” “Of course! You have a big game coming up. I can’t be the reason you’re off the court.” I sat next to him, sipping my boba. “The other one is for you… I didn’t know what you liked, so I got my favorite.” Caleb turned to look at me. “Clara, has anyone ever told you that you’re adorable?” I blinked. “Uh, yeah. Sometimes.” Then I realized what he was actually saying. My face went scarlet. The air between us felt heavy and quiet until Caleb spoke again. “Clara.” “Yeah?” “I was really happy you gave me that water yesterday. Come to the next game and cheer for me, okay?”

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My mother-in-law suddenly collapsed from a brain hemorrhage. I dialed 911 frantically, but a Maybach waiting at a red light ahead refused to budge for the ambulance. I recognized the car—it belonged to my husband, Silas. I called him immediately, screaming for him to move. But the voice that answered was his “True North,” Sarah, his first love who had just returned to the country: “It’s not like someone’s dying. Why are you in such a rush?” I screamed into the phone: “Someone is dying! It’s Silas’s mother in the back of this ambulance!” “She has a brain hemorrhage! If you don’t move now, she’ll miss the golden window for surgery!” Silas grabbed the phone and cursed at me: “Elena, are you insane? “Just because I’m out at lunch with Sarah, you’re making up stories about my mother being sick? I’m not moving an inch!” He didn’t just block the lane; he actively cut off the ambulance multiple times as we tried to navigate traffic. Later, my mother-in-law died in the back of that ambulance. Silas and Sarah ended up in prison. And I? I took over every single asset they ever owned. 1 My mother-in-law, Martha Sterling, was the Chairwoman of Sterling Global. She collapsed during a board meeting. I called 911 immediately, fighting for every second. But as the ambulance raced toward the hospital, we hit a gridlock at the intersection of 5th and Main. A black Maybach sat idling at the red light. Despite the blaring sirens and the air horn, the driver refused to pull into the intersection or move to the shoulder. I knew that car. I knew that vanity plate. It was Silas. I called him, my hands shaking. “Silas, move! Your mom is in the ambulance behind you! “She has a massive hemorrhage! Move now or we lose her!” I expected him to panic, to swerve out of the way immediately. Instead, Sarah’s voice purred through the speakers: “Elena, get a life. “I just got back to the States and wanted to catch up with an old friend. I’m not trying to ‘steal’ your husband. “Why are you being so toxic, claiming Martha is in an ambulance? “Besides, the light is red. What do you expect Silas to do? “There are only thirty seconds left. Can’t you wait? It’s not like the world is ending.” I felt like my own heart was going to stop from the sheer fury: “Are you an idiot? You don’t get ticketed for yielding to an emergency vehicle! You get fined for blocking one! “And is a potential ticket more important than Martha’s life? Do you think this family can’t afford a fine?” The EMTs in the back were sweating, shouting at me: “You said that’s your husband? Make him move! “The patient is losing too much blood. We need her on an operating table ten minutes ago. “If we miss the window, even a miracle won’t save her. Does he want his mother to die?” But on the other end, Silas didn’t believe a word. He thought I was playing a desperate game of jealousy. Sarah continued to whisper in his ear, her voice dripping with “logic”: “Don’t listen to her. If you run the light, you’ll get points on your license. “Sure, you can appeal it, but who has the time? “Especially a CEO-in-waiting like you—your time is money. “It’s only a few more seconds. Just wait. It’s less hassle. “Elena is so desperate she’s actually cursing your mother just to control you. I bet that’s actually her ex-boyfriend, Julian, the actor, in that ambulance.” “I told you, didn’t I? The tabloids said Julian was filming an action scene nearby and got hurt. “Elena is trying to save her ex by using your mom as an excuse. Silas, your wife is wicked. Don’t let her win.” 2 My head throbbed. Silas actually believed I was trying to save my ex? No wonder he wouldn’t move. I used to wonder why a trust-fund brat like him would care about a traffic ticket. The truth was, his time wasn’t worth anything. Silas had zero business acumen; he knew nothing about managing the company. He only knew how to race cars, hit the clubs, and play video games. Martha only chose me as her daughter-in-law because she saw him for the loser he was. She needed someone with my management experience to keep the empire from crumbling. She wanted me to be strong, yet she feared that once she was gone, Silas wouldn’t be able to handle me. That was why she was obsessed with her health—she claimed she’d live to be a hundred. She wanted me to have a son quickly so she could train the third generation herself. And now, her son was using the Maybach she bought him to block her only path to survival. I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. I screamed into the phone one last time: “Silas Sterling, if you don’t move, your mother is going to die! “And you will never, ever be able to take it back!” Silas sounded completely unbothered, practically whistling into the receiver: “Elena, give it a rest. My mom is fine. She was at the gym yesterday. “You want to save your actor boyfriend? Not on my watch. “Go ahead and plan his funeral. I’m staying right here.” 3 The ambulance driver looked ready to scream: “Is the moron in front seriously your husband? The light is green now! Why is he still blocking us?” The EMTs looked at me, their faces grim: “She’s fading. We need to get her to the ER now. Tell your husband the severity! “If he doesn’t move, it’s over. Is he really her son?” He was. Everyone else gave up on him years ago, and he proved them right every day. I looked at the call that had been heartlessly disconnected, then at my unconscious mother-in-law. I whispered in my head: “Mom, you have to hold on. Don’t die. “If you go, I can’t promise my ambition won’t take over. I’ll kick Silas out of the company so fast his head will spin. “You told me once—once a woman tastes power and wealth, she never wants to go back. I’m not immune to temptation. “Sarah probably knows exactly who is in this ambulance. She wants you dead. “If you’re gone, no one stands in her way of marrying Silas.” Martha was the one who kicked Sarah out of the country years ago. She saw through her. Martha used to say: “My son is a lost cause. My daughter-in-law has to be the backbone. “Otherwise, what happens to the legacy? “Don’t worry about Silas’s flings. Focus on the business. Learn the Sterling way. “I’m training you to take over. You’ll have a son, and we’ll raise him right together.” Sarah figured that if Martha was dead, she could manipulate Silas into divorcing me and throwing me out. She thought she’d become the new Mrs. Sterling and live the high life. Unfortunately for her, she underestimated me. If Martha died, I wouldn’t just divorce Silas. I would make sure both of them rotted in a cell for what they did. Then, I would take every single thing Martha built. 4 CRASH. The ambulance driver finally snapped. he rammed the back of the Maybach, forcing it out of the way. He looked at me in the rearview mirror, panic in his eyes: “Don’t make me pay for that! I can’t afford the paint job on a Maybach! “I’m doing this to save a life! It’s an emergency!” I said quickly, “You won’t pay a cent. Thank you, sir. Just drive.” He sighed in relief. “Copy that.” But the nightmare wasn’t over. As the ambulance tore through the intersection toward the hospital, Silas gave chase. I knew how good Silas was behind the wheel. He spent his twenties on amateur race circuits. He was a “pro.” If he wanted to block us, a heavy ambulance had no chance. The Maybach began weaving, cutting us off again and again, playing a lethal game of cat and mouse on city streets. I tried calling him again. This time, I hit Video Call. If he could see his mother—pale, intubated, dying—he would stop. But Silas wouldn’t pick up. I called once. Declined. Twice. Declined. The third time, his phone was turned off completely. The monitors in the back began to flatline—beep, beep, beep. The EMTs were doing chest compressions. I sat there, watching the woman who had raised Silas alone. His father had died when he was five, leaving her with a massive corporation and a young son. Silas used to tell me: “My mom is the only person in the world who matters. “If she ever needed a kidney or a liver, I wouldn’t even hesitate. “I’d give my life to save hers.” And yet here he was. She didn’t need his organs. She just needed him to move his car. Such a simple thing. And he couldn’t do it. A wave of absurd, hollow powerlessness washed over me. The EMTs were nearly in tears. “The hemorrhage has reached the pons. We’re losing her! “Driver, faster! We’re running out of time!” The driver gripped the wheel, his shirt soaked with sweat. He shouted back: “I can’t get past! “This guy in the Maybach… he’s too good. He’s doing this on purpose! “We’re one block away. One block! “I’m calling the police the second we hit the bay. I want this bastard in handcuffs!” Finally, we reached the hospital gates. The Maybach, realizing he couldn’t block the hospital entrance without causing a massive pile-up, floored the accelerator and vanished into the night. The driver spat out a curse: “Animal! She would have been better off giving birth to a piece of coal than him!” I looked at Martha. A single tear had escaped her closed eyelid. Could she hear us? Was her heart breaking as it failed? I squeezed her hand. “Mom, don’t be scared. We’re here. Hold on.” The ambulance screeched to a halt at the ER bay. The trauma team was waiting. They sprinted her into surgery immediately. But it was too late. The surgeon came out twenty minutes later, his face grim. “I’m sorry. We did everything we could. “If she had arrived two minutes earlier… just two minutes. “That was the window. We could have stopped the bleed. “But now… I’m so sorry for your loss. “Call your family. It’s time to make arrangements.” 5 I stumbled, my mind blank except for that one phrase: “Just two minutes.” Those two minutes were stolen by Silas Sterling. He murdered his own mother. The tears finally came, hot and bitter. I picked up my phone and dialed his number again. I wanted to scream: “She’s dead! You killed her! Are you happy now?” But his phone was still off. I called Martha’s assistant, Mark, and told him to come to the hospital. Then, I called my best friend, Sarah—no, not that Sarah—my friend Jane, who worked in PR. “What? Silas and that girl killed Martha? “Is he insane? He blocked an ambulance? “Does he know it was his mother yet? “Does he realize he just killed the only person who actually protected him?” I leaned against the cold hospital wall. “He doesn’t know. He’s probably out celebrating Sarah’s return. “Jane, I need you to leak it. “I know your media channels. Get the dashcam footage from the ambulance. Get the intersection cameras. “I want the whole world to see Silas Sterling blocking his mother’s life flight. “I want the Board of Directors to see that the ‘heir’ is a matricidal coward. I want them to turn on him before the body is even cold.” Jane didn’t hesitate. “Elena, you’re going for the throat?” I knew it was “too soon.” I knew people would judge me for being cold. But I was filled with a hatred so deep it burned. I hated Silas for being a waste of space. And I knew if I didn’t act now, Sarah would whisper in his ear until he kicked me out of the Sterling estate. “If I don’t destroy him now, when?” I asked, my voice cold. “Should I wait until he marries Sarah with Martha’s money? “Martha trained me to be the successor. I won’t let her down. “Sterling Global belongs to me now. “Silas is the only thing in my way. So I’m taking him off the board.” Jane took a sharp breath. “Understood. I’ll make sure he burns.”

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I broke up with my boyfriend during the year he was at his absolute rock bottom. A year later, he hit the big time. He became the nation’s biggest star and married a girl far prettier and more vibrant than I could ever be. On a popular talk show, the host asked him if he had any regrets now that he had swept every major award at such a young age. He tightened his arm around his new wife, Chloe’s, waist and looked directly into the camera: “I just want to know… after dumping me, how is she doing now?” The host paused, a look of hesitation crossing her face. “She’s doing… not well at all.” A smirk finally spread across Silas’s face. “Good. Then I can rest easy.” “But,” the host continued, “Ms. Quinn left behind a box of videotapes before she died.” The smile on Silas’s face froze. Inside those tapes were the records of every single day and night I spent from the moment I left him until my final breath. 1 “Before she died?” Silas’s hand, resting on Chloe’s waist, twitched. Then, he forced a dismissive laugh. “Is this for the ratings? A bit dark for a talk show, don’t you think?” The host didn’t smile. She simply shook her head. The massive screen behind them flickered to life. My face appeared, filling the studio. “Hey everyone! I’m Quinn. And today… I’m officially single! “Huh? You’re asking if it hurts to kick a handsome, talented, pure-hearted boy to the curb?” In the frame, a girl with a completely shaved head was busy picking out a wig from a stand. She looked at the lens and laughed. “It doesn’t hurt. What would hurt is letting him see me looking like this. Haha! “Hey! Why is the camera shaking? You’re ruining the shot!” I reached out to steady the trembling hand of my best friend, Daisy. Daisy’s voice came from behind the camera, thick with sobs. “I don’t want to film this… Quinn, I can’t. I’m going to cry myself to death. Let’s stop.” “No way. You promised me, remember? You’re going to document every single day I have left.” “Can’t I take it back?” Daisy whimpered. “Nope!” I pouted at the camera. “This is my grand finale. I can’t trust anyone else with the cinematography.” Seeing her still crying, I grabbed the corner of her shirt and gave it a little tug. “Come on, Daisy. You’re the only person I have left in this world.” The sobbing grew louder. “Fine, fine… I’ll film it. Just stop talking like that…” 2 [Goodbye World: April 17, 2023, 9:34 AM — Take Everything You Want] After years away, I finally returned to my family’s old house in the countryside. Daisy held the phone behind me as I led my old golden retriever, Goldie, down a narrow dirt path through the fields. A soft laugh came from behind the lens. “No wonder Silas just updated his status with a breakup song. It’s because you took Goldie with you!” I turned around. “What song? I blocked him the second I left.” “It’s a classic. Take Everything You Want.” Daisy and I locked eyes for a moment and burst into a fit of bittersweet laughter. “Take everything you want, I’ll handle what’s left. Just leave our dog, Whether he’s useful or not…” Daisy laughed until tears came out. “He wanted nothing but the dog, and you took nothing but the dog! Hahaha!” Our laughter echoed under the vast sky. Slowly, it dissolved into weeping. 3 [Goodbye World: April 17, 2023, 10:08 AM — Does a Dog Know When You’re Leaving?] The old wooden door creaked open. I brushed away a thick cobweb. “I’m telling you, ever since Silas and I moved to the city for college, I’ve barely been back. After my parents passed, we took Goldie to the city. This is his first time home.” The camera flipped. Now I was holding it. “Hello, hello! Quinn here, taking you on an immersive tour of cleaning the old homestead!” Daisy appeared in the frame wearing an apron, holding a broom with a scowl. “I’m the one doing the cleaning! You’re just standing there, my lady!” “I’m the patient! Give me a break!” After a lot of laughter, I emerged from the kitchen covered in dust and soot. Daisy’s face went black as she snatched the spatula from me. “I told you! No cooking! Do you have no self-awareness about your skills? Go sit down!” I sat down, laughing and coughing at the same time. As soon as Daisy vanished into the kitchen, the smile vanished from my face. I propped the phone against a bowl and began to gasp for air. With trembling hands, I took a few puffs from a portable oxygen tank. Only then did I look back at the camera and smile. “Sorry about that. My breathing has been acting up more often lately… “Cough! Honestly, I’m a great cook. Really. Watch me brave the kitchen again!” As I reached for the phone, I felt something furry against my leg. I tilted the camera down. Goldie was lying at my feet, his eyelids drooping. “Hungry?” I offered him a piece of jerky. He sniffed it, then just rested his head back on my foot, motionless. “Good boy, Goldie. I need to go help Daisy. Get up.” He didn’t move. “What’s wrong? Why are you so clingy today?” I stroked his thinning, dry fur. “I get it. You’re getting old too, aren’t you? Just don’t feel like moving? Fine. I’ll stay here with you for a bit.” I leaned back into the worn sofa. “I won’t have many chances to sit with you later anyway.” Goldie let out a soft, low whimper. 4 [Goodbye World: April 17, 2023, 11:21 AM — Is a House Still a Home If No One Is In It?] When I woke up on the sofa, Daisy was kneeling by my feet. She heard me move and looked up, her face drenched in tears. “Quinn… people say dogs can sense when their owners are about to leave. They say they go to the next world early to wait for them. Is that true?” I almost dropped the camera. I reached out to touch Goldie. Cold. No breath. He was curled up by my feet. While I was drifting off from exhaustion, he had quietly left me. My smile looked worse than a sob. “What are you talking about? Goldie was ten. He just died of old age.” When the camera turned on again, I was in the backyard, mounding dirt over a small grave. My breath was shallow, my face deathly pale. I wiped the sweat from my forehead and pointed toward the house. “Just walk straight that way and you’re home, Goldie. Don’t go the wrong way. If you wander off toward Silas…” I stopped abruptly. I smiled and pulled my hand back. “Don’t go back there. There won’t be anyone there soon anyway. Wait for me. When I get there, we’ll find Mom and Dad and start a home together.” The camera shook as Daisy sobbed behind it. I looked up and pointed at the lens. “What are you doing? You can’t even hold the shot steady.” Daisy wailed, “You’re the one! Listen to yourself!” I laughed, waving her over. “Look at you. Let’s go home and eat your cooking. I’m starving.” “Quinn! If you keep acting like this, I’m going to stop talking to you!” I walked up and threw an arm around her shoulder. “Don’t worry. Your girl Quinn is invincible. “A little cancer? Please. I’ve got this. “Hahahahahahaha!” 5 [Goodbye World: April 18, 2023, 8:27 AM — Sometimes I Forget I’m Sick] “Quinn! Quinn, open the door!” Daisy was pounding on the wood. The camera was propped up on a nearby crate, capturing only the lower half of her body. Inside the room, I was screaming. “Go away! I told you to go! Get away from me!” Then came the sound of violent retching. Daisy was crying now. “Quinn, if you don’t open up, I’m breaking this door down! What happened? Let me see you!” “Leave me alone!” The heart-wrenching scream cut through the speaker. Daisy threw her weight against the door. The old wood gave way with a crash. Inside, I was on my knees by a trash can, vomit matting my hair to my face. I looked pathetic. There was no trace of the girl who was singing and laughing yesterday. I looked up in despair, my eyes bloodshot. “Daisy…” “Quinn.” She dropped to her knees and pulled me into her arms, ignoring the mess. I clung to her with trembling hands, burying my face in her shoulder, my tears soaking her shirt. “I’m sorry… I shouldn’t have yelled… “But every time I wake up, I have this split second where I think I’m normal again… “Then I stare at the ceiling for a long time and remember… I’m sick. “I’m dying, Daisy… I’m actually dying…” I was hyperventilating. Daisy held me tighter. “It’s okay. It’s okay, Quinn. You can fight this. You can… “Because you’re… “You’re Quinn. You’re the strongest person I know.” 6 [Goodbye World: April 21, 2024, 4:34 PM — Sometimes Forgetting is a Mercy for the Dead] I was leaning on Daisy’s shoulder. My sleeves were rolled up, revealing arms covered in purple and blue bruises from the IVs. My voice was a raspy whisper. “What am I going to do, Daisy? There’s nowhere left to stick the needles. It hurts so much.” “Oh, now it hurts? You weren’t complaining when you stayed up all night to snag those concert tickets.” I pouted. “I had to see my ex-boyfriend’s first sold-out stadium tour. I haven’t seen him in forever. I wanted to see if his vocals actually improved.” Daisy went silent. After a long time, she nudged me. “You said you dumped him because you didn’t want to drag him down. If he still has feelings for you, would you ask him for help?” “Never!” I was firm. “But he makes millions per song now. He could afford the best treatment in the world for you.” “No! And don’t you dare tell him!” “But Quinn, look at you…” I put my hands on my hips, the medical tape on my skin crinkling. “I’m doing great! Besides, I dumped him when he was a nobody. If I crawl back now that he’s famous and tell him I’m sick, what does that make me? “Don’t worry. I’m Quinn! “Cancer? Pfft. Easy work.” I pinched my thumb and forefinger together in a “tiny” gesture. Daisy stared at me for a long time, then sighed. I waved her forward. “Let’s go. This illness probably won’t get better no matter how much money I spend. I’d rather spend my last bits of cash on having fun. Come on, we have the pier tonight! But before that, I found this BBQ place…” “Oof!” I walked straight into someone’s chest. I started apologizing frantically, but when I looked up and saw his face, I froze. I stumbled back several steps. Daisy gasped. “Silas?” Even with a mask and a hoodie pulled low, lovers recognize each other by the eyes alone. “Quinn?” His beautiful eyes were wide with shock. Then, they turned to anger and resentment. I didn’t think. I just turned and bolted. The camera shook violently as Daisy chased after me. A cancer patient managed to run faster than a healthy person. Behind me, over the sound of my ragged breathing, I heard a voice screaming my name: “Quinn! Do you really hate me that much?!”

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In the viral video taking the internet by storm, my twenty-three-year-old self is wearing a heavy, suffocating mascot costume. Drenched in sweat but beaming at the camera, I shout: “Hey, thirty-three-year-old Maya! Are you and Silas on your honeymoon in the Maldives yet? Working three jobs is exhausting! You better make Silas pay you back for every bit of this, you hear me?” I didn’t. He didn’t pay me back. Thirty-three-year-old Maya Miller had been left in the dust by Silas Sterling a long time ago. 1 In late June, a documentary suddenly trended on social media. The director had passed away ten years ago. After being diagnosed with terminal cancer, he quit his corporate job, grabbed a camera, and set off on one last journey across the country. He filmed the people he met along the way and asked a friend to edit and upload the footage ten years later as a final parting gift to the world. The first two episodes drew sentimental praise for his courage in the face of death. But when the third episode dropped, the documentary exploded into a global phenomenon. At the 13:22 mark of Episode 3, a face appeared that no one expected. —Silas Sterling, the reigning A-list Oscar winner. Back then, he was a struggling extra on a backlot, his face still holding the nervous, raw edges of a rookie. But he wasn’t the star of the episode. I was. Twenty-three-year-old Maya, her eyes overflowing with a love she couldn’t hide, boasted shamelessly to the camera: “I guarantee you, Silas is going to be the biggest star in the world. If he doesn’t win an Oscar one day, I’ll crawl across the Brooklyn Bridge on my hands!” 2 I didn’t even know Silas and I were trending until my manager, Elena, called to wake me up. We had been at the top of the search results all night. I clicked the video. Seeing my ten-year-younger self was like a punch to the gut. It took me a long time to dig that memory out of the scrap pile of my mind. It was our first year after college. I was supporting Silas while he chased bit parts in Hollywood. He acted; I worked. I remember a man with a camera following me around, asking to film me for a documentary. I told him I wasn’t interested, but he was like a shadow—persistent and silent. Eventually, I stopped caring and let him film while I worked. Elena asked if I wanted our PR team to scrub the video. I shook my head. “No. Let it run. We could use the engagement.” Curious, I scrolled through the comments. Five years ago, when our breakup went public, the internet treated me like a parasite. I expected more of the same. Instead, the tide had turned in a bizarre direction. 【OMG, can I say it? I’m actually crying. This is the ultimate ‘expired sugar’.】 【Look at Maya’s eyes. I haven’t seen a look that pure and full of love in years. It’s making me sentimental about my own life before I became a bitter adult.】 【Maya worked three jobs a day to support Silas’s dream back then! Man, I used to bash her in the forums… now I don’t know what to feel.】 【No matter how it ended, that kind of devotion is rare.】 I watched the video again. I wanted to see what kind of “look” could make the internet forgive a woman they had branded a “cheater” five years ago. Ten years is a long time. Between the grind of the industry and the trauma of the breakup, my memories were blurred. But the screen didn’t lie. Twenty-three-year-old Maya loved Silas Sterling with a heat that was, quite frankly, devastating to witness. 3 While Silas was grinding in Hollywood, I was working three shifts. I woke up at 3:30 AM to help at a local bakery, finishing at 10:30 AM. I’d go home for a one-hour nap, then at noon, I’d squeeze into a heavy mascot suit to hand out flyers at a shopping mall. Summer in a plush suit is a special kind of hell. It’s a swamp of heat and sweat, plus you’re constantly dodging toddlers who think it’s funny to kick the “giant bear.” By 2:00 PM, I was soaked to the bone. At 2:30 PM, I started my shift at a boba shop. It was a long commute, so I’d stop at a cheap public gym nearby to take a five-minute shower just to feel human. I finished at 10:00 PM, cleaned the shop until 10:30, and by 11:00 PM, I was picking Silas up from his latest set. The documentary director had tried to follow me for a full day twice and gave up. It wasn’t until his third attempt that he made it to the end. He collapsed on the curb at midnight and asked me, “How do you do this? Aren’t you exhausted?” Of course I was. But there was no choice. Even with three jobs and Silas’s meager acting checks, we barely covered rent in LA. And the most important part— In the video, I’m leaning against a brick wall, eyes closed while Silas rants about a director who ignored him. I look like a ghost—deep dark circles, shoulders slumped with bone-deep fatigue. But a second later, I hear his voice and my eyes snap open. The light that floods into my expression in that moment is enough to blind you. I look like a wilted flower that just found a drop of water. I throw myself into his arms, laughing. The most important part was that I loved Silas Sterling. I had burned every bridge with my family and walked away from a comfortable life just to be his safety net in a city that didn’t know his name. Love is a hell of a drug. 4 In the video, Silas sees the cameraman for the first time. He pulls me behind him, protective and wary. I explain the situation. He sighs, a reluctant smile forming as he pinches my cheek. “How many times have I told you not to talk to strangers? Last month you gave fifty bucks to a guy who ‘lost his wallet’ and he drove off in a Mercedes.” I giggle and promise to be smarter next time. The director records us in silence before finally prompting us for an interview. The questions are standard—dreams, work, the industry. We answer with the usual naive optimism of twenty-somethings. Until the final question. The director looks at Silas and mutters, “You’re a handsome guy.” Then he turns to me. “Maya, Silas has the kind of looks that bring a lot of temptation in this town. Are you worried he’ll get distracted? Are you sure he’ll always love you?” The question was sharp, invasive. I blinked, then laughed as if he’d told the funniest joke in the world. I linked my arm with Silas’s and looked at him with absolute, terrifying certainty. “I’m not worried. Silas will always love me. I know it.” I looked at Silas and gave a mock-serious cough, holding my hand out like a queen. “Well, Mr. Future Movie Star? Someone is questioning your loyalty. You going to let that slide?” Silas was used to my drama. He looked at me with a gaze so tender it felt like a physical touch. He dropped to one knee, took my hand, and slipped a simple silver band onto my finger while I stared in shock. “He’s right, Maya. I am going to love you for the rest of my life.” “So, Maya Miller, will you marry me?” I covered my mouth, looking at the director who was grinning behind the lens. They had planned this together. Huge, fat tears rolled down my face as I choked out the words. “I w—” I exited the video. I couldn’t watch the “Yes.” I checked the comments again. The mood had shifted into a war zone. 【Who are these people romanticizing this? Silas is with Chloe Vance now! They’ve been together for five years. Why are you digging up his ex? It’s disrespectful to the current couple.】 【’Expired sugar’ my ass. When the news broke five years ago and Maya was caught ‘climbing into a director’s bed,’ you guys were ready to stone her. Now you’re crying over a ten-year-old video? Give me a break.】 【Is my memory failing? They broke up because Maya cheated on him with Director Thompson. It was a mess. She was branded a social climber and vanished.】 【Maya Miller is probably just paying for these bots. She’s desperate for a comeback. Girl, Silas is about to marry a real Oscar winner. Stay in the trash where you belong.】 As the drama peaked, Chloe Vance—the current “it girl” of Hollywood—posted a photo on Instagram. No caption. Just a picture of her leaning into Silas’s chest, showing off a massive, multi-carat diamond ring on her finger. Five years into their relationship, Silas Sterling had finally proposed. 5 To understand Silas and Chloe, you have to go back to the movie that made him. At twenty-four, Silas landed the lead in The Immortal, a massive fantasy epic directed by the legendary Arthur Thompson. He became an overnight sensation. The next year, he starred in a rom-com with Chloe Vance. Their “ship” name, Silas-Chloe, trended for months. Chloe’s agency wanted them to fake a romance for PR. Silas refused. At the height of the hype, he officially announced that he had a long-term girlfriend—a non-celebrity named Maya Miller. He was a man of principle back then. He loved me. Even when the studio tried to blackball him for a year because he wouldn’t play along, he just held me close. “Don’t apologize, Maya. I love you. I won’t let you be a secret. It was my choice.” It made my heart ache. At twenty-seven, Silas worked with Chloe again on The Sunset. At twenty-eight, during reshoots, a video was leaked of me entering and leaving Director Thompson’s hotel room at 2 AM. The world went nuclear. Silas and I had a loud, ugly, public breakup. At twenty-nine, Silas and Chloe both won Best Actor and Best Actress for The Sunset. On the podium, Silas officially announced they were dating. The fans rejoiced. Compared to me—the “cheating social climber”—Chloe was a saint. For five years, they were Hollywood’s golden couple. But they never got married. Rumors of breakups popped up every six months, only to be crushed by their fans. And now, with this proposal, the fans were throwing a digital parade. 【Suck it, haters! Silas and Chloe are endgame. To those still feeling bad for the cheating trash: protect your own partners, because people like Maya are everywhere.】 Soon, the five-year-old hotel video was being reposted everywhere. My personal inbox was a sewer of insults. I didn’t care. I was just glad Director Thompson and his wife weren’t on social media. I shut my phone and went back to work. I had a war to fight in three days. 6 The #SilasProposed hashtag stayed at number one for forty-eight hours. People discussed the ring’s clarity, the cost of the estate he rented for the occasion, and the three nights of fireworks he set off. It was the ultimate romantic gesture. Just as the world thought the Maya Miller “glitch” was over, a new announcement shook the industry. After The Immortal, Director Thompson hadn’t produced a single film in ten years. Five years ago, his wife, the famous screenwriter Sarah Thompson, moved to London. Arthur followed shortly after. The internet assumed my “affair” with Arthur had ended their marriage. Some even claimed Arthur took me to London while I was pregnant with his secret child. Until today. Director Thompson’s team announced a live press conference for a new project: The Chronicle of Gods. After ten years, he was returning to work with his wife. The news was big, but the cast list was bigger. My name was right there at the top as the Executive Producer and Lead Consultant. 【Gross. They aren’t even hiding it anymore.】 【I feel so bad for Sarah Thompson. Imagine having to work with your husband’s mistress. This is disgusting.】 【Boycott this movie. Don’t let these predators win.】 Three days later, the live stream began. Director Thompson was a titan in the industry. He invited half of Hollywood to the event. For the sake of optics, he even invited Silas and Chloe. Predictably, their teams declined with “scheduling conflicts.” In the green room, I met with Arthur and Sarah. “Maya.” Sarah touched my cheek, her eyes full of worry. “Are you okay?” I smiled and squeezed her hand. “I’m fine, Sarah. It’s been years. Honestly, we should thank them for the free PR. They saved us millions in marketing.” She smiled, but the sadness in her eyes remained. “Alright, the kids say they’re fine, so let’s stop worrying,” Arthur said, patting my shoulder. The conference started. They talked about the vision for the film and their years studying in London. Everything was going by the script until the Q&A. “Director Thompson!” a reporter shouted, lunging forward like a coyote. Arthur pointed to him. “Director, have you and your wife spent the last five years solely on ‘studying’?” “Yes. You never stop learning in this industry. We needed fresh blood, a new perspective.” “Was it just the two of you in London? Or was there… someone else?” Arthur looked at him, his smile not reaching his eyes. “Someone else? Who exactly are you looking for? Or are you asking if Maya Miller was with us?” The room went silent. Flashbulbs went off like machine-gun fire. Arthur’s face went stern. “I am going to address the baseless rumors once and for all. Maya is a child my wife and I have known since she was a little girl. We love and protect her like our own daughter. “As for why Maya was seen entering my hotel room five years ago? I’ll tell you. I was in town for a meeting, and Maya came to see me specifically to beg for an opportunity for her boyfriend at the time—Silas Sterling.” The reporter froze. “You mean… Silas got his breakout role because…” “Correct,” Arthur nodded, staring into the camera. “Without Maya, I wouldn’t have given Silas the time of day. He wasn’t talented enough for my lead role back then. Agreeing to give him an audition because Maya begged me is the biggest regret of my life. “Moving forward, neither I nor any of my subsidiaries will ever work with Mr. Sterling or his new fiancée. I refuse to work with people who steal relationships, destroy reputations with lies, and lack basic human decency.” The room erupted. At that exact moment, the final episode of the documentary was uploaded.

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My husband and I were invited to a high-profile charity auction over the weekend. During the bidding, his secretary and I both set our sights on the same oil painting. I intended to compete fairly, but my husband, in a blatant display of disrespect, “lit the sky lantern” for her—committing to outbid any price just to secure the win for his assistant. “Elena Vance, you’re nothing but a dog I keep at home,” he sneered in front of the city’s elite. “What right do you have to compete with me?” As the room fell silent and other bidders retreated, I snapped my fingers at the auctioneer. “Whatever Mr. Sterling bids, I’ll raise him… by one dollar.” 01 The moment the words left my mouth, every guest in the ballroom turned to stare at me. A heartbeat later, the room erupted in laughter. “Is this woman insane? She’s trying to outbid her own husband? Does she just have money to burn?” “She’s not just crazy; she’s hollow. A trophy wife trying to challenge Silas Sterling in public? She has no idea what she’s doing.” “I heard about her. Sterling’s been keeping a little ‘ornament’ at home for years. I didn’t expect to see the vase crack in person.” As the whispers grew into roars, Silas’s face turned a dangerous shade of crimson. He stood up abruptly, pointing a trembling finger at me. “Elena! Put your hand down right now! Do you hear me?” “You’re spending my family’s money. How dare you have the nerve to compete with me?” I leaned back in my chair, looking at him with practiced indifference. “Silas, I am your wife. I suggest you find a shred of politeness when addressing me.” “I like the painting. Why should I step aside for someone else?” “And for the record,” I added, my gaze sharpening into ice, “I haven’t spent a single dime of your family’s money. Don’t let your imagination run wild.” Silas looked like he was about to explode. “Listen to me, Elena. I told you—in public, you address me as Mr. Sterling.” “You’re a stray I took in. You have nothing to do with my success!” I sighed, pinning him with my stare. “Mr. Sterling, are you truly going to gamble your reputation against mine for the sake of a secretary?” I had sensed the disrespect the moment I walked into the gala. As his wife, I should have been seated next to him at the head table. Instead, I had been relegated to a dark corner in the back. I had tolerated it for the sake of his father, the elder Mr. Sterling, who had always been kind to me. I thought a woman of my stature could afford to be patient with a self-important husband. But then I saw who was sitting in my seat: his secretary, Maya Rivers. She was a fresh college grad with nothing to offer but youth, yet here was my husband, ready to burn his company’s capital to stroke her ego. The fire in my chest began to rise. “Elena, you think you’re someone?” Silas continued, relentless. “I don’t take orders from you. You’ve lived off my wealth for years. What do you have to fight me with?” He turned to the crowd, his voice booming. “I’m bidding on this painting for Maya. And I’m going to win it.” Maya didn’t even wait for me to respond. She turned in her seat, tossing a provocative look my way. “Mrs. Sterling, I suggest you give up,” she smirked. “If you upset Mr. Sterling, your comfortable little life might come to a very abrupt end.” She let out a condescending giggle. “A trophy wife should know how to stay on the shelf. Don’t you agree, Elena?” The crowd laughed again. Even the auctioneer looked like he was suppressing a smile. I merely waved a hand dismissively. “So, Miss Rivers, you’re determined to see this through to the end?” Maya’s eyes were full of contempt. “It’s not about determination, it’s about reality. You’re a housewife with no career. What are you bidding with? Allowance money?” “Mr. Sterling just lit the sky lantern. That’s an unlimited bid. Do you even know what those words mean?” I tilted my head and smiled at her. “Maya, you’ve made a mistake. I’m not like you.” “I’ve never needed a man to pay for my things.” The room sneered again. “Good lord, the girl is delusional. Without Sterling, she wouldn’t even have made it past the valet.” “She’s just riding his coattails. Host, just call the result. Don’t waste our time.” The insults didn’t touch me. I was telling the absolute truth. If I weren’t trying to save Silas a shred of dignity, I could have announced right then and there that I was the one who owned the controlling interest in Sterling Global. Seeing my silence, Maya grew bolder. “See? I told you. Without a man’s backing, she’s got nothing. How embarrassing.” I didn’t let her finish. I slowly raised my bidding paddle. “Who said I was finished?” “If it’s a matter of money, trust me—I have plenty.” 02 The entire ballroom froze. Even the auctioneer hesitated, his hammer hovering in mid-air. Professionally, he couldn’t close the bid as long as a higher offer was on the floor, even if he doubted my liquidity. Silas’s roar shattered the silence. “Elena! You’re really doing this? You’re going to humiliate me here?” I glanced at Maya, then back at him. “Yes.” Silas’s face contorted. “Fine! Let’s see how deep your ‘allowance’ goes!” He thrust his paddle into the air. “One million dollars!” Everyone in the room knew the rules of the “Sky Lantern.” Once you light it, there is no backing out. You either win, or you go bankrupt trying. If Silas was willing to bet his company for a secretary, I was happy to play. “One million… and one dollar!” The guests exchanged looks of pure amusement. They were watching a train wreck. None of them knew that three years ago, when the Sterling family was on the brink of collapse, Silas’s father had come to me with a marriage contract and a plea for help. I married Silas to settle an old family debt. I had spent three years being insulted and ignored, but watching him light the sky lantern for another woman was the final straw. “Elena, you don’t have that kind of money! This is a legal auction, not a flea market!” Maya was losing her cool now, her face pale. “If you win and can’t pay, you’ll go to prison!” I smiled at her. “Don’t worry about my bank account, Maya. Worry about your boss. Sky lanterns don’t have a ‘stop’ button.” Silas was livid. He raised his paddle again. “You want to play?! I’ll show you! Ten million dollars!” The room went wild. This was a charity auction. The items were nice, but nothing was worth ten million—especially not this piece, which had been painted by a talented child, not a grandmaster. “Mr. Sterling is so generous,” I said, standing up and clapping lightly. “The children in the rural charities will appreciate your sacrifice.” “But… since it’s for a good cause, the more the merrier.” I raised a single finger. “Ten million… and one dollar.” 03 The atmosphere changed. People were no longer just laughing; they were baffled. The people in this room were the titans of industry. Silas was only here because I had spent three years quietly building Sterling Global into a powerhouse. I could see the greed in Silas’s eyes. He thought he was winning a power struggle. “Ladies and gentlemen,” Silas announced to the room. “I want to make it clear. This woman is my wife in name only. I am not responsible for her bids.” “If she defaults, Sterling Global will not cover her.” I almost laughed out loud. “Mr. Sterling, I wouldn’t be so quick to sever ties if I were you.” “You’re the only one who lit a sky lantern tonight. If you can’t pay, you might find yourself begging me to save you.” Maya stood up, screeching. “Elena, you’re delusional! You’re a housewife! You think you can outmatch a corporation?” I shook my head, looking at her with pity. “It’s hard for you to grasp, I know. But it’s the truth.” “If you don’t believe me, let your ‘boss’ try one more time.” Maya scoffed. “Oh, we’ll try. I want to see you crawl out of here in handcuffs.” I remained perfectly calm. “I told you, Maya. I don’t use a man’s money to buy my toys.” The whispers started again. “She’s just talking big. If she were that powerful, why would she stay home?” “Exactly. Silas is a rising star. She’s just a footnote.” I stood up slowly, scanning the room. “I don’t just look down on the Sterling family,” I said clearly. “I look down on every single person in this room.” I wasn’t a business expert, but I knew character. Since I had entered, these “titans” hadn’t discussed charity once. They had spent the entire night flattering Silas and mocking a woman they didn’t know. The room turned on me instantly. Even the host frowned. “Madam, we do not welcome such disrespect at this auction.” I looked at him. “Oh? And what kind of person am I, exactly?” Maya rushed onto the stage, snatching the microphone from the host. “You’re a failure, Elena!” Her voice echoed through the speakers. The businessmen in the audience stood up and cheered. Even Silas was grinning, enjoying my “downfall.” In that moment, I realized how stupid I had been to save this family. Maya raised the mic again. “Now you know why Mr. Sterling wouldn’t let you sit with us, Elena.” “Because… you don’t belong.” 04 I suppressed my anger and spoke coldly. “You sound like you’re trying to convince him to divorce me, Maya.” Maya’s grin widened. “Since you’re so self-aware, I’ll stop pretending.” “Yes. I am much better suited to be the Mrs. Sterling than you are.” I stared at her. “Go on. What else?” Maya tossed her hair. “He’s divorcing you!” I paused, then looked at Silas. “Is she telling the truth? You want a divorce?” Silas leaned back, his eyes full of loathing. “She’s right. I’ve wanted this for years. I only stayed because of my father.” “Since everyone is here to witness it, let’s make it official.” “I, Silas Sterling, am divorcing you!” My voice was flat. “Are you sure?” “Have you really thought this through, Silas?” Without a word, the man pulled a set of divorce papers from his jacket pocket. “Elena, don’t bother begging. I’ve never felt anything for you.” I looked at the papers and sighed. “You came prepared, didn’t you, Mr. Sterling?” “Every single second,” he nodded. “I’ve wanted you gone since the wedding day.” Maya started clapping, and the guests joined in, hooting and hollering. I felt a small, sharp smile pull at the corners of my mouth. “Well, if the mood is this festive, it would be rude of me to say no.” “I agree. We’re getting a divorce. But…” Silas was ecstatic. He didn’t let me finish. “Great! Now that that’s settled, tell me how much you want to disappear. I’ll pay you to stay away.” I waved him off. “Don’t worry about the settlement yet. We still have an auction to finish.” “My bid is ten million and one dollar. Are you still in, Silas?” I knew Silas. His ego was his greatest weakness. Seeing me still challenging him, his face went dark. “Elena, don’t push your luck.” I arched an eyebrow. “What? The great Chairman of Sterling Global is scared of a ten-million-dollar bid?” That did it. “Fine! Let’s see how long your mouth stays open!” “Twenty million!” “Twenty million… and one dollar.” Silas was sweating now. “Thirty million!” “Thirty million… and one dollar.” Silas’s hand was shaking as he raised the paddle again. “Fifty million!” The price was astronomical. Silas’s forehead was drenched in cold sweat. I chuckled softly. “Silas, if we’re doing this for charity, let’s stop playing with small numbers.” “I bid… one hundred million dollars.” The room went dead silent. Everyone here was worth millions, but having one hundred million in liquid cash for a single painting was unheard of. Silas was stunned into silence. Maya stepped forward again. “You little brat, this is an auction, not a video game!” “Anyone can scream a number. Can you actually produce the funds?” Silas’s eyes lit up. “Maya is right! Why should I match a fake number?” He turned to me with a venomous grin. “Elena, if you don’t have that hundred million, you’re looking at serious federal charges.” Maya grabbed the mic and screamed at the audience. “We demand a proof of funds! Right now!” I smiled. “Finally, you asked the right question.”

🌟 Continue the story here 👉🏻 📲 Download the “MotoNovel” app 🔍 search for “391358”, and watch the full series ✨! #MotoNovel