Author: Momo Chan

My other failed attempt at sex ended in absolute disaster. Julian completely lost his mind. He grabbed the bedside lamp and slammed it violently at me. A sharp shard of glass sliced across my forehead, and warm blood began to trickle down my cheek. Meanwhile, he curled up in the corner of the room, clutching his head in agony, whimpering over and over again: “I’m sorry… Vivian, I didn’t mean to. I’m so sorry.” Three years ago, during that horrific house fire, he had pulled me out of the flames. In doing so, his lower body was severely burned. The doctors told us he would never be able to perform as a normal man again. Since then, every failed attempt at intimacy became a trigger that sent him into a violent spiral of rage and self-loathing. I thought this was a psychological trauma he just couldn’t overcome. So, no matter how many times he ended up putting me in the hospital, I never blamed him. I even begged my father to give him an executive position in our family company. I showered him with shares, luxury apartments, and supercars, doing everything in my power to make up for what I felt I owed him. Until tonight, when I went to pick him up from a club because he was wasted. Outside the VIP lounge, I heard a voice laughing from inside: “Yo, Julian, I thought you were impotent? How did you manage to keep your cute little secretary in bed for three days straight?” Julian let out a lazy, arrogant chuckle. “I lied to Vivian, obviously.” “A simple lie, and she’s been so consumed by guilt that she’d give me anything. I’ve practically beaten her half to death, yet she’s still too guilty to divorce me. She’s even planning to sign over her family inheritance to me.”

“Julian, babe, let me go. What if your old lady shows up and catches us? She’ll kill me.” The girl speaking was his secretary, Chloe. She was twenty-two, a fresh college graduate—young, soft, and pretty. As she spoke, she snuggled deeper into Julian’s chest. The lounge erupted in dirty jokes and cheers. Amused by her clingy act, Julian pinched her cheek affectionately. “Are you really that scared of her?” “Don’t worry. With me here, nobody touches you.” “Besides, once I get my hands on her family’s company, I’m divorcing her anyway.” Chloe sniffled, putting on a victim act. “Last week, I just made Vivian a cup of coffee, and she poured the whole scalding mug over me in front of everyone, accusing me of trying to hurt her.” She was talking about last week, when I had a severe allergic reaction and went into anaphylactic shock because she secretly put dairy milk in my coffee. I almost choked to death on my own swollen throat in the ER. At the time, Julian rushed to the hospital and screamed at her. When he threatened to fire her, I was actually the one who begged him to let her keep her job. But now, the man’s eyes darkened with lust as he gently wiped away her fake tears. “Don’t worry. She already drank the wine spiked with the aphrodisiac tonight. In a bit, we’ll watch her writhe in desperate heat while we completely ignore her. Let’s consider that payback for you, okay?” Chloe’s eyes lit up, but she quickly feigned worry, tugging at his arm. “But what if she finds out? What if she makes a scene?” “Find out?” Julian’s scoff pierced through the loud bass of the music, stabbing straight into my ears. “I slip drugs into her warm milk every single night before bed, and she hasn’t suspected a thing. She actually thinks she’s just having a severe hormonal imbalance.” “Last night, she was crying in my arms, telling me she couldn’t control her physical desires anymore but was terrified of triggering my PTSD from the burns. She was literally shaking with guilt.” He paused, his voice dripping with amusement. “Honestly, watching her play the tragic, guilty wife is the funniest thing ever.” I froze outside the door. My blood turned to ice, coldness sweeping from my toes straight to the crown of my head. All those agonizing, shameful nights where I was tormented by unnatural heat. All those times I locked myself in the bathroom, sobbing under a freezing shower to wash away my desperate, uncontrollable physical urges. It was all him. He was gaslighting me. He knew exactly how guilty I felt after the accident, and how terrified I was that my sexual needs would hurt his fragile ego. Even tonight, I was on antibiotics and told him I couldn’t drink alcohol. But he just said, “Vivian, it’s Chloe’s birthday. Don’t be a party pooper.” Because I didn’t want to upset him, I drank it. Now, my stomach was churning violently. I bit my lip so hard it bled, running straight to the hallway restroom before I let out a gut-wrenching sob. I cried until my eyes ran dry, my heart shattered into a million jagged pieces. Suddenly, my phone buzzed with a custom ringtone. I picked up. Julian’s deep, soothing voice came through: “Viv, aren’t you back yet?” I took a few deep breaths to steady my voice. “Almost there.” “Have you been crying?” He was always incredibly sharp at reading my emotions. But the attention that used to make my heart flutter now felt like a cold blade twisting in my chest. “No.” Through blurry eyes, I stared at my reflection, remembering our years together. Since his discharge from the hospital, we had slept in separate rooms. Even at my most miserable moments, I only blamed myself for not being able to save him from the fire. Once, when he was drunk and about to fall, I tried to catch him, only for him to fly into a rage and throw a heavy glass bottle that left a permanent scar on my shoulder. Even then, my guilt only made me want to give him more. I begged my father to bring him into our company, giving him stocks, properties, and luxury cars. I turned a broke college student into the powerful CEO he was today. My best friend had warned me: “Vivian, you need to watch out. Men change when they get money. A guy in Julian’s position will have young girls throwing themselves at him left and right.” Back then, I had replied with absolute confidence: “He would never betray me.” I had given Julian my unconditional, blind trust. Yet, the girl he cheated on me with was the very secretary I had personally hired for him. They met because of me. And now, they were treating me like a brainless clown in my own company. I let the freezing tap water run over my hands. The biting cold was a harsh reminder that everything I believed in was a lie.

Taking one last deep breath, I pushed open the door to the VIP lounge. The loud laughter died down instantly. Chloe was sitting on Julian’s lap, the two of them locked in a passionate kiss. Julian slowly pulled away from her, spitting an ice cube into a glass. There wasn’t a single shred of guilt or panic in his eyes. He slid a slip of paper toward me on the table, offering a casual explanation: “We were playing Truth or Dare and I lost. You weren’t here, so I called you. But even if you were here, I can’t have physical contact with you without triggering my anxiety, so Chloe had to step in and help me complete the dare.” Everyone’s eyes locked onto me. Some were curious; others were dripping with mockery. I smoothed out the crumpled paper and read the messy handwriting: [Pass an ice cube using only your mouth to any member of the opposite sex in the room for one full minute.] My eyes stung, the words blurring together. I looked up at the stranger standing in front of me. He had the perfect excuse and the perfect prop. I couldn’t even find a logical reason to scream at him. But I knew we needed to get out of this loud, toxic room to talk. “I don’t feel well,” I said softly. “I want to go home.” In the past, no matter how important the event was, the moment I said those words, he would immediately stand up and leave with me. But this time, he simply turned and pointed at a bucket overflowing with ice cubes nearby. “Your face was really flushed when you were drinking earlier. I had the waiter bring this ice bucket.” “If you’re feeling too hot, just dump some ice water over your head to cool down.” My throat felt incredibly tight. I didn’t move. “I’m on antibiotics and I have a cold. I can’t do ice water.” “Just take me home, Julian.” The unnatural heat in my body was spreading, making my eyes well up with tears. “Please, Julian,” I whispered, practically begging. Our eyes locked. For a split second, a flash of surprise and hesitation crossed his face. We had been together for years. Even when he accidentally threw things at me and left me bleeding, I had never shown this kind of vulnerability in front of his friends. His hand, which was playing with a lighter, paused. But Chloe quickly cut in. “Vivian, are you still mad at me about the allergy incident? Fine, I’ll drink this whole bottle of whiskey to make it up to you.” She reached for a bottle of Macallan. It was newly opened. Julian immediately grabbed her wrist, stopping her, before turning a cold, accusing glare on me. “Vivian, stop throwing a jealous tantrum here.” “It’s Chloe’s birthday. She hasn’t even blown out her candles yet. Don’t ruin her night.” I stood frozen, watching him reach out to gently ruffle Chloe’s hair. “Don’t worry about her,” he murmured to Chloe. “She’s just not feeling well. She’s not targeting you.” Chloe instantly beamed, her tears vanishing. She wrapped her arms around Julian’s sleeve, looking up at him with adoration. “Julian, you’re the best.” Then, she shot me a smug, triumphant look from under her lashes. The atmosphere in the lounge bounced back to life. A waiter wheeled in a massive birthday cake. Everyone started singing the birthday song. Julian stood right next to Chloe, a warm smile playing on his lips. I shrank back into the shadows of the corner sofa, my body burning up from the drug. I clenched my fists so hard my nails dug into my palms. Across the room, Julian was looking down at Chloe as she made a wish, his gaze filled with a tenderness he hadn’t shown me in years. The moment she blew out the candles, he reached out, scooped some frosting, and playfully smudged it on the tip of her nose. “Julian! How could you! You ruined my makeup!” The girl squealed, laughing as she scooped up a handful of frosting and smeared it across his cheek. They laughed and flirted, looking exactly like a deeply in-love, normal couple. And I was just a useless spectator sitting in the dark. Watching the man I loved with all my heart cherish another woman. Julian seemed to feel my gaze, occasionally casting a brief, scanning glance toward my corner.

Chloe started cutting and handing out the cake. When the last plate was gone, she turned to me with a look of fake horror. “Oh my gosh, Vivian, I’m so sorry! I didn’t order a big enough cake. We ran out.” She wrung her hands, biting her lip. “I… I can give you my slice if you want.” But Julian grabbed her wrist, answering on my behalf. “No need. You’re the birthday girl, why should you give yours up?” “Besides, Vivian doesn’t even like sweet things.” During our first year together, Julian had spent hours making a mango cake for me. I couldn’t eat it because of my severe mango allergy, so he simply assumed I hated sweets altogether. Back then, I was so touched by his effort that I didn’t care. Only now did I realize that in all these years, he had never bothered to actually learn my preferences. Amidst the noise, a hand with clean, well-defined fingers suddenly offered me a plate of cake. The cake had been carefully cleaned; every single piece of mango had been meticulously picked off. “You drank on an empty stomach. Eat some of this to coat your stomach.” I looked up. It was Liam—Julian’s best friend. As I took the plate, I suddenly grabbed Liam’s collar and pulled him down toward me. One of the guys in the room noticed and hollered, “Hey, Julian, looks like the drug is hitting your wife. She’s mistaking Liam for you!” The entire room quieted down, everyone’s eyes darting between me and Liam. Julian didn’t even stand up. He just kept pouring himself shot after shot. He cast a lazy glance at us, completely unfazed. “She’s just out of it. She’ll realize it’s not me in a second and push him away.” “Trust me, Vivian hasn’t let another man touch her in years. But since I can’t touch her either, watch how well she tries to hold herself back. It’s actually pretty entertaining.” Now that I was drugged and “out of it,” Julian didn’t even bother to hide his malice anymore. The heat in my body clashed with a sudden, roaring wave of fury. I stopped fighting the urge. I leaned up and pressed my lips firmly against Liam’s. Time seemed to stop. The teasing and whispering in the lounge died instantly. The silence was deafening. Just as my breathing started to turn shallow and heavy, a loud crash shattered the quiet. I pulled back. Julian had swept an entire tray of glasses onto the floor. Before I could even process what was happening, Julian yanked me out of Liam’s reach and pulled me into his arms. His usually cold, distant eyes were now burning with a mixture of rage and hurt. For a split second, I was transported back to when we were teenagers. That was the exact jealous, possessive face he made when he saw other boys writing me love letters. Back then, he quit his beloved basketball team just so he could ride his bike and escort me home every single day after school. “Vivian, I hate seeing you with other guys,” he had whispered into the evening wind back then. I thought I understood him. Because of his rough childhood, he was always insecure, craving love and validation. So, when he told me he was impotent after the fire, I made sure to come home early every day. I cut off all male friends. I even let him check my phone whenever he wanted, just to give him a sense of security. Now, Julian’s raspy, dark voice vibrated in my ear. “Vivian, where are your suppressants?” He was talking about the pills he usually forced me to take to “control my hormonal issues.” “I’m not taking them today,” I whispered, pushing against his chest. “They’re bad for my health.” I forcefully wrenched myself out of his grip, stepping back. “Besides, you said physical contact with me triggers your panic attacks. You should stay away from me.” He froze. I blinked back the hot tears stinging my eyes. “You said you couldn’t touch me. But you seem perfectly fine now. Are you cured?” “I… I think my body is finally starting to accept you again,” he stammered, looking flustered. “Let’s just go home. I’ll take care of you.” He grabbed his coat and tried to drape it over my shoulders, pulling me toward the exit. “Julian…” Behind us, Chloe suddenly whimpered, clutching her lower stomach. Her face was deathly pale. “My stomach hurts so bad… I think the cold alcohol triggered my cramps. It hurts…” Julian stopped dead in his tracks. He looked at me, then looked back at Chloe. If this were yesterday, I would have been 100% confident that I was his priority. But now, my heart just felt heavy and hollow. I was drugged and weak. Chloe was having cramps. In the end, he turned around and rushed to support Chloe. The girl leaned heavily into his chest, looking at me with a pitiful, apologetic expression. “Vivian, there’s nothing going on between Julian and me. Please don’t kiss other guys just to make him mad.” “Besides, Liam was probably just too polite to reject you. He’d never actually touch you.” “Julian, go take care of Vivian. Don’t worry about me.” She coughed weakly. Julian tightened his grip around her waist, rubbing his neck uncomfortably. “Vivian, Chloe’s cramps get really dangerous. I have to take her to the hospital first.” “If you don’t want to use ice water, just take some of your meds. You’ll get through it once the peak passes.” My tears finally spilled over. Meeting my gaze, he looked away guiltily, adding, “I’ll come back for you as soon as I drop her off. I know you’re not the type to get petty over this.” I gripped the edge of the sofa, my nails nearly tearing the fabric. I looked at him and said, very calmly, “Don’t bother. Let’s get a divorce.” But when I looked up, all I saw was his hurried back as he carried Chloe out of the door. He ran so fast. Fast enough that he didn’t even hear what I said.

With their departure, the party quickly dispersed. I collapsed onto the sofa, my body curling into a tight ball as the drug ran rampant through my veins. As my consciousness started to slip, a pair of warm, strong arms wrapped around my waist. Liam lifted me effortlessly. The slight cool touch of his shirt made me crave more. The car sped through the night, eventually pulling up to my driveway. Inside the house, Liam immediately turned to search the cabinets. “I’ll find your medication.” I grabbed his hand and pinned him against the front door. Our noses brushed, our hot breaths mingling in the dark. “I don’t want meds,” I whispered. “I want you.” The hand resting on my waist stiffened. After a long, agonizing pause, his fingers slid under the hem of my dress, tracing my spine upward. The sheer heat of his touch made me shiver. Just before we crossed the line, my phone started ringing off the hook. Julian’s messages began flooding the screen one after another. [Where are you?] [Vivian, did you lock yourself in the bathroom with cold water again?] [The doctor said my condition is improving. I can force myself to hold you tonight if you need me to.] Reading his charity-like tone, I let out a mocking laugh and wrapped my arms tighter around the man in front of me. The phone kept ringing, incredibly annoying. I shut it off completely and threw it onto the rug. Liam paused, his chest heaving as he stared down at me. “He doesn’t deserve you, Vivian. Leave him.” Before I could answer, he leaned down and captured my lips. “Actually, even if you’re just using me to get back at him… I don’t care.” That night, the marriage bed I had shared with Julian creaked under a different weight for a very long time. By the time I was completely exhausted, I fell into a deep, dreamless sleep. The next morning, I was violently shaken awake by a heavy, aggressive banging on the front door. “Vivian! Open the door! You ran home and turned off your phone? Do you have any idea how long I’ve been looking for you?” “Open up! I’m here to help you get through the after-effects!” Julian’s breathless, angry voice echoed through the door. As I tried to sit up, a strong, heavy hand clamped around my waist, pulling me back down. “Don’t go,” Liam murmured, biting my earlobe softly. I gently pushed him away and slipped into a silk robe. “I have to. I need to end this once and for all.” I opened the front door. Julian’s eyes swept over me. Then, his gaze locked onto the dark, unmistakable bite marks and bruises clustering around my collarbone. Shock and explosive rage washed over his face, shattering his usual cold, arrogant composure. “What the hell is that?” I looked down at my chest casually. “I got bitten.” Julian pushed past me, balling his fists as he stormed into the bedroom—only to come face-to-face with Liam, who was walking out of the master bathroom with a towel around his waist. “What the hell did you two do behind my back?!” Julian roared. Looking at his trembling, furious face, I said nonchalantly: “Exactly what you and Chloe do when you think I’m not looking.”

🌟 Continue the story here 👉🏻 📲 Download the “NovelMaster” app 🔍 search for “439546”, and watch the full series ✨! #NovelMaster

We met when we were five, and we had our mate ceremony at twenty-five. Damian guarded me for twenty long years. Even though my inner wolf had never awakened, he still claimed me as his only Luna. Everyone in the Frostveil Pack said I was his entire world. Until I discovered the devastating truth—my inner wolf finally woke up, and the very first thing she smelled on Isabella was Damian’s scent. A scent that meant Damian had marked her. So, the reason he refused to mark me for the past seven years wasn’t “for my own good” like he had always claimed. And the ultimate irony? When I was miscarrying our babies, he was in Isabella’s bed. He even pointed a finger at me, accusing me of framing his precious Isabella: “Evelyn, how did you become so malicious?” I just laughed. He asked me why I didn’t explain, why I didn’t fight back, why I didn’t beg for mercy. Explain what? Explain how the twins in my womb were literally killed by the sheer heartbreak he caused? Or explain that Isabella, the girl playing weak and innocent by his side, was never his fated mate to begin with? I didn’t say a single word. I simply vanished from his world, erasing myself as cleanly as if he had never loved me. But Damian, why are you searching the entire world like a madman now that I’m gone?

Evelyn POV Everyone believed I was the center of Damian’s universe. He had protected me for twenty years. From a reckless teenager to the powerful Alpha of the Frostveil Pack, he would have burned down half the city if I so much as frowned. But that very same Damian had spent the last seven years weaving a web of lies that completely ruined my life. … I was born in the Moonclaw Pack. My parents died when I was young, and I was raised by my grandfather, the Alpha. I was supposed to be the next in line, but my inner wolf never showed up. After my grandfather passed away, I willingly gave up my right to lead. I handed the Moonclaw Pack over to Oliver, our loyal Beta. Then, I left the pack territory. I went to a university in the city, studied fashion, and eventually followed my dream of becoming a bridal designer. Using the inheritance my grandfather left me, I opened a boutique bridal shop. Damian and I grew up together. When I turned eighteen, he swore to the Heavens that I was his fated mate. But then he told me that because my inner wolf hadn’t awakened, marking me would cause physical damage to my body. I had never heard of such a rule, but I trusted him blindly. Until recently, when my werewolf strength finally began to bleed into my veins. Today, I was planning to buy a cake to celebrate the fact that Damian and I were going to have our first son. But instead, I ran into Isabella. And I smelled Damian’s scent all over her. It was the unmistakable, deep scent of an Alpha’s mark. My fingertips turned ice-cold instantly, and my head started spinning. Isabella was the daughter of a maid from my old Moonclaw Pack. She was always the quiet, timid girl who kept her head down and spoke in whispers. When I was eighteen, she told me she wanted to leave the pack to live in the city, and I even gave her a large sum of money to help her start over. To think she had been with Damian this entire time. I couldn’t breathe. My chest ached so badly that my vision blurred. From knowing him at five to becoming his Luna at twenty-five, Damian was my religion. I loved him to my bones. I trusted him more than I trusted myself. I never tracked his location or questioned his whereabouts, because the security he gave me once made me feel invincible. But reality just slapped me right across the face. I didn’t storm over to confront them. Instead, I quietly walked back to my car. I even forgot the cake I was supposed to buy. I started the engine and drove aimlessly into the city traffic. The bright sunlight streamed through the windshield, but it couldn’t melt the freezing cold in my heart. My phone screen lit up. It was a text from Damian, written in his usual demanding tone: [I bought that blue diamond you liked at the auction today. Wash up and wait for me in bed tonight.] A rare blue diamond had gone up for auction in London recently. Damian once told me that the blue color looked exactly like my eyes, and that only I deserved to wear it. I stared at the screen, feeling nothing but disgust. Before I knew it, I had parked my car near the entrance of a private marina. Through the iron gates, I spotted a familiar yacht. It was the yacht Damian had gifted me for my twentieth birthday. There he was, standing on the deck, holding another woman in his arms. The woman was wearing a white sundress, her long hair blowing in the wind. It was Isabella. On the table in front of them sat the small cake Isabella had just bought. Isabella scooped up a bite of cake and fed it to Damian. He smiled and took it. In the next second, Damian cupped the back of her neck and pulled her into a passionate kiss. The cheers of the guests on board were carried away by the ocean breeze, sounding distant and muffled. Memories of our past flashed through my mind like a cruel movie. At eighteen, when my grandfather died and my wolf still hadn’t emerged, Damian held me at the funeral. He swore he would protect me forever. For him, I turned down an offer from the top design school in Paris and stayed at a local college. At twenty, when a star player on the college football team sent me roses, Damian beat him so badly the guy ended up in the hospital with multiple fractures. He then filled my entire car with thousands of red roses, declaring possessively in front of the whole campus: “Evelyn is mine. Anyone who touches her dies.” At twenty-two, when the pack elders pressured him to find a capable Luna who actually had a wolf, he proudly announced to the entire pack that I was the only Luna the Frostveil Pack would ever have. Once, I thought those were proofs of his deep, burning love for me. Now, those sacred vows felt like nothing but a sick joke. I laughed until tears streamed down my face, my entire body shaking. Twenty-five years. I had spent my entire life loving a man, only to realize I was the only one moved by it. If that was the case, then this man who occupied my entire existence needed to be ripped out of my life. I wiped my tears, bypassed our house, and went straight to Oliver. “Oliver,” I said, my voice eerily calm. “Do you want to become stronger?” Oliver blinked, completely caught off guard. “I want to ruin Damian,” I said. “I might not be your fated mate, but I carry the Alpha bloodline. If you mark me, your power will multiply. The Frostveil Pack has been taking over our territory since my grandfather died. I want you to take it all back. Actually, I want the Frostveil Pack to vanish completely.” Oliver stared at me for a very long time. I thought he was hesitating because of the consequences. “You don’t have to worry. My wolf is finally waking up. And I won’t cling to you. If you want to reject me afterward, you can do it whenever—” Before I could finish, he looked into my eyes and said, “Okay.”

Evelyn POV When I got back to the villa, Damian was already waiting. He was sitting on the sofa, his dark eyes drilling into me like ice picks. “Where have you been all afternoon?” He couldn’t reach me for hours, and his patience had clearly run out. I looked at him, but all I could see was the image of him kissing Isabella on the yacht. “Why aren’t you talking?” Seeing my silence, Damian stood up and stepped closer. He wrapped his long arm around my waist, pulling me flush against him. “Do you want me to punish you again?” At the word “punish,” my body went stiff. I remembered when I was twenty. We had a huge fight, and I ran off to go surfing at the beach to blow off steam. Damian went absolutely crazy. He deployed the entire pack guard to search the city. When he found me, he locked me in our beach house for two full months. It wasn’t until I cried and begged, swearing I would never disappear again, that he finally let me go with bloodshot eyes. I was afraid of him. I was terrified of his suffocating, obsessive control. Right now, I couldn’t let him notice anything. I couldn’t let him know I was planning to run. “I…” I clenched my fists, forcing myself to calm down. My voice shook slightly. “I went to the hospital… to ask the doctor about some tests.” I couldn’t tell him I was pregnant. I was already three months along. Sure enough, Damian’s expression softened, and the grip on my waist loosened. He assumed I had gone behind his back to do those painful fertility treatments again. Immediately, a look of deep pain and guilt washed over his face. He leaned down and kissed my forehead, his voice deep and raspy. “Didn’t I tell you not to go anymore? I told you, having you is enough for me. I don’t want to see you suffer through those painful procedures.” If this were yesterday, I would have been deeply moved by his words. Today, it just made me sick. Damian’s phone rang. He answered it, muttered a few quick words, and hurriedly left the house. Half an hour after he left, my phone buzzed. An unknown number sent me an audio file. I tapped play. Damian’s familiar voice, mixed with the clinking of glasses, filled the quiet room. “…Isabella is four months pregnant. I have to give her a proper title.” His friend’s shocked voice followed. “What about the girl at your house? I thought you loved Evelyn to death.” “Evelyn can’t conceive,” Damian’s voice sounded incredibly tired. “But the Elder Alpha insists that the Frostveil Pack needs a pureblood heir.” My face drained of all color. In the recording, his friend sighed. “The Elder Alpha’s control is getting out of hand. If he hadn’t forbidden you from marking Evelyn back then, and literally forced you to feed her those wolfsbane suppressants to prevent her from conceiving, you wouldn’t be in this mess right now.” Wolfsbane suppressants… It felt like a lightning bolt struck me. The blood in my veins turned to ice. I remembered seven years ago, the morning after the Luna Gala. Damian had handed me a cup of herbal tea with a strange, bitter smell. He told me it was a special blend to help with my weak constitution. So, from the very beginning, he had been poisoning me. From our very first night. At the end of the recording, Damian murmured, “I love Evelyn. That will never change. We grew up together, and she’s perfect as a Luna. But Isabella… she’s my fated mate. When I’m with her, I feel a passion I’ve never felt before.” His friend snorted, hitting the nail on the head. “You’re just greedy. You want a passionate mistress, but you also want a quiet, obedient Luna to keep your house.” The recording cut off. My knees buckled, and I slid down to the cold floor, clutching my phone. He loved me? He loved me with a fake mate bond and a lifetime of poison?

Evelyn POV I wiped the tears from my cheeks with the back of my hand. Crying was useless. But right then, a sharp, stabbing pain bloomed in my lower abdomen. It felt like a hot blade was twisting inside me. The pain didn’t fade. Instead, it grew worse by the second, and cold sweat instantly drenched my back. With shaking fingers, I dialed Dr. Hale’s number. Marcus was my closest human friend. He was a doctor, and he was one of the few humans who knew about the werewolf world. I couldn’t go to the pack doctor. If I did, Damian would find out immediately. “Marcus, my stomach hurts so badly…” My voice cracked with pure terror. “Please save my babies. Help me save them.” Marcus’s panicked voice came through the speaker. “Don’t panic! Get to the clinic right now. I’m clearing my schedule!” Half an hour later, I arrived at the private clinic alone. The pain was so intense that my face was completely pale. I wore a large trench coat, sunglasses, and a hat, leaning heavily against the wall just to take a step. But as I rounded the corner of the VIP corridor to take a shortcut to Marcus’s office, I ran straight into the last person I wanted to see. Damian. He was carefully shielding Isabella, his arm wrapped tightly around her waist, keeping the passing nurses from bumping into her. He looked so protective, exactly the way he used to look when he shielded me. The sheer irony of the scene made the pain in my stomach explode. I froze, clutching my abdomen, watching them walk past me just a few yards away. “I’m sorry. If it weren’t for keeping this from Evelyn, I would have had the pack healer look at you,” Damian murmured, his voice dripping with worry. Isabella leaned against his chest, her voice sweet and submissive. “It’s okay, Damian. I’m just an unranked wolf. To be able to carry your child is more than enough for me.” Damian’s eyes softened even more. He kissed the top of her head. “You are always so understanding.” He paused, his tone turning slightly annoyed. “Unlike Evelyn. She always demands this and that. I wish she were even half as mature as you.” Right. I was the demanding one. In that moment, I felt a rush of warm liquid escaping my body. Then I heard him say, “That blue diamond from the auction—once I get it, I’ll have it set into a ring for you. Consider it my gift to you.” So, the blue diamond that allegedly looked like my eyes was actually meant for her. “Oh,” Isabella suddenly said, “does Evelyn like the brooch you gave her last time? I spent a lot of time picking it out. I hope she can be nice to my baby for my sake.” Their baby? I heard Damian’s low chuckle. “Silly girl. Of course she likes it. I already told her that once you give birth, we will take the baby and raise it as our own. That’s the only way our child can legally inherit the pack. Don’t worry, she will respect you as the child’s biological mother.” So, under the assumption that I was barren, he had already planned my entire future. He wanted me to raise his bastard child with another woman. No, they were the true mates. I was just the outsider occupying the Luna seat. A wave of fury and grief crashed over me. The pain in my abdomen reached its peak, and my legs gave out. I couldn’t listen anymore. I turned around, trying to drag myself to Dr. Hale’s emergency room. Just as I took a few steps, my phone rang. It was Damian. “Where are you, babe? I got breakfast and roses ready for you, but you’re not home,” his voice was warm, like he was coaxing a toddler. I leaned against the freezing wall, feeling the life draining out of me. “Are you overthinking again?” he said softly. “Don’t worry. If you really want a child, we can adopt one in a few months. I’ll make sure you get to be a mother, okay?” Adopt one? While my own children’s lives were slipping away, he was talking to me about adoption? “No need…” I spoke into the phone, my voice so weak it sounded like a whisper from the grave. “The babies… are already gone.” The phone slipped from my hand and shattered on the floor. Before darkness swallowed me, I saw a bright, terrifying pool of red spreading across the white tiles. Damian, you killed our babies. You did this.

Evelyn POV When I woke up, the surgery was already over. Marcus stood by my bed, holding a medical chart, his eyes filled with sorrow. “Evelyn, I’m so sorry… You were hemorrhaging when you got here. We did some tests, and it looks like a combination of severe emotional shock and a chemical rejection in your body. We tried our best, but we couldn’t save them.” I stared at the ceiling, tears silent as they soaked into my hair. There was no screaming. Just a hollow, empty silence. “It’s not your fault, Marcus,” I whispered. “He killed them before they even had a chance.” He had killed our past, and now he had killed our future. With the last physical connection to him severed, Damian and I were finally done. Marcus paused, lowering his voice. “I suggest you go back to your pack and have a trusted healer look at you. Your body… it’s healing at an abnormal speed. Luckily, I was the lead surgeon, so no one else noticed.” I nodded. Placing a hand on my stomach, I could indeed feel a warm, strange current flowing through my icy veins. “My wolf,” I whispered. “She’s waking up.” Marcus’s eyes lit up. “That’s amazing!” I gave him a weak smile, but shook my head. He didn’t know that even if my power fully returned, I had no intention of staying here. Despite my weakness, I couldn’t bear to lie in that bed for another second. The phone on the nightstand buzzed. It was an image and a location pin from an unknown number. The image was of a wedding dress I had designed myself. It was my proudest creation. The location pin was for the most luxurious bridal boutique in New York. A boutique that I owned. I ripped the IV out of my hand, ignoring Marcus’s protests. I changed into my clothes and took a cab to the boutique. The cab pulled up across the street from the shop. I sat in the backseat, feeling that unfamiliar power coursing through my body. She was repairing me. My wolf. In my darkest hour, she had finally come to save me. But it was too late to save my babies. Through the large glass windows of the boutique, I immediately spotted Damian and Isabella. He was holding her, his eyes filled with adoration. “I can’t give you a public ceremony yet, but I still want to see you in the most beautiful wedding dress in the world.” Just then, several luxury sports cars pulled up in front of the store. The doors opened, and a group of familiar faces stepped out. Kael Blackwood and several others. They were all our mutual friends, people who had witnessed my twenty-five-year relationship with Damian. I rolled down my window slightly, and their voices drifted across the street. “Is Damian really doing this for Isabella? Isn’t he worried Evelyn will find out?” “Why would he worry? He never marked Evelyn anyway, so she won’t feel a thing. Besides, the girl has an heir in her belly right now. Keeping her happy is the priority.” So, everyone knew. I was the only fool kept in the dark by the entire world. I had just lost my babies, and here they were, celebrating the upcoming birth of another. My hands shook with rage. The hatred inside me was the only thing keeping me upright. Using my master key, I slipped into the boutique through the back door and went straight to the third-floor VIP balcony. I stood in the shadows, looking down coldly at the pathetic farce below. Damian was dressed in a tailored tuxedo, and Isabella was wearing that dress. The dress I had spent countless sleepless nights designing to commemorate my first kiss with Damian. Now, another woman was wearing it, receiving blessings from my friends. “Put the ring on! Put the ring on!” The crowd cheered, and Kael whistled. Damian pulled out a midnight-blue velvet box and dropped to one knee. From my high vantage point, I could see it clearly. Inside was a custom Cartier ring set, identical to the ones we had chosen years ago. Even the sacred symbol of commitment wasn’t unique. Just as Damian was about to slip the ring onto Isabella’s finger— I pulled the master power switch. The entire boutique plunged into pitch-black darkness. Then, I pressed the remote control in my hand. A single, powerful spotlight beamed down from the ceiling, shining directly on me on the third-floor balcony.

Evelyn POV The guests froze, their glasses suspended in mid-air. The smile on Isabella’s face shattered. “Ev… Evelyn?” Damian’s face drained of color. He looked terrified. He instinctively pushed Isabella away, ran up the stairs to the third floor, and threw his arms around me. “Let me explain!” he stammered, his voice trembling. “This is just a rehearsal! I wanted to surprise you for our anniversary!” He fumbled in his pocket, pulled out the ring, and tried to force it onto my finger. But the size was wrong. It got stuck painfully at my knuckle. “Isabella!” Damian screamed down the stairs, not even looking back. “Tell Evelyn the truth!” Isabella’s eyes welled with tears, her voice dripping with submission. “Evelyn, it’s true. Damian planned this surprise for you. I was just helping him rehearse.” Damian clung to her words like a drowning man, tightening his grip on me. “Evelyn, you are the only one I’ve ever loved. How could I ever betray you…” What a disgusting hypocrite. Isabella sniffled, her voice loud enough for everyone to hear. “I wish Damian and Evelyn a lifetime of happiness. I hope you guys have your own baby soon.” Their own baby… A wave of pain shot through my abdomen. Isabella couldn’t keep up the act anymore. She covered her face and ran out of the shop. “Isabella!” Damian roared. He pushed me away so violently that I lost my balance, slamming hard against the wooden railing. My vision went black for a second from the pain. And just like that, he left me and all our friends standing there as he chased after her. As soon as Isabella ran out, she dashed toward a black sedan parked by the curb. Damian caught up to her, opened the driver’s door, and started the engine. The car roared to life, tires screeching against the asphalt. But just as the sedan sped into the intersection, a massive semi-truck blasted through the red light, slamming violently into the passenger side. BOOM! The screech of tearing metal echoed through the street. The sedan flipped twice before landing upside down in the middle of the road, debris scattering everywhere. Damian, covered in blood, crawled out of the shattered window. He ripped the passenger door open with his bare hands and pulled a bleeding, unconscious Isabella out. Isabella was just an unranked wolf; she didn’t have the rapid healing powers of an Alpha. She lay in his arms, her breath shallow. “Save… save our baby…” Damian looked back at me, standing on the balcony. The eyes that once held nothing but love for me were now filled with pure, unadulterated hatred. With all his strength, he screamed up at me, “Evelyn! I told you it was just a rehearsal! Why didn’t you believe me? Why did you have to kill her and my baby?!” The accusation hit me like a physical blow. The friends downstairs rushed out, pointing fingers at me. Kael was the first to speak. “Don’t you know how much Damian loved you, Evelyn? He even banished Isabella, who loved him for years, from the pack for five years just for you! This rehearsal was for you! She was just helping him!” Another friend chimed in, “Yeah, Evelyn, why are you so heartless? Isabella is so innocent. She just loved Damian. Why did you have to drive her to her death?” Their twisted accusations rained down on me. I looked at their self-righteous faces and suddenly burst into laughter.

Evelyn POV My friends twisted the truth, blaming me. It was laughable. These were the same people who once raised their glasses to toast to Damian and my eternal happiness. Now, they stood on a moral high ground. In their eyes, Damian’s five-year affair was completely excusable, and I was the malicious, unreasonable one for not stepping aside. Isabella was rushed to the hospital. Damian called the pack healer to the human clinic. Miraculously, the baby survived. Damian knelt by Isabella’s bed, whispering to her unconscious form with a mix of relief and regret: “Isabella, I’m so sorry. It’s my fault. I should have never let my past feelings for her make me weak.” “You are my fated mate. I can’t lose you. I loved the wrong person all along.” Loved the wrong person. Those words sliced through my heart. Standing in the shadows of the hospital corridor, I remembered when Damian held me at eighteen, telling me I was his fated mate. Even though I didn’t have a wolf to feel the bond, I had been happy for years. I also remembered that it wasn’t me who insisted on staying. I could have gone to the best design school in Paris, living my life like a normal human. My grandfather’s inheritance was more than enough to give me a luxurious, peaceful life. I regretted everything. If I had known this love would turn so ugly, I would have never started it. I decided to leave. I took one last look at the man crying over another woman, turned around, and walked toward the elevator. Behind me, I heard a heavy thud. Damian had collapsed onto the floor. But this time, I didn’t turn back. Damian, you taught me how it feels to be abandoned. I will remember it well. I got back to the villa late at night. I opened my phone. The pack’s social media feeds were flooded with posts from our mutual friends. They were all reposting videos of Damian putting the ring on Isabella’s finger, with the same caption: [Happy 5th Anniversary to Damian and Isabella! Stay happy forever!] In the photos, he looked incredibly devoted, and she was smiling like a queen. The whole city was celebrating “Isabella.” What a joke. My phone rang. It was Elder Alpha Reginald. “Get to the hospital right now! Damian needs you!” the old man commanded, his voice cold and arrogant. I stared out at the dark night, my voice devoid of any warmth. “Elder Alpha, Damian and I are nothing to each other. I have no obligation to save him. Also, thank you for your ‘generosity’ seven years ago. Because of you, I don’t even have to go through the official rejection process.” I hung up and blocked everyone from the Frostveil Pack. A clean break. I didn’t sleep that night. I pulled out my boxes and started packing every single thing that had to do with Damian. I was going to burn my past to ash.

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My sister “forgot” to put on clothes again and rushed out of her bedroom stark naked. She crashed straight into my boyfriend’s arms. Lifting her gorgeous face, she looked up at him with a naive, clueless smile. That was exactly how my last five boyfriends disappeared. Four of them had immediate physical reactions on the spot, so I slapped them and broke up with them. The other one managed to keep his cool, but in the middle of the night, he climbed up the balcony with his bare hands and sneaked into my sister’s bed. When I cried to my parents about it, they brushed it off. “Bianca is just a bit airheaded! She just forgot to put on clothes!” “If she did it on purpose, would she run around naked every single time?” With such biased, unreasonable parents, I didn’t dare to date anyone for four years. Until I met Ethan Vance. He was the most upright and intelligent man I had ever known. When we started discussing marriage, I brought him home to meet my parents. Before he arrived, I begged Bianca repeatedly, “Please, just wear some clothes!” Bianca nodded obediently. But the moment my boyfriend walked through the door, Bianca was running around the house naked again. Seeing the triumphant smirk at the corner of her mouth, I suddenly realized her “cluelessness” was just an act put on entirely for me. Too bad for her, my boyfriend hated idiots more than anything.

I had just brought Ethan through the front door. Suddenly, the bedroom door clicked open. Bianca rushed out, completely naked. Acting as if she had absolutely no idea there was a guest in the living room, she crashed straight into Ethan’s chest. “Oh my gosh!” She gasped, hurriedly covering her chest, her eyes welling up with tears instantly. “I’m so sorry… I forgot we had company.” She looked up, her wide, misty eyes staring helplessly at Ethan. That naive, innocent look—I had seen it way too many times. That was exactly how my first five boyfriends had fallen into her trap. “What the hell?! Do you keep a naked psycho in this house?!” Ethan closed his eyes instantly. Relying on his years of Taekwondo training, he delivered a swift, powerful kick that sent Bianca flying onto the floor. A loud thud echoed through the hallway, hard enough to shake dust off the walls. The air in the hallway froze for two seconds. Then came Bianca’s sharp, hysterical crying. “What happened? What’s going on?” My mother, Eleanor, rushed out of the master bedroom wearing an apron, still holding some half-folded laundry. My father, Richard, also poked his head out from the balcony. Ethan hid behind me, keeping his eyes squeezed shut, not daring to open them. “I’m fine. I just kicked a crazy exhibitionist. But that crazy chick might be in bad shape,” Ethan said, his voice cold as ice. On the floor, Bianca held her chest with one hand and covered her lower body with the other, sobbing uncontrollably. She bit her lower lip, her eyes filled with tears, looking utterly pathetic and helpless. “Ethan, you kicked me… It hurts so bad.” Her voice was soft and sweet, trembling just the right amount. “I just have a bad memory. I forgot we had a guest over. Please don’t be mad at me, okay?” As she spoke, she shrunk back like a frightened little rabbit. Eleanor immediately rushed over to hug her protectively, wrapping a coat around her. “You silly girl, why are you running around naked again? And Chloe, you are to blame too! You know your sister is forgetful. Before you brought an outsider home, why didn’t you go to her room and check on her first?” The first wave of moral gaslighting had landed precisely on me. I looked at Eleanor’s face, which took it all for granted. As usual, she blamed me for everything. Bianca was always the pure, innocent one who just made silly mistakes. And I, as the younger sister, was expected to clean up her messes and prevent her disasters at all times. “Mother, I told her three times before I came home,” I stated flatly. Bianca’s tears spilled over. “Chloe, I’m so sorry. I really didn’t mean to. I was just thinking about something else and got distracted…” She looked up at Ethan, her eyes shimmering like water. “Ethan, please don’t blame Chloe. It’s all my fault for being so stupid.” A textbook “pick-me girl” performance. First admit guilt, then show vulnerability, and finally, “defend” me to highlight her kindness and my pettiness. My first two boyfriends had died under this exact combo. I turned to look at Ethan. I wanted to see if his eyes, which were usually as clear as mountain springs, could see through this bitch. Ethan looked at her. There was no warmth in his eyes. He looked at her as if he were watching a poorly acted comedy show. “You really are stupid,” Ethan said. His voice wasn’t loud, but every word was crystal clear. Bianca froze. Eleanor froze, too. They probably never expected anyone to step right on her face when she offered herself up as a “clueless beauty.” “Since you knew there was an adult male coming over, and you still managed to ‘forget’ to wear clothes… that’s not being forgetful. That’s a severe lack of basic life skills,” Ethan said, stuffing his hands into his coat pockets and looking down at Bianca. The silence in the room was deafening. Bianca’s face, which was wearing a delicate “no-makeup” makeup look, instantly lost all color. She froze on the spot, even forgetting to shed her tears. “How dare you speak to her like that!” Richard couldn’t hold back anymore. He marched over and pointed a finger at Ethan. “This is my house! What’s wrong with my daughter not wearing clothes in her own home? You’re an outsider. You got a free show, and now you’re throwing a tantrum?” “Let me correct you,” Ethan said, meeting Richard’s gaze without flinching. “First, I didn’t look. That flat body of hers is nowhere near my type.” “Second, she opened the door herself, and the hallway is a common area. If you think it’s good parenting to let your daughter run around naked in common areas, then I seriously question your family’s values.” He turned to me. “Chloe, where is your coat?” I pointed to the coat on the sofa. Ethan walked over, picked it up, and draped it over my shoulders, gently fixing my hair. “Let’s go. The air in here is making me sick.” I looked at my parents’ livid faces and Bianca, who looked like she was about to collapse. Instead of the panic I used to feel, a wave of unprecedented satisfaction washed over me. “Okay.” I put on my coat and followed him out. Eleanor was shaking with rage behind us. “Chloe! If you dare to walk out of this door with him today, don’t you ever call me Mother again!” I stopped walking. But I didn’t turn around. “Whatever.” Ethan pulled the door open, and a gust of cold winter wind rushed in. “Chloe, Mother’s just saying that because she’s angry! You know she has a soft heart!” Bianca screamed from behind. Her voice had lost its soft, sweet tone and was filled with obvious panic. Ethan let out a low chuckle. “Hear that?” he whispered to me, looking down. “Even a cornered rat will show its teeth when it’s desperate.”

“You were pretty brutal back there,” I said as I buckled my seatbelt in the passenger seat. Ethan started the car, his long fingers resting on the steering wheel. “Brutal? I was just stating facts. If she were truly stupid, she wouldn’t have known to get angry when I insulted her. She should have agreed with my analysis.” He turned the steering wheel and drove out of the neighborhood. “Her acting skills are worse than the fresh grads working at my reception desk.” I looked out the window at the passing streetlights. The heavy stone that had weighed on my chest for over twenty years felt like it had finally been cracked open. Since we were kids, Bianca had always been the center of the universe. When she ruined my homework, Eleanor would say, “Your sister is just clumsy. Can’t you just write it again?” When she took the dress I liked, Richard would say, “Your sister loves pretty things. Why can’t you just let her have it?” Even when I started dating, Bianca only had to act innocent and shed a few tears in front of my boyfriends. Then, those guys would find her adorable and think I was being bitter and mean. No one had ever torn off her mask as ruthlessly as Ethan did. My phone kept buzzing in my bag. I pulled it out. It was a string of voice messages from Eleanor, one after another. The red notification dots were glaring. I tapped the first one. “Chloe! Have you lost your mind?! What kind of classless man are you dating? How dare he talk to your sister like that! Bianca has never heard a harsh word in her life, and today she was so humiliated she’s crying under her blanket, hyperventilating!” I listened to it with a blank face. Then I tapped the second one. “You make that Vance guy come back and apologize to your sister right now! Otherwise, don’t you ever come back to this house. We raised you and fed you, not for you to team up with some stranger to bully your sister!” Ethan heard every word clearly from the driver’s seat. He let out a cold sneer. “Does your mother only watch cheap soap operas? That script is straight out of a bad 90s drama.” I locked my phone screen and tossed it back into my bag. “I’m used to it.” “Being used to it doesn’t make it right.” Ethan stopped the car at a red light and turned to look at me. “Are you planning on taking this forever?” I looked into his clear, deep eyes. “No,” I said. “I want her to pay back everything she owes me, with interest.” The corner of Ethan’s mouth curved into a beautiful smirk. “Let me know if you need any help. I love watching fake people crash and burn.” The next morning. I was in the middle of a meeting at work when the receptionist, Lily, sent me a Snapchat message. “Chloe, your sister is here to see you. She’s waiting at the front desk.” I frowned. Bianca rarely came to my office. She always complained that my fast-paced tech company was too depressing. I walked out of the meeting room and headed to the lobby. Bianca was wearing a classy tweed jacket, holding a fancy thermos in her hand. Seeing me, she immediately walked up. “Chloe, are you done with work?” Her voice was as soft as ever, with no trace of yesterday’s humiliation. “What do you want?” I didn’t reach for the thermos. Bianca didn’t seem embarrassed. She set the thermos down on the reception desk. “Mother was so upset she couldn’t sleep last night. I was thinking… yesterday’s incident was indeed caused by my forgetfulness, and Ethan might have misunderstood me.” She tilted her head slightly, exposing her slim, fair neck. “I made some chicken soup. I wanted you to give it to Ethan. Consider it my apology to him.” Several colleagues passing by turned to look at us. To outsiders, she looked like a sweet, caring older sister trying to patch things up for her difficult younger sister. Looking at her performance, I felt a wave of nausea. “No thanks. He doesn’t drink things from questionable sources.” Bianca’s eyes instantly welled with tears again. “Chloe, are you still mad at me? I know Ethan is amazing, and you’re worried I might steal him from you. But I really don’t have those intentions.” Her voice wasn’t loud, but it was just loud enough for the receptionist and several passing coworkers to hear. This was her classic move: preemptive strike. By being the first to say “you’re worried I might steal him,” no matter what I said next, I would look insecure and jealous. If this were the old me, I would have dragged her aside to compromise just to save face. But not today. I took out my phone, opened the voice recorder app, and placed it face-up on the reception desk. “Keep going,” I said, looking at her. “Tell me more about how you plan on stealing him. Go into detail.”

Bianca’s smile froze on her face. She clearly didn’t expect me to just stop caring about my reputation, let alone display the recording screen right in front of her. “Chloe… what are you doing?” Her voice faltered, and her eyes kept darting toward my phone screen. “Since you love acting in public so much, let’s make it a full production.” I leaned against the reception desk, crossing my arms. “Didn’t you say I’m afraid of you stealing him? Prove it to us. How are you going to do it? With your cheap, unbuttoned pajamas, or with this soup that probably has god-knows-what in it?” A few coworkers watching nearby let out soft chuckles. People in tech companies never lacked a nose for drama. Bianca understood my sarcasm, and her face flushed crimson. “Chloe Miller, you’ve gone too far!” She finally dropped the act, her tears vanishing in an instant. “I came here out of the goodness of my heart to bring you guys something, and you’re trying to intimidate me with a recording?” She reached out to grab my phone. I quickly snatched it away. “Why aren’t you crying anymore?” I looked at her coldly. “Where’s your helpless airhead filter? Where’s that innocent, victimized look? Giving up on the act so soon?” Bianca gritted her teeth in anger. But with so many eyes on her, she had to suppress her rage. “Fine, Chloe. You think that Vance guy can protect you forever, don’t you?” She leaned in close, whispering so only the two of us could hear. “Who do you think you are? Since we were kids, whenever I wanted something, Mom and Dad gave it to me.” “Your last two exes? I barely had to wiggle my finger and they came begging like dogs. You think Ethan Vance is any different?” “Men are all the same. Just you wait. I’ll have him begging on his knees to lick my toes sooner or later.” She thought I had stopped the recording. She thought whispering made her safe. But she didn’t know that my phone was the latest model with incredible audio capture. And she definitely didn’t know that the recording app was still running in the background even though the screen had gone black. Looking at her face, slightly distorted by jealousy and competitive rage, I found her incredibly pathetic. “Sure,” I said, taking a step back to create distance. “I’ll be waiting.” Bianca sneered, picked up the thermos from the desk, and stomped away in her high heels. I picked up my phone and stopped the recording. Looking at the 3-minute-and-12-second audio file on my screen, I smiled. My first card was in my hand. After work. Ethan came to pick me up. His car was parked by the curb, and he was holding a hot latte. “You look exhausted. Did your brainless sister disgust you again?” He handed me the coffee and opened the passenger door for me. I took a sip of the coffee. “She came to my office to deliver soup today, and she officially declared war.” I pulled out my phone and played the audio. Bianca’s voice echoed in the quiet car: “I’ll have him begging on his knees to lick my toes sooner or later.” After listening, Ethan frowned in disgust. “Does she have any hygiene awareness? Licking toes can lead to fungal infections. That’s disgusting.” I couldn’t help but burst into laughter. The stress that had built up all day vanished instantly because of his words. “You’re not mad?” I asked. “Why would I be mad? Being targeted by an idiot just proves my taste is good.” Ethan started the car. “But still, if we don’t crush people like her once and for all, she’ll keep buzzing around like a fly.” His long fingers tapped the steering wheel. “When do you want to pull the trigger?” “Christmas,” I said, looking at the city lights outside. “On Christmas, all our extended family will be there. Bianca cares about her ‘perfect daughter’ image in front of the relatives more than anything. I want to strip her mask off in front of everyone.” Ethan glanced at me. His eyes held unedited admiration. “Great plan.” “Need any technical support? Like casting this audio onto the TV during Christmas dinner?” “No need,” I shook my head. “That’s not enough. I need more evidence to prove she isn’t just targeting me, but that she’s a pathological liar.” There were still two weeks until Christmas. During those two weeks, Bianca was surprisingly quiet. She didn’t cause any drama, didn’t post any passive-aggressive things on Snapchat, and didn’t even bother me. Eleanor called me twice. She told me in a harsh tone that I had to come home for Christmas dinner, and I was absolutely not allowed to bring Ethan. “That boyfriend of yours has no manners. I will not allow him in our house!” I agreed. Because I knew this was just the calm before the storm. A person like Bianca could never let things go. She was definitely planning something big. The day before Christmas. I was called back to the house to help wrap Christmas gifts. In reality, Eleanor just wanted to assert her maternal authority by making me do manual labor. As soon as I walked into the kitchen, I heard Bianca’s dramatic gasp from the living room. “Oh my gosh! How… how did this happen?!”

I wiped my hands and walked out of the kitchen. Shattered porcelain lay scattered all over the living room rug. It was the vintage Tiffany & Co. cup set I had prepared as a Christmas gift for Ethan’s grandmother. I had spent half a month’s salary and used several connections to get it. Now, it was just a pile of worthless trash. Bianca stood nearby, holding the lid of the packaging box, looking terrified and lost. “Chloe, I’m so sorry! I didn’t know this box had something so expensive in it… I just wanted to help you clean up the table, and my hand slipped…” She covered her mouth as tears instantly streamed down her face. Eleanor rushed out of the bedroom when she heard the noise. Seeing the shattered pieces and Bianca crying like a victim, she immediately understood what had happened. But she didn’t blame Bianca. Instead, she turned to me, her eyebrows knitted closely. “Why did you leave something so expensive lying around? You know your sister is clumsy! Now that it’s broken, who are you going to blame?” The same old excuse. The same twisted logic. I didn’t say a word. I just stared at the broken porcelain on the floor. That was the exact vintage set Ethan’s Nana loved. I had planned to present it to her during my Christmas visit. “Chloe, how much was it? I’ll pay you back, okay?” Bianca walked over, gently tugging at my sleeve. “Please don’t be mad at me. I really didn’t mean to. I’ll use my savings to pay you back.” “Pay me back? With what?” I pulled my arm away and looked at her coldly. “This is a rare vintage set. You couldn’t find another one even if you had the money.” “It’s just a stupid cup set!” Richard walked out of the study. He couldn’t stand seeing me give his favorite daughter a hard time. “Chloe, that’s enough! Your sister already apologized. What more do you want? Ruining a family gathering over a cup set—where are your manners?!” Manners. Generosity. Yes, those were the words I had heard the most growing up. Because I was the younger sister, because I was smart, and because I was rational. So I had to be the bigger person. I had to tolerate all of Bianca’s stupidity and destruction. “I’m not making a big deal out of it,” I said, taking a deep breath as I picked up the pieces one by one and put them into a trash bag. “But this was meant for my boyfriend’s family. Since you all think it’s not a big deal, you can explain it to Ethan yourselves.” Hearing Ethan’s name, a flash of smugness crossed Bianca’s eyes. She thought that since the gift was ruined, I wouldn’t be able to go to the Vance family’s Christmas party. She thought Ethan would think I was classless and lose interest in me. That was her plan. Unfortunately, she got one thing wrong. I tied the trash bag and held it in my hand. “Mother, what time are Uncle Robert and Aunt Margaret arriving for Christmas dinner tomorrow?” Eleanor was taken aback, then said crossly, “We eat at noon. Why? Are you planning to show everyone your attitude?” “No,” I smiled slightly. “Tomorrow, I’m going to make sure everyone has a great time.” The next day, 11:00 AM. The relatives started arriving. Robert, Margaret, and several cousins we were close with. The living room was filled with laughter and “Merry Christmas” wishes. Bianca was wearing a gorgeous red knit dress with a full face of perfect makeup, floating around like a social butterfly. “Try these nuts. I bought them specifically for you.” “You look so beautiful today. That coat really suits you.” The relatives were charmed. “Bianca is getting more mature and sensible by the day. Whoever marries her will be the luckiest man alive,” Margaret praised with a laugh. “I know, right? Bianca is not only gorgeous but has such a sweet personality,” another aunt agreed, then turned her eyes to me as I sat quietly in the corner, sipping water. “Unlike Chloe. She’s been a quiet, cold girl since she was a kid. Not very sweet. Chloe, why isn’t your boyfriend here with you? Didn’t you say he was loaded?” The spotlight was finally on me. Bianca’s eyes lit up. She immediately wiped the smile off her face, replacing it with a worried, hesitant expression. “Please don’t bring him up.” Bianca sighed, sitting down next to Margaret. “That man… has a really weird temper. When he came over last time, he was not only rude, but he also… he yelled at me. Chloe is so obsessed with him she won’t even listen to Mother and Father anymore.” The relatives gasped. “Are you serious?” Robert frowned, looking at Richard. Richard let out a cold grunt, which was as good as confirming it. “Chloe, I have to say something here,” Robert said, instantly taking on his self-righteous Robert persona. “For a girl, a man’s character is the most important thing. A man who doesn’t respect your parents and bullies your sister should be dumped immediately!” “Exactly,” Margaret chimed in. “Your sister is so sweet, and he still yelled at her? He probably has anger issues. Don’t let his money blind you.” The entire living room turned into an intervention against me. Eleanor sat on the sofa, looking pleased. She seemed to think that the pressure from the relatives would finally make me bow my head and apologize. I set my water glass down. “Father, Mother.” “You guys have always believed Bianca is just a sweet, naive girl who makes silly mistakes.” I pulled a black voice recorder from my pocket and held it up. “Since everyone thinks she’s so innocent…” “Why don’t we listen to what she says when no one is watching?”

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On the night of our Senior Prom, I put on my gorgeous gown and took my boyfriend Carter’s arm. When the music started and Carter and I twirled onto the dance floor, a loud, sharp crack echoed through the hall. I crashed hard onto the floor. And my prosthetic leg went flying across the polished wood. Every single eye in the room locked onto me. A second later, the crowd erupted into cruel laughter. I wished the floor would open up and swallow me whole. But Carter didn’t even try to help me up. He just stood there, looking down at me with pure disgust. “You’ve embarrassed me again!” he hissed. Limping, humiliated, and fighting back tears, I dragged myself out of the ballroom. But when I reached the parking lot, I overheard my best friend, Tiffany, talking to Carter. “I told you she shouldn’t come to the prom, but you just had to bring her,” Tiffany said, her voice dripping with fake pity. “Are you really planning on taking care of a cripple for the rest of your life?” Carter took a slow drag from his cigarette, keeping silent. Tiffany continued, “Honestly, I was the one who loosened the screws on her prosthetic leg. I just wanted to toughen her up. She needs to learn to be independent, not be a constant drag on you.” I thought Carter would defend me. I thought he would be furious. But he wasn’t. “Get in the car,” he said softly, holding the door open for Tiffany. As I watched their tail lights disappear into the night, I pulled out my phone and dialed the number of the recruiter in New York. “I accept your offer,” I said.

The next morning, my phone buzzed. It was Carter. “Today is the graduation ceremony. Where are you?” “I thought I was too embarrassing for you to be seen with,” I said coldly. Carter’s tone softened slightly over the line. “Yesterday was just an accident. I didn’t even blame you for it.” I let out a cold laugh in my head. Blame me? What right do you even have to blame me? “Last night was no accident. I know exactly who broke my prosthetic leg.” With that, I hung up. Half an hour later, there was a knock at my door. Carter stood there holding a bouquet of roses. “You only graduate college once, Aria,” he said, sounding like the perfect, caring boyfriend. “The professors and our classmates are waiting for you.” I opened my phone and saw a dozen worried texts from my academic advisor. Finally, I put on my graduation gown and walked back to campus with Carter. The moment Tiffany saw me, she ran over with a bright, fake smile, waving at me. I looked right through her and walked past. Carter frowned, glaring at me before turning to comfort her. “Don’t mind her, Tiffany. Aria is just being overly sensitive. She just needs some time to cool down.” He grabbed my arm and dragged me toward the steps of the main hall. “Can you stop throwing a tantrum in public?” he whispered harshly. “Everyone is watching. Do you want to embarrass me again?” His eyes were freezing cold, as if I were the one being completely unreasonable. “We need to take our graduation photos first. Weren’t you dying to get a picture with me in our gowns? Don’t ruin it with that miserable face.” The photographer was already setting up, and our classmates were lining up. I swallowed my humiliation and stood next to Carter. Suddenly, Tiffany squeezed her way in. Instead of keeping me close, Carter immediately stepped aside to give Tiffany the spot right next to him on his left, shoving me to the very edge of the group. The camera flashed, and a few minutes later, the printed photos were handed out. On the photo, I was just a blurry shadow at the very edge, my face barely recognizable. Meanwhile, Carter and Tiffany were standing in the center, their fingers tightly locked together, smiling warmly at each other. A space meant for two had been crowded by three. And I was the extra one. I had hundreds of photos like this in my camera roll. Tears welled up in my eyes, and no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t blink them away. Wiping my cheek, I looked Carter dead in the eye. “Carter, let’s break up.” He froze for a second, his grip tightening on the photo paper. “Are you seriously being this childish right now? If you don’t like the photo, we can retake it. You don’t just throw the word ‘breakup’ around.” “Besides, the HR manager at the Vance Group is about to process our onboarding. They only accepted you because of my dad’s connection. If we break up, with your physical condition…” He glanced down at my leg, stopping himself before the words got too ugly. “Come on. Tiffany and I only do these things for your own good. Let’s just take another photo, okay?” It was always like this. Whenever Tiffany humiliated me under the guise of “helping me,” he would always throw me a scrap of pity as an apology. A movie, a trip, a photo—but he never actually kept his promises. I was done believing him. I lifted my chin, wiped my tears, and said firmly, “I am completely serious, Carter. We are done.” Then, I turned to Tiffany. “And as for you, we are no longer friends. Get out of my life.”

I pulled out my phone and scrolled up to my academic advisor’s last message. “Aria, this firm in New York said they don’t care about your physical condition. They specifically asked for you because of your top grades. The pay is amazing, but once you sign, you have to commit to staying there for at least five years. Are you sure?” Carter had no idea that I had received an offer from a top-tier global firm in New York weeks ago. I had rejected it back then just to stay in this city with him. Now, I realized how pathetic that was. I quickly typed my reply. “Professor Evans, I want to take the offer. Can you give me three days to pack my things?” “Absolutely. I’ll finalize the paperwork.” I went back to my dorm to pack. The screws on my prosthetic leg were completely stripped and wouldn’t tighten, leaving me limping heavily. As I was carrying a heavy stack of textbooks down the stairs, my foot slipped. Just as I was about to tumble down, a pair of strong hands grabbed my arms, stabilizing me. Carter instinctively knelt down to check my left leg. “What happened? Didn’t we just get this prosthetic serviced during winter break? Is it broken again?” “I told you I would help you move your stuff. You should have stayed upstairs and rested.” Hearing the genuine worry in his voice, my tears betrayed me again. When I first got my prosthetic leg freshman year, I was clumsy and fell constantly. Carter was always there, catching me every single time I tripped. Over the past four years, protecting me had become his second nature. Yet, he was the same man who stood by and let Tiffany put me in danger. At this moment, I hated my tendency to cry when angry. I was completely done with him, yet my tears kept flowing. I pushed him away with all my strength and grabbed the stair railing to pick up my box. “I can do it myself. I don’t need your help.” “Stop being so stubborn. Look, I know you only said we broke up because you were mad. Go back and rest.” He let out a soft laugh and reached to grab my box. With tears in my eyes, a tiny, pathetic shred of hope flared up in my chest. “Carter… if I left this city, would you come looking for me?” Before he could answer, Tiffany’s voice echoed from the top floor. “Carter! Are you up yet? There’s too much stuff, and I just tripped and hurt my knee!” Thud. Carter dropped my box instantly and turned around, running up the stairs without a second thought. The heavy stack of textbooks fell right onto my feet. My real foot swelled with pain, while my prosthetic leg made a horrible cracking sound as the remaining joint broke. He didn’t even look back, shouting over his shoulder: “Tiffany fell! I need to check on her! I’ll come back down for you in a minute!” I collapsed onto the floor. Grabbing the railing, I dragged myself up, gathered my things, and walked out of the building alone. Under the blazing sun, I limped toward the campus gate. A few minutes later, Carter’s car pulled up beside me. He sounded annoyed. “I told you to wait for me downstairs. Why do you always have to play disappear games?” “Get in.” I hugged my heavy box tighter. The campus gate was packed with traffic; there wasn’t a taxi in sight. Tiffany was sitting in the front passenger seat, happily eating an ice cream, with absolutely no intention of moving. I walked to the back to open the passenger door. But the back seat was completely piled high with Tiffany’s luggage. There was no room for a person. Tiffany turned around and gave me a sheepish smile. “Sorry, I have so much stuff. Do you want to take the front seat? I can try to squeeze in the back?” Carter immediately reached over and held her hand, his voice incredibly tender. “No need. My SUV has a third row. The trunk space is empty, she can just sit in the back.” “You almost got heatstroke waiting for her just now. Can’t she be considerate of you for once?” Then, he looked at me through the rearview mirror, his voice cold and dismissive. “The back is too tight for Tiffany’s legs. She’d be uncomfortable.” “Besides, you have a prosthetic leg anyway. You won’t feel the cramped space. Just deal with it until we get to your place.” I stood there in the heat, suddenly wanting to laugh. Carter had bought this SUV during our junior year with his first big paycheck. Back then, he had spent hours picking out a model with the most spacious front passenger seat. “Your prosthetic can get uncomfortable on long drives, babe. You need the extra legroom.” “Aria, this front seat is reserved only for you.” But now, the front seat belonged to Tiffany. And I, the actual girlfriend, was expected to crawl into the trunk like a piece of cargo. “No thanks,” I said, slamming the door shut. “Have a nice trip. I’ll call an Uber.” I turned and walked away.

I spent the next two days getting my visa and documents ready for New York. The day before my flight, my brother, Austin, unexpectedly drove down to San Francisco to attend my graduation send-off party. When I got the text, I rushed downstairs, only to overhear him, Tiffany, and Carter conspiring in the lobby. “Austin, when we get inside, give this off-the-shoulder slit dress to Aria. Tell her it’s your graduation gift!” Tiffany giggled. “Let her show off her prosthetic leg in front of everyone. Once she gets laughed at a few more times, she’ll finally get over her insecurity!” Carter didn’t stop her. Instead, he ruffled her hair and smiled. “Once Aria overcomes her insecurity about her leg, she’ll thank you for this, Tiffany.” I froze in the doorway, my blood turning to ice. I thought, at the very least, my own brother would protect me. But Austin turned around, saw me, and handed me the garment bag without hesitation. “Aria, here’s my graduation gift to you. Put it on for the party tonight.” I stared at the dress with the high slit that would expose my entire left leg. A wave of bitter pain rushed through me. “Austin! You’re my brother! Are you seriously joining them to make me a laughingstock?” “You know how much I hate people staring at my leg!” Austin’s brow furrowed in annoyance. “Aria, don’t be so dramatic. We are all just trying to help you overcome your fears!” Carter’s voice was equally displeased. “Do you always have to interpret Tiffany’s kindness with such malice?” “She spends every waking hour trying to find ways to build your confidence, and this is how you treat her? You are so ungrateful.” “Apologize to Tiffany. Now.” My fingernails dug into my palms. My tears had finally run dry, but my voice still shook with rage. “Am I ungrateful, or does Tiffany have a sick obsession with humiliating me? You two know the truth better than anyone!” Tiffany immediately put on her victim face, looking downcast. “Maybe… maybe I shouldn’t go to the party. You guys should go with Aria.” Carter gave me a freezing look. “No! She’s just spoiled. She thinks the whole world revolves around her.” To me, he said, “Do whatever you want. If you don’t want to come with us, fine. But without a date, you’ll be the one looking pathetic tonight.” He slammed the car door, and the engine roared as they sped away, leaving me in a cloud of exhaust. I stood there for a long time, a sarcastic smile creeping onto my lips. Carter had promised me months ago that I would be his only date to the graduation party. Now, he had left with another woman. But it didn’t matter. After tonight, we would never see each other again.

When I arrived at the ballroom, I immediately saw Tiffany surrounded by Carter and my brother. Some passing classmates looked at Tiffany with envy. “She is so lucky. Her boyfriend is gorgeous, and her brother is so overprotective.” Then, they looked at me, their eyes shifting to amusement. “So what if she got straight A’s? She’s a cripple. She couldn’t even find a date for the graduation party.” I ignored them. I grabbed a glass of champagne and went to say goodbye to my dorm mates. We were in the middle of a warm conversation when Tiffany’s voice suddenly boomed through the microphone on stage. “Everyone! For tonight’s celebration, I have a special gift for my best friend, Aria!” Suddenly, the giant projector screen behind the stage lit up. Several photos appeared. They were photos of me right after my amputation—crying, losing control of my bladder, and looking completely disheveled and vulnerable during medical exams. These deeply private, humiliating photos were enlarged and broadcasted for the entire class to see. My body began to shake violently. I stared at Carter in sheer disbelief. “You gave those to her? You promised me that no one would ever see those! You knew that was the darkest time of my life!” During those bleak, depressed months, Carter had been the one holding me, comforting me. “I promise, Aria. No one will ever know about this. To the world, you will always be the strong, brilliant girl you are.” But now, Carter seemed to have forgotten every single promise. He looked at me with a casual shrug and a smirk. “Tiffany is right. Once people talk about it, you’ll get used to it. Look, you aren’t even crying this time, are you?” “She did this for your own good.” The snickers and whispering voices of my classmates crashed over me like waves. Someone pulled out their phone. “Oh my god, this is gold. I’m posting this on TikTok!” I looked at Carter’s cold, indifferent face. To my surprise, I didn’t break down. I didn’t even shed a single tear. I walked straight onto the stage, unplugged the projector cable, and grabbed the mic. “Is mocking someone’s trauma funny to you?” I said, my voice dead calm. “If any of these photos are uploaded to Snapchat, TikTok, or any other platform, I will file a lawsuit for invasion of privacy. Try me.” The room fell dead silent. No one dared to whisper. I turned on my heel and left the hall. Carter chased after me into the lobby. “What is wrong with you? Why did you have to ruin Tiffany’s moment on stage?” “Whatever. Tiffany and I aren’t going to hold a grudge. Just make sure you report to the Vance Group tomorrow morning. Tiffany and I prepared a special welcome gift for you.” His phone buzzed. I caught a glimpse of Tiffany’s message on his screen. They were planning to make me do a physical fitness test in front of the HR manager tomorrow. They wanted to force me to do fifty push-ups to “prove my capability” before I could onboard. Another cruel prank under the guise of “helping me.” Too bad they would never get the chance. I smiled faintly. “Sure. I have a big gift for you tomorrow, too.” I had only ten hours left before my flight. I packed my passport and headed straight to the airport. Before boarding, I opened my laptop and sent an email to the HR Director of the Vance Group. Attached was the proof of Tiffany’s academic suspension for cheating, which Carter had helped cover up. “Dear HR Director, according to your company policy, candidates with a history of academic suspension are disqualified. Furthermore, Carter knowingly falsified her resume to bypass your background check. I trust you will handle this ethical breach accordingly.” Goodbye to this toxic city, and goodbye to Carter.

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When my best friend, Chloe, invited me to go camping by the lake, my boyfriend, Ethan, immediately offered to come along. “It’s not safe for two girls to be out in the woods alone,” he said. Looking at the two people I loved most in the world standing by my side, my heart swelled with warmth. It was already dark by the time we reached the campsite. Out of nowhere, Chloe suggested going for a midnight swim. Ethan immediately offered to join her. “It’s not safe for you to swim alone in the dark,” he said. “I want to go too,” I chimed in. But Ethan stopped me. “Aren’t you terrified of deep water? I’d worry more if you came along. Just wait for us at the camp.” So, I waited alone. An hour passed, and there was still no sign of them. I opened my phone and saw Chloe had just posted on Instagram. “The most romantic thing this year—a midnight swim in the summer.” The attached photo showed Ethan, shirtless, holding her waist in the moonlit lake. A sharp pang of jealousy hit my chest, but I quickly forced myself to calm down. Chloe was my best friend. Back in high school, when I was being bullied and pushed into the school pool, she was the one who pulled me out. She had always been my protector. How could she ever betray me? A moment later, my phone buzzed. It was a call from Ethan. “Hey, Chloe and I are going to stay by the lake to watch the sunrise. Go ahead and get some sleep.” My heart sank into a cold, dark abyss. I didn’t sit there like an idiot waiting. I chose to leave.

I left the tent exactly as it was, put out the campfire, and walked straight to the parking lot. A couple camping nearby noticed me. Maybe my face was ghostly pale, because the woman asked with genuine concern, “Are you okay? Do you need some help?” I shook my head and forced a tight smile. “I’m fine. Thank you.” Then, I got into my car and drove away. The highway was nearly empty. My phone on the passenger seat vibrated non-stop. It was about a two-and-a-half-hour drive back to the city. The screen lit up and went dark, over and over. Ethan sent a few texts: “Why aren’t you replying?” “Are you asleep?” He followed up with a few voice notes, but I didn’t play them. Chloe’s text came ten minutes after his. Just one. “Maya, are you mad at us? Where did you go? Everything in your tent is untouched.” Then came five missed calls. I didn’t answer a single one. By the time I pulled into a highway rest stop, it was 2:00 AM. I shut off the engine. The moment the car went silent, all the strength drained from my body. I collapsed over the steering wheel. My phone rang again. This time, it was Chloe. I stared at her name on the screen for a long time. Her contact name was “Chloe ❤️”—she had grabbed my phone and added that heart emoji herself on her birthday last year. I hit decline. Then I opened my contacts, deleted the heart, and changed it back to just “Chloe.” I finally unlocked my apartment door just as the sun was rising. I stood under the hot shower for a long time, my mind racing. I thought back to my birthday three months ago. Chloe had been hyping it up in our Snapchat group a week in advance, promising me a “once-in-a-lifetime” surprise. But on the actual day, she and Ethan vanished for the entire afternoon. When they finally showed up at the restaurant that night, both of their hair was a messy, and Chloe’s ears were flushed pink. She handed me a cake box with a brilliant smile. “Your boyfriend and I literally ran through the entire downtown area for this cake. We’re exhausted.” Ethan chimed in beside her. “Yeah, she insisted on getting it from that artisanal bakery. It was already closed, but she practically forced me to find the owner to open up for us.” “Thank you,” I had said. As I cut the cake, I asked where they had been all afternoon. Ethan shrugged. “I told you, buying the cake.” Chloe playfully nudged his arm. “Why are you spilling all the details? How am I supposed to plan surprises for her in the future if you talk so much?” He smiled down at her, his eyes filled with a relaxed, unguarded intimacy. That was a look he used to reserve only for me. I didn’t turn off the shower until the water ran freezing cold. As I was drying my hair, the phone rang. This time, it was Ethan. I picked up. “Where on earth did you go? We’ve been calling you all night. Chloe is literally crying her eyes out.” His very first sentence was about Chloe crying. “I’m home,” I said. “You’re… what? You drove back alone in the middle of the night?” “Yeah.” There was a two-second silence on the other end, as if he was struggling to find his words. “If you were upset, you could have just told us. Driving alone on the highway at night—do you have any idea how dangerous that is?” “Just let Chloe know I’m home. That’s all.” I hung up. I put my phone on silent and flipped it face down on the table. Closing my eyes in bed, that Instagram picture kept flashing in my mind. They looked so close, so perfect for each other. I was never a paranoid person. But when the same “coincidence” happens too many times, it’s no longer a coincidence.

“Maya, you need to explain to me what the hell happened last night.” Ethan showed up at my apartment the next afternoon. He didn’t even knock; he just used his spare key. I was in the kitchen, waiting for the pasta water to boil. He stood in the doorway, arms crossed over his chest, his face tight with irritation. “Chloe has been crying since last night. She thinks she said something wrong and drove you away.” I dropped a handful of spaghetti into the pot. “Why is she crying?” “Why do you think? She woke up, found you gone, your phone went straight to voicemail. Wouldn’t you panic if you were in her shoes?” I stirred the pasta slowly. “I just wanted to go home. It has nothing to do with her.” Ethan walked over, standing right next to me, his tone softening slightly. “Is this about me going for a swim with her last night? The bugs were terrible out there, the water was freezing, and you’ve always hated deep water anyway. Chloe just didn’t want you to feel uncomfortable, so…” “I know,” I interrupted him. “Like I said, it has nothing to do with her.” He stared at my profile, his expression slowly shifting into confusion. “Then what is wrong with you?” I turned off the stove and drained the pasta into a bowl. “I just need some space.” He nodded, but his brows remained knitted. “Fine. Eat your food first. I’ll have Chloe call you later. At least tell her you’re okay so she stops blaming herself.” He turned to leave, then paused, looking back at me. “By the way, what happened to your forehead?” “Just a minor burn from the steam. It’s fine.” “Put a band-aid on it. Don’t let it get infected.” And with that, he left. From the moment he walked in to the moment he left, it took exactly eight minutes. He didn’t ask why I drove two and a half hours alone in the dark. He didn’t ask if I was tired, or what time I got home. His priorities were crystal clear: Chloe was crying, so he came. At 3:00 PM, Chloe called. I answered. “Maya, are you mad at me?” Her voice was raspy and thick, as if she really had been crying for hours. “No.” “Then why did you leave so suddenly? I came back to the tent and saw everything untouched. You scared the life out of me.” “Something came up.” “What could be so urgent at midnight?” I paused for a second. “Work emails. I had to submit a proposal first thing in the morning.” “Liar,” she said softly. “You told me before the trip that your schedule was totally clear this week.” I remained silent. She sighed, her voice turning defensive. “Is this because I dragged Ethan to go swimming? I just wanted to give you some quiet time. Didn’t you say you wanted to just sit by the campfire and zone out? I told him we should leave you alone for a bit so you could relax…” “I know, Chloe.” “Then why didn’t you just tell me before leaving? Do you know how long Ethan and I looked for you? He was literally about to call the cops.” I gripped my phone, my knuckles turning white. “I’m sorry. It won’t happen again.” Only then did she let out a sigh of relief. “Next time you’re unhappy, just tell me, okay? You’ve been like this since we were kids—keeping everything bottled up.” “Okay.” “Ethan and I are heading back tomorrow. I’ll take you out for a massive dinner to make it up to you.” “Okay.” After hanging up, I sat in silence for a long time. Every word she said was logical. Every explanation made perfect sense. But deep down, I knew something was entirely wrong. She hadn’t deleted that Instagram post. I opened her profile to look at it again. The top comment was from Ethan—a simple high-five emoji. Chloe had replied: “Go away lol.” Underneath, a mutual friend had commented: “Wait, who is this? New boyfriend?” Chloe never replied. And neither did Ethan. That comment was still sitting right there.

We ended up getting dinner at Chloe’s favorite Mexican spot downtown. The second she walked through the door, she threw her arms around me, hugging me so tight I could barely breathe. “My sweet Maya! Did you miss me?” Ethan followed close behind, holding two iced boba teas. He handed one to Chloe. “Low sugar, just the way you like it.” Chloe took a sip and playfully rolled her eyes at him. “Oh, so you actually remembered this time? Last time you got me full sugar and I almost died.” Ethan chuckled, then turned his gaze to me. “Do you want one? I can go grab another.” “No, I’m good.” “Well, you can have a sip of mine? I haven’t touched it yet.” He offered his cup. Chloe immediately blocked his hand. “That’s yours. Sharing drinks is so unsanitary.” She turned and waved down the waiter. “Could we get a glass of water for her? Room temperature, please. Thanks.” Ethan didn’t say anything else. He pulled out a chair and sat down. When ordering, the two of them debated for five minutes over whether to get spicy salsa on the tacos. Chloe couldn’t handle spice, but Ethan loved it. “Last time you ate that hot sauce, you got a massive canker sore the next day. It looked so painful,” Chloe said, tapping his menu. “How about we do one mild and one spicy?” “Sure, whatever you say.” I spoke up, “I actually want spicy too.” “Your stomach has been sensitive lately,” Ethan said without even looking up. “I’ll be fine for once.” “Better not risk it. Remember last time you had those extremely spicy wings and spent the night in the ER? Chloe had to stay with you all night.” I forced a small smile and dropped the subject. Once the food arrived, Chloe kept putting food onto Ethan’s plate. “Try this. How is it?” Ethan took a bite. “Could be better.” Chloe froze, pulling her fork back. “If it ‘could be better,’ why are you eating it? Spit it out!” Ethan laughed, wiping the corner of his mouth with the back of his hand. “Just kidding. It’s actually great.” Chloe playfully swatted at him, and they dissolved into giggles again. I stared down at my drink, stirring the ice cubes. At the next table, a young couple was watching them. The girl whispered to her boyfriend, “Are those two together? They look so cute.” The guy whispered back, “Yeah, looks like it. The other girl is probably just a friend.” They didn’t bother to lower their voices. I heard every word. Chloe heard them too. Her hand froze for a second. She glanced at me, then quickly pulled her hand away from Ethan’s arm. “Maya, let me get that taco for you.” “No, I’ve got it.” As I reached across the table, my sleeve brushed against the hot fajita skillet, burning my wrist. Ethan was busy pouring tea for Chloe and didn’t notice. But Chloe saw. She stood up and grabbed my hand. “Oh my god, let me see. Is it red?” “I’m fine,” I said, pulling my arm back. “Seriously, it’s just a tiny scratch.” Ethan finally looked up. “What happened?” “Nothing,” Chloe answered for me. “Be careful when you pour the tea, Ethan. You’re spilling water everywhere.” She grabbed a napkin to wipe the table. Ethan watched her, naturally taking the napkin from her hand to help. Their fingers brushed against each other. Neither of them pulled away. I pulled my sleeve down, hiding the red burn on my wrist. Halfway through the dinner, Chloe went to the restroom. Ethan suddenly leaned in close. “Are you free this weekend? I want to take you to that new art exhibition.” I looked at him. “What exhibition?” “The… uh…” He hesitated. “Chloe recommended it. She said the artist’s style is exactly what you like.” “Chloe recommended it.” “Yeah. She mentioned you brought it up once.” I set my fork down. “I never brought that up.” He blinked, looking lost. “Oh. Maybe I got it mixed up. But anyway, let’s go this weekend.” “Why don’t you just go with Chloe? Since she recommended it, she definitely wants to see it.” Ethan frowned. “I’m asking you. I want to take you.” “Fine,” I said. “Let me know the time.” He let out a sigh of relief, as if he had just checked off a difficult task on his to-do list. The moment Chloe returned, he immediately steered the conversation elsewhere. “Hey Chloe, are you going to that exhibition this weekend?” “Of course! I really want to check out that brunch spot right next to it too.” I kept my head down, eating my food in silence.

I didn’t go to the exhibition that weekend. The night before, I texted Ethan saying I had terrible cramps and couldn’t make it. He sent a single text back: “We’ll do it another time then.” Chloe, on the other hand, sent a barrage of hyper voice notes in our Snapchat group. She ended with: “Ethan and I will go check it out first, and I’ll send you tons of pictures!” I replied with a simple “OK” emoji. That afternoon, Chloe posted nine photos in the group chat, all from the exhibition. One photo showed her and Ethan standing in front of a giant infinity mirror installation. The mirrors stretched their reflections out, making them look almost fused together. Her caption read: “This installation is so cool!” Ethan commented with a clapping emoji. I slid my phone under my pillow, curled up on my side, and stared at the blank wall. The heating pad on my stomach was warm, but I wasn’t on my period. I just didn’t want to play the third wheel anymore. On Monday at work, my coworker Amber dragged me into the breakroom. “Do you know what your boyfriend posted on his private Instagram account on Saturday?” “No,” I replied. She pulled out her phone, scrolled for a bit, and showed me a screenshot. It was Ethan’s post. It was a photo of the same mirror installation, but from a completely different angle. He had captured Chloe from behind as she stood in front of the mirrors, the golden hour sunlight catching her shoulders. The caption was just one word: “Light.” I stared at it for three seconds before handing the phone back to Amber. “Oh, yeah. He went to the gallery with my best friend.” Amber looked at me, hesitating. “With that best friend of yours?” “Yeah.” “Maya, don’t you think…” she lowered her voice. “If my boyfriend posted a photo like that of another girl, I would literally throw a fit. Are you seriously okay with this?” I forced a laugh. “It’s just a candid shot. You’re overthinking it.” “I’m overthinking it? If my man posted that—” “They’re just friends,” I cut her off. Amber stared at me like I was completely out of my mind. “Wait… did he hide his posts from you?” I froze. “What do you mean?” “Can you actually see that post on your feed?” She shoved her phone closer, pointing at the privacy settings of the post. “Try checking his profile on your phone right now.” I pulled out my phone and went to Ethan’s Instagram. His last post was from five days ago—a photo of a coffee cup with the caption “Overtime.” There was nothing else. He had blocked me from seeing that post. Amber’s expression turned incredibly sympathetic. “Well… just watch your back, okay?” That night, I opened my laptop and logged into an old email account I hadn’t used in a while. I searched for an email I had starred three months ago. The subject line read: Internal Transfer Opportunity: Design Director, Zurich Branch — Deadline: Dec 15. I clicked it and read through the requirements again. My degree matched, my portfolio was solid, and my English was perfect. All I needed was an employment verification letter and a recommendation letter within the month. I had six weeks left before the deadline. I opened a new folder and began updating my portfolio. Later that night, Ethan called to say Chloe was treating us to Omakase on Wednesday night. “Are you still busy this week?” he asked. “Very busy.” “Come on, let’s go on Wednesday. Chloe booked this place two months ago.” “You two go. I have a tight deadline on my project.” There was a long silence on his end. “Why have you been blowing us off lately? You missed the exhibition too.” “I’m genuinely busy at work.” “Then when are you going to be free?” “Once this crazy phase is over.” He didn’t press further. He just told me to get some sleep and hung up. I went back to working on my portfolio, staying up until 3:00 AM. The next day, the day after, and the day after that. For a whole week, I went straight home after work, declining every single invitation. Chloe texted me three times in the group chat, and each time I told her I was working late. On her third attempt, she sent a private message: “Are you avoiding me?” I replied: “Seriously busy, trying to submit a proposal by the end of the month.” “Fine! But once you’re free, you owe me a dinner. You have to come!” “Deal.” By the first week of November, I had secured my recommendation letter and my employment verification. My portfolio was compressed into a 73-page PDF. I uploaded all my documents to the internal portal and hit submit. The screen showed: Your application has been successfully submitted. I stared at the words and let out a long, deep breath. By the last week of November, the interview invitation arrived. Three rounds of video interviews. I took two days of paid time off and locked myself in my apartment. Ethan thought I was sick and offered to come over. “No need. I just need some rest.” “Should I bring you some soup tonight?” “No, I have food in the fridge.” “Chloe said she wants to come keep you company.” “No, please. I just want to be alone.” He finally stopped pushing. By the second week of December, the official offer letter arrived. Zurich Branch, Design Director. Start date: January 15. I stared at that email for ten whole minutes before quietly closing my laptop. Over the next two weeks, I put in my two-week notice, terminated my lease, and gave away my heavy furniture. I replied to Ethan’s texts normally, chatted in the group chat, and politely declined every hangout. Neither of them noticed anything. Because they had never really paid attention to my life anyway. At 4:00 AM on January 13th, I stood in the departures hall of JFK airport with my suitcase. The screen at the gate lit up: Flight LX 15, New York to Zurich, 06:35. I slipped off my phone case. Inside was a Polaroid photo of the three of us from last New Year’s Eve. Chloe was in the middle, throwing her arms around Ethan and me, laughing wildly. I looked at it for a second, tore it into four pieces, and threw it into the trash can. My phone buzzed. It was a scheduled text from Ethan: “Good morning, babe. Make sure to eat breakfast.” I read it, exited the chat, and opened Chloe’s chat. Her last message was from yesterday afternoon: “Are we hanging out this weekend? A new sake bar just opened.” I didn’t reply. The PA system crackled to life: “Final boarding call for Flight LX 15 to Zurich…” I stood up, grabbed my suitcase, and walked toward the gate.

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He saved his fiancée from the six-foot-deep pool, but he never once looked back at me. As the icy water rushed into my nose and throat, I saw him swimming toward the deck, holding Melanie Montgomery tightly in his arms. Before my consciousness faded into darkness, I heard someone screaming from the poolside. “Blood! Oh my god, there’s so much blood in the pool.” When I woke up, the doctor told me we arrived at the hospital too late. The baby was gone. Sebastian sat by my bed, his eyes bloodshot, whispering “I’m sorry” over and over again. I turned my face toward the window, looking at the grey sky, and whispered, “Did you feel sorry when you chose me to take the fall for her hit-and-run three years ago?” He didn’t explain. He just held me tighter. Outside the door, a maid sneered, “A housekeeper who’s a convicted felon… why is she still breathing our air?” I bit my lip and kept silent. The phone call I overheard between him and Melanie that morning was still vivid in my mind. “Don’t worry, Melanie. She’ll stay by my side like a good little dog for the rest of her life.” My fingers tightened around the crumpled piece of paper a cellmate had shoved into my hand before my release. “If you’re ever in trouble, find Gabriel Gray.” A cold shiver ran down my spine. It turned out that the “debt of gratitude” I thought I owed him for the past three years was nothing but a cage he had custom-built for me with his own hands. That night, I dialed the number. “Gabriel Gray? Can you get me out of here?”

Sienna POV I always felt like Sebastian’s golden canary. What I ate, what I wore, when I went to sleep. He managed everything. To keep me by his side without raising his family’s eyebrows, he even made me the resident housekeeper of the Sterling estate. By day, we were employer and employee. By night, he would quietly open my bedroom door. I would curl up in his arms, terrified of this intimacy yet craving it. Little did I know, my submissive, fragile act only fueled the dark obsession in Sebastian’s eyes. Outside, the faint voices of the maids drifted in. “Don’t you think Sebastian is way too good to that Sienna girl? She’s a felon, yet her clothes and shoes are bought according to Serena’s standards. Even her lingerie is personally picked by the boss.” “Well, I heard she graduated from an Ivy League art school. Three years ago, she killed someone in a hit-and-run. If Sebastian hadn’t taken her in out of pity, she’d be sleeping on the streets.” Their words felt like needles piercing my chest. My nose burned, and tears welled up. Sebastian saw my red eyes. He threw the door open, his voice freezing cold. “The Sterling estate doesn’t pay people to gossip. Pack your bags. You’re fired.” Then, he closed the door, pulling me gently into his chest, whispering soft reassurances. “I promised you, Sienna. I won’t let anyone hurt you again.” At that moment, my heart melted with gratitude. Three years ago, on the night of my college graduation party, I was completely out of it. When I woke up, the police were pinning me against the hood of my car. “Sienna, you are under arrest for driving under the influence and vehicular manslaughter.” I was terrified. I repeatedly explained that I wasn’t the one driving, but the traffic cameras, the eyewitnesses, and even my fingerprints on the passenger side of the luxury sports car all pointed at me. I had just received an offer from a top design school in Paris, a bright future I worked my butt off for four years to get. In one night, it was completely ruined. The court sentenced me to three years. My grandmother, who raised me, couldn’t handle the shock and ended up in the ICU. Only Sebastian stood by me. While I was in prison, he sent me packages every month, visited me regularly, and whispered through the glass: “Don’t be scared, Sienna. When you get out, I’ll take care of you.” On the day of my release, Sebastian came to pick me up. It was a rare sunny day. He wore a crisp white suit, holding a bouquet of fresh lilies, standing outside the prison gates with a gentle smile. “Come home with me. Work as a housekeeper at our estate first. No one will dare to make your life hard.” I knew everyone in the Sterling family opposed keeping a convicted felon around. Especially his younger sister, Serena, who thought a “criminal” like me stained their family’s reputation. But Sebastian fought his entire family for me for the first time. “Sienna is the one I chose to protect. Anyone who goes against her goes against me.” Remembering this, I leaned closer to his chest, listening to his steady heartbeat, and fell into a deep sleep… I don’t know how much time had passed when a sharp voice woke me up. It was Serena, sounding as spoiled and arrogant as ever. “Sebastian! How long are you going to keep that charity case around? Melanie is flying back to New York next week. We grew up together. She is the only one I recognize as my sister-in-law!” My breath hitched. The blood in my veins turned to ice. Then, the deep, soothing voice I adored replied: “Sienna… she took the fall for Melanie, after all. I only keep her here to make up for Melanie’s guilt. Don’t worry, Serena. The lady of the Sterling house will only ever be Melanie.” Every single word felt like an icicle stabbing through my heart. The meticulous care, the sweet promises. It was all a sick lie. He was the one who ruined my life, only to play the savior and watch me crawl to him, kissing his hand in gratitude like a loyal dog. Forcing back my tears, my hands shook as I pulled a worn piece of paper from the back of my diary on the nightstand. It was the note the mysterious woman in prison had slid into my hand. Under the dim moonlight, I finally read the words clearly: “If you ever need help, directly contact Gabriel Gray.”

Sienna POV When I woke up the next morning, looking at my tear-stained pillow and the text on my phone that read, “I’ll pick you up in a month,” I knew it wasn’t a nightmare. I clenched my fists, my chest heaving. I needed to know what role Sebastian played in that setup three years ago. Was the evidence still out there? I refused to let them play me for a fool any longer. Right now, I had nothing. I had to play the long game. I had thirty days to gather whatever evidence I could find. After washing up, I walked down to the living room. From a distance, I saw Serena clinging to the arm of a woman in a stunning red silk dress, her long, wavy brown hair cascading down her shoulders. As I walked closer and saw her face, my feet glued to the floor. It was Melanie Montgomery. The woman who stole three years of my life. Back in college, she had targeted me multiple times simply because Sebastian smiled at me. I bit my lip so hard I could taste copper. Melanie caught me out of the corner of her eye. She stood up gracefully, her high heels clicking on the marble floor as she approached me. “Well, well. Isn’t this our Ivy League golden girl?” Melanie mocked, her voice dripping with venom. “I heard you couldn’t even get a decent job after graduation? Oh, my bad. I forgot you have a record.” Her features were undeniably gorgeous, but the malice in her eyes ruined it. “So you decided to leech onto Sebastian? Did you honestly think you could secure a ring by playing a maid?” My entire body went rigid. Seeing my silence, Melanie laughed. “How’s that trash-collecting grandma of yours? Why hasn’t she visited you?” She feigned shock, putting a hand over her mouth. “Oh, silly me. I forgot. You literally shocked her into a heart attack. She’s dead because of you.” I began to shake uncontrollably. Suddenly, a massive golden retriever rushed into the room, placing himself right in front of me, barking furiously at Melanie. “Ah!” Melanie shrieked, jumping back onto the sofa. Serena stomped her foot. “Sienna! Get this stupid dog out of here right now!” “Buddy, come here,” I whispered, my voice trembling. Buddy wagged his tail and nuzzled my hand. Melanie’s face turned pale with rage. She snatched a crystal vase from the side table and hurled it at Buddy. The glass shattered, and Buddy whimpered, blood instantly soaking the fur on his hind leg. I dropped to my knees, checking Buddy’s wound in a panic. “You bitch! How dare you set a filthy beast on me!” Melanie rushed over and slapped me hard across the face. The force spun my head to the side. My cheek burned like fire. Melanie raised her hand to strike again, but someone caught her wrist mid-air. “What is going on here?” Sebastian’s voice was calm, yet commanding. He looked at my swollen cheek, then at Melanie. Melanie instantly wrapped her arms around his neck, her voice turning sweet and helpless. “Sebastian… I just got back, and this horrible dog tried to attack me…” Serena chimed in, “Yeah, Seb! I told you we shouldn’t keep a stray. Anyway, forget about this. I booked a table at that French restaurant Melanie loves. Let’s go celebrate her return.” I tried to explain. “It wasn’t like that! Buddy was just…” “Sienna, be good. Wait for me to come back,” Sebastian cut me off, gently patting my head before walking out the door with Melanie. The heavy front door clicked shut. I stood in the silent foyer, my face throbbing. I wanted to laugh. His first love was back, so he couldn’t even bother to pretend anymore, huh? I wiped the blood from the corner of my mouth, ignored the pain, and took Buddy to the vet. As the vet bandaged his leg, I knelt beside the kennel and whispered, “You have to get better, Buddy.” Because Buddy was the only thing in this godforsaken house that didn’t lie to me. It was pitch black when I got home. I lay in bed, drifting off, when I felt a cold hand gently touching my bruised cheek. I opened my eyes. It was Sebastian. His eyes were deep, his jawline sharp, his lips pressed into a tight line. I used to feel my heart flutter whenever I saw his face. Now, it only made me feel sick. “Sienna, I brought you your favorite strawberry cake.” He applied a soothing ointment to my cheek. “Melanie… she just has a bit of a temper. Once you get to know her, you’ll see she means no harm. You two can be great friends.” Friends? At that moment, my body went entirely numb, as if I had been plunged into freezing water. Because he loved Melanie, he could easily overlook the fact that she stole three years of my life? And now, he wanted me to play best friends with my abuser?

Sienna POV “Please leave. I want to rest.” This was the first time since my release that I had rejected him. Sebastian froze. But he quickly recovered his polite facade. “The firm is busy lately. Take care of yourself.” With that, he turned and left. I threw the pristine strawberry cake straight into the trash can. As I walked past the hallway stairs, Serena’s voice drifted up. “Seb, you literally left our dinner halfway through just to drive across town for Sienna’s favorite cake. Are you getting a little too into your ‘savior’ role?” “Serena!” Sebastian’s voice was sharp, laced with a rare trace of panic. “I am only doing this to compensate her. There are no feelings involved.” “Good. Because let me remind you, you and Melanie got engaged three years ago.” Engaged? I leaned against the wall, dizzy. While I was rotting in a prison cell, weeping for my dead grandmother, they were happily celebrating their engagement. And Sebastian never mentioned a single word about it. He even… A wave of nausea hit me. I gripped the banister, forcing myself to stay calm. Sebastian was a meticulous lawyer; he would never destroy key evidence easily. He had to have kept something to keep Melanie under his thumb. But where was it? Over the next few days, I used my cleaning duties to search every corner of his study and bedroom, but found nothing. Sebastian continued to have gourmet meals delivered to me daily. I quietly handed them over to the other staff. One afternoon, while I was stirring soup in the kitchen, a warm body pressed against my back, arms wrapping tightly around my waist. My muscles tensed. “Why haven’t you been replying to my texts?” Sebastian’s low voice brushed against my ear. I forced a smile and turned around. “I’ve just been busy with chores.” Sebastian tucked a strand of hair behind my ear. “There’s an alumni charity gala tomorrow. Wear something nice. We’re going together.” “I don’t think I should…” “Be good, Sienna.” His voice was gentle, but his eyes were dead cold. I knew I couldn’t say no. Sebastian leaned down to kiss me, his hands sliding down my waist. I pushed him away abruptly. “I’m on my period.” Sebastian frowned slightly but let go. “Make sure you wear the dress I bought you.” The gala was held at the lavish Rosewood Manor, a clear display of Sebastian’s immense devotion to Melanie. Melanie wore a jaw-dropping red haute couture gown. The moment Sebastian walked in, she clung to him like a snake. I quietly found a seat in the furthest, darkest corner of the hall. “Sienna?” a mocking voice called out. It was Julian Kane, the notorious playboy from our college days who used to harass me. “Hey, everyone! Look who’s here!” Julian suddenly shouted, raising his glass. “Sienna, our former Ivy League goddess who got locked up for a hit-and-run, is now working as a maid for the Sterlings! If any of you need your toilets scrubbed, hit her up!” The room fell silent, followed by a wave of hushed whispers and pointing fingers. I bit my lip so hard it bled, my eyes burning with humiliation. Julian walked over, pinching my chin, whispering in my ear, “Why don’t you come to my place instead? I’ll treat you way better than Sebastian does.” The next second, his hand was violently slapped away. “Watch your mouth, Julian.” Sebastian stepped in front of me. He grabbed my wrist and pulled me out of the ballroom, using his silk handkerchief to furiously wipe my chin where Julian had touched me. “I’m sorry, Sienna. I wanted to bring you here to help you socialize… I’ll have the driver take you home first.” I nodded. For a split second, I actually thought he cared about me. But the memory of the setup quickly extinguished that spark. As I reached the exit, I realized I left my clutch in the hall. I turned back to retrieve it. “Nice touch with the knight-in-shining-armor act, Sebastian.” It was Julian’s voice coming from the balcony. I froze, hiding behind a marble pillar. Sebastian didn’t say anything, slowly blowing a puff of smoke into the night air. “Why did you have me do that? To make her cling to you even more? Or to keep up your image as the righteous defense attorney?” My heart stopped. Sebastian didn’t answer immediately. Maybe he felt I had been too distant lately. No tantrums, no looking at him, not even eating his cakes. He hated losing control. He wanted me to realize that without him, I was nothing but trash to the rest of the world. “Just do what you’re paid to do,” Sebastian said, stubbing out his cigarette. A cold sweat broke out all over my body. Even Julian’s harassment was orchestrated by him. Was anything in my life real? I covered my mouth, taking a step back in horror. My shoe hit an empty soda can, making a sharp clink. “Who’s there?” Sebastian’s voice cut through the dark, sharp and dangerous.

Sienna POV Fortunately, I managed to slip into the shadow of the hallway before he walked out. I took the side entrance back into the ballroom. As I picked up my clutch and headed toward the parking lot, a hand suddenly grabbed me from behind, covering my mouth with a chemical-soaked rag. I thrashed wildly, but the darkness quickly consumed me. When I woke up, my head felt like it was splitting open. My limbs were heavy, completely useless. From the adjacent bathroom, I could hear the sound of running water and a cheerful whistle. I recognized that whistle… it was Julian. Oh my god, no. I struggled to sit up, dragging my heavy body across the bedsheet. I lost my grip and fell off the bed, the sharp pain from the impact giving me a jolt of adrenaline. Hearing the thud, Julian walked out of the bathroom with only a towel wrapped around his waist. Seeing me sprawling on the floor, a disgusting grin spread across his face. Rip. He pinned me down and tore open the collar of my dress. The cold air hit my bare skin. His damp, sweaty hands made my stomach turn. “Don’t touch me… get off!” “You think you can run? Sebastian’s had his turn, and you’re turning your nose up at me?” He slapped me across the face, sending metallic-tasting blood pooling in my mouth. “Sebastian will ruin you!” I screamed, using the only threat I had. Julian froze for a second, then sneered. “Melanie is back. How much longer do you think he’s going to keep playing with you? Today’s gala was literally his grand welcome-home gift to her.” Taking advantage of his distraction, I grabbed a heavy ceramic vase from the floor and shattered it over his head. Before he could recover, I kicked him squarely between his legs. He let out a blood-curdling shriek, collapsing to the floor. To keep myself from passing out, I picked up a piece of shattered ceramic and sliced my own forearm. The sharp pain cleared my foggy mind. I scrambled to my feet and ran out of the room. It was pitch black outside. The distant lawn lights of the manor were shining. Clutching my bleeding arm, I stumbled forward. It didn’t take long before I heard Julian’s angry shouts behind me. I dove behind a thick hedge, my heart hammering against my ribs like a trapped bird. My phone. My hands shook violently as I pulled out my phone, my blood smearing the screen. Call 911? No, the manor was miles away from the city center. The police wouldn’t make it in time. Who else could I call? I had no family, no friends. The only contact on my phone was Sebastian. I pressed the call button, praying. No answer. Once, twice. On the third try, the call finally connected. “Sebastian, please. I…” Before I could finish, the call was abruptly cut off. A wave of despair washed over me. I quickly sent a panic text to 911 with my location. The footsteps got closer. “Fuck! Where did that bitch go?” Julian roared. What should I do? I squeezed through a small gap in the iron fence, scraping my skin, and tumbled out of the manor grounds. Realizing Julian hadn’t followed me outside, the tension in my muscles snapped. I slumped against the brick wall, coughing up dust and blood. Suddenly, a loud boom echoed in the sky. Bright fireworks lit up the dark night. I stared at them, dazed. The last time I watched fireworks was with my grandmother. “Sienna, you’re graduating soon. Our lives will get better. I just hope my old heart holds up long enough to see you walk down the aisle,” she had said, holding my hand. My eyes burned. “Grandma, I promise I’ll make you proud.” In the sky, the fireworks blossomed in layers. On the ground, my blood dripped slowly into the dirt. One year, two years, three years… my youth had been flushed down the drain. Slowly, the fireworks formed massive red letters in the sky: WELCOME HOME, MELANIE. The sight snapped me back to reality. I dragged my battered body forward. There were people ahead. Under a massive oak tree in the distance, Melanie was smiling beautifully, tipping her toes to kiss Sebastian. I quickly turned away. I laughed, but tears streamed down my face. Pain was a suffocating net, wrapping around me tighter and tighter. How pathetic was I? I had actually looked for help from the very man who pushed me off the cliff. Even after learning the truth, I still hoped he would pick up. I still expected him to save me.

Sienna POV As I reached the main gate of the estate, two beefy security guards blocked my way. “An expensive item has been reported stolen. The venue is on lockdown. Please return to the hall.” I was “escorted” back into the bright, suffocating ballroom. The moment I stepped in, I saw Melanie crying softly against Sebastian’s chest. Serena stood on the stage, holding a microphone. “Melanie’s diamond necklace is missing. It was a gift from her father, worth five million dollars!” The crowd gasped and murmured. Julian’s voice drifted from a corner. “It must have been stolen. And we all know who the only convicted thief in this room is…” He raised his finger, pointing directly at me in the back. Every single eye in the room locked onto me. I kept my head down. The nightmare from three years ago was happening all over again. My dress was torn from my escape, and I was desperately clutching the fabric to cover my chest. “Sienna, what are you hiding?” Serena stormed over, grabbing my wrist and pulling my hand down. I fought back. If I let go, my torn dress would expose me to the entire high-society crowd. “Enough!” Sebastian strode over, slipping his designer suit jacket over my shivering shoulders. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Melanie’s face contort with rage. “Sebastian! Why are you protecting this trash? She clearly stole it!” Serena snatched my clutch from my hand, shook it violently, and a sparkling diamond necklace fell onto the marble floor. “See! I knew it!” It finally clicked. Julian must have slipped it into my bag while I was unconscious. They didn’t just want to ruin me physically; they wanted to throw me back into a prison cell. Those disgusting monsters. “Once a criminal, always a criminal.” “I heard her grandmother was a beggar. No wonder she has sticky fingers.” Sebastian placed a hand on my shoulder, his voice perfectly comforting. “Sienna, I know you didn’t do it.” I gently pushed his hand away. I had trusted him too many times. Every single time, it was just another act. “Someone call the cops!” someone yelled. “No need,” I said, stepping back. “I already called them.” The grand double doors of the ballroom were pushed open, and two police officers walked in. Serena grabbed an officer’s arm. “This woman, Sienna, stole a five-million-dollar necklace! We caught her red-handed!” I clenched my fists. My grandmother always taught me to endure. But endurance had only brought me endless abuse. Not this time. “It wasn’t me. Check the security cameras.” Melanie laughed mockingly. “You clueless peasant, there are no cameras in Rosewood Manor. We value our privacy.” Indeed, everyone knew the estate bragged about having zero cameras to protect the privacy of the elite. I pointed to the massive crystal chandelier hanging from the ceiling. “There is one right there.” While in prison, an older cellmate once told me that the elite hid pinhole cameras inside the light fixtures of Rosewood Manor to keep tabs on their guests. The police called the manor manager to pull the footage. Within ten minutes, the video showed Melanie handing the necklace to Julian, who then slipped it into my bag. The police immediately escorted a pale Melanie and a cursing Julian out of the hall. Sebastian looked at me, his lips parted as if to say something, but he ultimately remained silent and followed the police out to handle the press. Back in my room at the Sterling estate. I lay in bed, my chest so tight I could barely breathe. I looked at my phone screen again and again. “I’ll pick you up in a month.” Just two more weeks, and I would be free from this hell. Buddy jumped onto the bed, his warm tongue licking the tears from my cheeks. I wrapped my arms around his neck, burying my face in his thick fur. “Buddy,” I whispered, my voice cracking. “Just a little longer. We are leaving together.”

Sienna POV Three days later, Sebastian returned. I had just finished searching the second-floor rooms when I saw Melanie sitting comfortably on the living room sofa. My heart sank. How was she out so fast? Melanie looked up, a smug smile playing on her lips. “Surprised? Thanks to Sebastian, the police ruled it as a ‘prank gone too far.’ Just a slap on the wrist.” My hands shook. I had forgotten. He was the city’s most brilliant defense attorney. “Sienna,” Sebastian walked in from the foyer, his voice soft. “Melanie knows she made a mistake. I brought her here to apologize to you.” Melanie put on a fake pout. “I even cooked dinner to make it up to you.” Before I could refuse, Sebastian took my hand. “Come on, let’s eat.” The dining table was filled with expensive dishes. I had zero appetite. I just wanted this farce to end. As I cut my steak, I noticed Melanie staring at me, a sickening grin on her face. My heart stopped. “Where is Buddy?” Melanie tilted her head innocently. “Who’s Buddy?” I threw my chair back and ran downstairs. The dog bed was empty. I ran through every room, screaming his name. Nothing. Silence. I stumbled back into the dining room, my knees giving out as I collapsed onto the floor. “What did you do to Buddy?” Melanie smiled like a sweet child. “Isn’t he right there in your stomach?” Something snapped inside my brain. A violent wave of nausea hit me, and I dry-heaved repeatedly onto the hardwood floor. “Ahhh!” I screamed, my hands slamming against the floor over and over again. My palms turned red and bruised, but I couldn’t feel the pain. I remembered the day I got out of prison. Buddy had run to my feet, wagging his tail. I begged Sebastian to let me keep him. Sebastian had smiled, helped me build a doghouse, bought him birthday toys… it was all a lie. “Sienna.” Sebastian knelt down, trying to pull me into his arms. “I didn’t know she would do this. I’ll buy you another dog…” I pushed him away with all my strength, standing up by clutching the edge of the table. “Buy me another one?” I laughed, tears streaming down my face. “Sebastian, you are a heartless monster.” After that day, I fell severely ill and couldn’t leave my bed. Whenever Sebastian came to check on me, I treated him like air. Until I saw the news on my phone: Melanie Montgomery had won the prestigious Golden Daffodil Award using my design portfolio. I dragged my weak body to Sebastian’s study. “Are you feeling better?” Sebastian looked up, completely unfazed, as if he knew I would come. I forced my voice to remain steady. “My portfolio. You gave it to Melanie, didn’t you?” Sebastian walked over and stroked my hair. “Sienna, be reasonable. A portfolio in the hands of a felon is worthless. Giving it to Melanie ensures it actually gets put to good use.” Good use? My mind flashed back to the hidden compartment I had found in his closet. “Sienna.” Sebastian buried his face in my neck, his voice dripping with dark obsession. “Don’t ignore me. I hate it when you treat me like a stranger.” Suppressing the urge to vomit, I wrapped my arms around his waist. “Okay.” From that day on, I went back to being his obedient, quiet girl. While Sebastian was away at court, I slipped into his master bedroom and opened his closet. I tried his birthday, Melanie’s birthday, my birthday. None of them worked. Finally, I entered the date of my arrest three years ago. Click. The compartment popped open. Inside lay a digital voice recorder. With trembling fingers, I pressed play. Melanie’s panicked, crying voice filled the room. “Sebastian, I hit someone. There’s so much blood. You have to help me.” Before the recording could finish, familiar footsteps echoed outside the door. “Sienna, what are you doing in here?”

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Through the thick glass window of the fire simulation chamber, my four-year-old daughter, Lily, was frantically pounding her tiny hands against the door. Choking black smoke had turned her little face a terrifying shade of purple. The heart rate monitor next to the glass was blinking wildly, the numbers screaming at 190. The piercing alarm cut through my ears like a knife. “Open the door. Let her out. Now.” I screamed, my voice cracking. But Carter held my wrist in a vice grip, pinning my hand away from the emergency stop button. “Her training session isn’t over yet.” “She has a congenital heart condition. She is your own daughter, Carter.” He didn’t even look at the monitor. “Valerie is having a panic attack down the hall. I have to go to her. The system is automated. Nothing will go wrong.” The heavy steel door slammed shut behind him. In that exact second, Lily’s body went limp like a doll with its strings cut. She collapsed headfirst into the swirling black smoke. I went completely wild. I grabbed a heavy fire extinguisher from the wall and began smashing the glass door, blood dripping from my split knuckles. By the time Carter returned, holding a weeping Valerie in his arms, the paramedics had already stopped their chest compressions. Valerie huddled against his chest, shedding fake tears. “It’s all my fault. I shouldn’t have had a panic attack.” Carter tightened his arm around her shoulders. “It’s not your fault, Valerie.” I supported myself against the cold wall, my voice reduced to a raspy, broken whisper. “Then what about my daughter?” He looked at me with those cold, detached eyes. “It was a necessary sacrifice for the research.” I stared at his hypocritical face, my heart turning into a block of ice. Fine. Carter, since you taught me what sacrifice means, now it’s my turn to teach you.

Joanna’s POV Carter knew our four-year-old daughter, Lily, had a congenital heart defect. Yet, behind my back, he locked her inside that horrific fire simulation chamber. At preschool, Lily wasn’t even allowed to run too fast without gasping for air. But Carter, her own father, forced her into that suffocating black smoke all for some twisted “stress-tolerance training.” By the time I stormed into the control room, the monitoring screens were flashing with an icy glow. On the center screen, four-year-old Lily was clutching her favorite yellow teddy bear, curled up helplessly in the corner of the dark room. Thick, toxic smoke pumped into the chamber. The crimson emergency lights strobed violently. My baby’s face was deathly pale, her wide eyes filled with absolute terror. Beside the screen, her heart rate monitor was spiking out of control. I shoved the technicians out of my way and lunged for the emergency stop button. “Open the door! Let her out!” But Carter grabbed my wrist, his voice chillingly calm. “The simulation run isn’t complete. We can’t stop it.” “She has a heart condition! Have you lost your mind?!” Tears poured down my face. “Valerie ran the safety assessment. It’s fine,” Carter said, not even blinking. “She’s my daughter. She needs to learn to stay calm in a disaster.” I stared at the man I shared a bed with in sheer disbelief. “She’s four! You’re using your own daughter as a lab rat?” Carter frowned, irritation flickering in his eyes. “Joanna, you used to run this project. You of all people should know that effective training requires discomfort.” On the screen, Lily began pounding desperately on the glass. But the soundproof blast door swallowed her tiny screams. I could only watch as my daughter gasped for air, her little hands hitting the glass over and over until she dropped her teddy bear, too weak to pick it up. The monitor let out a sharp, continuous beep. Heart rate: 190! “Open the door! Carter, I’m begging you, please!” I dug my fingernails deep into Carter’s arm until I drew blood. Carter just looked away. “Don’t let your personal emotions cloud your professional judgment.” Just then, the intercom buzzed. Valerie’s trembling, tearful voice came through: “Carter… I’m so scared. The alarms… they’re triggering my PTSD from the fire back then. I can’t breathe…” Hearing her voice, Carter’s cold expression cracked instantly. The veins on his hands popped. Sensing his movement, I immediately blocked the control room door. “You are not leaving! Lily is still in there!” Over the radio, Valerie’s voice grew weaker. “Carter… help me…” Carter couldn’t take it anymore. He shoved me aside brutally. “Valerie is in trouble. I have to go.” “What about our daughter?! Lily is going to die!” I screamed hysterically. “The automated system is monitoring her! Nothing will go wrong!” Carter didn’t even look back as he threw the door open. “Stop being so dramatic, Joanna.” The door slammed shut. The control room was filled with nothing but the screaming red alarms. I lunged at the console, hitting the override button repeatedly. But the screen flashed a cold red message: AUTHORIZATION LOCKED. ACCESS DENIED. Then, the main lights in the simulation chamber cut out. The emergency red lights flooded the space. On screen, little Lily clutched her chest in agony. Her body swayed, and she collapsed flat onto the floor. My heart stopped beating. I lost my mind. I ran out of the control room, shoving past the staff in the hallway. I snatched the fire extinguisher off the wall and began smashing the heavy lock of the chamber door. The security guards tried to pull me away, but they backed off, terrified by the bloody, desperate look in my eyes. After what felt like a hundred strikes, the lock finally shattered. The door swung open. I threw the extinguisher aside and fell to my knees, pulling my daughter’s cold body into my arms. Her lips were blue. Her chest was completely still. “A doctor! Someone call 911!” I carried her and ran, tripping over the threshold and scraping my knees raw. But I couldn’t feel the pain. I scrambled back up, screaming for help like a madwoman. The paramedics rushed in, taking Lily from my arms. They immediately started CPR, bagging her, pushing epinephrine… By the time Carter returned, Valerie was wrapped in his jacket, leaning against him. Her face was slightly pale, but her breathing was perfectly steady. She had a few dry tears on her cheeks. I sat paralyzed on the dirty floor, my hands covered in blood, like an empty shell. The lead paramedic finally stopped. He looked at Carter and shook his head with a heavy sigh. “Carter… we couldn’t get her back. She’s gone.” Carter froze. Seeing this, Valerie immediately covered her mouth, tears streaming down her face. “I’m so sorry, Carter… If I hadn’t had that attack, you wouldn’t have left Lily. This is all my fault…” Carter took a deep breath and held her tightly. “This isn’t your fault, Valerie.” Hearing those words, I slowly raised my head and stared at Carter. My voice was completely gone, reduced to a raspy whisper. “Not her fault? Then whose fault is it? Carter, that was your daughter!” Carter avoided my eyes. He frowned, his voice returning to that professional, icy tone. “This was an extreme anomaly. High-stress data collection requires realistic environments. Lily’s sacrifice proves we need to push this training program forward. Without this data, more people will freeze in real disasters.” Using the wall for support, I slowly stood up. I walked right up to Carter. With every ounce of strength left in my body, I slapped him across the face. SLAP! The sharp sound echoed down the corridor. Carter’s face snapped to the side, a trickle of blood appearing at the corner of his mouth. “Joanna! You designed these harsh training protocols years ago!” Carter hissed, grabbing his jaw. “You of all people should understand what sacrifice means!” I didn’t answer him. I stared at the blood on his lip. I bent down to pick up my baby’s cold, lifeless body, but the world suddenly spun into pitch black, and I collapsed.

Joanna’s POV When I woke up in the cold hospital room, the only sound was the dripping of the IV. Lily’s cause of death had already been officially written off by Carter as a “sudden cardiac event due to pre-existing conditions.” The hospital door was slightly ajar. Out in the hallway, I could hear Carter’s assistant talking in a hushed, urgent whisper. “Carter, I checked the logs. Before Lily went in, Valerie secretly raised the visual and audio stimulation levels by two whole notches! She even bypassed the safety redline in the system!” Carter’s voice was cold and commanding. “Delete that part from the incident report. Not a single word of it gets out.” The assistant panicked. “But Joanna’s original safety standards for kids were clear! If a child’s heart rate stays over 160, the system must shut down automatically!” “She isn’t the head of this project anymore,” Carter cut him off coldly. “But why did Valerie change the data? She said… she said she wanted to test the limits. She wanted to see the absolute breaking point of a civilian in a crisis. Carter, Lily was only four years old!” The room was deathly quiet. I clenched my fists so hard my nails dug into my palms. The wounds from smashing the door yesterday split open, dripping blood onto the white sheets. I couldn’t feel the pain. Outside, Carter’s cold voice rang out again. “Never mention this again. Lock the data. Until the press conference is over, Joanna must not get her hands on any project files.” Footsteps approached. I quickly closed my eyes. Carter pushed the door open. He walked quietly to my bedside and gently pulled the blanket up to my chin. “Are you awake?” I didn’t move or open my eyes. He sighed, his voice thick with a fake, exhausted tenderness. “About Lily… I know you hate me right now.” I slowly opened my eyes and stared at him. “How are you writing up Lily’s death report?” Carter’s hand paused. “The training run followed all safety protocols. She participated voluntarily as part of the family pilot program.” I turned my head away, my voice dry as sandpaper. “A four-year-old? Voluntary?” Carter frowned, his patience wearing thin. “It’s just for the public, Joanna. Lily is gone. We can’t let her death turn into a scandal that ruins the entire project. You’re her mother. If you cooperate with the media, everyone will believe us.” My eyes drifted down to his sleeve. There was a light pink thread stuck to his jacket. It was from Valerie’s sweater. Last night, he was holding the killer, comforting her. And this morning, he was using those same hands to offer me a cup of warm water, coaching me on how to cover up for his mistress. Nausea rose in my throat. I forced myself to stay calm. “Fine. I’ll cooperate. But I have one condition. I want a divorce, and you will sign the settlement agreement I draw up.” Carter let out a visible sigh of relief. He reached out to touch my forehead, but I flinched away. His hand froze in midair before he awkwardly pulled it back. “Deal. Just do as I say. Rest up. I’ll pick you up for the press conference tomorrow morning.” The moment the door clicked shut, I ripped the IV out of my hand. Blood welled up, but I ignored it and got out of bed. In the cabinet of the hospital room, there was a duffel bag containing Carter’s backup laptop. The password was still Lily’s birthday. I sat down and plugged in a flash drive. Carter had locked me out of the main database to keep me quiet. But he forgot one thing: I built the foundation of this entire system. I had left an undocumented backdoor. Time was running out. Anyone could walk in at any second. I quickly copied the most critical system logs, the ones proving the chamber was operated dangerously above safety limits, and that Lily’s medical profile should have barred her from entering. The next morning, Carter arrived to pick me up. He brought a high-collared black coat for me. “During the interview, keep your answers short. If they ask about Lily, just say she was a brave girl.” I put the coat on. In the inner pocket, my fingers tightly gripped the flash drive containing the truth. Thinking I had finally submitted, Carter reached out to adjust my collar. “Once today is over, everything will go back to normal.” I looked up at his handsome, lying face, and a cold smile touched my lips. “Yes. It will.”

Joanna’s POV Right after the press conference, I met with my lawyer. I handed him the flash drive. He looked at the files for less than three minutes before his face turned grim. “Joanna, this is gold. It’s enough to ruin them.” I stared at him. “Can we go to the police?” He closed the laptop. “Yes. But in the short term, it won’t touch Carter.” “My daughter is dead.” “I know.” My lawyer lowered his voice. “But in the San Francisco Fire Department, Carter is a decorated hero. Right now, you only have partial logs and medical reports. It’s not enough to convict him instantly.” My hands tightened on the desk. “I can file the charges,” he continued, “but you need to be prepared. Once we file, he’ll get notified immediately. He has powerful friends. He will bury this.” “So what do I do?” “Get him to sign the divorce and asset division papers first, before he suspects anything.” When I walked out of the law firm, my phone had seventeen missed calls. All from Carter. The eighteenth call came through. I answered. “Where are you?” Carter demanded instantly. “Meeting my lawyer.” The line went dead silent for two seconds. “What are you trying to do, Joanna?” “I’m reporting you to the police.” Carter’s voice dropped to a freezing temperature. “You’re emotionally unstable right now.” “I have never been saner.” “Then you should think about Evelyn.” I froze on the sidewalk, my fingers clenching the phone. Carter spoke slowly. “Evelyn had a heart scare this morning. I had her moved to a private care facility. The security there is a bit… loose, and the staff can be quite negligent. If you say anything stupid at the media briefing later, I can’t guarantee she’ll make it through the night.” “Carter! You bastard!” “I’ll see you at the venue,” he said, completely ignoring my rage. “Wear the black coat. And don’t bring anything you shouldn’t. My security will check you at the door.” He hung up. Evelyn was my foster mother. She wasn’t my biological mother, but she was the one who took me out of the foster system when I was ten. When I had high fevers, she stayed up all night sponging my forehead. When I won my first engineering award, she framed the certificate and hung it in the living room. On my wedding day, she held my hand and said, “Joanna, if he ever hurts you, you come back home. I’m always here.” And now, Carter had her in a chokehold. The media briefing was set for 3:00 PM. At the entrance, Carter’s assistant stopped me. He held out his hand. “Phone, bag, and empty your coat pockets, please.” I handed over my phone. When his fingers brushed the inner pocket of my coat, he felt the flash drive. I stared at him. The assistant slipped the flash drive into a plastic evidence bag. He whispered, “Mr. Carter is doing this for your own good, Joanna.” I said nothing. I walked onto the stage. The room was packed with reporters. The flashing lights were blinding. Carter sat on my right. Valerie sat on my left, her face pale, a white bandage wrapped around her wrist. The first reporter jumped up. “Mrs. Carter, we heard rumors that you accused the training project of causing your daughter’s death. Is that true?” Carter casually placed his hand on the back of my chair. I felt the warning pressure of his fingers. I looked straight into the camera lens. My throat felt like it was coated in ash. “I was emotionally unstable yesterday.” The room went dead silent. Valerie lowered her head, wiping a tear. “Lily had a congenital heart condition,” I continued, forcing each word out. “Her death was a tragic medical anomaly. In my grief, I lashed out and wrongfully blamed my husband and Valerie.” Carter’s hand relaxed, patting my shoulder gently. Another reporter pressed on. “So there were no safety violations in the simulation?” I saw Carter’s phone, which was sitting on the table, light up. It was a live security feed from the care facility. Evelyn was lying in a hospital bed. Two strange men in black suits were standing right by her door. I bit my lip so hard I tasted blood. “There is no evidence of any violations.” The moment those words left my mouth, Valerie sobbed softly. “Joanna… I know how much pain you’re in. I don’t blame you for pointing fingers.” Carter handed her a tissue. The cameras instantly swerved to capture the touching scene. By the next morning, my name was dragged through the mud online. “Grieving Mother Exploits Daughter’s Death to Attack Fire Hero.” “Former Engineer Suffers Mental Breakdown, Accuses Top Charity Project.” “Valerie Working Through Illness for Charity, Attacked by Jealous Wife.” I sat in the dark living room, scrolling through Twitter. People called me a psycho. They said I was using my dead child for clout. They dug up my old engineering credentials, calling me a hypocrite who designed brutal training simulations myself. Carter stood behind me, looking down at my phone. “See? No one will ever believe you.” I locked the screen. Carter walked around to face me. “As long as you behave, Evelyn will receive the best medical care. Lily is gone. If you keep causing trouble, you’ll only hurt the people who are still alive.” I kept my head down to hide the burning hatred in my eyes. Fighting him head-on right now would only get me killed. I had to survive first. And I had to keep Evelyn safe. I pulled out the settlement agreement, which had the divorce papers hidden inside, and slid it across the table. “Sign it. You promised.” Carter picked up the pen. Just as he was about to read the fine print, his phone rang. Valerie’s whimpering voice came through the speaker. “Carter… it hurts so much… can you please come over?” Carter’s expression softened instantly. He stood up to leave. I grabbed his arm, my face expressionless. “Sign it first.” Irritated, Carter quickly flipped to the back page, scribbled his signature without looking, and rushed out the door.

Joanna’s POV Three days after the press conference, I was cornered by Carter’s fanatic supporters outside Evelyn’s care facility. “How dare you show your face here? Carter is a hero, and you’re trying to ruin him!” “Valerie is an angel! How could you lie about her?” “You’re trash!” Someone yanked my hair. Another person kicked my knees. The paper bag in my hands ripped, and the hand-knit sweater I brought for Evelyn fell into the muddy puddle. My head hit the edge of a concrete planter. Warm blood began to trickle down my forehead. By the time security finally showed up, the crowd was still screaming at me. “Stop acting like a victim! You’re just a crazy bitch!” I dragged myself up against the wall, my ears ringing. I knelt down, picking up the muddy sweater, trying to brush off the dirt. My phone rang. The voice on the other end was quiet and professional. “Is this the family of Evelyn Vance?” My hand froze. “Yes. I’m her daughter.” “I’m so sorry. The transport vehicle carrying Ms. Vance suffered a sudden engine explosion on the highway. Her remains have been brought to the city morgue. The damage is severe, so please prepare yourself.” The sweater slipped from my fingers back into the mud. “Whose remains?” I whispered, unable to breathe. “Evelyn Vance.” When I arrived at the morgue, they only showed me a black body bag. The coroner wouldn’t let me look for long. But I saw the old silver bracelet on her charred wrist. I bought that for her with my very first paycheck. She had worn it for years. The chain had broken three times, but she always got it fixed because she couldn’t bear to part with it. I reached out to touch the metal. My fingertips came away covered in cold, black ash. Valerie was staying in the hospital’s VIP suite. When I pushed the door open, she was sitting up in bed, sipping water. The room was filled with fresh pink roses. Carter had just sent them. Valerie gasped when she saw me, then set her cup down. “Joanna? What are you doing here?” I locked the door behind me. “Evelyn is dead.” Valerie’s eyes immediately welled with tears. “I heard. Such a tragedy.” “You did this.” “Joanna, you can’t just blame me for everything bad in your life,” Valerie said with a soft sigh. “Your daughter had a weak heart and couldn’t handle the training. You blamed me for that, too.” I took a step closer to her bed. Valerie shrank back slightly, her voice dropping to a whisper. “If the little brat hadn’t run around with a bad heart, she wouldn’t have died. But of course, you blame me.” I grabbed the glass of water from her bedside table and splashed it directly into her face. Valerie shrieked. “Everyone around you dies, Joanna. Maybe you’re just bad luck,” she sneered, wiping the water from her face. Her sweet, innocent mask was completely gone. “Carter will always protect me. Who is left to protect you?” I lost control. I lunged forward and grabbed her throat. Valerie choked, her face turning red as she violently slammed her hand onto the nurse call button. The door was kicked open. Carter stormed in. He grabbed my wrist and threw me hard onto the floor. Valerie huddled under her blankets, sobbing and shaking. “Carter… I’m okay… Don’t hurt Joanna. She’s just grieving…” I pushed myself up from the floor, screaming. “She killed my mother!” Carter blocked Valerie’s bed. “Enough, Joanna!” “Get out of my way!” “How long are you going to keep acting like a lunatic?” Carter roared. I grabbed a paring knife from the fruit basket on the table and pointed the blade at Valerie. “I will make her pay!” Carter’s eyes narrowed. He lunged to grab the knife. In the chaotic struggle, the sharp blade sliced deeply across my right hand. Blood instantly gushed out. My fingers lost all strength, and the knife clattered to the floor. This was the hand that had designed countless safety protocols. The hand that had built the most precise simulation models in the country. The hand that had held Carter through his night terrors after his failed missions. Now, the cut ran from my thumb all the way across my palm, deep enough to show bone. Carter barely even blinked. “You haven’t worked as an engineer in years anyway,” he said coldly. “If your hand is ruined, so be it.” I looked up at him, my heart completely empty. The last trace of my love for this man died right there. When I was brought back to our house, my right hand was wrapped in a thick bandage. Carter locked me in the guest bedroom. His voice came through the thick door. “Stay here for a few days. Don’t leave until you’ve cooled down.” The key turned in the lock. His footsteps faded away. I sat on the cold floor and pulled out a small cloth pouch from Evelyn’s belongings that I had managed to keep. Inside was an old photo of me as a baby. On the back, there was a phone number and a handwritten note: “Joanna, if you ever find yourself with nowhere left to go, call this number. Find the Aston family in Seattle. They are your real family.” I dialed the number with my trembling left hand. A woman’s shaking voice answered. “Is… is this Joanna?” I held the phone tight, watching the blood slowly seep through my white bandages. “I need to escape from Carter.” The phone was taken by a man. His voice was deep, powerful, and steady. “We will bring you home, sweetheart. But you must remember two things.” I looked at the locked door. “What?” “First, Carter must believe you are dead. Second, the authorities must find zero evidence that the Astons helped fake your death.”

Joanna’s POV “If you run now, Carter will destroy the evidence first, then he will destroy you. Valerie will keep playing the victim, and they will paint you as a madwoman,” the man’s voice was low and calm. He was Arthur Aston, my biological father. “Joanna, endure it just a little longer. When the time is right, the Astons will make sure they lose everything. We will collect every single debt they owe to Lily and Evelyn.” I stared at the light bleeding under the door crack. “I want them ruined.” “I want them to face justice.” “They will. I promise you,” another voice joined the call. It was Ashley, my biological sister. “The moment you give us the green light, our people will move.” I hung up. A moment later, the door unlocked. Carter walked in, followed by two burly security guards. He glanced at my bloody hand. “Valerie’s hand was hurt in the scuffle, too.” I looked up at him. “You’re going to the hospital to take care of her,” Carter said flatly. Evelyn’s ashes were sitting in a small black box on my vanity. Just a small box. That was all that was left of the woman who raised me. I looked at the box. “My mother just died.” “I know,” Carter said, frowning. “That’s why you need to keep busy. It’ll keep you from overthinking.” “You want me to nurse her killer?” “You’re delusional again! Valerie is the victim here! She’s been shaking all night because of you, and her wrist is sprained. You owe her this, Joanna.” “Fine,” I said, a dry, mocking laugh escaping my throat. “I’ll go.” I reached out and picked up the urn. Carter blocked me. “Why are you bringing that?” “I don’t want my mother to be lonely.” Carter remained silent for a few seconds before stepping aside. The VIP hospital room was warm. Valerie was sitting up in bed, a bandage around her wrist. But on her fingers, she wore a small, silver-plated safety bracelet on a red string. On the back of the silver plate, the name Lily Vance was engraved. I froze at the entrance. Carter had placed that bracelet on Lily’s wrist for her third birthday. I remembered him kneeling down, tying the red string around our daughter’s tiny wrist, then holding my hand. “I will protect both of you from now on.” And now, that red string was on Valerie’s wrist. Valerie raised her hand, showing it off. “Carter said I’ve been having nightmares, so he gave me this to keep the bad spirits away. You don’t mind, do you, Joanna?” I looked at her with pure disgust. “Keep it. Dirty things belong together.” Valerie picked up a bowl of chicken soup from her tray, smiling sweetly. “Really? Joanna, I had the kitchen make this soup for you. You haven’t eaten in days. Have some.” She opened the box next to her, and my blood turned to ice. That was the urn I had brought. Valerie used a silver spoon to scoop out a small mound of grey ash, slowly pouring it into the hot soup. “Evelyn died such a painful death. Drink this, and you two can be reunited.” “You sick bitch!” I lunged at her, but the guards immediately pinned me down. One of the younger guards looked at Valerie’s sadistic smile, a flash of disgust crossing his face. He subtly loosened his grip on my arm, but he didn’t dare let go completely. Valerie walked up to me with the bowl, forcing my jaw open. “Drink up! Don’t you want to be with your mother? Hahaha!” I struggled wildly, but the soup mixed with ash was forced down my throat. I coughed violently, tears streaming down my face. Valerie turned around and dumped the rest of the ashes onto the tiled floor. The greyish-white powder scattered everywhere. She stepped on it with her slippers, looking down at me. “See? Who can you protect, Joanna?” I managed to wrench myself free from the guard’s grip and tackled Valerie to the ground. My left hand gripped her neck, while my right hand’s bandages tore open, dripping fresh blood onto her face. “I will kill you!” Carter slammed the door open and dragged me off her. Valerie scrambled into his arms, sobbing hysterically. “Carter… I just wanted her to eat something… she suddenly went crazy…” Ignoring the excruciating pain in my hand, I crawled on the floor, desperately trying to gather Evelyn’s scattered ashes with my bare fingers. Carter stepped on my wrist, hard. “Take her to the basement cold storage room. Let her freeze until she calms down.” As I was dragged away, my eyes burned red. After I left, the younger guard stared at the messy room. He clenched his teeth, pulled out his phone, and took photos of the spilled ashes and the soup bowl. When no one was looking, he used a clean plastic bag to scoop up a small amount of the ash and soup, hiding it deep in his pocket. The heavy steel door of the basement cold storage slammed shut. The freezing air immediately cut into my bones. I curled up in the corner. My right hand was completely numb, and the taste of ash still lingered in my mouth. I pulled out my phone and typed one word: Proceed.

🌟 Continue the story here 👉🏻 📲 Download the “NovelMaster” app 🔍 search for “439540”, and watch the full series ✨! #NovelMaster

I have been working as a professional organizer for three years. Today, I received an anonymous booking. The moment I stepped into the client’s apartment, I froze. Sex toys and intimate items were scattered all over the place. The scene was incredibly messy and suggestive. The young man standing in the living room rubbed his neck, looking embarrassed. “Sorry about the mess,” he said. “Please don’t mind it. My girlfriend is just… way too clingy.” Then, he started complaining, though his tone was filled with a mix of helplessness and bragging: “Her sex drive is off the charts. She just can’t keep her hands off me. Last time, we were literally in the middle of dinner when she suddenly jumped me.” “At night, she wears me out completely. I’m always the one who’s exhausted the next morning. I told her to tone it down, but she claims it’s just her way of showing love.” Looking at the chaotic, intimate mess in the room, a sudden chill ran down my spine. My fiancée, Sarah, had been with me for three whole years, but she was incredibly cold. She never allowed me to get close to her. I pushed down the bitter disappointment in my heart and got ready to start cleaning. Just then, the man’s phone rang. He grinned and showed me the screen. “See? Speak of the devil. She’s calling me again.” The caller ID displayed one clear name: Sarah. I completely froze. Wasn’t that… my fiancée?

The man turned around and slid into his bedroom to answer the phone. “Babe, miss me already?” “Then come over today.” There was a brief silence on the other end before a familiar female voice agreed. “But I can’t stay over tonight.” “I’ll make it up to you next time.” I stood frozen in the living room, mechanically putting on my face mask and gloves. A voice deep inside me desperately whispered that this was just a coincidence. It was just someone with the same name and a similar voice… I pulled out my phone and opened my Snapchat chat with Sarah. The last message was still her wishing me a happy birthday. I quickly typed: [What time do you get off work today?] After sending it, I locked the screen and went to work. The man’s flirtatious conversation kept drifting out of the bedroom, but I forced myself to pretend I heard nothing. Usually, time flies when I’m working, but today, every second felt like torture. By dinner time, I had finished organizing the living room. I forced a professional smile. “Mr. Marcus, your booking is for two days. I’ll come back tomorrow to finish the rest of the apartment.” Seeing the spotless living room, Marcus grabbed my hand, his eyes shining. “Wow, thank you so much!” “Just in time, too. My girlfriend is coming over soon. She’ll be thrilled to see the place this clean.” “Though, I guess I’m in for another wild, exhausting night with her…” I squeezed out an unnatural smile and left the apartment. Pulling out my phone, I saw a reply from Sarah sent five minutes ago. [I have to work late at the law firm today. I won’t be able to make dinner. I’ll be home late.] Working late again… Over the past six months, since she started her own law firm, she was always busy until midnight. But I had never doubted her. After all, Sarah had severe intimacy issues. It was so bad that she would literally throw up if she had any physical intimacy with a man. I gripped my phone tightly and let out a long breath, trying to calm the overwhelming bitterness in my chest. Right then, Sarah sent a second message: [Happy birthday, babe.] [I know your back always hurts from all the bending during your organizing work, so I ordered a massage chair for you. It should have been delivered to the house already.] [I’m so sorry I can’t be with you tonight. Once this busy season is over, I promise I’ll make it up to you.] Seeing the phrase “make it up to you,” my eyes stung. Sarah was always so thoughtful. Over the past three years, no matter how busy she was, she always cared about my health. How could a woman like her be the same person who was just flirting with another man on the phone? I must be too tired lately. My nerves were playing tricks on me. When I got home that night, a massive massage chair was sitting quietly in the living room. I lay down on it. As the rollers massaged my back, the tiny seed of doubt in my mind began to fade. Out of habit, I opened Instagram to do some mindless scrolling before bed. Suddenly, a newly posted update caught my eye. The poster was my client from today, Marcus. It was a headless bed photo. Under the dim lighting, he was lying down, holding his phone up for a selfie. A woman was lying on his chest, her face buried in the pillow, revealing only her bare, fair back. The caption read: [She said this is my compensation.] My breathing stopped instantly. The woman’s right hand was resting by the pillow. On her wrist was a delicate silver chain bracelet. Hanging from the bracelet was a tiny silver pendant. That bracelet was handmade by my late mother. She had made two. One for me, and she had personally put the other one on Sarah’s wrist, saying it was a gift for her future daughter-in-law. For three years, Sarah had never taken it off, not even when showering or sleeping. My whole body began to shake. My stomach churned violently. With trembling hands, I took a screenshot of the photo and sent it directly to Sarah. My fingers were so stiff that I could barely type: [When you were sleeping with him, didn’t you feel like throwing up?]

Less than a minute after the message was sent, Sarah initiated a FaceTime call. I took a deep breath and swiped to answer. On the screen, Sarah was still wearing her professional office suit. The background was clearly her private office at the law firm. “Babe, what kind of ridiculous screenshot is this?” She frowned slightly, her tone laced with exhaustion and frustration. “I’ve been in my office reviewing case files all night. I haven’t even had dinner yet.” “Are you just too tired from work lately? Why are you letting your imagination run wild again?” She panned the camera around. Her desk was piled high with documents. She was indeed the only one there. Looking at the red veins in her eyes, my tense nerves suddenly relaxed. A wave of immense guilt washed over me. “I’m sorry, Sarah… I just… that bracelet looked exactly like yours.” “Silly,” she smiled gently. “There are millions of similar bracelets out there. Go to sleep. I’ll be home soon.” In the middle of the night, I heard the front door click open. Sarah wrapped her arms around me from behind, whispering softly in my ear: “Stephen, happy birthday.” “Babe, I missed you so much.” A sudden, unnameable urge surged inside me. I turned around, returned her hug, and initiated a kiss on her lips. Sarah stiffened for a fraction of a second, but soon began to respond passionately. We kissed and touched in the dark. Everything was going incredibly smoothly. Just when I thought we were finally going to cross that barrier, Sarah suddenly pushed me away as if she had been electrocuted. She stumbled and rushed into the bathroom. Immediately after, the sound of violent, painful throwing up echoed from inside. I lay frozen on the bed. Her warmth still lingered on my skin, but my chest felt like it was being crushed by a heavy stone. It was hard to breathe. As expected, she still couldn’t do it. I shouldn’t force her… The next day, I gathered my emotions and went back to Marcus’s apartment to finish the job as agreed. Marcus was in an exceptionally good mood today, lounging around in a loose bathrobe and chatting with me: “Man, yesterday was such a close call. My girlfriend’s fiancé almost caught us!” My hands paused in the middle of folding a shirt. He continued to brag proudly: “But my girl is just too smart.” “To keep that idiot quiet, she literally dragged me to her office!” “You have no idea how thrilling it was on that office desk. When she was on FaceTime with her fiancé, I was literally kneeling right between her legs.” My brain went entirely blank. I quickly pulled out my phone and opened the screenshot of my FaceTime call with Sarah from last night. I zoomed in on the picture. Farther, and farther. Finally, in the shadow under the right corner of Sarah’s desk, I spotted the cuff of a pair of men’s sweatpants. It was the exact same pair Marcus was wearing right now! “What are you looking at?” Marcus leaned in, his eyes landing on my phone screen. He froze for a second, and the smugness on his face instantly vanished. He looked me up and down, a sudden realization dawning on him. “Wait… so you’re the fiancé?” “What was your name again? Stephen, right?” My blood ran cold as I stared dead at him. Marcus curled his lip, deciding to lay all his cards on the table. “Did you seriously think that ‘accident’ three years ago was some kind of destiny?” My heart squeezed hard. “What do you mean?”

“Think about it,” Marcus said, leaning back on the sofa and crossing his legs. “That alley didn’t even have streetlights. Why would Sarah conveniently walk past there in the middle of the night?” “Those thugs were hired by Sarah. She paid them to put on a show just so you would fall head over heels for her!” “What did you say…” I felt like I had fallen into an icy abyss. Three years ago, I was planning to confess my feelings to a girl I had liked for years, Aurora. On my way, Sarah blocked my path, holding a massive bouquet of roses, and confessed her love to me in public. I rejected her without hesitation. “I’m sorry, Sarah. I already like someone else, and I’m going to see her today.” I still remembered how Sarah’s face darkened instantly. She was always so proud. At the time, I thought she was just bowing her head in sadness. But I never could have imagined that on that very night, I would be brutally ambushed in that alley… “Too bad the actors took it too far,” Marcus sneered, leaning closer to me. “She didn’t expect those thugs to actually lose control and beat you half to death.” “Even though Sarah sent them to prison afterward, she’s been disgusted by you ever since.” “She told me that every time she looks at you, she pictures you pinned to the dirt, getting beaten up like a dog.” “She thinks you’re a coward. You have no backbone. How could she ever be attracted to a guy like you?” I clenched my fists so hard my nails dug deep into my palms. Marcus continued, his voice dripping with utter contempt: “She said a man who gets beaten like that and doesn’t even fight back is pathetic to look at.” “Unlike me. I actually know how to make her happy.” I stared at him without saying a word. My eyes were as cold as ice. Marcus was momentarily intimidated by my gaze, but he quickly recovered his smug expression.

“Sarah said being with you every single day makes her sick.” “It’s just that the incident was too high-profile back then. She couldn’t just dump you without people talking behind her back.” Marcus walked over, looking down at me. “Stephen, if you know what’s good for you, pack your bags and leave.” “Don’t wait for Sarah to kick you out. It’ll just be embarrassing for everyone.” Looking at him, I suddenly laughed. “What are you laughing at?” Marcus frowned. “I’m laughing at how stupid you are.” I stood up. I was half a head taller than him, and he instinctively took a step back. “Do you really think Sarah loves you?” I stared straight into his eyes. “She was willing to ruin my life just to get her way. What makes you think she won’t do worse to you when she’s done playing with you?” Marcus’s face turned pale. “What do you mean?” “She used a few thugs to destroy me. Do you honestly think she’ll use gentler methods on you when she wants to get rid of you?” I picked up my toolbox and walked out without looking back. At the door, I paused, but I didn’t turn around. “Good luck, Marcus.” Once out of the apartment building, I dialed a number at the very bottom of my contact list—a number I had only looked at in the dead of night. The phone rang twice before a voice answered. “Stephen?” The woman’s voice sounded surprised. “Aurora.” I leaned against the brick wall, looking up at the gray sky. “Can you do me a favor?”

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The excruciating pain of a blade ripping through my flesh finally faded. I gasped, opening my eyes to find myself back in the spring of my senior year of high school. I had been reborn. Before I could even process the shock, I heard my roommate, Tyler, complaining about his online girlfriend. “We’ve been e-dating for three months, and she won’t even send me a revealing photo,” Tyler grumbled, his face twisted in frustration. “All she does is nag me to study and prepare for the SATs. It’s freaking ridiculous!” Noticing I was awake, he grabbed my shoulder, his eyes lighting up with an idea. “Hey, Ethan, aren’t you e-dating someone too? Why don’t we swap accounts?” My eyes were calm, but my heart was screaming with the brutal lessons of my past life. In my previous life, I had stupidly rejected his proposal. My online girlfriend, Bella, was never the rich heiress she claimed to be. She was a rebellious, drop-out high school girl who hated the world. She seduced me into skipping classes, wasting my potential, and eventually, I only got into a mediocre community college. Later, she ran up identity fraud on my name, leaving me with hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt. I ended up dead on a rainy street, stabbed by her loan sharks. Meanwhile, Tyler’s e-girlfriend, Chloe, was the school’s resident genius. She had pushed Tyler to study night and day. She got into Caltech and dragged Tyler into a top-tier university with her. They built a tech startup together, got married, and went public. But years later, Tyler’s scandals of cheating and embezzling company funds leaked. He was eventually stabbed to death by his mistress. Having seen the two completely different paths of destiny, I looked Tyler dead in the eye and said, “Sure. Let’s swap.”

The moment I got Chloe’s Snapchat account, the first thing I did was link it to my phone number. Watching me, Tyler let out a mocking laugh. “Seriously? I’m not going to back out of the deal.” I ignored him. In my past life, he didn’t back out. But in this life, I wasn’t taking any chances. I logged in. The last message in the chat history was Chloe asking Tyler if he wanted to hit the library this weekend. Tyler had replied with a rolling-eyes emoji. I scrolled up. They had been talking for three months, but their total message count was less than what Bella and I would send each other in a single week. It was always Chloe initiating. She would ask how his prep was going, if he needed help with AP Calculus, or if he wanted her study guides. Tyler either left her on read or replied with a lazy “K.” During those three months, Tyler thought she was too boring and never even met her in person. She kept asking him to study together, and he kept making up excuses to skip. That was probably why Tyler assumed she was just a boring, nerdy chick. His loss, my gain. Their last conversation was three days ago, and Tyler had left her hanging. I tapped the text box, typed a few words, deleted them, and finally sent: 【Do you think our first meet-up is a bit rushed?】 She replied almost instantly: 【Then what do you propose?】 I thought about it and typed: 【Let’s go for a run tonight. Whoever loses has to make the study guide for the next exam.】 This time, she paused for a few seconds. I stared at the screen, my palms sweating. Then, a notification popped up: 【Deal.】 I let out a breath I didn’t realize I was holding. Even though I had been reborn, my academic knowledge hadn’t vanished. In this life, I actually had a shot at flipping the script. I jumped out of bed and started packing my bag for the library. Tyler was chatting with Lucas, laughing loudly. “I’m meeting Bella tonight to play Valorant. She just loaded five hundred bucks into my account so I can carry her in ranked.” He shot me a boastful look. “Bella is so generous. She always buys me dinner and gifts me those expensive weapon skins.” I didn’t say a word. I just threw my backpack over my shoulder and walked out. After dinner, I waited for Chloe by the school track. My heart was racing—not out of romantic nervousness, but because I knew this girl held the key to my destiny. In my past life, the first time I met Bella, she dragged me to an internet cafe, bought me some cheap game currency, and made me play all night. In the end, I had to pay for her Starbucks, and she still complained that I didn’t buy her the venti size. I wondered if Tyler would actually manage to get any real money out of her this time. Footsteps sounded behind me. I turned around and saw a girl walking toward me. She was tall, with a cool, sharp beauty, holding a water bottle in her hand. Her name was Chloe. In my past life, I had only seen her face on the news. Feeling a bit intimidated, I avoided her gaze. She looked at me, handing over the water. “Warm up first, or you’ll get cramps.” I took the bottle and followed her onto the track, starting with a slow jog. Neither of us spoke. The only sounds were our footsteps and breathing in the quiet evening. After the run, I bent over, hands on my knees, panting for air. Chloe stood beside me, checking her smartwatch. “Four minutes and two seconds. You lost.” “You’re making the study guide,” she said. “Starting tomorrow.” I looked up at her. Under the moonlight, her face was incredibly serious, marked by a determined, no-nonsense look. “Okay,” I said, my heart fluttering, my cheeks flushed from the run. She nodded, turned, and walked away. I stood there, watching her figure disappear into the shadows, then looked down at the water bottle in my hand. My heart rate slowly returned to normal. Ethan, I told myself, you don’t need a girlfriend right now. You need an Ivy League acceptance letter. It was almost 10 PM when I got back to the dorm. My legs were sore, but my mind was incredibly sharp. In my last life, this was the exact day I started going down the wrong path. But not this time. I looked at Tyler’s bed. It was empty. Lucas poked his head out from his bunk. “Tyler said he’s not coming back tonight. He went to a motel with Bella after their gaming session.” I didn’t reply. I just lay down on my bed and closed my eyes.

From that day on, my life revolved around studying with Chloe. During class, I stayed in my room, but the second the bell rang, I met her in our usual corner of the library. We worked quietly, occasionally exchanging notes. She didn’t talk much when explaining concepts, but every word she said was precise. Once, I got stuck on an advanced calculus problem. She glanced at it for two seconds, then tapped a number on the sheet with her pen. “You missed this constraint.” I reread the prompt. She was right. “How did you spot that so fast?” I asked, a bit self-conscious. “Because I’ve already done all these practice sets,” she said simply. “Your issue isn’t that you don’t know the math. You’re just careless with the details.” I froze. She’s done all of them? I buried my head in my notebook, pretending to study hard, hoping she couldn’t hear how fast my heart was beating. On the other hand, Tyler was skipping classes constantly. He stopped turning in essays. Any free time he had was spent running off to see Bella. In the dorm, he would look at me with pure disdain, always finding ways to brag. “Bella just bought me a new mechanical keyboard. Look at this. Can your ‘study buddy’ do that?” I tried to warn him. “You should really study, Tyler. The SATs are coming up.” Tyler rolled his eyes. “You’ve been hanging out with Chloe too much. You’re becoming just as dry as she is.” “What’s the point of studying all day? Chloe tells you to run, you run. She tells you to study, you study. Are you her boyfriend or her puppy?” He looked at my practice sheet and sneered. “In a real relationship, your girl should either be spending money on you or letting you into her bed. You? You’re just letting a girl boss you around.” I didn’t argue. Some paths can only be understood once you fall into the ditch yourself. I had already fallen once; I wasn’t going back. When the results of the next SAT prep test came out, my score had jumped significantly. I snapped a picture of my report card and Snapchat-ed it to Chloe: 【Thanks to you.】 She sent back a photo of her own scorecard. Still a perfect 1600, sitting comfortably at the top of the district. I couldn’t help but smile at my screen. Tyler, who was sitting nearby, leaned over to peek. His face instantly darkened. “You just got lucky,” he said loudly. “Everyone knows your real level, Ethan. Don’t act like you’re some genius now.” I slid my phone into my pocket and ignored him. The bell rang, and Bella was waiting for Tyler at the classroom door. He went out for a bit and returned holding a brand-new iPhone 15 Pro Max. He intentionally waved it in front of my face. “Pretty nice, right? Bella bought it for me. The latest model.” I stared at the phone. I had the exact same one in my past life. Back then, I thought Bella had saved up her allowance to buy it for me. I had cherished it like a treasure. Only later did I find out she had used my social security number to open a high-interest online credit line. I was the one paying for it all along. Seeing me quiet, Tyler assumed I was jealous. He proudly shoved the phone into his pocket. “What’s the point of being smart? You don’t marry rich by getting good grades. You do it by knowing how to make a girl spend her money on you.” I remembered the cold, indifferent look on Bella’s face when I was dying in my past life. “You’re right,” I said quietly. “It’s all about having a good eye.”

Seeing my progress, I trusted Chloe’s guidance even more. I studied like a man possessed. Meanwhile, Tyler’s grades plummeted. He couldn’t even keep up with the basic curriculum anymore. The way he looked at me grew increasingly hostile. And then, the rumors started. Lucas pulled me aside one afternoon, looking worried. “Ethan, Tyler’s been telling everyone that Chloe is using you like a dog.” “He says you do whatever she wants, like a total simp. And…” “And what?” “And he said Chloe is just playing with you for fun. Once she gets bored of her ‘nerdy pet,’ she’ll dump you. He says you’re a fool doing free labor for her without even getting laid.” Lucas looked at me cautiously. “He said you’re embarrassing all the guys in school.” My grip on my pen tightened. “Ethan, maybe you should keep some distance from Chloe?” Lucas suggested. “Just until the rumors blow over.” “We’re not dating,” I said. “We’re just studying.” Lucas opened his mouth to reply, but our academic advisor, Mr. Davis, suddenly appeared at the door. “Ethan, my office. Now.” In the office, Tyler was standing in the corner, a smug, vindictive grin plastered on his face. Chloe was there too, along with her advisor, Mr. Miller. I felt a surge of anxiety, but I kept my face blank. Mr. Davis cleared his throat. “Ethan, what is the nature of your relationship with Chloe?” “We’re study partners,” I said, keeping my voice steady. “We both have subjects we struggle with, so we help each other out.” Tyler cut in eagerly. “Study partners? Do study partners need to be glued to each other’s sides? “ “You guys hang out after school, study together every weekend, and you do whatever she tells you to do! He’s like a trained poodle, Mr. Davis!” I ignored him, wanting to explain further, but Chloe spoke up first. “I like him. Is there a problem with that?” The office fell into a dead, stunned silence. Tyler’s eyes went wide, his smug grin melting into pure, ugly jealousy. He probably thought the school was going to suspend us for some inappropriate conduct. Mr. Davis blinked, trying to find his words, but Mr. Miller raised a hand to stop him. “And what are your intentions, Chloe?” Mr. Miller asked gently. Chloe glanced at Tyler. “Can he leave?” Tyler looked outraged, but Mr. Davis gave him a stern look, gesturing for him to get out. Tyler dragged his feet, shutting the door reluctantly. Once the door was closed, Chloe looked at the advisors. “What Ethan said is true. What I said is also true. Though, I haven’t officially asked him out yet. He didn’t know.” I stood there, completely dumbfounded. Chloe continued, “You’ve seen our latest academic reports. Both of our scores have gone up. I enjoy studying with him. He gives me motivation and a sense of partnership.” “He is the most resilient person I have ever met. I developed feelings for him, and I wanted us to get into our dream colleges before making it official.” She looked at Mr. Davis and Mr. Miller, her expression so calm and mature it didn’t belong to a high schooler. “But you’ve disrupted my plan, and I am not pleased.” She sounded as if they were the ones who had made a mistake. My heart was pounding, and my eyelids fluttered. I couldn’t help but think: Being a genius is truly a cheat code. She just turned the tables on the advisors. The funny thing was, Mr. Davis and Mr. Miller didn’t even look angry. They looked at each other, probably having never met a student who defended her “romance” so logically and righteously. I couldn’t help but let out a small chuckle. Chloe shot me a quick look. I quickly suppressed my smile and looked at the teachers seriously. “We will keep our focus on our studies, sir. Chloe wants to pursue aerospace engineering at Caltech. I want to change my life and make something of myself in tech.” “Whatever our relationship is, it will only push us to work harder for our future.” Chloe looked at me, her eyes shining brighter than I had ever seen. The two advisors exchanged glances. Finally, Mr. Miller sighed. “We will monitor your mock exams. If there is even a slight drop in your grades, this joint study arrangement ends.” “Understood.” Walking out of the office, I turned to Chloe. “What you said in there… did you mean it?” She looked at me. “What if I did?” My heart skipped a beat, my palms grew sweaty, and my mind went totally blank. “Let’s just focus on the next SAT prep test,” I muttered, trying to keep my cool. “It’s in a week.”

When the results of the second prep test came out, Mr. Davis and Mr. Miller were ecstatic. I had jumped another fifteen ranks, and Chloe had secured the number three spot in the entire district. Meanwhile, Tyler’s scorecard was slammed onto the principal’s desk. He got a 300 on his math section. His overall score was in the bottom tier of the school. When his mother was called into the office that afternoon, I realized how bad Tyler’s situation had gotten. Skipping school, failing classes, staying out all night—his academic performance had completely collapsed. His mother sobbed in Mr. Davis’s office, promising she would hire a private tutor to fix this. When Tyler came out of the office, his face was pale and tense. Seeing Chloe and me sitting together in the hallway, reviewing a chemistry sheet, he lost it and marched over. “Chloe, you’re going to tutor me.” Chloe didn’t even look up. “I don’t have time.” “I’ll pay you!” Tyler pulled a stack of hundred-dollar bills from his pocket and slammed them onto our study table. “Name your price.” Chloe finally raised her head, her gaze cool and detached. “I don’t need your money.” Tyler’s face flushed a deep, angry red. His voice cracked. “Who are you pretending to be? You wear cheap clothes from Target. You eat the cheapest salads in the cafeteria. Don’t play the rich girl with me!” He pointed a finger at my nose. “Is it because Ethan is your little dog that you tutor him?” “If you help me get my score up for an Ivy League school, I’ll do whatever you want—” “That is enough!” Mr. Davis’s voice boomed from the doorway. Tyler froze, his mouth shutting instantly. His father, who had arrived late, walked down the hallway and stopped dead when he saw Chloe. “Chloe?” Tyler’s father gasped. Tyler was confused. “Dad, you know her?” Tyler’s father quickly stepped forward, offering his hand to Chloe with immense respect. “This is Mr. Wood’s youngest daughter. I just saw her at her father’s private charity gala last month.” The hallway went dead silent. Tyler’s face turned white as sheet. The puzzle pieces finally clicked in his head. “Chloe!” Tyler lunged forward, grabbing her arm. “I’m your actual e-boyfriend!” “Ethan is a fraud! He thought Bella was annoying, so he forced me to swap accounts with him!” I took a deep breath. “You were the one who begged me to swap, Tyler.” “Shut up!” Tyler screamed at me. “You knew Chloe was a rich genius all along! You pretended to know nothing just so she would tutor you!” “You’ve been targeting her family’s wealth from the start!” He turned back to Chloe, his eyes bloodshot. “I’m your boyfriend! I’m your first love!” “We talked for three months! You cared so much about my studies. You can’t tell me you felt nothing for me!” Tyler’s parents stood by, silent but with a desperate spark of hope in their eyes. If Chloe really was Tyler’s girlfriend, his grades would be saved, and their family would secure a tie with the wealthy Wood family. Chloe pulled her arm out of his grip and took a step back. “Did you honestly think I didn’t know you cheated me?” Tyler froze. Chloe said, “The very first day I met Ethan, I knew he wasn’t the guy I had been texting.” Her voice was ice-cold. “Your business with Bella wasn’t a secret. Everyone knew you guys were skipping school to hang out at motels and internet cafes.” “And I know you bragged to Bella about swapping your ‘boring nerd’ e-girlfriend for her.” Tyler’s face drained of all color. “I never liked you,” Chloe added. “My roommate was the one using my account to text you back then because she thought your profile picture was hot.” “The day I agreed to meet Ethan was the first day I actually used that account myself. From the very beginning, the only person I liked was Ethan.” Both Tyler and I stared at her, utterly stunned.

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To help my wife’s tech startup climb to the top of the industry, I went completely off the grid. I spent two agonizing years working in stealth mode in Silicon Valley. For two years, I lived like a ghost, eventually breaking through the industry’s most difficult barrier: the core AI chip technology. Before I left, Chloe clung to me, her voice soft and promising: “Go focus on the R&D, babe. Once the technology is deployed and the company goes public, you’ll be the co-founder. I’ll make sure you’re set for life.” With that promise locked in my heart, I returned to the company holding the exclusive patent. But what awaited me was a cold-blooded betrayal. I walked in only to see my wife leaning intimately into the arms of my former assistant. She announced to the entire room: “Starting today, Asher is appointed as our Chief Technology Officer. He will take full control of all core projects!” As Chloe finished speaking, Asher smirked. He slid his hand around her waist, pulling her close. “Thank you for your trust, Chloe. I’ll make sure AuraTech’s technological future is in safe hands.” I stared at Chloe’s slightly swollen belly, then at the triumphant smile plastered on her face. My heart turned to ash. Two years of sweating blood, sacrificing my health in that lab, and my life’s work was nothing but a stepping stone for them. Swallowing the rage burning in my throat, I sneered. I opened my laptop and remotely shut down all of the company’s core servers. You want to steal my hard work? You want to use my brain to buy your happy ending? Fine. I don’t mind burning down everything you stole from me.

With a loud bang, I pushed open the doors to the banquet hall on the top floor of the company. Inside, the lights were dazzling, and the room was filled with elite guests in formal wear. To break through that fatal coding bottleneck, I had worked day and night in Silicon Valley for two years. I slept less than four hours a day. I even ended up in the ER three times from sheer exhaustion. I had returned with the final patent authorization, eager to give my wife, Chloe, the ultimate surprise. But the scene in front of me felt like a bucket of ice water poured straight down my spine. On the stage in the center of the hall, Chloe was wearing a custom haute couture gown I had personally designed for her. She was wrapping her arms lovingly around a young man’s waist. It was Asher. The intern assistant I had hired before going to Silicon Valley. He was a college grad who couldn’t even write a basic line of clean code, a boy who only knew how to sweet-talk. Now, he was wearing a bespoke tuxedo. On his wrist was the Patek Philippe watch I had eyed at an auction—the one Chloe had told me was “too expensive, maybe next time.” “Partners, investors!” Chloe raised her champagne glass, her voice booming with pride. “Today is the most important day for AuraTech!” “Our core AI chip is finally a success. Next month, we will officially ring the bell on Nasdaq!” The crowd erupted into thunderous applause. Chloe turned to Asher, her eyes dripping with affection. “And here, I want to give a special thanks to someone very close to my heart.” “Our newly appointed CTO, and my future husband—Asher!” “For the past two years, he led the team, working day and night to achieve this breakthrough.” “And… I am already carrying his baby.” The hall went wild. “They look so perfect together!” “Congratulations, Chloe! Double blessings!” “Asher is so young to carry such a massive tech project. What a genius!” Standing at the entrance, listening to these disgusting, flattering words, I felt a wave of pure absurdity wash over me. Asher led the team? A technological breakthrough? That idiot couldn’t even tell the difference between C++ and Java! For two years, I was the one leading the core engineers in the research base. Under immense pressure, I wrote those core algorithms line by line. I nearly died to get this technology, and now it was Asher’s stepping stone to the top? I took a deep breath and walked toward the stage. The sound of my leather shoes clicking against the marble floor echoed sharply in the quiet room. The crowd parted automatically. The executives who used to bow to me now turned pale, dodging my gaze and whispering among themselves. When Chloe saw me, her smile froze instantly. She instinctively let go of Asher’s waist. Panic flashed in her eyes, but it was quickly replaced by cold indifference and annoyance. Asher, on the other hand, didn’t look guilty at all. He squared his shoulders, stepped closer to Chloe, and spoke in a mocking tone. “Oh, Ethan! You’re finally back!” He raised his glass, looking down at me like a victorious king. “Grab a seat, we’re celebrating.” “You worked hard ‘studying’ abroad these past two years. Don’t worry about the R&D anymore. I’ve got it covered. You can just relax and retire.” Looking at his smug face, I let out a cold laugh. “Studying? Covered?” I turned my eyes to Chloe, staring at her coldly. “Chloe, is that what you told them?” “I risked my life in that lab to build your technology, and you told everyone I went to ‘study’?” Chloe frowned, quickly stepping down from the stage. She grabbed my arm and whispered harshly: “Ethan, what the hell are you doing? There are investors here today! Don’t embarrass me!” “Embarrass you?” I violently shook off her hand. “You took my code to put your new boy toy on a pedestal, and you’re worried about embarrassment? I have nothing to lose!”

Chloe’s face turned pale. “What nonsense are you talking about! Your code? That was a collective effort by the company’s team!” “As the project manager, Asher deserves all the credit!” “Ethan, I know you feel left out. But you need to face reality.” “You weren’t here for two years. Asher was the one helping me manage everything, inside and out.” “He is highly capable, and now, I’m pregnant with his child. I have to give him a proper place in this company.” She spoke with such righteousness, as if I was the one who had cheated and stolen. I laughed out of sheer anger, pointing at Asher’s smug face. “Highly capable? He doesn’t even understand basic algorithmic logic! What project could he possibly manage?” “Did he manage to ‘inspire’ you in bed?” Slap! Chloe swung her hand and slapped me hard across the face. I tasted blood in the corner of my mouth. The entire hall fell into a dead silence. Asher took a few steps back, standing behind Chloe, pretending to play the peacemaker. “Ethan, calm down. Today is not the day to make a scene.” Chloe shielded him, pointing at me viciously. “Ethan! Keep your dirty mouth shut! If you dare touch Asher, I swear I’ll ruin you!” The surrounding executives and colleagues began pointing fingers at me. “Ethan, you’re being incredibly childish.” “Chloe is a billionaire CEO now. What’s wrong with her choosing a younger, better-looking man?” “Exactly. Asher is the hero of the company now. You haven’t contributed anything in two years. Who are you to scream here?” “Just apologize to Asher and get out. Don’t ruin Chloe’s big day.” I wiped the blood from my lip, looking at these fake, social-climbing faces. My heart was completely dead. Years ago, Chloe and I had started this company in a cramped basement. To get our first investment, I drank with clients until my stomach bled, landing me in the hospital for two weeks. To meet project deadlines, I pulled so many all-nighters that I lost partial hearing in my left ear. It still hasn’t fully recovered. I took her from a broke, nobody student and turned her into the glamorous tech queen she was today. And now that she was at the top, she looked down on the husband who had built her throne. “Chloe, did you forget? I own forty-nine percent of AuraTech!” I looked at her coldly. “Want me gone? Sure. Let’s split the company. I’m taking my half!” Chloe let out a mocking laugh, as if she had just heard the funniest joke in the world. She adjusted her gown, walked up to me, and whispered in a voice only I could hear: “Shares? Ethan, while you were away, we went through multiple rounds of equity restructuring and dilution.” “Your shares are worth less than one percent now.” “But for old times’ sake, I’ve prepared a five-million-dollar settlement for you.” “Take the money, sign the divorce papers, and hand over the core source code.” “Otherwise, you won’t get a single penny, and I will blacklist you from the entire tech industry!” I grit my teeth. “Five million? For half of my company? For two years of my life?” “Chloe, you’re out of your mind!” I turned to leave. “Stop him!” Chloe barked. A dozen security guards rushed forward, surrounding me instantly. Chloe walked up behind me, her voice icy. “Ethan, don’t make this ugly.” “Without that source code, our chip cannot go into mass production. The IPO will fail.” “If you don’t hand over the encrypted hard drive containing the code today, you aren’t leaving this room.” She was outright robbing me. I looked at the menacing guards, reached into my bag, and pulled out a black, encrypted hard drive. Chloe’s eyes lit up, her hand reaching out to grab it. I sneered. With a sudden swing, I threw the hard drive directly into the giant champagne tower next to us. Crash! The sound of shattering glass echoed through the hall. The hard drive hit the floor, and without hesitation, I slammed my foot down on it. Crack. The drive shattered into pieces. “You want my source code? In your next life!” Chloe’s eyes turned red with fury. She lunged at me like a madwoman. “Ethan! You psycho! I’ll destroy you!” Taking advantage of the chaos, I shoved a guard aside and ran out of the hall without looking back.

Outside, the rain was pouring. I didn’t have an umbrella. I was soaked to the bone, the icy wind cutting straight to my chest. I called an Uber and went back to the luxury villa Chloe and I owned downtown. We bought it on our third anniversary. The down payment came from selling the old house my father had left me. I walked to the front door and scanned my thumb. Beep. Fingerprint denied. I froze, then typed in the passcode. Incorrect passcode. I began banging on the door furiously. “Open up! Open the door!” After a long minute, the door cracked open. It was Chloe’s father, Marcus. He was wearing a silk robe, holding a glass of Cabernet, looking at me with pure disgust. “Screaming in the middle of the night! Shut up!” When he realized it was me, he rolled his eyes and tried to slam the door. I jammed my foot in the frame, staring at him coldly. “This is my house. Let me in.” Marcus sneered, looking at my soaking wet, miserable state. “Your house? The deed has Chloe’s name on it!” “You’re a useless loser. How dare you call this your house?” “Chloe told me everything. You’re getting divorced, and Asher is moving in tomorrow!” “Get lost. Don’t bring your trashy energy into our home!” Footsteps echoed from the living room. Asher, wearing my limited-edition slippers and wrapped in my cashmere throw, walked over lazily, biting into an apple. “Marcus, who’s making all that noise? I can’t sleep.” Marcus’s face immediately shifted into a fake, sycophantic smile. He turned to greet him. “Asher, it’s just a beggar. I’m throwing him out.” Asher walked to the door, pretending to be shocked. “Oh, Ethan! Why are you so wet? Didn’t Chloe book a hotel for you?” “Look at this place. Chloe said the master bedroom’s decor is too old-fashioned. We’re gutting it tomorrow to build my walk-in closet.” “By the way, I had the housekeeper pack all your cheap clothes and old junk. They’re in the trash bin in the basement garage.” I shoved Marcus aside, forced my way through the door, and ran straight up to the second-floor study. My father’s last notebook—his handwritten programming journal—was kept there. It was my most precious possession, the only thing I had left of him. I burst into the study. The room was a complete disaster. My desk was cleared out. The bookshelves were empty. I spun around, glaring at Asher, who had followed me up. “Where is my dad’s notebook?!” Asher covered his mouth, letting out a chuckle. “That dusty old book? The pages were yellow and filled with weird scribbles.” “I thought it was dirty, so I told the maid to burn it with the trash.” “Ethan, you’re not going to get mad over a piece of garbage, are you?” Burned… My mind went blank. Every ounce of sanity I had left snapped. I lunged forward, grabbing Asher by his collar, and slammed my fist into his face. “You burned my father’s legacy! I’ll kill you!” Asher shrieked like a pig, struggling wildly. Marcus screamed, rushing over to tear at my clothes. “You animal! How dare you strike Asher! Get off him!” I kicked Marcus back, throwing him to the ground, and slammed Asher’s back hard against the drywall. “Give it back! Give me back my father’s notebook!” Asher’s forehead was bleeding. He began to sob hysterically. “Help! He’s killing me! Marcus, help!” Suddenly, loud footsteps rushed through the front door downstairs. Chloe burst in with several beefy bodyguards. Seeing the scene, she roared, “Ethan! Stop!” She ran up and shoved me away with all her strength. I stumbled back, hitting my spine against the wooden banister. A sharp pain shot through my back, leaving me breathless. Chloe frantically helped Asher up, wiping the blood from his face. “Asher, baby, are you okay? Where does it hurt?” Asher clung to her, trembling. “Chloe, it hurts so bad… Ethan tried to kill me…” Chloe turned to me, her eyes venomous. “Ethan, you are a literal psychopath!” “I swear, for what you did to Asher today, I will make you pay!” “Throw him out! And make sure he never sets foot near this property again!” The bodyguards dragged me up from the floor and threw me out onto the wet driveway. Bam! The heavy door slammed shut in my face. I stood in the freezing rain, my back throbbing in pain. Water mixed with dirt ran into my eyes, blurring my vision. I clenched my fists so hard my nails drew blood. Chloe. Asher. Marcus. Everything you owe me… I will make you pay back a thousand times over.

I lost track of how long I stood in the storm. Suddenly, a black umbrella appeared over my head, blocking out the heavy rain. I looked up. A cold, striking, and incredibly sharp face came into view. Elena Vance. The CEO of Vance Group, Chloe’s biggest rival in the tech industry. She was also my true, “secret business partner” for the past two years. “Mr. Vance, it seems your homecoming party didn’t go as planned,” Elena said smoothly, her voice carrying a hint of amusement. I stood up straight, looking at her. “Are you here to mock me, Ms. Vance?” Elena smiled faintly, handing me a dry trench coat. “I’m just here to bring my Chief Technology Officer home.” “My car is waiting. Let’s go.” I didn’t decline. I followed her into the Rolls-Royce Phantom parked by the curb. Inside, the heater was blasting. Elena handed me a cup of hot coffee. “The hard drive. You actually destroyed it?” she asked casually. I held the warm cup, letting the heat seep into my hands. “It was a dummy. Filled with anime files.” Elena raised an eyebrow, a smirk of appreciation playing on her lips. “And the real source code?” I tapped my temple. “All in here. I’m the only person on this planet who can make that system run.” Elena leaned back against the leather seat, her long fingers tapping her knee. “Chloe thinks she can kick you out and use your tech to ring the bell on Nasdaq.” “She has no idea you built a backdoor into that entire system.” I sneered, a dark look crossing my eyes. “Did she really think my work was that easy to steal?” “I’m going to let her climb as high as she can, just so she can feel the bone-crushing pain when she falls.” Elena looked at me, her eyes deep and scheming. “What do you need me to do?” “Help me prepare a grand gift,” I said, watching the city lights blur past. “Doesn’t Chloe want an IPO launch? I want the whole world to see who she really is.” The next morning, while I was resting in the hotel Elena had booked for me, my phone rang frantically. It was Chloe. I pressed answer and quietly hit the record button. “Ethan! What the hell did you do to the source code!” Chloe’s voice was hysterical, like a wounded animal. “Why are all the test runs showing errors? The system won’t even boot up!” “The investors want to see the final demo tomorrow morning! Hand over the decryption key right now!” I took a slow sip of my milk. “Ms. Aura, we are getting a divorce. Whether your company goes public or goes bankrupt has nothing to do with me.” Chloe gritted her teeth. “Ethan, don’t push me!” “You think I can’t touch you just because you won’t hand it over?” “Lest you forget, your sister Lily’s kidney transplant surgery years ago was paid for by the company! Three million dollars!” “I have every single bank transfer and signature. If I report this to the police, it’s grand larceny and embezzlement!” “It’s enough to put you in federal prison for ten years!” My grip on the phone tightened. Lily had suffered from acute kidney failure back then, needing an urgent transplant. I was locked in the stealth lab and couldn’t leave. Chloe had offered to use company funds to pay for it, saying we would deduct it from my future dividends. So she had been setting me up even back then. She intentionally framed that medical payment as embezzlement just so she could hold it over my head today! “Chloe, you are truly disgusting,” I spat. “Call it whatever you want!” Chloe laughed coldly. “Three o’clock today. Come to the office, sign the divorce papers, and hand over the decryption key.” “Otherwise, expect a warrant for your arrest. You can spend the rest of your youth in a cell!” She slammed the phone down. I stared at the black screen, laughing out of sheer anger. Great. Perfect. Chloe, if you want to play dirty, let’s play.

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