1 After the “real” daughter of the family snatched my fiancé, I decided I was done playing by the rules. I did the one thing I could: I got him into my bed, and then I ran. He may have been a rebellious disaster, but he was unfairly handsome. So I made a choice. I kept the premium-grade souvenir of our night together. Jax Walker was furious, swearing that when he found me, he’d make my life a living hell. I spent five years in hiding, my heart pounding every time I heard his name. Until one day, I went to pick up my son from school. A huge crowd was gathered at the gate, buzzing about a fight. My eyes lit up. I eagerly pushed my way through the crowd, ready for some good, old-fashioned drama. And there they were, in the open space by the school entrance, two figures locked in a clumsy brawl. The taller one wore a black trench coat, his back as straight and unyielding as a pine tree. His movements were sharp, efficient. The shorter one was in a primary school uniform, his little legs pumping like pistons. His fists were small, but every punch was aimed at a vital spot. I rubbed my eyes, staring at the two of them—one a carbon copy of the other, just shrunk down. My world tilted on its axis. What was wrong with these two? How could a father and son who had never met before just start throwing punches? … Jax turned his head, deftly dodging my son’s fist. The corner of his eye twitched upward in a look of lazy, arrogant amusement. That face. It was the kind of face that haunted my nightmares. I took a deep breath. And another. And one more for good measure. And to think, Noah told me he was a model student. From the look of his practiced fighting stance, he seemed more like a seasoned brawler. That left hook had some serious power, the angle was vicious, and he even knew how to feint before landing a punch. A circle of parents had formed around them. Some were filming with their phones, others were cheering them on. “Whose kid is that? He’s got some moves!” “Go for the big guy! You got this, kiddo!” I covered my face, wishing the ground would swallow me whole. Noah planted his hands on his hips, his little chin jutted out. “Mister, you’re blocking my way.” Jax glanced down at him and scoffed. “You own the sidewalk, pipsqueak?” “It’s not mine, but you’re blocking the school gate. My friends can’t get out.” A laugh escaped Jax’s lips, a mix of annoyance and disbelief. “Who the hell is your mother? Raising a little tyrant like you.” I winced. The kid had inherited my temper and Jax’s in equal, disastrous measure. Everyone who knew us knew that when Jax and I met, sparks flew. And someone usually ended up bleeding. The day I found out I was the Sterling family’s switched-at-birth mistake, Jax was the first one to show up and gloat. “Well, well, Willow. Turns out you’re a fake. No wonder you have no class.” I lunged at him, sinking my teeth into his neck. He couldn’t push me off, no matter how hard he tried. I felt the coppery tang of blood seep between my teeth. He let out a muffled groan of pain, his eyes wide with disbelief. “What are you, some kind of animal?!” Only then did I release him, licking the blood from the corner of my mouth. I just never imagined he’d have the same effect on our son. Jax reached out, his fingers closing around the back of Noah’s neck. “Alright, let’s go find your parents. I have to see what kind of people are responsible for a little monster like you.” My throat tightened. It was time to run. But just then, a sharp voice cut through the air. His teacher, Ms. Davis, came storming over in her high heels, her face a mask of fury. “Excuse me, which class are you with? Are you bullying one of our students?” For a rare moment, Jax actually looked embarrassed. Before he could speak, a woman in a chic cream-colored coat emerged from the crowd. She gracefully looped her arm through Jax’s and offered Ms. Davis a practiced smile. “Hello, teacher. I am so sorry about this. Please forgive our intrusion.” “We’re investors in the school, and we were just passing by to see the campus. My fiancé isn’t always the best with children. If he’s offended your student, I apologize on his behalf.” She gave a slight bow, her posture a picture of elegance. Ms. Davis’s anger immediately deflated. “Oh, an investor. Well, even so, you can’t be getting into fights with students…” Isabelle, the real Sterling daughter, turned to Jax, her tone laced with a gentle scolding. “Jax, darling, really. Why are you arguing with a child?” I watched their linked arms, a cynical sound escaping my lips. After Isabelle was welcomed back into the family, she had made it her mission to take everything from me. “Jax is mine too, sister,” she had said. “Surely you’re not going to try and steal him from me as well?” I had trembled with rage. If she was going to accuse me of being a usurper, I might as well play the part to the hilt. That night, I got him roaring drunk, dragged him to bed, and was gone before sunrise. I tugged the brim of my hat lower. As long as no one recognized me, everything would be fine. But just then, the teacher’s voice rang out again, stopping me in my tracks. “Oh, Noah’s mom! There you are. I was just about to call you.” I froze. 2 Jax’s gaze was already sweeping in our direction. Ms. Davis walked over to me, holding Noah’s hand. “Noah and that gentleman had a little misunderstanding. I just wanted to fill you in…” I kept my back to Jax, my voice a low whisper. “I’m in a huge rush right now, something urgent came up. Can I call you back later?” Ms. Davis blinked, taking in my panicked expression, then glanced over my shoulder. “Well, but…” I mumbled a half-baked excuse, bent down, and swept Noah into my arms. He wrapped his arms around my neck, his face a picture of confusion. I turned and ducked into a nearby alley, rushing us home. As soon as I set him down, Noah looked up at me. “That man kept staring at you, Mommy. When you walked away, he watched you for a really long time.” I didn’t answer, moving to shut the door, but a hand shot out and held it open. Isabelle stood on my doorstep, a triumphant, phony smile on her face. “Sister. I knew it was you. It’s been a long time.” “Tsk, tsk. I can’t blame Jax for not recognizing you. You look nothing like the proud, arrogant Sterling heiress you used to be.” Noah peeked out from behind my leg, his little face tense as he glared at her. Isabelle noticed his gaze and looked down, her smile widening. “And whose little bastard is this?” I rolled my eyes so hard I thought they’d get stuck. “Are you done?” The smile on her face faltered for a second before she pulled a gold-embossed invitation from her purse. “Sister, tomorrow is my wedding to Jax. Mom and Dad said that, after all, you were their daughter for twenty years. Even if you’re not their blood, they’d still like you to be there.” She pressed the invitation into my hand and leaned in close to my ear. “By the way, I still have those drawings of yours.” My eyebrows shot up. Isabelle took a step back, her face a mask of perfect composure, but her eyes were cold and sharp. “You left in such a hurry. That manila envelope… there were about twenty of them, right? All from your high school days.” She tilted her head, her smile sickeningly sweet. “I heard you were supposed to go to art school. What a shame. It was me who convinced Mom and Dad to cut you off financially. A pity you couldn’t afford it.” “I’ve looked through those drawings a few times. They’re all rather… intimate sketches of Jax, aren’t they?” I narrowed my eyes at her. “What do you want? I’ve left the Sterling family. Can’t you just leave me alone after all these years?” She let out a delighted laugh. “Sister, you stole so many years of my life. This is just the beginning.” “If you come to the wedding on Saturday, I’ll return the drawings to you in person. If you don’t… well, then I’ll just have to display them for all the guests to see. Let everyone know just how disgusting you are.” A laugh burst out of me. “Great. Go ahead. Let the whole world see his nudes.” Isabelle froze, her face flushing a deep red. “You’re shameless!” I smiled, pulling out my phone and waggling it at her. “Oh, and if that’s not explosive enough for you, I’ve got more. From that night… you know. Want a private screening?” I had nothing, of course, but I was an expert at bluffing. Isabelle’s face turned ashen. “Willow, you’re despicable!” I tilted my head, my smile bright. “If you don’t show everyone my masterpieces, you’re a coward.” She was shaking with rage, pointing a finger at me, unable to form a word. “You were spoiled rotten by the Sterlings! Even after all these years on your own, you still haven’t learned any humility. Just you wait.” She shot me one last venomous glare, then spun on her heel and stormed off. I yelled after her, “I’ll be there tomorrow! You’re a coward if you don’t show them!” Noah poked his head out from behind the door. “Mommy, what did you draw?” I pinched his cheek. “Mommy is taking you to crash a wedding.” 3 The next day, I arrived at the old Sterling family estate as promised. Isabelle, draped in a wedding gown with a long train, found me in a corner where I was adjusting Noah’s little suit. “Sister, you came. Perfect. There’s something I need your help with.” I raised an eyebrow, waiting for her next move. She clapped her hands, and two security guards in black suits appeared behind her, grabbing my arms. “The kitchen is short-staffed today. The dishwasher called in sick. Since you’re not doing anything, you can go help out.” I frowned. “Isabelle, you invited me to your wedding just to make me wash dishes?” She looked me up and down, her gaze dripping with condescension. “It’s not hard work. Just washing some plates, mopping the floor. Surely you can handle that? You’re not the Sterling heiress who never lifted a finger anymore.” The guards started dragging me towards the kitchens. Noah rushed forward, clinging to my leg. “Don’t touch my mommy!” Isabelle gave one of the guards a look. He stepped forward, grabbed Noah by the collar, and lifted him away from me. “Isabelle!” I struggled, shouting. “Let go of my son!” “Don’t worry, I won’t hurt him,” she said, adjusting her veil, her voice light and airy. “As soon as you’re done in the kitchen, I promise you’ll get your son back in one piece.” She paused, leaning close to my ear, her voice a low hiss. “Of course, that’s only if you do a good job. Break a single plate, and you and your son will be going home naked.” The guards shoved me into the kitchen and left me in front of a mountain of greasy plates. “You can leave when you’re finished.” The door was locked from the outside. I took a deep breath, rolled up my sleeves, and started scrubbing. I washed for nearly an hour, my hands pruned and white. Suddenly, I heard a commotion from the main hall. It was followed by Isabelle’s piercing shriek. “How is that possible? It was right on my hand! That diamond ring is worth five million dollars!” “Where could it have gone?!” A cold knot of dread formed in my stomach. A terrible premonition washed over me. I peeked through the crack in the door. The next thing I heard was Isabelle’s voice, thick with insinuation. “Just now… I think there was a child who was very close to me. He even bumped into me, and now my ring is gone.” Before her words had even faded, a guard emerged, holding Noah firmly. My son was still holding half a macaroon, his cheeks puffed out. He looked utterly bewildered by the sudden attention. “I didn’t do it!” “What are you doing? Let me go!” Noah began to struggle violently. Isabelle rushed over, her face a mask of fake apology. “I’m so sorry, little one.” “But this ring is extremely valuable. I simply can’t afford to lose it. I just want to check, to see if you have it on you. If you don’t, I’ll have them let you go immediately!” As every guest in the room watched, the ring was pulled from Noah’s pocket. A collective gasp went through the hall, followed by a wave of murmurs and disgusted looks from every direction. 4 A few of the society ladies close to the Sterling family were already frowning, pointing at Noah. “You can just tell he has no breeding, running around like a wild animal at an event like this.” “Where are his parents? When a child causes this much trouble, the parents need to be held accountable.” Noah’s face slowly turned crimson. He shouted, “I didn’t! I didn’t bump into her! And I didn’t take her ring!” But his small voice was lost in the sea of judgmental whispers. I pounded on the door, my palm stinging, but it wouldn’t budge. Just then, the police and venue security arrived. The evidence was undeniable, found in front of everyone. A police officer knelt down. “Son, where are your parents? Who told you to steal?” That question was like a needle, popping the balloon of Noah’s composure. He blinked, his eyelashes suddenly wet, but he fought back the tears. “I don’t know.” Isabelle clung to her mother, who had rushed to her side, sobbing dramatically. “Mom, that ring… it was a symbol of Jax’s love for me.” “This is the son my sister raised on the outside. We were kind enough to invite them to the wedding, and this is how they repay us, with their thieving hands.” The murmuring grew louder. “Oh, it’s her… the fake heiress…” “No wonder. A bastard raises a bastard. A family of thieves!” Noah bit his lip so hard it was a wonder it didn’t bleed, refusing to let a single tear fall. At that moment, a hush fell over the entrance to the hall as the crowd parted to form a path. Jax walked in, dressed in a perfectly tailored black suit, his expression unreadable. Isabelle dried her tears, her voice becoming formal and business-like. “Officer, there’s one more thing.” She took her phone out of her clutch, pulled up a few photos, and handed it to the police. “These are drawings my sister made. The subject matter… they are all photos she secretly took of my fiancé, which she then used to create… those kinds of drawings.” She paused, a faint blush on her cheeks, as if the topic was too embarrassing to discuss. “My fiancé is Jax Walker, the heir to the Walker Corporation. These drawings are a serious violation of his privacy, and the content is incredibly… obscene.” The officer took the phone, his brow furrowed. “Where are these drawings now?” “They were in my possession. My sister came to the wedding today to demand them back. But I believe this kind of behavior cannot be tolerated. I intend to press charges.” She turned to Jax, her voice softening. “Right, Jax?” Jax finally looked up. He walked over to the police officer, and in one smooth motion, he lifted Noah into his arms. “I’m his father.” “And as for those pictures, I was the one who was barely dressed, trying to seduce her. I begged her to draw them.”

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My eighteenth attempt at a wedding with my fiancé, and once again, my adoptive sister stole everyone away. My parents called, their voices a mixture of anxiety and impatience. “Molly’s stomach is acting up again. We’re taking her to the hospital. You handle the wedding. It’s been canceled so many times, you’re an old pro at this.” My maid of honor, my best friend since childhood, just clicked her tongue. “Is your wedding really more important than Molly’s health? She was in so much pain she almost passed out, and you expect us to just ignore her? When did you become so cruel, Kara?” And my fiancé? He didn’t even bother to call. Just a text with five words: Wedding’s off. We’ll reschedule. We’ll reschedule. I repeated those words to myself over and over. He’d used those same five words to dismiss me seventeen times before. A bitter laugh escaped my lips. I was so done with this. “System.” “Sever my ties with all of them.” A familiar voice replied, “As you wish. All connections between you and the other characters have been severed.” “Countdown initiated. In 72 hours, they will lose everything they possess. Including their lives.” 1 As the system’s countdown began, I picked up the microphone and walked onto the stage, a sea of violet—Molly’s favorite flower. How fitting for my wedding. “I apologize, everyone. Today’s wedding is canceled.” The guests exchanged glances, but no one seemed surprised. “I knew it,” one woman whispered. “They’ve never managed to actually go through with one. If I were Kara Fairley, I’d be too embarrassed to even show my face.” “The whole family dotes on the younger one. If I were her, I’d just let my sister have him. At least she’d get a reputation for being generous instead of being the laughingstock of the city.” “You don’t get it,” another chimed in. “This one’s not to be messed with. Every time Mr. Vance refused her, his company’s stock would tank the next day. He lost millions before he finally agreed to stay with her.” I walked away under a cloud of pitying stares, a sarcastic smile playing on my lips. This time, it was going to be more than just a stock dip. I changed out of my wedding dress and went back to the Fairley mansion to pack a few things. As I was about to leave, the front door opened, and the whole laughing, smiling group walked in, gathered around Molly. The moment they saw me, the smiles vanished. Liam Vance’s eyes flashed with anger. “Kara, if you were going to cancel the wedding, why didn’t you explain it properly? Now everyone is going to assume it was because of Molly again.” My father’s voice was a sharp command. “Kara, your handling of this was abysmal. In the past, you’ve managed the PR for these cancellations flawlessly. You’ve disappointed me. Go and release a statement immediately. Say it was because of your own selfish whim.” My best friend, Chloe, whipped out her phone. “I’ll have my agent contact the media. If Kara posts a statement now, we can still control the narrative. We’ll hire some online trolls to attack her, and no one will suspect Molly…” I didn’t respond to their accusations. I just watched the countdown timer in my mind. Two days and eighteen hours. Then, they would be finished. “Kara, are you deaf? Let me be clear. If you don’t fix this, I can’t promise you when the next wedding will be.” Liam stepped in front of me, his voice dripping with impatience. Finally, Molly spoke, her voice soft and frail. “It’s all my fault. I ruined your wedding, Kara. I’m so sorry.” “There are still other good days this month. You two shouldn’t postpone it any longer…” She broke off, coughing weakly. Liam rushed to her side, rubbing her back. “It’s not your fault, don’t even think that. Your sister will never leave me. It doesn’t matter when we get married.” “You’ve got that wrong,” I said, my voice cold. It was the first thing I had said. They all stared at me, stunned. I held up my duffel bag. “I’m leaving.” The words had barely left my mouth when a sharp crack echoed through the living room. 2 I turned my head to the side, a bitter laugh escaping me. My mother’s hand was still trembling with rage. “How dare you cause a scene?! We’ve spoiled you rotten all these years, and this is what you’ve become? So selfish and arrogant?” “And you’re leaving? Where will you go? Are you trying to make this a city-wide scandal, to make everyone think we favor Molly, that we’re cruel to you? Kara, when will you ever learn to be considerate? How could I have a daughter like you? You’re not even half the woman Molly is!” The metallic taste of blood filled my mouth. I licked my lips. Yes, in the past, I would have thrown a fit. Because I didn’t understand. I didn’t understand why, when Molly was the one who broke our father’s priceless antique, they blamed me. I didn’t understand why, even with security footage, they refused to believe I hadn’t pushed Molly down the stairs. Even buying flowers that triggered Molly’s allergies was seen as a deliberate act of cruelty. This wasn’t the first time my mother had hit me. The last time was just two days ago. Because I refused to let Molly wear my wedding dress. And then, she fainted. My mother shoved me, then took a pair of scissors and shredded the custom-made gown I had waited six months for. For Molly, my mother and I were practically at war. So, yes, I would cause a scene. I would make everyone see the injustice. But this time, I was done fighting. I am the Chosen One in this world. All the other characters can only gain their power and luck by being connected to me. The day after I was born, the nearly bankrupt Fairley Corporation suddenly struck gold, becoming the wealthiest family in the city. My father’s stage-two liver cancer miraculously vanished. My best friend, Chloe, grew more beautiful with each passing year of our friendship, eventually achieving her dream of becoming an award-winning actress, a superstar. As for Liam… He was a street vendor, hawking counterfeit goods. Chased by police, beaten by competitors. Until he saved me when I got lost in a night market. I fell for him instantly. From that day on, he founded his own brand, and every business venture he touched turned to gold, until the Vance Corporation was listed on the stock exchange. For over twenty years, they had all cherished me. Liam, especially, treated me like the most precious thing in the world. And through me, they all got everything they ever wanted. But then, Molly was brought into our family. And everything changed. My father’s voice was cold. “Someone, take her things. She’s not taking a single thing from this house with her.” “Kara, you can leave. But this time, no one is coming to coax you back. If you walk out that door, we will hold a press conference and disown you. You will no longer be our daughter!” They threw me out without so much as a change of clothes. Liam sighed and discreetly handed me a key. “You can stay at this apartment. Kara, we’re tired. We can’t keep playing these games with you.” “I wish the person I had saved that night was Molly.” I scoffed. “You can marry her now, then.” Liam sighed again, a weary sound. “There you go again. Kara, you know I promised to marry you. I won’t go back on my word.” “Molly is a sweet, innocent girl. I won’t have you speak of her so casually, as if she’s some kind of toy. Don’t let me hear you say that again.” He turned and walked back up the steps. I threw the key on the ground and was about to leave when Molly rushed out, grabbing my sleeve. “Don’t go, sister! I shouldn’t have wished for a life that wasn’t mine! I don’t deserve it!” “Don’t go. I’m the one who should leave. I’ll leave the Fairley family right now…” I knew what she was doing. So I just stood there, letting her cling to me and put on her show. But when I didn’t push her away like I usually did, she suddenly gasped for air and collapsed at my feet. “Molly!” “Call Dr. Chen! Molly, my daughter!” They all rushed over, surrounding her. Liam’s eyes were blazing as he grabbed me by the throat. “Kara, you dare to touch Molly again? Do you really think I won’t hurt you?!” I almost laughed. It was truly absurd. I hadn’t even touched her. And yet, here I was, the attacker. “Liam, I hope you all don’t regret this.” “Someone!” my father roared, pointing at me. “Lock her in the basement! It’s time for some family discipline!” 3 The damp, dark basement. This was my second time here. The first was still fresh in my memory. It was because I found Molly sneaking into Liam’s room in the middle of the night. I caught her red-handed, right there on his bed. But she cried and claimed she was sleepwalking, a result of some past trauma. She didn’t know why she had ended up in Liam’s room. She just said it felt… safe. She hadn’t meant to do it. My parents and Liam bought her story completely. Liam even told her, gently, that if she was ever scared, she could come to him anytime. At the time, I was more in love with Liam than ever. I wouldn’t even tolerate a female assistant near him. The entire executive floor was a no-woman’s-land. So I had slapped Molly across the face. And my parents had locked me in this basement. For seven days, with only a bowl of thin porridge each day. They only let me out when I was so weak from hunger that I agreed to apologize to Molly. This time, it was clear they had more in mind than just starving me. When my father came down with a rattan cane, Liam was with him. “According to the Fairley family rules, you should receive thirty lashes. But Molly feels sorry for you. She knelt and begged me to use the cane instead. The cane is not as severe as the whip, so you will receive fifty strokes.” Crack! The cane struck my back, and a red welt immediately rose on my skin. My father hit me a dozen times. The welts turned into open wounds. Each subsequent blow was a searing, agonizing pain. I remembered them saying Molly had begged for the cane. It must have been soaked in chili water. “Apologize to your sister!” “Are you going to apologize or not?!” My father grew more enraged with each unanswered demand. After fifty strokes, my entire back and arms were a mess of lacerations. The skin was torn and bleeding, trickles of blood running down my spine and pooling on the floor. I was numb with pain. I huddled in the corner, gasping for breath. My father threw the cane down and left. “Stubborn girl!” he spat as he walked out. Liam walked over and knelt beside me. “Molly prepared this medicine and these clothes for you. Kara, Molly has always been respectful to you. As her older sister, and as her future brother-in-law, we should take care of her. Why are you so petty? Why do you always assume the worst of her?” “When you’ve thought it through, apologize. Don’t make us angry again.” He shook out the clothes Molly had “prepared” for me. And thoughtfully draped them over my back. The moment the fabric touched my open wounds, it felt like I had been plunged into a vat of salt water. I curled into a ball, shaking with pain. “So dramatic. Molly is in agony every time she has one of her episodes, and she never makes a scene like you do.” Liam clicked his tongue and stood up, then left. It took me a long moment to catch my breath. “System…” “Host, would you like me to activate your pain shield?” “No. I want to accelerate the severance.” “Understood. Acceleration initiated. At noon tomorrow, all characters will experience the full backlash.”

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1 Axel wanted a promotion to the headquarters, so he asked me to temporarily take over his work. When I refused, he made my life a living hell. Five consecutive months of non-stop overtime not only drained every ounce of my energy but also torpedoed my relationship. I’d had enough. During a meeting, I sent a message to my best friend: “I seriously don’t know how someone can be so fake.” After realizing I’d sent it to the wrong person, I saw his face darken. My brain short-circuited, and on a whim, I added another line. “But why can’t he just fake having me in his heart?” … I woke up in the company infirmary. The smell of antiseptic mixed with the clean, sandalwood scent of Axel’s cologne filled my nose. I snapped my eyes open and met his deep, unreadable gaze. He was sitting by the bed, his suit jacket perfectly pressed, but the eyes behind his glasses were analytical. “You’re awake?” His voice was low, devoid of emotion. The memory of those two career-suicide messages flooded back. I remembered his shocked expression and the gossipy faces of my colleagues turning to stare at me in unison. In a panic, I had tried to stand up, but a wave of hypoglycemia hit, and everything went black. I shot up, my mind racing. “Mr. Vaughan, I… I was…” I was possessed by a demon, my head was caught in a door, my brain was struck by lightning! “Was it the truth?” he interrupted, his calm tone sending a chill down my spine. The truth? The truth that I was calling him a fake, or the truth that I wanted him to have me in his heart? Both were a death sentence. Was I really going to admit that my stupid mouth was just used to trading cringey jokes with my best friend? My mouth opened, but no words came out. Finally, I buried my face in my knees and played dead. “Daisy,” he said my name, his voice quiet but overwhelmingly intense. “Is there something you want to say to me?” I jerked my head up, forcing a smile that was uglier than a grimace. “Mr. Vaughan, I just admire you so much. I got a little carried away and said some nonsense. Please don’t take it seriously!” He didn’t speak, just watched me. His gaze felt like it could pierce through my skull and see every thought. Just as I was about to faint again from the pressure, he finally spoke. “Get some rest.” With that, he stood up, straightened a non-existent wrinkle on his cuff, and left the infirmary. I let out a long breath, my body slumping back onto the bed. I survived. I thought the incident would blow over like a passing breeze. But I had severely underestimated the speed and power of office gossip. The next day, when I walked into the office with dark circles under my eyes, I was greeted by suggestive looks from every direction. “Daisy, you’ve been holding out on us!” “Yeah, you’re always so quiet. We never knew you had it in you to go after the ‘Ice King’!” “So, spill! What’s the latest? Did he say yes?” My colleagues surrounded my desk, their faces all screaming “Tell us everything!” I had no defense, so I just laughed nervously. “It’s a misunderstanding. A huge misunderstanding.” No one believed me. My best friend, Maya, sent me a message: “You’re famous. I heard you confessed your love to Axel in front of everyone, and he didn’t say no?” I was on the verge of tears. “I sent the message to the wrong person! It was meant for you.” Maya: “Then how do you explain the second message? ‘But why can’t he just fake having me in his heart?’ Daisy, has all that overtime melted your brain?” Me: “…My fingers were faster than my brain!” No one believed me, not even myself. What was even more terrifying was Axel’s behavior. He never asked me to work overtime again. Once, as the workday was ending, he even walked over to my desk and tapped it. “If you’re done, you can head home early.” The entire office immediately shot me “I-ship-it” looks. I froze, watching him walk away. This was unbearable. For a whole week, I enjoyed the divine treatment of a nine-to-five schedule with full weekends. The price was becoming the center of attention for the entire company. Everyone looked at me like I was the future boss’s wife. Even the cafeteria lady added an extra spoonful of sugar to my coffee, smiling and saying, “A little extra sweetness, Daisy. Romance takes a lot of energy.” I was going crazy. That night, I tossed and turned in bed, my mind filled with Axel’s emotionless face and my colleagues’ knowing smiles. I couldn’t just let this happen. I had to get revenge for those five months of overtime. I had to vent the frustration from my breakup. I leaped out of bed and opened up Yelp. 2 In the search bar, I viciously typed two words: “Hit man.” The page refreshed, showing a bunch of listings for “MMA Sparring Partner” and “Boxing Experience.” I randomly clicked on one. The profile picture was a delivery guy in a helmet. I got straight to the point: “Hi, I’m looking for someone to beat up my boss. Male, about 6’1″, looks pretty built.” The reply was instantaneous: “…” I added: “Money is not an issue.” A few seconds later, a long voice message came through. I played it, and an overly positive male voice filled the air. “Ma’am, everything is tracked these days. Hiring someone to assault another person is a serious crime. You’ll go to jail! It’s not worth throwing your life away over some boss.” “Take my advice, there are plenty of fish in the sea. Quit your job, start a new life! Look on the bright side!” Me: “…” What a kind-hearted delivery guy. I quietly closed the app. Violence was not the answer. But his words gave me an idea. If Axel was so afraid of a romantic scandal, then I would make the scandal a reality! He wanted that promotion to headquarters, right? At a critical time like this, the last thing he needed was a messy entanglement with a subordinate. If I played the part of the “admirer” foolishly and loudly enough for everyone to know, he would have to avoid me to protect his reputation. Then, forget giving me a hard time, he probably wouldn’t even want to be in the same room as me. I was a genius! A perfect revenge plan began to form in my mind. Step one was to make my “crush” even more public. I needed a platform. So I went to the anonymous section of the company’s internal forum and created a post. Title: “Help! How do I win over the handsome, cold director of my department?” I wrote the post with heartfelt sincerity, portraying myself as a humble employee, madly in love and willing to do anything. To add a touch of authenticity, I subtly mentioned a few of Axel’s habits that only people in our department would know, like how he only drank pour-over black coffee and tapped his knuckles on the table during meetings. The post blew up instantly. “The OP is Daisy from the planning department, right? Grabbing my popcorn!” “Whoa, is this the hero who confessed her feelings in public? I salute you!” “A guy like Mr. Vaughan is a tough nut to crack. Good luck, OP!” Watching the replies pour in, I smiled with satisfaction. Now that I had the hype, it was time for action. Netizens flocked to give me advice. The top-voted comment was: “The way to a man’s heart is through his stomach! Make him a lunchbox!” Good idea. The next day, I woke up early and spent two hours in the kitchen, producing a lunchbox that looked… abstract. I tried to shape the rice into a heart, but it ended up as an unidentifiable lump. The broccoli was overcooked and yellowed. The only protein was pan-seared chicken breast, which was burnt to a crisp. I stared at my creation in silence. Oh well, it’s the thought that counts. I was afraid that if I made it too well, he might actually fall for me. My goal was to gross him out, after all. I packed the lunchbox and took it to work. During lunch, while Axel was in a meeting, I sneaked over and placed the lunchbox on his desk, complete with a sticky note adorned with a giant heart. After my covert operation, I scurried back to my seat. I waited for him to return, see the “lovingly-prepared” lunch, and then toss it in the trash with a look of disgust. However, when he came back, he just glanced at the lunchbox calmly, picked it up, and walked into his private office. The entire afternoon, there was no sign of movement. I was on pins and needles, constantly looking at his closed door. Did he eat it? No way. Even a dog would turn its nose up at that. 3 As the workday was ending, the door to Axel’s office finally opened. He walked out, holding the now-empty lunchbox. He came straight to my desk and placed the sparkling clean container on it. “Thank you,” he said, looking at me, his tone as neutral as ever. “It was good. A little salty, though.” I was completely dumbfounded. Not only did he eat it, he washed the container and even gave me feedback? This wasn’t how the script was supposed to go! He was supposed to hate foolish people. Every tiny mistake I made at work in the past was met with public humiliation and a look that screamed “idiot.” Wasn’t he supposed to be avoiding me like the plague? My colleagues started whispering again, the flames of gossip in their eyes burning brighter than ever. “Oh my god, he actually ate her lunch!” “And he washed the box! What kind of tsundere trope is this?!” “That’s it, they’re endgame! I’m shipping them so hard!” I could feel my face burning, not from embarrassment, but from rage. Axel! What are you playing at?! Step one of my plan was a spectacular failure. Undeterred, I went home and scrolled through the forum thread again. The second most popular suggestion: “Create a ‘chance’ encounter! Make him think you’re destined to be together!” Fine. A chance encounter. I found out from a colleague that Axel had a habit of jogging at night, usually around 8 PM at the riverside park near the office. The next evening at 7:50, I showed up at the park entrance, dressed in full athletic gear. I pretended to stretch while scanning the area. At 8:10, a tall figure came jogging from a distance. It was him! I immediately controlled my breathing, adopted my most graceful running form, and ran towards him. When I was about ten feet away, I “tripped” and fell gracefully towards him. According to my plan, he would instinctively dodge, and I would fall spectacularly in front of him, playing the victim and making him see me as a clumsy nuisance. But to my surprise, not only did he not dodge, he reached out and caught me firmly in his arms. My face slammed into his hard chest, nearly breaking my nose. A strong, masculine scent mixed with sweat enveloped me. “Are you okay?” His voice came from above my head, slightly breathless from the run. It sounded… kind of sexy. I pushed him away abruptly, clutching my nose and taking a few steps back. “I-I’m fine, thank you, Mr. Thor—” “Call me Axel.” He cut me off. I froze. He looked at me, his eyes shining brighter than the stars in the night sky. “We’re outside the office. No need to be so formal.” My heart skipped a beat. The plan had failed again. Not only had I failed to make him hate me, but I had also somehow gotten him to let me use his first name. I went home dejected and buried my face in the sofa cushions. Maya called. “How’s it going, my hero? What drama did you stage today?” I told her about the “chance” encounter at the park, and she laughed so hard she could barely breathe. “Daisy, oh, Daisy. Are you sure you’re trying to get revenge on him and not just reenacting a rom-com?” “First the lunchbox, now the fake fall. What’s next? You’re going to get sick in the rain so he can take you to the hospital?” Her words left me speechless. “Let me tell you, a guy like Axel is a total enigma. The more you pursue him, the more he’ll find you interesting. You’re playing with fire.” “Then what should I do?” I asked desperately. “Nothing you can do now,” Maya said, gloating. “Unless you want to march up to him and tell him it was all an act and you actually can’t stand him.” I fell silent. I didn’t have the guts. I was afraid that the moment I did, he would happily reintroduce me to the joys of five consecutive months of overtime. After hanging up, I opened the forum thread again. It had over a thousand replies, the enthusiasm of the netizens far exceeding my expectations. The latest top-voted comment proposed a new strategy, one that was getting a ton of likes. I braced myself, read it, and was left utterly speechless.

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1 I hired the most popular guy on campus to be my boyfriend. When Brian took my money, he frowned and gave me a strict warning. “I just really need the cash. Don’t go catching real feelings for me.” I knew he didn’t like me. But I was so starved for affection that I just needed someone to pretend. I needed someone to act like they loved me. That was until his childhood best friend hunted me down and confronted me in front of a massive crowd. “Kitty, you can’t force love,” Sienna said, her voice dripping with fake pity. “Brian only has me in his heart.” She smirked, stepping closer. “You probably didn’t even know this, but all that money you gave him? He used it to buy me gifts.” A wave of mocking laughter echoed from the students gathered around us. Instead of crying, I started laughing too. I turned away from them and addressed the entire crowd. “I am officially taking applications for my next boyfriend. The salary is fifteen thousand dollars a month. There is only one requirement.” I paused, letting my eyes sweep over the stunned faces. “You have to be a good actor. Don’t break character and ruin the illusion for me.” The moment the words left my mouth, the entire courtyard went dead silent. Brian, who had been standing protectively in front of Sienna, instantly lost the color in his face. He stepped forward, his voice tight with panic. “Kitty, stop being so unreasonable! We both got what we wanted out of this arrangement. Sienna didn’t even say anything wrong.” He clenched his jaw, trying to regain the upper hand. “Do you really think throwing a tantrum is going to make me bow down and apologize to you? I’m not going to scold Sienna for telling the truth.” Sienna took her cue perfectly. She leaned out from behind him, her eyes turning red and her voice trembling with manufactured grievance. “Kitty, I know you come from a lot of money, but you can’t just humiliate people like this. Acting this way is only going to make Brian hate you more.” Hearing their little duet, the crowd started snickering again, this time much louder. “I knew it. There is no way Kitty doesn’t care.” “Seriously, everyone knows she’s been obsessed with him since the first day of freshman year.” “Brian has it rough. Having to put up with a spoiled heiress just to take care of Sienna.” Listening to the whispers of the crowd, the panic on Brian’s face faded, replaced by a sickening look of superiority. He looked down at me, using a tone that sounded like he was handing out charity. “Kitty, apologize to Sienna right now. If you don’t, I am completely done playing this game with you.” I let out a soft scoff. He was done playing? Perfect. I had been wanting to end this incredibly boring arrangement for weeks. Lately, Brian’s acting skills had taken a massive nosedive. The affection in his eyes was so sloppy and halfhearted that it totally ruined the fantasy. I was paying top dollar for the premium girlfriend experience, not to watch a distracted amateur slack off on the job. While Brian was busy issuing his arrogant ultimatums, my gaze was already wandering through the crowd, scouting for a replacement. Finally, my eyes landed on a guy standing near the back. He had a clean, refined aura and strikingly handsome features. I raised my hand and pointed right at him. “You’ll do.” I locked eyes with him. “You. Do you want to be my next boyfriend?” The guy blinked in surprise, pointing a long finger at his own chest. “Me?” Before he could even give me an answer, Brian’s furious voice cracked like a whip across the courtyard. “Kitty! You are crossing the line!” He took a step toward me, his fists clenched. “If you keep acting crazy like this, don’t blame me when I actually cut ties with you!” He was still using a breakup as a threat, acting as if losing him was some kind of devastating punishment. His sheer delusion almost made me laugh out loud. I genuinely wondered where he got the confidence to think I was helplessly in love with him. Was it just because of his slightly above average face? If I hadn’t wanted to experience a normal, sweet college romance, a lucrative, zero effort job like this would have never fallen into his lap. My parents had a standard corporate marriage. For as long as I could remember, they lived entirely separate lives. When I was little, I didn’t understand. I used to cry and throw tantrums, desperately wanting a warm, normal family. I vividly remembered asking my father about it one night. “Dad, why can’t you and Mom just stay home with me? You had me, doesn’t that mean you love each other?” My father had been in a rush to attend a birthday party for one of his illegitimate children, but he still paused, crouching down to look me in the eye. “Kitty, my marriage to your mother was simply a highly successful business transaction.” He patted my head. “Love is just a fragile, invisible concept. As long as you have enough money, you can buy as much of it as you want. Only power and profit are eternal. Look at me and your mother. We have plenty of other children out in the world, but none of them will ever threaten your position as the sole heir. Do you understand?” From that day on, his words became my absolute truth. Love could be bought. So, the second I got to college, I couldn’t wait to test the theory. I wanted to know what love tasted like. I decided to buy myself a flawless, picture perfect campus romance. I only picked Brian because the entire student body had crowned him the hottest guy on campus. I am a Kensington. If I want something, I only take the absolute best. It was that simple. 2 I completely ignored Brian’s existence and kept my eyes fixed on the handsome guy at the back of the crowd. “Are you hesitating?” I asked smoothly. “Do you think the pay is too low? I can throw in an apartment right off campus.” I offered him a relaxed smile. “Don’t worry, it’s a completely legal gift. No strings attached, and I won’t take it back.” I had originally bought that apartment as a gift for my boyfriend anyway. Since the position had just opened up, the perks naturally rolled over to the new hire. I gestured for him to open his phone. While he was still looking at me in a daze, I transferred fifteen thousand dollars directly into his account with a few quick taps. As the crowd erupted into shocked gasps, I lifted my chin and looked at my new boyfriend. “Don’t forget to bring me breakfast tomorrow morning, babe.” I turned my head slightly, catching Brian in my peripheral vision. “And as for you, Brian. You’re fired.” Without giving Brian’s furious, pale face another glance, I turned on my heel and walked away from the toxic drama, heading straight back to my family’s estate. The next morning, the moment I stepped into my first lecture hall, I saw a tall, lean figure waiting patiently by my seat. It was Finn. My new boyfriend. He had already set up a steaming hot breakfast on my desk, complete with a gourmet iced coffee, the straw perfectly unwrapped. When he saw me walk in, he looked up, his lips curving into a warm, genuine smile. “Good morning, Kitty. I wasn’t entirely sure what you liked, so I got a little bit of everything.” Looking at his attentive, gentle demeanor, the lingering annoyance I felt from dealing with Brian vanished into thin air. This was exactly it. This was the premium service my money was supposed to buy. This was the sweet college romance I had been looking forward to. I took my seat, my mood instantly lifting. When I spoke, my voice was noticeably softer than usual. “The deed to the apartment has already been transferred to your name. Go check it out after classes today. If there is anything you don’t like, or if you need new furniture, just text me. I’ll have my team handle it.” Finn’s eyes visibly lit up. The expression on his face grew even more tender and devoted. “Kitty, you are way too good to me. I promise I will never let you down.” Seeing how effortlessly he slipped into the role, a tiny sliver of regret crossed my mind. If I had known my money could buy such high quality, immersive affection, why did I waste so much time hung up on Brian’s useless popularity? What a waste of time and energy. From that day on, Finn and I were practically glued to each other. He was gentle, considerate, and detail oriented. He memorized all my preferences and always looked at me with deep, unwavering devotion in public. He gave me exactly the kind of love I craved. In return, I was incredibly generous. I constantly showered him with expensive gifts. Money really does elevate a person. Finn, who used to have a slightly rough, struggling college student vibe, slowly transformed. He developed an aura of quiet luxury, becoming the new elite heartthrob on campus. Everyone was obsessed with him. Meanwhile, Brian and Sienna had initially been completely convinced I was just throwing a tantrum, waiting for me to lower my head and beg him to come back. But as the days dragged on, they had to watch Finn and me walk around campus arm in arm. They had to watch Finn’s status skyrocket while Brian’s reputation crumbled. It got worse when Finn started picking me up and dropping me off in the sleek sports car Brian had been drooling over for months. The jealousy in Brian’s eyes was so intense it looked like it was going to burn a hole through his skull. He thought all of it belonged to him. The car, the luxury lifestyle, the status. He felt like he had endured the humiliation of dating me to earn those things, only to have them snatched away by some random nobody. Finally, Brian couldn’t take it anymore. He dragged Sienna along and aggressively blocked my path outside the library. “Kitty, we need to talk.” 3 Seeing the hostility radiating off him, Finn instantly stepped in front of me, shielding me from view. “What do you think you’re doing with Kitty?” Finn demanded, his voice dropping an octave. Brian sneered. “Back off. Who the hell do you think you are? This is between me and her.” I reached out and intertwined my fingers with Finn’s. I didn’t even bother looking at Brian. I just smiled and said, “Finn is my boyfriend. There is nothing you can say that he can’t hear.” I tilted my head. “Besides, Brian, you and I don’t have a relationship anymore, do we?” “Kitty, how can you be so cruel?” Sienna cried out, playing her delicate little flower routine perfectly. She looked heartbreakingly fragile. I actually took a moment to study her performance. “He is just using you for your money! He’s not like Brian…” she whimpered. “Using me for my money? I don’t mind,” I interrupted, a playful tone in my voice. “Actually, if you’re interested, I’m currently looking for a sweet little sister to dote on. The salary and perks are exactly the same.” Sienna’s sobbing stopped instantly. The tears froze on her cheeks. She stared at me, her eyes wide with absolute shock. Seeing her brain short circuit was highly entertaining, so I decided to push a little further. “I’ve always wondered what it feels like to have siblings. Are you turning down the offer?” Sienna’s lips parted. A highly calculated, complicated look flashed through her eyes. But before she could even form a sentence, Brian lost his mind. “Kitty! Stop humiliating people right to their faces!” Brian was practically shaking with rage. “Sienna and I are the same. Our bond is pure! It can’t be tainted by your filthy money! Do you think everyone in the world is as greedy and pathetic as the guy standing next to you? Do you think everyone has a price?” He looked down at the girl beside him. “Right, Sienna?” Feeling the intense weight of Brian’s gaze, Sienna’s body went completely rigid. She guiltily avoided his eyes, forcing a shaky, stubborn tone. “R-right. Brian is right! Our connection is real. We can’t be bought!” She looked back at me, her voice pleading. “Kitty, please stop holding a grudge. Just make up with him! I don’t want to be the reason you two fall apart.” I lost interest entirely. I looked away from them and leaned affectionately against Finn’s arm. “If you don’t want the job, forget it. I can’t force it. I’ll just find someone who actually knows how to play the sweet sister role.” I gave Brian a flat look. “And as for making up? Brian, I think you forgot something. From day one, this was nothing but a priced transaction. The contract is terminated. There is no ‘making up’.” I squeezed Finn’s arm. “Besides, I am extremely satisfied with Finn. He is vastly more competent at being a boyfriend than you ever were. I have absolutely no plans to replace him.” I was tired of wasting my breath on them. I raised my hand. The security detail I had waiting nearby immediately closed in. Brian and Sienna’s faces drained of color. Staring at the massive, intimidating bodyguards, all the righteous words died in their throats. They had no choice but to turn around and walk away in bitter defeat. On the ride home, Finn seemed distracted. After a long, heavy silence, he looked at me, his eyes full of puppy dog vulnerability. “Kitty… are you going to replace me one day, the same way you replaced Brian?” I answered him casually, staring out the window. “Maybe. But right now, I’m very happy with your work.” Finn went quiet for a long time. Finally, as if he had made a massive decision, he spoke up again. “Kitty, I have a few really good friends. They’re all really good looking, and they take great care of themselves. Would you be interested in meeting them?” Now that actually caught me off guard. I stared at him for a solid minute. He started to look a little nervous under my gaze, but eventually, I let out a low laugh and nodded. Finn moved fast. He booked a private dining room at an exclusive restaurant and called in his friends. Just like he promised, they were all incredibly handsome. More importantly, they knew how to read the room. They were charming, sweet, and kept me laughing the entire night. My mood was so good I ended up showering all of them with gifts. When I finally got back to the estate, I was still riding the high of the evening. I leaned back on the velvet sofa, idly planning which one of them I should take out shopping tomorrow. Right at that moment, my head butler knocked gently on the doorframe. “Miss, my apologies for the interruption. There is a young woman named Sienna at the front gate. she claims to be your sister, and she is asking to see you.”

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1 Walking through the front doors of the estate after my medspa appointment, I noticed every single staff member stopping dead in their tracks to stare at me. A wave of smug satisfaction washed over me. I laughed lightly. “I just went in for a chemical peel and some laser therapy. I didn’t get a face transplant. Are you all really going to stare at me like that?” But the smile froze on my face when a heavy broom handle came swinging at my head. “Who the hell are you? Why are you dressed in the Madam’s clothes?” The sharp crack of wood against my shoulder instantly extinguished any good mood I had left. Pain flared down my arm. “Have you all lost your minds? You don’t recognize me?” Jessica, one of the younger maids, sneered at me with absolute disgust. “You put on her designer clothes thinking you could seduce the boss and take her place? Keep dreaming! Mr. Wentworth wouldn’t touch a cheap streetwalker like you with a ten foot pole!” Before I could even process her words, Thomas, the head butler, rolled up his sleeves and shoved me hard in the chest. “Crawl back to whatever gutter you came from! Get out before I have the guards break your legs!” My head spun. I frantically dug into my purse, pulled out my compact mirror, and stared at my reflection. I was completely stunned. I had spent five hours and forty thousand dollars at the clinic. My face hadn’t changed at all. Even the tiny blemish near my hairline was exactly where it had been this morning. My stomach dropped. I lost all patience for whatever prank they were pulling. “Enough! Stop messing around. Just leave me alone, I have a headache.” Even though I was the heiress who owned this entire estate, I had always treated the staff like family. I joked with them constantly. I thought this was just a tasteless gag. But as I turned to walk up the grand staircase, a pair of rough, calloused hands violently grabbed the collar of my silk blouse. “Speak! What is your agenda here?” Thomas demanded, his voice turning lethal. The eyes that used to look at me with grandfatherly warmth were now filled with pure venom. My heart hammered against my ribs. This man had worked for my family for thirty years. He watched me grow up. When I was seven, he literally threw himself over me to block a pot of boiling soup from scalding my face. Now, he was looking at me like I was a monster. The other servants began closing in, grabbing heavy brass bookends and fireplace pokers. The groundskeeper actually raised a pair of sharp pruning shears. Panic seized my throat. I desperately fumbled with my designer bag and pulled out my driver’s license. “It’s me! Victoria! We literally had breakfast together this morning! Thomas, stop playing games, this isn’t funny anymore!” Thomas snatched the bag from my hands. He dug through it, and his expression darkened into pure rage. “So you not only impersonate her, but you steal her wallet too?” He spat on the marble floor. “If we don’t teach you a lesson today, you’ll think the Wentworth family is full of fools!” Two massive security guards lunged forward, pinning my arms behind my back like I was a violent criminal. The humiliation was unbearable. I thrashed wildly, fighting against their grip. “Thomas! Have you gone senile? Who pulled you out of the cold when you were begging on the streets? It was me!” I screamed, tears of absolute frustration burning my eyes. The only response I got was a heavy fist to my stomach. They beat me, dragged me across the driveway, and threw me out the wrought iron gates like a bag of garbage. I pulled myself up from the pavement, my entire body aching. Something was terribly, horrifyingly wrong. I pulled out my compact mirror again and stared at it from every conceivable angle. It was my face. It was undeniably me. So why did my entire household suddenly treat me like a stranger? Did my corporate rivals pay off my entire staff just to humiliate me on my own property? 2 The more I thought about it, the more suffocated I felt. I hailed a cab and headed straight to the downtown headquarters of Vanguard Corp, my husband Tristan’s company. Tristan was in the middle of an executive board meeting. I punched in the private passcode to the executive lounge and waited. Ten minutes later, the double doors opened. Tristan walked out, surrounded by a dozen vice presidents and directors. The second our eyes met, my emotional dam broke. “Tristan…” I sobbed, rushing forward to throw my arms around him. We had been together since high school. Twenty years of history. He could never stand to see me cry. Usually, the moment a single tear fell, he would panic more than my own father ever did. I was desperate to tell him what happened at the house. But before I could even get the words out, a brutal force shoved me backward. My spine slammed into the marble wall. The impact knocked the wind out of me, and black spots danced in my vision. “What the hell are you doing?” I looked up. Tristan was ripping a silk handkerchief from his pocket, frantically scrubbing the lapel of his suit where I had touched him, looking absolutely nauseated. He glared at me, his eyes cold and unfamiliar. “Miss, have some self respect. I am a married man.” A chorus of mocking laughter erupted from the executives in the hallway. “Did she not do her research? The CEO is famous for being obsessed with his wife. Try your cheap gold digger tricks somewhere else!” Ignoring the shooting pain in my back, I scrambled up and grabbed his sleeve. “It’s me! I’m Victoria! I’m your wife! Are you keeping another woman behind my back? Is that what this is?” Before I could finish the sentence, a stinging slap cracked across my cheek. “You psycho!” Tristan hissed. “You don’t deserve to speak her name! If you don’t back off right now, I’ll have you arrested for harassment.” Looking at his guarded, hostile eyes, ice flooded my veins. Servants could be bought with enough cash. But Tristan? He was already wildly wealthy because of our marriage. He couldn’t be bought. This man who had worshipped the ground I walked on was clearly in on the conspiracy. He wasn’t just trying to humiliate me. Was he cheating? Was he having an affair with one of the maids and trying to gaslight me out of my own life? I knew arguing in the lobby was pointless. The louder I screamed, the crazier I looked. I had to find the truth myself. Swallowing the bitter taste of blood in my mouth, I turned and walked out of the building to the sound of corporate executives laughing at my expense. The second I hit the sidewalk, I pulled out my phone. Before my father passed away, he had been a highly paranoid titan of industry. He insisted on wiring our entire estate with a hidden, encrypted surveillance network. Only I had the master access codes. I always thought he was being dramatic. I never expected to actually need it to survive a betrayal. I sat in a coffee shop for three hours, scrubbing through the estate’s security footage from the last three years. The conclusion was absolute. The chances of Tristan cheating were basically zero. He played the perfect, devoted husband. He never brought women home. He never even lingered near the female staff. If a maid ever tried to flirt with him, she was fired the very next morning. So if he wasn’t having an affair, why the hell was he pretending not to know me? Right as the question crossed my mind, my phone buzzed. It was the elite private kindergarten. In all the violent chaos, I had completely forgotten to pick up my daughter. 3 A sudden spark of clarity hit me. Everyone else could lie. Everyone else could pretend I didn’t exist. But Sophie was my flesh and blood. A five year old child couldn’t fake a reaction. If my daughter recognized me, it proved they were all conspiring against me. Once I had proof, I was going to systematically destroy Tristan and throw every single one of those backstabbing servants out onto the street. My steps quickened as I approached the school gates. The teacher walked Sophie out. Seeing her sweet, angelic little face instantly wiped away the nightmare of the afternoon. “Sophie!” I waved, my heart leaping into my throat. But Sophie froze. A flicker of deep hesitation crossed her face. My chest tightened painfully. Was she going to say she didn’t know me either? I had basically built my entire world around this little girl. I missed million dollar board meetings just to attend her parent teacher conferences. I walked away from massive corporate acquisitions just to sit on the floor and help her build block castles. “Mommy!” The sweet, familiar voice finally rang out. The relief was so intense my knees almost gave out. I knew it! Tristan was playing a sick, twisted game. He was actually brave enough to orchestrate a public humiliation against me? Whatever his endgame was, I was going to make him bleed for it. I smiled brightly and reached out to take her hand. But as my fingers brushed hers, she instinctively flinched and pulled away. I paused, confused. A second later, she cautiously reached back out and grabbed my hand. “Baby, is something wrong with Mommy today?” I asked softly. Sophie didn’t answer. Instead, she pointed across the busy street to a brightly lit candy shop. “Mommy, I want candy.” “You usually hate sweet things,” I noted, frowning slightly. “I just really want some today!” she whined, tugging my arm. “You promised if I got a gold star this week, I would get a reward!” I gently pinched her soft cheek. “Okay, sweetheart. Anything you want.” We crossed the street and stepped into the candy store. The second the glass door chimed shut behind us, two massive, heavily tattooed men stepped out from behind the aisles. Before I could even scream, they grabbed my hair and slammed me face first into the hard linoleum floor. Pure terror gripped me. My only instinct was to look up and find Sophie. What I saw shattered my reality into a million pieces. Tristan casually strolled into the candy shop. Sophie ran straight into his arms, burying her face in his expensive suit. Tristan gently stroked her hair. “Good job, Sophie. You did perfectly.” My daughter’s face showed zero panic. There were no tears. She just looked relieved, like she had just finished a chore. My brain felt like it was being pierced by hot needles. “Sophie…” I choked out, tasting blood on my lip. “Did you purposely lead me here?” I stared at the little girl I had birthed. “I’m your mother! Why are you doing this to me?!” I shifted my furious, desperate gaze to Tristan. “Is this your sick plan? You’re using our own daughter as bait? Are you even human?!” Tristan’s eyes turned instantly dark and vicious. He stepped forward and drove the toe of his leather dress shoe directly into my ribs. The agonizing pain forced me to curl into a tight ball. “I warned you at the office,” Tristan snarled, his voice dripping with venom. “I didn’t think you’d actually be crazy enough to impersonate my wife and try to kidnap our child.” 4 “Good thing I was prepared,” Tristan sneered down at me. “Caught red handed. You’re done playing games.” Sophie stepped out from behind his legs. She marched right up to me and started hitting my shoulders with her tiny fists. “You’re not my mommy!” she yelled, her face scrunched in anger. “You’re a bad lady! You’re a monster!” She wasn’t hitting me hard, but every single strike felt like a sledgehammer to my heart. My organs felt like they were bleeding out. One of the thugs pulled out a police badge, flashing it quickly before yanking my arms behind my back and snapping heavy metal handcuffs onto my wrists. “You are under arrest for identity theft and the attempted kidnapping of a minor,” the undercover cop said coldly. My mind went completely blank. The room was spinning. I just went to a clinic for a facial. Why had my entire universe collapsed? My staff threw me out. My husband accused me of sexual harassment. And now, picking up my own child was classified as kidnapping? Was my face cursed? Did the world suddenly see a completely different person when they looked at me? Before I could spiral any further, they dragged me out the back door and shoved me into an unmarked car. I was processed at the precinct in a blur. Someone ripped off my designer clothes and forced me into a stiff, scratchy orange jumpsuit. They locked me in a bleak interrogation room. When the heavy metal door finally opened, Tristan and Sophie walked in and sat on the opposite side of the steel table. Detective Sullivan walked in behind them, slamming his hands hard against the table. “Victoria Wentworth has been missing for forty eight hours. Why are you wearing her custom clothes? How did you get her personal identification?” Tristan lunged over the table, grabbing the collar of my jumpsuit, his eyes bloodshot with manufactured rage. “What did you do to my wife?!” he roared. “If you touched a single hair on her head, I will make you beg for death!” Sophie stood up on her chair, crying perfect, crocodile tears. “I want my mommy! Give her back!” My chest physically ached. I looked at the two of them, tears streaming down my face. “I am Victoria…” I whispered brokenly. “I’m right here…” Detective Sullivan let out a harsh, mocking laugh. He tossed a thick manila folder onto the metal table. “Drop the act. We already pulled your background check. Your name is Jane Doe, and you’re a career con artist with a long sheet of fraud charges.” I felt like I had been struck by lightning. I stared at the mugshot printed on the first page of the file. “You’re saying… this is what I look like?” I asked, pointing at the picture of a rugged, unfamiliar woman. Sullivan smirked. “Do you have amnesia? Do you not know what your own face looks like? Do you need a mirror?” He pulled a small vanity mirror from the evidence box and shoved it in front of my face. I grabbed it with shaking hands. The woman staring back at me was me. It was my face. Down to the exact placement of my fine lines and the shape of my eyes. I looked absolutely nothing like the mugshot of the con artist they just threw at me. Even a blind person couldn’t mix us up. Everything clicked. As I tilted the mirror slightly, I caught Tristan’s reflection in the background. For a fraction of a second, the grieving, panicked husband dropped his mask. A chilling, victorious smirk flashed across his face. In that split second, the fog cleared. I understood exactly what was happening. I calmly closed the mirror and set it face down on the table. A slow, chilling smile spread across my lips. “You want to know where Victoria is? I know exactly where she is.”

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1 When I was finally found after being missing for three years, I was nineteen, permanently blind, and heavily pregnant. My parents hugged me, sobbing uncontrollably. “My sweet girl, you’ve suffered so much…” I leaned into them and asked softly, “Where is Sienna?” My mother’s voice hitched as she hurriedly explained. “She didn’t mean to lose you that day. I already grounded her and cut off her allowance for a month. Don’t be mad at her, okay?” But I remembered when I was little. I had merely tripped over another kid’s foot, and my mother marched over to the neighbor’s house with a kitchen knife, throwing a massive fit. Even when people spit at her and called her a crazy shrew, she didn’t care. When I had a high fever that wouldn’t break, my dad was so panicked he went to the temple to pray, eating a strict vegetarian diet for ten days just to beg the gods for my health. Time and time again, they firmly shielded me behind their backs. And then, my adopted sister Sienna came into the picture. They sent me to the countryside to live with relatives. I only got to see them once a year… The wind carried my parents’ agonizing screams as I stood on the roof of the hospital. I smiled and said, “Hazel is going to turn into a little star and fly up into the sky.” That way, I wouldn’t be abandoned anymore, right? … When the arms wrapped around me, I thought it was the monster who tortured me every night. I screamed in sheer terror, “Hazel is being good! Hazel isn’t crying!” The person quickly let go, their voice trembling with deep remorse. “My daughter… I’ve looked for you for three years. I finally found you!” “Do you not recognize me? It’s Daddy!” Daddy? The word hit my brain like a spike of lightning. Countless memories flashed before my broken eyes. The clearest one was of a man and a woman pulling me out of a run down wooden shack, taking me to a beautiful, massive house, and telling me this was my home now. A girl who looked like an angel ran out of the house. She threw her arms around them. “Dad! Mom! You’re back!” Then the girl looked at me and handed me a piece of candy. “Hi, big sister. Don’t be scared. My mom and dad are your mom and dad now.” I remembered! Even though my body was in agonizing pain, even though the monster had hit me with a hammer so many times, I couldn’t help the surge of childish joy. “Did Daddy come to take Hazel home?” In the absolute darkness, I reached my hand out, desperately hoping he would hold it the way he held Sienna’s. I grasped nothing but empty air. “Your eyes…” my dad’s voice broke abruptly. Panic set in. “Hazel went blind… Will Daddy hate Hazel now?” “How could I? Daddy loves Hazel the most.” He sounded like he was crying. When he picked me up, he was so careful, terrified to use any pressure. But he was lying! In the memory that just flashed through my mind, I saw him only being sweet to the angel sister. He would pick her up and spin her around, making her giggle with absolute delight. “Hazel, your mom and I had to work hard in the city, so we had to send you back to our hometown. We only had Sienna with us.” “She’s just my coworker’s daughter, but her parents died in an accident. She’s very pitiful. You have to treat her like your real sister. You can’t bully her, do you understand?” I had nodded obediently. In my diary, I had secretly written: As long as I can stay with Mom and Dad, those kids can’t call me a bastard with no parents anymore. It was strange… When the monster beat and kicked me, I didn’t cry. But the moment I remembered that thick diary, my chaotic brain felt like it had been shot through with an arrow. It exploded. A mess of noisy voices flooded my ears. “Hazel! Why are you always jealous of your sister? She’s smarter and more likable than you, isn’t it obvious?” “Hazel, can’t you learn from your sister? Is it that hard to smile and act sweet for your parents? We raised you for nothing!” My dad carefully touched my forehead, asking what was wrong. I snapped back to reality in a panic. I asked, my voice trembling with uncertainty, “…Does Hazel still have a home?” On the very last page of that diary, I had written: Mom and Dad are Sienna’s Mom and Dad. That beautiful big house is Sienna’s house. None of it is mine. I curled my body into a tight ball. My broken eyes and the tearing pain in my lower body made me feel so ashamed. Covering my face, I finally broke down, sobbing uncontrollably. “Bad men hurt Hazel… Everything hurts so much!” “I waited so long, but nobody came to save me.” “You think I’m stupid… Nobody wants me!” 2 My dad carried me out of the place I had been trapped in for three years. The stench of rot faded, but the fresh air terrified me. I held my breath until my face turned red. My dad gently stroked the skin around my ruined eyes, his voice thick with pain. “Your mom and I never abandoned you. You were locked away by bad men, and we couldn’t find you.” “Don’t worry, Hazel. The monsters who abducted and abused you have been caught by the police. They will pay for what they did.” His voice shook as he promised they would fix my eyes. I stared blankly into the pitch black air. I wanted to tell him that Hazel was used to it now. “Hazel isn’t afraid of the dark anymore,” I comforted him, testing the waters carefully. “Will Mom want to send me away again?” The air froze. My dad didn’t answer. Suddenly, a frantic cry echoed down the hallway. “Hazel!” A familiar, comforting perfume hit my nose. I greedily breathed it in. The hands that touched my face were shaking violently. My mother’s voice was drenched in tears. “My sweet girl… I missed you so much.” “You suffered so much out there… I’m so sorry. Mommy is so sorry…” I opened my mouth to speak, but a sudden wave of nausea hit me. I dry heaved, terrifying them. “Is Hazel blaming me?” my mom asked, her voice turning frantic and anxious. Right then, the doctor walked over with my medical chart. His tone was heavy and complex. “The patient was subjected to prolonged captivity and physical abuse. She’s suffering from severe PTSD. Please try to avoid triggering her.” “As for her physical condition… multiple bone fractures, internal bleeding, and bilateral retinal detachment. She needs surgery immediately if she has any hope of seeing again.” The doctor paused. “…Also, she is pregnant. About four months along.” The hospital room went dead silent. Crash! Something was hurled violently to the floor. My dad roared like a wounded lion. “I’m going to kill that animal!” My mom was sobbing so hard she couldn’t breathe. She just kept apologizing to me. “You were only sixteen when you disappeared… What did you go through these past three years…” I slowly reached down and touched my slightly swollen stomach. So I was pregnant. There was a baby in here who didn’t even know who its father was. Even more unlucky than Hazel. While waiting for my surgery, my parents never left my side for a second. By some unspoken agreement, they never mentioned their other daughter. Sienna. I greedily soaked up their rare, focused attention, but I couldn’t help comparing it. “Why didn’t Sienna come?” The room fell silent for a long moment. My dad finally asked, “Hazel, do you hate your sister?” My mom hesitated, then took my hand, her tone earnest and heavy. “After you went missing, Sienna felt incredibly guilty. She fell into a deep depression for a long time. Thank god she eventually snapped out of it. She got into the best university in the state and even started dating a police officer, just so it would be easier to ask for news about you.” “So you see, Hazel, it wasn’t on purpose when she lost you three years ago.” “I already punished her. I cut off her allowance for a whole month and made her reflect on her actions.” My entire body began to tremble. I gripped the bedsheets. Her voice drifted softly over me. “I read your diary. The whole thing was just you blaming us for favoring your sister.” “It’s our fault, Hazel. Please don’t hold a grudge against your sister, okay? She’s innocent.” My dad walked over and stroked my hair. “You were foolish enough to follow those bad men. When it comes down to it, you carry more of the blame for this than Sienna does.” He sighed deeply. “Forget it. Let’s not talk about it. The most important thing is that Hazel came home safely.” Beneath the heavy blankets, my hands curled into tight, trembling fists. I wanted to scream. I wanted to tell them what really happened. That day, at the mouth of the alley, it was Sienna who shoved my mom’s bank card into the bad man’s hand. She had looked right at me and said, “Hazel, Mom and Dad belong to me forever!” But my chest hurt so much it felt like it was being crushed. I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t speak. I didn’t understand why I felt so utterly shattered. My ears were ringing, drowning out whatever else they were saying… The surgery was scheduled quickly. Right before they wheeled me in, my parents tried to encourage me. “Hazel, you are stronger than anyone. You’ll get through this.” Yeah. I am strong. Even when so many people were on top of me, I didn’t die. The smell of disinfectant grew heavy. The anesthesia began to pull me under. In my blurry, drifting consciousness, I remembered a lot of things. 3 When I was little, I had a terrible fever. Everyone said my brain had melted from the heat, making me stupid. That was why my parents sent me to the countryside. But I knew the truth. I wasn’t stupid! I actually had an incredible memory! Later, when they finally brought me back to the city, I was terrified they would send me away again. I studied relentlessly, sleeping only four hours a night. I finally ranked first in my entire grade. I practically sprinted home with my report card. My parents were thrilled. They cooked a massive feast to celebrate. But nobody noticed that I didn’t eat a single bite. Every single dish was loaded with chili peppers, because that was Sienna’s favorite. If I ate spicy food, I broke out in painful hives. I watched my mom laugh and kiss Sienna’s forehead, praising her soft, delicate skin. “Just like a peeled egg,” she said. I secretly touched my own face. It was bumpy and covered in terrible acne. I started desperately trying to fix my skin, smearing endless creams and treatments on my face. Sometimes the skin would blister and itch so badly it drove me insane. After a while, it actually worked. My skin cleared up, and I even had boys at school trying to talk to me. But my mom never noticed the change. Not until the day I was cornered by some thugs in an alley. I managed to run home, crying, my clothes torn and messy. Before I could even explain what happened, my mom laid into me, her voice dripping with disgust. “Hazel, did your teachers teach you no shame?!” She looked at me like I was exhausting to be around. “We are in the city, not some dirty farm village. You’re young, stop acting so cheap! Are you trying to ruin your sister’s morals?” But Mom. All Hazel wanted was for you to kiss my forehead, too. Just like you did when I was little. Back then, even if I just had a bad dream, my mom would be so worried she couldn’t sleep all night. My dad would sit by my bed, reading me stories until the sun came up. I racked my brain, but I couldn’t figure out why everything had changed. Maybe I really was just stupid. Maybe I just wasn’t lovable. Once I accepted that, I got sick. Every night, I wanted to die. My hair fell out in clumps. The smell of meat made me vomit. When the high school entrance exam results came out, my grades had plummeted. From ranking first, I dropped so low I could only get into a vocational school. My parents looked at me with a mix of resignation and pity. They comforted me, saying, “You were never very smart anyway. We didn’t expect you to be a scholar.” Then, they doubled down on spoiling Sienna. Every time we ate, Sienna would whine, “Mom, Dad, you’re so biased toward my sister! You keep giving me so much food, are you trying to turn me into a pig?!” I went to vocational school, surrounded by people who whispered and mocked me. Meanwhile, my parents spent a fortune to get Sienna into the best prep school in the city, hiring a private tutor that cost thousands a month. “The daughters of the Fang family are just as good as anyone else. We’re definitely going to have a college graduate in the house!” they would boast. On my birthday, they told me they had to work overtime and didn’t have time to buy me a present. But on Sienna’s birthday, they flew back overnight from a business trip hundreds of miles away, just to give her a gorgeous, expensive princess dress. “Happy fourteenth birthday to our Princess Sienna! You said you wanted to go to the beach, right? We’ll take you for winter break!” The moment she blew out her candles, I suddenly couldn’t breathe. I practically ran back to my bedroom and hid. The door was soundproofed, but it couldn’t block out the sound of my parents and my sister laughing, so perfectly happy together. Curled up under my blankets, I dug my fingernails into the messy scars on my wrists. The old ones hadn’t even healed before I tore them open again, making them bleed. Just like my sickness. It was never going to get better. … I gasped for air, pulling myself out of the drowning memories. The surgery was over. I didn’t know how much time had passed. Suddenly, a crisp, bright voice rang through the room. “Dad! Mom! I heard you found my sister! I drove back overnight to see her! Is she okay?!” The voice leaned close to my ear, dripping with exaggerated guilt. “I’m so sorry… It’s all my fault. Sister, please wake up soon! You can hit me, you can scream at me, I’ll take it all!” The blood in my veins turned to ice. 4 The day finally came to remove my bandages. After a slight sting, I slowly opened my eyelids. The bright, unfamiliar light made me instinctively raise my hand to block it. Seeing my reaction, my parents let out a huge sigh of relief. “You can see! Oh, thank god.” The very first thing I saw was Sienna. She stood right behind my parents, smiling warmly at me, flashing her perfect dimples. She looked like an absolute angel. But panic clawed at my throat. Over the past three years, she had grown taller. Her hair fell in soft, elegant waves. She had blossomed into a stunning, confident young woman, radiating bright, youthful energy. She was so bright and flawless that I felt like a rat crawling out of a sewer. I felt entirely ashamed of my own existence. I quickly dropped my head, staring at the sheets. But she wasn’t going to let me hide. She reached out, forcefully tilting my chin up so she could examine my face. “You used to care so much about looking pretty, Sister. It’s such a shame your face is covered in scars now.” She looked at my mom. “Mom, my friend’s family owns a high end medical spa. Should we send Sister there to see if they can fix it?” My mom stepped forward and swatted Sienna’s hand away. She scolded her lightly, though her tone was utterly fond. “Where are your manners? Is that how you talk to your sister? We aren’t at home right now.” Realizing she had said the wrong thing, my mom glanced at me nervously and quickly changed the subject. “Well, now that your eyes are healed… we should talk about the baby.” Every eye in the room dropped to my stomach. My dad was the first to speak. “That bastard child needs to be aborted immediately.” He patted my shoulder, his voice firm but comforting. “Don’t be afraid. You are my daughter. Even if you were ruined by those men, it’s fine. Your mom and I will take care of you for the rest of your life.” My mom immediately agreed. She looked at Sienna with pure, unfiltered pride. “Your sister Sienna is so brilliant. She has such a bright future ahead of her. She’ll have her pick of incredible, successful men. We’ll just have her choose one of the good ones to take care of you.” Sienna’s smile stretched impossibly wide. She leaned her head affectionately on my mom’s shoulder. “Mom! You’re only worrying about Sister’s future! You’ve already got her whole life planned out. Am I not your daughter anymore?” “Yes, yes, you’re our spoiled little girl…” I sat quietly, watching them laugh and joke. I didn’t know why, but the metallic taste of blood suddenly filled my throat. The day of the abortion arrived. My parents had to run an errand, leaving Sienna alone with me in the hospital room. She gently rested her hand on my swollen stomach and suddenly asked, “Hazel, why did you even come back?” We were completely alone. The angelic mask melted off her face, twisting into something vicious and cruel. She looked down at me with absolute contempt. “You know, Mom and Dad are incredible people. They treat me better than my own biological parents ever did.” “That’s why I didn’t even shed a tear when my parents died in that car crash. I was five years old, and my only birthday wish was to stay with Mom and Dad forever.” “But then you showed up. You tried to steal the love that was supposed to be exclusively mine!” Sienna’s eyes were red with fury, glaring at me like I was a parasite. “Ever since they dragged you back from the countryside, they had to buy two of everything. You even had to sleep in my room! That is MY house!” I shrank back like a scolded dog, not daring to make a sound. So that was it. That was why Sienna handed me over to the monsters. I was the extra baggage in that house. My parents probably felt the exact same way. They just pitied me because I was stupid, and they didn’t want to hurt my feelings. But I’m really not stupid! The door to the hospital room swung open. Sienna’s face instantly morphed back into a sweet, dazzling smile. “Sister, once you’re all healed up, I’ll take you out to do something fun, okay?” Was she going to take me to the bad men again? My whole body started shaking. Terror gripped my chest. When the nurses wheeled me out of the room toward the surgical ward, I placed my hands over my round stomach. My mind was racing, desperately trying to figure out how to escape. Nobody in my family wanted me. I had to leave on my own. I couldn’t let the monsters hit me with the hammer again! Right before they took me into the operating room, I lied and said I needed to use the restroom. I slipped away. I walked for a long time until I found myself on the roof of the hospital. The sun was blinding. It made my new eyes ache. But my legs were too tired to keep going. I just stood there, letting the sun warm my skin. Suddenly, someone below screamed. “Look up there! Someone is going to jump!” I looked down in surprise. A massive crowd was gathering. Sirens started wailing all across the hospital grounds. Sienna was down there. And my parents, rushing frantically through the crowd. They were too far away for me to see their faces clearly, but I could hear their desperate, furious screams. “Hazel! Are you insane?! Get down from there right now!” “Hazel! We finally got you back, and now you pull this?! Are you trying to kill your father and me?!” So many people were pointing their phones up at me. I saw how angry and panicked my parents were. I wanted to climb down, but my body refused to move. The thick, jagged scars on my wrists suddenly started to itch furiously. I scratched at them until they tore open, the flesh turning into a bloody mess. I was having another episode. But I was terrified to tell my parents. I didn’t want them to hate me even more. A soft, quiet voice echoed in the back of my mind. Jump. The books I read said that when people die, they turn into stars and fly into the sky to watch over their families. My parents didn’t want to hurt me. They didn’t want to abandon me. But I needed to be a good girl. I needed to protect them. Once I figured it out, I smiled widely, waving down at my mom and dad. While they screamed in absolute, paralyzing terror, I stepped forward without a single trace of hesitation. Slowly, I fell backward… Hazel is going to be a little star now! I’m going to fly up into the sky and protect you. “NO!!!” People were screaming. People were crying. Time felt like it had completely stopped.

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1 Suspended three hundred feet above the Manhattan pavement, the freezing wind whipped against my face as I scrubbed the high-rise windows. I wiped away a layer of grime, only to freeze. Through the thick glass, I saw him. Finn. My wife Lisa’s adopted brother, the man who had supposedly died three years ago. He was lounging in a luxurious marble bathtub, completely naked, an arrogant smirk plastered on his face as he crossed one leg over the other. “Lisa almost shipped me off to Europe three years ago just to please her dear husband,” Finn chuckled, his voice muffled but entirely legible through the glass. “Good thing I jumped off that roof. It drove her completely insane. I knew she loved me the most. That little suicide test I planned was worth every drop of blood.” My blood ran cold. The oxygen vanished from my lungs. He faked his death. He used a single suicide note to nail me to the cross as a murderer. Lisa, the woman who once loved me to the bone, was so consumed by grief and rage that she personally forced me into this hell. Knowing I had a crippling fear of heights, she made me dangle from skyscrapers day after day, forcing me to endure the exact terror her brother supposedly felt before he fell. The psychological torture had nearly landed me in an asylum. And to him, it was just a lighthearted test? Acting purely on instinct, I fumbled for my phone and dialed Lisa’s number. The line connected. But the words died in my throat. Because the person stepping into the frame, handing a warm towel to the man in the tub, was Lisa. My hands shook violently. The phone slipped from my numb fingers, plummeting into the abyss below. Inside the bathroom, Lisa frowned in confusion, tossing her own phone onto the vanity counter. “Enough,” she snapped. “I don’t know where you get these sick ideas. I’ve lived in agonizing guilt for three years. Even Penn hasn’t had a single day of peace, yet here you are, living like a king.” Finn didn’t look remorseful in the slightest. He climbed out of the tub, water dripping onto the tiles. Lisa averted her eyes, quickly tossing a bath sheet around his waist. Her face was tight with displeasure. “Go home early and apologize to Penn. I can only keep you hidden for another month.” She paused, turning toward the bedroom. “And even though we’re up high, pull the blinds when you bathe.” My heart violently twisted into a bleeding knot. I instinctively shrank back, trying to hide. But at this altitude, any sudden movement sent the suspension harness swinging wildly. A sudden gust of gale-force wind slammed me face-first into the reinforced glass. The world went black. I woke up to the sharp stench of antiseptic. A tearing pain throbbed at my temples. The sheer, lingering panic of the fall made me bolt upright in the hospital bed, gasping for air. “Penn, are you feeling better?” Lisa walked into the room, a designer gift bag in her hand. A fleeting trace of guilt flashed in her elegant eyes. “How could you be so careless up there? If I hadn’t coincidentally seen you, you would have lost your life.” She set the bag down. “Since it has come to this, your punishment is over. From now on, you can stay home and take care of the household.” My breath hitched. Just yesterday, she had looked at me with absolute disgust, calling me a murderer. Today, I was suddenly allowed to be a house husband again? If I hadn’t accidentally seen them through the window, how much longer would I have carried the weight of a killer? I grabbed her wrist. I gripped it so hard my nails nearly broke her skin. “I explained it to you a thousand times! I told you he jumped on his own, but you never gave me a single ounce of trust!” Hatred, raw and suffocating, clawed its way up my throat. The countless times I had broken down dangling in the sky wrapped tightly around my neck like a noose. “You knew exactly what was going on last month! You knew Finn was acting out a sick play, so why didn’t you tell me immediately? Why did you keep sending me out to wash those damn windows!” My voice cracked, tears streaming down my bruised face. “If you had just believed me, even once.” I screamed until my lungs burned. But Lisa just stood there, leaning silently against the hospital wall. When my tears finally ran dry, she pushed the designer gift box toward me and let out a heavy sigh. “That’s enough. It’s all in the past now. He’s young and immature. Don’t hold a grudge against him.” The string in my mind, stretched to its absolute limit for a thousand agonizing days and nights, finally snapped. A simple it’s all in the past from her lips was supposed to erase my three years of hell. It was supposed to bury the fact that my own mother, unable to bear the public witch hunt, had thrown herself off a building. It was supposed to wipe away the agonizing pain of a man who was almost locked in a psychiatric ward. All the fight drained out of me. A loud crash shattered the silence. Finn stood in the doorway, a shattered glass thermos pooling hot water around his expensive sneakers. He rushed to my bedside and dropped to his knees, forcing out crocodile tears. “Penn, please don’t back my sister into a corner. Ignorance isn’t a crime. She was just heartbroken over me. She only did those things to you to appease the media and the public.” He sniffled, looking up at me. “If you want to hit someone, hit me.” A single tear rolled down Finn’s cheek. He suddenly sprang up, grabbed a fruit knife from the bedside table, and pressed it hard against his wrist. A line of crimson blood welled up. Lisa panicked. She lunged forward, desperately pulling Finn into her arms, pressing her hand against his minor cut. She turned her head, looking at me with exhausted exasperation. “Are you happy now? It’s been three years. Let Finn go, and let yourself go too. Even if his suicide was fake, the fact that you bullied him and made him feel worthless was real.” She turned on her heel and walked out. The designer gift bag she had brought slipped from the table and hit the floor. A sharp, metallic clink echoed in the room. My hands trembled with a sickening rhythm. Like a ghost, I reached down and picked it up. A diamond ring, heavy and brilliant. This was the wedding ring she was supposed to put on my finger three years ago. Lisa and I had been the golden couple of our social circle. We matched perfectly in status and love. But just as I was drowning in the joy of our upcoming wedding, Finn, the adopted stray she had sent abroad, suddenly crashed back into our lives. He begged me not to kick him out after we got married. He twisted the truth at every turn, playing the victim. Even with the strong foundation Lisa and I had, cracks began to form. My mother was the first to see through his act. She cornered Lisa and demanded she send Finn away, threatening to call off the wedding if she refused. But exactly on the day Lisa and I were supposed to exchange rings, Finn stood crying on the edge of a high-rise opposite our venue. He screamed into a megaphone, begging me to let him go in death. Then he jumped. Overnight, I went from the most respected groom in the city to a cold-blooded murderer. The dead are always the ultimate victims. For three years, my ring finger remained painfully empty. I became the biggest joke in high society. Looking at the sparkling diamond, I tried to slide it onto my finger. It wouldn’t fit. I shoved it, twisting the metal against my skin until it bruised. But these hands, once elegant and manicured, had grown thick, calloused, and swollen from years of gripping high-tension ropes in the freezing sky. Hot tears splashed onto the back of my hand. I reached into my pocket, pulled out a crumbled sheet of paper diagnosing me with severe clinical depression, and chewed on a bitter pill I kept wrapped inside it. I smiled, tasting the bitterness. Lisa. I don’t want a ring that is three years late. And I don’t want you anymore, either. Lisa threw a lavish welcome back gala for Finn. She used every connection she had to cover up his lies, personally escorting him through the ballroom to give him face. Yet two years ago, when my mother passed away, she couldn’t even be bothered to attend the funeral. She had just looked at me with fake pity and said she hated crowded spaces. In the blink of an eye, I became the city’s favorite punching bag again. They laughed at the Ivy League graduate who had been reduced to a window washer. They laughed that I couldn’t even compete with an orphaned adopted brother. Three days later, Lisa finally came home. Stripped of her usual icy demeanor, she hugged me from behind, burying her chin into my shoulder. She smelled of expensive champagne and happiness. “I’m so glad Finn is alive. Our family is finally whole again.” When I didn’t respond, she stepped in front of me, pressing her forehead gently against mine. “Alright, I know you’re angry. But do it for me. Let it go, okay? Finn is back, but his depression is severe. I have to fly out to London tomorrow for a business trip. Please take good care of him for a few days.” With that, she walked into her study. She glanced back at me, a flicker of confusion crossing her face as I stood frozen in place. But she didn’t say anything. I gripped my trembling hands together and dry-swallowed a handful of prescription pills. The trauma of the heights combined with the relentless mental torture had ruined me. I lived in constant guilt, my subconscious entirely convinced that I really was a murderer. I thought depression wouldn’t literally kill me. But ever since I discovered her lie, my physical symptoms had worsened drastically. Once the pills kicked in, I walked into the bedroom and opened a wooden box containing my mother’s belongings. I picked up her favorite antique comb and sat before the mirror. I gently brushed my hair. A massive clump of hair fell out, settling lifelessly in my palm. Staring at the face in the mirror, a face so much like my mother’s, I finally smiled. A genuine, relieved smile. “Mom. I’ll be there to keep you company very soon.” I took a USB drive and downloaded the cached videos my private investigator had sent me. Lisa. Before I die, I’m going to leave you one hell of a parting gift. The next morning, a group of burly bodyguards dragged me out of bed. They ignored my protests, threw me into a black SUV, and drove me straight to a massive theme park. They tossed me onto the concrete right at Finn’s feet. These men were Lisa’s personal security detail. Back when I was constantly stalked and harassed by the press, I begged her for just one reliable guard. She flatly refused. Now, she had given them all to Finn. “Penn, didn’t my sister ever bring you to an amusement park?” Finn crouched down, his eyes dripping with malice. “Look up. She rushed the construction on this entire place just to give it to me before her trip.” He smirked, patting my pale cheek. “I heard you’re an expert at high-altitude work now. Be a good brother and scrub the rollercoaster tracks clean for me.” My eyes widened in sheer horror. The panic attack was already starting. “You’re psychotic. Do you honestly think Lisa will let you get away with this forever? I am her legal husband. Doing this to me is slapping her in the face!” “I told you three years ago, I never wanted to steal your sister. I never wanted to kick you out. Why wouldn’t you just listen?” He laughed, picking up a handful of gravel and throwing it hard into my face. Sharp rocks cut my cheek. “If it weren’t for you, I would be the one marrying her.” Before I could process his sick confession, his men hoisted me up. They dragged me to the highest peak of the rollercoaster tracks. The howling wind slapped me relentlessly. I tried desperately to breathe, to stay sane. But then, Finn unhooked the safety carabiner from my chest harness. He stood on the maintenance platform, laughing as I clung to the greasy steel rail for dear life, my entire body violently shaking. Through the dizzying haze, I saw a familiar figure down below. Lisa. She was wearing casual clothes, walking up to Finn and playfully punching his chest. “My flight was delayed. You shouldn’t have waited for me. A rollercoaster? It’s too high and dangerous. Let’s go play something else.” My nose stung. In my memories, she was always in sharp business suits. I had never seen her look so relaxed, so soft. Another violent gust of wind hit me. The rail shuddered. Losing all my pride, I screamed for help. Instantly, every pair of eyes on the ground snapped upward. My heart seized. A sudden, humiliating warmth spread down my legs. “Holy crap, there’s a guy up there! He doesn’t even have a safety line!” a tourist yelled. “Why isn’t anyone helping him? Oh my god, he’s so terrified he peed himself!” Lisa looked up in confusion. The moment our eyes met, my face burned with an unnatural heat. The sheer shame almost drowned me. She turned feral. Her face darkened like a thunderstorm, and she backhanded the nearest bodyguard with a vicious crack. “Get him down right now! Do you have a death wish!” In the last second before I lost consciousness, Lisa wrapped her expensive coat around my shivering body, desperately slapping my cheeks. “Penn, don’t sleep. I’m here.” She held me tight against her chest. She raised her hand high to strike Finn, but stopped at the very last inch. She lowered her arm, exhaling a frustrated breath. “I really have spoiled you too much.” It was the first time I had ever seen her lose control because of me. Yet, she couldn’t even bring herself to slap him. A rusty blade twisted into my heart, carving out the last bit of oxygen. At the hospital, I was hooked up to an oxygen machine. “Miss Lisa, his condition is critical. He absolutely cannot endure any more mental stimulation.” The doctor glanced at me. I subtly shook my head, begging him to keep my secret. “His long-term psychological trauma has severely depleted his will to live.” The doctor kept his word. He hid my severe depression from her. Lisa’s face went pale. She struggled to breathe. “I know I handled things poorly. Finn went way too far this time. I promise you, I will punish him.” The same old excuse. The same empty promise. A tear slid down my temple, soaking into the white pillow. I used every last drop of my strength to pull off the oxygen mask and grab her hand. “Let’s get a divorce. Please.” The hospital room fell dead silent. Only the rhythmic beeping of the heart monitor remained. Lisa suddenly grabbed the back of my neck, forcefully pressing her lips against mine in a violent, punishing kiss. “Are you trying to back me into a corner too?” she hissed against my lips. “Is this about the three years of punishment, or his little prank?” “Penn! Don’t even dream of leaving me in this lifetime!” She kissed me until I nearly blacked out from lack of oxygen, then stormed out of the room. As the door clicked shut, I heard her leaning heavily against the wall outside, panting. Lisa didn’t know what the hell she wanted anymore. She hated Finn for lying, but couldn’t bring herself to condemn him. She resented herself for torturing me for three years, but her ego wouldn’t let her apologize. Why was everyone forcing her to choose? She was a victim too! On one hand, she had the childhood friend who saved her life. On the other, the first love she was deeply entangled with. Separated by a single wall, I gripped the bedrails and dry heaved violently. My fingers curled into painful spasms as I pulled out my phone. “Speed up the process. Money is no object,” I texted the investigator. That night, a video of Lisa publicly punishing Finn trended all over social media. I took a deep breath and clicked play. Inside a loud VIP club, a heavily intoxicated Finn was crying, screaming that he wanted to marry her. Lisa dragged him in front of the camera. The crowd held their breath. So did I. A moment later, she uncapped a permanent marker and drew a cartoon turtle on Finn’s face. “A small punishment to teach you a lesson. No more extreme pranks,” she scolded lightly. “Your brother-in-law isn’t a young boy anymore. He can’t handle your roughhousing.” My fingers turned completely to ice. I quietly locked my phone. I pulled out the hospital-issued fruit knife and pressed the sharp tip against my chest, slowly dragging it across my skin. Physical pain was the only way left to drown out the screaming in my head. For a long time after that, Finn stayed far away from me. Lisa was buried in corporate work, but she called constantly to check in. Mountains of expensive gifts arrived at the apartment daily. High society praised her. Three years ago, she punished her husband for her brother, proving she was fiercely just. Now, she showered her traumatized husband with love, proving her loyalty. She became the absolute paragon of elite society. But my body was rapidly shutting down. Every time I closed my eyes, I saw my mother’s bloodied face, screaming at me, asking why I killed someone. Or I felt the vertigo of falling from the sky, waiting for the fatal impact. My phone buzzed. Lisa texted, asking me to accompany her to a high-end auction to get some fresh air. I wanted to refuse, but the catalog she sent included an emerald necklace my mother used to love. I agreed. The auction hall was packed with the city’s billionaires. The moment I sat down, Finn strolled over with a stunning model on his arm. He offered a boyish smile. “Lisa, the CEO of Vanguard Group is waiting for you in the back lounge to discuss the merger. You go ahead. I’ll stay here and keep Penn company. We have so many misunderstandings. It’s time we cleared the air.” My chest tightened. I grabbed Lisa’s sleeve. She hesitated for a split second, then patted the back of my hand. “Wait for me here.” Watching her walk away, I immediately stood up to leave. But Finn slammed his hands heavily onto my shoulders, forcing me back into the velvet chair. “The show is about to start. Don’t you want to see what the opening item is?” The moment the words left his mouth, a spotlight hit the center stage. There was a split second of absolute silence in the grand hall. Then, an eruption of crude laughter. Women covered their mouths, their faces flushed. Men exchanged lewd glances and smirked. My fists clenched so hard my fingernails bit into my palms. On the stage was a life-sized, milk-white sculpture of a naked woman in an incredibly degrading, intimate pose. And the face carved into the marble was the face of the mother I mourned every single night. I surged forward, ready to kill him, but Finn’s chilling whisper stopped me in my tracks. “Sit down. Sit tight and watch exactly how you murdered your own mother.” “If you hadn’t insisted on marrying Lisa, your mother and I wouldn’t have been pushed to such extremes.” The massive LED screen behind the sculpture flickered to life. It was a security footage recording. A video playing my mother’s final, despairing moments on that rooftop, capturing the exact second she stepped into the void. All because of me. “I remember that woman. Born into old money, incredibly arrogant. But then her son became a murderer. She couldn’t handle the shame and jumped,” a socialite whispered loudly behind me. “If I gave birth to a curse like that, I’d jump too.” “I heard the killer is Miss Lisa’s husband.” I swallowed the bile rising in my throat, turning frantically to find Lisa. And there she was. Standing near the back of the crowd, looking right at me. She gave a microscopic shake of her head. She had promised me weeks ago that she would clear my name. It was all a lie. A stalling tactic. She just didn’t want to make a scene. Just like three years ago. Just like today. I was nothing but a pawn she could sacrifice whenever it suited her image. My phone dinged. The private investigator had just uploaded the final file to the server. I slowly wiped the tears from my eyes. I turned around and sprinted toward the rooftop.

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1 I was in the middle of punishing my wealthy patron in the marble bathroom when the glowing text floated across my vision again. [Does the villainess really think she’s tamed the beast?] [Once the actual female lead shows up, who would want a secondhand kept bird like her?] I ignored them and glanced back down at the man in the bathtub. His expensive dress shirt was soaked through. His silk tie hung loose around his neck. The tips of his ears were flushed a deep crimson. Yet, his sharp, chiseled face broadcasted a single, undeniable message: utter, unyielding defiance. The spark of dominance that had just ignited inside me was instantly doused by those floating comments. I stood up to leave, but he frowned, his voice dropping into a hoarse, magnetic register. “Why are we stopping?” I looked away. “I just remembered I have a kissing scene to shoot today. It’s not polite to keep people waiting.” Reed let out a dry, irritated laugh. “A kissing scene? With Rowan?” I nodded. His eyes darkened with hidden meaning. “This is your third time co-starring with him. Do you really love being his leading lady that much?” I met Reed’s probing gaze and told the truth. “Yes. We have great chemistry.” A cold, mocking smirk touched his lips. “I hear the youngest son of the wealthy Rowan family is a notorious clean freak. If he knew what you looked like begging on a bed, do you think he’d still want to act with you?” I gripped my designer bag tightly, forcing down the spike of humiliation. “It doesn’t matter if you look down on me. Other people don’t.” After I left the hotel, Reed didn’t chase after me. The next time I saw him was on set. Reed was the director, and right now, he was standing up for a part-time college extra. The extra’s name was Laurel. She had a bright, spirited face that had recently gone viral online. To protect her from a creepy gaffer, Reed forcefully claimed her as his girlfriend. I suddenly found it utterly hilarious. The official title he had vehemently refused to give me had now become a convenient tool to rescue someone else. I stood a short distance away, quietly watching him warn the entire crew. “Anyone who messes with her is messing with me.” In the past, he never involved himself in other people’s business. Even when I ran into trouble, I had to literally get on my knees and beg him to intervene. But with Laurel, Reed was entirely different. The floating comments were going crazy. [Our baby female lead is finally here!] [The lighting guy harassed our girl, and the male lead is furious!] [Everyone loves our baby! The male lead is going to be insanely jealous from now on!] So Laurel was the true female lead of this world. No wonder she triggered Reed’s protective instincts the moment she stepped on set. I suddenly remembered how it used to be. Whenever I was bullied and went to Reed for help, he would simply tilt my chin up. His eyes would burn with a predatory heat, his tone teasing and cruel. “What exactly are you going to offer me in exchange? Hmm?” Only after he had tossed me around until I was too exhausted to speak would he leisurely make a phone call and solve my problems with a few words. As for other male actors pursuing me, he would just wrap his arms around my waist from behind, watching the screen of my phone as I typed out rejection texts. His voice was always indifferent. “You don’t need to reject them so harshly. You have to understand, even a kept bird loses its cage eventually. Nora, you need to leave yourself a way out.” “Whenever you decide you want to get married, we can end this at any time.” I had been by his side for so long, yet I had never once seen him jealous. So when the comments claimed he would be insanely jealous over Laurel, my first instinct was pure disbelief. Rowan arrived on set earlier than I did. He was famous in the industry for his flawless temper. Years ago, when I was just a nobody extra, Rowan had bailed me out of trouble countless times. I was just about to walk over and greet him when the text lit up my vision again. [Does the villainess realize the male lead doesn’t want her, so she’s trying to seduce the second male lead?] [She’s delusional. The second male lead has no obligation to pick up a secondhand sugar baby. He will only ever love the female lead.] [Once he finds out about her filthy past, he’ll be utterly disgusted by her.] My hand, raised halfway in greeting, slowly dropped back to my side. The comments always said that if the plot of this novel hadn’t glitched, a cannon fodder extra like me would have rotted away in a dirty trailer park in the Deep South. I wouldn’t have even gotten the chance to be an extra. The author of this world had effortlessly penned the most shameful backstory for me. Born to reckless teenage parents, I was dumped in a rundown trailer park. My grandmother raised me, but she despised my existence. Growing up, I experienced nothing but empty stomachs and beatings. Once I hit puberty, I didn’t even dare step outside, terrified of the creepy old men lurking around the park. Then one night, I had a dream. I dreamt of myself on a massive billboard, beautiful and glamorous. Because of that dream, I stole the meager cash stashed under the floorboards that very night and bought a one-way bus ticket to Los Angeles. Soon enough, I landed gigs as an extra and made my first paycheck. My face even went viral on social media for a day. Suddenly, opportunities were knocking on my door. At that moment, I genuinely believed I could rewrite my own destiny. Until the next day, a friend I made on set took me to a cheap salon to dye my hair blonde. She said a huge indie film needed a specific role, and the director had asked for me by name. The character required blonde hair. I showed up to the casting room with that fried, cheap blonde hair, only to be met with a brutal slap across the face from the director. “Who gave you permission to dye your hair?! You aren’t famous enough to go changing your look without my approval!” All my hard-earned opportunities vanished because of that single slap. After that, I went to his office every single day to beg for another chance. At first, he just rejected me. But eventually, his mind wandered to darker places. One night, he cornered me in his hotel room. “If you know how to keep a man happy, the opportunities will come flooding back, won’t they?” I fought him off with everything I had. In the end, I grabbed a heavy glass ashtray from the desk and smashed it into his head, knocking him out cold. Just as I stood there, terrified that my acting career had ended before it even began, I saw a man walking into the suite across the hall. It was Reed. During my time on the studio lots, I had heard the whispers about him. I had even hidden in the crowds, secretly observing him. He had never spared me a single glance. Looking at the bleeding man on the floor, I hesitated for a long time. Finally, I stepped out into the hallway and knocked on Reed’s door. When he opened it, the pure contempt in his eyes shattered whatever dignity I had left. “What? Are you here looking for a sugar daddy too?” At first, I wanted to play the pitiful victim like everyone else did. But looking into those deep, calculating eyes, I chose the truth. “Yes.” “Instead of settling for some old, ugly creep, I want someone young and handsome. Someone powerful enough to actually protect me.” Reed was royalty in the industry. His background was untouchable. He was young, brilliant, and every movie he directed shattered box office records. Every actress in Hollywood would kill to be his leading lady. He was the ultimate patron, the only one who could truly shield me. Reed stared at me. After a long, agonizing silence, he actually laughed. He stepped aside and let me in. He lit a cigarette, staring out the window, not even looking at me. He asked only one question. “And what exactly can you offer me in return?” I still don’t know where my confidence came from that night. “I can make you a lot of money.” He finally looked at me, a smile playing on his lips. “But I don’t need money.” As I stood there, completely lost, Reed suddenly spoke again. “Come here. Kiss me.” I had never kissed a man before. When I finally pressed my trembling lips against his, he remained completely unresponsive. “Terrible technique,” he murmured. “Do you need someone to teach you how to kiss, too?” As the night wore on, the atmosphere grew heavy with tension. But the moment his palm slid down my bare back, he suddenly froze. He let out a low chuckle. “Why are you so skinny? Does the crew not feed you?” The catering on set was actually amazing. I was just severely malnourished from years of starvation. He didn’t touch me again that night. He told me to put my clothes back on and took me out to get food. The next day, Reed handed me a forged ID and a fake college transcript. He erased my trailer park history entirely. He even personally drove me to elite acting classes. When I tried to thank him, he cut me off. “By the way, if you have free time, read a book.” His tone dripped with mockery. “After all, having an uneducated piece of trailer trash as my leading lady is a terrible look.” “Nora? We aren’t shooting a crying scene today. Why the tears?” Rowan’s gentle voice pulled me back to reality. Reed hadn’t come over. He was sitting in his director’s chair, patiently walking Laurel through the script. The assistant director followed my gaze. “That girl has raw talent. Reed recognizes it. He really wants to mentor her into the industry.” Yes, Reed always cherished talent. When he looked at Laurel, his eyes overflowed with absolute admiration. He had never looked at me like that. Years ago, when the media ruthlessly mocked me for being an industry plant and the internet tore me apart, Reed didn’t comfort me. He just sat quietly in the corner, reading a script. Only when I was exhausted from crying did he finally speak. “Why are you crying? Do you think they’re wrong?” The way Reed looked at me was always a mix of condescension and clinical curiosity. When it was time to shoot the kissing scene, the assistant director asked if I wanted to use camera tricks or a stunt double. Reed was fiercely possessive; he hated it when I filmed intimate scenes. For years, almost all my on-screen kisses had been faked. But today, I suddenly didn’t want to play by his rules anymore. “No need. I’ll do it myself.” When the cameras rolled, I grabbed Rowan’s collar, pulling him in. Yet my eyes uncontrollably flicked toward Reed. I pressed my lips against Rowan’s, my heart swelling with a suffocating bitterness. Reed didn’t even look up. He didn’t care. He was too busy laughing at something Laurel said, in such a good mood that he ordered premium coffee for the entire crew. I heard him specifically instruct his assistant, “The new girl doesn’t like bitter things. Make sure you add extra syrup to hers.” When a cup of sickly sweet coffee was handed to me, my heart finally died. It seemed my untouchable patron was finally preparing to discard me. I had looked into Laurel’s background. Old money, highly educated, lacking nothing. She only came to the movie sets to play around as a hobby. The floating comments were right. She and Reed were a perfect match. After my scenes with Rowan wrapped, Reed texted me to meet him. Coincidentally, I had something to tell him too. The hotel suite was dimly lit by a single bedside lamp. Tonight, Reed was more aggressive than ever before. As he held me tightly, he whispered against my ear, “I had a nightmare last night. I dreamt you actually had the guts to leave me.” He let out a self-deprecating laugh. “It was ridiculous. How could you ever bear to walk away from me? From all these resources?” I didn’t argue. When it was over, I asked the same pathetic question I always asked. “Reed, do you love me?” If he actually said yes, I might not have had the strength to leave him. Predictably, he just threw the question back at me. “What do you think?” With Reed, I would never get the answer I desperately wanted. The comments mocked me relentlessly. [The male lead hates stupid people, yet the villainess keeps asking these braindead questions.] [He doesn’t love you. Period. Why keep asking?] They were right. I shouldn’t ask such stupid questions anymore. After his shower, Reed couldn’t sleep. He stood by the balcony, scrolling through his phone, and suddenly laughed out loud. He had a beautiful smile, rivaling any top-tier actor in Hollywood. But he rarely ever smiled when he looked at me. Noticing my gaze, he explained, “The crew just texted me. The new girl caused trouble again. She punched the lighting tech.” “She’s just like you were back then. Throwing punches without thinking about the consequences.” I forced a bitter smile. “Are you protecting her because she reminds you of me?” “I had to beg you for weeks before you were willing to protect me.” The hand holding his cigarette paused. He didn’t look at me. “Really? I don’t remember.” Watching the faint, amused curve of his lips, the words slipped out of my mouth before I could stop them. “Reed, let’s end this.” His smile vanished, and he finally lowered his head to look at me.

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Returning from a business trip, I casually grabbed the smart kettle on the kitchen counter to pour myself a glass of water. A second later, I froze. The water was ice cold. Victoria and I had been married for three years. She was a militant health fanatic, imposing draconian rules on both herself and me. Our smart kettle was programmed to sit at exactly 99.5 degrees, every single minute of every single day. Once, I accidentally bumped the temperature down a single degree. She lectured me for four agonizing hours. Our house contained absolutely nothing but purified water. Sugar was poison. Even an extra drop of olive oil in a pan was a sin. She had severe OCD and a terrifying need for order, demanding that everything in our lives remain under her absolute control. My heart skipped a beat. I pulled open the refrigerator door. Dozens of plastic cups filled with ice packed the top shelf. Below them sat rows of Coca-Cola and Red Bull. At that exact moment, Victoria’s voice echoed in my head. “Bennett, drinking ice water is a slow suicide.” “Those processed garbage drinks will only accelerate your body’s decay.” I stood paralyzed. It seemed our marriage finally had a third person. A person who made her break every single one of her golden rules. I stood in the entryway with my suitcase. The house was dead silent. I could hear my own heartbeat thumping against my ribs. A faint, unfamiliar scent of men’s cologne lingered in the air. Victoria’s obsession with the water temperature bordered on psychotic. She even had an app on her phone to monitor the smart kettle remotely. Once, when I accidentally tapped the minus button and dropped it to 98 degrees, she came home from work and stared at me with pure disappointment. “Bennett, I have told you a thousand times. Only water at exactly 99.5 degrees can maintain your body’s internal homeostasis.” “Every time you break this rule, you are treating your own health like a joke.” Yet right now, the water in the kettle was completely cold. I took a deep breath, trying to convince myself that the kettle was just broken. I let go of my suitcase. My hand moved on its own, pulling the refrigerator door open again. A blast of cold air hit my face, freezing the blood in my veins. The fridge, usually strictly organized with farmers market organics, cage-free eggs, and lean cuts of meat, had been aggressively cleared out. Taking up a massive chunk of space were the ice cups and the sugary, carbonated energy drinks. My head spun. Victoria’s cold reprimands played on a loop in my mind. “Bennett, no more than three grams of sodium a day.” “You must measure the olive oil. Not a single drop over five grams per dish.” “The fat content in this cut of beef exceeds the limit by half a percent. Throw it out.” “All outside food is garbage pumped full of chemicals and preservatives. Do you have a death wish?” So who was going to tell me where all of this junk came from? Who was the man that made the rigidly principled Victoria tolerate all of this? My throat went entirely dry. My heart felt like it was being crushed in a vice, the pain making it impossible to breathe. I slammed the fridge door shut, desperately trying to calm down. I pulled out my phone, ready to call her and demand to know what was going on. Right at that second, the electronic lock on the front door beeped. Victoria was home. “You’re back early?” She looked slightly surprised to see me, but quickly masked it with her usual aloof, clinical expression. “Yeah, the project wrapped up ahead of schedule.” Her eyes scanned the living room as if inspecting a crime scene, finally landing on me. Her perfectly manicured eyebrows twitched in slight annoyance. “Why are the lights off? Don’t you know sitting in the dark degrades your vision?” She slipped off her heels and walked straight into the kitchen, naturally reaching for the kettle to pour a glass of water. When she saw the digital temperature display, her hand visibly jerked. A split second later, she placed the kettle back onto the heating pad as if nothing had happened. My heart sank even further. She saw it. But she didn’t say a word. “Victoria.” I couldn’t hold it in any longer. “Yes?” she replied, not even turning around as she poured a glass of cold water. “Is the kettle broken?” The air in the kitchen instantly solidified. I could practically see her spine stiffen. After a long pause, she finally spoke, her tone flat. “Probably.” But there was a microscopic tremor of panic in her voice. “The clinic has been busy lately. I haven’t been paying attention.” With that, she took a sip of the cold water and practically fled toward the master bedroom. I stood rooted to the floor, staring at her retreating back, a deep chill crawling up my legs. She was lying. Because just seconds ago, when she walked past me, I had clearly smelled that exact same unfamiliar men’s cologne on her clothes. Over the next few days, Victoria became suspiciously busy. She claimed she had to work overtime every single night, coming home incredibly late and looking utterly exhausted. She spoke to me even less. Most of our interactions were reduced to a simple hello and goodbye. The smart kettle magically returned to its permanent 99.5 degrees. The Coke and the ice cups in the fridge completely vanished without a trace. Everything seemed to revert to normal, almost as if that afternoon had just been a paranoid hallucination. But I knew the truth. Some things, once cracked, can never be put back together. Like trust. Tonight, she texted me again saying there was an emergency surgery at the hospital and she wouldn’t be home for dinner. Driven by a dark, undeniable impulse, I changed my clothes, grabbed my car keys, and left the apartment. I parked across the street from the hospital, rolled down the window, and lit a cigarette. I had quit smoking three years ago. The first drag burned my lungs. Through the curling smoke, I watched the hospital entrance. I waited for hours. I waited until the cigarette burned down to the filter, yet I still hadn’t seen Victoria. I let out a self-deprecating laugh. Maybe I really was just being paranoid. I reached for the ignition, ready to drive home, when a familiar figure suddenly walked into my line of sight. She had taken off her white lab coat and was wearing a beige trench coat, walking shoulder to shoulder with a young man. I recognized him. He was the new surgical assistant in her department. His name was Felix. He was boyish, wearing thick black framed glasses, looking every bit the innocent scholar. When he smiled, deep dimples showed on his cheeks. Victoria tilted her head to listen to him, a remarkably soft smile blooming on her face. It was a smile full of genuine, unfiltered affection. A look I had never once received from her. My hands gripped the steering wheel so hard my knuckles turned white. I followed them as they turned into a narrow alley beside the hospital. The alley was a famous local night market, packed shoulder to shoulder with noisy crowds and greasy food trucks. I parked the car and quietly trailed them on foot. The alley was deafening, the air thick with heavy cooking oil and the rich scent of spices. I spotted them immediately. They stopped in front of a food truck selling deep fried skewers. Felix was grinning enthusiastically, pointing at the rows of greasy meat and vegetables on the grill. My feet felt like they were nailed to the pavement. I vividly remembered the year we started dating. I had eagerly brought her to this exact same alley. I had said, “Victoria, let’s try this. It looks amazing.” She had frowned, covering her nose and mouth with a tissue, looking at the grill with absolute disgust. “Bennett, do you have any idea where that meat comes from? Do you know how many times that oil has been reused?” “Every single bite is packed with carcinogens.” “I will never eat garbage like this, and I expect you to never bring me to a place like this ever again.” Her words had been a bucket of ice water, completely extinguishing my excitement. From that day on, I never suggested eating street food again. But right now, she was standing there, watching Felix order a massive pile of glistening, oil soaked BBQ skewers. The vendor handed the food to Felix. He grabbed a giant grilled squid and offered it to Victoria like a prized trophy. “Try this! It’s so good!” The squid was dripping with a thick, heavy sauce. I fully expected Victoria to reject him without a second thought, just like she had rejected me. But under Felix’s expectant gaze, she actually opened her mouth and took a massive bite. “It really is.” She smiled as she swallowed it. A bomb went off in my skull. I felt my entire world violently collapse. Seeing her eat it, Felix smiled so hard his eyes crinkled. He naturally reached out with a napkin and gently wiped a smear of sauce from the corner of her lips. And Victoria didn’t pull away. I remembered what happened just two nights ago. I was cooking a simple stir fry, and my hand slipped, pouring a fraction of an ounce too much olive oil into the pan. She took one bite, spat it into a napkin, and dumped the entire plate of food straight into the trash. She had stared at me with eyes made of ice. “Bennett, how many times do I have to tell you? Fat intake must be strictly monitored.” “Do you just ignore everything I say?” “Look at that plate. Are you actively trying to give me high cholesterol?” I had stammered, apologizing over and over again. Looking back now, it was utterly pathetic. She was perfectly willing to swallow greasy street food for another man. Yet she verbally abused me over a single drop of clean olive oil. It turns out her precious rules and health standards were strictly reserved for the people she didn’t love. I have no memory of how I drove back to the apartment. The image of Victoria smiling as she ate that grilled squid played on a torturous loop in my brain. At eleven o’clock, Victoria finally came home. She pushed the door open and paused when she saw the pitch black living room. “Why are the lights off again?” She flipped the switch. The blinding light made me flinch. She took off her shoes and walked closer. She smelled faintly of charcoal smoke, completely intertwined with that unfamiliar men’s cologne. “You’re still awake?” She sat down on the single armchair, as far away from me as possible. “I was waiting for you.” She avoided my gaze, picking up a glass of water from the table. “I told you I had surgery. You didn’t need to wait.” I let out a bitter, raspy laugh. “Did the surgery go well?” “It was fine.” She gave a vague answer, her eyes shifting nervously. I sat up straight and stared directly into her eyes. “You must be exhausted. I hear the grilled squid in the alley next to the hospital is pretty good. Spicy and rich. Do you want me to bring you some next time?” The second the words left my mouth, Victoria’s face drained of all color. The hand holding her glass trembled violently. “Bennett, what exactly are you implying?” Her eyes sharpened into a defensive glare, practically warning me to back off. “I’m not implying anything.” I leaned back against the couch, feeling as if every ounce of energy had been drained from my bones. “Just thought you might want something heavy for a change. Eating clean and bland all the time gets pretty boring.” “Are you tracking me?” She finally asked the question I had been waiting for. She stood up abruptly. “Why are you acting so passive aggressive? Do we not even have basic trust between us anymore?” Trust? My heart violently seized. From the exact moment she let another man shatter all her golden rules, trust was the first thing in this house to die. “I’m tired. I’m going to bed.” She looked like a deer caught in the headlights. Refusing to look at me again, she practically sprinted to the master bedroom and slammed the door shut. I sat in the dark living room until the sun came up. The next morning, she woke up early as usual to get ready for work. We didn’t say a single word to each other. Just as she was about to walk out the door, I called out to her. “Victoria, next Wednesday is our third anniversary.” Her back stiffened. “I remember.” “I booked a table at the restaurant where we had our first date.” She remained silent for a few seconds before turning around, a perfectly crafted look of apology on her face. “I’m sorry, Bennett. The hospital scheduled a mandatory medical seminar that night. I won’t be able to make it.” “Is that so? What a shame.” I replied with a dead, calm voice, while my heart bled out in my chest. Over the next few days, that assistant named Felix began intruding into my life in the most arrogant ways. One afternoon, I received a local courier package. I opened it to find a massive box of spicy junk food and a handwritten note. “Vicky, you said you loved the snacks I gave you last time, so I bought you a whole box!” Staring at that note felt like taking a baseball bat straight to the jaw. When Victoria got home that night, I tossed the box of junk food and the note onto the table right in front of her. “Did your assistant send this?” She glanced at it, her expression entirely neutral. “Oh, Felix is just a kid. He means well. Don’t overthink it.” I laughed in pure disbelief. “Don’t you despise processed food? But when he sends it, suddenly it’s fine?” “Bennett, can you stop being so incredibly sensitive?” Her eyebrows knitted together, her face radiating absolute impatience. “Felix is young. He’s practically a kid fresh out of med school. I can’t believe you’re actually jealous of him. You’re a grown man, why are you picking fights over a child?” There it was again. She defended him at every turn. Every single fault in our marriage was always blamed on my sensitivity and my paranoia. I looked at her, suddenly realizing I was looking at a complete stranger. It was true. Principles were only weapons used against the people you didn’t love. The day of our anniversary arrived. Just as she promised, she left the apartment early in the morning. I sat alone in the empty, quiet house, looking at the elaborate gifts I had prepared for her, feeling like an absolute clown. As the sun began to set, my phone buzzed. It was a text from a mutual friend, containing a screenshot. It was Felix’s social media post. In the photo, Felix and Victoria were wearing overalls and rubber boots, standing in the middle of a muddy field, smiling radiantly.

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1 At a college reunion, my boyfriend, Rhys, called me a worthless idiot in front of all our friends. My best friend, Zoe, couldn’t take it anymore and pulled me aside. “Look, Ava,” she said, her voice low and urgent, “Everyone in our friend group, since we were kids, has thought Rhys treats you like crap. Why are you still so desperate to cling to him?” Huh? Is that really how they all saw us? A torrent of comments flooded my mind, a phantom stream only I could see. 【Don’t listen to them, Ava! He’s just all bark and no bite. He’s totally, completely in love with you!】 【Classic tsundere. He’ll regret losing his temper in a second, but he’s too proud to apologize. He’s probably curled up in a corner somewhere, hating himself right now.】 Zoe pressed on, her words tumbling out in a rush. “He painted a portrait for that protégée he’s known for three months. He takes shots for her at parties. He even knows her damn period schedule, the difference between daytime and overnight pads…” Her eyes locked on mine. “And you? You drove thirty miles through a storm to get him the wrong kind of paintbrush, and this is how he treats you?” In that moment, I finally ignored the screen. And I was certain. Rhys didn’t love me. Returning home, I found Rhys waiting, his eyes red-rimmed. The moment I walked in, he hurled the paintbrush at my face, his voice a raw mix of anger and hurt. “Are you blind? You can’t even tell the difference between a long-handled and a short-handled brush? Are you good for anything besides causing trouble?” He spat the words out. “You’re pathetic, Ava.” The hard edge of the brush split the skin on my forehead. A drop of blood trickled down, and when I touched it, my hand came away stained crimson. Rhys froze. He let out a sharp, cold huff and turned away, his back rigid as he fumbled through the medicine cabinet. Watching his frantic movements, my heart gave a familiar, foolish flutter. 【Aww, he’s definitely panicking inside. The genius of the art world, helpless against his clumsy girl. I’m shipping this so hard.】 【See? He was mad, but the second he saw her hurt, he softened. It’s so cute.】 But the fragile moment was shattered by the ringing of his phone. It was his protégée, Faye. He dropped the first-aid kit without a second thought and grabbed his paint case. “Don’t worry, I’m bringing the pigments over right now,” he said into the phone, his voice suddenly gentle. “You’ll definitely make it for the competition tomorrow.” Before leaving, he tossed a cup of instant noodles onto the counter without looking at me. “Here. Eat this and go to bed. Don’t wait up.” I stared down at the cup. The noodles were a swollen, sticky mess, a few sad, rehydrated carrot bits dotting the congealed surface. I hadn’t eaten all day, my stomach aching with hunger after the long drive to that century-old art supply store thirty miles away, but the sight of the noodles turned it. “I’m not hungry. You should go.” Rhys’s brow furrowed into a deep line. His voice rose, sharp with frustration. “Now you’re playing the victim? Ava, are you a child? Can’t you just make my life easy for once?” 【I can’t with this heroine. She’s supposed to be the one saving him, but all she does is create drama. Does she have any idea what’s actually important?】 【Seriously. Thank God he’s patient enough to deal with her tantrums. This is getting painful to watch.】 I ignored the swirling text. I watched him smooth down his clothes and hurry out the door, his figure shrinking into a small black dot before disappearing at the end of the street. On the easel was an unfinished painting. I used to be the subject. But with Faye’s birthday approaching, he had hastily painted her over my half-finished form. The cut on my forehead throbbed. But I didn’t bother to clean it. I let the blood blur my vision, and then I picked up the brush I’d driven thirty miles for. And snapped it in two. 2 Rhys was never one for words. But the comments told me it was a form of deep, repressed love, and that I was his only salvation. It started in our first art class together. He glanced at the clouds I’d painted and scoffed. “That’s hideous. It looks like a caterpillar.” I was about to snap back when the comments erupted. 【That’s our male lead! A born critic, even as a kid, hahaha.】 【He’s just got a sharp tongue and a soft heart. He fell for her at first sight, you know. He’s dying to grab the brush and teach her himself.】 I blinked, then glanced over at Rhys. He was peeking at me from the corner of his eye. I pouted. “I just don’t have as many supplies as you.” His handsome brows knitted together in a show of impatience. He shoved his palette of expensive paints toward me. “Take them all. It’ll still be ugly.” His harsh, moody behavior continued for years, and for years, it grated on me. Until I was sixteen. I was walking home alone when a stalker lunged from the shadows, his hand clamping over my mouth. I thrashed wildly, but my limbs grew heavy, useless. I felt the rough tear of fabric as he ripped at my dress. Just before I blacked out, I saw a figure fly past. It was Rhys. He threw himself at the attacker. I was safe. When I woke up, I was in a hospital, and he was in the bed next to me. He’d been stabbed in the stomach and had two broken ribs, the bandages stark white against his skin. But his first thought was of me. I started to panic, but he cut me off, his face a blank mask. “Don’t get all sappy. I was just passing by.” He paused, his gaze hardening. “And you should think about why you were targeted. Always trying to look pretty. Maybe now you’ve learned your lesson.” His words were so ugly they stung more than any wound. I froze, a hot prickling behind my eyes. I looked down at myself. It was my birthday, and my mom had bought me a new floral dress. The teachers had even given me permission to wear it instead of my uniform. Was that my fault, too? The comments rushed to his defense. 【He only followed her home because he heard there’d been trouble in the neighborhood lately. He was secretly protecting her.】 【Totally! He was so jealous earlier when he saw the other guys telling her how pretty her dress was.】 【He’s the strong, silent type who shows his love through actions, not words. I’m crying. When will she finally open her eyes and see how much he adores her!】 I looked up, but all I saw was his averted gaze. And the terrible wounds covering his body. From that day on, I set aside my resentment. I started searching for his love in the spaces between the lines of the comments. And occasionally, I thought I caught a glimpse of it. It felt natural when I started to fall for him, and just as natural when we got together. But Rhys was, without a doubt, a genius. He was a once-in-a-generation painter. Geniuses speak to geniuses, and I was just… ordinary. Then he met Faye, his new protégée, and the delicate balance of our relationship shattered. When inspiration struck, he no longer shared it with me first; he’d rush off to find her. When his depressive episodes hit, he’d smash his canvases rather than let me into his studio, yet he made an exception for her, letting her sit with him, comfort him. When he won an award, he would embrace her first, then toss the trophy into my arms like an afterthought. I complained, countless times, but the comments always insisted he only saw her as a kindred spirit. A rare connection between two artists, a meeting of the minds. I wanted to scream, to demand, “What does she have that I don’t?” But that would be undignified. Humiliating. So I struggled, and I swallowed it all, trying to accommodate his moods, his closed-off nature, his rage. But this time, I was just so tired. Staring at the two halves of the broken paintbrush, a symbol of a past we could never return to, I picked up my phone and began to type a text. 3 One text. I wrote it, deleted it, and wrote it again. My fingertips trembled, and I realized my eyes were burning. Just as I was about to hit send, a call came through. It was Rhys. “Ava,” he said. “It’s raining.” 【He’s not talking about the weather, he’s offering an olive branch! Clumsy girl, you have to see it!】 【Oh my god, for someone with his issues, this is a huge step. He’s really trying, I’m gonna cry.】 The comments seemed to think it was an honor for him to even ask me to run an errand for him. In the past, no matter how late, how tired, or how far, I would have dropped everything to go get him. But not this time. “It’s not that bad,” I said, my voice flat. “I’m tired tonight. I don’t feel like picking you up. You can get upstairs on your own.” A few minutes later, I heard a key in the lock. “Don’t just stand there.” Rhys was half-shielding Faye with his body, carefully dabbing the rain from her hair with his sleeve. “Go get a hairdryer. Got no common sense?” Faye tugged on his shirt and offered me a small, apologetic smile. “I’m so sorry, Ava. Rhys is just blunt, he doesn’t mean it. You don’t have to trouble yourself, really, I’m fine.” She continued, her voice sweet and gentle. “We were at the studio so late, and my place is too far to get to before the competition tomorrow. I hope it’s okay if I crash here tonight. I heard you hadn’t eaten, so I brought you some sushi. I hope you don’t mind.” I forced a tight smile and held up a hand. “Thanks, but I’m not hungry.” The bento box suddenly clattered to the floor, spilling sushi across the wood. It was a chaotic, sticky mess. “Ava, have you had enough?” Rhys’s eyes went cold as he grabbed my wrist, his fingers digging into my skin. “Faye was being nice. What the hell is your problem?” Faye’s eyes welled with tears as she whispered, “Rhys, it was my fault, I dropped it…” But her voice was thick with a theatrical sob, as if she were the one deeply wronged. Rhys’s anger flared. He shook my arm off, sending me stumbling backward. I coughed, a bitter laugh escaping my lips. “Rhys. We’ve been together for seven years. Don’t you remember what I’m allergic to?” He flinched, but his gaze only hardened. He kicked the crushed sushi, sending a piece skidding across the floor to my feet. “You’re just being dramatic, Ava. No princess is born with a princess complex like yours. When you’re hungry, you eat what you can get. You’re just looking for a fight.” The sushi didn’t hurt when it hit my shoe, but I couldn’t stop the tears that threatened to fall. 【He’s dying of guilt right now. He was worried she wouldn’t like the instant noodles, so he specifically asked Faye to bring her dinner, and this is the thanks he gets.】 【This redemption-arc heroine is just an entitled brat. A good partner would be supportive. I feel so bad for him.】 【He’s not good with words, he’s always been like this! Can’t she stop pushing him?】 The comments were a blur of accusations. Ignoring them, I used the sofa to pull myself up and silently started packing a suitcase. Rhys’s fists clenched. He took two steps toward me, but stopped short when Faye let out a small gasp. “Rhys! Your paintbrush… it’s broken. I thought… I thought I was going to get my portrait as a birthday present…” 4 Rhys’s gaze darkened. He lunged forward and seized my shoulders, his fingers digging in painfully. He backed me against the wall. “Ava, what is this supposed to mean?” “There are seventy-nine paintings of you in my studio. Seventy-nine! Why did you have to destroy this one? The one for her birthday? Were you trying to humiliate her?” “First, you buy the wrong brush on purpose, and now you break it. You’re suffocating me, Ava.” My hands stilled. I lifted my head and met his furious eyes. “Is that who you think I am? Sensitive, fragile… petty?” Rhys’s lips formed a tight line. His eyes flickered away for a second, and he took a quick step back, creating distance between us. His gaze fell on the first-aid kit on the floor. He hesitated, almost moving toward it. 【He’s so sweet. Even in a fight, he’s still worried about her cut.】 【His voice is cracking. He regrets what he said. I feel like he’s about to shatter. Can’t she just hug him? Give in a little?】 But I couldn’t understand it anymore. And I didn’t want to. I quietly zipped up my suitcase. “Rhys, let’s break up.” The air in the room went still. Rhys’s back stiffened. He turned his head slowly, his expression one of disbelief. “…What did you say?” A flicker of triumph crossed Faye’s face before she hid behind him, her voice a fragile whisper. “Was it me? Am I making you angry by staying here? I’ll leave right now, I won’t be a bother, I’m so sorry…” “Don’t be scared. You’re staying. This has nothing to do with you,” Rhys said, his hand automatically going to her hair to soothe her. Then his face hardened as he turned back to me, his voice low and dangerous. “Ava, you know I don’t like jokes. And I hate it when people use ‘breaking up’ as a threat. If you walk out that door, there’s no coming back for us.” My nails dug into my palms. I nodded, a wave of exhaustion washing over me. “Okay. This is it, then.” Rhys’s pupils constricted, his shoulders trembling slightly. “Then you’d better have some pride. Get out. And don’t come crawling back when you’re lost in the middle of the night, begging me to pick you up.” The comments went into a frenzy. 【This is killing me. Stop saying the opposite of what you mean! You’re begging her to stay!】 【Hello? A difficult person needs a partner who won’t be pushed away. This is all Ava’s fault for not being the ‘little sun’ she’s supposed to be.】 Their accusations felt like a physical weight, pressing down on me. But I still didn’t understand. How could love be this cold? This volatile? How could it be built on insults and disdain? I grabbed the handle of my suitcase, pulled open the door, and shut it firmly behind me, leaving Rhys on the other side. 【I can’t take it anymore. What kind of redemption-arc heroine is this? She’s dancing on his grave.】 【Right? She knows all his triggers and pokes them just to hurt him. What’s the difference between her and some shrew from the market? Can we tell the writers to replace her with Faye?】 【I second that. Faye is sweet, obedient, and she actually understands him. They’re soulmates.】 I ignored their condemnation. Dragging my suitcase, I walked down flight after flight of stairs, and finally stepped out into the pouring rain.

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