1 When the condemned building collapsed, trapping Grandma inside, I called Jefferson twenty-nine times. Before the ceiling caved in, she’d managed to toss a knitted scarf through the rubble. “Avery, stop fighting with Jefferson over me,” she’d wheezed. “Give him this. Tell him I’m sorry for being an old fool, always causing trouble.” On the thirtieth try, he finally answered, voice dripping with impatience. “Avery, cut the dramatics. Stella’s real estate firm is facing a massive lawsuit. I’m drowning in her PR nightmare. Can your grandmother’s petty relocation dispute wait until tomorrow?” I stood before the mountain of concrete and twisted metal, icy rain slamming my face. “Jefferson. I don’t have a grandmother anymore.” A harsh scoff echoed through the receiver. “Here we go again. No shame, making up lies to force me home?” Right before he hung up, I heard Stella’s soft, trembling voice in the background. “Jefferson, they’re pressing charges. Will I go to prison? I’m so scared…” His tone shifted instantly, ice melting into pure, protective warmth. “Don’t panic. I’m the best corporate defense attorney in this city. I will never let anything happen to you.” The line went dead. I stood frozen in the rain, realizing our marriage was exactly like that hollowed-out building. The exterior looked intact, but the inside had collapsed long ago. … Jefferson finally came home. He was wearing a bespoke charcoal suit, his hair styled to perfection. He dropped his leather briefcase onto the sofa, radiating the arrogant aura of an untouchable elite lawyer. When he saw me shoving my clothes into a suitcase, his brows pulled together in a deep frown. “What exactly are you doing?” I folded a jacket and placed it neatly inside, not even bothering to look up at him. “Packing. We’re getting a divorce.” The room fell dead silent for two seconds. Jefferson strode over, snatched the jacket right out of my hands, and threw it hard onto the floor. “Are you done throwing this tantrum, Avery? Once I clear up Stella’s legal mess tomorrow, I will carve out some time next week to look into your grandmother’s housing dispute. Can you just be patient for five minutes?” I stared down at the black and white geometric rug beneath my feet. “There’s no need.” I unzipped the front pocket of my bag, pulled out the divorce papers I had already drafted, and handed them to him. Jefferson didn’t even read the cover page. He ripped the stack of papers in half, then into quarters, and threw them into the air. The shredded paper drifted to the hardwood floor like dirty snow. “Is this really necessary?” His voice spiked with anger. “First you lie about your grandmother dying, and now you’re throwing this childish fit. Can you just grow up? Look at Stella. Her entire family legacy is on the verge of collapse, but she isn’t screaming or making a scene. You can’t even compare to her. At least Stella doesn’t use her own family’s life as a cheap threat.” I opened my mouth to speak, but the exhaustion hit my bones. Defending myself felt utterly pointless. His phone buzzed. Jefferson glanced at the caller ID, and his entire demeanor softened. When he answered, his voice was pure velvet. “Stella, what’s wrong?” Stella’s tearful voice bled through the speaker, loud enough for me to hear from three feet away. “Jefferson, those rioters are back at the office. I’m terrified. They’re screaming that they want a life for a life. Can you please hurry?” “Don’t be scared. I’m on my way.” Jefferson ended the call. He grabbed his coat, turning back to glare at me one last time. “See? Stella is facing an actual crisis, but she just sheds a few tears, gathers herself, and stays strong. And speaking of her crisis, your grandmother’s little relocation dispute is exactly the same thing. It’s just a bunch of greedy squatters trying to extort more hush money. The people terrorizing Stella today are exactly like your grandmother. They get a free relocation apartment, decide it isn’t luxurious enough, and greedily demand more.” “It’s disgusting. Don’t bring your grandmother up to me again. Whenever I think of her, I just think of those extorting parasites.” The front door slammed shut. He was gone. I stood alone in the living room, staring blankly at the torn paper scattered across the rug. My grandmother’s issue had absolutely nothing to do with wanting more money. The developer had demolished her old neighborhood and promised her a brand-new unit with a clean title. But when the keys were handed over, what she got was a death trap. There was no property deed. The foundation was sinking, the load-bearing walls were spiderwebbed with massive cracks, and the entire high-rise didn’t even have a fire escape. It was a shoddy, illegal construction project. A literal house of cards. I had begged Jefferson to look at her case so many times. Every single time, he brushed me off, claiming he would “review the files later.” I had placed those legal documents on his mahogany desk at least ten times. He never opened them. Not once. But whenever Stella needed a favor, no matter how trivial, he dropped everything to play her knight in shining armor. I realized, with a numb sort of clarity, that I had made a terrible mistake marrying him. I printed a new copy of the divorce agreement. Just as I reached the bottom of the stairs at my newly rented apartment, my phone rang. “Avery, have you lost your mind?” Jefferson snarled through the receiver. “You actually showed up at my law firm to draft a divorce settlement? You did that on purpose, didn’t you? Trying to humiliate me, letting my entire partner board know my marriage is a joke. Your toxic behavior needs to stop!” I couldn’t be bothered to argue. I simply hung up. My new place was tiny. Just one bedroom and a small living area on the sixth floor of a walk-up building. But the windows faced south, and the afternoon sun poured in beautifully. I took the grey, crookedly stitched scarf my grandmother had thrown from the rubble and draped it over my headboard. It still smelled like her. Like lavender soap and old paper. It anchored my completely shattered heart. A few days later, I called the city’s disaster cleanup crew to ask when I could collect my grandmother’s recovered belongings. The clerk checked the system and replied, “Ms. Avery, we already shipped the box. It was sent to the residential address listed on your ID.” The address on my ID. The house I used to share with Jefferson. My stomach dropped. I tried calling Jefferson, but he immediately sent me to voicemail. Panic clawed at my throat. I flagged a cab and rushed back across town. When I unlocked the front door, the living room was empty. But I heard noise coming from the master bedroom. I walked down the hall and froze. Stella was standing in the middle of my bedroom. She was holding my grandmother’s antique wooden lockbox, casually turning it upside down over the floor. Everything spilled out in a chaotic clatter. My grandmother’s reading glasses. Her battered savings passbook. Faded polaroids from her youth. And an antique silver bangle she had treasured for decades, saving it to give to me on my wedding day. “What the hell are you doing?” My voice was tight, scraping against my throat. Stella turned around. When she saw me, a smug little smirk played on her lips. “Oh, you’re back? I’m just doing you a favor and clearing out some space. All this hoarding is really ruining the aesthetic of the room.” As she spoke, she picked the antique silver bangle up from the rug, tossing it carelessly in her palm. “What even is this junk? Cheap silver? You couldn’t pay a pawn shop to take this.” “Put it down.” “Why so aggressive?” Stella giggled, completely unbothered. “I’m literally throwing out your trash for you. You should be thanking me.” She casually tossed the bangle over her shoulder. It hit the drywall with a sharp, metallic crack, then bounced onto the hardwood floor, splitting cleanly into two jagged halves. “Stop it!” I lunged forward and shoved her hard by the shoulder. Stella stumbled backward, her hip bumping against the edge of the wardrobe. Instantly, her eyes filled with theatrical tears, and her voice pitched up into a fragile squeak. “Did you just hit me?” A second later, a stinging slap connected with my cheek. The force was brutal. My head snapped to the side, my ears ringing with a high-pitched whine. Jefferson was standing in the doorway. He pulled Stella into his chest, glaring at me with absolute fury. I held my burning cheek, pointing a shaking finger at the scattered mess on the floor. “She destroyed my grandmother’s belongings.” Jefferson glanced down at the broken pieces of silver. His expression didn’t even flicker. He bent down, picked up the broken halves, and dropped them into the trash can next to the dresser. “It’s a piece of junk. Are you really going to act like a lunatic over this?” Watching him throw the bangle into the garbage, something inside me completely snapped. My nose burned, and my vision blurred with hot tears. “Those were her dying possessions. They were the only pieces of her I had left. Why are you two so evil?” Jefferson’s frown deepened. “If your grandmother is actually dead, then why hasn’t it been on the news? A building collapse is a massive tragedy. You don’t think the media would cover it?” I furiously wiped my tears away. I dug into my purse, pulled out the official coroner’s death certificate, and shoved it at his chest. “Is this the proof you need, Jefferson?” “The story was obviously buried. If you actually bothered to look into it, you would know.” Stella leaned over his arm to glance at the paper. She let out a mocking laugh. “Jefferson, look at it. It’s obviously forged. Who carries a fake death certificate around in their purse? She pre-printed this just to manipulate you.” Jefferson took the certificate. He stared at it. Then he looked at it again. For a split second, I thought the reality had finally pierced his thick skull. Instead, he slapped the paper down onto the nightstand. “Avery, clean up this mess on the floor right now. If you keep using these psychotic, fabricated lies to get my attention, I will actually sign those divorce papers.” Stella leaned her head against his shoulder, her voice dropping into a pitiful whisper. “Jefferson, my hip really hurts where she pushed me. Can we just go? I don’t feel safe here.” Jefferson wrapped his arm around her waist and guided her out. Right before he crossed the threshold, he threw a final order over his shoulder. “Clean this up. The house looks like a dumpster.” My heart turned into an absolute wasteland. I knelt on the floor. One of the lenses on my grandmother’s reading glasses was shattered. I picked up her passbook. Her monthly pension was barely a few hundred dollars. She had saved every penny for six years, hoarding a little over five thousand dollars. She used to tell me she was saving that money to give as a red envelope to my future child. I picked up her photo. It was taken last Christmas. She was wearing her red winter coat, the wrinkles on her face deep and kind. I pressed the photograph against my cheek. I remembered how she raised me single-handedly, working her fingers to the bone to pay for my college tuition, never complaining a single time. I took a shaky breath. I made a vow. Even if it was the last time I ever spoke to Jefferson, I was going to use him to get justice for her. I went back to my new apartment and dug out the thick manila folder containing all of my grandmother’s evidence against the developer. Flipping to the corporate registry page, I stared at the name of the parent company. Summerset Development Corporation. Summerset. Stella Summerset. My finger stalled on the page. Then, I turned it over. I took the file straight to Jefferson’s office. His massive desk was buried under case files. When he saw me walk in, his brow furrowed out of pure habit. “Why are you here?” I dropped the heavy folder right onto his desk and looked him dead in the eye. “I am only going to ask you this one last time. Are you going to help me or not?” Jefferson opened his mouth, clearly ready to reject me. I could literally see the word “no” forming on his lips. But he glanced down at the folder. He pulled the documents out. When his eyes hit the page listing the developer’s details, he froze. Then, in a completely unprecedented move, he agreed. “Alright.” His tone was bizarrely gentle, almost coaxing. “I’ll handle this case for you. I know I haven’t been fair lately, ignoring her situation. Give me a few days, and I’ll go with you to visit your grandmother, okay? I’ll apologize to her face-to-face.” I stared at him, a sickening, twisted feeling rising in my throat. Even now, he genuinely believed she was still alive. Whatever. I didn’t have the energy to explain it to him anymore. As long as he used his legal weight to crush the developer and get justice for my grandmother, that was all that mattered. Once the lawsuit was filed, I would sign the divorce papers and vanish from his life. He could walk his golden path, and I would walk my ruined one. We would never cross paths again. I gave a curt nod. “Fine. I’m leaving it to you.” Jefferson smiled faintly, sliding the manila folder into his locked desk drawer. “Be a good girl and leave it to me.” But over the next three weeks, whenever I texted him for an update on the filing, he deflected. He kept stalling. I knew something was wrong. Jefferson was an apex predator in the legal world. He never took more than a week to transition a case from intake to a formal lawsuit. If he was stalling, it meant he had no intention of doing it at all. I decided to follow him. I sat in a parked rental car across the street from Stella’s luxury condo. I watched Jefferson walk out of her lobby, carrying the exact same manila folder I had given him. He got into the driver’s seat of his Mercedes. Stella slipped into the passenger side, laughing brightly. Jefferson must have forgotten something crucial. Months ago, after a string of break-ins in our old neighborhood, I had installed a hidden audio-monitoring dashcam in his car that synced directly to my phone. Now, I opened the app. Through the static, Stella’s excited voice rang out crystal clear. “Thank you so much, Jefferson. With this evidence shredded, I don’t have to be scared anymore.” I heard the sound of Jefferson gently ruffling her hair. “Yeah. You can sleep easy tonight.” My legs gave out. I collapsed against the steering wheel. Jefferson’s soft laughter filtered through the speaker. The afternoon sun was blinding, but I felt like I was drowning in ice water. So that was it. He never intended to help me. He just wanted to con me out of the original evidence so he could hand it directly to Stella. From the very beginning, his only priority was protecting her. I got out of my car and marched up to his Mercedes, rapping my knuckles hard against the tinted glass. Jefferson and Stella both jumped. Jefferson rolled the window down, his face tight with shock. “Avery? What are you doing here?” I ignored him, my eyes locked on the manila folder in Stella’s lap. “Give me my documents back.” Stella instinctively shoved the folder behind her back, her face morphing from shock into wide-eyed innocence. “Documents? I have no idea what you’re talking about.” “My grandmother’s legal files. Hand them over.” Jefferson unbuckled his seatbelt and stepped out of the car, physically blocking my path to Stella. “Avery, drop it.” The pain in my chest was so sharp I could barely breathe. “You stole my grandmother’s evidence to give to her. What the hell is wrong with you?” Jefferson let out a heavy, patronizing sigh, talking to me like I was an irrational toddler. “Avery, you need to listen to me. This case is infinitely more complicated than you think. Stella’s corporation is in the middle of a massive restructuring. They cannot afford a fatal negligence scandal right now. I’ve already negotiated with her. She is going to write your grandmother a massive settlement check. It’s more money than you could spend in a lifetime.” “A settlement?” I stared at him, genuinely doubting my own sanity. “Jefferson, do you have any idea what kind of building they built? It was a condemned death trap! My grandmother died crushed under that concrete! And you want me to take hush money?!” “Calm down,” Jefferson snapped, his patience fraying. “Stop using such dramatic language. I’ve personally reviewed the blueprints for Stella’s project. The permits were legal, the quality passed inspection. If that specific building failed, it was a localized issue with the sub-contractors. It has absolutely no direct connection to Stella’s family.” “No direct connection? Their corporate seal is stamped on the contract! Are you insane?” Jefferson’s face hardened into pure disgust. “Avery, cut the crap. You just want a payout. I’ll get Stella to cut the check. What’s your price? Half a million? A million? Just name a number and walk away.” “I don’t want her dirty money. I’m calling the police.” I pulled my phone out and started dialing. Jefferson lunged forward and snatched the phone violently out of my hand. His voice was laced with venom. “Avery, don’t push your luck. Stella’s family finally has this PR nightmare under control. Are you really trying to bankrupt an innocent girl just because you’re bitter? Let me make this crystal clear: her company does not build shoddy structures. This is a targeted smear campaign against her. Your grandmother just had bad luck. The building just happened to collapse.” Just happened to. Bad luck. I stared at the man I had married. It felt like I was looking at a complete stranger. A heavy, absolute exhaustion washed over me. But strangely, the exhaustion brought clarity. I reached into my bag, pulled out the folded divorce agreement, and threw it directly at his chest. “Keep the settlement money. We are getting a divorce.” Jefferson caught the paper, a cruel smirk twisting his lips. “You carry this around with you just so you can use it to threaten me every time you don’t get your way?” He pulled a silver pen from his breast pocket, clicked it, and aggressively signed his name. “Fine. We’re done. Let’s see how long you survive out there.” I reached out to grab the signed document, but his hand shot out, his fingers locking around my wrist like a vice. “Avery, you better think this through. Without me, you have absolutely nothing. No job, no house, no savings. How exactly do you plan on feeding yourself?” “Let go of me.” “I am telling you, outside of this marriage, you are a nobody.” “I said, let go.” His grip tightened painfully, his knuckles turning white. I yanked my arm back with everything I had. He violently shoved me away. I stumbled backward in my heels. My lower back slammed brutally against the sharp metal corner of a city trash can. A blinding flash of agony ripped through my spine. The world tilted, and I crashed heavily onto the concrete pavement. Jefferson looked down at me. He didn’t even twitch to help me up. He just turned around, grabbed Stella’s hand, and sneered. “Let’s go. Leave her to her theatrics.” Stella glanced back at me through the window, a victorious little smile pulling at the corners of her mouth. The Mercedes roared to life and sped off, leaving me completely alone. I lay curled on the pavement. A violent, tearing cramp seized my lower abdomen. A thick, terrifying warmth began pooling down my thighs. I reached down with a trembling hand. My fingers came back coated in bright, sticky red. Right before the darkness swallowed me, only one thought echoed in my fading consciousness. Jefferson. Whatever love tied us together is dead. It died today, right alongside my grandmother and my unborn child. From this day until my last, you are nothing but a ghost to me.

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1 I’ve always had unusually high emotional intelligence. When I was little, a rich woman took a liking to my dad. I understood immediately and brought my young, handsome uncle over. “Girl, my dad’s prime is long gone. My uncle is hotter.” When a coworker lost a project to me and cried like the world was ending, I understood immediately and introduced her to two interns on our team who were both six-foot-two and eighteen. “Ms. Parker, you let me win this time. I’m not an ungrateful woman. These two cute boys are yours to get to know.” Thanks to this emotional intelligence, I moved through my social circles like a fish in water. Until one day, I transmigrated into an angst romance novel as the substitute heroine nobody even wanted. The white moonlight hated the original heroine for stealing the male lead. For the male lead, she framed and tortured the heroine again and again, until the heroine died miserably on the street. Looking at the male lead in front of me, his face cold as he warned me to treat his white moonlight well from now on, I nodded. Then I enthusiastically revealed the two male models standing behind me. “Sweetheart, it’s our first meeting, and I didn’t know what you liked. So I brought you two male models as a little gift.” As the saying goes, you don’t slap a smiling face. Grace Whitfield’s icy expression twitched, as if she had been shocked speechless. I pressed my advantage and bent slightly, grabbing her hand with both of mine. “Sweetie, you’ve been hanging from one tree too long. You don’t know how handsome, obedient, enthusiastic, and most importantly, clean the younger boys are these days.” That sentence seemed to carry an extra meaning. I paused. “Of course, I’m not saying Mr. Ford isn’t clean.” I patted Grace’s hand. “Sweetie, life is only a few tens of thousands of days. Women need to be good to themselves. Isn’t it a shame to waste your youth on an overcooked old vegetable?” I turned to the two men. “Boys, hurry and introduce yourselves to Miss Whitfield.” The two male models, both broad-shouldered, narrow-waisted, handsome, and perfectly built, hurried to Grace’s side and greeted her in voices that were shy yet gentle. Grace instinctively backed up two steps, her face burning red. “This… this isn’t appropriate, is it?” Seeing this, Malcolm Ford roared at me in disbelief. “Ivy Lane, what are you doing? I told you to treat Grace well, and this is how you treat her?” I was confused. I scratched my head hesitantly. “What? Am I not treating her well enough?” “I still have the agency’s number. Should I call a few more?” “You… you… Ivy Lane, well done.” Malcolm angrily dragged Grace out from between the two male models and turned to leave with her. “You stay here and reflect on yourself.” I had no idea what I was supposed to reflect on. Was I wrong to save myself as an angst novel heroine? My dear vicious supporting female lead framed me again and again for this male lead, making me donate blood, kneel as punishment, and get locked in a freezer. When you got to the root of it, she did all that because of Malcolm Ford, this crooked little tree. Was I wrong to tell her the world was vast? After all, three-legged frogs are hard to find, but men with two legs are everywhere. With Grace’s family background, she could absolutely choose a partner who was more handsome, younger, and emotionally stable. Just like every romance novel plot, Malcolm left me where I stood and took Grace to a luxury store, then to a romantic dinner for two. As I packed my luggage, I happened to see a private message from Grace. 【You really are sinister. Malcolm told me everything. Those men were part of your plan to make me leave him. You found so many male models to tempt me and make Malcolm think I’m a fickle woman.】 【But I’m telling you now. I will always be his white moonlight. The person he loves most will always be me. You have no right to compete with me.】 The corner of my mouth twitched. At that moment, the sound of the front door opening came from downstairs. Malcolm walked in cold-faced and ordered me to make him hangover soup. My fingers flew across my phone screen. 【Sweetie, that isn’t love. If he really loved you, why would he find me as a substitute? From here to Europe is only a seven-hour flight. You were studying abroad, not leaving the biosphere. Did he really need a substitute?】 【To put it another way, even if you had left the biosphere, if he had even a shred of decency, he wouldn’t have found a substitute like me within a month.】 【Sweetie, you’re too innocent. You don’t understand. He just wants to have two women at once. The substitute thing is his excuse.】 【If you don’t believe me, go find a substitute too. See how he reacts.】 The other side was silent for a long time. I carried my suitcase downstairs. Malcolm was leaning on the sofa like some grand lord, staring at me coldly with the expression of a man who had seen through everything. “Ivy, don’t think you can make Grace leave me with little tricks.” “You’re only a substitute. You need to understand your place.” “Besides, Grace doesn’t care for the men you found.” Then he spoke as if granting me mercy. “Ivy, I know you don’t want to leave me. Don’t worry. After Grace and I get married, there will still be a place for you by my side.” I lifted my suitcase and shook my head at him. “Nice fantasy, but when Miss Whitfield gets married, there might not be a place for you beside her. You might not even qualify as the side piece.” Malcolm shot to his feet. “What do you mean?” I smiled at him, hesitating while staring at his face for a long time. Then I shook my head and sighed. “Nothing much. It’s just that Mr. Ford should find time for some facial maintenance.” Then I dragged my suitcase out into the endless night. I was done serving him. Anyway, the original heroine had been a substitute for three years. She must have saved quite a bit of money. I could live a good life from now on. Humming, I booked a hotel room. Then I opened the bank balance. Three hundred eighty-five dollars and seventy-nine cents. I fell silent. So the five thousand I spent hiring male models just now was my last savings. An angst novel heroine got tortured by the male lead for three years, and her wallet didn’t even have four digits? Even a nanny should have saved hundreds of thousands after three years. What exactly had she been chasing? Furious, I opened my messaging app and found Grace in my contacts. 【Sweetie, to create enough space for you to test Malcolm, I’ve already moved out of his place.】 【But this man really has terrible character. We agreed back then that he’d pay me one million a month, but now he’s withholding my wages. What exactly do you see in a man who doesn’t even honor his word?】 【Think about it, sweetie. Today he can kick me out of his house with no money and make me sleep on the street. Tomorrow he can make you leave with nothing. Marrying him is too risky. I truly advise you to reconsider.】 【If you’re willing, we can meet. I promise I’ll tell you everything.】 After I sent that whole string of provocation, Malcolm finally realized I had left the villa. 【What are you doing? Ivy, you’ve grown a temper. Now you’re running away from home?】 【Don’t forget, your mother’s medical fees are still waiting for me to pay. In a few days, you’ll crawl back and beg me.】 I was not the original Ivy, who only knew how to feel wronged and do nothing. As a woman experienced in worldly games, I cursed him, then skillfully deleted and blocked him in one smooth move. The next day, Grace asked to meet me. She chose a café. She wore a coffee-colored dress, with very little makeup. Her face was full of hesitation and conflict. “I think what you said makes sense, but I still think you’re doing this so I’ll give up Malcolm and you can take his side.” “I’ve seen plenty of women like you. I didn’t come today for advice. I’ll give you one million to leave Malcolm.” I already knew she would not trust me. But I grew even more enthusiastic. “Sweetie, that’s where you’re wrong. Do I look like I’m doing this for money?” “Forget everything else. With your face alone, you’re so beautiful. I only look thirty percent like you, and people call me a beauty. What about you? You’re the real top-tier beauty.” “After Mr. Ford has seen someone like you, how could he marry someone who only has thirty percent of your looks?” “And your family background is so good. I don’t know what Malcolm told you to make you this insecure.” “But look at your family. Look at your face. Why would you think I can compare with you? Even if you don’t want Malcolm, a man who once liked you wouldn’t look at me.” Grace looked a little embarrassed by my sincerity. I seized the chance. “I know you’re afraid Malcolm will be angry. But think about it. Since you came back, has he ever publicly confirmed your relationship?” “He’s stringing you along. So what’s wrong with you dating someone too?” “I guarantee that once you know what real dating feels like, you’ll understand how badly Malcolm treats you.” “If you’re really worried, we can keep it secret. You can pay me a little and hire me, and we can sign a confidentiality agreement. Everything will be your choice.” Grace wavered. “Does Malcolm really treat me badly? But he bought me many things and took me to a candlelit dinner.” I spread my hands. “But can’t you buy those things yourself? You’re the only daughter of the Whitfield family. People should be placing the best things in front of you.” “If you really can’t accept it, think of this as revenge for his three years of wavering. Finding a substitute is not something a decent person does. Are you willing to let that go without payback?” My words hit Grace right where it hurt. “Fine. We’ll sign a confidentiality agreement.” “Actually, when Malcolm told me he found a substitute because he missed me too much, I did feel uncomfortable. But there was always a voice in my ear saying he only did it because he cared about me.” “After hearing you say this today, I’m starting to doubt it.” I smiled at her. “Doubt is good. From now on, I will serve as your relationship consultant and help screen eligible men around you. If you like anyone, you can try getting to know him. I’ll also help you monitor Malcolm’s emotional state in real time.” Grace shook my hand. Just as I said. Grace was beautiful, from a good family, and highly educated. The men who wanted to pursue her could line up from one end of the city to the other. Before, she had only focused all her attention on Malcolm. Now that news spread that she was willing to go on dates, those who secretly liked her came rushing forward. Especially a handsome young man named Ryder Cole, who worked hard every day to create chance encounters. After learning I was Grace’s relationship consultant, he directly slapped a five-million-dollar check onto my desk. “Help me pursue Grace. Whether I succeed or not, the five million is yours.” Holding Ryder’s five million, I almost cried. The original heroine followed Malcolm for three years and only had a few hundred dollars. This young master gave five million in one move. I looked into Ryder’s background. The Cole family was old money. Clean background, good upbringing. His grandfather, father, and older brother had no mistresses or scandalous side families. He was not the eldest son, so he had no heavy pressure. His personality was lively, and he liked extreme sports, but he also kept himself clean. As for Grace, she had been restrained by her family since childhood, always proper and disciplined. The two of them were perfectly complementary, a natural pair. Of course, only if Malcolm did not get in the way. A few days after Grace and Ryder became ordinary friends, the four of us met at the same banquet. After not seeing Malcolm for more than ten days, he was still as annoying as ever. Beside him was a female companion with a great figure. The moment Grace saw him, she instinctively wanted to distance herself from Ryder. She walked toward Malcolm to explain. But what I did not expect was that Malcolm saw me first. He smiled with a self-important expression. “Ivy, you chased me all the way here?” “What? Have you finally thought it through? Being my lover is your best choice.” Faced with someone so confident, I truly did not know what to say. Before I could speak, he noticed Grace beside me. “Looks like you really thought it through. I’m satisfied seeing you two getting along like this.” “I told you Grace has always been generous. She won’t mind.” Grace froze and instinctively looked at Ryder. Ryder walked to her side and took her hand with perfect restraint. Only then did Malcolm finally notice him. He frowned. “But Grace, after you marry me, you can’t stand this close to other men anymore. As Mrs. Ford, your circle must be clean.” Grace looked sadly at the woman beside Malcolm. “But you also brought a female companion today.” Malcolm did not care at all. “So you’re jealous. Grace, you need to understand. I’m a man. I’m only networking.” “If I don’t make money, how will you be the glamorous Mrs. Ford?” Grace lowered her head. Her eyes reddened unconsciously. She wanted to ask what I, the substitute, counted as. But in the end, she did not speak. Her eyes were red as she lowered her head and held back tears. Just as I had said, in the three years she studied abroad, Malcolm found me as a substitute and had countless female companions. Even after marriage, he planned to keep me, the substitute, ambiguously by his side. Yet Grace only stood a little close to another man, and Malcolm became unhappy. So Malcolm did not fail to understand that this was wrong. He was simply a hypocrite. He simply believed both Grace and I could not leave him. Malcolm did not notice Grace’s unhappiness. He spoke to her from above, like bestowing a reward. “You can handle the wedding preparations yourself for now. I probably won’t have time to try on suits recently. Just call me when the wedding happens.” If there were not so many people present, I would have slapped him. Grace stood there stunned for a long while, covered her reddened eyes, turned, and left. Ryder hurried after her. The next day, Grace came to me. “You were right. Malcolm never treated me like an equal.” “So I’ve decided… I don’t want him anymore. There are plenty of flowers in the world.” From that day on, Grace and Ryder’s relationship advanced rapidly. When she had loved Malcolm, there was rarely a smile on her face. It had been filled with jealousy. Now her eyes seemed to hide stars, and every day she was in high spirits. When Malcolm was mentioned, she even looked regretful. “So this is what normal dating feels like. I gave up Malcolm too late.” After a few months, they met each other’s families and prepared to get engaged. Malcolm still did not know that the supporting female lead who had once been obsessed with him was about to marry someone else, and that his own heroine had been the matchmaker. He continued dreaming of having women on both sides. So when he received Grace and Ryder’s engagement invitation, he did not even look at it. “Grace really is a capable future wife. She handled this well. But why hasn’t she sent over the groom’s suit yet? Does she expect me to prepare it myself?” “Fine, I’ll prepare it myself.” As he spoke, he seemed to remember something and sighed helplessly. “Also send Ivy an invitation. Tell her that after Grace and I marry, our relationship will remain the same. She can secretly come watch, but she can’t disturb my wedding with Grace.” On the day of the wedding, Malcolm arrived in a gray suit. Then he saw Ryder in a white groom’s suit, standing arm in arm with Grace. He froze. When he turned back, he finally saw the sign by the entrance, where four bright red words were written. 【Congratulations on the marriage of Grace Whitfield and Ryder Cole】

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1 One week before the company went public, an all-staff announcement popped up in the internal office system. The moment I opened it, I saw that the newly hired graduate from a top university was listed on the equity incentive plan. I froze at my desk. My chest tightened, and for a long time, I could not say a word. From the company’s earliest startup days to its upcoming IPO, I had fought my way through every stage. I led the core gameplay design for three blockbuster online games. The underlying framework and key code of the game engine were all written by me. Whenever the team ran into the hardest problems, management always came to me first. Yet after all these years, I was still only an ordinary programmer. I had never received even half a share of equity. A newcomer had just joined and was already standing at the top of the bonus pool. I had stayed with the company through the hardest years, all the way to IPO, and received nothing. My heart went completely cold. I submitted my resignation on the spot. The CEO looked confused. “The project is at a critical stage. Why are you suddenly leaving?” I said flatly, “I’m tired. I want to lie flat.” Mr. Reeves sighed, his tone gentle. “I know you’ve been fighting with us since the startup days. You’ve stayed loyal all the way to IPO. You’ve always been dedicated.” “Promotions will naturally prioritize younger people, but you’re the stabilizing force of this company. I’ll apply for an extra two thousand in your year-end bonus. Everyone is treated the same.” “I know your skills are strong. You handle difficult problems well. You’ve carried many of the core modules. The projects can’t do without you. The company sees all of that.” “Mr. Reeves,” I interrupted him. “The live core systems are all watched by me. Every emergency failure at night, I’m the one on duty. But after all these years, the equity list has never included me. Have I ever had even one chance at promotion?” His expression stiffened instantly. Over the years, I had guarded the core business like my life depended on it. Whenever they called, I showed up. No excuses. No hesitation. As the main programmer, I carried the underlying architecture and emergency fixes. Even when I was exhausted to the point of collapse, I never dared slack off. What I got in return was a tiny base salary and an ordinary employee title. I had a stack of excellence awards, but when it came to equity or dividends, I was never considered. “The company has its rules.” He cleared his throat. “There are so many people in management. I can’t give equity to everyone. You’re capable. Don’t rush.” “I’ve waited this long and still don’t even have hope.” My voice was calm. “I trained several batches of new hires. Some have already entered management. Some got shares. Only I have stayed exactly where I started.” “The new graduate received equity dividends as soon as he joined, while I don’t even qualify for consideration.” Mr. Reeves sighed. “Try to understand. The number of slots is limited.” “I understand.” I stood. “So I won’t keep wasting myself here.” His face darkened. “That’s not the right attitude. The company trained you for so many years. You say you’ll leave, and you leave? That’s heartless.” “Heartless?” I laughed, my eyes cold. “For years, I didn’t take a full annual leave. Because of urgent projects, I stayed at the office for months. I missed three Spring Festivals with my family just to make sure there were no bugs.” “And all I got was verbal praise.” “Not even a decent bonus.” “On my wedding day, a major live bug appeared. I left the ceremony and came straight back to the office to fix it. My wife fought with me over it, and we almost divorced.” “Now I have nothing, and you want to talk to me about heart?” His expression hardened. “The company gave you a platform. It gave you growth and experience. You should be grateful.” I looked at him. The last bit of expectation in me went out completely. I had taken the lowest pay and done the most critical work. I had given everything, yet I was always excluded from the rewards. The so-called platform was nothing but cheap exploitation. “I understand.” “Thank you, Mr. Reeves.” I turned and left his office. Thank you for making me see everything clearly. There had never been a place for me here. And there never would be. 2 I went to the break room to get some air, trying to suppress the dull pressure in my chest. When I passed the CEO’s office, the door was slightly ajar. The new hire, Tyler Shaw, was speaking inside. “Mr. Reeves, don’t worry. I’ve tuned the new intelligent operations system. It can automatically repair most online issues. You even personally ran the stress test with me a few days ago.” “Good, Tyler. Young people like you have flexible thinking and learn technology fast.” Mr. Reeves’s voice carried obvious admiration. “Work hard. After the company goes public, I’ll reserve the deputy technical director position for you.” I wanted to leave quietly. I did not want to hear any more. “Thank you, Mr. Reeves,” Tyler immediately lowered his voice. “But I just saw Alex heading this way. His face looked scary. It seemed like he was coming to resign.” A faint laugh sounded from the office. My steps froze. The blood in my body seemed to congeal in an instant. “Him?” Mr. Reeves’s tone was light, full of certainty. “A nearly forty-year-old code grunt with elderly parents and kids to support. His whole family depends on his salary. Does he really dare leave?” That sentence pierced straight into the softest part of my heart. My peers from back then had all jumped to top companies. Some had entered senior management years ago. Some held equity. Their salaries had multiplied several times. Only I stayed at this unknown little company, taking a salary that barely covered expenses, enduring for six full years. I always thought that as long as I guarded the underlying architecture like a fortress and covered every crisis at the critical moment, Mr. Reeves would at least remember some old loyalty. It turned out everything was just my wishful thinking. I pressed myself against the cold wall and held my breath, listening to the conversation inside. “He’s just upset because he didn’t get dividends.” Mr. Reeves sounded disdainful. “At his age, where else can he find a job if he leaves? With AI now, his old skills are already useless. Let him cool off for a couple of days, and he’ll behave.” Tyler hurried to agree. “That makes sense. Alex definitely can’t leave.” Mr. Reeves hummed, then his tone warmed as he turned back to the newcomer. “You’re different. You have energy and understand cutting-edge technology. Your future is limitless.” “Follow me and work hard. In the future, this company will belong to young people like you. The resources will naturally tilt toward you.” Leaning against the wall, I felt coldness shoot from my feet to my head. Even my fingers felt frozen. So my six years of late-night problem-solving, countless emergency responses, and protecting the team from every crisis were nothing in their eyes. Because I had a family to support, they saw me as someone easy to control. Because I did not know how to package myself with flashy concepts or chase every shallow tech trend, I had become a burden that could be replaced at any time. Just then, my phone vibrated in my pocket. A familiar name appeared on the screen. Mr. Lang from the venture capital firm. He was the key investor leading the company’s IPO financing. I walked to a quiet corner and answered. His steady voice came through. “Alex, it’s Lang.” “The real reason I was willing to invest in your company and push for the IPO was the unreleased new project in your hands.” “I feel wronged on your behalf, seeing them treat you like this. Do you want to start your own company? I’ll fund it. I’ll connect the resources. You only need to be the technical leader.” Holding the phone, I heard the sincerity in his invitation and suddenly gave a low laugh. It was full of self-mockery and relief. I had endured six years here, begging for recognition and reward, yet never receiving either. But someone who truly understood my value gave me the best possible destination with one sentence. Memories surfaced one after another. The year I joined, my boss patted my shoulder and said, “Alex, let’s give the equity to the older staff first. You’re young. Next time, you’ll definitely be prioritized.” At the third-year celebration dinner, he publicly praised me as the backbone of the technical department, then turned around and said bonuses would go to operations first because I lacked seniority. By the fifth year, I still had no dividend eligibility. He held his coffee and advised me, “Don’t rush. Once we go public, I’ll immediately make it up to you.” I believed him again and again. Compromised again and again. Swallowed every grievance for the sake of stability. Until today, when I personally heard them belittle my value and calculate my difficulties. At last, I woke up completely. In his eyes, I had never been a comrade fighting beside him. I was only a useful, obedient tool who did not dare resist. But I had forgotten. I was also a person with flesh and blood, dignity, and choices. I took a deep breath and spoke into the phone, calm but firm. “Mr. Lang, thank you for trusting me. I’m willing.” 3 After I sent the message, Mr. Reeves tagged me in the company group chat. “@Alex Carter. The game server suddenly failed last night. Your response was slow, and you didn’t handle it properly. Your mind hasn’t been on work lately. Don’t bring personal matters into the company.” I stared at the screen, my finger hovering in midair. Over the past six years, I had heard this kind of criticism countless times. Every time, I immediately apologized and promised to do better next time. This time, I said nothing. I messaged Tyler privately. “You were on live night duty last night. Check the operations logs and send screenshots directly to Mr. Reeves.” The message went out. There was no reply. Soon, a private message from Mr. Reeves popped up. 【Come to my office now.】 I pushed the door open and went in. He pointed to the chair across from him. “Sit.” I did not move. “If you have something to say, say it directly.” “Alex,” he softened his tone, as if patiently advising me, “I know you’re upset. But as the company grows, I have my difficulties too. You have to understand the company’s position.” “You’re an old employee and the backbone of the technical department. When hasn’t the underlying framework of our main game relied on you?” “I know you feel wronged, but management has to consider the big picture. I see everything you’ve done. You can’t just focus on salary and equity as short-term benefits.” “Then what should I focus on?” I asked calmly. He paused, then said confidently, “Trust.” “Haven’t I valued you enough?” “Think about it. Our most critical core servers with the highest user traffic. If I didn’t trust you one hundred percent, would I place that entire burden on you?” “Look, now whenever a server alarm goes off, the whole company comes to you. Everyone listens to your instructions. Isn’t that enough value?” “Isn’t it obvious that we’re training you as the technical lead?” “All that trust, and you pay me thirteen thousand a month?” My voice remained steady. Mr. Reeves fell silent for a few seconds, then put on a generous expression. “How about this? I’ll talk to HR and max out your performance bonus. I’ll also make up the allowances for you.” His tone sounded like charity. “Don’t bring up resignation again. Let’s both take a step back.” “Mr. Reeves,” I looked into his eyes and said seriously, “Tyler, who I trained, received equity as soon as he joined. His base salary is twenty-eight thousand.” His face darkened, and impatience returned immediately. “You can’t compare salaries like that. He was recruited from a top university. His starting pay is naturally high. You’re an old employee. The platform and growth opportunities the company has given you, why don’t you count those hidden values?” “Hidden value.” I repeated the words and felt a chill in my heart. “The underlying framework I built, the hundreds of performance bugs I optimized, the technical department I trained, and the core servers I saved from collapse again and again. Do those count as value?” His face darkened completely. “You’re leaving just like that? The company absolutely cannot have problems before the IPO. You’re the strongest technician in the company, the only one who can stabilize the situation.” “If you walk away, who takes responsibility? Where’s your professional ethics?” I had already prepared. I took a file from my bag and handed it to him. “This is the handover document I organized.” “All server deployment documents, exception handling plans, and historical incident review experience from the past six years. I will organize everything clearly and hand it over.” Mr. Reeves flew into a rage. “The company gave you such a stable job. Instead of being grateful, you’re using resignation to threaten me. Do you really think the company can’t run without you?” “Stable job?” I could not help laughing. “I’m only an ordinary employee on a fixed salary, without even touching equity. What stability are you talking about?” His tone softened again. “Fine. I’ll make up last month’s performance pay and give you this year’s excellent employee award too. The total bonus will be three thousand.” “But you must take responsibility for the technical guarantee work before IPO. Let’s pretend this never happened.” Even the benefit he gritted his teeth to offer could not compare to a newcomer’s base salary. I laughed out loud. Even now, he still thought I was bargaining with him. I stood. “Fine, Mr. Reeves. I will take responsibility for the pre-IPO technical guarantee work to the end.” These three major online games were the key to the company’s IPO. The servers were built by me, and the code logic was so complex that no one dared change it lightly. One wrong touch could cause a collapse. At this critical IPO stage, the company could not afford an incident. If anything went wrong, investors would immediately withdraw. I wanted to see whether, after pushing out the loyal worker who carried everything, the AI department he placed all his hopes on could hold the line. 4 That night, Mr. Lang had the angel round investment agreement fully drafted. There would be sufficient startup funds. I would serve as technical co-founder and take full responsibility for product development. Once my resignation was complete, we could begin. Looking at the agreement in my hands, my emotions were complicated. From now on, I would no longer need to read anyone’s expression. I could finally fight for my own career. The next morning, all employees were urgently called into the conference room. Mr. Reeves sat at the head of the table with a dark expression. Representatives from the venture capital firm were also present, their faces unusually serious. The latest performance evaluation forms were on the table. Everyone was to step forward one by one, review them, and sign. “We are now entering the critical IPO stage. This evaluation will directly determine your year-end bonuses. Everyone must take it seriously.” His gaze swept across the room, his tone forceful. “Come confirm your evaluation results. If there are no issues, sign immediately.” “Those who perform well will be prioritized for awards, bonuses, and dividends later.” Scattered applause sounded. Coworkers stepped forward one by one. After reading their forms, they signed happily. “Alex Carter.” Mr. Reeves suddenly called my name, his voice frighteningly cold. He threw my evaluation form in front of me. It clearly stated: lowest evaluation level. Every metric had been maliciously lowered. Anyone could see it was deliberate retaliation. He looked at me coldly, his tone harsh. “Your evaluation result is unsatisfactory.” The whole room instantly went quiet. Everyone knew I had already submitted my resignation. Mr. Reeves tapped the form with his finger and pretended to be stern. “Your performance is this poor, yet you keep thinking about resignation. You have no sense of responsibility.” “The company trained you for six years, gave you a platform, gave you opportunities. This is how you repay us?” He forced the pen into my hand in front of everyone. “Sign it. Reflect on yourself. Even if you resign, you must do your work properly. The pre-IPO technical guarantee must still be handled by you.” He wanted to publicly suppress me. He bet I would not dare resist in front of everyone. As long as I signed, it would mean admitting I was incompetent and allowing him to control me however he pleased. Dozens of gazes fell on me. Some surprised, some sympathetic, more waiting to watch me make a fool of myself. I took the pen, my grip steady. “Thank you for the reminder, Mr. Reeves.” My tone was calm, without a ripple. “I am aware of this evaluation result.” Mr. Reeves immediately showed a smug smile. “Perfect,” I raised my head, my voice clear throughout the entire meeting room, “then I’ll take this opportunity to tell everyone something.” “Starting today, I officially resign. Mr. Lang has already invested in my new company. I will serve as technical founder and independently lead all core projects.” “The new company needs people. Anyone who wants to come with me can message me privately.” The moment I finished, the conference room door was suddenly shoved open. An assistant rushed in with a deathly pale face. “Something’s wrong. The game servers have fully collapsed. A major bug appeared. The AI department can’t fix it at all. All three main online games are down and unable to operate.” The meeting room exploded. Mr. Reeves’s face changed drastically. He froze on the spot. The venture capital representative shot to his feet, face ashen, his gaze cutting toward Mr. Reeves like a blade.

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1 My fiancé forced me through painful fertility treatments to bear him eight children, all for his first love who could never conceive. At the banquet for my eighth pregnancy, Ken stroked my belly, smiling. “The doctors say Sally needs a big family to cure her depression,” he murmured. “Deliver this last one, Sylvia, and I’ll give you the grand wedding you deserve.” His friends laughed and placed bets on how much I would ask for this child. Every previous pregnancy, I demanded half a million dollars. This time, I pushed his hand away. “Keep your wedding, Ken. We are done.” He gripped my chin, eyes full of mockery. “You sell your body for cash, so stop pretending. Is the price too low?” Stacks of bills hit my face, the edges cutting my skin. Everyone expected me to crawl for the money. Instead, I took off his ring and dropped it. He did not know my mother had lost her battle with cancer last night. I no longer needed his money or to be the mother for his precious Sally. “Looks like Ken didn’t write a big enough check, and now his girl is pulling a stunt,” someone snickered from the crowd. “Half a mil for the final brat isn’t enough? What, she wants a cool million now?” “Never seen a woman so utterly greedy. Only Ken would put up with her.” The sarcastic whispers buzzed in my ears like poisonous flies. Ken’s brow furrowed tightly. He grabbed another heavy brick of cash and threw it hard against my chest. “Throwing a tantrum again? Take this. A million in total. Is that enough to shut you up?” His freezing tone dragged me violently back to a rainy afternoon eight years ago. That was the day I first found out Ken was giving our baby to Sally. I had a complete mental breakdown, smashing every piece of glass in our penthouse. I even stood outside Sally’s corporate headquarters with a megaphone, screaming that she was a homewrecker stealing my child. In the end, Ken dragged me away and locked me in a private psychiatric facility. “Think about your dying mother in that hospital bed, Sylvia,” he had whispered coldly before walking out. “Stop throwing these childish fits.” He used to love me so deeply. When my mom first got sick, he canceled a multi-billion dollar international merger, took his private jet back overnight, and personally vetted every specialist in the state for her. But the very man who once promised to shield me from the world ended up using my mother’s life as a weapon against me. Seeing me stand completely still, he assumed I was holding out for more. A sneer twisted his handsome face. “I gave you too much credit, Sylvia. At the end of the day, you’re just a woman who put a price tag on seven of her own flesh and blood.” “Fine,” he sighed, adjusting his expensive cuffs. “I’ll tell the doctors to resume your mother’s experimental targeted therapy.” “You refused to apologize to Sally last week. I couldn’t bear to punish you, so I had to let your mother take the fall.” My entire body went rigid. The blood drained from my face. I stared at him, utterly horrified, as hot tears spilled down my cheeks. “Just because I wouldn’t get on my knees and beg Sally for forgiveness, you secretly cut off my mom’s life-saving medication?” “Do you even know she passed away last night?” My voice violently shook, escalating into a broken scream. A brief flicker of hesitation crossed his face, but it vanished in a split second, replaced by a cruel smirk. “There’s no need to use your mother to emotionally blackmail me, Sylvia. I visited her yesterday. She was perfectly fine.” “She even asked when we were getting married. I told her the wedding is on, right after you pop out this final baby.” A laugh clawed its way out of my throat, but it sounded worse than a sob. When the hospital called with the news, I couldn’t even make it in time to see her take her last breath. Her greatest regret was watching me waste eight years of my youth on Ken Sinclair, living as his dirty little secret without a ring or a marriage certificate. She died without ever seeing her daughter walk down the aisle. My eyes were bloodshot. The pure devastation radiating from me must have been too heavy to ignore. Ken’s expression softened, a flash of guilt finally breaking through his arrogant facade. He reached out, wanting to pull me into his arms. But Sally stepped delicately between us. “Sylvia, I know you hate me,” she said, her voice dripping with practiced fragility. “But you really shouldn’t lie about your poor mother dying just to get pity.” “Ken loves you so much. Why do you have to invent such cruel lies to break his heart?” The crowd erupted in sneers. The socialites began whispering, claiming the apple didn’t fall far from the tree. They mocked how my father had abandoned my mother, saying we were both pathetic women who used victimhood to trap men. The laughter made my skin crawl. It felt like needles piercing my lungs with every breath I took. Right then, the five-year-old boy in Sally’s arms raised his cup of fruit punch and hurled the red liquid directly at my white dress. “Wicked witch! You always make Daddy and Mommy Sally sad! Why don’t you just die!” This was the child I had carried for nine agonizing months. The ballroom fell dead silent for a heartbeat before erupting into roaring laughter. “Even her own biological son hates her guts. She really hit rock bottom.” “That’s karma for selling your kids to the highest bidder.” “A toxic woman left with nothing. Poetic justice.” The boy squirmed out of Sally’s arms, glaring at me. “You sold my brothers for money! Get out of here! I only want Mommy Sally!” My heart was brutally squeezed. How could a child so young speak words so venomous? Tears completely blurred my vision. Years ago, desperate to scrape together the astronomical fees for my mother’s surgeries, I signed a contract with Ken. Voluntarily carry the children. Hand them over to Sally’s custody. Receive half a million dollars per child. Ever since then, my oldest son, who was now seven, threw things at me whenever I visited. “Wicked witch! You didn’t want us! Stop acting like you care!” Even the youngest ones were carefully groomed by Sally to spit on my shoes and call me a monster. And Ken’s response was always a dismissive sigh. “They’re just kids, Sylvia. Don’t be so sensitive.” My hands shook violently as I pulled out a tissue, trying to wipe the sticky red juice off my dress. But the moment I moved, Ken instantly stepped in front of Sally and the boy, shielding them as if I were an armed threat. “Let’s get one thing straight, Sylvia,” he warned, his voice laced with venom. “Sally is gentle and kind. She would never teach a child to say those things. This is a result of your own toxic nature. Do not take your misplaced anger out on my son.” He looked at me like I was a feral dog. Watching my fiancé fiercely protect another woman and the children I birthed broke something fundamental inside me. The agony lodged in my throat, choking the air out of my lungs. I couldn’t stomach the sight of them for another second. I turned on my heel and walked out of the banquet hall. The mocking voices followed me out the door. “Doesn’t even care about her own kids. What trash.” “She’s just putting on a show. She’ll come crawling back when it’s time to cash in on the new baby.” I tightly clutched my slightly swollen stomach, feeling the faint, fragile fluttering inside. I promised this baby, right then and there. I will never leave you behind. Not long after leaving the hotel, I opened my phone and saw Sally’s latest post. It was a picture of her holding the boy, her other arm linked intimately with my fiancé. They looked like the perfect, happy family. From the very beginning, I was nothing but an incubator. An outsider. The tears I had been holding back crashed down like a heavy storm. I booked a flight for the next morning. I was going to pack my bags and disappear from their lives forever. But the moment I pushed open the door to my bedroom, my blood ran cold. The room was completely trashed. Drawers were pulled out, clothes shredded. My seven-year-old son, Oliver, stood in the center of the wreckage, staring at me with pure hatred. “Wicked witch! You made Mommy Sally cry at the party! This is your punishment!” He reached into his pocket and pulled out the only surviving photograph I had of my mother and me. Right in front of my eyes, he ripped it into tiny pieces and let them flutter to the floor. “You even lied about Grandma dying. You’re a liar! You should go die with her!” Uncontrollable tremors wrecked my body. I bit down on my lower lip so hard that the metallic tang of blood flooded my mouth. I remembered when Oliver was born. He was so sickly, so fragile. I stayed up for weeks nursing him, keeping him close to my chest. When Ken forced me to give him up, Oliver was just old enough to understand. He had gripped the hem of my shirt so tightly his knuckles turned white. He cried, begging me not to leave. He had even run miles in the dark, stumbling from Sally’s mansion all the way back to my small apartment. Back then, I foolishly believed that the bond of blood could survive anything. But it only took a few years for them to turn him into a stranger who hated the very ground I walked on. “Haha! The wicked witch is crying! Serves you right for abandoning me!” Oliver let out a cruel, triumphant laugh and reached for a glass vase on my vanity. Something inside me snapped. I couldn’t hold it back anymore. I stepped forward and slapped him hard across the cheek. He froze in absolute shock. A second later, he let out an earsplitting wail. “The bad woman hit me!” The emergency alert on his smartwatch beeped. Seconds later, the heavy oak doors crashed open, and Ken stormed in. Without a word, he grabbed my shoulder and shoved me violently away. I lost my footing. My lower back slammed brutally against the sharp corner of the mahogany desk. “Sylvia! You embarrass Sally at the party, and now you come home to abuse a child?” “When exactly is this psychotic episode of yours going to end?” His eyes darted to the shredded photograph on the carpet. A flicker of hesitation crossed his features, but his tone remained sharp. “It’s just a piece of paper. We can print another one. No matter how angry you get, you do not lay your hands on my son.” Sally rushed into the room right behind him, sweeping the crying boy into her arms. She looked up at me with wide, tear-filled eyes. “Sylvia, I know you resent handing the kids over to me.” “But the children are innocent. You shouldn’t take your bitterness out on them.” “If you hate it so much, I’ll just give them back to you.” The five-year-old hiding behind Sally’s leg and the seven-year-old in her arms shouted in unison. “We don’t want the wicked witch! She only pretends to be sad! She’s mean to us!” I swallowed the bitter ash in my throat and let out a broken, hollow laugh. These were the children I had bled for. The children I spent years desperately trying to hold onto. I blinked away the last of my tears. My heart was utterly, irreversibly dead. Suddenly, Oliver pointed a trembling finger at my legs, screaming in horror. “The wicked witch is bleeding!” I looked down. A sickening wet heat soaked through my dress. Thick, bright red blood was trailing rapidly down my thighs, pooling on the floor. A tearing, agonizing pain ripped through my abdomen. My knees buckled. I looked up at Ken, completely breaking down. “My stomach. It hurts so much. Please. Take me to the hospital!” His face paled. He instinctively reached out to scoop me into his arms. But Sally instantly threw herself in front of his chest, her voice trembling, fragile, and terrified. “She’s just trying to scare us with fake blood because we yelled at her.” “You know I have severe trauma regarding the sight of blood, Sylvia. Why would you trigger me on purpose?” She clutched her head, her knees giving out as she swooned into Ken’s chest. Ken’s grip on me vanished. I collapsed heavily onto the hard floor. He wrapped his arms tightly around Sally, barking orders at the staff in the hallway. “Get the car! We’re taking Sally to the ER right now!” My vision darkened at the edges. I dragged myself toward his tailored shoes, my voice a ragged, desperate rasp. “Ken. I’m not faking. It hurts. The baby. Please…” He glared down at me, his eyes devoid of any warmth. “I know you have a vendetta against Sally. I already promised you I’d marry you after this baby is born. Why do you have to stoop to such disgusting tactics to terrorize her?” “You used to be so kind. When did you turn into such a monster?” He snatched my phone from my trembling hand and walked out the door. The sound of the deadbolt locking clicked ominously in the silent room. His final words drifted through the heavy wood. “I’m giving you twenty-four hours to lock yourself in there and reflect on your behavior.” “Don’t force me to get rough with you, Sylvia. You know I’ve always hated hurting you.” I bit entirely through my lower lip. The taste of copper flooded my tongue. The blood beneath me spread wider, a dark crimson puddle. Using every last ounce of my fading strength, I dragged myself to the door and pounded on it. Eventually, the darkness swallowed me whole, and I slumped lifelessly against the wood. Right before my consciousness faded completely, I heard the muffled, panicked screams of the estate butler from the hallway. When I finally forced my heavy eyelids open, I was staring at a sterile white ceiling. The smell of hospital antiseptic burned my nose. Ken was sitting at my bedside. Seeing me wake, a look of genuine heartache washed over his face. He scooped up a spoonful of white porridge, blew on it softly, and offered it to my lips. It took a long time before he finally spoke. “Sylvia. I’m sorry. I just checked with the doctors. I didn’t know your mother passed away.” “I’ve already arranged for a massive, dignified funeral. The best money can buy.” His voice was thick with guilt. I remembered when we first started dating. He had knelt beside my mother’s cramped hospital bed and sworn on his life that he would protect me from the world. He didn’t just break that promise. He was the one who killed her. Just a second of recalling that memory sent a fresh wave of silent tears down my cheeks. “This porridge is from that little bistro downtown you love. Eat something. Warm up your body.” I kept my mouth shut. I just stared at him with cold, dead eyes. Waking up in this hospital bed finally gave me absolute clarity. I was never going to swallow his toxic scraps of affection ever again. My hand instinctively moved down to my stomach. It was completely flat. My heart flatlined. Boiling tears slipped past my lashes as a ragged sob tore from my throat. “Ken… where is my baby?” “The baby is gone.” Those four casual words shattered whatever was left of my soul. I threw my head back and let out a guttural, agonizing scream, sobbing uncontrollably. Seeing my hysteria, he pulled a tissue and impatiently dabbed at my wet face. His tone was irritatingly calm. “Alright, enough. The kid is gone, but your health is what matters. As long as you’re okay, we’re fine.” He pushed the spoon against my lips again. I violently smacked his hand away. The ceramic bowl shattered, splashing hot porridge all over his expensive suit. “I gave you eight of my children, Ken Sinclair! What more do you want from me?” “Get out! I never want to see your face again as long as I live!” After my mother died, this unborn child was the only anchor keeping me tethered to this earth. Now, my very last sliver of hope was butchered. Watching my absolute meltdown, Ken’s brow knitted together in deep annoyance. “It’s just one lost pregnancy. We can easily have another one. Is there really a need to act like a lunatic?” “Your mother is dead. You’re a woman who has been pregnant eight times. If you leave me, who else is going to want you?” He reached out to touch my shoulder. I used every drop of strength in my battered body to shove him away. “I will never marry you!” The air in the room turned to ice. Ken’s eyes flared red. He raised his hand and slapped me brutally across the face. “We have been together for eight years, Sylvia! You think you can just walk away?” “If you dare leave this hospital, you will refund every single penny I ever spent on you!” He roughly grabbed the jade pendant resting on my collarbone and violently yanked. The chain snapped. This necklace was my mother’s only heirloom. Years ago, I pawned it to pay for her chemo. Ken found out, bought it back, and fastened it around my neck himself. He had held me so tenderly that night. “Don’t carry the weight of the world on your own, Sylvia. Learn to lean on me.” The jade shattered into jagged green pieces across the linoleum floor. I sat frozen on the hospital bed, staring blindly at the wreckage. Seeing the fight completely leave my body, his tone softened slightly, though the arrogant command remained. “I told you yesterday to reflect on your actions.” “If you’re dead set on leaving, I will have your mother’s casket dug up from the cemetery and tossed into a mass grave.” “You owe me your life. And you will pay me back.” My soul had already turned to ash. His threats meant absolutely nothing to me anymore. I gave a slow, mechanical nod. Seeing my submission, he coldly delivered his final orders. “Your little stunt yesterday triggered Sally’s PTSD. Her condition has worsened.” “Her therapist said she needs a public gesture of security. The wedding is tomorrow. You will attend, and you will stand at the altar and tell the press that you voluntarily surrendered the children to her.” “Once you do that, we’ll go get our marriage license next month.” I gave another mechanical nod. Satisfied with my absolute defeat, he adjusted his ruined suit. “Don’t overthink this. I’ll compensate you tenfold.” “Sally and I are just putting on a show for the media. Once this is over, the whole world will know you are the real Mrs. Sinclair.” He didn’t know I had already lost the will to breathe. The flight ticket on my phone had expired. And I no longer needed to run away. After he left, I stared at the chat history with my mom for a long, long time. I typed out one final message. [Mom. I’m coming to keep you company.] Dragging my hollow, bleeding body out of the sheets, I stumbled step by step toward the hospital window on the tenth floor. I pushed it open and closed my eyes against the biting wind. I opened Ken’s contact and sent one last text. [Ken Sinclair. Meeting you was the biggest regret of my life.]

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1 On our wedding anniversary, my husband did something incredibly rare. He brought home a bouquet of flowers. The second he walked through the door, he didn’t even take off his coat. He went straight for a glass vase, carefully filling it with water and patiently arranging the stems. “What put you in such a good mood today?” I asked, a genuine smile touching my lips. “Amanda bought them,” he replied with a light chuckle. “She told me she’d kick my ass if I let them die. How could I not take this seriously?” Amanda. His female childhood best friend. I froze. My mind violently drifted away to a memory from just two weeks ago. It was my birthday. My parents, who had lived frugally their entire lives, walked halfway across the city to a premium florist just to buy me a beautiful bouquet as a gift. But when Wesley came home that night, his first reaction was to snatch the flowers off the dining table and toss them onto the messy shoe rack right in front of my parents. “They take up too much space on the table,” he had muttered. “Don’t bother with this kind of stuff anymore. It’s just a hassle.” My parents’ faces flushed with deep embarrassment, but they kept their mouths shut, terrified of making things difficult for me. It took me far too long to finally understand. The flowers were never the hassle. I was the hassle. Since that was the case, I no longer needed to harbor any expectations. My gaze lingered on Amanda’s pristine flowers for only a fraction of a second before I turned around and walked back into the kitchen. A slow-roasted tenderloin, two elegant side dishes, and a creamy bisque sat on the marble counter. I had been slaving away over the stove since four in the afternoon for this anniversary dinner. Looking at the food that had gone completely cold, I silently picked up the plates and shoved them into the microwave. This was the third time I had reheated our dinner tonight. Wesley usually got off work at six. I had timed everything perfectly. But by eight o’clock, he still wasn’t home. I called him. The background noise on his end was a chaotic blur of loud chatter. “What is it?” he answered, his tone laced with blatant impatience. I purposely didn’t mention our anniversary. I just asked what time he would be home. Wesley stayed silent for a long, agonizing moment before finally speaking. “Give me about half an hour.” I started to tell him to drive safe, but the line went dead before I could finish the sentence. It wasn’t until ten o’clock at night that I finally heard the turn of the deadbolt. Wesley walked in, a faint, lingering smile painted across his handsome face. “Hey honey, I’m home. Sorry to keep you waiting.” The moment the apology left his mouth, he completely ignored me and started fussing over his precious flowers. He ordered premium plant food on his phone. He called a florist buddy to ask about the exact sunlight requirements. Another half hour vanished into thin air. He had completely forgotten that today was our anniversary. He had also forgotten that he was the one who suggested we stay in and cook a nice dinner tonight. I didn’t reheat the food a fourth time. I didn’t call him over. I simply sat alone at the dining table, quietly chewing the meal I had spent hours perfecting. By the time I finished washing my plate and wiping down the sink, Wesley finally remembered I existed. “Honey, didn’t you say you were cooking tonight? I’m starving.” His tone was incredibly casual, acting as if nothing was wrong. When I didn’t immediately respond, his brow furrowed, and he raised his voice. “Audrey? What’s wrong with you? Did you not cook? Ugh, whatever, I’ll just order some takeout.” There was a very obvious trace of disappointment in his voice when he said that. But it only lasted a second. As he turned his head to admire the meticulously pruned flowers, the corners of his mouth unconsciously curled upward. Right at that moment, his phone vibrated on the counter. I glanced over and caught a clear view of the caller ID. Amanda. Followed by a bright red heart emoji. An inexplicable memory from last week crashed into my mind. I had borrowed his phone to check the tracking on an Amazon package. Whether it was in his call log or his messaging app, I was saved under my full legal name. Audrey Davis. I had actually picked a fight with him over it. And Wesley had expertly produced an excuse to shut me up. “I have to hand my phone to my coworkers to check files all the time. I don’t want them seeing cheesy nicknames. It’s unprofessional. Besides, our relationship is our business. I call you ‘honey’ when we’re alone, don’t I?” I believed him. It wasn’t until this exact second that the brutal truth slapped me in the face. I had been lying to myself this entire time. Right before we got married, Wesley mentioned he had a childhood friend living in Europe. He told me that if Amanda ever moved back to the States, he had to look out for her. I didn’t think much of it back then. I had guy friends I grew up with too. But slowly, the boundaries began to blur into something toxic. No matter what Wesley was doing, a single text from Amanda was enough to make him drop everything and run. My birthday happens to be on the exact same day as Amanda’s. Wesley always celebrated with her first. I had cried. I had screamed. I had thrown things. And all it ever earned me was a cold glare and him telling me I was acting like a crazy person. I remained completely silent in the kitchen. Wesley’s sharp eyes suddenly caught the stack of clean, empty plates on the drying rack. “You did cook? Why didn’t you wait for me?” “Since when did you become so selfish, Audrey? Seriously, that’s just petty.” The insult slipped off his tongue effortlessly. It was basically muscle memory. It was as if, deep down in his core, he truly believed I was a vindictive, terrible wife. I didn’t even bother lifting my head. My voice was a flat, hollow line. “I did tell you.” “The second you walked in, I told you dinner was ready.” “But you were too busy babying your flowers and texting your phone to even look at me.” Wesley choked on his words. A heavy silence suffocated the room for a long time before he finally cleared his throat. “I guess I didn’t hear you,” he said, his tone defensive. “You know how I get. I can’t multitask when I’m focused on something.” I kept my eyes on the floor, letting out a silent, self-deprecating laugh. That was a blatant lie. Six months ago, I accidentally slipped with a kitchen knife and sliced my finger open. Thick, dark blood immediately began pouring into the sink. Hearing my gasp, Wesley rushed into the kitchen to wrap my hand in a towel. But his phone was pressed against his ear. He was on a call with Amanda. “You’re a grown woman, how are you this clumsy?” he scolded me harshly. “Thank God you didn’t hit the bone, otherwise I’d have to waste my night dragging you to the ER. Do you know how annoying that is?” He had always been like this. Even his version of caring felt like a verbal beating. I had swallowed the pain, opening my mouth to assure him I was fine. But Amanda’s voice blasted through the speakerphone first. She sounded frantic and incredibly annoyed. “Ugh! I can’t find my AirPods again! I tore the whole apartment apart! I’m so mad, you gave those to me!” Wesley didn’t even look up at my bleeding hand, yet he answered her without missing a beat. “You dummy, didn’t you say you were using them in bed? Check under your pillows.” She had randomly mentioned her headphones in passing hours ago. I had absolutely no memory of it, yet Wesley had filed that tiny, useless detail away in his brain. A few seconds of rustling echoed through the phone before Amanda squealed with joy. “Found them! Look at you, Wes, paying such close attention to everything I say. I owe you a fancy dinner for this!” Wesley actually laughed at her teasing. “Deal. We’re going to that Italian place you love.” Standing in my own kitchen, dripping blood onto the floor, I felt like a trespasser watching two lovers through a window. Even then, I stupidly brushed it off. It took me until tonight to connect the dots. He didn’t have an attention problem. He just never cared enough to listen to a single word I said. I pulled myself out of the suffocating memories. “If you’re hungry, order something yourself,” I said coldly. “I’m exhausted. I’m going to bed.” I turned to walk down the hall, but Wesley suddenly grabbed my wrist. He stayed quiet for a second, his tone softening considerably. “Honey, are you actually mad?” “I didn’t forget our anniversary. I really wanted to come home early to be with you, but Amanda insisted on buying me dinner. I couldn’t just brush her off. That’s why I’m late.” “And I swear I didn’t hear you call me for dinner. Please stop being mad, okay? I’ll clean the kitchen. You go rest.” He glanced past my shoulder at the empty plates and let out a soft sigh. “Don’t cook such a massive meal next time. We’ve been married for years, we don’t need all this romantic fluff. It’s too much work.” It was incredibly rare for Wesley to willingly offer an explanation, but it only made my chest feel tighter. Six years of marriage. For the first few years, he was constantly flying across the country trying to build his firm. Then Amanda moved back. We had barely celebrated a single anniversary properly. This time, he was the one who specifically asked for a nice, home-cooked celebration. So I spent hours prepping the food and decorating the living room with candles. And my reward was him telling me my efforts were a chore. It was utterly pathetic. I walked into the master bedroom and laid on top of the covers. The walls in this house weren’t completely soundproof. Through the drywall, I could hear Wesley’s low, relaxed laughter. “Don’t worry about the flowers, I’ll keep them alive.” “It’s supposed to pour tomorrow, don’t forget your umbrella.” I didn’t need to guess who was on the other end of the line. Amanda must have said something demanding, because Wesley let out a helpless, indulgent chuckle. “Fine, fine, I’ll pick you up from your office, happy now? You really treat me like your personal butler.” It was past one in the morning when he finally walked into the bedroom. Without asking if I was asleep, he slid into the sheets and wrapped his arms tightly around my waist from behind. “I’ll come home early next time, honey. I promise.” He didn’t specify what the “next time” was for. But I knew the absolute truth. There wasn’t going to be a next time. I used a bit of force to pry his fingers off my stomach. Wesley’s body stiffened in surprise. “What’s wrong?” I have suffered from severe insomnia since I was a teenager. I physically could not fall asleep unless I was holding onto something. After we got married, Wesley memorized this habit. No matter how late he worked, he always made sure to hold me until I drifted off. I had grown completely dependent on his warmth. But tonight, the feeling of his skin pressing against mine literally made my stomach turn. “I want to sleep alone.” “Because I have no idea what time Amanda is going to call you next, and I don’t want to be woken up again.” The mattress violently shifted. Wesley sat bolt upright, ripping the blanket off himself. “What is your problem tonight? Do you really have to speak to me with such venom?” “I’ve explained my relationship with Amanda a thousand times! Why are you always making up these delusional scenarios in your head?” “I don’t want to fight with you, but you are being completely unreasonable today.” I had heard this exact speech so many times I could recite it backwards. Every single massive blowout we ever had was about Amanda. It always ended with me breaking down in tears. And Wesley would offer a half-hearted pat on the back, followed by his favorite critique. “You really need to fix your temper, Audrey. Who else could put up with you but me?” “You’re constantly acting crazy and paranoid. No wonder Amanda doesn’t want to be friends with you.” Yet, if Amanda threw a tantrum? He offered endless comfort. He never raised his voice. And he certainly never blamed her. Seeing me lay there in silence, Wesley’s temper flared. “Audrey, if you have a problem, just say it. Stop making me guess your mood!” “I work like a dog all day, and I come home just to walk on eggshells around you. I’m a human being. I get tired too.” I kept my mouth shut. A memory from just last week abruptly surfaced in my mind. Wesley had been stuck at the office finalizing a massive merger until 3 AM. He came home with dark purple bags under his eyes and passed out on the living room sofa with his shoes still on. But the second his phone rang and Amanda’s name flashed on the screen, he shot up like a soldier. “What? Your hallway light bulb burned out? Okay, I’m coming over to fix it right now. Don’t be scared.” He was running on zero hours of sleep, yet the word “tired” never left his lips. Amanda lived on the south side of town, a solid forty-minute drive from our house. I couldn’t bear to watch him exhaust himself, so I suggested Amanda call the building super, or at least wait until the sun came up. Wesley immediately snapped at me. “Are you insane? Amanda is terrified of the dark. Having no lights is torture for her.” “Besides, she’s a woman living alone. You want her letting a random maintenance guy into her apartment at 3 AM? What is wrong with you?” He grabbed his car keys and slammed the front door without looking back. I was left standing in the foyer, completely paralyzed. I was terrified of the dark, too. Once, I had to work late at the office until midnight. The subway was sketchy, so I called Wesley and asked if he could pick me up. His response? “It’s your own fault for not managing your time better.” “You’re a grown woman. Can you seriously not take an Uber home by yourself? Stop being so dramatic.” His blatant double standards weren’t a new development. I was just too incredibly stupid to accept reality until now. I let out a bitter, raspy laugh, pulling myself out of the memory. “Are you done talking? If you’re not going to sleep, get out. I’m tired.” Wesley stood over the bed, looking down at me with absolute disgust. “You are completely irrational.” He turned on his heel and stormed out. The bedroom door slammed shut so violently the picture frames on the wall rattled. The very last thread tethering my heart to this marriage snapped. Any trace of sleep vanished from my system. I picked up my phone and opened a chat with an old college friend who worked in family law. [Draft a divorce agreement for me. Make it as fast as humanly possible.] The next morning, a sharp ringing jarred me awake. But I never expected the name flashing on the screen. It was Amanda. “Are you free this afternoon? We need to talk.” I was about to tell her to go to hell, but she hung up before I could get a word out. After debating it for a few minutes, I grabbed my coat and headed to the address she texted me. When I walked into the upscale cafe, Amanda was already sitting in a corner booth, sipping a latte. “I honestly thought you wouldn’t have the guts to show up.” I didn’t take the bait. I sat across from her and cut straight to the point. “What do you want?” Amanda took a slow, deliberate sip from her mug. Her tone was smug and relaxed. “Nothing much. I just noticed Wes was in a terrible mood this morning. I figured you two got into another fight, so I came to check on the situation.” She spoke about my husband as if he belonged to her. As if she possessed the ultimate authority to monitor his moods. “If you have something to say, say it. Drop the passive-aggressive act.” She intentionally asked me out, intentionally used the pet name ‘Wes’ right to my face. She wanted to see me lose my mind. She wanted me to scream and make a scene. When I remained perfectly calm, the smugness melted off her face, replaced by a cold sneer. “You know, you’re a really fascinating person, Audrey.” “Every time Wes takes me out, you must be dying of jealousy on the inside, right? Yet you sit here pretending you don’t care at all.” My heart skipped a beat. She knew. She knew everything. When I first noticed the red flags between them, I sat Wesley down. “Don’t you think Amanda is crossing the line?” I had pleaded. “She knows you’re a married man, but she inserts herself into every single detail of your life.” “Are you sure you guys are just friends?” Before I could even finish the sentence, Wesley aggressively cut me off. “You’re delusional.” “Amanda’s entire family is in Europe. I’m the only person she knows in this city. Isn’t it normal that we talk a lot?” “Besides, I’ve known her since we were wearing diapers. If there was ever going to be something between us, do you really think I would have married you?” “Amanda is innocent and sweet. Stop projecting your dirty thoughts onto her. You’re going to end up hurting her feelings.” Maybe Wesley was so deep in denial that he couldn’t even hear himself. Every single word out of his mouth was designed to protect her. I never brought it up again after that day. But sitting across from Amanda now, it was glaringly obvious. She knew exactly what she was doing. The silver lining was that it simply didn’t hurt anymore. I casually picked up my own coffee cup and took a sip. “You’re giving yourself too much credit,” I said smoothly. “When I loved Wesley, he was worth something to me. Now that I don’t give a damn about him, he’s basically garbage.” “If you have a fetish for digging through the trash, be my guest. I’m officially handing him over to you.” My voice was deadpan. Amanda’s face instantly hardened. She stopped talking, glancing quickly down at her phone. A wicked, calculated smile crept onto her lips. “Tell me, Audrey. If you and I got into a physical altercation right now, whose side do you think he would take?” Before my brain could even process her words, Amanda lunged across the table, grabbed my full cup of iced coffee, and dumped it directly over her own chest. She let out a piercing, theatrical scream. Right on cue, a familiar voice roared from the entrance. “Amanda!” She looked at me, coffee dripping down her ruined designer dress, and smiled wickedly. “You lose.” A split second later, her face twisted into a mask of pure terror and heartbreak. She covered her mouth, fake sobs tearing from her throat. “Audrey, why did you do that?! I only came here to apologize to you! Why would you throw your drink at me?” Wesley practically sprinted across the cafe. Without asking a single question or letting me speak, he glared at me with eyes full of absolute venom. “Audrey. Apologize to her. Now.” I stared at the two of them, thoroughly amused by the absolute absurdity of the situation. I raised my hand and flagged down a waiter. “Can I get a refill on the iced coffee, please?” The moment the waiter placed the fresh glass on the table, I picked it up and hurled the dark liquid directly into both of their faces. “Take a good look, Wesley,” I said coldly. “That is what it looks like when I actually do it.” Wesley stood there, dripping wet, staring at me like I was a monster. He didn’t say another word. He frantically grabbed napkins to wipe Amanda’s face and ushered her out of the cafe to get her changed. I watched their retreating figures, a bitter, hollow laugh escaping my lips. It was finally time to kill this rotting marriage.

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1 My long-distance boyfriend’s distant tone suddenly shifted. When I complained about the heat, he told me to shave my head. Asked about his post-grad plans, he said he wanted to see me in a sailor uniform in an empty classroom. I thought grad school stress had brought out a playful side. Walking in nervously, the lights snapped on. Asher’s lab partner Chloe yanked off my wig, revealing my buzz cut. The room exploded in laughter. “She actually shaved it!” Chloe shrieked. “Is that a sailor suit? Take off the jacket!” Camera flashes blinded me as phones recorded my humiliation. Then it hit me—for three years, those sweet messages weren’t from Asher. They were from Chloe. Tonight’s setup was just a bet to see how long it took me to notice. Asher looked disappointed in me. “Lab work’s exhausting. I let Chloe reply to keep you quiet,” he sighed. “How did you not realize it wasn’t me?” Something in me broke. The boy who once froze on his balcony fighting mosquitoes just to talk to me was gone. Our dream of studying abroad together died too. I’d have to chase it alone. “Evelyn, this has nothing to do with Chloe,” Asher continued, his voice void of any warmth. “You’re the one who needs to reflect on your absolute lack of common sense.” Using every ounce of strength I had, I clutched my jacket tightly across my chest and tried to push past the laughing crowd toward Chloe. Asher, who had been standing casually with his hands in his pockets, immediately stepped in front of her, shielding her with his body. “I gave Chloe my phone. I specifically asked her to reply to your messages,” he stated firmly. “As for the sailor outfit and the buzz cut…” His brow furrowed in absolute disgust. “It was an incredibly obvious joke. I can’t believe you were stupid enough to fall for it.” My knuckles turned white as I gripped the fabric of my jacket. My throat completely closed up. I couldn’t force a single syllable out of my mouth. Three years of long-distance. I was studying in Chicago, and he was in Boston. A thousand miles apart. I had been entirely consumed by the illusion of a devoted boyfriend who always texted back immediately. How was I supposed to magically guess that the person on the other end of the screen wasn’t him? Seeing me trembling violently under the blinding flashes, Asher let out an annoyed sigh. He pulled off his varsity jacket and draped it over my shoulders. “Let’s go. Stop embarrassing yourself.” I took a step back, dodging his touch. His annoyance instantly deepened. “What? Are you enjoying having everyone stare at you?” Standing safely behind him, Chloe suddenly burst into a bright, innocent giggle. “Wow, Asher! It looks like your girlfriend really loves the kinky games I came up with! She wants to stay here and play with you.” “But honestly, I get it,” she smirked, her eyes glinting with malice. “Considering she almost got assaulted by her older cousin when she was little…” Chloe deliberately paused. The crowd instantly gasped, their eyes widening with morbid, excited curiosity. My blood ran completely cold. “Asher!” I stared at him, my voice cracking in absolute horror. “You… you told her about that?” My entire body shook uncontrollably. Yet, he just shrugged, completely unfazed. “Chloe wanted to win the bet, so she scrolled through our chat history to learn your texting style.” “I was just following the rules of the game. Are you seriously blaming me for that?” Chloe dramatically covered her mouth, feigning shock. “Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry! I totally forgot that was a deep, dark secret between you two.” “But hey, you know what they say. Flies don’t swarm a seamless egg. If you respected your own body, things like that wouldn’t happen to you. Just look at you right now…” She narrowed her eyes, scanning me up and down. “You’re clutching that jacket so tight. Do you even have clothes on underneath that sailor uniform?” The crowd, eager for more drama, instantly began jeering. “Yeah! If you’re wearing normal clothes, why are you so terrified to open the jacket?” “If you’re playing these freaky games in public, please don’t use our golden boy Asher as your backup plan.” Asher, who had defended Chloe seconds ago, remained completely silent. He stared down at me. The look in his eyes was unmistakable. He was questioning my loyalty over the last three years. I couldn’t endure the suffocating humiliation for another second. I aggressively ripped the zipper of my jacket all the way down. Asher panicked, lunging forward with his own coat to cover me. “Evelyn, stop throwing a tantrum!” But I wasn’t naked. I wasn’t wearing a sailor uniform. I reached inside my jacket and pulled out a small, warm paper bag of roasted chestnuts. The exact brand he casually mentioned he was craving a few days ago. A thousand miles. A five-hour flight. I had kept the bag pressed against my chest the entire trip so it wouldn’t get cold. Looking back now, Asher had always hated snacks. His sudden craving for roasted chestnuts was probably just another one of Chloe’s sick pranks to make me run like a dog. Beneath my jacket, I was wearing a perfectly ordinary, oversized t-shirt. My eyes stung with unshed tears. I met Asher’s completely stunned gaze. “I’m so sorry to disappoint you.” I shoved past him and bolted out the door. I wandered aimlessly through the massive campus for three hours. My best friend, Maya, called me from her dorm in London. “So? How did it go? Was the great golden boy absolutely shocked that you locked down two fully-funded PhD spots in Europe?” “I’ve got the champagne ready for when you guys get here!” I swallowed the massive lump in my throat and cut her off. “Maya. He’s not coming.” “What?! What did that bastard do?!” After I choked out the story, Maya exploded on the other end of the line, cursing him out. “You worked yourself to the bone for three years to build a future for both of you, and he’s playing psychological games with some little bitch?!” “Does he have any idea what you sacrificed to get two full rides?!” I took a deep, shaky breath. The tears finally spilled over. Right before my flight, the Dean of my university had called me into his private office. “If you go to Europe alone for your PhD, the university will cover all expenses and issue you an additional hundred-thousand-dollar educational grant.” “If you insist on bringing your boyfriend, you forfeit the grant and cover his tuition entirely out of your own pocket.” The Dean slid two acceptance letters across his desk, looking at me with deep sympathy. “Evelyn, I know you and your boyfriend grew up in poverty together. I know you view yourselves as childhood sweethearts fighting against the world.” “When you started grad school, you drained your entire savings account to send him to a prestigious ivy league, while you settled for a lower-tier program just because it offered a full ride.” “You finally secured this incredible opportunity. Some paths are meant to be walked alone. You’ll move much faster without the dead weight.” Sitting on a cold bench in the middle of campus, I finally understood what the Dean meant. “My flight is tomorrow at noon. I’m going alone.” After hanging up with Maya, I walked into a 24-hour print shop. I filled out the solo acceptance form, scanned it, and emailed it directly to the Dean. The moment I stepped out of the shop, I ran straight into Asher and Chloe. Asher instinctively reached out and grabbed the handle of my rolling suitcase. “The guys took the joke too far. I already scolded Chloe.” “Stop being mad, okay?” I looked up. Right on his collarbone, peaking out from his shirt, was a dark bite mark smeared with red lipstick. He noticed my gaze and casually rubbed his neck. “I lost a drinking game. It was just a tiny penalty.” Chloe stepped forward, pouting playfully as she twirled her car keys. “I’m really sorry, Evelyn.” “Grad school is just so boring and stressful. I just wanted to find a little entertainment. I didn’t mean any harm by it.” “Asher was just sacrificing his dignity to boost the team’s morale. Seriously, don’t overthink it.” I calmly pulled my suitcase out of his grip. “Why would I?” Asher glanced at his expensive watch. “It’s getting late. I’ll drop you off at your hotel so you can rest, and then Chloe and I are heading out for a lab dinner.” Realizing how that sounded, he quickly added, “It’s just a bunch of people you don’t know. You’d feel awkward and out of place.” Chloe smoothly looped her arm through his. “Yeah, Evelyn. It’s kind of an exclusive department thing. It’s not really appropriate to bring outsiders. I promise I’ll return Asher to you later tonight.” I smiled. But my lungs felt like they were being crushed in a vice. A few hours ago, I was surrounded by a mob of his friends, photographed, and treated like a circus animal for their entertainment. He didn’t think twice about my feelings then. But a simple dinner? Suddenly, I was an outsider. “No need.” “Asher. We’re done.” Under the pale streetlights, Asher’s footsteps abruptly stopped. He turned around. He looked at me, then glanced at the glowing screen of my laptop in my bag, where the sent email was still visible. He reached out and fondly ruffled my buzz-cut hair. “Are you really this jealous?” “It’s your last night here. I’ll come back to the hotel as soon as the dinner is over.” “Then we’ll pack our bags and fly to Paris together for our PhDs. No more long-distance, I promise.” He firmly believed, without a shadow of a doubt, that I would happily surrender my pride and abandon my dignity, just to stay by his side. Just like I always did. Without waiting for my response, and with Chloe tugging impatiently at his sleeve, he hailed a cab for me. “Go to the hotel. I’ll bring you takeout. If you’re tired, just go to sleep. Be good.” I didn’t get into the cab he hailed. I took my suitcase and caught a different ride directly to the airport hotel. After checking in, I had just finished my shower when my phone buzzed. It was a video from Asher’s number, followed by an emoji of a cat sticking its tongue out. I didn’t need to guess who actually sent it. I tapped play. The video showed Asher sitting at a crowded bar. His face and ears were flushed red from the alcohol. A group of his lab mates were surrounding the table, hyping him up. They were clearly playing Truth or Dare. “Come on, Ash! Tell the truth! Have you ever actually caught feelings for our little Chloe?” “You’re always protecting her in the lab. There’s no way there isn’t a spark there!” Under the intense peer pressure, and with Chloe staring at him with wide, adoring eyes, the untouchable, perfectly composed golden boy smiled. His voice was incredibly soft, dripping with indulgence. “Maybe… if Evelyn wasn’t in the picture… I would have fallen for Chloe.” He reached out and gently patted her head. “Chloe, once I’m not here to watch your back, you have to be more careful. Stop being so reckless.” “If you get stuck on a project, or if you’re just having a bad day, you can call me anytime.” He spoke every word with absolute, unwavering sincerity. The last time he looked at someone like that was during our senior year of high school. He had sat beside me, patiently explaining every single math problem on my practice test. “Evelyn, don’t rush through the equations. If you’re stuck, just ask me. I’m going to pull you forward, and we’re going to make it out of here together.” The golden sunset had spilled across our cheap wooden desks. The promises of youth were always so incredibly fierce. Back then, I genuinely believed we would conquer the world together. The crowd in the video erupted into applause. “Asher! What a gentleman!” Someone, fueled by liquid courage, screamed over the music. “Don’t leave any regrets! Kiss her! Kiss her!” Chloe, her eyes sparkling with unshed tears, shyly stood up on her tiptoes and pressed her lips directly against Asher’s. After a second of absolute silence, the bar exploded. The guys screamed, their faces red with excitement. The person holding the phone was jumping up and down so hard the footage blurred. Chloe collapsed happily into Asher’s chest. “Asher, you promised to take me stargazing.” “Can we go tonight? Please?” In the final second of the video, Asher’s soft, barely audible response pierced straight through my chest. “Okay.” I clicked on Asher’s profile for the very last time. Delete. Block. Clean and simple. The next morning, I sat in the airport terminal, my suitcase by my side. An unknown number called me. It was Asher. “Evelyn. We drank way too much last night.” “Okay.” “I didn’t sleep with Chloe.” “Alright.” Asher’s tone instantly shifted to deep irritation. “What I mean is, we didn’t cross any lines. So why did you launch a malicious attack to destroy her life?” “Someone forwarded a video of the classroom incident to the HR department of her internship.” I paused. “Did it actually impact her job?” I could hear Chloe sobbing hysterically in the background. Asher’s voice was lethal. “What do you think?” “Evelyn, when did you turn into such a toxic, vindictive person?” “First of all, I didn’t send any video to anyone.” “Second, what exactly am I ‘turning into’?” The sheer audacity of his accusation was absurd. But Asher sounded like he had been holding this in for years. He unloaded on me without taking a breath. “You’re petty. You throw tantrums. You hold grudges.” “Ever since you landed in Boston, you’ve been acting bizarre. Like the entire world owes you an apology.” “You are going to withdraw that complaint from her internship right now, and you are going to issue a public apology to Chloe!” For the first time in my life, I felt absolute, crystal clarity. The final glowing ember of my love for Asher completely extinguished. “And if I refuse?” “Then I’ll use the exact same tactics to completely destroy your academic transcript.” “You can kiss your PhD in Paris goodbye, Evelyn.” A bitter, hollow laugh escaped my lips. From a tiny, broken-down elementary school in the mountains to standing in this international airport. No one knew exactly how much blood, sweat, and tears I sacrificed to get here better than Asher. And now, over a pathetic girl and an imaginary crime, he was threatening to burn my life to the ground. I shook my head at the absolute absurdity of it all. Asher wasn’t bluffing. He would absolutely try to ruin me. Unfortunately for him, the Dean had finalized the transfer of my academic records to the European university database last night. My silence only enraged him further. He gritted his teeth, delivering his ultimate ultimatum. “If you don’t fix this, I am going to Paris alone. You will never see me again.” “Are you absolutely sure you want to push me this far, Evelyn?” The intercom crackled, announcing the final boarding call for my flight. I stood up and walked toward the gate. “I am absolutely sure.” “Asher. I hope I never see your face again.” “Fine! Don’t you dare come crawling back tonight begging—” I hung up the phone before he could finish. Standing in the lab, Asher stared at his dark screen, a terrifying rage igniting in his chest. Chloe was weeping so hard she was hyperventilating. She aggressively stomped her foot and slumped into a chair. “It was just a harmless prank! Why is she trying to ruin my life?!” “It’s over! Now that HR has this complaint, no reputable firm is ever going to hire me!” Asher quickly wrapped an arm around her, typing frantically on his laptop. He was sending an urgent email to his faculty advisor, begging him to intervene and save Chloe’s internship. Three seconds later, the advisor replied with a single URL link. Suspected female grad student mercilessly bullies classmate; secretly recorded by janitor. Video goes viral. In the video, I looked utterly terrified and helpless, surrounded by a mocking crowd. Chloe’s arrogant, vicious face was in perfect focus. The internet was out for blood. Netizens were bombarding the university with thousands of formal complaints. A voice memo from his advisor played out loud, his tone dripping with absolute fury. “A janitor walking by filmed the whole thing and posted it on TikTok! The internet is furious. We’ve received over three hundred emails demanding disciplinary action!” “With this level of viral outrage, losing an internship is the least of Chloe’s problems.” “I heard the victim is your girlfriend. Asher, you better fix this disaster before the university gets involved.” Hearing the audio, Chloe immediately stopped crying. A look of massive relief washed over her face. “Asher, this is perfect!” “Just force her to film a clarification video. Make her tell everyone it was just a staged skit for a project!” Asher stared at the viral video playing on his laptop screen. The shaky, blurry footage made the reality of the situation painfully clear. It looked exactly like a pack of wolves cornering a wounded animal. The laughter echoing from the speakers suddenly sounded incredibly cruel. For some inexplicable reason, for the very first time in his life, a cold spike of pure panic pierced his heart. A flicker of genuine guilt flashed in his eyes. But Chloe was relentlessly tugging at his sleeve, demanding he act. He picked up his phone and dialed my number again. But this time, he was met with a cold, mechanical voice. “The number you have dialed has been disconnected…”

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Luke proposed eight times. Each time, disaster struck. His friends sneered I was a jinx, our fates doomed to clash. Determined the ninth would be perfect, I came early to check everything myself. Instead, I found him cornering his secretary, his voice hard. “When you took my mother’s fifty-million-dollar payoff and left, did you think I wouldn’t marry?” “You’ve sabotaged my proposals over and over. Did you really think I’d play this game forever?” Someone whistled. “Luke, stop acting. You’ve humored her eight times already.” “What’s the drama today? If this fails, Nora will cry herself sick. Don’t you feel bad?” Luke laughed, unbothered. “Of course I do.” “But she’s sweet, easy to comfort. Even now, pregnant, a few kind words have her dreaming of the next proposal.” He looked at Sienna, eyes soft with unmistakable affection. “Not like some people—heartless. One fight and they vanish, forgetting everything.” “So tell me, whose feelings come first?” Their laughter stung my eyes with tears. I wasn’t a jinx. Those disasters weren’t accidents. Play your games with her, Luke. I don’t want your proposal anymore. 01 The event planner, who had just rushed over, greeted me with a warm smile. “Miss Nora? Why are you standing out here? Why aren’t you going inside?” She enthusiastically ushered me right to Luke’s side, then turned to her staff to bark out orders. “Everyone, get to your positions! The ceremony is starting now.” A delicate white veil was draped over my head. I stood there, watching Luke walk toward me step by step, holding a bouquet of fresh flowers. This time, the helium balloons didn’t suddenly explode like they did during the first proposal, setting my dress on fire and leaving me with painful burns. The heavy backdrop wall didn’t collapse and crush my arm into a fracture, repeating the disaster of the second proposal. And there was no random drunkard rushing in from nowhere to tackle me to the ground, trying to tear my gown off in a manic frenzy. Everything was going flawlessly. Luke slowly sank to one knee before me, his eyes glistening with what looked like genuine, emotional tears. My rational mind screamed at me to wake up, but hope still clawed its way up like wild weeds. What if, just this once… But in the very next second, every illusion shattered into pieces. The massive banner hanging from the ceiling unfurled: Sienna, marry me! The giant LED screens began scrolling through a montage of romantic photos. It wasn’t me. It was Sienna. Her radiant smile in those pictures felt like a physical slap to my face. Luke glanced up casually, his voice remarkably dismissive. “I’m so sorry, Nora. It looks like another mishap. We can’t go on with the proposal today. The new secretary is young and careless. I’ll make sure to reprimand her later.” Always the exact same excuse. Only today did I learn that Sienna wasn’t just some newly hired secretary. She was the first love Luke could never truly let go of. Obsessed with his past, he turned a blind eye to her sabotage. He even enabled her, letting her ruin my hopes over and over again without consequence. Even during the last proposal, when I was trapped in a sudden fire and nearly suffocated to death, Luke had brushed it off with a casual, “She didn’t mean to do it.” I stood there in complete silence. I didn’t try to salvage this “accident” like I always used to. Luke raised an eyebrow in mild surprise, then patted the back of my hand to comfort me. “Since the setup is already ruined anyway, we might as well roll with it. I’ll just go through the ceremony with someone else today. Think of it as a dress rehearsal so I can get a feel for the real thing.” The crowd fell into a stunned silence. Guests exchanged uneasy glances until one of his friends finally spoke up. “Luke, the other accidents were one thing, but swapping the bride on the fly today… isn’t that crossing the line a bit?” Even outsiders realized how messed up this was. I swallowed the bitter lump in my throat and looked up at Luke, desperately searching his face for even a flicker of guilt. But he only paused for a fraction of a second before dismissing it. “Don’t worry, it’s just a rehearsal for the real deal. The actual proposal will be yours, I promise. And it’ll be way grander than this.” Without another ounce of hesitation, he turned around with the ring in hand, walked over to Sienna, and dropped to one knee. Sienna let out a gasp of delight and threw herself into Luke’s arms, her voice trembling with excitement. “Yes! A thousand times yes! Ten whole years… I’ve finally waited long enough for this.” Instantly, waves of mocking and pitiful stares shifted toward me. I sniffled, forcing my burning tears back. That diamond ring, the one Luke had spent months refining with a custom designer specifically for me, was now being carefully slid onto Sienna’s ring finger. “It’s just a ring, Nora. Don’t be petty,” Luke murmured, catching my gaze. “Your favorite designer just launched a new collection. I’ll have someone buy you the best piece tonight, and I’ll make sure you love it for our real proposal. Out with the old, in with the new. You deserve better anyway.” Watching Luke hold Sienna close amidst the cheers and wolf whistles of the crowd, I felt as if I were looking at a complete stranger. I forced myself to look away and nodded slowly. “You’re right. I do deserve better.” I paused, my voice steady. “Luke, we’re done. Let’s break up.” 02 The celebratory fireworks launched into the night sky, their thunderous booms completely drowning out my quiet voice. Luke frowned, leaning slightly toward me. “What did you say, Nora?” Before I could repeat myself, someone shoved Sienna forward, sending her stumbling directly into Luke’s arms. Instinctively, he wrapped his arms around her to steady her. The crowd surged forward, and someone yelled at the top of their lungs, “Kiss her! Kiss her!” Luke’s best friends winked and nudged him. “Come on, man, don’t waste this chance! Make up for all those lost years tonight!” Sienna blushed crimson, looking up at Luke with breathless anticipation. Nearby, guests and bystanders raised their phones, eager to capture the romantic moment. Luke turned back to me, his expression laced with mock helplessness. “What should I do? Everyone is putting me on the spot… If I don’t go along with it, the rumors will ruin Sienna’s reputation by tomorrow. She’s my employee, after all. I have to protect her.” Listening to his pathetic, paper-thin excuses, I felt nothing but a hollow sense of absurdity. When I was the one subjected to public humiliation and branded a curse, Luke had never cared. But when it came to his precious first love, he couldn’t bear to let her suffer even a second of discomfort. “Do whatever you want,” I said, offering him a faint smile. “A reunion like this is quite beautiful, isn’t isn’t?” Luke froze, seemingly unsettled by my lack of anger. “What are you talking about? It’s just a show for the crowd. Be good, Nora. You’ve always been the sensible one. Just give me a little time, and as soon as this is over, I’ll take you home.” I didn’t bother replying. I turned around and let myself fade into the bustling, noisy crowd. The romantic music I had personally selected reached its swelling crescendo. Under a shower of red rose petals I had spent weeks organizing, Luke and Sienna shared a passionate kiss. I joined the crowd, clapping along like a detached spectator. Someone gently nudged my elbow and offered me a tissue. “Did the romance make you cry too? I heard they were high school sweethearts. They lost touch for five years and only just found each other again. Apparently, when she broke up with him back then, he went absolutely wild with rage. The very next day, on Valentine’s Day, he hooked up with some random girl just to spite her.” Five years. Valentine’s Day. No wonder his friends had looked at me with such bizarre, pitying expressions when Luke first introduced me as his girlfriend. Some of them had swallowed their words; others had snickered behind my back. They had even set up a betting pool on how many days it would take for Luke to dump me. To them, I was nothing but a rebound, a “random girl” chosen to fill a void. The woman beside me kept babbling on. I quickly wiped my face, entirely uninterested in hearing a stranger gush over the fairytale reunion of my boyfriend and his soulmate. Muttering a quick thank-you, I spun on my heel and walked out. As I waited for a cab, the clouds finally broke, and a heavy downpour began to drench the streets. I spotted a single remaining umbrella in the venue’s rack. Just as my fingertips brushed the cold handle, a large hand snatched it away. “Sorry, Nora. Sienna has a weak constitution, and the rain is freezing. I can’t let her catch a cold.” I looked up in shock, only to see Luke’s retreating back. He didn’t even spare me a passing glance. Through the thick curtain of rain, I watched Luke open the umbrella, keeping it entirely over Sienna as they walked away. Perhaps sensing my gaze, he paused and looked back. Our eyes met. Luke hesitated, his gaze shifting uncomfortably between me and Sienna. “Nora, go find somewhere dry to wait. I’ll drop her off at the hotel lobby and come right back for you.” Before I could even open my mouth, he turned his back on me again and guided Sienna into the warmth. Inside the cab, my phone buzzed incessantly. Luke: Why did you head home on your own? The guys are hammered and won’t let me leave. I’m stuck here. Luke: Don’t be petty, babe. Go take a hot shower and get some sleep. Don’t wait up for me. I’ll make sure to be on time for your OB-GYN appointment tomorrow. I blocked his number immediately. Almost instantly, a call from my mother flashed on the screen. “Now that you’ve finally come to your senses, clean up your mess quickly,” she said, her voice crisp and businesslike. “Come back home. It’s time to prepare for your marriage alliance with the Harrington family.” 03 The morning sun was already filtering through the blinds when Luke finally stumbled back, reeking of alcohol. “Babe, why did you block me? Sienna and I… there’s really nothing going on between us.” As he bent over to hug me, a box of condoms slipped out of his coat pocket and clattered onto the hardwood floor. Luke didn’t even blink. He casually picked the box up and tossed it into the trash can. “The guys shoved those into my pocket last night. Annoying as hell. Don’t overthink it.” A torn plastic wrapper peeking out from his pocket. A fresh, raw bite mark on the web of his hand. Even asking questions felt like an exhausting waste of breath. I closed my eyes in deep fatigue. Luke finally noticed something was wrong. He reached out to touch my forehead. “Why are you burning up?” Dizzy and weak, I propped myself up and leaned back, deliberately carving out space between us. “I got soaked in a freezing downpour. Catching a fever is only natural, isn’t it? Oh, by the way… how was your night with Sienna at the boutique hotel?” Luke’s face darkened, his drunken haze instantly vanishing. “Were you spying on me?” I didn’t need to. Someone had been eager to ensure I knew, sending me the video directly to my phone. Luke yanked at his tie in frustration, looking at me as if I were the one causing trouble. “It was just a joke! The guys booked the room for laughs. The atmosphere got a bit carried away, so we just played along for the final part of the rehearsal. It’s not a big deal. Why do you always have to make a mountain out of a molehill? Aren’t you tired of this?” Swapping the bride was an accident. Getting a hotel room with his ex was a rehearsal. I stared at Luke, feeling a cold, hollow amusement. Amusement at his pathetic lies, and at myself for wasting five years on this man. The bedroom fell into a suffocating silence until his phone rang. The ringtone, customized specifically for Sienna, was high-pitched and grating. “Luke, I’m so stupid,” she whimpered over the speaker, her voice dripping with tears. “I can’t do anything right. I was just cutting some fruit and sliced my finger open. It won’t stop bleeding… I don’t know what to do.” Maybe it was the fever clouding my mind, or perhaps it was the sudden, fluttering sensation of the baby kicking for the very first time. I reached out and weakly caught the hem of Luke’s shirt. “Can you stay?” I heard my own voice, nasal and desperate, attempting to threaten him in a way I had once thoroughly despised. I just wanted to give our five years one final, desperate chance. “If you walk out that door, I’m terminating the pregnancy.” Luke stared down at my pale face. A trace of memory flickered in his eyes, replaced quickly by a smug, mocking smirk. “Cut the act, Nora.” He paused, his voice ringing with absolute certainty. “We both know how hard it was to get this baby. You really expect me to believe you’d throw that away?” So he did remember. The endless hormone injections. The cold, sterile operating table for the egg retrieval. The three miscarriages we fought through just to keep this one pregnancy viable. I never imagined that my physical agony would one day become the leverage he used to mock me. “That’s enough,” he sighed, patting my hand dismissively. “I promise the real proposal will go off without a hitch. Just stop throwing tantrums, okay?” Before he could finish, I spoke in a quiet, deadpan voice. “There won’t be a next time, Luke. Tomorrow, I’m going to the clinic…” But he didn’t even have the patience to let me finish. Snatching his car keys, he mumbled a distracted reply. “Tomorrow? Did they reschedule the ultrasound? Look, if you’re feeling sick from the fever, call the driver to take you. I really have to go check on Sienna.” I watched his retreating back as he rushed out, not even taking the time to put his shoes on properly. In the empty, silent room, I whispered the words I hadn’t finished. “To get an abortion… and then we are done forever.” A few minutes later, my screen lit up with a text message from the same unknown number. So sorry, sweetie. I accidentally nicked my finger, and he just had to drop everything to rush over to me. Attached was a photo of Luke, kneeling at her feet, his expression entirely focused as he carefully wrapped a band-aid around her finger. Ignoring Sienna’s petty provocation, I opened my contacts and sent a message to my doctor. Help me book the earliest termination procedure possible. 04 Once Luke was gone, any trace of sleepiness vanished. I got out of bed and began packing my things. The skincare products, the jewelry, the designer clothes… everything Luke had gifted me over the last five years. After a moment’s thought, I left them all behind. Aside from my passport, ID, and the two simple outfits I had brought with me when I first moved in, I took absolutely nothing. The matching toothbrushes, the couples’ slippers, the custom mugs… everything that tied me to him went straight into the trash. It wasn’t an act of petty anger. It just felt wrong to leave them there, mocking what we used to be. I tore out the pages of our five-year relationship journal, feeding them sheet by sheet into the paper shredder. I was never one to dwell on the past. Once I decided to move forward, I would never look back. I had just booked a hotel room and was heading for the door when the lock clicked. Luke walked in. One of his hands was wrapped tightly around Sienna’s, while the other wheeled a bright pink suitcase. The moment his eyes landed on me, he dropped Sienna’s hand as if he’d been burned. A flash of irritation crossed his face. “Why are you still awake? It’s late. Look, Sienna… she had too much to drink, and there’s no one at her place to look after her.” I didn’t look at him. I knelt down to lace up my shoes. “Oh, that works out perfectly then. I’m leaving, so she can have my spot.” Only then did Luke notice the suitcase standing beside me. He froze, then rubbed his temples in frustration, his voice heavy with exhaustion. “Nora, can you please not add to the drama? Dealing with Sienna has already drained me. I’m just letting her stay the night. Is it really necessary to throw a fit and threaten to move out? What is wrong with you?” Before I could reply, Sienna raised her head from Luke’s chest, her eyes glassy with alcohol. Her gaze locked onto my slightly rounded belly, and tears welled up in her eyes. “You bitch!” she shrieked. “You’re only keeping Luke trapped because of that baby! That’s why he won’t come back to me!” Startled by her sudden mania, I frowned and took a step back. “What are you doing?” Before the words could fully leave my mouth, she lunged at me, raising her hand to strike. I reached out to grab her wrist to defend myself, but a massive hand clamped down hard on my arm, pinning me in place. Slap! My head whipped to the side, and a sharp, burning pain bloomed across my cheek. A fleeting look of regret crossed Luke’s eyes, but it vanished as quickly as it had appeared. “Sienna’s mother just passed away, Nora. Her mental state is fragile right now. She can’t take any triggers. Just… let her get it out of her system. Bear with it for a moment, okay?” A thin trickle of blood seeped from the corner of my mouth. I tried to speak, but the movement stung, forcing involuntary tears to slip down my face. My hand trembled, and the folded paper containing my clinical appointment slipped from my fingers, fluttering onto the floor. Luke’s eyes darted to it, catching the words OB-GYN Clinic before I quickly snatched it back up. “So you booked your ultrasound for tomorrow?” The tension in his brow melted away, replaced by a confident chuckle. He was absolutely certain that my departure was just a childish bluff. “Look, if you really need space, go stay at a hotel for a couple of days. Send me the address and the appointment time. I’ll drive you tomorrow.” Without waiting for my response, he guided Sienna toward the master bedroom, never once looking back. The next morning, the aggressive buzzing of Luke’s phone woke him up. Friend: Damn, Luke, you’re a legend! Spending the night drinking with your ex, and now you’re up early to play the doting father at Nora’s ultrasound? Respect. Luke frowned in confusion, but before he could type a reply, another message flashed on the screen. Friend: Holy shit, dude, what is going on? Did you bring Nora here to get an abortion? The moment Luke opened the attached video, his phone slipped from his hand and crashed onto the floor. Every ounce of color drained from his face.

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1 In my past life, I saved Finn, the golden boy of the city’s most powerful elite circle. He fell for me at first sight and married me in a lavish, heavily publicized wedding. But only after the wedding did I discover the horrifying truth. He was impotent, a twisted sadist who married me solely to conceal his dark secret from the high-society gossip columns. I was systematically tortured by him until my heart finally stopped. When I opened my eyes again, I was back in the past, on the very day he brought a horde of reporters to my family’s doorstep to locate his mysterious savior. Before I could even slip away, my younger sister, Sienna, charged forward. She pointed a finger at me, shouting for everyone to hear. “Finn, don’t let her fool you! That night, Nora was partying at a club, drinking with several guys until the early hours of the morning. There’s no way she could have saved you!” “She’s trying to steal credit for my actions just so she can claw her way into your family and become your trophy wife!” I froze in utter shock, the paralyzing terror in my chest instantly dissolving into pure, unadulterated ecstasy. This was spectacular. Since I was supposedly partying that night, it meant I had never saved him. Which meant this psychopathic heir would have absolutely nothing to do with me in this lifetime. … In my past life, I had found Finn severely injured on the side of the road and rushed him to the emergency room. In his semi-conscious state, he pressed a luxury watch into my hand, telling me it was a token to find him. After he was discharged, he used the hospital records to locate me. Claiming to have fallen in love at first sight, he knelt and proposed to me in front of a crowd of reporters. I had been overjoyed to marry into such wealth, completely ignorant of his true nature. Only after the wedding did I realize he was impotent, deeply insecure, and highly unstable, taking his rage out on women behind closed doors. I died in absolute despair under his endless cruelty. Now that I was back, I only wanted to run as far away from him as possible. But before I could take a single step, Sienna blocked my path, confronting me fiercely in front of the cameras. “Nora, have you no shame?” She strode up to me, her voice dripping with venom. My heart sank, assuming she was about to expose my actual rescue of Finn. But before I could speak, she turned to Finn and threw a stack of photos onto the ground at my feet. “Finn, please don’t let her trick you! She was at a club the entire night, she never left!” I stared at the photos on the ground. They were highly realistic, showing me laughing and drinking at a crowded bar. The editing was so perfect that it was impossible to tell they were fakes, even though I had never stepped foot in a nightclub in my entire life. I frowned. “Sienna, what on earth are you talking about? I didn’t…” She cut me off with a sneer. “Stop acting! You’re just jealous that I’m the one who saved Finn. You stole the watch he gave me, trying to take my place and gold-dig your way into high society! Several people at the club saw you that night, and they’re all ready to testify!” As soon as she finished speaking, a few unfamiliar men stepped forward from the crowd, nodding in agreement. I stared at my smug little sister, a profound sense of absurdity washing over me. Was she actually saving my life, or was she just desperate to steal my misfortune? Finn watched me with a mocking, half-smile, his eyes completely cold. “Your name is Nora? You have decent looks, but did you really think you could play me by stealing Sienna’s credit? A woman like you doesn’t deserve to be my savior.” He turned to face the reporters, speaking with absolute authority. “I have personally verified that Sienna is my true savior. Her sister, Nora, is a deceitful opportunist who tried to steal her credit. She has absolutely nothing to do with me.” He then turned back to Sienna, his gaze softening into a look of deep affection as he dropped to one knee. “From the moment you saved me, I fell in love with you. Sienna, will you marry me?” Watching the two of them act out this ridiculous melodrama, my heart didn’t even skip a beat. Normally, anyone would be driven mad by such a betrayal, screaming and begging to prove their innocence. But not me. I was thrilled to let her have him, eager to sever all ties with this monster. Still, the sheer coldness of my family’s betrayal stung. Just as I opened my mouth to speak, my parents grabbed my arms, holding me back with bruising force. My father lowered his voice, his tone dripping with impatience and embarrassment. “Nora, you aren’t his savior. Stop lying to yourself. Trying to slander your sister at a time like this, have you no shame?” I wanted to say something, to give my sister one last chance to back out of this grave she was digging, but my mother yanked me away, dragging me to the very edge of the crowd. 2 Sienna stood beside Finn, her meticulously applied makeup catching the camera flashes. She looked at me like a victorious queen sneering at a beggar. “See? No one is going to listen to you,” she whispered in my ear, her voice dripping with malice. “I am the one marrying into the most powerful family in the city. Play nice and keep your mouth shut, or I’ll make sure you can’t survive in this town.” Ah, so she truly believed I had hit the jackpot in my last life and wanted to snatch my fortune. Well, who was I to deny her? The sheer joy bubbling up inside me was almost impossible to contain, but I forced my head down, hiding the massive grin threatening to split my face. When I finally looked up, I forced a look of desperate, wild fury onto my face. “This is a setup! Sienna, you claim I was throwing myself at men in a club that night instead of saving him? Where is your proof?” My face was flushed, and I trembled with theatrical rage. Sienna glanced at the media, a smug grin playing on her lips. “Proof? I have eyewitnesses.” The reporters and onlookers pressed closer, trapping me in the center. Two heavily styled strangers stepped out from the crowd, immediately grabbing my arms with dramatic distress. “Nora, you can’t just pretend we don’t exist!” I shoved them off. “I don’t even know who you are! Stop lying!” The two immediately burst into tears for the cameras. “How can you be so heartless? We spent the entire night together in that VIP booth. We did everything there is to do, and now you’re acting like we’re strangers!” Whispers broke out among the onlookers. “She looks so innocent, but she’s actually so wild.” “No wonder she tried to steal her sister’s fiancé. She’s just a social climber.” I took a deep breath, feigning desperate defense. “I drove Finn to the hospital myself that night. The security cameras must have caught my face. How could I have been at a club?” Sienna let out a soft laugh. “Oh, didn’t you know? The hospital’s security footage from that night has been completely erased.” “That’s impossible! Medical records are kept for years.” “If you don’t believe me, call them yourself,” Sienna challenged, crossing her arms. I quickly dialed the hospital’s reception, my voice shaking with realistic panic. “Hello, could you please check the security footage from a week ago?” “I’m sorry, ma’am, but we’ve had a massive system crash. All of our video archives from the past month have been completely wiped.” My fingers grew cold, but I pressed on. “What about the physical paperwork? There must be a registration sheet with my signature on it.” There was a brief pause on the line. “I’m so sorry, but there was a localized electrical fire in our records department a few days ago. The physical charts were destroyed.” As I hung up, Sienna’s smile widened. “See? No signatures, no footage. You have nothing.” “Even if the records are gone, the attending doctors and nurses can testify for me!” Sienna clapped her hands in mock amusement, signaling her assistant to bring out several documents. “Oh, I forgot to mention. The medical team you’re talking about? They’ve all resigned and left the city.” 3 Sienna let out a theatrical sigh. I turned my gaze toward my parents, the people I should have been able to trust most. They quickly looked away, unable to meet my eyes. Beautiful. Just beautiful. It wasn’t just my sister. Even my parents were in on the plot. I clenched my fists, letting my fingernails dig into my palms. Everything was too perfect. Every step calculated, every detail engineered to leave me absolutely no way out. The two hired actors stepped close again, trying to grab my shoulders. “Nora, just admit it…” “Get away from me!” I snapped, my voice sharp enough to silence the room. The two jumped back in surprise, and Sienna’s smile faltered for a second. I scanned the crowd until I found a familiar face. “Penny, come here.” Penny was my closest friend. Since the day we met, we had been inseparable. I had defended her from bullies, bailed her out of trouble, and supported her through every low point in her life. But I hadn’t missed the guilty glance she exchanged with Sienna earlier. She slowly walked over, her chin pressed against her chest, utterly refusing to look me in the eye. Sienna smirked. “Go ahead, Penny. Tell everyone where Nora was that night. Did she save Finn?” Penny kept her eyes on the floor, her voice quiet but clear. “Nora didn’t save anyone. She was at the club with us the entire night. I watched her walk into the club myself. She was nowhere near the alley where Finn collapsed. This entire savior story is a complete lie she made up.” The crowd erupted into furious whispers. I let out a bitter, mocking laugh. “Penny, I treated you like a sister for years. Is this how you pay me back?” She finally looked up, her eyes rimmed with red, though her words remained sharp. “Nora, I just can’t lie for you anymore. Sienna is the one who saved Finn. I can’t let you keep deceiving everyone.” Sienna patted her shoulder consolingly. “Thank you for telling the truth, Penny.” I looked at the two of them, shaking my head. “Betraying me for a payout… you people really have no shame. You, and you, and every single person standing here, remember this day.” None of them cared. Penny looked relieved that her part was done, while Sienna stepped forward, her eyes locked on my hand. “Stop stalling and give me the watch you stole from me.” I squeezed the luxury watch in my hand, my knuckles turning white. It was the token Finn had forced on me, and now they were fighting like dogs over it. Sienna sneered. “Cut the crap and hand it over!” With tears stinging my eyes and a look of utter defeat, I threw the watch onto the gravel before her. Sienna snatched it up immediately, cradling it like a treasure. I turned around and began walking away. Sienna jeered behind me, her voice dripping with triumph. “You’re nothing after all, Nora!” I paused, slowly turning my head to give her one last cold, penetrating look. “You have no idea what kind of monster you’ve just bought. When you finally see his true face, don’t regret it. And don’t you dare come begging for my help.”

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When I opened my eyes again, my daughter was standing in the doorway, once more holding hands with her bleached-blonde street-punk boyfriend. They looked incredibly nervous, guilt practically oozing from their pores as they asked if I would bless their relationship. I smiled faintly and looked at my future son-in-law. “I’ll agree, but on one condition.” He swallowed hard, looking suspicious. “What condition?” I pointed to the massive stack of college prep exams on the coffee table. “Get yourself into a top-tier university, and I’ll personally pay for your wedding.” What? Both my daughter and her boyfriend stood there, completely dumbfounded. A year later, he got accepted into the Military Academy at West Point. Everyone in town thought I’d struck gold. I couldn’t agree more. After all, in my previous life, this was the very man who started with nothing but manual labor and built a multi-million-dollar business empire from scratch. 1 My boy-crazy daughter, Kaitlin, had brought her bleached-blonde boyfriend back home again. The two teenagers stood side by side in the entryway, looking so incredibly tense they didn’t even know what to do with their hands. Kaitlin forced a weak smile, keeping her head low. Her eyes were red-rimmed and filled with silent pleading. The boy beside her had a messy crop of dyed-yellow hair, wore a simple oversized hoodie, and had a collection of cheap chain earrings dangling from his lobes. He was barely eighteen, his face still holding the soft edges of youth. But standing before me, he looked utterly terrified and guilt-ridden. My daughter, who had caused me nothing but sleepless nights, finally found her voice. “Mom, we love each other. Please, just let us be together. I’m begging you.” She rubbed her hands together, her voice trembling as she poured her heart out. In my past life, the moment those words left her mouth, I had slapped her hard across the face. Any parent who had worked themselves to the bone to raise an Ivy League-bound daughter only to have her bring home a street punk within her first year of college would have lost their mind. Back then, I let anger consume me. I forced them apart with ruthless efficiency. But later, when I was set up and ruined by rivals, bankrupt and abandoned by every friend and relative I had ever known, it was this very punk who rode up on a rusty delivery tricycle to take my daughter and me in. He used his bare hands, working brutal shifts hauling bricks, to carry our entire family on his back. Eventually, he built a publicly traded empire from the ground up. Unfortunately, he had treated his body like garbage during his youth. As he aged, the physical toll caught up with him, and he left Kaitlin and me far too soon. Now that I had been given a second chance, I had no intention of repeating my mistakes, nor would I let him work himself to an early grave. But I couldn’t play the saint too easily either. If I didn’t set some boundaries for these two at their age, I’d end up with a grandchild running around years ahead of schedule. I cleared my throat, looking at the frozen, terrified couple, and spoke slowly. “How exactly do you plan on supporting my daughter?” The second the words left my mouth, Kaitlin scrambled to answer. “Mom, I won’t buy expensive bags anymore. No designer clothes, either. I’ll get a job early to help support us…” I rolled my eyes. Even in this life, I still felt that slap from my previous life had been thoroughly deserved. “So, Austin, right?” I looked past her. “Do you think it’s fair to let my daughter sacrifice her future like that for you?” Austin, the bleached-blonde kid, shook his head frantically. “No! I want her to finish her education. I’ll work two… no, three jobs if I have to. I swear I won’t let her quality of life drop because of me.” Looking into his eyes, I knew he meant it. He was entirely capable of doing just that. But this time, I wasn’t going to let him ruin his health. “I will allow the two of you to date,” I said calmly, “but on three conditions.” 2 Kaitlin and Austin snapped their heads up, their eyes lighting up like stars. They stared at me in absolute disbelief, the heavy dread on their faces instantly vanishing. “Mrs. Smart,” Austin stammered, “what are the conditions? I’ll do whatever it takes, even if it kills me.” I pointed to the thick stack of prep materials and college entrance exams I had prepared beforehand, sliding them across the coffee table. “First, I am sending you back to school, Austin. If you can get into a university on your own merit, I won’t just consent to your relationship; I will personally fund and host your wedding the moment you graduate.” The two teenagers stared at the books, completely stunned. Kaitlin’s joyful expression froze. She looked blankly at the massive pile of study guides. Austin’s face flushed a deep red. Kaitlin, suddenly defensive, snapped, “Mom, are you trying to humiliate him? Austin had to drop out because his family couldn’t afford tuition! Aren’t you just setting him up to fail?” “Your love-blind brain is officially useless, Kaitlin. Listen to me carefully,” I said, my voice sharp. “I am paying for his schooling. I will cover every single cent. But if he fails to get in, he packs his bags and gets out of our lives.” Kaitlin went quiet, turning to Austin with a worried, questioning look. Austin’s eyes were bloodshot. Anyone who didn’t know him would think he was seething with anger over the perceived insult. But I knew him, and I remained entirely unbothered. Then, with a heavy thud, Austin dropped straight to his knees on the hardwood floor. “Mrs. Smart… I’ll do it. I’ll go back to school. I actually loved studying, but my family refused to support me, so I had to quit. I promise you, I will get into a university and make you proud.” He leaned forward and pressed his forehead firmly against the floor, a loud knock echoing through the room. That had to hurt. In my previous life, I remembered seeing him steal whatever spare moments he had to read and study. Kaitlin had told me how deeply he regretted never going to college, but he’d never had the luxury of time. In this life, I was going to hand him that opportunity. 3 I waved him up dismissively. “Second, absolutely no intimacy until you both turn twenty-one.” The moment the words left my mouth, the two deeply-in-love teenagers flushed so red they looked like ripe tomatoes. I rolled my eyes. At least they were still sweet and innocent. “What? Do we have a problem with that?” “No problem!” “I agree!” They answered in unison. I nodded and moved on to my final demand. “Third, I run this house. You both listen to me. If any of your toxic relatives come knocking, you do not interfere with how I handle them. No matter what.” Austin clenched his fists, remaining silent. But Kaitlin’s protective instincts flared up again. “Mom, they’re still family…” So she knew just how awful his extended family could be. I slammed my hand onto the table and stood up. “Those are my three conditions. Disagree with even one of them, and you can both pack up and get out of my house. And Kaitlin, if you walk out that door, you are no longer my daughter.” Kaitlin’s eyes welled with tears, and she sank to her knees. I knew that despite her foolishness in love, she had ultimately chosen to stay home and finish her degree in our past life, eventually securing a stable job. “Kaitlin, get up,” Austin said, gently pulling her arm. “Those people don’t deserve to be called family. Mrs. Smart is right. I need to cut ties with them anyway.” He wiped his eyes and looked up at me, still kneeling. “I accept all three conditions.” I stood up and gestured toward the hallway. “Come on out.” Four middle-aged professionals stepped into the living room. I turned to Austin and introduced them. “These are your private tutors. Starting today, before you even set foot in a classroom, you will be cramming the entire high school curriculum. Do we have a deal?” Austin stared at the imposing lineup of educators, swallowed hard, and gave a tight nod. “Mr. Austin, please follow us upstairs. Our first session begins right now,” one of the tutors said smoothly. Before the boy could even process what was happening, two tutors took him by the arms and politely marched him up the stairs. Kaitlin turned to me, trembling. “Mom, be honest with me. Are you doing all this just to drive him away? He’s a street kid. How is he supposed to sit still and study like this? If you’re just trying to torture him, it would be kinder to let him leave now.” 4 Looking at my daughter’s tearful, anxious face, I felt a sudden, powerful urge to shake some sense into her. I clenched my fists to keep myself in check, silently chanting: I gave birth to her, I gave birth to her, I gave birth to her. Taking a deep breath, I said coldly, “I have no intention of driving him away. But if he can’t even handle this, he has no business standing by your side.” Kaitlin bit her lip. “But what if he can’t keep up?” “Then he’ll have to work harder. Didn’t he say he’d give his life for you? Let him prove it. You focus on your own classes, and if you keep whining, I will make you choose between us right now.” Kaitlin flinched. She was terrified of being forced to make that choice. Austin was a resilient boy at heart. The only reason he had turned into a rough-around-the-edges street kid was sheer, desperate poverty. He hadn’t lacked guidance; he had lacked resources. His parents had passed away early, and the grandparents who raised him were gone too. If he hadn’t put on a tough, punk persona, he probably would have starved to death, let alone had a chance to study. The four tutors I hired were all senior instructors from the city’s top college prep academy. They were fully capable of dragging his neglected education back on track. Once I saw that Austin had adjusted to the grueling study schedule, I used my connections to enroll him as a transfer student in the honors program at the local high school. On his first day, he looked clean-cut and sharp in a simple casual outfit. I didn’t force him to dye his hair back immediately; the focus needed to remain on his studies, not his style. I figured that with the intensive tutoring he’d received, he would be fine as long as he kept his head down. Meanwhile, I threw myself entirely into my business, determined to scale operations. With the hindsight of my previous life, solving complex corporate strategies felt like second nature. Just as I signed a million-dollar contract, my phone rang. It was the high school. “Are you Austin’s guardian? He got into a violent altercation at school. Three students are injured. Frankly, I don’t want a troubled kid like him in my honors class. You need to come in and transfer him out.” I smiled. “Sure. But in that case, please make sure none of your honors students use the new school library, considering my company funded its construction.” The line went dead silent. After a flurry of hurried apologies, the homeroom teacher quietly hung up. I grabbed my purse, wearing a bold crimson dress as if marching onto a battlefield. When I arrived, I found Austin standing outside the main office, looking defiant. His face was bruised, and his knuckles were badly scraped. The moment he saw me, his shoulders slumped, and he looked down. “Mrs. Smart…” I waved him off. “Don’t say a word. Let me go in and see what’s going on. Brooks,” I turned to my assistant, “go pull the security footage from the hallway.” While school security cameras weren’t as advanced back then, this particular academy had recently installed a state-of-the-art surveillance system.

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During the most vibrant years of my youth, I spent three years wrapping Beckett around my finger, or rather, letting him wrap me around his. Honestly, he was gorgeous, incredible in bed, and built like a god. So when he finally called it quits, I cried like my world was ending. “Babe, can we still kiss after we break up? If I call you over to hook up, will you still come?” Beckett sneered. “Is it really just me you can’t live without?” My eyes pooled with tears. “Babe, I love you!” But after getting dumped that day, I walked away crying, clutching a five-million-dollar parting gift. That same night, someone filmed me at a club and sent the video straight to Beckett. In the video, I had my arms around six male models, my voice dripping with disdain: “Beckett? Who’d actually like him with that trash attitude? I was only in it for his body.” A second later, my phone exploded with calls from him. “Ordering male models the second we break up? You’ve got some nerve. Playing with my feelings? You must have a death wish.” “I’ll be there in ten minutes. You better pray you can run fast enough.” 1 Hearing the word “breakup,” my nose tickled, and the tears started falling. No one knew how good I had it during those three years with Beckett. “Do we really have to?” Beckett was shirtless, leaning against the headboard, a cigarette smoldering between his fingers. “Yeah.” Maybe because of the storm we’d just weathered in bed, his voice was still low and raspy. I crouched on the floor, sobbing dramatically. Beckett knit his handsome brow. “Don’t cry. I can compensate you. Is five million enough?” I kept sobbing, unable to stop. “I don’t want your money. I want your love.” My hand drifted over his abs, my fingers tracing the sharp lines before swirling over his skin. “Babe, can we still kiss? If I text you for a late-night hookup, will you still show up?” Beckett stared at me, his gaze dark and unreadable. After a long silence, a dry chuckle escaped his throat. “Is it really just me you can’t live without?” I looked up at just the right moment, my eyes wide, wet, and utterly innocent. “Babe, I love you…” But contrary to what I expected, Beckett didn’t soften. He coldly pulled my hand away. “How much?” “So much I can’t breathe.” “Then put my face and body aside. What do you actually like about me?” I froze. I looked up and met his sharp, piercing gaze. A sudden wave of guilt washed over me, rendering all my usual sweet-talk useless. Honestly, I couldn’t bring myself to lie to a man. I stammered, “I… I can’t put them aside…” Beckett was famous for his terrible temper. Combined with his wealthy family background, he was arrogant and reckless with everyone. But he was just too damn good-looking. At first, half the girls at our university were head over heels for him. But his sharp tongue and volatile moods quickly sent them running. Back then, no one expected that a completely ordinary girl like me would be the one to tame him. For a while, rumors flew about how incredibly calculating I must be. In reality, there was no master plan. My goal had been crystal clear from the moment I laid eyes on him: I wanted him in my bed. When you’re doing something bad, you don’t get tired. So, of course, I could tolerate all his flaws. His petulance and sensitivity actually felt endearing to me. I wanted to know about his childhood, his past pains, and his joys. I secretly listened to his favorite songs, quietly noting down every hobby and habit he casually mentioned. I tracked his star sign, his favorite flowers, watched the movies he loved, and took screenshots of everything related to him. I loved him, including his fragility and his dark sides. Day after day, under my relentless campaign of affection, Beckett finally cracked. To the point where, one night, when I casually asked, “By the way, are you big down there?” Beckett didn’t get angry. Instead, his ears turned red as he grabbed my wrist: “Are you coming back to my place tonight to keep listening to me talk about my dysfunctional family?” I stood on my tiptoes and kissed him. “You can talk forever. I’m always listening.” … Now, hearing my honest answer, Beckett fell silent. He stubbed out his cigarette, looking down at our clothes scattered across the floor. Finally, he looked up, a bitter smile playing on his lips. “Three years together, and there isn’t a single thing about my personality that attracts you?” “There is,” I said, my face flushing under his intense gaze. “It’s just… you’re really sweet when you want to be.” 2 I had to admit, Beckett changed his mood faster than he took off his clothes. After I said that, he got furious for some reason. He shoved a credit card into my hand and kicked me out. “There’s five million on this. Don’t ever look for me again.” The door slammed shut. Beckett always had a bad temper. Even though he’d thrown fits and told me to leave before, this time felt different. Not for him, but for me. Maybe I was just getting older, running out of energy. I felt a deep, heavy exhaustion. Outside, a light drizzle was falling. I opened my ride-sharing app, but the wait times were insane. Steeling my resolve, I decided to walk back in the rain. The moment my foot hit the wet pavement, a large black umbrella bloomed over my head. My heart skipped a beat. I spun around. “Beckett?!” Instead, I was met with his assistant’s blank face. He made a polite gesture toward a waiting car. “The young master said you walk too slow. He doesn’t want to see you around, so he ordered me to get you out of here as fast as possible.” My throat tightened. “Oh.” I looked up at the floor-to-ceiling windows of his penthouse. Catching my gaze, a shadow flitted behind the glass and vanished. The assistant was true to his word. Smooth and fast, he dropped me off in ten minutes. My best friend, Roxy, blinked in shock when she saw me. “Aren’t you supposed to be with Beckett?” My chest felt heavy, like wet cotton pressing down on my lungs. I took a deep breath, forcing a smile, and flashed the card. “We broke up. And he gave me a massive severance package.” “Come on, babe. Let’s go spend some money.” Roxy reached out and gently touched my face. She looked like she wanted to say something, but stayed quiet. I knew she felt bad for me, but when it came to love, you just had to let things go. That night, I dragged her to a club known for having the best-looking guys in the city. “The fastest way to get over an old flame is to find a new one.” “Who cares about Beckett? We’re here for a good time, not a long time!” We hadn’t even been seated long before we ran into a bunch of familiar faces. A group of trust-fund babies sat in the VIP booth next to ours. Most of them were from Beckett’s social circle. Throughout our three-year relationship, they had been the most vocal skeptics. With Beckett around, no one dared to say anything to my face. But now, they wasted no time crowding around me with smirks. “Well, if it isn’t Paige, the ultimate clinger!” “What are you doing drinking here? Did Beckett finally throw you out?” “Did you really think you could secure the bag? He was just using you for a good time.” “If she hadn’t spent every day groveling at his feet, Beckett wouldn’t have looked at her twice.” The air grew thick with their snide remarks and laughter. Roxy, who had already had a few drinks too many, didn’t hesitate. She slammed her glass down and stepped right up to them. “Did you guys forget to brush your teeth tonight? Your breath smells like pure trash!” “Calling her a clinger? You’d crawl through broken glass to get Beckett’s attention, but he wouldn’t even look in your direction!” “And besides, Beckett is nothing. Paige is the one who dumped him!” I pulled her back, looking coldly at the crowd. “If you’re so upset on Beckett’s behalf, why don’t you go tell him?” The ringleader of the group stiffened, his smug grin faltering. Once, someone had actually dared to talk trash about me to Beckett. Beckett had beaten him so badly the guy ended up in the hospital. Since then, no one dared to cross him. “What are you acting so smug for? You think he’s still going to protect you?” I ignored his provocation, turning my attention to the tablet the host had handed me, scrolling through the profiles of the hosts. Once I had selected six male models of completely different styles, I looked up. “Why don’t you try me and find out?” Borrowing Beckett’s terrifying reputation was incredibly effective. We had broken up and gotten back together countless times. They couldn’t be sure if this was just another one of our dramatic spats. 3 The trust-fund babies scattered quickly, terrified of offending Beckett. Six handsome models crowded around Roxy and me, calling us “gorgeous” in sweet, honeyed voices. We each had three of them draped over us, laughing. One fed me fruit; another poured my drink. One, wearing a sheer white shirt, was dancing right in front of us. Sweat and alcohol clung to the fabric, highlighting his perfectly sculpted muscles. I suddenly realized that spending three years obsessing over Beckett had been a colossal waste of time. So when Roxy, still angry, started venting and cursing Beckett, I joined right in. “Beckett? Who’d actually like him with that trash attitude? I was only in it for his body.” The more I drank, the more animated I became. “My love for him was real, but he’s not the only fish in the sea.” “Beckett’s hot, amazing in bed, great body, but I’m bored of him now.” “Hey, Roxy, look at one o’clock. I think I just spotted my dream guy.” “He’s easily as hot as Beckett. Should I go talk to him?” Before Roxy could answer, her expression went dead serious. She picked up my buzzing phone and held it in front of my face. Someone had filmed me touching a model’s abs and saying those exact words, and they had sent it straight to Beckett. He was calling me repeatedly. The messages kept popping up on the screen: Paige, stop playing dead. Answer the phone! Unbelievable. So everything you said about loving me was a lie? Hiring models the second we break up? You’ve got some nerve. Playing with my feelings? You must have a death wish. I’ll be there in ten minutes. You better pray you can run fast enough. I was completely wasted. I squinted at the screen for a long time before finally grasping the words, then casually turned the phone off. Roxy’s eyes went wide. “Are you crazy? He’s going to lose his mind!” “Let him.” “Should… shouldn’t we run? If Beckett catches you, he’s going to kill you.” I giggled, my brain completely foggy. “Kill me how? We already broke up. What’s he going to do, double-dump me?” … The most entertaining dynamic in the world is definitely a toxic ex-boyfriend who hasn’t fully let go. Especially since Beckett was entirely my type. As long as he didn’t find someone else, hooking up with him occasionally after the breakup didn’t sound like a bad plan. Ignoring Roxy’s exasperated look, my eyes caught onto something across the room, and I practically floated over to it. Instantly, the scent of expensive blue cologne mixed with raw male hormones filled my senses. The guy standing there looked about fifty percent like Beckett. But his hair was styled in soft, messy curls, his lips were pink, and he looked incredibly sweet and innocent. He was the complete opposite of Beckett’s wild, arrogant vibe. “Remember me?” I purred. The handsome stranger looked a bit startled, studying my face closely. “I’m sorry, I just got back to the country. My memory’s a bit rusty. Who are you?” “Don’t you remember? When we were kids, you played at your house, and I played at mine. We’ve been strangers since childhood.” He stared at me for a second, then burst into a warm, genuine laugh. I suppressed a smirk. If I could tame a wild beast like Beckett, a cute little puppy like this was child’s play. “It’s fine if we didn’t know each other back then. How about we get to know each other now?” I winked, slipping a shot glass into his hand before tossing my own back. He hesitated for a moment before drinking his. “Aren’t you moving a bit fast? Aren’t you afraid I might be a bad guy?” “What kind of bad guy? A handsome distraction?” “No, a guy who might take advantage of a beautiful girl.” “Well, I’m already dizzy from how gorgeous you are, so feel free to try.” He laughed, his sharp little canine teeth showing. He looked clever and cute, a classic puppy-dog type. After dealing with a wild wolf for so long, a sweet, slightly mischievous dog felt like a breath of fresh air. 4 His ears flushed red under my direct gaze. “Is this what they call flirting with the innocent?” I leaned slightly against the bar table, resting my chin on my hand, looking up at him with a hazy, bedroom gaze. “Flirting? I just thought my ability to read a guy’s subtle emotions was a gift from above.” “Oh? And what did you read?” My fingertips brushed over his palm, and he suddenly gripped them. “I read that you have a lot you want to say to me. And that my gift only works when I’m with you.” He gently played with my fingertips. “You’re the most interesting girl I’ve ever met.” “I’m not just interesting, I’m a great listener,” I said, suddenly pulling my hand back. “So, I’m ready to listen to all about your childhood traumas and your lonely past.” He looked at his empty palm, amused. “My childhood?” I lightly grabbed his collar and pulled. Caught off guard, he leaned forward, his chin brushing against the crook of my neck. The fresh, woody scent of his cologne washed over me. I leaned close to his ear, my warm breath tickling his neck. “But you know what we’re doing after you finish talking.” I pulled back slightly, watching his Adam’s apple bob. Just as I was about to say something even more shameless, a strong hand violently ripped me away. Beckett stood there, his face dark and his eyes completely bloodshot.

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