During our mandatory weekend corporate retreat, I took leave to be by my wife’s side for her emergency surgery. When I got back, Marcus fined me seven thousand dollars in front of the entire office. “Company policy states that team synergy comes before everything else!” Marcus barked. “Ethan, as a senior designer, you set a terrible example by skipping a company event. Your penalty is doubled!” The very next day, I saw his young secretary, Tiffany, carrying a brand-new Chanel bag worth exactly seven thousand dollars. So that’s how he wanted to play? Fine. I’m done being his doormat! The news of me getting fined seven thousand dollars for skipping the retreat spread through the office like wildfire. In the breakroom, my long-time rival, Carter, looked at me and shook his head. “Man, you should have just sucked it up and apologized. You’ve got to request time off way in advance.” “I submitted the paperwork a week ago. He sat on it and refused to approve it on purpose,” I said, pouring myself a cup of coffee. Carter leaned in, his eyes widening. “Don’t say I didn’t warn you, but Marcus’s connection just got back from overseas. Supposedly some hotshot Ivy League grad. He wants to bring him in to burnish his own resume.” The puzzle pieces instantly clicked. The whole “making an example out of me” speech was pure garbage. Marcus just wanted an excuse to kick me down so he could promote his own guy. Fine. I’d gladly clear the path for them. The moment I got back to my desk, Tiffany tapped on my computer monitor. “Ethan, pack up your office. You’re moving out to the common area.” I glanced at the open cubicles outside. Our design department was structured with open cubicles, but as the lead designer, I had a private office to meet with clients. Moving me out was a blatant demotion. “Tiffany, you can’t just tell me to pack up. I need an official notice.” “An official notice? Sure, let me spell it out for you. You’ve been stripped of your lead title. You’re just a regular designer now. Got it?” Just then, Marcus walked out of his office. Seeing me still sitting there, he frowned. “What’s taking so long, Ethan? Why aren’t you moving?” “Tiffany says I’ve been demoted. Just because I missed a retreat?” “Exactly. I’ve already reported this to the Chairman. You refused to participate in team building and openly defied company policy. You’re lucky you aren’t fired. You’re on probation now. If you don’t like it, feel free to file a complaint with HR!” I chuckled. “Alright. But I want the company to issue an official written notice. Otherwise, I’m not moving a single box.” Marcus pointed a finger at me. “You asked for it! Tiffany, draft the notice right now! Some people just don’t know when to be grateful. Let’s show him how things work around here!” Within two minutes, Tiffany pinged the entire company WhatsApp group with the official PDF of my demotion. I saved the document to my personal drive, packed my things, and walked out to the cubicles. Right after that, Tiffany added a new user to our group chat. “Everyone, please welcome Tristan, our new Design Lead! He’s a prestigious Ivy League grad and will be leading the design department starting today!” Everyone in the office stared at me in shock. I didn’t say a word. I just sat at my new cubicle, pulled out my phone, and started playing games. A few suck-ups in the chat sent welcoming emojis, but the atmosphere in the office was dead silent. Everyone knew what was really happening—I had been robbed. My former team members came over to vent for me. “Ethan, this is messed up. They can’t just throw you out like this. It’s dirty.” “Yeah, we just submitted the new blueprints yesterday. If the client asks about the changes, what are we supposed to say?” I shrugged. “Management made the call. We just do what we’re told.” My calm reaction left them utterly confused. But I wasn’t about to waste my breath. It was obvious they wanted to use my hard work to feed this new guy’s ego. Too bad they were in such a rush. Half an hour later, Tristan walked out of his office, clearly looking to establish dominance over me. “We have thirty designers in this department. Some people have been slacking off and collecting free paychecks. That ends today,” he announced loudly. “Starting now, everyone must submit one complete design concept per day. If you can’t finish, you stay late. If you can’t handle the pressure, the door is right there.” He then pointed a finger directly at me. “You. Ethan, right? I heard about you before I got here. I don’t care how many successful projects you had in the past. Under my watch, you follow the rules. Understood?” He looked down at me, his face dripping with arrogance. I nodded and gave him a dry smile. “Understood.”

Seeing how compliant I was, Tristan smirked. He went on to add two more rules: strict clock-in times and detailed client feedback logs. The office instantly erupted into quiet groans. Sometimes we had to meet clients across town, and some weren’t even in the same state. It was impossible to clock in physically at the office every morning. This new system was going to ruin everyone’s schedule. But as soon as the complaints started, Marcus shut them down. “No rules, no order! Did you all forget about the seven-thousand-dollar fine we just handed out? Let me tell you, I brought Tristan in to fix your lazy, undisciplined habits!” The room went dead silent. I kept my mouth shut. If they wanted me to clock in, I’d clock in. If they wanted daily sketches, I’d sketch. I was in no rush. In five days, they would regret this. Tristan officially took over my office that afternoon, acting like he owned the place. I wasn’t bothered at all. I spent ten minutes using an AI generator to produce a basic design sketch, submitted it before 5:00 PM, shut down my computer, and clocked out. Carter saw me leaving and teased, “Not staying to save the company today?” “Hey, we have to follow the new rules, right? Strict work hours,” I waved at him and walked out. Carter was the second-best designer in the department. He had been trying to take my job for years, but now that I was demoted, he didn’t get the promotion either. Instead, some random guy had parachuted in over both of us and brought a bunch of annoying micro-management rules with him. Seeing me leave, Carter rolled his eyes, shut down his laptop, and left too. Getting off work exactly on time was a luxury I hadn’t experienced in years. Normally, I would be revising blueprints or negotiating with clients until midnight, only to find out they liked the very first draft best. This level of freedom was actually nice. On my way home, I picked up some groceries and made a warm pot of soup for Chloe. She was surprised to see me home so early. When she found out I had been demoted, she looked incredibly guilty. “Is this because of my surgery?” “It has nothing to do with you, honey. Honestly, the company needed a wake-up call anyway. Who says only Gen Z can quiet quit? I can do it too.” Chloe finally smiled, her worries washing away. Since I actually had a free evening, I set up the projector and we watched a movie together. I posted a picture of our cozy setup on my Instagram. Carter commented almost instantly: Look at you, living the dream! I replied with a smiley face. But when I checked the company WhatsApp group, it was a war zone. Marcus was throwing passive-aggressive shade in the group chat. “Some people only care about enjoying life. Have you finished your deliverables? Are you making enough money to afford being this lazy?” Seeing him target me so obviously, I laughed out loud. I tagged him directly in the group chat. “Marcus, let’s keep business separate from personal life. I value my health. I enjoy my free time, but I also haven’t missed a single deadline.” Then, I uploaded my entire quarterly performance report and client feedback logs directly into the chat. The Chairman and senior executives were in this group, so I had absolutely nothing to fear. Sure enough, a second later, Marcus slid into my DMs, frantically demanding I delete the message. I ignored him and put my phone on Do Not Disturb. The next morning, the moment I walked into the office, I was summoned to Marcus’s office. Marcus stared at me, his eyes dark. “I’m not going to waste my breath, Ethan. Hand over your current client files to Tristan today. Also, pay your fine.” “The transition is fine. But I don’t have seven thousand dollars in cash. Just deduct it from my salary. My wife’s surgery was expensive. I’m broke.” Marcus sneered. “Don’t play games with me.” “I’m not playing games, boss. I requested leave a week ago, and I told you three months ago that my wife was having surgery and money would be tight. That’s why I took on those high-budget clients, which you approved. I’m broke. If you want seven grand, take it out of my commission. My bonus and commissions for this month should be around that much anyway.”

Hearing this, Marcus’s brows furrowed tightly. I raised an eyebrow at him. “Seriously, I don’t have the cash. Do what you have to do.” I turned and walked out. Livid, his face turned purple, and he chased after me into the main floor. “Ethan, don’t think you’re untouchable just because you’ve been here a long time!” The entire department stopped and stared. I turned around calmly. “I don’t think that at all, Marcus. I follow the rules. Just deduct it.” Marcus thought I was bluffing. He immediately instructed payroll to alter my pay stub. Aside from my base salary, my entire seven thousand dollars in commission was wiped out! I remained completely unbothered. I kept showing up on time, leaving exactly at five, and submitting basic sketches. They couldn’t find a single real reason to write me up. Until Mr. Harrison from Apex Group showed up. I had handled all the preliminary drafts for Apex, but since all my files had been forced over to Tristan, he was now the primary contact. Apex Group was our biggest client. We had worked with them for three years without a single hiccup. This new project alone was worth over ten million dollars in design fees. Marcus and Tristan were sweating bullets, waiting by the entrance early in the morning. When I strolled in right on the dot, Marcus glared at me. I ignored him and slipped into the breakroom to eat my breakfast. Mr. Harrison arrived shortly after, surrounded by his entourage, and was escorted straight into the main conference room. A few minutes later, Tiffany marched over to my cubicle. “Ethan, take these physical blueprints and deliver them to the Westside development site.” The Westside site was on the complete opposite side of the city. With morning traffic, a round trip would easily take four hours. “Tiffany, isn’t there a digital version?” “The client requested physical copies. Go now, don’t drag your feet!” Fine. I’ll go. I took the prints and left. The moment I arrived at the Westside site, my phone rang. It was Marcus. “Ethan, where the hell are you?! Get back to the office right now!” “Marcus, Tiffany sent me to deliver blueprints to the Westside site. I just got here. What’s wrong?” “Send me the design concept and the core structural files for the Apex project!” I laughed. “Everything was in the transition files I handed over to Tristan. Anyway, I have to go meet the site manager. Bye!” I hung up immediately. A second later, Tristan called. “Ethan, let me remind you, those files belong to the company! You can’t steal them! If this deal falls through, you will be held financially liable!” I didn’t even bother replying. I blocked his number. Carter texted me a few minutes later, giving me the live updates. Apparently, Mr. Harrison had realized the moment he sat down that his lead contact had been replaced. He asked a few technical questions, and Tristan had stumbled through them like an idiot, unable to answer a single one. Mr. Harrison’s face had gone completely cold. Finally, he asked about the smart-home patent involved in the design. Was it secured? Marcus and Tristan looked at each other, completely clueless. Now, Mr. Harrison was demanding to see the patent certification, and since they had no idea where it was, they were panicking. Bro, you set a trap for them, didn’t you? Carter texted. Damn, you played them beautifully! No wonder you’ve been so relaxed. You were waiting for this! Without that patent certification, the entire design was useless. The sketches were basically expensive trash, and the ten-million-dollar deal would vanish. The higher-ups would definitely skin Marcus and Tristan alive. Hearing Carter’s amused voice over the phone when I called him back, I just chuckled. Suddenly, I heard Tristan’s panicked voice in the background of Carter’s phone. “Is that Ethan?! Give me the phone!” “Ethan! Get your ass back here right now! What is going on with the patent?!” “Sorry, Tristan. I can’t help you. I’m no longer the lead on this project. You’re the genius Ivy League grad, figure it out.” “Ethan! I know you’re pissed, okay? Just come back. We can negotiate!” Marcus’s voice cut in, desperate. “Just come back and help us get through this meeting first!” I flatly refused. “How could I? This is Tristan’s big debut with our most important client. I wouldn’t want to steal his spotlight.” Tristan roared through the receiver, “Ethan, don’t get cocky! I don’t need you to close this damn deal!” I smiled coldly. “Let me tell you something. In less than three hours, you’ll be on your knees begging me to come back. Don’t believe me? Let’s watch.”

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Julian was a famous “doting dad” on Instagram. To document our daughter’s growth, he set up a shared family iCloud album. “Babe, upload your photos directly here. Whether I’m working late or on a business trip, I want to see our little princess as soon as possible.” I believed him. Every day, I diligently uploaded photos, basking in the happiness of his likes and comments. Until one day, my phone memory ran out. I logged onto my laptop to clean up the iCloud space and accidentally clicked on a hidden, locked folder. A system prompt popped up: “Do you want to merge ‘My Only Love’ album data?” I clicked confirm. Instantly, thousands of photos flooded my screen. In the photos, Julian was holding another woman, with a boy who looked slightly older than my daughter standing next to them. Under every single picture, Julian had left a journal-like caption: “May 20, 2025. Spending Valentine’s with my real love. Had to find time to appease the maid at home. Exhausting.” “Oct 1, 2025. My son’s drawing is amazing! Way better than that useless brat at home who does nothing but cry.” It turned out his fatherly love was a mountain indeed. But it was crushing me and my daughter to death.

Looking at the dense rows of photos on the laptop screen, my blood ran cold. The woman in the photos was Sienna Ward. She was a charity case—a low-income college student I had personally sponsored through my family’s foundation years ago. And the boy Julian was holding high in the air had his exact facial features. They looked like they were cast from the same mold. Thousands of photos documented the boy’s life from birth to five years old. Just an hour ago, Julian had been holding our feverish daughter, crying and saying he wished he could take her pain away. Yet, he had just updated a status in this hidden album: “The useless brat is sick again. So annoying. Crying in the middle of the night keeping me awake. My son is strong, just like me.” Click. The sound of keys turning came from the front door. Julian was back. Panicked, I closed the tab and pulled the power cord of my laptop. “Babe? Why are the lights off?” Julian’s voice came from the living room, sounding as gentle as ever. I took a deep breath, forcing myself to stand up. “I’m… putting Lily to sleep.” Julian pushed the bedroom door open, holding a cheap pink plush toy. “Look what Daddy got for his little princess! I saw it on the street and thought it was so cute.” He smiled and walked over, reaching out to feel Lily’s forehead. Instinctively, I stepped in front of him, blocking his hand. His hand hung in mid-air. He looked at me, surprised. “What’s wrong, Chloe? Still worried about her fever?” I stared at his face. This was the face I had loved for seven years. The man I thought was the most honest, hardworking husband in the world. Now, he just looked disgusting. “No. I’m just worried your hands are cold. I don’t want to shock her awake.” I looked away, not wanting him to see the burning hatred in my eyes. Julian didn’t care. He tossed the cheap toy onto the nightstand. “Good. You scared me. I was so worried at the office today that I couldn’t even focus on work.” As he spoke, he pulled out his phone. From the corner of my eye, I saw him quickly switch accounts on Snapchat, his fingers flying across the screen. No doubt he was texting her. “Babe, you’ve had a long day. Go take a shower. I’ll watch the baby.” He gently guided me toward the bathroom, his voice dripping with affection. The moment the bathroom door closed, I heard him whisper outside. “Hey, buddy, not asleep yet? Do you miss Daddy?” It was completely different from the dismissive tone he used when calling our daughter “little princess.” I turned on the faucet and let the cold water splash over my face. The woman in the mirror had a pale face and red eyes. This was me. Chloe Miller. For him, I had given up a high-paying corporate job to become a housewife, turning myself into a tired, neglected woman. And in his private notes, I was just a “maid” and a “stupid spendthrift.” Since you love acting so much, Julian… I’ll play along. My phone buzzed. It was a Snapchat from Julian: “Babe, why is the shared album lagging? Did you touch something?” Even through the screen, I could feel his panic. “No, I just cleared my cache. Why?”

“Oh, nothing. Just a system glitch. Scared me for a second.” He was testing me. If I rushed out to confront him now, he would just claim it was a misunderstanding or a glitch. He might even turn it around and accuse me of not trusting him. I had no concrete proof yet. Those photos were still in his cloud. He could wipe them clean in a second. I had to endure. When I walked out of the bathroom, Julian was sitting by the bed, tucking Lily in. His phone was placed face down on the nightstand. “Done? Come, lie down.” He patted the spot next to him, wearing his signature “perfect husband” smile. Suppressing my urge to vomit, I lay down, turning my back to him. “Honey, I want to get a new phone. This one is getting really laggy.” I brought it up casually. Julian stiffened for a second, then wrapped his arms around my waist. “Sure, let’s get one tomorrow. But… the company’s cash flow is a bit tight lately. Can we get a cheaper model?” If this were before, I would have felt bad for his startup struggles and said, “Never mind, I don’t need one.” But now, it was just pathetic. In that hidden album, Sienna was wearing a Cartier bracelet worth $7,000. He bought it for her last month—right after he told me his company was struggling and asked me to sell the gold bullion my parents gave me as a wedding gift. “Sure, whatever you say.” The next morning, Julian prepared breakfast. He took out his phone, snapping photos of the table from a dozen different angles. “A beautiful day starts with making breakfast for the two women I love most,” he captioned it and posted it on Instagram. Within minutes, the comments blew up. “Julian is literally the perfect husband!” “Chloe is so lucky. I’m so jealous!” “Men who care about family like this are rare nowadays. Treasure him, girl!” I looked at the comments, feeling sick. While Julian was showering, I picked up his phone. The password was changed. It used to be my birthday, but now it showed an error. With trembling hands, I typed in the boy’s birthday—the date from the hidden photo captions. “0520.” Unlocked. His wallpaper was still a family photo of the three of us, but his pinned contact on Snapchat was saved as “Client – Mr. Johnson.” I opened the chat. The messages were vile. “Client – Mr. Johnson” (Sienna): “Babe, our son wants that limited-edition Lego set. It’s $300. Just buy that useless girl a cheap toy. Don’t waste money.” Julian replied instantly: “Don’t worry, that brat doesn’t know the difference. Her future fund is for our son anyway. I won’t waste a penny on her.” “Client – Mr. Johnson”: “You’re the best, babe. Love you!” Followed by an intimate photo of Sienna. Tears hot with anger fell onto the screen. That is my daughter. His own flesh and blood. In his eyes, she was just a cash cow to fund his illegitimate son’s life? I took out my phone and photographed every single chat log. My hands shook so hard I almost dropped the phone. The shower stopped. I quickly put his phone back, wiped my tears, and slipped into the kitchen. Julian walked out, drying his hair, humming a tune. “Babe, I have a three-day business trip to Orlando next week for a big project.” He hugged me from behind. “Thanks for taking care of everything while I’m gone.” Orlando. Disney World is in Orlando. In the hidden album, Sienna had posted a wish list last night: “I want to take my son to Disney World to see the fireworks.” I turned around, straightened his collar, and gave him a gentle smile. “Sure, honey. Don’t worry. I’ll take care of home.” Since you want to go so badly, Julian, I’ll prepare a grand gift for you. A gift that will send your whole family straight to hell.

The day Julian returned from his “trip” was Lily’s sixth birthday. He suggested a massive party in our family group chat on WhatsApp, inviting all our relatives and friends. “Our little princess’s birthday must be grand!” he sent a voice note, sounding incredibly generous. His mother, Eleanor, spammed thumbs-up emojis. “My son is so responsible and caring!” I stared at the screen coldly. Just five minutes prior, I had overheard his phone call with Eleanor on the balcony. “Mom, invite as many people as possible, especially the wealthy relatives. We can collect cash gifts and checks to cover my son’s private school tuition.” “A birthday party for a girl doesn’t cost much anyway. We’ll save the rest for my boy.” Eleanor had giggled, praising him for being smart. To them, my daughter’s birthday was just a fundraising scam. The party was held in the grand ballroom of a luxury downtown hotel. Julian even hired a local media crew to film it, claiming he wanted to “document beautiful memories.” In reality, he wanted to boost his “perfect family man” brand to attract investors for his company. The venue was packed. Sienna walked right up to me, bold as brass. “Hi, Chloe. I’ve always heard how supportive you are. Nice to finally meet you.” She scanned me up and down, her eyes full of provocation. On her wrist, the $7,000 Cartier bracelet gleamed under the chandeliers. Bought with my wedding gold. I looked at her like she was a clown. “Nice to meet you, Vice President Ward. That’s a beautiful bracelet. It looks awfully familiar.” Sienna’s smile stiffened, and she instinctively hid her wrist behind her back. Julian quickly intervened. “Alright, we’re all family here. Let’s go inside and sit down.” He seated Sienna at the VIP table, right next to me. The banquet began. Julian stood on stage, giving a tearful speech thanking me. “I want to thank my wife, Chloe. She gave me a warm home and our beautiful daughter.” He sounded so sincere that the crowd erupted into applause. But I saw his eyes constantly darting toward Sienna. They were exchanging flirtatious glances right in front of me. “Now, let’s take a look at a video of our little princess growing up.” The giant screen lit up. Warm music played. Lily rolling over for the first time, taking her first steps, calling him “Daddy”… It was incredibly touching. Many relatives were wiping tears. But near the end of the video, the screen flickered. Suddenly, a photo flashed onto the screen. It stayed for just one second. In the photo, a boy was sitting on Julian’s shoulders, holding the exact same plush toy Julian had bought for Lily. The background? Disney World in Orlando. The crowd gasped. “Whose kid is that? He looks exactly like Julian.” “Wasn’t that photo taken a few days ago? I thought Julian was on a business trip?” Julian’s face drained of color. He almost dropped the microphone. He looked frantically at the control booth, screaming, “What’s going on?! Turn it off! Turn it off now!” The screen went black. But the terror on his face was exposed for everyone to see. I sneered inwardly. Don’t panic, Julian. This is just the appetizer. Julian wiped his sweat, trying to laugh it off. “Ah… that was an editing mistake. That’s a relative’s kid. Don’t misunderstand, everyone!” The guests exchanged looks. No one said anything, but suspicion was already brewing. This birthday party was destined to be the start of his nightmare.

After the guests left, Julian couldn’t wait to grab all the gift envelopes and checks, stuffing them into a black briefcase. “Babe, the company is facing a cash crunch. I’ll take this money to keep things running.” He hid the bag behind his back, terrified I would snatch it. Tens of thousands of dollars. That was our daughter’s birthday money, and he was stealing it for his bastard’s tuition. I watched his desperate face and smiled inwardly. “Why don’t we refinance the house?” I threw out the bait. “Interest rates for business loans are low right now. You can use that money for cash flow, and once you make a profit, you can buy me a new purse.” Julian’s eyes lit up. Our house was worth over $1.5 million, co-owned by both of us. “Babe, you’re a genius! Let’s do it!” The next morning, I handed him a stack of documents. “This is the bank agreement. Just sign here.” I flipped to the signature page. Without reading a word, Julian scribbled his name. His mind was entirely on using the cash to fund Sienna’s demands. He didn’t notice that hidden beneath the loan papers were a Deed of Gift and a Waiver of Property Rights. He was signing over his entire share of the house to our daughter. Once signed, he had absolutely no claim to this property. After signing, Julian happily left with a credit card I gave him. The card only had a $5,000 limit. Just enough for him to buy Sienna a bag or pay a small deposit. As for the rest of the money? He would never see a dime of it. That night, Sienna bragged on Instagram, showing off a contract for a luxury condo in a premium school zone. Caption: “Only the best for my baby boy. Daddy is the best!” I looked into it. The down payment was made with funds Julian had embezzled from his own company. Just then, Lily started crying from her bedroom. I rushed in. Her face was flushed red, and her body was convulsing. She was having a febrile seizure. Panicking, I scooped her up and ran outside. It was pouring rain, and I couldn’t hail an Uber. With shaking hands, I called Julian. “The user you are trying to reach is busy…” Once, twice, ten times… Always busy. Rain mixed with tears on my face. Lily’s convulsions got worse, her lips turning blue. Finally, the call went through. I heard loud music, laughter, and a boy screaming excitedly: “Daddy, lift me higher! I want to ride the horse!” I screamed into the phone, “Julian! Lily is having a seizure! Get back here and drive us to the hospital now!” The other end went quiet for a second. Then Julian’s annoyed voice barked back: “It’s just a fever! Give her some Tylenol! Stop overreacting! I’m closing a multi-million dollar deal right now. Don’t bother me!” Beep— The line went dead. At that moment, I heard my heart shatter. Lily stopped moving in my arms, her little hand falling limp. I knelt in the pouring rain, sobbing in despair. Julian. Since you don’t care if she lives or dies… Don’t blame me for dragging you to hell. Holding Lily, I ran into the middle of the road to block a car. A black SUV slammed its brakes in front of me. The window rolled down, revealing a stern, cold face. “Get in.”

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Ethan and I grew up together. When I was grounded as a kid, he would sneak out to stay with me. When I was sick, he would drive across town just to get me my favorite strawberry cake. When I was bullied, he fought them until he bled, then looked at me with a bruised face and smiled. “Don’t worry, Chloe. I’ve got you.” Everyone said he loved me. I believed them too. Until my twentieth birthday. Tipsy and brave, I finally gathered the courage to kiss him. But Ethan took a step back, his handsome brow furrowing. He took Naomi’s hand, who was standing right next to him, and said: “Chloe, I have only ever seen you as a sister.” Our friends went dead silent, staring at us. After that, I stopped crossing the line. I stayed in my place as his “sister.” I watched him and Naomi go everywhere together. I even smiled and gave him advice, teaching him how to make it up to Naomi when they fought. But one night, Ethan got wasted. With bloodshot eyes, he grabbed my wrist. “Are you really that okay with this? Can’t you at least show some jealousy?” I just smiled. But I didn’t want to cross that line anymore.

At the company’s anniversary gala, Ethan walked up to me with a champagne glass. His voice was as gentle as ever. “Chloe, I will drive you home after this.” I shook my head, my eyes drifting to Naomi, who was laughing and chatting with some investors nearby. “No need. Stay with Naomi. She is wearing high heels tonight; it is not convenient for her to be alone.” Ethan’s brow furrowed slightly. “When did you start being so polite with me?” I smiled but didn’t say anything. It wasn’t politeness. It was the boundary a “sister” should keep. During the highlight of the gala, the host decided to play a game to hype up the crowd. “Mr. Carter, what would you say is the luckiest moment of your life?” The spotlight hit Ethan. He let out a soft smile, his gaze sweeping past the crowd to land on Naomi. “The luckiest moment… was meeting my sunshine when I thought my entire world had gone dark.” The crowd cheered and swooned. Naomi blushed and lowered her head. And I, sitting in a dark corner, downed my glass of red wine. Only I knew that during those “dark days” he talked about, I was the one who pulled all-nighters for three months straight to rewrite our business proposals. I was the one who poured all of my parents’ inheritance into his company to save him from bankruptcy. But now that he was in the clear, Naomi was his sunshine. And I was nothing. Some drunk colleague boldly teased him. “Hey Ethan, what about Chloe then? You two grew up together. That is a real-life childhood sweetheart romance!” “Yeah! If it weren’t for Chloe back then, Carter Tech wouldn’t even exist today!” The atmosphere instantly turned awkward. The smile on Ethan’s face faded. Just as he was about to speak, I stood up first. I raised my glass toward them and smiled. “Guys, stop joking around. Ethan and I are like family. As his sister, I only want him to be happy.” “Come on, let’s toast to Ethan and Naomi!” I threw my head back and drank the wine, swallowing all my bitterness and pain along with it. After the gala, I took the initiative to leave early. Ethan and Naomi caught up to me from behind. “Chloe.” Ethan called out, but before he could say more, Naomi’s phone rang. She answered it, and her face instantly turned pale. “Ethan… my mom. She has been rushed to the ER!” Ethan’s expression changed. He immediately held her up. “Don’t panic. I will drive you there right now.” He turned to look at me, hesitating. Even though this had happened countless times, seeing him hesitate still made my heart ache. I took a deep breath and pointed to the headlights of an approaching car. “My Uber is here. You guys should go. Her mom is more important.” Ethan looked relieved. He got into the car with Naomi. The window rolled down. He leaned out, his brow furrowed as he said, “The final pitch for the Starlight Initiative is tomorrow. Don’t wander off. Wait for me to come back.”

I laughed at myself. Ethan wouldn’t come back. And I wouldn’t be stupid enough to wait. I pulled my coat tighter and walked down the street alone. If every heartbreak is a slow death, then my heart had already died twice because of Ethan. The first time was on my twentieth birthday, when he announced to everyone that Naomi was his girlfriend. I deleted every cozy post about him on my Snapchat, and threw away every gift he had ever given me. But twenty years of connection are carved deep into your bones. Even now, the model spaceship he built for me sits on my bookshelf. He once told me he would take me to see the universe. A custom gown he stayed up all night to buy for me still hangs in my closet. And the Starlight Initiative on my laptop was a dream we had brainstormed since college. It was the career we swore to build together for the rest of our lives. He once said, “Chloe, my parents passed away early. I have no family left. I want you to fill the rest of my life.” But later, he said, “Naomi is the only one I owe in this world. Chloe, don’t cross the line. You are just my sister.” My twentieth birthday was my first attempt to set myself free. And this time, it was time for a final goodbye. As long as tomorrow’s Starlight pitch went smoothly and we secured the funding, I could disappear from his life forever. But the next day, when I stood in the conference room, Ethan was missing. His phone went unanswered. I called him again and again, moving from anxiety to complete numbness. Finally, on the dozens of attempts, the call connected. “Ethan, where are—” “Oh, Chloe,” Naomi’s sleepy voice came through the speaker. “Ethan stayed up with me all night. He is too exhausted and is still asleep. Is there something you need?” My mind went blank. Through the speaker, I heard Ethan’s muffled, groggy voice. “Who is it? Is that Chloe?” “No, babe. Just a telemarketer…” For the next two hours, I felt like a lone soldier, facing the investors’ sharp questions and doubts all by myself. But Starlight was a dream created by both of us. Without his technical presentation, my explanations sounded hollow and powerless. In the end, the investors politely declined. I packed up all the project files alone and left the office. For a whole week, I locked myself in my room. I frantically called every investor we knew. But the response was always the same. “Miss Miller, we are sorry, but we cannot trust a project where the core team shows such a massive lack of commitment.” Until an investor I was close with finally spilled the truth. “Chloe, stop wasting your breath. Naomi Vance personally explained everything to us. She said you and Ethan have irreconcilable personal conflicts, which led to this disaster. She said for the sake of the project, she will be taking over.”

When the call ended, my body went cold. I walked to the mirror and looked at my pale, exhausted reflection. Suddenly, it all felt so pointless. On the eighth day, Ethan finally showed up. “I am sorry, Chloe. I—” Before he could finish, I used all my strength to slap him across the face. “You bastard, Ethan!” His face turned to the side from the impact. But he didn’t get annoyed like he usually did. He just took it in silence. Once I stopped breathing heavily, he explained in a low voice. “Naomi’s mother was in critical condition. I couldn’t just stand by.” “We can always find another opportunity for the project. But a life can’t be replaced.” My hands shook with rage. I pointed at his face, but not a single word could come out. He apparently thought this explanation wasn’t enough. He grabbed my wrists, forcing me to look into his eyes, and said syllable by syllable: “You grew up in a happy, loving family, Chloe. You can’t understand the terror of losing your only family.” I stared at him in utter disbelief. He knew. He knew damn well that my parents died in a plane crash during my senior year of college. That was the deepest wound in my heart. He had held me back then, promising he would be my family and stay with me forever. At this moment, the last shred of warmth in my heart evaporated. I suddenly laughed. I slowly pulled my hands out of his grip and looked at him calmly. “Yeah, you are right. I don’t understand.” “Ethan, so in your heart, even my parents’ tragic deaths can’t compare to a single whine from Naomi.” The color drained from his face instantly. His lips trembled, as if he wanted to explain. But I didn’t want to hear it. Like a madwoman, I grabbed everything within reach and hurled it at him, screaming at him to get the hell out. He just watched me quietly. Once I collapsed to the floor out of exhaustion, he walked over, looked down at me, and sighed. “Chloe, look at yourself. You are only acting this spoiled because you know how much I pamper you.” “I will find new investors for the Starlight Initiative. But since you are emotionally unstable right now, Naomi will take your place.” After he left, I curled up in the mess of my room and sobbed until I lost my voice. My phone buzzed. It was a text from Naomi. “Chloe, I heard your project fell through. What a pity. But don’t worry, Ethan and I will bring this project back to life!” “It is all Ethan’s fault. I told him my mom was fine, but he insisted on abandoning your precious pitch just to stay with me.” “But then again, you have been clinging to him for so many years. You brought this on yourself.” I stared at the screen, my mind completely numb. After a long silence, I dialed a number I hadn’t called in a very long time. “The offer you made… I accept.” Suddenly, another notification popped up on WhatsApp. “Chloe, you need to get to the office right now. Something happened!” I grabbed my phone and rushed to the company. I pushed open the conference room door without hesitation. Everyone’s eyes immediately locked onto me.

“Chloe, about the Starlight pitch…” I interrupted the board member directly. “It was my mistake that caused us to lose the investment.” Ethan snapped his head up to look at me. “I am deeply sorry for causing such severe consequences. Therefore, starting today, the Starlight Initiative is entirely Ethan’s. I am resigning from the company and stepping down from the board.” My words caught everyone off guard. The shareholders looked at each other, stuttering, “Well… it doesn’t have to go that far…” I just smiled. “I take full responsibility. I failed to get the funding, and I accept the consequences.” Ethan shot up from his chair, calling out instinctively, “Chloe…” I barely glanced at him. “Ethan, I am tired. I am done playing your games.” The news of my departure spread like wildfire through the industry. After that day, Naomi was promoted to a shareholder and took over the Starlight Initiative, basking in glory. My bio on the company website was taken down and replaced by her photo and resume. The comment section was filled with flattery and congratulations, as if I had never existed. Ethan and Naomi attended various industry galas and forums together. Someone posted their photo in our Snapchat group chat with the caption: “High school sweethearts, meeting at the peak of success.” It got dozens of likes. As for me, many in the industry started kicking me while I was down. “Ethan was just too nice, spoiling her for so many years. Now that he has stopped, she has gone into hiding!” “Pfft, everyone knows the Starlight Initiative was Chloe’s masterpiece. Now Ethan put Naomi’s name on it.” Through it all, I never showed my face. Until the day of the Starlight launch event. I took a cab to the venue, found a staff uniform backstage, and changed into it. Once I was sure I wouldn’t be recognized, I slipped into the main hall. At that moment, Naomi was on stage as the lead project manager, giving her speech. She was dressed in a high-end white designer suit, her makeup flawless. “…To achieve today’s success, I want to thank my team, and most importantly, Ethan. It was his unconditional trust and support that gave me the courage to make this dream a reality!” Thunderous applause erupted. Countless spotlights focused on her. The host smiled and took over the mic. “Thank you, Ms. Vance, for that wonderful speech! Next, with our warmest applause, let us welcome the legend of our tech industry, Mr. Ethan Carter, to reveal the official launch name of the product!” Ethan walked onto the stage, his gaze warmly landing on Naomi as he took the mic. “Ms. Vance is the most talented and resilient woman I have ever met. This project is like our child, representing the sweat and blood of both of us.” “She deserves this glory entirely!” The applause grew even louder. Then, Ethan and Naomi stood side by side, preparing to press the launch button together. The double doors of the hall pushed open. I looked at the man walking in, stood up, and shouted: “Wait a minute!”

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I was born with the ability to detect lies. My stepsister, Chloe, looked down on her blind date because she thought he dressed like a hobo. She forced me to go in her place just to reject him. “I thought my blind date was going to be some rich heir driving a Ferrari, but he’s just a broke loser,” she sneered. “If he clings to me, my life will be ruined. Go reject him for me. Just tell him you’re the one he’s supposed to meet.” I should have said no. But I desperately needed an opportunity to escape the house that had kept me trapped for over twenty years. Yet, the moment the man across from me spoke his very first sentence, I knew he was lying. He said his monthly salary was only five thousand dollars. 【Lie.】 He said his family background was totally ordinary. 【Lie.】 Well, since he wanted to play a part, I wasn’t going to let his performance go to waste. Looking at the glowing golden wealth line rising rapidly behind his head, my eyes welled up with emotion. I eagerly grabbed his hand. “Who cares if you only make five grand a month? Honest work is the most honorable! I don’t care that you’re poor. Let’s get married !” — ###

“Amber… do you really not mind that I’m broke?” Christian Vance’s Adam’s apple bobbed slightly as he asked tentatively. “Of course I don’t mind!” I sat up straight, riding the wave. “I can tell you’re an honest, down-to-earth guy, Christian. You’re definitely not the lazy type. Being broke now doesn’t mean you’ll be broke forever.” I looked at him with a beaming smile. Well, not exactly at him. To be precise, I was staring at the golden wealth line rising behind him. That glittering golden curve was shooting straight up, climbing faster and faster by the second. So this was what a truly wealthy person looked like? Even when he was doing absolutely nothing, his wealth was practically multiplying on its own. If I could stick with him, I wouldn’t just escape my toxic family—my future would be completely set. While I was lost in my fantasy, Christian continued to test me. “You’re really sweet, Amber… But let me lay the ugly truth out first. I’m just a regular blue-collar worker. I barely make five thousand a month. No house, no car.” *[Lie.]* “And I have an ailing father to support. Life with me will be very hard.” *[Lie.]* *[All lies.]* Red warning signs flashed wildly in my mind. Five thousand a month? I glanced at the blazing golden line behind him and almost snorted. No house, no car? Fine, whatever you say. Since he wanted to play the part, I had to be his perfect co-star. I reached out and firmly grasped his hand on the table, looking into his eyes with absolute sincerity. “I really don’t care about the money. As long as we work hard, our lives will get better and better!” Christian stiffened at my sudden touch. He probably hadn’t expected this kind of reaction. He lowered his head, pretending to look even more self-conscious. “Seeing me dressed so cheaply, riding a ragged Lime bike just to meet you… you really don’t look down on me?” Christian was wearing dirty canvas shoes, and his clothes were indeed very worn and cheap. But the golden wealth line behind him was about to break through the ceiling. I squeezed my thighs to keep from laughing out loud. Forcing myself to look solemn, I replied, “I’m wearing old clothes passed down from my stepsister anyway. It seems we both know how to save money. No wonder we get along so well.” Chloe had previously tried to act poor on her blind dates to gain sympathy from rich guys so they would spend money on her. But she never expected this. Christian had beaten her to the punch, pretending to be broke to test his date. Seeing that I was indeed dressed in faded clothes and looked thin and pale, Christian’s suspicion seemed to fade a little. But his test wasn’t over yet. “Since you think so highly of me, Amber, we can’t just sit here drinking cheap coffee. Let me buy you lunch.” “We can talk about our future wedding, too.” When he pulled out his phone to pay the bill, he made sure I saw the badly cracked screen of his old phone. I didn’t say a word. Instead, I pulled out my own shattered phone and bought him a bottle of cold water. “It’s hot today. Have some water. We have to start saving money from now on.” I wanted to see just how far Christian was going to take this act. He led me down the street and stopped in front of a cheap, low-end buffet. — ###

Seeing me freeze at the entrance, Christian had an “I knew it” look on his face. Still, he rubbed his hands together, pretending to be embarrassed. “I’m just a warehouse mover. I don’t make much. After rent, there’s barely anything left.” “Amber, I’m so sorry to bring you to a place like this. Honestly, I usually can’t even afford a buffet.” *[Lie.]* The red warnings in my head flashed so bright my eyes practically ached. I snapped back to reality, my stomach rumbling loudly. “You have no idea. Ever since my dad brought my stepmother and stepsister into our house, I’ve barely had enough to eat.” “I have to work part-time to pay for my own tuition. When I’m hungry, I just buy expired clearance food from the grocery store.” “Don’t worry. This buffet is a feast to me.” I spoke the absolute truth, without a shred of shame. In fact, I couldn’t wait. I marched right in and grabbed a tray. If this were Chloe, she would have thrown the tray at Christian’s face and told him to go to hell. But my eyes were practically glowing as I piled food onto my plate. “Fried chicken, yes please…” “Mashed potatoes, definitely…” “Roast beef, oh my god, yes…” Christian followed behind me. Seeing my plate piled high like a mountain and watching me eat with pure, unadulterated joy, he was utterly stunned. “I can tell you’re actually starving. You weren’t lying.” I was eating so happily that I barely heard him. Compared to my black-hole stomach, Christian clearly wasn’t used to this kind of food. He barely touched his plate. I ended up finishing all of his leftovers, too. After cleaning every plate, I patted my full stomach and thanked him repeatedly. “Thank you so much. This is the most satisfying meal I’ve had in months.” “Don’t worry. When I make it big, I’ll treat you to the finest dinner.” Christian’s eyes flickered, and a faint, genuine smile appeared at the corner of his lips. When he offered to take me home, I waved my hands in refusal. “I’m not going back there. I’ve already rented a small basement room. I plan to stay there while I look for a job.” Before our date, Chloe had bragged to the matchmaker about being a pampered little princess. She despised this date, hated his cheap clothes, and refused to even show her face. So now, when Christian tried to dig deeper into my situation, I could tell him the truth with zero guilt. “My mom passed away when I was young. Not long after, my dad married Tiffany and brought Chloe into the family.” “Since then, I became Chloe’s favorite punching bag. She had so many ways to torment me. My dad knew, but he just didn’t care.” “But hey, they gave me a roof over my head, so I guess I should still be grateful.” Christian’s fists clenched as he listened. “And you just took it? You let your stepmother and stepsister bully you like that?” I nodded, pulling up my sleeves. I showed Christian the old scars on my arms. Some were burn marks from Chloe’s curling iron, others were deep scratches from her nails. “I couldn’t help it when I was a kid.” “When I got older and wanted to move out, they took my passport, birth certificate, and Social Security card so I couldn’t leave.” I looked up and smiled at him. “But it’s fine now.” “I’ve finally graduated from college. I can survive on my own.” “Once I save enough money, I’ll pay them back for the food and cut ties with them completely.” “Amber… to be honest, when I first met you today, I thought you were just playing victim to scam me.” Christian was now entirely convinced I was telling the truth. He fell silent for a few seconds, his eyes deep and intense. “If you could make one wish right now, what would it be?” — ###

I sneakily glanced at the golden wealth line rising behind him. He was still pretending to be broke. Asking him to give me millions was unrealistic. But asking him to use his connections to get me a job? That wasn’t too greedy, right? I sighed, pretending to be stressed. “Just being able to eat three meals a day would be great! I hope to find a job as soon as possible, save some money, and move out of that basement.” Christian raised an eyebrow mysteriously. “Maybe your wish will come true sooner than you think.” *[True.]* My heart swelled with anticipation. Although I still didn’t know the exact details of Christian’s background, I knew he was powerful. After thanking him sincerely for the lunch, I splurged to buy him a cheap ice cream for dessert. He finally walked me to the subway station, looking reluctant to say goodbye. To my absolute shock, right after Christian left, I received a phone call from the HR department of a major listed corporation I had interviewed with earlier. “Is this Miss Amber Miller? Congratulations, you’ve passed the interview. Is it convenient for you to come in tomorrow to complete the onboarding process?” I held my phone, freezing for several seconds. I didn’t know the exact connection between this company and Christian. But I was absolutely certain this stroke of luck wasn’t from heaven—it was from Christian. The next day, I smoothly completed my onboarding. The entire process was easier than I could have ever imagined. Excited, I messaged Christian on Snapchat: *You are literally my lucky charm! I actually got the job!* *This luck is all thanks to you. I have to treat you to dinner to thank you!* Christian readily agreed. He still showed up in that same cheap, worn-out outfit, even adding a lame excuse: “I haven’t bought new clothes in forever. I only have this one set to wear for dates. Please don’t write me off.” While he said this, the warning *[Lie]* was screaming in my head. But I didn’t call him out. I just smiled. “Once I get my first paycheck, I’ll buy you some brand new clothes!” Christian looked genuinely surprised. “You can barely feed yourself, and you want to buy me clothes?” “Well, you treated me to a buffet and listened to me complain. You’re good to me, so I should be good to you.” The warmth and emotion on Christian’s face this time had absolutely no hint of acting. From that day on, I threw myself into my new job, working hard for my future. Christian and I met up almost every day, and we grew closer and closer. Even though we still mostly met at cheap diners, Christian seemed more and more relaxed. He didn’t try to test or probe me anymore. On payday, I kept my promise and took Christian to buy a new shirt and jeans. Holding the clothes I bought him, Christian looked at me with a deep, emotional gaze. “Amber, don’t worry. Your good luck has only just begun.” He told me he had to be busy for a few days. Once he was done, he would give me a massive surprise. I wasn’t sure what he meant, and I didn’t dare to fantasize too much. In fact, I thought it was better if Christian just kept pretending to be broke. When he was pretending, we could interact like equals. What if one day he stopped acting? What if he turned back into a high-and-mighty billionaire? I wouldn’t even know how to face him. For the next few days, I really couldn’t reach him. He would occasionally send me a Snapchat message, telling me to be patient. But before I could wait for Christian, the person I least wanted to see showed up. Chloe had somehow found out my office address. “Amber, how far have you gotten with that blind date of mine? Call him out right now. I need to take a good look at him.” “I went to a luxury hotel with my friends today, and I saw him from a distance. He was surrounded by a crowd of people, and everyone was calling him Mr. Vance!” With a furious expression, Chloe shoved her phone screen right into my face. — ###

The man in the photo was indeed Christian. It turned out he was the sole heir to the legendary Vance family of New York! He was wearing a bespoke, luxury designer suit, sporting a multi-million-dollar watch, and surrounded by a flock of bodyguards. Thinking about how this untouchable billionaire heir had actually worn rags just to eat a cheap buffet with me, I had to bite my lip to keep from laughing. Christian really went all out to test his blind date. Terrified that Chloe would find Christian and expose the fact that I had impersonated her, I racked my brain to keep her calm. “You’re overthinking things, Chloe. That guy took me to a dirt-cheap buffet for our first date.” “Every time we meet, he wears the same trashy clothes.” “Even his phone has a shattered screen.” “With how broke he looks, how could he possibly be the heir to the Vance family?” Seeing Chloe look at me with deep suspicion, I quickly pulled up my Snapchat history and showed her the photos of the cheap buffets and the receipts. Chloe scrolled through my phone for a long time. Then she looked at my worn-out clothes, and her suspicion finally faded. “True. If he were actually rich, there’s no way he wouldn’t spend money on you. Why would he make you suffer with him?” “Besides, a man of his status would have extremely high standards. He’d never look at a charity case like you.” Before she left, Chloe didn’t miss the chance to insult me. “Amber, you were born to be at the bottom. You deserve to be with a broke loser like him.” “Just don’t tell anyone you’re a Miller when you’re out. We can’t afford to lose face because of you.” Looking at Chloe’s smug, arrogant face, I swallowed my anger. But a tiny spark of hope flared up in my heart. What if… What if one day Christian proudly chose me in front of everyone as the Vance heir, completely slapping Chloe in the face? What would her expression look like then? But after only a few seconds of fantasizing, I shook my head to clear those thoughts. Christian had already gotten me this amazing job. I had already used up all my luck. How could I dare to expect a miracle like that? After stabilizing my emotions, I kept my head down and worked peacefully for another three days. That afternoon, my supervisor called me to join a major project launch meeting. They said a powerful executive from the partner company was coming, and all the new hires had to be there to show respect. Clutching my files, I walked into the conference hall, only to freeze instantly. The figure standing on the stage looked so much like the man who had eaten cheap buffet food with me—and yet so different. In the next second, the host spoke respectfully into the microphone: “Now, please join me in welcoming our CEO, Mr. Christian Vance.” My brain went entirely blank. I stood there, frozen like a statue. As soon as the meeting ended, I tried to slip away. But Christian had already cut through the crowd, walking toward me with a gaze full of gentleness. “Amber, why are you staring? Did you forget me after just a few days?” All the surrounding employees began to whisper, speculating about my relationship with Christian. My heart was pounding like crazy. Was this real? Had the miracle actually happened? Just as I was hesitating to respond, a sharp, screeching voice suddenly pierced the air from behind me. “Mr. Vance! You’ve been tricked by Amber! The person you were supposed to meet that day was me!!” My breath hitched. I turned around stiffly. Chloe was storming through the crowd, marching straight up to Christian. “I, Chloe Miller, am your actual blind date!” Seeing Christian’s face instantly turn cold, I felt like I had been plunged into an ice bath. It was over… I had finally waited for Christian to reveal his identity to me. But if he found out that all our sweet memories were built on a foundation of lies and deception… Forget about being with him. I would probably lose my job and my livelihood instantly. I desperately wanted to open my mouth and explain. But terror gripped my throat, and I couldn’t squeeze out a single word. The mocking whispers and contemptuous glares from the crowd made me want to shrink into the floor. “Look, this is the message the matchmaker sent me! Here is the date, time, and location of our meeting!” “I have so much proof that Amber lied to you! You can’t let this fraud get away with it!” Under Chloe’s hysterical shrieks, Christian calmly took her phone and glanced at it. The next second, he frowned, turned his gaze to me, and spoke in a chilling voice…

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At the class reunion, someone asked the former top student: “Claire, we’re all in our thirties now, and everyone who should be married is married, so why are you still single?” Claire Summers smiled faintly. “I’m still waiting for the person I gave my love letter to when I was eighteen to write me back.” As she spoke, she looked toward Ethan Carter, who was sitting beside me, and her eyes slowly turned red. Ethan froze and murmured, “I never received it…” The truth from back then slowly began to unravel. It turned out Claire’s letter had been delivered to the wrong place. It was that tiny mistake that kept them from being together. The room instantly erupted with teasing. “You and him were seriously the couple I shipped the hardest back then! I was so upset when Lily cut in later.” “Lily totally took advantage of the situation, and you clearly knew Ethan first.” “A love letter just happened to be put in the wrong place? Don’t you think… someone switched it on purpose?” Everyone in the room turned to look at me. Amid the noise, I gently touched the man beside me and asked in a low voice, “Honey, they’re saying I got between you two back then, so what do you think?”

Ethan did not answer me and instead stared at Claire. His eyes were also a little red. The classmates were the ones who lost their composure first, crying out one after another, “Lily, you and Ethan are married?!” Claire also jerked her head up and fixed her gaze on Ethan, disbelief flashing through her eyes. A few classmates laughed awkwardly again. “Why didn’t you tell any of us? We’ve been classmates for so many years, and you two really kept us in the dark!” “Yeah, unless… Ethan didn’t actually want to.” “When Claire went abroad back then, he was heartbroken for a long time, and I heard he almost tried to kill himself.” “Then wasn’t it only natural for Ethan to choose Lily?” “Why are you speaking up for Lily? Everyone knows Claire’s family was too poor back then, and Lily basically took advantage of her when she was down…” … I ignored all those comments and only looked at Ethan, wondering when he would explain things for me. He was the one who pursued me back then, and after we dated for two years, we had been married for three. It was not like every first love who returned from overseas could pick up where things left off. Besides, Ethan and I could be considered childhood sweethearts too, and I was the one who asked him to come with me to this reunion today, or Claire would not even have had the chance to see Ethan. But Ethan, who sat beside me, remained silent, and I turned my face to look at him. Too many emotions churned in his eyes: surprise, heartache, and regret that had been buried for years but had never faded. Yet he still did not explain. The atmosphere gradually cooled. I pressed my lips together and put down my utensils too. Could it be… that he really still could not let go? I had almost forgotten. Back in college, Ethan liked Claire so much that almost the entire school knew. She always wore washed-out shirts, and her lunch was always just a single slice of bread. Ethan found all kinds of ways to bring her meals, books, and contest prize money, and he even secretly stuffed his own allowance into her desk. But Claire never appreciated it. She returned the lunch box to him untouched and looked at him coldly. “Keep your pity to yourself.” “You’re no different from them.” But Ethan still refused to give up. It was not until the end of freshman year that Claire was finally moved, and they slowly became friends. After that, during sophomore year, Claire suddenly disappeared. She left without saying goodbye and gave no explanation, leaving only one note. “I’m starting to hate you, so please forget me.” Ethan chased her all the way to the airport, only to see the plane streak across the sky. He broke down crying on the spot, and when he went home, he fell into depression. It was true that I took advantage of him at his lowest point, pushed open the door he had shut himself behind, and pulled him back from the edge of the rooftop. “If she doesn’t want you, I do, so what do you like about her? Her stubbornness? I can change myself to match.” From that day on, I lived as another Claire Summers. I learned the way Claire spoke, grew my hair long like hers, and even wore the white dresses she liked. And my family’s business barely survived with the Carter family’s support. When the Carter family arranged a marriage alliance later, I had originally planned to step aside tactfully, but he grabbed me and held me tightly. That night, he cried and begged me to love him a little and not abandon him too. “I don’t want to be abandoned again, so please marry me.”

I sighed and touched his face. “Ethan, we can still be friends.” “But I love you.” “What about Claire?” He tightened the arm around my waist even more and kissed me. “I hate her, and from now on, I only want Lily.” After that night passed, the Carter family accepted me as their daughter-in-law. People in our circle all said behind my back that I was shameless and manipulative, that the Bennett family had nearly gone bankrupt, and that I had forced myself on Ethan to revive Bennett Group. They were all waiting. They were waiting for me to get divorced and become a joke. But over the past five years, Ethan and I had only grown better and more loving. Until I saw the way he looked at Claire at this moment. My heart suddenly tightened with pain. “How ridiculous, I, Ethan Carter, never pick up trash.” Ethan’s words instantly froze the smile on Claire’s face. Ethan’s words made the private room fall completely silent. He took my hand and laced his fingers with mine. “Let me introduce her.” “This is my wife, Lily Bennett.” “If anyone uses those old stories to disgust her again, don’t blame me for turning on you.” “I married Lily because I love her, and who hasn’t met one or two toxic women when they were young? Don’t open your mouths and throw dirt on my wife for no reason.” His tone shifted, carrying blatant mockery. “As for Ms. Summers, did going abroad leave you with nothing but this? So what if you started a company? Do you even have assets over ten million? Do you even have ten employees under you?” Claire could no longer smile at all. But Ethan took my hand and softened his voice. “Honey, I told you I didn’t want to come, so what was the point of seeing these people?” “You’re not wrong,” I answered softly. “Whoever you scold deserves it.” The entire room fell into silence, and the class reunion was basically over. The classmates who had been gossiping earlier came over to apologize before leaving and wished us happiness. Claire sat in her seat with her head lowered and did not move. But when Ethan stepped out of the private room, he still turned his head back once. Regret and sorrow made that woman look much more haggard in just a few hours. I clearly felt Ethan’s hand tighten around my waist. Then he turned his gaze forward, acted as if nothing had happened, and got into the car with me with a smile. But after we got home, I still felt a little uneasy when I thought about what had happened. I put down my bag, and my voice was hoarse. “Ethan, if you want to get back together with Claire, we can get di—” Before I could finish, he suddenly pushed me down onto the sofa, gripped the side of my neck, and leaned in. His fingers sealed my lips, then moved down along my collarbone, and paired with his cold, restrained face, my breath immediately caught. “What nonsense are you talking about…” He moved close to me, his breath warm. “Can I carry you back to the bedroom? I want you.” After he said that, he kissed me. We tangled all the way to the bedroom. For one moment, I almost forgot all the unpleasantness, and just as the corners of my lips lifted into a smile, Ethan’s phone suddenly rang. I answered it instinctively. Soft breathing came from the other end of the line, and Claire’s voice carried drunkenness and broken sobs. “Ethan… couldn’t you have waited for me a little longer? It’s only been five years…” “You called me toxic, but you don’t know at all… the only person I’ve ever loved is you.” I was silent for a moment before speaking. “Claire, it’s three in the morning.” “My husband just fell asleep from exhaustion, so do you need me to wake him up?” The other side went instantly quiet, then the call was abruptly hung up. My expression turned serious for once, and I frowned tightly as I looked at the sleeping Ethan beside me. His lashes trembled lightly, and his lips pressed into a straight line, as if he was having a nightmare. I lay down, curled into his arms, stopped thinking about it, and closed my eyes wearily. But after sleeping for less than two hours, I woke up. I instinctively reached for the person beside me, only to find the bed empty.

Where had Ethan gone in the middle of the night? For some reason, panic rose in my chest. At that moment, I faintly heard voices outside, and because I was worried a burglar had broken in, I rushed to the door without even putting on shoes and opened a crack. The moment I saw the scene in the living room, I could not describe how I felt. I only felt that the summer air conditioning and the floor under my bare feet were like falling into an ice cellar. Claire sat on the sofa with messy hair and red eyes, as if she had been crying for a long time. Ethan stood in front of her, his expression terrifyingly cold. “Are you done?” he said in a very low voice. “If you’re done, go home.” “I’m sorry, Ethan, I regret it, so can’t you give me one chance?” Ethan coldly pulled his sleeve back and was using Claire’s phone to call someone. “Hurry up and come get your fiancée, and don’t let her come to someone else’s front door drunk in the middle of the night!” Not long after, hurried footsteps came. I opened the door crack a little wider and realized I actually knew this man. It was Sebastian Ford, who also lived in this villa district. He was the only son of the biggest tourist resort developer in New York, and his family background was even more prominent than the Carters’. Looking at his anxious, red-rimmed eyes, I could not help sighing inwardly. How much good karma had Claire built up in her past life? She had been a little poor in her teens, but in college, Ethan paved the way for her and nearly lived and died for her. Now, after going abroad and polishing her résumé a little, she directly made this heir of the Ford family worry over her. People really were different from one another, and I did not go out to create a famous old-love-new-love disaster scene before quietly closing the door. But then a message from my best friend suddenly popped up on my phone. [That bitch Claire got drunk at a bar tonight and cried into the camera while confessing her love to Ethan, and the video has already been posted online!] [I’ve never seen such a disgusting woman, and now that she’s almost thirty and her career isn’t going well, she probably regretted everything after seeing you and Ethan being happy together!] I cut off her outrage and sent her the living room scene I had just filmed. [Claire seems to have a boyfriend, and it’s Sebastian Ford.] [Holy shit! Does that bitch have some kind of poison on her that lowers men’s IQ? Is Sebastian Ford blind or what?] After hearing the sounds outside gradually disappear, I quietly returned to bed. However, early the next morning, I was woken by the sound of arguing outside. I opened the door half-asleep and saw Ethan’s parents sitting on the sofa with ashen faces. They must have seen today’s trending topic. “Get Claire Summers out of New York right now!” Ethan’s father said sternly. “What the hell was that video of her crying in a bar last night? The shareholders are all asking about this!” “She was the one who abandoned you and went abroad back then, Ethan, so don’t be foolish, and now she’s actually using such low tactics to ruin your marriage with Lily!” “If you don’t clean this up properly, don’t blame Carter Group’s official channels for blacklisting her!” After dropping those words, Ethan’s father left. Ethan clenched his fists and turned around with red eyes, only to suddenly see me. “Honey?” A trace of panic flashed through his eyes. “The trending topic has nothing to do with me, and Claire is already engaged to Sebastian Ford, so I don’t know why she keeps pestering me like this.” “I’ll handle this properly.” Ethan had already been gradually taking over Carter Group, and after this incident, he seemed to have truly gone head-to-head with the Ford family. He personally dragged me into several couple endorsements for the company, improved the corporate image, and secretly stole the Ford family’s business to pressure Sebastian into sending Claire away. Until one month later. That day, a group of us had just finished gathering at a private club, and when Ethan and I opened the door of the private room, Claire suddenly stumbled out from the end of the hallway. She wore a white dress, her clothes were disheveled, and there were scratches and blood marks on her face.

“Ethan, save me! Please save me…” This scene felt so familiar. It made me feel as if I had returned to five years ago, and I had to admit that Claire in college was like a wild crabapple blooming in barren soil, stubborn and proud. That was why Ethan had fallen for her. She gritted her teeth and used all her strength to grab Ethan’s sleeve, but after seeing me, her entire body stiffened before she hurriedly lowered her head, let go, and stepped back. “Ms. Bennett, I didn’t mean to, and I’ll leave New York right away and never again…” A tear fell from the corner of her eye, and she clenched her fists and closed her eyes. “I’ll never appear in front of Ethan again.” Then she turned and limped toward the door. Looking at her back, as if she were the only person left alone in the world, I was stunned. Mainly, I never expected that Claire would one day become scheming enough to stage a scene like this and frame me. Her acting was so convincing that it was as if I had really sent people to teach her a lesson and warn her to stay away from my husband. On the surface, she was asking Ethan for help, but in reality, she was shaping me into a sinister, vicious woman. But she was now Sebastian Ford’s fiancée, and the Bennett family could not afford to offend the Ford family at all. I forced out a mocking smile and turned to observe Ethan’s reaction. His face was expressionless, making it impossible for me to see what he was thinking. “I heard Carter Group blacklisted her, and her company is about to go bankrupt, so she’s been begging people everywhere lately.” Ethan took my hand and smiled coldly. “What does that have to do with me?” After we got in the car, I tested him again. “Then Ethan, about what just happened… do you also think I did it?” But he held me in his arms. “I believe it wasn’t you.” I nodded. After all, the Ford family was someone neither Carter Group nor Bennett Group could afford to offend, and I was not that stupid. And Ethan had witnessed me barely making it step by step from the edge of bankruptcy to where I was today, so he should understand better than I did how much I cherished the present. However, the next day, four hundred million dollars was suddenly transferred out of my account! Bennett Group was about to go public, and that four hundred million almost determined whether Bennett Group lived or died! I called Ethan, but no one answered, so in my panic, I drove straight to his company to find him. When I pushed open the office door, I saw Claire sitting there with tears streaming down her face, and the wounds on her face had just been bandaged. Ethan sat beside her and lifted his head to meet my gaze. “Four hundred million dollars was suddenly transferred out of my account, and was it you…” Although I already had a guess in my heart, I wanted to hear Ethan admit it himself. “I took it.” “Why?” Coldness seeped through Ethan’s eyes. “Claire’s company owed four hundred million, so I helped her pay it back.” Even Claire raised her head in shock, pulled out her phone, and immediately checked her company’s repayment records. The assistants beside them exchanged looks. I looked at Ethan in confusion. But I saw him tighten his grip on Claire’s hand beside him and protect her behind him like a guardian. “Lily Bennett, this is what you owe her!” After saying that, he threw a stack of documents hard onto the coffee table, and photos scattered across the floor with a rustle. The first photo showed Claire at the club, being pinned to the floor with someone’s foot on her face, her white dress covered in filthy cigarette ash, her clothes disheveled, and her eyes unfocused. The second photo showed her being yanked by her long hair, her chin forced open, as if she was being fed some kind of drug. The third photo showed extreme terror all over her face, and her neckline had been roughly torn open, exposing her collarbone and the edge of her underwear. Among the opened documents were two fingerprinted confessions, where two thugs admitted in black and white that they had been instructed by me to “teach Claire Summers a little lesson…” He actually believed such a cheap frame-up.

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On the day of freshman registration at Columbia University, Julian dragged me to the campus gates. He slapped his official enrollment envelope into my hands. “You’ve been ignoring me the whole summer. I’m giving you a way out of the doghouse now. Go sign me in!” I couldn’t help but laugh out loud. “What kind of delusional dream are you living in, Julian? You got into a local community college. How do you have the nerve to show up at Columbia?” Julian froze. Under the mocking stares of the surrounding students, he ripped open the dusty envelope. He broke down on the spot. “Why?! Why didn’t you log in and change it back for me?!” I rolled my eyes. “Didn’t you tell me to mind my own business?” When I first found out that Julian’s college acceptance had been declined and swapped for a low-tier community college, my heart nearly stopped. I touched my legs, then my head. Whole. Unharmed. I almost cried right then and there. I had been reborn. I was back on the exact day Julian’s enrollment was messed with. In my past life, the class beauty, Serena Vance, had secretly logged into his portal and messed up his future. When I found out, I tried my best to stop her and called her out for being incredibly irresponsible. Serena felt humiliated. She ran out of the building crying, took a wrong step on the stairs, fell, and ended up paralyzed from the waist down. She couldn’t handle the tragedy and eventually took her own life. Julian blamed the entire thing on me, saying I was a meddling busybody. The day before we were supposed to head off to college, he lured me to the rooftop of our building and pushed me off. This time, I chose to play dumb. As I walked into the computer lab, Serena jumped, quickly shutting the laptop screen. She looked at me guiltily. “Elena, how long have you been standing there? What did you see?” “I saw you changing Julian’s portal options.” Hearing this, a cold sneer crossed her face. “Don’t even think about snitching! I’m going to the same college as him, no matter what.” “Whatever. None of my business.” Just then, Julian walked in. Seeing Serena and me together, his guard immediately went up. “Elena, aren’t you sick of this? Stop following me around like a lost puppy!” I bent down, packed my textbooks from my desk, and finally spoke. “Do you own this school? If you can be here, so can I.” He stunned. He didn’t expect this attitude from me. In the past, I would always speak softly to him, or follow him around trying to make peace. Whenever I saw him hanging out with Serena, I would desperately try to advise him to focus on his studies. But now? Why should I care? I zipped up my backpack and turned to leave. Serena quickly called out, “Wait!” “I just played around with Julian’s enrollment portal. Why don’t you take a look and give us some advice?” She proudly turned the screen around. Julian glanced at it, then smirked at me. “Yeah, speak up. Weren’t you always the smart one?” I shrugged. “I’m not really interested.” He grabbed my arm. “What do you mean? Didn’t you say we were going to Columbia together? How can you have zero reaction to this?” “I respect people’s personal choices. Do whatever you want.” I shook him off and walked away. Behind me, Julian kicked a desk in sheer frustration. I didn’t even look back. I hadn’t gone far when our group Snapchat blew up. “Group Chat:” “Maya:” “Julian, Serena just declined your Columbia offer on your portal and registered you for a community college! Are you seriously letting her ruin your life?” “Chloe:” “Your SAT scores were literally perfect for Columbia!” “Julian:” “What’s the big deal? Elena will log in and fix it for me before the deadline anyway.” “Maya:” “I just heard you guys arguing. Aren’t you afraid she’ll actually leave you to rot? You need to take your own life seriously!” “Julian:” “She’s basically my second mom. She would never actually let anything happen to me.” “Julian:” “We’re just having a little fight. Once I buy her some food, she’ll come crawling back.” I sneered and typed: “Do your own chores. I’m not your mother.” Julian must have been furious. The next second, I was kicked out of the group chat. This was his favorite little power play. Every time we argued, he would kick me out, wait for me to beg for forgiveness, and then drag me back in. This time, I didn’t give him the chance. I blocked him instantly, left all mutual chats, and only kept my close friends on Snapchat. High school was over. It was time to cut the dead weight. In this life, I would not interfere in anyone else’s destiny. I would only focus on myself. Julian, I really can’t wait to see your face when you get your final registration papers.

When I got home, I packed every single gift Julian had given me over the years into a trash bag and threw it right into the dumpster. Even with a decade of friendship, he was the one who pushed me off a building in my past life. No matter how nostalgic I felt, some things could never be forgiven. As I was throwing out the trash, I ran into Julian’s mom, Brenda. She waved at me from a distance. “Elena! Have you seen Julian? The boy isn’t picking up my FaceTimes or replying to my texts!” “No idea, Mrs. Thorne.” “Could you call one of his friends and ask for me?” I held up my empty hands. “Sorry, Mrs. Thorne, I didn’t bring my phone down.” “Maybe you can check with his other friends. See you around.” Without waiting for her to reply, I excused myself and walked away. In my past life, after I died, my parents were devastated. They found out Julian had been on the roof with me. But Brenda, fully knowing her son was responsible, destroyed the building’s security footage and even bribed a doctor to get Julian a fake psychiatric diagnosis to keep him out of prison. She used to be nice to me, but when it came to her precious son, everyone else was disposable. Since she was willing to commit perjury back then, I had no desire to interact with her now. Back in my room, I got a text from Maya: “Elena, let’s get food! A new K-BBQ spot just opened downtown! It’s so cheap!” I replied immediately: “I’m down! Ask Chloe too, let’s go!” When we arrived at the restaurant, Maya nudged me. “Look over there. Isn’t that Julian? I heard he’s been bragging to everyone that he’s going to Columbia.” “It’s hilarious. Serena is telling everyone she’s going with him. With her GPA, she couldn’t even get into a clown school, let alone an Ivy League,” Chloe scoffed, making a face that made us burst into laughter. Just then, Julian walked over. Seeing me, he scoffed. “Elena, you really are like a rash. You just won’t go away.” “I thought you said you didn’t care anymore. Why did you follow me here?” Maya and Chloe looked worried, but I kept my voice flat. “Do you own this restaurant? The owner is open for business. Are we not allowed to eat?” “Move. You’re blocking the line.” I pushed past him to check in our reservation. His face turned bright red with anger. Maya gave me a thumbs-up. “Hell yeah, Elena! Love the backbone!” “Yeah, I’m completely done with him.” Following close behind us, Julian gritted his teeth. “Fine, Elena. You better keep this same energy!” I ignored him. We sat down, and Julian and Serena took a table right across from us. It felt entirely intentional. They started feeding each other food, trying to make me jealous. It was honestly nauseating. I kept my eyes on the grill and focused on my brisket. Halfway through the meal, I went to the restroom. On my way back, a strong grip pulled me into a side hallway. It was Julian. I frowned, but he shoved his phone into my face. “Why did you block me on Snapchat?” “Because I felt like it. Julian, we are not friends anymore. You hate it when I meddle, and I don’t like chasing after you.” “Besides, you have a girlfriend now. We need to keep our distance.” “Add me back. How else are we going to coordinate when we move to Columbia?” He reached out to grab my phone, but I snatched it back. “Get this straight, Julian. High school is over. We have nothing to do with each other. Who I keep on my friend list is my choice.” Julian opened his mouth in shock. Before he could speak, I cut him off. “Also, have some manners when you talk to me next time. I don’t owe you anything. At least show some basic respect.” I rolled my eyes and walked away. Julian was fuming. Just as he was about to chase after me, Serena appeared.

To spite me, he suddenly grabbed Serena by the back of her head and kissed her deeply. I felt a brief pang in my chest, but it was quickly replaced by a wave of relief. I smiled faintly and walked right past them. Let people destroy their own lives. I was not going to play the fool anymore. After that day, Julian never contacted me again, and I certainly didn’t look for him. Even my mom noticed. “Elena, Julian hasn’t swung by the house in days. Did something happen?” “Mom, high school is over. Plus, he has a girlfriend now. He should be spending time with her.” My mom was shocked. “A girlfriend? But what about you two…” “We’re just neighbors, Mom.” My dad smiled from the kitchen. “She’s right. Just neighbors. Whether he comes over or not has nothing to do with us. Now that exams are over, let’s go on a trip!” I bounced on my feet. “Dad, I want to go to Disney World!” “You got it. I’ll take some PTO, and we’ll have a family vacation!” My mom happily agreed. We spent the night looking up travel guides, completely ignoring my vibrating phone. Once our itinerary was set, I checked my texts. Maya had sent me a screenshot. “Is Julian actually insane? He posted this on his private story and made sure I saw it.” I looked at the image. It was a screenshot of his finalized college enrollment page. It clearly showed the local community college. I laughed. He was trying to bait me into saving him. Too bad he was blocked. “Elena, what is this? Isn’t he going to Columbia?” “Serena changed his portal.” “Is he out of his mind?!” Maya was horrified. “He’s throwing away his entire future for a girl?” “Well, not my problem.” Maya thought he was a lunatic and blocked him too. The next day, my family packed our bags and flew to Orlando. I posted tons of photos on Instagram—Disney World, delicious dinners, and sunny beaches. Sure, Orlando was a total money vacuum, but I had the best time. That night at the hotel, my phone rang from an unknown number. I picked up, and Julian’s voice came through. “I heard you’re on vacation. Where are you going next?” “I’m going to visit the Columbia campus early. I want to get used to the area.” He let out a smug laugh. “Elena, stop being stubborn. Add me back on Snapchat. When you get back, I have a gift for you. What I promised you before… it still stands.” “Julian, everyone has to face the consequences of their own choices.” Before he could respond, Serena’s voice echoed in the background of the call: “Babe, can you bring me a towel?” He hastily hung up. I looked at the pending friend request on Snapchat and hit decline. It was 11:50 PM. Julian, you have exactly ten minutes left before the college portal locks forever. I hope you can take responsibility for your own life. I don’t owe you anything. Suddenly, Serena’s Snapchat request popped up. “Elena, accept my request.” I ignored it, but she kept spamming. “Julian and I are staying at a hotel tonight. No matter what history you two had, he’s mine now.” “He’s not going to Columbia with you. He’s staying with me for the rest of his life!” I chuckled and blocked her too. You two deserve each other. I have my own path to walk. The clock ticked down. 11:58… 11:59… At exactly midnight, the deadline passed. I took a deep breath and let it out. Julian, our lives will never cross again.

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The day after we got legally married at the courthouse, I was waiting at the airport for my new husband, Ethan, holding two plane tickets. He finally showed up, but his childhood best friend, Serena, was trailing right behind him. “Babe, Serena just went through a really bad breakup. I brought her along so she could clear her head,” Ethan explained, his voice tentative and cautious. Serena was wearing the exact same beach dress as me. She flashed me an apologetic, sweet smile. “Chloe, sweetie, I hope I’m not intruding. I just wanted to bask in your newlywed happiness.” I looked down at the third ticket in Ethan’s hand, which was sandwiched right next to mine. Seat 16B. My seat was 16A, and Ethan’s was 16C. He had deliberately placed Serena right between us. Standing there, a sudden surge of pure fury rushed from the soles of my feet straight to my head. I dragged Ethan to the side, keeping my voice low and dangerous. “Send her home, or I’m leaving.” Ethan looked utterly put out, sighing helplessly. “Babe, can you please not be so unreasonable?” “Serena told me she’s terrified of being alone right now. She just wanted some company and a little distraction.” “Besides, we’ve known each other since we were kids. It’s just a vacation. It’s no big deal…” I cut him off. “If you don’t make her leave, we’re getting a divorce.”

Ethan reached out to grab my hand, but I stepped aside, dodging him. “Can you stop throwing a tantrum over such a tiny thing?” His tone softened, turning into a coaxing, placating murmur. I said nothing, only staring at him with cold, dead eyes. Unable to hold my gaze, he let out a heavy sigh. “Fine. I’ll tell her. I’ll ask her to leave.” He raised both hands in a mock surrender. “Happy wife, happy life. Is that what you want?” With that, he turned around and walked over to Serena, whispering something to her. Serena’s shoulders slumped instantly. She looked up, her eyes turning red in a split second. “Ethan… does Chloe hate me?” “Did I do something wrong? I’m just so heartbroken, and I wanted to be around some happy energy.” As she spoke, she threw a pitiful, aggrieved glance in my direction, then turned back to Ethan, clutching his arm tightly. “Ethan, I know Chloe is misunderstanding us.” “But you already explained it to her. Does she still not trust you?” That face again. Those exact, manipulative, innocent words. My brain buzzed with anger. Two months ago, Serena showed up at our brand-new apartment dragging two massive suitcases. She had made that exact same face. That day, Ethan held me close while looking at her with pure pity. “Babe, Serena just got dumped, and her landlord kicked her out. She’s all alone in this city, and it’s so heartbreaking.” “Let’s just let her stay with us for a bit. As soon as she finds a job and a place, she’ll move out.” And what happened? Once she moved in, she never mentioned leaving again. Then, two weeks before we got married, at our pre-wedding party. In front of everyone, she looked at Ethan with teary eyes. “I’m so jealous of Chloe. She gets to marry such an amazing guy.” “My ex didn’t treat me even half as well as you do.” Our friends started hyping them up, telling her to take a sip from Ethan’s drink. Ethan hesitated. But Serena immediately wrapped her arm around his. “Come on, Ethan. Consider it an early toast to your marriage.” He half-resisted but ended up drinking it anyway. Later, when we took group photos, she literally shoved me out of the way, pressing her face almost flat against Ethan’s cheek. That night, I had the biggest fight of our relationship with him. “Ethan, do you even know what boundaries are?” “Babe, you’re overthinking. We were just messing around. We’ve always been like this since childhood.” I was shaking with rage. We didn’t speak for a whole week. I had already packed my bags, fully prepared to end the relationship. The night before we went to the courthouse, he held me tight, crying and apologizing. “Babe, I was wrong. I promise I’ll keep my distance from her from now on.” “I swear, this was the absolute last time.” Looking at his bloodshot eyes, I believed him. But now, standing in the airport lobby, his promise felt like a sickening joke. The look in his eyes as he stared at Serena was pure, aching concern. And that concern wasn’t for me. He walked back to me, his face written with exhaustion. “Babe, look at how hard Serena is crying. How about…” I didn’t let him finish. I spun on my heel and walked toward the exit. “Then I’m leaving. Enjoy your honeymoon.”

Panicking, Ethan ran after me and grabbed my arm, canceling Serena’s ticket right then and there. He held up his phone, showing me the cancellation confirmation while begging for forgiveness. Serena stood not far away, watching us with tear-rimmed eyes. I stared at Ethan, warning him coldly that this was his absolute last chance. With that, I shook off his grip and marched straight through airport security. Once on the plane, I put on my sleep mask, wanting to block everything out. Before long, I heard the faint, rapid tapping of a phone keyboard beside me. I pulled off my mask and glanced over. He was typing furiously in a Snapchat chat window with a contact named “Little Raindrop.” [Don’t cry. It’s all my fault.] A cold chill washed over my entire body. Sensing my gaze, he hurriedly tried to hide his phone. “Who are you texting?” I asked coldly. “Nobody, just a client.” He didn’t dare look me in the eye. I let out a harsh laugh. “A client named ‘Little Raindrop’?” His face went entirely pale. “Babe, don’t misunderstand. I’m just worried she might do something stupid to herself.” “And if she does, are you going to die with her?” My voice was loud enough that the people in the row ahead of us turned around to look. “Keep your voice down,” he muttered, his face tightening with embarrassment and growing impatience. “We finally made it to our honeymoon. Can you please stop bringing her up?” “Am I the one bringing her up, or are you the one who can’t let her go?” I retorted. He frowned deeply. “We’re just friends. We grew up together. Why can’t you just trust me?” “Can you just be a little more understanding?” There it was again. That phrase. I closed my eyes, refusing to waste another single word on him. When the plane landed, the hotel shuttle was already waiting. He tried to hold my hand, but I snatched it away. The car door slid open. I was about to step inside when I froze solid. Serena was sitting inside the car, beaming at me. Next to her sat Ethan’s two childhood buddies, Zach and Tyler. “Chloe! What a coincidence!” I whipped my head around, glaring death at Ethan. His expression was incredibly guilty. Serena hopped out of the car, immediately locking her arm through Ethan’s, and stuck her tongue out at me triumphantly. “Chloe, Ethan actually texted me privately to come. He said the more, the merrier, and that you’d definitely love it.” “You’re so petty, but Ethan still cares about me.” “Serena, shut up,” Ethan stammered, completely flustered. Inside the car, his friend Zach chimed in loudly. “Ethan, why are you acting? You’re the one who Venmoed us the money for the plane tickets!” Looking at Ethan’s pale, frozen face, I suddenly smiled. The little drama at the airport… what a flawless performance. Once we got to the hotel room, he followed me inside, still spinning his pathetic lies. “They insisted on tagging along! Zach borrowed the money from me. I had no idea Serena was coming too!” I watched him perform in silence. “Are you done?” He blinked, startled. “If you’re done, get the hell out.” I pointed straight at the door. Using every ounce of my strength, I shoved him out of the room. I slammed the door and locked it. I slid down against the door, burying my face in my hands as the tears finally spilled over. Outside, I could hear Serena and the guys telling him to let it go, mixed with Ethan’s non-stop knocking. I ignored all of it. Two hours later. I changed my clothes, planning to head out for some fresh air. The moment I opened the door… I saw Ethan standing right outside. And Serena, wearing a skimpy bikini that barely covered anything, was rubbing herself against him. “Ethan, let’s go for a night swim! Just like we used to do back in college.” She shot a provocative glance at me, her eyes filled with challenge. Ethan looked torn, his eyes darting around. “But Chloe…” “Chloe is so open-minded, she definitely won’t mind. Right, Chloe?” she chirped innocently. I walked right up to them, staring Ethan down. “Are you going?” “Babe, I just want to help her unwind a bit,” he stammered, still trying to justify it. “If you take one single step out of this room, we are completely over.” Ethan immediately shoved Serena away and blurted out, “I’m not going.” Serena stumbled back from the force of the shove. She stared at him in utter disbelief, her eyes welling up with tears instantly. Giving me a deeply aggrieved look, she turned and ran off.

Ethan let out a sigh of relief. “Babe, see? I made her leave. Can you stop being mad now?” There wasn’t a shred of actual remorse in his voice. I didn’t even have the energy to fight him. I brushed past his hand and went back into the room. I climbed into bed and pulled the duvet over my head. He thought I had fallen asleep. After some time, the buzzing of a phone woke me up. It was Ethan’s phone, sitting right on the nightstand. The screen lit up with a notification from “Little Raindrop.” [Ethan, did your wife make things difficult for you again?] I picked up his phone. There was no passcode. Wow, he really trusted me, didn’t he? I opened Snapchat and scrolled up. The screen was filled with messages between him and Serena from while I was supposedly asleep. Serena: [I’m so sorry, Ethan. I caused another fight between you and Chloe.] Ethan: [Don’t overthink it. That’s just how she is. She’s dramatic, petty, and narrow-minded. Just ignore her.] Dramatic, petty, and narrow-minded. So that was what I was to him. Serena: [It’s all my fault. I shouldn’t have insisted on coming.] Ethan: [It’s not your fault. I’m the one who wanted you here.] Ethan: [You’re still the best. Not like some people who only know how to ruin the mood.] It felt like an icy hand was squeezing my heart, making it impossible to breathe. They even started reminiscing about their college trips together. [Those were the days. Just the two of us.] It turned out I was the third wheel all along. With a cold face, I grabbed my own phone. I took clear photos of every single line of their chat history. Then, I placed his phone back exactly where it was. A short while later, Ethan walked back into the room. He forced a smile. “Babe, you’re awake?” I flinched away from his hand. That hand had probably just been stroking Serena’s hair moments ago. I asked, “Where are you going?” “Zach and the guys invited me to the hotel bar. They said they wanted to apologize to me.” His eyes darted away guiltily. I locked my gaze onto his. “Ethan, we are on our honeymoon.” He glared back at me, losing his patience. “Honeymoon, honeymoon! Can you give me a break?” “What’s wrong with hanging out with friends? Do we have to be glued to each other’s faces 24/7?” With that, he slammed the door and stormed out. I waited two minutes, then quietly followed him. At the hotel’s outdoor lounge bar, I spotted them immediately. They were playing Truth or Dare. The bottle spun and pointed directly at Serena. Zach cheered, telling her to pick Dare. “I dare you to unbuckle Ethan’s belt!” Serena giggled coyly. “You guys are so bad!” Yet, she was already kneeling right in front of Ethan. Ethan casually wrapped his hand around her waist. Amidst the cheers of the crowd, she reached out, parted his unbuttoned shirt, and let her fingers slide provocatively across his abs. Then, her hand slid lower, unbuckling his belt. Ethan stared down at her the entire time, a self-satisfied, indulgent smirk on his face. I waited until she was completely finished before walking straight over to their booth and sitting down. The smirk on Ethan’s face froze. He instinctively let go of Serena, scrambling to put some distance between them. He clearly hadn’t expected me to follow him. The atmosphere turned painfully awkward for a few seconds before Zach laughed it off. “Hey, Chloe’s here! Come join the game!” I didn’t say a word. I just picked up a glass of alcohol in front of me. Someone nervously spun the bottle again to keep the game going, asking Serena: “Who’s your favorite person here?” She shot a shy, longing glance at Ethan. “My favorite is definitely Ethan.” With that, she buried her face right into Ethan’s chest. Ethan looked at her with pure adoration, reaching out to gently ruffle her hair. The table erupted in cheers and catcalls. Then someone else asked, “And who do you dislike the most?” Serena put on an innocent face, her voice dripping with mock sadness as her eyes locked directly onto me. “Oh, I don’t dislike anyone! I’m just a little scared of people who are miserable and want to make everyone else miserable too.” The people at the table laughed along. Just then, the bottle spun and landed on Ethan. “Ethan! Dare! Kiss Serena!” Serena protested weakly, “But his wife is watching…” Yet she pressed her body even closer to Ethan, tilting her face up, her eyes full of anticipation. Everyone’s eyes locked onto him. Ethan picked up his glass and took a sip. He didn’t move. His buddy Zach stepped in to smooth things over. “Okay, let’s change it. Truth instead.” He stared at Ethan, drawing out his words. “Ethan, if you weren’t married, would you have married Serena?”

Ethan’s throat bobbed. He quickly downed a massive gulp of his drink. “Zach, you’re drunk. What kind of BS question is that?” He tried to brush it off. But the chanting around the table only grew louder. Ethan’s expression grew more and more strained. He didn’t look at me. Not once. “Alright, guys, stop it,” he muttered. Serena, however, wasn’t letting it go. She giggled and wrapped her arm tightly around Ethan’s. “Don’t be mad, Ethan. Zach’s just curious.” She turned her gaze to me. “Chloe, don’t blame them, okay? We’ve known Ethan since we were kids. We joke around like this all the time.” “Unlike you. I bet you’ve never even stepped foot in a cool bar like this before, right?” As soon as she said that, the entire booth burst into laughter. Ethan said absolutely nothing. He just picked up his glass and took another drink. Tyler stood up, swaying slightly with a full pint of beer in his hand. “Hey, Chloe, let me buy you a drink. Don’t be mad, alright?” As he spoke, his foot “slipped.” The entire glass of ice-cold beer poured directly over my head. My white dress was instantly soaked through, clinging to my skin. “Oh my god, I’m so sorry, Chloe! It was a total accident!” He apologized with his mouth, but his eyes were gleaming with cruel amusement. Ethan frowned slightly. “Tyler, what the hell?” His tone was completely flat, lacking any actual reprimand. My stomach churned with disgust. I couldn’t stand looking at them for another second. “Have fun. I’m going back.” I spun around to leave. As I passed Serena, a foot slyly shot out. I tripped and pitched forward, my knees slamming hard against the wooden deck. The pain was so sharp that my vision went black for a second. “Oh my gosh, Chloe!” Serena shrieked dramatically. Ethan frowned. “Why can’t you watch where you’re going?” He bent down, attempting to help me up. “Don’t touch me.” I slapped his hand away, pushing myself up off the ground. Zach, the loyal lapdog, jumped in to smooth things over again. “Since Chloe had a little fall, let’s play a game to make it up to her!” The empty bottle spun rapidly on the table. Finally, it stopped, pointing directly at me. Serena clapped her hands in delight. “Chloe! How about you crawl around the table on all fours like a little dog and bark twice? We’ll call it even, okay?” Everyone at the table stared at me like they were watching a circus act. I looked at Ethan. His eyes darted away. His face was filled with anxiety—not for me, but because he was terrified I would make a scene and embarrass him. “Babe,” he coaxed gently. “It’s just a game. Don’t take it so seriously.” “Just do it so we can move on.” They wanted me to crawl on the floor like an animal to entertain this trash? I picked up a full glass of wine from the table and downed it. “I don’t crawl.” Serena’s smile faded. She pouted, tugging at Ethan’s arm. “Ethan, look at her. She’s such a buzzkill.” Then, her eyes flicked toward the small stage in the center of the bar. “Well, how about Chloe goes up on stage and dances for us instead? That counts too.” “With a body like yours, Chloe, I bet it’ll be a real show.” On stage, several scantily clad women were dancing provocatively. I heard her whisper to Zach in a voice she clearly intended for me to hear. “Look at her acting all high and mighty with that resting bitch face.” “Today, I’m going to make sure she knows exactly who belongs by Ethan’s side.” Zach chuckled. “Good one. Let’s see her act classy now.” So that was the plan. I slowly turned my head and looked at Ethan. He was whispering something back to Serena, a soft, indulgent smile on his face. He didn’t even notice me looking. To him, I was probably just some uptight, annoying chore. I reached down, picked up a glass overflowing with red wine, and started walking toward the stage. Thinking I had surrendered, Serena let out a triumphant smirk. “Glad you came to your senses, Chloe! Go ahead, we’re all waiting!”

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I made my mate Alpha, beside him as Luna. And in secret, I went back to being the witch no one knows about. Today, Tyson walks into my ritual room with a woman on his arm. “Make her look like my Luna.” The blade in my hand goes cold against my palm. Thank the Goddess for the hooded cloak and the spell masking my scent. He doesn’t recognize me. His own Luna. His fated mate. I keep my voice low, distorted by magic. “Do you understand what this spell does, Alpha Tyson?” “Luna’s bones will crack and reshape. Her face will tear apart from the inside. She’ll lose her scent — every wolf in your pack will walk past her like she’s nothing. She’ll go blind. It’s worse than death.” Tyson looks at me. His eyes are cold. Flat. Like I’m talking about a stranger. “I don’t care. Just do it.” He won’t give up my father’s warriors. But he can’t stand his mistress living in the shadows either. So his plan is to paste my face onto a rogue and let her play Luna? Fine. Seven years of loyalty. Gone. I don’t owe him a damn thing. The only version of me walking back to him will be a widow. And every wolf in Ashgrove will answer to me. “Deal,” I say, turning the blade between my fingers. “But we do this my way. Both women stay here during the process. No interruptions. No one comes in.” Tyson nods. “Alpha.” Nola presses into his chest, fingers curling around his sleeve, lips parted like she wants to say something but won’t. The coldness melts off his face. Just like that. He cups her jaw and murmurs: “Briar’s father commands the most warriors in the region. His wolves only answer to Voss blood. I can’t break ties with her openly.” “And your past… it can’t come to light. This is the safest way.” “Bear with it. After this, you’ll be my Luna. My everything.” Nola’s face lights up. Hope. Hunger. Then she squeezes out a pout of concern. “But what happens to Briar after? She’ll be… ruined. Where will she go?” I’m curious too. What exactly does he plan to do with the real me? Behind the hooded cloak, I watch him. But Tyson doesn’t answer. He turns at the door. “Don’t try anything. And don’t damage her before delivery — I need her untouched.” Then he pulls Nola out with him. I call after him. “Alpha Tyson. When you bring Luna tomorrow, not a scratch on her. No bruises, no cuts. Her skin and hair — untouched. Or the spell won’t hold.” He doesn’t turn around. “Tomorrow.” The chamber door shuts. I pull back the hood. Peel off the cloak. From the witch no one’s ever seen, I become Briar Voss again. Thank the Goddess I listened to my father. He told me never to reveal my witch bloodline to anyone — especially not my mate. He told me to keep my Gamma close and my secrets closer. I tap the edge of the ritual table twice. Fenn steps out of the shadows — my Gamma. She’s been with me since before the mating ceremony. Ironveil-born. Loyal only to me. “Find out everything about that rogue,” I tell her. “I want to know exactly how ‘unspeakable’ her past is.” “And tomorrow — you take my place here. Wear the cloak, use the voice-masking spell. Let him think you’re the witch. When he brings ‘his Luna,’ take her in. I’ll handle the rest.” Fenn nods once and disappears. I pull my cloak back on and slip out the hidden path toward the pack house. The night air hits my skin. Somewhere in the distance, wolves are howling on a pack run. Seven years ago, Tyson swore under this same moon that he’d never betray me. I believed him. Now I’m going to make sure the only Alpha this pack ever answers to again is my five-year-old son, Callum.

Back in the Alpha’s wing of the pack house, I set out a tray of moonberry cakes. I made them by hand. His favorite flavor. The wolfsbane variant I folded into the batter is something no healer in any pack would recognize — because I invented it. It won’t kill him. It won’t even make him sick. It’ll just make sure Callum is the last pup he ever sires. I’m arranging the tray when Tyson walks in. “Briar.” His voice is soft. Warm. “Still up? It’s late.” He’s carrying a cup. The steam curls up between us. “The healer made this for you. It’ll help with your sleep — you’ve been looking tired lately.” His eyes are gentle. That look on his face — tender, concerned, like I’m something precious. Same look he gave me seven years ago when he got on one knee at the borderlands under a full moon and swore he’d never let me down. I believed him then. I let him bring the cup to my lips. Wolfsbane. Diluted. I can taste it under the herbs — faint, but there. Enough to suppress my wolf, cut off my mindlink, make me too weak to shift or fight. He’s drugging me. To make tomorrow easier. I drink every drop. Then I smile up at him. “Tyson. You’re always so good to me.” Something flickers behind his eyes — guilt, maybe — and vanishes. I pick up the tray of cakes and hold it out, eyes bright. “You’ve been running this pack day and night since your father got too weak. You barely eat. I made these for you — new recipe. Try one?” He takes one. Bites. Chews. “These are good.” He takes another. Then a third. I watch him swallow and feel nothing. Seven years ago, the Blood Plague swept through the borderlands. Wolves were dropping dead by the dozens. Tyson was stationed there — and he caught it. I didn’t sleep for five days. I used every scrap of healer knowledge I had, every spell my mother’s bloodline gave me, and I brewed a cure no one thought was possible. Then I ran. Three days straight in wolf form, carrying the cure in my jaws, until I reached him. He was half-dead when I got there. Skin grey. Eyes empty. I brought him back. After that, his father — the old Alpha — finally looked at him. Finally saw a son worth naming heir. At our mating ceremony, the old Alpha stood before the whole pack and passed the title to Tyson. And Tyson — he held my face in his hands that night, eyes red, voice cracking. “Briar, being your mate is the greatest thing that ever happened to me.” “If it wasn’t for you, I’d have burned with the rest of them. You gave me the cure, you gave me the title, you gave me everything.” “I’ll spend the rest of my life making sure every she-wolf in this world envies you.” Now he doesn’t even remember I know medicine. He’s feeding me wolfsbane with a lover’s smile, planning to send me off to be destroyed tomorrow. “Tyson.” I set the cup down, empty. He looks at me. “These cakes,” I say. “You really like them?” “Love them.” He pops the last crumb into his mouth. I tuck myself against his chest, letting the wolfsbane drag my limbs heavy. He carries me to bed. He doesn’t know that after tonight, Callum will be the only pup he ever sires.

The wolfsbane hits hard. My whole body goes slack. My wolf — silent. The mindlink — dead. I can’t shift. Can’t even lift my arms. Tyson lays me on the bed and stands over me, back turned. “Briar. Don’t blame me for this.” “Your father’s warriors only answer to Voss blood. I can’t touch them, and I can’t afford to turn against you openly.” “Everyone whispers behind my back — that I’m only Alpha because of you. Because of your father’s wolves. Because you handed me the cure and I took the credit.” “So I brought Nola back. She’ll wear your face. Take your place. Your father will never know.” “But I won’t abandon you. Even without your face, even without your scent — I’ll keep you hidden. Take care of you. You’ll be safe.” He says “safe” with his back to me. Says it again, quieter. Like he’s convincing himself. I force out a laugh. Thin. Ragged. “Tyson. I’ve been your Luna for seven years. I built alliances for you wolf by wolf. My father gave you his warriors — and you want to take them from Voss blood?” “You’re putting a rogue in my place. The real goal isn’t just replacing me. It’s swallowing my family whole.” His fists clench. He doesn’t turn around. “A blood family whose warriors outnumber mine three to one. No Alpha can stomach that forever.” He walks out. Wolfsbane burns in my throat. Then — footsteps. Heels clicking on stone. Nola sweeps in wearing one of my dresses. “Oh, Briar.” She crouches beside the bed. “Your Gamma’s not here. Your warriors are posted outside the territory on patrol — Tyson sent them out this morning. No one’s coming for you.” “Originally he wanted you gone for good. I’m the one who convinced him to let you live.” “So you should thank me, really. Even as a ruined wolf, at least you’ll be breathing.” She leans closer, breath hot on my ear. “And once I have my own pups with him? Your little Callum is dead weight.” “How does that feel? Helpless yet?” Her pretty face twists into something ugly. I keep my eyes closed. I don’t waste my breath on her. But her idea about Callum? That seals it. Tomorrow, in my ritual room, I’ll make sure she begs for a death I’ll never give. “Mama!” A small voice. Outside the door. My five-year-old. Callum. “Papa said you’re sick. I came to take care of you!” Nola straightens up fast. She leans over me. “Keep playing dead. I’ll deal with your pup.” My eyes snap open. I try to scream— “Callum — go back! Mama’s fine—” It comes out barely a whisper. The wolfsbane has taken everything. Nola strides out. Her voice goes sharp. Loud. Dripping with authority she doesn’t have. “The Alpha heir? Your father said you’re not allowed near your mother. And you disobey? Ungrateful little—” “You think you can give me orders? Lock him in the storage room. No lights.” Callum is afraid of the dark. He’s been afraid since he was three. Panic claws up my throat. I throw everything I have into sitting up— My body slides off the bed and hits the floor. Outside, my son’s voice rings out. Small. But every word lands like iron. “Moon Goddess teaches us — a pup honors his mother above all.” “You’re no one. A stranger in my mother’s home. You don’t give orders here. You don’t raise your voice in my mother’s room.” “I’m going to find Grandfather. And when I do, you’ll answer for this.” I hear his feet — running. A smile cracks across my face. My pup. Nola’s voice shakes with rage. “Go. Tell the Alpha. Now!” She storms back in. Looks down at me on the floor. “Oh, Briar. On the floor like a rogue. How sad.” “You want the truth? That pup won’t reach the old wolf. Tyson’s already replaced every wolf around the old Alpha with his own. No one’s letting that pup through.” I know. I know all of it. Let Tyson take everything. Let him think he’s the winner. He doesn’t see what’s behind him. Once he’s gone, Callum is the only heir. A five-year-old heir needs his mother. And this mother has an entire army of Ironveil warriors one howl away. Let them have tonight. After tomorrow, the only one playing games will be me.

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On Easter Sunday, to amuse his adopted daughter Sofia, family heir Luca and his brother Marco dressed me up as a clown. Sofia ripped my gown to shreds and scrawled “TRAITOR” across my face with her lipstick. When I didn’t react, she kicked me into a barrel of pig slop. When they fished me out, the yard was ringed with family members holding up their phones, their jeers cutting like glass. Marco stood a hundred feet away, pinching his nose in disgust, refusing to come within ten feet of me. Sofia beamed. “Elena, happy Easter!” Luca stepped in front of her, shielding her with his body. “It was just a joke,” he said lightly. “Don’t take it so seriously.” He raised his hand and signaled his men. A high-pressure hose came on full blast. The water knocked me flat. I lay there shivering, my skin turning purple with cold. I didn’t beg. Not once. By morning, the video of me soaked and trembling had spread across the entire underworld. Marco blamed me for dragging Sofia’s name through the mud. He threw me out. Luca tore up our engagement contract in front of everyone. “The Costa family doesn’t marry women with stains on their name.” I nodded to each of them. No argument. No tears. They thought I was putting on a brave face. Pretending. They didn’t know the transaction had only three days left. These people? I couldn’t stand the sight of them. In the courtyard, Don Vittorio sat in his high-backed chair and gestured for his capo to step forward. “Shameless! Filthy!” The capo’s belt came down on me again and again. I didn’t explain. I just bit down and took it. Arguing would only make the beating worse. I had barely been back in this house a week when Sofia accused me of stealing her diamond brooch. Of being a mole. My parents searched my room. My brothers stripped me naked in front of the whole household. They found nothing. I thought I might finally get an apology. Instead, Marco knocked out one of my teeth with a single backhanded slap. “You sold it, didn’t you?” he spat. “Where’s the money?” My room was the size of a closet. I didn’t have a single bank card to my name. I tried to explain. He hit me harder, called me a liar who wouldn’t confess. I curled into a ball in the corner. He kicked me until I coughed up blood. Then Sofia gasped. “Found it.” The diamond brooch glittered in the sunlight. To me, it was blinding. I looked at Marco. Not a trace of guilt on his face. He just shrugged. “A little misunderstanding,” he said flatly. “Forget about it.” “I’m Sofia’s brother. Of course I trust her.” He knew he was Sofia’s brother. He forgot I was his real sister. Back in the courtyard, the capo’s belt kept swinging. My body was a mess of bloody welts. Marco stood right there and didn’t say a single word in my defense. He’d let Sofia humiliate me, photograph me naked—then he blamed me for ruining her reputation. He’d tossed my few belongings out the front gate and told me to get lost. I agreed to leave. But my father, Don Vittorio, roared, “You think you can just walk out? You haven’t shamed us enough?” He ordered the family punishment tools brought out. Two hours into the beating, my mother, Donna Caterina, finally raised a hand. “Enough,” she said. “Have her kiss the ring ninety-nine times and write a blood oath. We’ll call it settled.” Don Vittorio threw down his belt, irritated. “You spoil her.” Spoil. I almost laughed. “Kiss the ring,” in my mother’s language, meant pressing your forehead to the Don’s ring and kissing it. If it didn’t make a sound, it didn’t count. The blood oath had to be written in your own blood. Under ten thousand words, or not “sincere” enough, and you did it over. I didn’t speak. I bent down again and again, kissing that ring until I passed out. They threw cold water on me, and when I came to, I kept kissing. I wrote the blood oath all night. Every word scraping me deeper into the dirt. I thought that would be enough. Sofia pinched her nose and stepped back. “Marco, it’s not that I don’t want Elena in the house, but… she reeks.” My brother ruffled her hair fondly and shot me a look of disgust. “You’re not fit for the servants’ quarters. Go stay with Bruno.” Bruno was Sofia’s pit bull. And I was terrified of dogs. I remembered the day they first brought me back. Sofia had been just as disgusted, but back then Marco had only sent me to the warehouse—not the kennel. The cage in the warehouse was bigger than the servant’s room I’d gotten later. And without Sofia giving orders, the guards didn’t bite. I could at least sleep. The kennel—I couldn’t. I dropped to my knees in front of Don Vittorio and Donna Caterina, kissing the ring like my life depended on it. “Don Vittorio, Donna Caterina—if I stink, let me leave the family. Let me go back to the warehouse. Please, I’m begging you, don’t make me stay with the dog.” Don Vittorio’s face softened, just slightly. He was about to speak when Marco grabbed me by the collar. “Elena, stop playing the victim! You’re the reason this family is a laughingstock. You should be grateful you have anywhere to sleep at all.” He dragged me toward the kennel. I looked back at Don Vittorio. He turned away. The stench hit me before I even stepped inside. The dog’s fangs gleamed inches from my face. I closed my eyes. And then the system’s cold mechanical voice echoed in my skull. “Two days left until the host’s transaction is complete.”

I went still. I forced myself to breathe. Two more days. I couldn’t quit now. Three years ago, Sofia had complained of a stomachache after drinking. She’d glared at me with red-rimmed eyes and demanded to know why I’d poisoned her. Before I could get a word out, Marco had pried my mouth open and poured a whole bottle of liquor down my throat. The pain shut my body down. I collapsed in the bathroom. No one checked on me. The whole family took Sofia to a private hospital. As I lay dying, a mechanical voice rang out in my skull: “Host life value detected at zero. Revenge Contract forcibly bound.” “Current mission: Survive three years.” “Mission success: The suffering you endured will be returned tenfold to your enemies. You will also receive a cash reward of one hundred million US dollars.” “Mission failure: Annihilation of the soul.” Back then, I thought I was hallucinating. I didn’t know what a contract was. But when I woke up in that bathroom, my stomach no longer twisting in agony, I believed. The contract gave me a second chance. I was eighteen that year. I started keeping my head down. I learned to stay quiet. I learned to survive. I recalled everything I knew about surviving in this world. I suppressed my fear. I stayed perfectly still. The pit bull circled me, its warmth against my skin both wet and unnerving. Outside the cage, Sofia clung to Luca’s arm, all charm. “Luca, your fiancée smells so bad she’s been sent to the kennel. Does that break your heart?” Luca glanced at me with total indifference. “Don’t say that. I don’t have a fiancée. That engagement was torn up a long time ago.” Even now, my chest twisted. Luca had been different from the rest of them. He was my childhood friend from the streets. When he first showed up in my neighborhood, he had a broken leg and nobody to protect him. I stayed on that block to watch over him. He could barely move, so I stole food for him. I fought off anyone who came for him. One winter, some thugs tried to take his crutch for firewood. I threw myself in front of him. They hung me upside down from a lamppost. They packed snowballs hard as stones and used me for target practice. They broke my nose. Blood everywhere. Luca held my frozen body and cried all night. “Elena,” he whispered. “When I grow up, I’ll protect you.” I smiled through the haze and believed him. Later, when the Costa family brought me home, the first thing I did was help Luca find his real family. He turned out to be the abandoned bastard son of the Balzeri family—our enemies. They’d thrown him away on purpose. To get him back into his family, I proposed a marriage alliance between us. Marco called me cheap. “Back for five minutes and already chasing a man.” I knelt in the courtyard for seven days. No food. No water. My knees ground to blood and bone. At the end of it, I had a marriage contract. It wasn’t that the Costas were beneath me—it was that Don Vittorio and Donna Caterina wanted me to marry higher, to be a stepping stone for Sofia’s rise. The day we went to pick Luca up from the streets, his eyes were swollen and red. He held me so tight I could barely breathe. He swore to the heavens,”Elena, once I’m established in my family, I’ll marry you!” But he never did. He tore up our contract with his own hands. Then he handed me to Sofia like a toy. When did it change? Maybe when Sofia first called him “Luca.” She was prettier than me. Cleaner. Sweeter. She knew exactly how to make people love her. She looped her arm through his and said, “Luca, your engagement to Elena—that was forced, wasn’t it?” Luca didn’t deny it. Maybe it was at some negotiation when I took a drink for him—drank until I vomited blood, collapsed on the floor, couldn’t get up. Luca looked down at me and said, “Elena, you look pathetic.” I brought up marriage once. Rings. A wedding. He got annoyed. He plucked a weed from the roadside and twined it around my finger. Then he went to an auction, crushed every other bidder, and bought a pink diamond for Sofia. He designed the ring himself. I asked him once, “Luca, do you still remember what you said back in the streets?” He laughed—a laugh I’d never heard from him before. Full of mockery. “Elena, you bring up the streets every single day. Don’t you get tired of it?” “Yes, you helped me. But you’ve held that over my head for years. Isn’t that enough?” Held it over him? I’d broken my knees for him. Starved for him. Risked everything to buy him a future. He said, “Elena, stop pretending. You only wanted this marriage because you’re the least favorite daughter in your family.” “Nobody else would have you, so you latched onto me.” “You’re that desperate for a man?” Something inside me shattered. Sofia’s laugh pulled me back to the present. “Luca, don’t be so harsh. Elena was your fiancée for years.” Luca sneered. “Fiancée? A clingy beggar? She was never worthy of that word.” I took a deep breath and asked the system silently. “Does betrayal trigger the backlash too?”

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We were splitting into groups for our senior AP capstone project, and everyone had the freedom to choose their own teammates. When it was my turn, I asked five different groups, and every single one of them awkwardly rejected me. Chloe Miller, the new transfer student, held the sign-up sheet and looked at me with a smirk. “How does it feel? I told you, with just one word from me, no one in this entire grade would dare to team up with you.” “My dad is the CEO of the Vance Group. No matter how hard you work, you won’t even reach my pinky toe.” Around her, Chloe’s little minions started snickering. I, however, was completely frozen. Only because the actual CEO of the Vance Group is my dad. But my dad is a trophy husband who married into my mother’s family on a strict prenup. Since when did he have the guts to father such a massive secret child? Seeing me stand there in silence, Chloe became even more arrogant. “What’s the matter? Scared? A bookworm like you who only knows how to memorize textbooks will only drag down our GPA. Do you really think you’re worthy of choosing your own teammates?” Only knows how to memorize? I stayed up for months doing field research and data analysis, volunteered at the community library every weekend to build my portfolio, and my extracurricular resume could easily fill three pages. And she dared to call me a bookworm? Just as I was about to speak, Lily, our class representative, sighed and whispered, “Elena, why don’t you… join the group over there? They still need one more person anyway.” I followed her gaze. Three girls were sitting in the corner. They were the most quiet, overlooked girls in class, all of whom had been bullied by Chloe before. There was Lily herself, who had once had a cup of Coca-Cola poured over her head by Chloe. And two other girls—one who had been openly mocked by Chloe for a birthmark on her face, and another who had been publicly humiliated because her family was struggling financially. Chloe called them the “Trash Disposal Unit.” Without hesitation, I walked over to their table and sat down. “Great, let’s be a group.” Lily looked up, her eyes slightly red. “Elena…” I smiled at her. “It’s fine. We’ll nail this on our own.” Behind us, Chloe let out an exaggerated, mocking laugh. “Oh look, the Trash Disposal Unit is officially formed! Good luck, girls. Try to get a D-minus so you don’t tank the class average.” Her followers laughed along. I didn’t look back. But I clenched my fists. Chloe wasn’t done. She walked over to my desk, looking down at me. “Elena, you belong with this trash. This school wouldn’t even run without my dad’s donations. Let me tell you, I run this class. If I say you can’t join a good group, you can’t!” “Who do you think you are to compete with me? Do you know that with one call to my dad, I can have you blacklisted from every prep school in this district?” “What’s all the noise about?” An impatient voice came from the door. It was our academic advisor, Mr. Carter. He walked in with a grading folder under his arm, frowning as he scanned the room. “It’s just a group project. Why are you all shouting? Who’s causing trouble now?” Chloe instantly wiped the smirk off her face, replacing it with a victimized look. “Mr. Carter, Elena is throwing a fit because she doesn’t like her group. She’s making a scene and disrupting everyone!” I was almost laughing at how shamelessly she twisted the truth. “Mr. Carter, that’s not what happened—” “Alright, alright,” Mr. Carter interrupted impatiently, waving his hand. “It’s just a group assignment. Chloe, your group is full. Elena, aren’t you already with Lily’s group? Just do your work. Stop arguing and get back to class.” He turned and left. Throughout the entire exchange, he didn’t bother to ask who was right or wrong, nor did he look at anyone. He was like a fire extinguisher—spraying wherever there was a spark, not caring if the fire was actually out, as long as it didn’t burn his own fingers. Lily pulled at the corner of my sleeve and whispered, “Elena, let it go…” I took a deep breath and sat down. Let it go. For now. Chloe gave me a triumphant look and walked back to her seat. But I noticed a very strange, smug smile on her face. That smile made a cold shiver run down my spine. I immediately called my mom, but the call went straight to a automated voicemail. She was on a flight to Europe.

The next day, I understood the meaning of that smile. My capstone project. Three months of hard work, a thirty-thousand-word draft, and over two hundred cited data points. All of it was completely gone. My laptop’s trash bin was empty. The cloud backup had been wiped clean. My USB drive was missing. I frantically searched the entire classroom and finally found my USB drive in the trash can. There was a clear footprint stamped right on its plastic casing. As Chloe walked past my desk, she leaned in and whispered, “Elena, you have no proof. What can you possibly do to me?” At the school’s end-of-term academic showcase, Chloe stood on the stage, presenting her capstone project. “Microplastics Distribution in the San Francisco Bay Area and Its Ecological Impact on Aquatic Life.” At least half of the core concepts and data points in her slides were things I had discussed with her three months ago. And my name was nowhere to be found, not even in the acknowledgments. I stood up right there in the auditorium and challenged her. “What are the criteria for the Best Capstone Project? My research was awarded a perfect score by the District Academic Review Committee and won the school the Annual Academic Innovation Award, leading the runner-up by over fifty points—while Chloe can’t even explain the basic methodology of her experiment because she stole it from my laptop!” The entire auditorium fell dead silent. The dean and the department head looked at each other, neither of them daring to speak. Chloe looked down at me from the stage with pure arrogance. “Of course your so-called research was disqualified.” She let out a cold laugh. “Do you think we don’t know how you got that data? Last Friday night, someone saw you on the West Side bar street, dressed… very provocatively.” “The school will not tolerate academic dishonesty or inappropriate behavior. For now, we are only stripping you of your award. If you continue to ruin this school’s reputation with such filthy methods, expulsion will be next!” I was shaking with anger, my eyes scanning the school board and faculty on the stage. The very same teachers who used to praise my sharp mind and academic potential were now dodging my gaze, pretending to be deaf and blind. Just then, a deep voice echoed from the back of the auditorium. “What is going on here?” Everyone turned around. Principal White walked in with a dark expression. He was only invited to present the awards, so he clearly didn’t expect to walk into such a mess. The dean rushed over to him and whispered in his ear. As Principal White listened, his frown deepened. His eyes flickered with relief when he looked at Chloe, but turned icy cold when they landed on me. He walked onto the stage and took the microphone. “Elena, the school’s reputation comes first. Cooperate with us for now. Once the showcase is over, I will give you an explanation.” “Cooperate?” My eyes welled with tears, and my voice trembled. “By ‘cooperate,’ do you mean I should just stay quiet while the project I spent a month staying up until 2 a.m. to write, verify, and perfect gets handed over to someone else?” “And you’re going to erase all my hard work just because of a baseless accusation she made?” “Let me ask you, where is the fairness? Where is the justice? Aren’t you ashamed of doing this to a student who actually brought glory to this school?” Principal White was left speechless by my questions, but Chloe didn’t show a single shred of shame. She raised her chin at me. “Fairness?” She scoffed. “Elena, don’t be so naive. In this world, whoever has the power defines what’s fair.” “If you want justice, go find a billionaire dad to buy it for you. Too bad you don’t have one.” With undisguised contempt, she sneered, “Meanwhile, my status as the daughter of the Vance Group’s CEO is enough to keep you crushed under my feet for the rest of your life!” I stared at her, a strange, uneasy feeling growing in my chest. She was so confident… Could my dad really have…? No, impossible. My mom is far too smart and powerful. My dad wouldn’t dare. But I didn’t realize that my palms were already sweating. I suddenly spoke up. “I heard that Mr. Vance only has one daughter. I wonder where you popped up from, Chloe?” Chloe’s expression stiffened for a second, then she rolled her eyes. “That’s my older sister. Of course I’ve met her. But she lives abroad and rarely comes back to the States. A low-class commoner like you would never get to see her anyway.” I sneered. “Really? If you’re so high-class, why did you have to steal someone else’s research and grant money? Are you sure you’re not a fake?” “You!” Chloe’s face turned pale with rage as she glared at me. “Elena! Don’t push your luck. Your award was revoked because you don’t deserve it. I won this fair and square!” “Fair and square?” I took a step forward, locking eyes with her. “Do you mean by sleeping through classes, playing on your phone, saying absolutely nothing during group discussions, and not even knowing how to write a basic literature review?” “Or do you mean the talent of staring at a blank Google Doc all day and only typing the words ‘Capstone Project’?”

I didn’t speak fast, but every single word was a slap to her face. Her mouth hung open, unable to find a comeback. She looked at Principal White for help. Disappointment flashed across Principal White’s face, and he raised his voice at me. “Elena! Watch your mouth! This is an elite preparatory academy, not a flea market. You don’t get to yell at people here!” “Don’t think that just because you won a few awards for the school in the past, you can look down on everyone. This is a meritocracy. You need to accept being replaced by someone more capable. Stop making a scene!” All eyes turned to me. Everyone was waiting to see me ruin my reputation over a fifty-thousand-dollar scholarship grant. Fifty thousand? I wouldn’t care if it were five hundred thousand. What I wanted was justice. I didn’t scream, and I didn’t argue. I just gave them a sarcastic smile. “Fine. I accept it. The Best Capstone Project award should indeed go to the ‘more capable’ student.” The moment I got back to my seat, two school-wide email notifications popped up on everyone’s phones. [Student Elena Vance is suspected of academic dishonesty and has severely violated the honor code. Elena Vance’s academic awards for this semester are officially revoked, and she is placed on immediate suspension.] [Transfer student Chloe Miller, who bravely defended academic integrity and demonstrated outstanding performance, has brought great honor to our school. She is now awarded the research grant, replacing Elena Vance on all scholarship rosters.] Immediately after, Principal White’s voice blared through the school’s PA system. [Elena Vance, for violating school rules and showing disrespect to faculty, you are required to submit a five-thousand-word apology letter to the Dean of Students’ office. Let this be a warning to all students!] This was too much. They stripped me of my project, turned me into a villain, put me on a public stage of shame, and used my humiliation to build up her authority. The classroom fell dead silent. Even the hallway outside was quiet. Everyone was looking at me with mixed emotions—some with pity, some with anger, and others with sheer amusement. The notification remained pinned at the top of the student portal, as if waiting for me to bow my head in shame. Principal White spoke through the PA again. [Elena Vance, did you hear me?] I still didn’t respond. They kept repeating the announcement like crazy. Lily sent me a Snapchat message: [Elena, don’t be stubborn. Just apologize. Your graduation is on the line.] I smiled at her, but tears welled up in my eyes. I didn’t reply. I turned off my phone, opened an elective textbook, and calmly started reading. I went ahead and deactivated all my school portal accounts, fully accepting the suspension. Principal White, claiming that a suspended student shouldn’t occupy prime classroom space, moved my desk to the very back corner. I was forced to endure the daily pitying and condescending stares of classmates walking by. During lunch, the girls I used to eat with stopped inviting me. When Chloe walked past my desk, she tilted her cup, letting a few drops of her boba tea splash onto my notebook. “Oh, my bad,” she giggled, her eyes completely devoid of apology. Chloe proudly sat in my former seat, ordering everyone in class around. But my seat wasn’t that easy to sit in. Every step of that capstone project, from topic selection to data analysis, from literature review to final conclusion, was done entirely by me. But Chloe knew absolutely nothing. Within days, several professors from the review board began questioning the authenticity of her project, demanding to see the raw sampling records and lab data. The school was suddenly facing a major academic scandal. Principal White finally couldn’t take the pressure anymore. Swallowing his pride, he walked over to my desk in the corner. “Elena, you were the one who collected the raw data for this project. The review board wants to verify the sources. Hand over the raw sampling logs and lab records to Chloe so she can submit them.”

I slowly looked up, pretending to be utterly confused. “Principal White, are you asking the wrong person? I’m currently a ‘suspected plagiarist.’ If I hand over my data, what if I get accused of stealing it again?” He paused, his voice turning stiff. “This is about solving a real-school crisis. Don’t let your emotions get the best of you.” I spread my hands. “It’s not that I don’t want to help. The Dean’s office confiscated all my research journals and hard drives yesterday under the guise of ‘investigation.’ You should ask them.” His face froze, his eyes burning with anger. “Are you doing this on purpose?” I looked at him calmly. “Principal White, I am currently suspended. According to school policy, I am barred from participating in any academic affairs. You should let Chloe handle this.” Principal White looked extremely embarrassed, but he forced himself to stay patient. “How about this? You give her the data, and we’ll let this whole thing slide. I will reinstate your award eligibility.” I looked up at him. “Principal White, you know those samples took me three months, traveling to five different spots across the Bay Area, to collect.” He was silent for a moment, then murmured, “I know. But Chloe has the Vance Group backing her. What do you have?” I smiled. “Principal White, shouldn’t you ask the winner of the Best Capstone Project? Her project was so brilliant, surely she collected her own data.” His face flushed a deep crimson, struggling to keep his temper in check. “Elena, it was just some school drama. Are you really taking it this seriously?” My smile remained, but it turned ice-cold. “So revoking my award and taking away my fifty-thousand-dollar grant was just ‘school drama’?” “And labeling a project I wrote line-by-line as plagiarism was also just ‘school drama’?” Every word I said felt like a physical slap to his face. His face turned from red to white, then to a dark purple. He stood there in silence. I knew he was fighting with his own pride—after all, apologizing to a student didn’t fit his prestigious principal persona. Just then, Chloe ran over, looking ecstatic. “Principal White! My dad just agreed to increase his donation to the school’s endowment!” A victorious grin instantly broke across Principal White’s face. “That is outstanding! Chloe, you are truly a blessing to this school. With the Vance Group backing us, who cares about those review board skeptics?” He turned to me, glaring with absolute malice. “Elena, you are officially expelled. Go to the administration building and sign your withdrawal papers right now!” I nodded calmly. “Fine. But I expect the school to pay out my contract compensation according to the enrollment agreement.” He lost his mind and yelled, “Compensation? You have caused immense damage to this school’s reputation! Just wait until our lawyers sue you!” Chloe sneered, “Elena, I will make sure you are blacklisted from every school in California!” I smiled faintly. “I’ll be waiting.” I quietly packed my backpack and walked out of the school I had dedicated a year of my life to. I had poured all my time and energy into this place. I didn’t rely on my family background; I used my own brain to put this school on the academic map. And in return, I was expelled. My heart felt like it had been sliced by an icicle—cold and bleeding. A few classmates came out to see me off, offering quiet words of comfort. Lily said with tears in her eyes, “Elena, you’re so smart. You’ll do amazing wherever you go. Don’t listen to Chloe. You’re going to get into a much better school.” I smiled and said nothing. Chloe didn’t have the power to stop me. Once I stepped off school grounds, my phone rang. It was my mom. “Elena, honey, I just landed. I’m scheduled to sign the endowment agreement at your school next week. How are things?” I kept my voice flat. “Mom, I’ve been expelled.” Silence on the other end. “Why?” “Chloe Miller says she’s Dad’s daughter—the sole heiress of the Vance Group. Principal White believed her.” The phone was silent for five long seconds. Then, my mom’s voice came through, cold and deep as an abyss. “I see. I’ll see you next week.” I hung up and let out a soft laugh. Don’t worry, everyone. The show is about to start. When I showed up at the annual scholarship banquet, everyone from my former school was shocked. Especially Principal White and Chloe, whose eyes practically shot daggers at me.

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