While I was delivering food at the mall, I watched in horror as my daughter tumbled down a long flight of stairs, her leg bone snapping on impact. The agony bleached her small face white. I was about to scoop her up and call 911 when a scalding hot latte drenched my head. “You filthy charity case! Stealing in broad daylight!” a heavily pregnant woman shrieked, ripping the birthday necklace from my daughter’s neck. Her posse of friends jeered and laughed. “You dare touch something that belongs to the Stone family? Do you have any idea who this is? Sophia Bell, fiancée of Mr. Stone, the CEO of Stone Corporation!” I wiped the sticky latte from my face, my voice as cold as a winter frost. “Stone?” Sophia jutted out her stomach proudly. “The richest family in New York! Cross me, and you and this little brat are dead.” How interesting. Of the two Mr. Stones at Stone Corporation, one is my husband, and the other is my son. … I immediately pulled out my phone and dialed my son, Adam. “You and your father get your asses down to the Grand Atrium right now.” If that little punk knew how to admit he was wrong and could learn to control his power-tripping little girlfriend, I wasn’t entirely against letting this Sophia girl into our family. But Adam’s voice on the other end was impatient, laced with accusation. “Mom, can you not cause drama? I told you, Dad and I are swamped right now. We don’t have time for your games.” My face hardened. “If I don’t see you in twenty minutes,” I said, my voice dangerously low, “I swear I’ll take a sledgehammer to every single one of your new toys in the garage.” Adam cherished the Rolls-Royce in that garage more than life itself. He wouldn’t risk a single scratch on his precious car. The second I hung up, the crowd around me erupted in laughter. “Hahahaha! Calling her husband and son? It’s the middle of the day, don’t you have deliveries to make? Wouldn’t want to interrupt your pathetic, minimum-wage-earning husband!” “A family of bums. You could deliver food for the rest of your lives and you still couldn’t afford a single gem on Sophia’s necklace!” Monica had fallen from so high. Her little body was a mess of fractures, bruised and swollen. She was so small, the pain robbing her of the ability to even speak properly. She curled into my arms like a kitten. “Mommy… it hurts…” I fought down the inferno of rage building inside me and lifted my fading daughter, heading for the exit. Saving my child was the priority. I’d settle the score with Adam and Sophia later. But I’d only taken two steps when a stiletto heel dug into the small of my back. I stumbled on the polished floor, losing my grip, and we both went flying. “Ah!” A sickening thud echoed through the atrium. My vision went black as my forehead slammed into the sharp marble edge of a step. A warm gush of blood erupted from my brow, the thick, metallic scent filling my senses as it streamed down my face. Before I could even catch my breath, Sophia’s foot pressed my head to the ground. “You thieving bitch! Trying to run?” Monica had been thrown from my arms, her tiny body hitting the floor with a dull, heavy sound. “Mmm… Mommy!” Her face was chalk-white as she desperately tried to crawl back to me. Her trembling little hands feebly slapped at Sophia’s leg. “Bad… bad lady! Don’t… don’t step on my mommy…” Sophia bent down and yanked Monica up by her hair. She raised her hand. Crack! Crack! Crack! Three sharp slaps echoed in the cavernous space. “You little bitch! You dare to hit me?” Monica’s cheeks instantly swelled, her lip splitting open. Blood and saliva trickled down her chin, staining her little white dress crimson. My vision turned red. Ignoring the searing pain in my forehead, I scrambled forward and snatched my daughter back. “Stop it!” I roared. “You’re pregnant, you’re going to be a mother yourself! Have some goddamn decency!” Sophia just laughed, a cruel, mocking sound, as she stroked her swollen belly. “You think trash like you is even worthy of being compared to the noble Stone heir in my womb?” She tilted her chin up, and then, she kicked. A sharp, brutal kick aimed right at Monica, who was twitching in my arms. “No!” A desperate scream tore from my throat. I threw myself over her, trying to shield her with my body. But I was too late. Monica’s cry of pain was a knife twisting in my ear. The rage that had been simmering in my gut erupted, incinerating every last shred of my reason. I stared at Sophia’s distorted face and spat out a mouthful of bloody saliva. “Sophia Bell! For what you’ve done today, you will never set foot in the Stone family home!” “Even if Adam gets on his knees and begs until his head bleeds, the Stones will never accept a venomous snake like you as a daughter-in-law!” I was shaking with fury. I fumbled for my cracked phone and dialed 911. “Hello? 911…” Sophia’s eyes narrowed. She lunged forward, kicking the phone from my grasp. She brought her heel down, stomping on my hand and the phone beneath it. The stiletto’s sharp point drove into the back of my hand. A sickening crunch of bone echoed, and a blinding, all-consuming pain shot through my entire body. The agony was so intense, every limb trembled. “Aaaargh!!!” I screamed. As if to make sure the phone was completely destroyed, Sophia ground her heel into it, twisting. The sharp agony of bone and flesh separating made a cold sweat break out across my back. The screen under her heel went black. The pain was so excruciating I was convulsing, on the verge of passing out. But Sophia just stood over me, her belly prominent, looking down as if I were an insect. “You dare call the cops? Even if they came, they’d just make you and your little thief pay for my necklace.” She kicked me again. “You old hag, worrying about whether I’ll marry into the Stone family? Save it.” “Worry about how you’re going to pay me back for my necklace!” “It was custom-made in Italy! The repair costs alone are more than you’ll ever make in your miserable life!” Her eyes raked over me with a malicious contempt, as if I were garbage. “Maybe you should quit the delivery gig. Go clean yourself up and sell that body of yours. At your age, tsk, tsk, you could work yourself to death and probably still not pay it off!” The fawning voices of her friends immediately chimed in. “Sophia, you’re giving her too much credit. She looks like she’s over thirty. Who’d want that old hag?” “I wouldn’t pay two bucks for her. I wouldn’t even let her warm my feet for free, she’s too bony!” “Hahahaha! You never know, maybe she could find some business with the old men under the bridge!” The vile, degrading insults rained down on me. In all my years as Eleanor Vance, a titan of the business world, I had never faced such humiliation. I fought to control the rage coursing through my veins. I gritted my teeth, holding my daughter’s bruised, faintly breathing body, and looked at the crowd. My voice was a raw, bloody whisper as I pleaded. “My daughter didn’t steal anything. Please, someone, call 911, call an ambulance.” “She’s only four. She can’t take much more of this. Nothing is more important than a human life!” But no one moved. Sophia’s friends watched with cold indifference, their faces a mixture of mockery and disgust. “She’s just some delivery driver. Her life is worthless. She pissed off Sophia, she deserves to die.” “Stop wailing, it’s so depressing.” Sophia raised her chin, smugly toying with the family heirloom bracelet on her wrist. She looked down at me with a show of “mercy,” her smile poisonous. “Lick the filthy blood of you and your daughter off the floor. Lick it clean, and then I’ll call an ambulance for her. How about that?” The crowd buzzed with excitement, eagerly chiming in. “Yeah! Lick it clean! Like a dog!” “This is a nice mall! They’ve made it all dirty with their blood!” Their unified support for Sophia’s cruelty sent my heart plunging into an icy abyss. For Monica… I lowered my head, tears of humiliation mixing with the blood on my face. I stared at the glaring red puddle on the floor, a mixture of my blood and Monica’s. Swallowing the overwhelming shame, I began to lower myself, trembling. The metallic tang of blood filled my nostrils. Just as my lips were about to touch the filth, a commotion erupted from the crowd. “It’s the young Mr. Stone! From Stone Corporation!” The crowd parted abruptly. A tall, well-built young man strode forward, flanked by several bodyguards in black suits. It was that damn kid, Adam. He’d only been working his summer internship for a few weeks, but he’d certainly mastered the grand entrance. The tension in my body instantly gave way. I collapsed to the floor, all my strength gone, still clutching Monica. Sophia scurried towards him like a frightened rabbit. “Adam!” Her voice trembled as she pointed a finger at me and Monica, clutching her stomach. Before Sophia could say a word, her sycophantic friends, their eyes gleaming, rushed to tattle on her behalf. “Mr. Stone! It’s that old woman and her brat!” “They stole Miss Bell’s necklace!” “They wouldn’t admit it even when they were caught! They were so aggressive! They almost hurt Miss Bell!” “That old bitch even tried to call the cops and frame Miss Bell!” Adam’s gaze swept over us, cold and detached. There wasn’t a flicker of emotion in his eyes. He placed a protective hand on Sophia’s belly, smiling at her with an almost fawning tenderness. “Don’t be angry, sweetheart.” “Why lower yourself to their level? Getting upset and hurting yourself and the baby, that’s what really matters.” I suppose Monica and I were such a wreck that the little bastard didn’t even recognize his own mother. He only had eyes for Sophia, who was pouting and playing the victim. “But my necklace…” “What’s one necklace?” Without hesitation, Adam pulled a card from the inner pocket of his suit jacket. It was the supplementary black card his father had given him for his eighteenth birthday just a few days ago. He casually pressed it into Sophia’s hand, his voice indulgent. “Take this. Go buy ten new ones. As long as you’re happy, spend whatever you want.” A chorus of envious gasps rippled through the crowd. “Mr. Stone is so good to Miss Bell!” “Oh my god! Is that a no-limit card? Miss Bell is so lucky!” The flattery was enough to make anyone’s head spin. Sophia’s chin climbed even higher. She shot me a look brimming with venomous triumph and the promise of revenge. I almost laughed. This wet-behind-the-ears punk was playing the part of a domineering CEO. “Adam, they’re so disgusting. I can’t stand to look at them. Get rid of them, will you?” Adam didn’t even bother to look at us again. He gave a cold, dismissive wave of his hand. Two large bodyguards immediately moved forward. They grabbed me as if I were a chicken, their grip rough. The hand that Sophia had stomped on was twisted, the bones shifting again. The pain was so intense my vision swam with black spots. “Drag them away!” Adam barked at the bodyguards. “Don’t let them offend Sophia’s eyes.” Sophia smirked, her eyes raking over my battered body and Monica’s small, pale face. “They look so pitiful and poor. Why don’t we send them to Southeast Asia?” “The old one won’t be worth much, but if you raise the little one for a few years, you could make a good return on your investment.” She wanted to sell us into the sex trade. She wouldn’t even spare a four-year-old child. Where in the hell did this little monster Adam find such a psychopathic, evil girlfriend? “Fine,” Adam said, nodding without a second thought, as if he were merely disposing of two pieces of trash. “Do as Miss Bell says.” The bodyguards grabbed me, dragging the unconscious Monica, and began to haul us away. The crowd of onlookers parted to let them through. Rage flooded my vision. I had never, in my entire life, imagined that the son I had raised for eighteen years could be so monstrous. Just as they dragged me past Adam, I summoned every ounce of strength I had left and broke free. I raised my left hand, the one Sophia hadn’t broken. CRACK! The sound of my hand connecting with his handsome face echoed through the silent mall. The entire atrium fell silent. Everyone froze, a look of shock plastered on their faces. I stood before Adam, my hair a mess, my body covered in blood, my chest heaving with rage. “You bitch! How dare you hit the young Mr. Stone!” Sophia’s shrill voice screeched. I shot her a murderous glare, my voice as sharp as a blade, holding nothing back. “I hit him. So what? Say one more word, and I’ll hit you too.” Adam heard my voice, truly saw my blood-streaked face, and the color drained from his. He stared at my disheveled state, his mouth hanging open wide enough to fit an egg. He clutched his face, his lips trembling. The word “Mom” was caught in his throat, unspoken. Sophia was stunned for a second, then shrieked at me. “This is treason! Bodyguards! Chop off her hands!” Adam snapped back to reality, his eyes wide with a frantic, ghost-like terror. “Shut up!” he suddenly roared, cutting Sophia off. I was seething, my chest heaving. “Adam Stone! Just you wait until we get home! I’m going to skin you alive!” Adam’s expression shifted rapidly. He shot me a quick, pleading look filled with guilt. “Sophia! It’s a misunderstanding! A complete misunderstanding!” He took a deep breath and forced a laugh. “She’s not a stranger! She’s, uh, our family’s maid! She’s been with us since I was a kid! She has a bit of a temper… For my sake, let’s just drop it today, okay?” He turned and yelled at the bodyguards. “What are you standing around for? Get the maid’s daughter to a hospital! Now!” Sophia eyed me with suspicion and unconcealed contempt. “Don’t you dare take her to a hospital. She’s just a servant, and a thieving one at that. The brat she raised is a thief too.” The two of them were making my head spin. All the blood in my body was rushing to my head. Adam Stone! What a fine son I had raised! I clenched my fists, about to explode. Adam suddenly stepped closer, hissing in a frantic whisper only I could hear. “Mom! Mom, I’m begging you! Don’t embarrass me! I’m the young Mr. Stone now. In front of all these people… I can’t lose face…” Beside him, Sophia stood with her arms crossed, her chin so high it could pierce the ceiling. Her words were sharp and cruel. “Just because you worked as a maid for a few years, you think you can get away with hitting your master and stealing? Who gave you the nerve?” “Drag this old bitch and her little thief into a corner. I don’t want them ruining my view.” Adam was panicked and angry, but he opened his mouth and said nothing to stop her. That was it. I snapped. I would have been better off giving birth to a sack of potatoes. At least I could eat potatoes. All he knew how to do was abandon his mother for his new girlfriend, letting this bitch try to kill me and his own sister. Even if Sophia were an angel descended from heaven, a princess from some foreign land, she would never be my daughter-in-law.

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The overseas evacuation in the Sahel region years ago left an indelible scar on my soul. When the local government collapsed, everyone assumed Jeffrey would give the final seat on the extraction chopper to me. Instead, he fled into the night with another woman, leaving behind nothing but a few hollow excuses. He claimed she was fragile. He said the sight of mutilated bodies in the combat zone would break her mind, that she needed safety more than I did. He told me I was tough. He said I could definitely hold out until the next rescue convoy arrived. He even promised that once he got her to a safe house, he would come back to bring me home so we could get married. But the rebel militia overran the compound hours later. The slaughter was absolute. I hid in a trench filled with the dead, the soil turning to muddy crimson beneath me. My wounds burned with a blinding agony. I waited until all hope bled out of me, but his shadow never appeared. Years later, our paths finally crossed again. When Jeffrey saw the diamond resting on my ring finger, his eyes instantly flushed red. He demanded to know why. He asked how I dared to marry another man when I had promised to wait for him. 1 Six years after I crawled out of hell. The first time I heard Jeffrey’s name again was in the arrivals terminal at JFK Airport. Standing by the baggage carousel, the girl waiting next to me stole her fifth glance in my direction before finally leaning in. “Harper?” she whispered, her voice hesitant. I turned my head, raising an eyebrow. Seeing my face, she grabbed my arm with pure excitement. “Oh my god, it really is you! Harper!” “The story of you and Jeffrey is practically a legend among the Coalition Forces. I can’t believe I am meeting you in person. You are gorgeous.” She started rambling about the past. Six years ago, the Sahel region descended into total anarchy. The airports and seaports were locked down. All comms were jammed. We were completely cut off from the world. The rumor going around the ranks was that Jeffrey wasn’t even the diplomat assigned to the evacuation. People believed he defied his superiors and risked his life in a warzone specifically to save his girlfriend, Harper. Her eyes welled up with tears as she spoke. “Back then, every single one of us was so jealous that you got on that first chopper out.” The atrocities in that warzone defied human comprehension. The local warlords had set up fake humanitarian aid stations, luring refugees out of the safe zones only to gun them down in the dirt. Her voice trembled. “There were bodies everywhere. The riverbanks were literally dyed red. You have no idea how terrified I was.” A phantom pain flared in the old bullet scar on my lower abdomen. Of course I knew. I knew exactly what it felt like to stare down the barrel of a loaded rifle. Suddenly, her face lit up again. “You and Jeffrey must be married by now, right? I bet you guys even have kids.” Looking at her envious, starry-eyed expression, a cold wave of irony washed over me. Even now, people still believed I was the woman Jeffrey carried onto that helicopter. Before I could figure out how to shut the conversation down, my phone buzzed. Feeling a wave of relief, I muttered an apology and walked away. I tapped the screen, and a deep, velvety voice filled my ear. “Did you land safely?” “Yeah.” “What is wrong? You sound upset.” Even after being together for so long, his intuition never failed to amaze me. A single syllable was all it took for him to read my mood. “I bought you a welcome home present. I will come find you as soon as I finish my meetings.” A location pin popped up on my screen. The Rosewood Estate? I had casually mentioned once that I loved the historic architecture and the private botanical gardens there. The dark clouds in my mind instantly cleared. I smiled and pulled my car out of the airport lot. I never could have predicted that the estate would be crawling with the exact people I never wanted to see again. 2 Pushing open the heavy mahogany doors, a wave of loud chatter and clinking glasses hit me. The Rosewood Estate had been bought at a private auction. It was my personal property now. Why was there a cocktail party happening in the foyer? I scanned the room in confusion. My eyes locked onto a man sitting at the center of the VIP lounge, surrounded by a crowd of kissing-up executives. It was Jeffrey. He looked much more polished now, wearing a bespoke suit, but he still carried that same aloof, self-righteous aura. “Mr. Jeffrey, we really owe you. If you hadn’t pulled strings with Mr. Castello’s secretary, we never would have known the boss was flying back to the States tonight.” Mr. Jeffrey? So Jeffrey had completely abandoned his diplomatic career just to play corporate lapdog for Bonnie’s family. Another guest chimed in. “I heard the only reason Mr. Castello is shifting his syndicate’s focus back to New York is because his wife missed home.” “Exactly! He literally dropped a hundred and fifty million on this Rosewood Estate just for her. I even brought a custom aquamarine jewelry set tonight. I just hope Mrs. Castello likes it.” “Who knows? Mr. Castello protects his wife like a hawk. Barely anyone knows what she looks like, let alone what she likes.” So this was a networking ambush. They were all trying to get a slice of the Castello Group’s billions. But Arthur, my husband’s secretary, had really dropped the ball this time. Silas and I had not even spent a single night in this house yet, and these vultures were already ruining the peace. I wondered exactly how much bribe money Arthur had pocketed to let them in. Jeffrey’s gaze drifted over the crowd and landed on me. The moment he recognized my face, the charismatic smile froze on his lips. His expression shattered into absolute shock, followed by a storm of complicated emotions. After a suffocating silence, he walked toward me like a man seeing a ghost. “Harper… you are alive.” His tone was heavy with relief. The guilt that must have been eating at him for years finally evaporated now that he knew I had not died in the dirt. How hilariously pathetic. A decade ago, Jeffrey and I were deployed to the Sahel region together. Back then, I used to lean against the clinic window, secretly watching him run drills with the peacekeeping troops. He would always invent terrible excuses just to walk past my medical tent. Eventually, even his military dog would wag its tail frantically whenever it saw me, literally dragging Jeffrey by the pant leg to my triage station. Then came the day the local militia surrounded the hospital. To buy time for the critically wounded to evacuate, I volunteered to stay behind as a hostage. Suddenly, a hand grabbed my collar and yanked me backward. Jeffrey, bleeding heavily from a shrapnel wound, stood tall and shielded me. “I am a soldier. I am far more valuable to you than this medic.” The warlord did not care. They tied us both up and threw us into a bombed-out trench. When the machine-gun fire started, Jeffrey threw his body over mine without a second thought. Hot tears dripped from his face onto my neck. “If we make it out of this alive… Harper, promise you will marry me.” Later, he was reassigned to a neighboring country as a lead diplomat. I stayed behind with the frontline medical unit. I truly believed we were different from other long-distance couples. I thought we were bulletproof. That was until Jeffrey was tasked with mentoring his superior’s daughter, Bonnie. He used to call me just to complain about her. “Harper, she is seriously so incompetent. I have to stay up until 2 AM helping her fix her reports, and then she forces me to take her out for midnight snacks.” “Harper, she is nothing like you. She is so needy. She got a mild fever last night and cried until I sat with her in the ER.” Eventually, I called him out on Bonnie’s blatant boundary-crossing. At first, he apologized. But soon, his apologies turned into annoyance. He accused me of being paranoid and asked why I was so threatened by a harmless young girl. I tried to swallow my doubts and keep the relationship alive. But then the border conflict exploded. Bonnie and I were both trapped in the hot zone. And Jeffrey, the man in charge of the evacuation chopper, physically shoved me away. 3 His voice had dripped with blame. “You have survived in combat zones for years. Bonnie is different! She is fragile. Just looking at a rifle gives her nightmares.” “There is only one seat left on this flight. Are you seriously going to throw a jealous tantrum and let Bonnie die just to prove a point?” I refused to accept it. I chased his dust-covered Jeep down the broken road for miles. I ran until my foot caught on a bloated corpse. I crashed into the gravel, a sharp rock slicing deep into my stomach. I lay there bleeding, screaming in agony. He never looked back. He kept his arms wrapped tightly around Bonnie the entire time. A shrill, grating voice snapped me back to reality. “Well, look what the cat dragged in. Harper.” Noticing Jeffrey staring at me, Bonnie marched over and wrapped her arms possessively around his bicep. She glared at me with blatant hostility and a smug warning. “You vanished off the face of the earth. We all thought you were rotting in a ditch somewhere.” “Jeffrey had to leave you behind to save my life. If you want to hold a grudge, blame me.” She intentionally made her voice crack at the end. That pathetic, innocent victim act always triggered Jeffrey’s savior complex. “Harper, leave her alone.” Jeffrey stepped in front of her. “I do not know how you tracked my schedule or why you stalked me all the way here, but I have moved on.” “You need to leave. The Rosewood Estate is not a place for someone of your status.” Stalked him? If a certain someone heard that, he would flip this city upside down looking for answers. If Silas dug up my history with Jeffrey, I would be dealing with a wildly jealous mafia boss for the next six months. Hearing Jeffrey defend her, Bonnie relaxed. A vicious, mocking smile spread across her face. “Oh, come on, Jeffrey. She dragged herself all the way here to see you. The least we can do is catch up.” She exchanged a nasty look with her group of wealthy girlfriends. They grabbed their champagne flutes and circled around me like vultures. “Harper, after that evacuation, the entire region went completely dark. The coalition forces pulled out. How exactly does a girl like you survive in a place crawling with bloodthirsty cartels?” She heavily emphasized the word “survive,” causing the other women to cover their mouths and giggle. A woman in a tight red dress rolled her eyes in absolute disgust. “Ugh, please. We all know what those warlords do to cheap foreign girls. In peacetime, women like her sell themselves for a cup of coffee. In a warzone? She definitely spent her nights on her knees just to get a ration bar.” The girl next to her gently slapped her arm, putting on a tone of exaggerated pity. “Oh, stop it! She didn’t have a choice.” “Not everyone is as blessed as Bonnie. Not everyone gets a billionaire fiancé who loves her enough to risk his life.” “Harper, you are totally used up. You hit rock bottom, and now you are here trying to latch back onto Mr. Jeffrey? Do you have any self-respect?” Bonnie scoffed, swirling the champagne in her glass. She looked at me with a sickening mix of fake pity and utter contempt. “You did take care of Jeffrey for a little while back then. I guess I should thank you for your service.” “I am a very nostalgic person. If our merger with the Castello Group goes well tonight, I will save a janitorial spot for you at the new headquarters. The pay is trash, but at least the work is clean. It is definitely a step up from your previous… activities.” She dragged out the last word, letting the implication hang in the air. Her friends immediately chimed in. “Bonnie, you are way too innocent! She is probably so used to doing dirty work in the desert that she actually prefers it.” Jeffrey stood there in complete silence. His knuckles turned white around his whiskey glass, and the look he gave me was laced with profound disappointment. Disappointment? He had fought in those trenches with me. He knew better than anyone in this room what reality looked like. He knew exactly what the medics and peacekeepers sacrificed for that bleeding country. They dragged civilians out of crossfire. They built triage centers in the middle of plague zones. Yet he stood there, watching Bonnie degrade me and every single soldier who bled on that sand, and he said absolutely nothing. All those years chasing money and status in the corporate world had completely rotted his soul. 4 Seeing my face remain completely emotionless, Bonnie and her entourage got bored. They rolled their eyes and turned to leave. Click. The sharp sound of my digital recorder echoing in the quiet room stopped them dead in their tracks. I pressed playback. Their vicious, venomous insults played out loud and clear. Bonnie’s face dropped. “Harper, are you insane? Delete that right now!” I spoke, my voice eerily calm. “I am going to forward this audio to the board. The Castello Group will never do business with a single person standing in this room.” Bonnie panicked for a split second before sneering. “What the hell are you talking about?” “I am saying the Castello Group, and this Rosewood Estate, belong to me. Now get the hell out of my house.” The bustling, noisy room went dead silent. Every single executive and socialite turned to look at me like I belonged in a psychiatric ward. Bonnie broke the silence with a loud, mocking laugh. “Harper, have you completely lost your mind?” “Jeffrey and I are top-tier elites in this city, and even we could not get a direct meeting with Mr. Castello! We had to bribe his secretary just to find out he was bringing his wife here tonight.” “We are literally confined to the guest lounge because we are too scared to trespass, and you think you can just waltz in here and claim you own the Castello empire? You are going to get yourself killed.” Right at that moment, the heavy double doors of the lounge swung open. A middle-aged man in a sharp, tailored suit walked in. The crowd gasped. It was Arthur, the legendary right-hand man to Silas Castello. The executives instantly morphed into groveling sycophants. They swarmed him, bowing and smiling. Jeffrey quickly fixed his tie and practically sprinted over, extending both hands. “Arthur! Thank you so much for making the trip.” “Do you know what time Mr. and Mrs. Castello will be arriving? We want to make sure the reception is absolutely perfect.” Jeffrey carefully studied Arthur’s face before tentatively adding his real motive. “And regarding that renewable energy contract I pitched… I would be incredibly grateful if you could put in a good word for me with the boss.” Arthur did not even look at him. He walked straight past Jeffrey, taking the seat at the head of the table, and began flipping through a thick stack of files. The crowd stood in absolute, terrified silence. Their legs were practically shaking by the time Arthur finally spoke. “Mr. Castello has reviewed the proposals.” Bonnie’s face lit up with greedy joy. Her friends immediately started kissing up to her. “With Castello backing, Jeffrey’s company will be worth billions! Bonnie, you are officially a billionaire’s wife!” “I am so jealous! Please don’t forget about us when you are running the city!” Drowning in the flattery, Bonnie’s ego inflated to the size of a blimp. She threw a smug, degrading look at me standing in the corner. “Congratulations, Harper. Like I promised, I will make sure the HR department keeps that janitor closet open for you.” The room was quiet for a second before erupting into a cruel, piercing chorus of laughter. “Bonnie, stop being so nice to her.” “When Harper got left behind to die, her trashy parents actually stormed into the Jeffrey family estate to cause a scene. Jeffrey’s security threw them out into the street. Talk about karma… they got crushed by a truck on their way home.” “Trash breeds trash. She is just a leech. Make sure you don’t let her latch onto your man again.” My breath caught in my throat. It felt like a stick of dynamite had just detonated in my chest. I always thought it was a tragic accident. My parents died because they went looking for me, and Jeffrey threw them to the wolves. Arthur, annoyed by the sudden noise, turned his head. The moment his eyes locked onto my face, the absolute arrogance melted off his features. The thick stack of corporate files slipped from his hands, crashing onto the marble floor. He wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, sprinting across the room until he was standing right in front of me. He bowed at a strict ninety-degree angle. “M-Madam Castello! I am so sorry, I had no idea you were already here.”

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When I opened my eyes, I realized I had returned to that day—the day my boyfriend’s childhood sweetheart brought a white tiger cub into our home. The tragedy hadn’t happened yet. I could still stop it. Sienna was obsessed with fantasy novels, convinced she was meant to be a beast tamer. To please her, my boyfriend agreed to keep the cub. In my past life, I’d warned them it was illegal and dangerous—a wild predator didn’t belong in an apartment. I begged them to call a rescue. But the cub was unnaturally intelligent. It understood I wanted it gone and held a vicious grudge. My life became a nightmare. Animal remains and filth appeared on my bed. Then the tiger attacked my mother, infecting her so badly she died. I was consumed with rage, determined to kill it. Instead, Sienna and my boyfriend drugged me and set the tiger free. Five years later, I returned to my childhood home. It was destroyed, a den for over a dozen grown white tigers—led by that same cub. My father lay mauled on the floor. Before I could react, the lead tiger lunged. Its jaws closed on my throat, and everything went dark. 1 “Look at those intelligent eyes. This little guy is definitely going to evolve into a legendary guardian beast.” Sienna held the white tiger cub up by its front legs, shoving it right into my face. A low, guttural growl vibrated in the cub’s throat as its striking eyes locked onto mine with an unsettling thrill. The phantom pain of fangs tearing into my flesh came rushing back. I flinched violently, a cold sweat breaking out across my spine. Sienna just looked at me and let out a mocking laugh. “This tiger is going to be my official Familiar. You guys have to help me raise him right.” I turned my gaze to my boyfriend, Blake. He forced a stiff smile. “Well, if he’s your Familiar, Sienna, then of course we’ll take great care of him.” Right after saying that, he shot me a heavy, pointed look. I simply pretended I didn’t see his pathetic little signal. I shrugged my shoulders. “Sure, I’m on board.” “But since Sienna’s place is way too cramped, we should just keep him here in our new house.” Blake’s face drained of color the second the words left my mouth. He stepped close to me, his voice dropping to an angry, frantic whisper. “What the hell are you doing? You promised me you’d be the one to tell her no!” I let out a cold, cynical laugh in my head. He was too much of a coward to reject his precious childhood friend himself, so he wanted to use me as the bad guy. In my last life, I actually listened to him. God knows where Sienna got that tiger, but it reeked of rotting meat. Parting its fur revealed a crawling mass of parasites. Its festering wounds were completely infected, making the poor thing look like a walking biohazard. And even as a cub, a wild predator is dangerous. A bite might not kill an adult instantly, but it could easily maim them for life. Besides, it was an endangered species. There was zero justification for keeping it as a house pet. But Sienna had completely lost her grip on reality. She thought she was the chosen protagonist of a fantasy series, blessed with magical taming abilities. When I told her she was living in a fictional delusion, she accused me of being jealous of her aura. She even went behind my back and locked the tiger in the storage room of our new home. I was shaking with rage when I found out. I literally threw both Sienna and the tiger out on the street. But Blake couldn’t bear to see her suffer. He secretly rented the apartment right beneath ours just so she could keep the beast. I caught them once in the stairwell. I heard Sienna whispering venom to the animal. “See her? That’s the wicked woman who kicked you out. She’s the reason you’re starving. If it weren’t for her, you would have ascended to a higher magical tier by now.” It sounded like a bad joke. I brushed it off at the time. I never expected the animal to actually understand human speech and harbor a vendetta. Brainwashed by Sienna, the tiger made me its target. Whenever she took it for a walk, it would break away, sneak into my apartment, shred my furniture, and leave bloody animal remains under my sheets. Pushed to my absolute limit, I told Blake to make her get rid of it. Blake just waved it off. “What’s the big deal? It hasn’t actually bitten anyone. Sienna is just training its bite force. With jaws like that, it’s going to be the strongest Familiar in the world.” I had no idea what kind of brain rot Blake was suffering from, but talking to them was useless. I called the cops. But when the police searched the downstairs apartment, they found absolutely nothing. Sienna played the innocent victim flawlessly. With no evidence, the police had to drop it. Half a year later, Blake and I were busy planning our wedding. My mom traveled all the way from our hometown to visit. While her back was turned, the tiger ambushed her. I rushed her to the ER, but the wounds were too severe. She didn’t make it. My sanity snapped. All I wanted was to end that tiger and avenge my mother. Knowing I couldn’t overpower it with brute strength, I bought a massive steel bear trap and hid it near Sienna’s patio. Finally, the jaws snapped shut. The tiger went down howling. I charged at it with a heavy meat cleaver, completely blinded by rage. But Blake tackled me from behind, pinning me hard into the dirt. “Are you insane? That’s Sienna’s precious Familiar!” Sienna used the distraction to pry the trap open. With red, tearful eyes, she screamed at the bleeding beast. “Run, Snow! Go heal your magic and come back to make them pay!” The tiger limped away into the darkness. Just before it vanished, it threw a look over its shoulder. Its golden eyes were completely saturated with murderous intent. The wedding was permanently canceled after that. Traumatized and paranoid, I moved from city to city, constantly looking over my shoulder. Five years later, I finally went back to my hometown, only to find that beast waiting for me. It had claimed my family home, bringing a dozen full-grown predators with it. Remembering my father’s mutilated body made my eyes sting with unshed tears. In this life, if she wants to play beast tamer, she can knock herself out. I’m taking myself out of the narrative. 2 Sienna looked genuinely taken aback by my approval. Her eyes darted around suspiciously. “Well, aren’t you surprisingly compliant today. Don’t go back on your word later. If you have a problem, spit it out now.” I offered the tiger a calm, collected glance and smiled. “No problems here. It’s the most spirited Familiar I’ve ever seen. Looks incredibly smart and brave.” Blake frowned, opening his mouth to intervene. Before he could speak, I bent down and scooped up Smudge, my silver tabby cat, from under the coffee table. “Look here, Smudge. This big guy is your new sidekick. You two better get along, alright?” Sienna’s face contorted in sheer offense. “My tiger is a once-in-a-century magical beast. Do not compare him to your mundane little livestock.” “Sure thing.” I turned around, carried Smudge into the dedicated cat room, double-locked the door, and headed straight to work. Once I was gone, Blake finally lost his composure. “Sienna, is keeping it here really the best idea? This is supposed to be my home with Nora.” Sienna crossed her arms, glaring at him. “It’s your house, isn’t it? What’s the problem? Besides, Nora said she was fine with it. Or are you saying you don’t want me around?” Seeing Sienna narrow her eyes made Blake deflate instantly. They grew up together, and he had spent his entire life acting as her loyal lapdog. She even crashed our dates. If we went to a restaurant, she sat right across from us. If we took a walk, she wedged herself between us. Even the very first time Blake and I booked a hotel room for the weekend, he booked the room right next door for Sienna. She knocked on our door three times in the middle of the night, demanding he come fix her TV. Eventually, she just casually moved into our new house, treating the place like she owned it. Her end goal was always to break us up so she could take the girlfriend spot. But Blake stubbornly refused to let me go, which meant she constantly picked fights with me and made passive-aggressive comments at every turn. Only when I got back from my shift did the reality of my rebirth truly settle in. I worked as a caretaker at the local wildlife conservation center. When I unlocked the front door, Sienna was nowhere to be seen. The tiger cub had been dumped on the cold hardwood floor. Its wounds were actively festering, its breathing dangerously shallow. I let out a heavy sigh and crouched down to check on it. Just then, Blake’s bedroom door swung open. “What is wrong with you?” he hissed. “This is our place! Look at that thing. It’s probably carrying a dozen different plagues. What if we get infected?” The cub let out a weak whimper. I grabbed some raw meat from the kitchen and placed it near its nose. “But didn’t you agree that this tiger has a magical aura? Who knows, maybe it really is an ancient god reincarnated.” Blake stared at the filthy animal with absolute disgust. “Magical my ass. It’s a filthy street mutt. It’s repulsive. You need to tell Sienna to get rid of it. It creeps me out just having it in the house.” I looked up from the tiger and tossed the problem right back at him. “You two share a brain, don’t you? You’ve known her forever. You tell her.” Blake scowled, rubbing the back of his neck. “You know how she is. We’ve been friends for too long. If I kick her pet out, it’s going to ruin our friendship.” “Right. And how exactly is that my problem?” I stood up, dusting off my jeans. “If you hate looking at it, deal with it yourself. I’m not doing your dirty work. When she gets back, you can do the explaining.” I stepped into my room and shut the door right in his face. “You bitch!” Blake pounded on my door, his voice thick with frustration. “I don’t know why I ever settled for someone like you!” Honestly, I didn’t know why he chose me either. But looking back, I must have been completely blind to ever settle for him. He was far closer to Sienna. He could have easily talked to her, or even called her parents. Instead, he wanted me to play the villain and take all of Sienna’s heat. 3 Blake paced around the living room cursing under his breath for a solid thirty minutes. But the moment the front door clicked open and Sienna walked in, he completely flipped the script. He practically tripped over himself to pour her water and offer her a shoulder massage, not daring to utter a single complaint about the tiger. Late that night, a violent crashing sound echoed from the living room, followed by the awful screech of wooden chairs dragging across the ceramic tiles. “What the hell was that?” Sienna asked, her voice laced with panic. Blake whispered back, “Probably the tiger. I think I heard it growling earlier. They have crazy energy, and you didn’t feed it dinner, right?” She groaned loudly. “No! I’m starving myself on a diet, why would I care about feeding a stupid animal? Besides, if it can’t handle a little hunger, it’s not worthy of being my Familiar.” Right on cue, the sound of sharp claws frantically scratching the tiles echoed down the hall. The noise made Sienna lose her mind. Hating having her sleep interrupted, she stormed into the kitchen, grabbed a heavy wooden rolling pin, and started viciously beating the cub’s head. “Shut up! All you do is eat, you useless piece of trash! Make one more sound and I’ll starve you to death!” The tiger went dead silent. I lay in bed, staring wide-eyed at the ceiling. Things were changing. In my past life, Sienna babied that tiger. She hand-fed it premium meat and bottled water, even sneaking it out at midnight for walks to burn off its energy. Now, she couldn’t care less about it. Was it because I didn’t put up a fight? Since I didn’t act threatened by her “taming skills,” she lost interest in showing off. Thinking back, my intense fear in the previous timeline must have fed her ego. She thought she had commanded a truly terrifying beast. In this life, my total indifference made her view the tiger as a useless prop. Over the next few days, my theory was proven correct. She ignored the animal entirely, only occasionally trying to command it to sit or bow like a circus dog. The cub was already on death’s door. It barely had the energy to breathe, let alone obey her ridiculous commands. Sienna kicked it hard in the ribs. “Useless trash! You can’t even follow basic instructions. You’re dumber than a mutt!” After that, she abandoned it entirely. She ignored its rotting wounds and left it to starve on the floor. I honestly thought it would just pass away quietly. But on Sunday night, I heard a weak shuffling outside my door. The cub had regained a tiny bit of strength and was desperately trying to claw its way toward the front door. When it saw me, its entire demeanor shifted. Its eyes were sharp. This wasn’t a normal animal. It was incredibly intelligent, and it remembered everything. I hesitated for a second, then pulled a slab of raw beef from the freezer and tossed it on the floor. The tiger devoured it in massive, frantic bites. When I came home from the conservation center the next evening, I brought back specialized medication and more fresh meat. The cub was absolutely crawling with parasites. I gently parted the fur on its head to reveal where Sienna had struck it. The skin was ruptured and oozing pus. When I applied the antiseptic, it bared its teeth and let out a warning growl. “Hold still. I’m not going to hurt you. I just need to clean this out.” The tiger studied my face for a long moment before slowly resting its chin on its paws, allowing me to work. After treating it, I chopped the meat into small chunks and hand-fed it. It swallowed the food whole, then looked up at me with such desperate eyes that I ended up giving it the entire batch. From that day forward, I secretly brought food home every evening. Its condition improved dramatically. Sienna noticed it looking healthier and tried to boss it around again a few times. But the tiger just stared at her with blank, cold eyes. Furious, Sienna declared she was going to throw it out as soon as she found a “better” magical beast. My plan was simply to wait until the cub was fully healed, then arrange for my wildlife rescue to confiscate it properly. I didn’t expect Sienna to suddenly show up at my workplace to ruin my life. 4 I was in the middle of cleaning one of the enclosures when a coworker ran over, telling me the Director needed me in the main office immediately. When I walked in, I saw Sienna and Blake standing right by the desk. Sienna lifted her chin, flashing me a deeply arrogant smirk. Before I could even ask what was going on, the Director slammed his hand on the desk. “Nora, are you illegally housing a white tiger in your apartment?” I shook my head and pointed a finger straight at Sienna. “Absolutely not. She brought that tiger into the house.” Sienna immediately puffed up her chest. “Do you have any proof? How dare you slander me without evidence! I’m just a normal citizen, where would I even get a tiger? But you work at a zoo. You have the connections. Don’t try to pin your own crimes on me!” The Director looked at me with deep disappointment. “Nora, you’ve worked in conservation for years. You know white tigers are highly protected under federal law. Furthermore, they are apex predators. If that animal gets loose and kills someone, are you prepared to take the fall for it?” I forced down the burning rage in my chest and turned to Blake. “He’s my boyfriend. Ask him. He lives there. He knows she’s the one keeping it.” I thought Blake would take my side. After all, he had been whining about wanting the tiger gone for weeks. Instead, he actively avoided my gaze. “I mean… it’s probably Nora’s.” “I see her feeding it every single day. The tiger even plays with her cat.” A violent tremor wrecked my body. I marched up to him and shoved him hard by the shoulders. “Look me in the eyes and say that again, you coward!” Blake slapped my hands away, glaring at me with aggressive hostility. “Are you done making a scene? It’s your tiger! Do you understand me?” The Director pinched the bridge of his nose. “Nora, this is unacceptable. It’s bad enough you smuggled an animal, but lying right to my face makes it so much worse.” “I am not lying!” I practically shouted. “We have a witness right here! Are you going to keep playing dumb?” Seeing the Director lose his temper, a few of my coworkers stepped in front of me, trying to run interference. “Sir, Nora is the most responsible tech we have. She practically lives for the animals. There’s no way she would do something this reckless.” Sienna rolled her eyes loudly. “Of course you guys are taking her side, you’re all in on it together. Her own boyfriend just confessed she’s the guilty one. You all need to shut up.” She turned back to the Director, her voice dripping with fake concern. “This is a serious felony. She’s a professional who knowingly broke the law to keep a deadly pet. You have to call the police and press charges!” The Director looked at me, his voice entirely devoid of warmth. “Nora, you crossed a massive line here. You were next in line for a promotion. Now, whether you go to prison or not is out of my hands, but you are officially terminated effective immediately.” Sienna wrapped her arms tightly around Blake’s bicep and gave me a sickeningly sweet pout. “Just confess, Nora. If you turn yourself in, the judge might go easy on you.” I let out a long, exhausted sigh. “I swear to God, I didn’t bring that tiger home.” “Enough, Nora. Give it up.” A slow, chilling smile spread across my face. “Do you need me to throw the evidence right in your goddamn faces?”

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The medical report was sitting right inside my desk drawer. It stated clearly that yesterday’s tactical drill had severely damaged my retinas, rendering me legally blind. My twin brother, Neil, was the team leader of our elite EOD unit. Right now, he was being held hostage by an underground syndicate. The cartel had strapped forty pounds of high-grade explosives to his chest and dumped him right outside our forward operating base. The timer was ticking down, and it could detonate at any given second. As the top bomb technician in the unit, I held multiple patents for defusal tech. I had even invented the Micro-Optic Rig, a device capable of pinpointing the exact trigger wire in complex circuits. Theoretically, I was the only person on earth who could save him. Yet, I was sitting in the barracks, my face completely expressionless. My fingers were dancing over a training simulator covered in obscure symbols. Ten seconds. That was all it took for me to clear the puzzle. My wife, Darby, practically kicked the door off its hinges. She rushed in, screaming at me, demanding I get off my ass and go save Neil. My father, Ziggy, who also served as the commanding officer of our division, was pacing frantically. He yelled that Neil was only on that mission because he took my shift. He demanded to know how I could just sit there and let my own flesh and blood die. I didn’t even flinch. I slowly lifted my head, my eyes out of focus, and told them the truth. I was blind. I couldn’t defuse a damn thing. 1 “Blind?” My father gasped. He reached out, waving a hand wildly in front of my face, and sucked in a sharp breath when my eyes didn’t track the movement. “How did this happen? Why didn’t anyone report this to me?” Darby froze. A flash of pure guilt crossed her face, and she quickly stared at the floor. I let out a cold, hollow laugh. “Yesterday, Darby demanded I hand over my spot on this high-profile mission to Neil. I refused. So, they rigged my visor during the live-fire drill. The flashbang cooked my eyes.” I leaned back in my chair. “I didn’t call in sick today. They deliberately buried the incident report so Neil could steal my deployment.” When I first met Darby, she was just a civilian clerk at the precinct. We fell fast and hard, got married, and my parents pulled some strings to get her transferred into the tactical division to work alongside me. But the moment she got her clearance, her attitude toward me turned ice-cold. Instead, she spent all her time fawning over Neil, the golden-boy team leader. That was when I realized the sick truth. She had always been in love with my twin. Marrying me was just her stepping stone to get into the unit and get closer to him. But I never imagined that just to hand him a medal, they would conspire to leave me permanently disabled. Hearing my accusation, Darby panicked. Her voice spiked an octave as she fought back. “You’re lying! You’re just jealous that Neil outranks you, so you’re stalling for time to let him die!” She stepped closer, peering at my face, her confidence suddenly returning. She puffed out her chest. “Your acting is pathetic. If you’re really blind, how are you playing with a defusal simulator?” She turned to my father. “Captain, yesterday’s drill was just a minor malfunction. That’s why I didn’t file a report. Since he’s faking a disability to avoid duty, let me do it. If I use his Micro-Optic Rig, I know I can save Neil.” “Yes, exactly. We do what Darby says.” My father nodded rapidly. Seeing that I wasn’t moving to help, his face darkened. He slammed his fist onto my desk, rattling my coffee mug. “Liam! Did you hear her? Hand over the rig right now. That is a direct order!” Ziggy had always favored Neil. I was the one who practically carried the squad, racking up commendations, but my father secretly crossed my name off the promotion lists and handed the leadership role to his golden boy instead. I raised an eyebrow, my tone deadpan. “I locked the rig behind a dynamic biometric firewall. You have to beat a randomized defusal sequence to unlock it. I can’t see the screen. I can’t open it.” “You are trying to murder your own brother!” The blood drained from my father’s face. He was breathing heavily, clutching his chest. I ignored him, my thumbs resting on the simulator in my lap. I cleared the puzzle again. This time, it took me exactly eight seconds. Darby grinded her teeth in rage. She slapped the device out of my hands, grabbed me by the collar, and shook me violently. Her voice was pure hysteria. “Bring the rig out! I’ll read the visual patterns to you, and you can talk me through the sequence! Or is this just another excuse to run out the clock?” My father’s anxiety peaked. His eyes darted between my milky gaze and the device clattering on the floor. His expression hardened into something ugly. “Liam,” he growled, the threat heavy in his chest. “I don’t give a damn if you’re actually blind or not. If you don’t cooperate, I will have you court-martialed for treason!” I knew he wasn’t bluffing. I took a slow breath and offered a flat reply. “Fine. I’ll help. But you have to agree to one condition.” Before I even finished my sentence, my father scoffed with absolute disgust. “The team leader position belongs to Neil. Don’t even think about using this sick hostage situation to extort a promotion.” Extort? He called me sick? He conveniently forgot who abused his command authority to steal my career in the first place. Just then, Darby’s radio crackled. She answered it, her hands trembling so badly she nearly dropped it. “Captain, the timer just engaged. We have less than five minutes. We have to move!” The air in the room grew suffocating. My father couldn’t afford to waste another second. “I agree to your condition! Just as long as you don’t touch Neil’s rank.” “Deal.” I smirked internally. Compared to my eyesight, a pathetic squad leader title was dirt beneath my boots. 2 With my verbal guidance, Darby managed to crack the firewall on the Micro-Optic Rig. I talked her through the mechanics over the comms. In under three minutes, she located the primary trigger wire and successfully pulled Neil back from the brink of death. The moment he was safe, the entire unit packed up. They boarded the medevac chopper and flew back to the city for a hero’s welcome, completely abandoning me at the forward camp. Because my eyes were deeply infected and untreated, I spent the entire night crawling around the floor, blindly feeling for a landline to call for a civilian ambulance. I was rushed to the ICU. That night, the doctors issued three separate critical condition notices. I tried calling my parents and Darby over and over. No one answered. While I was lying in a hospital bed, Darby became a national sensation. I became the dirt on the bottom of the city’s shoe. The news cycled constantly. “Darby Garrison is a true patriot, utilizing unimaginable courage to save her commanding officer.” “She is a national hero. It’s just a tragedy she’s married to such a coward.” “Absolutely. Liam Garrison was too terrified to take the mission, forced his brother to step in, and then refused to help. He’s less of a man than anyone in that unit. Darby needs to divorce that dead weight immediately.” “I heard he faked going blind out of pure jealousy. What a disgusting, narrow-minded traitor.” The hatred wasn’t just online. Some civilians recognized me while I was waiting in line for an MRI. When the orderly stepped away to grab my chart, a group of men grabbed the handles of my wheelchair and shoved me straight down a flight of concrete stairs. My collarbone and two ribs snapped on impact. I woke up hours later to the hushed gossip of the nursing staff. To my absolute shock, the heavy fog in my vision had slightly cleared. I could see the blurry silhouettes of the room. They were changing my IV, completely unaware that I was conscious. “It’s so sad. The guy actually lost his sight and nearly died on those stairs, but his wife and parents are next door throwing a party for his brother, who doesn’t even have a scratch on him.” “Don’t waste your pity. He brought it on himself. The guy is a jealous coward.” Lying there, the cold seeped into my bones, freezing my blood. The next morning, the media dropped another bombshell. “Congratulations to Darby Garrison for successfully patenting the Micro-Optic Rig! Insider sources say Captain Garrison personally fast-tracked the paperwork.” “Good for her. She needs to protect her intellectual property before some jealous coward tries to steal the credit.” That headline completely severed the last pathetic thread of hope I held for my family. A month later, I was discharged and returned to the precinct. My teammates looked at me like I was a rotting corpse. “Why is this piece of garbage back? He shares a face with our Captain, but his soul is rotten to the core.” “Darby is a saint for putting up with him. Going blind was karma. He should have just died.” They hawked spit into my lunch tray. They poured sand in my coffee. They deliberately pushed office chairs into my path, erupting into cruel laughter whenever I tripped and hit the floor. My father saw the whole thing happen one afternoon. He just gave me a blank look. “Liam, my office. Now.” I clenched my fists, using my cane to navigate into his room. “The public backlash is too severe right now,” Ziggy said coldly. “Brass wants you suspended without pay until the heat dies down.” Hearing that, the last shred of respect I had for the man evaporated. I lifted my chin, staring directly at the blurry outline of his face, and let out a harsh scoff. “Is that Brass talking, or is that you?” “Are you afraid I’ll make a scene about the stolen patent, or are you terrified I’ll press federal charges for your golden boy blinding me?” A sharp crack echoed through the room. Ziggy slapped me so hard I tasted copper. “You ungrateful bastard! Is that how you speak to your commanding officer?” I pressed my lips into a thin line, keeping my face turned away, offering nothing but silence. Meeting my dead, frosted eyes, he cleared his throat awkwardly. “Stop being paranoid. The suspension is final. Go home and rest.” I let out a low, self-deprecating laugh, forcing my heart rate to slow. Just as my hand touched the doorknob, he called out. “Liam. Tomorrow night is Neil’s official commendation banquet. You are required to attend.” “The press will be swarming the place. For the sake of this family, you will behave. Do not cause a scene, do not feed the rumors, and most importantly, you will show Neil the respect he deserves.” It was a total setup. If I showed up, it would officially validate their narrative. It would cement me as the cowardly brother crawling back to beg for forgiveness. I stopped in the doorway and looked over my shoulder. “Captain. When I unlocked that rig for you, you promised me one condition. You haven’t forgotten, have you?” I had never addressed him so formally. He froze for three full seconds before nodding cautiously. “I remember. Name your price.” A dark, dangerous amusement flickered in my chest. I let out a soft chuckle. “Captain, I want to make a bet.” 3 The next evening, I walked into the private banquet hall. Neil was sitting in the VIP chair that technically belonged to me, whispering intimately into Darby’s ear. They looked exactly like a happily married couple. The sickening part was that everyone in our unit was sitting at the tables, completely ignoring the blatant infidelity. The moment I stepped inside, the press swarmed. Camera flashes fired like strobe lights, blinding my already damaged eyes. “Liam! Are you here to publicly confess? Are you actually blind, or was it a tactical lie to let your brother die? Don’t you feel any guilt?” “Your wife just secured the patent for a revolutionary bomb disposal tool! Does this prove the unit has outgrown you and you’re officially obsolete?” The questions were vicious, designed to draw blood. Not a single teammate stood up to intervene. Just as I opened my mouth to speak, Ziggy grabbed my arm and dragged me toward the main table. His tone was uncharacteristically gentle, playing for the cameras. “Liam, your public image is a disaster right now. I had to let Darby register the patent to protect the tech.” “Just hand the physical prototype over to her. The media requested a live demonstration, and I couldn’t say no.” The entire hall fell dead silent. Everyone was waiting for me to surrender. I had reached my absolute limit. I raised my voice, letting it echo off the walls. “No. My wife is openly flirting with another man. You sabotaged my gear and blinded me. You stole my life’s work. And now you expect me to smile and clean up your mess? Do I look like an idiot to you?” They never expected me to fight back in public. The sheer force of my words left them paralyzed. Ziggy’s face turned a violent shade of purple, his lips trembling in pure rage. Sensing the shift in the atmosphere, the reporters shoved their microphones closer to our table. Darby’s face flushed with panic. She immediately forced tears into her eyes, playing the victim perfectly. “Watch your mouth! Neil and I are strictly professionals. You only see dirt because your own mind is filthy!” That was her signature move. Whenever she was backed into a corner, she played the bleeding heart. Before I could even respond, she started sobbing loudly. The entire room glared at me with absolute disgust, treating me like a monster abusing his saint of a wife. Neil slammed his hands on the table and stood up, wrapping a protective arm around Darby’s shoulders. “I wanted to leave you some dignity, brother. But you have crossed the line.” Neil looked directly into the cameras. “The truth is, my location was compromised during my undercover op because Liam sold my tactical coordinates to the cartel the night before.” The room erupted. Venomous glares pierced through me. If looks could kill, I would have been shredded to pieces. Only Ziggy remained silent. He stared at Neil with a complicated, deeply conflicted expression. Darby wiped her fake tears, her voice dripping with poison. “I can’t believe I married a traitor. I want a divorce!” With her lighting the match, the room exploded into chaos. “I thought it was just petty jealousy, but he’s a literal terrorist sympathizer! Lock him up!” “Arrest him! Call the MPs!” I sat calmly in my chair, a dark smile playing on my lips. “Darby. I was blinded in the training drill first thing that morning. I was put under heavy anesthesia and slept through the next forty-eight hours. You were supposed to be watching me. You know better than anyone that I couldn’t have contacted the cartel.” Under the table, hidden from the cameras, her fingers were tightly intertwined with Neil’s. A second ago, she was the weeping victim. Now, her eyes were cold and utterly ruthless. “You’re a manipulator. I couldn’t watch you twenty-four hours a day. I can’t vouch for you.” With that single sentence, she hammered the final nail into my coffin. Suddenly, a sharp ringtone pierced the screaming crowd. Ziggy answered his phone. His face drained of all color. He stared at me in absolute, paralyzed horror. Darby, too impatient to wait, urged him on. “Captain! The crowd is going to riot. Give the order to arrest him!” At the same time, the parents of a bomb tech who died in a previous operation rushed forward. They tackled me to the floor, raining heavy punches onto my face. “Give me my son back! You traitorous scum!” “You look like a soldier but you’re worse than a dog! Rot in hell!” A heavy boot caught my temple. Blood poured down the side of my face, staining the carpet. Darby watched me bleed, her face completely void of emotion. She didn’t even blink. I started laughing. A loud, desperate, chilling laugh. Suddenly, the heavy oak doors of the banquet hall were kicked open. A dozen Federal Agents in tactical gear stormed the room, flashing their badges. “Federal Bureau of Investigation! We received a high-priority tip regarding an internal mole selling classified tactical data to domestic terrorists! Who made the call?” Darby and Neil exchanged a smug, knowing look. They were practically glowing with victory, ready to hand me over on a silver platter. Ziggy snapped out of his trance. He looked at Neil, then frantically shook his head at the agents. “Officers, there’s been a misunderstanding. There is no mole.” “I made the call.” I pushed myself off the bloody floor, completely ignoring my father’s pleading eyes, and spoke with absolute clarity.

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For fifteen years, I was fiercely protective of my brother. But then came the twist of the century: he turned out to be the switched-at-birth heir to a billionaire family. When his biological parents arrived, I lost it. Crying, I grabbed his hand and swore blood didn’t matter—I’d always be the sister who loved him most. I warned him rich families often prefer the child they raised, and gave him a handwritten “True Heir Survival Guide,” promising our dogs, cats, and even the town’s angry geese would always have his back. My brother and his father looked ready to burst. Then his father cleared his throat and said I was coming too. I beamed, hugging my brother’s arm, already cheering about storming high society together to crush the “fake son.” My brother fell silent. The “fake son” I wanted to destroy was actually my own biological brother. 1 Gordon and I grew up scraping by in a forgotten, run-down town deep in the Appalachian mountains. Our parents passed away when we were young. We survived by sticking to the shadows, living off canned beans and stale bread. Gordon was the silent type. Even if the sky was falling, he wouldn’t make a sound. But if we only had one bite of food left, he would always force it into my mouth. I was the exact opposite. I had a sharp tongue, a wild temper, and I ran our neighborhood like a boss. If anyone dared to lay a finger on Gordon, I would chase them all the way to the county line, screaming insults until they couldn’t show their faces again. So when that sleek, pitch-black town car pulled up in front of our rotting wooden porch, my first instinct was to shove Gordon behind me. A man stepped out. He was dressed in a pristine tailored suit, his hair slicked back so perfectly it looked painted on. One look, and you knew he didn’t drink tap water like the rest of us. He introduced himself as Victor Sinclair. He was Gordon’s biological father. Gordon was the true heir the Sinclair family had accidentally swapped at the hospital sixteen years ago. What happened next played out exactly like the opening chapter of my survival guide. I cried until my face was a mess, Victor Sinclair looked at me with an expression dark as thunder, and finally barked out that the sister was coming too. I wiped my tears in a flash, grabbed Gordon’s hand, and hopped into the leather seats. It was my first time in a car that smelled like expensive cologne instead of gasoline, and I was definitely intimidated. But I was more terrified for Gordon. Plunging this innocent guy into a mansion full of billionaires was like throwing a rabbit into a shark tank. I leaned close to his ear, dropping my voice to a whisper. “Gordon, don’t panic. What is rule number one in my survival guide?” Gordon nervously picked at his cuticles, his lips trembling. “Watch more, speak less, play mute.” I nodded in approval and leaned in a little closer. “Then why do you think he brought me along?” Gordon just stared at me blankly. I puffed out my chest, mimicking his rich dad’s deep voice. “He obviously saw my potential! He knows I’m a natural-born business shark and wants to groom me as his protege!” The driver’s hands jerked, making the luxury car swerve slightly across the yellow line. Victor’s temple twitched. He shot me an ice-cold glare through the rearview mirror. “Say one more word of nonsense, and I will throw you out to feed the coyotes.” I shut my mouth, but in my head, I was reciting rule number two. Billionaire patriarchs are moody control freaks. Agreeing with them makes you a pushover. You have to play hard to get. A few silent minutes passed before I couldn’t hold it in anymore. “Hey, mister. Does this mean there’s a fake heir sitting in your house right now? Let me guess, he’s a two-faced, manipulative little angel who acts sweet in front of you but stabs people in the back.” I squeezed Gordon’s hand tight. “Don’t worry, bro. I’ll read his every move. As long as we stick together, we’ll crush him.” The temperature inside the car seemed to drop below freezing. Victor didn’t say a word. I was on a roll now, poking Gordon in the ribs. “And get this, Gordon. That fake heir is technically my actual biological brother.” Gordon froze. His brain completely short-circuited. The drive took nearly three hours. I even managed to take a nap, but when I woke up, Gordon still looked like he was on his way to the electric chair. His brow was furrowed so deeply it could crush a walnut. When we finally parked, he reached out and desperately grabbed Victor’s expensive sleeve. “Sir, if he and I get into a fight, whose side are you taking?” “Let’s get one thing straight. You and I share blood, but to him, you’re just tap water. No playing favorites.” The veins on Victor’s forehead throbbed like angry worms. “Relax. You are not going to fight.” Victor just didn’t want to admit that the only fight he was worried about was between himself and his biological son. I curled my lip, clearly not buying it. “Look at that. We haven’t even walked through the front door, and he’s already biased.” I couldn’t wait to see what kind of monster had this grumpy billionaire so completely brainwashed. 2 The fake heir, my biological brother Sebastian, was infinitely more manipulative than I could have ever imagined. He was dressed in a flawless white cashmere sweater, standing in front of the massive mahogany double doors. A pure, angelic smile was plastered across his face. His skin was paler than milk, and his eyes were glistening, looking like he was ready to shed a sympathetic tear at any given second. Standing next to Gordon, the contrast was brutal. Gordon looked like a potato freshly dug out of the dirt, while Sebastian was a perfectly manicured greenhouse lily. All my aggressive energy instantly evaporated. This guy’s combat level was way too high. Gordon was sweating through his cheap shirt. He instinctively hid behind my shoulder, only peeking out with wide, terrified eyes. Sebastian bypassed me entirely, stepping right up to Gordon with a slight, respectful bow. His voice was soft enough to melt butter. “You must be Gordon. I am Sebastian. We are going to be a family from now on.” He reached out, offering a polite handshake. I reflexively stepped in front of Gordon, glaring at the polished boy like a guard dog. “What do you think you’re doing? My brother is shy. Keep your hands to yourself.” Sebastian blinked in surprise. Instantly, his eyes went red. He looked at me with absolute heartbreak. “Sister, do you hate me? I am so sorry. I know I took his rightful place. This is all my fault.” I sucked in a sharp breath. Good grief. This was exactly what I wrote in the guide. The ultimate manipulative tactic. Act weak and farm for sympathy. Gordon, the absolute fool, fell for it immediately. He tugged at the back of my shirt. “Lexi, I don’t think he means any harm.” I shot him a glare of pure disappointment. Dinner was even more bizarre. Sitting at the incredibly long dining table, Sebastian eagerly piled food onto Gordon’s pristine china plate. Every single thing he picked was something I knew Gordon hated. “Brother, you must have never tasted anything like this out in the country. Eat up. You need the nutrition.” “This is Maine lobster, and this is foie gras. Here, let me show you how to hold your silverware.” Gordon gripped the heavy silver knife and fork, his hands shaking like he had tremors. His face was burning a humiliated crimson. I slammed my fork down on the table, pushing my own plate right in front of Gordon. “My brother doesn’t like this fancy European garbage. He likes the hearty beef stew on my plate.” I stabbed the biggest chunk of tender beef and shoved it directly into Gordon’s mouth. Sebastian’s polite smile completely froze. The unshed tears in his eyes began to well up again. He looked toward the head of the table, silently begging Victor for help. Victor finally broke his silence. “Gordon is sixteen now. I have already instructed the staff to transfer both of your academic records to Oakridge Academy. You will be attending the same prep school as Sebastian.” I let out a scoff, just about to reject the offer, but Sebastian beat me to the punch. “Dad, do you really think that is a good idea? The curriculum at Oakridge is incredibly demanding. Brother just got here from a rural public school, he will definitely struggle. What if people make fun of him?” He wore a mask of deep concern, but there was a distinct, undeniable layer of superiority bleeding into his tone. “Maybe we should enroll him in a middle school first? Building a solid foundation is what truly matters.” I laughed, a sharp, bitter sound. “Sure thing. Me and my brother are going to Oakridge. I would love to see which blind idiot dares to make fun of us. Even starting from absolute zero, we are ten times better than some spoiled rich kids with empty heads.” The tension in the dining room spiked. I could feel Victor’s sharp, calculating gaze burning into the side of my head. Sebastian shrank back in his expensive chair, looking like I had just physically assaulted him. I didn’t care. I wanted to stir the pot. I needed everyone in this house to understand one simple fact. Nobody messes with Lexi’s brother. 3 Victor had the staff arrange our bedrooms. Gordon’s room was massive and luxurious, basically a presidential suite. But it was located at the absolute end of the hallway, isolated from the rest of the family. My room was slightly smaller, but conveniently placed right next door to Sebastian’s. I hugged my faded cartoon pillow tightly against my chest, standing stubbornly in Gordon’s doorway, refusing to leave. “I am sleeping in my brother’s room.” The head butler looked deeply uncomfortable. “Miss Lexi, that violates the household protocols.” “What protocols? In our house, the only protocol is that I stay where my brother stays.” Sebastian heard the commotion and stepped out of his room. He was wearing silk pajamas, his hair slightly damp from the shower, making him look even more fragile and pathetic. “Sister, what is wrong? Do you feel claustrophobic in your room? It is okay, my suite is very spacious. We can switch.” I rolled my eyes. I didn’t even have the energy to play along with his act. “I am worried my brother will have nightmares. He has always been afraid of the dark.” Sebastian’s eyes instantly welled up with moisture again. “This is all my fault. I shouldn’t have come back tonight and startled him.” He turned to Victor, who was standing a few yards away, his expression unreadable. “Dad, please let her stay with him. Everything is new to them, they must be so overwhelmed.” Look at that. A masterclass in manipulation. He got to play the generous, forgiving saint, while simultaneously painting us as uncultured hillbillies who couldn’t handle sleeping in a nice bed. Victor gave me a freezing glare. “Do whatever you want.” I successfully claimed the left half of Gordon’s massive California King bed. In the middle of the night, a quiet rustling sound woke me up. Gordon wasn’t asleep. He was sitting by the large bay window, staring blankly at the moon. “Gordon, what’s going on in your head?” He looked over his shoulder. The moonlight caught his face, highlighting the deep insecurity and fear in his eyes. “Lexi, this place is too big. It scares me.” “I feel like a criminal. Like I broke in and stole someone else’s life.” My chest tightened painfully. I crawled across the mattress and wrapped my arms around his shoulders. “Shut up. You are not a thief. You just finally came home. Everything in this house was supposed to be yours from the start.” “Sebastian is the real thief. He stole sixteen years of your life.” Gordon shook his head, burying his face into my shoulder. His voice was muffled and small. “But their dad likes him better.” I patted his back, my voice completely unwavering. “Who cares who he likes? I like you, and that is all that matters. Trust me, Gordon. We are going to win.” Early the next morning, Sebastian knocked on our door. He was holding a steaming mug of milk, a bright, welcoming smile on his face. “Good morning, brother, sister. Dad sent me to bring you down for breakfast.” He offered the mug to Gordon. “Brother, I had the chef prepare this warm milk just for you. It is excellent for your digestion.” I stared at that mug, the alarm bells from rule number three ringing wildly in my head. Beware of the fake heir’s random acts of kindness. Sugar-coated bullets are always the deadliest. I snatched the mug right out of his hands and, while they both watched in stunned silence, poured the entire thing directly into a large potted fern by the door. “My brother is lactose intolerant. He can’t drink this.” I lied without even blinking. All the color drained from Sebastian’s face. He stood there, completely out of his depth. “I am so sorry, brother. I had no idea.” I let out a cold laugh, grabbing Gordon by the wrist and pulling him past Sebastian into the hallway. “There is a lot of stuff you don’t know. Stay away from my brother.” As we walked down the corridor, I could feel two distinct gazes burning into my back. One was Sebastian’s manufactured victimhood. The other was Victor’s cold, calculating scrutiny. Good. I wanted them to know exactly who they were dealing with. Lexi doesn’t play nice. 4 Transferring to Oakridge Academy went much smoother than I expected. Victor probably just wanted us out of the house so he didn’t have to look at us. On our very first day, Sebastian immediately tried to put on a show of brotherly love. He gathered a massive crowd of his elite friends and blocked us right at the classroom door. “Everyone, I want to introduce you to my brother, Gordon. He just moved back home. And this is his sister, Lexi.” The boys and girls standing behind him were dripping in designer brands. They looked at us like we were some exotic animals freshly imported to the zoo. “Wow, so that’s the true heir from the mountains?” “He looks so incredibly trashy.” “His sister looks like a feral dog.” Sebastian put on a fake stern voice and scolded them. “Do not say things like that. They are my family.” Then, he pulled out a beautifully wrapped luxury box and offered it to Gordon. “Brother, this is a welcome gift. It is the newest model smartwatch. It connects directly to the campus mainframe, it will really help you catch up on your studies.” Gordon stared at the high-tech device, his hands awkwardly hovering in the air, not knowing what to do. I saw right through Sebastian’s little game. Gordon had never even owned a smartphone. Handing him a complex piece of tech in front of a crowd was just a setup to watch him struggle and embarrass himself. I shoved the box right back into Sebastian’s chest. “No thanks. My brother isn’t used to this flashy junk.” I reached into my faded canvas backpack and pulled out an object wrapped in crumpled newspaper. I pressed it firmly into Gordon’s hands. “Here, bro. I brought this for you. It isn’t expensive, but it’s a hell of a lot better than something that just looks pretty.” Gordon carefully peeled back the newspaper. Inside was a beautifully hand-carved wooden wolf. The wolf’s eyes were dark and fierce, its posture powerful and alive. Gordon had stayed up for four straight nights carving it by the light of a single bulb. Gordon’s eyes instantly lit up. He cradled the small wooden carving like it was the most precious artifact in the entire world. The hallway went dead silent. Sebastian’s face shifted through three different shades of pale before settling on a sickly green. A bleach-blonde prep standing behind him couldn’t take it anymore. He stepped up, pointing a manicured finger right at my face. “What is your problem? Sebastian is trying to be nice, and you’re acting like ungrateful trash.” I raised an eyebrow. “Excuse me? Are we legally required to accept his gifts? Did your dad buy the entire school, or do you just like sticking your nose where it doesn’t belong?” “You little—” Before things could escalate into a physical fight, the morning bell echoed through the halls. Sebastian grabbed the blonde kid’s arm, pulling him back. He shot me one long, heavy look. The fake victim routine was gone, replaced by pure, freezing venom. He led his entourage away. I knew the war had officially begun. After the final bell, I deliberately dragged Gordon out the back exit, trying to avoid being cornered. But it didn’t work. Sebastian was waiting for us in a blind spot near the parking lot. He was completely alone this time. No audience. He blocked our path, staring down at the wooden wolf still clutched in Gordon’s hand. He let out a harsh, arrogant scoff. “White trash will always be white trash. You are only fit to play with mud and sticks.” All the blood rushed out of Gordon’s face. He instinctively hid the carving behind his back. A white-hot rage exploded in my chest. “Who the hell are you calling white trash? You are a cuckoo bird who stole another family’s nest. What gives you the right to look down on anyone?” “The food you eat, the clothes on your back, the bed you sleep in. Every single thing belongs to my brother. What exactly are you so proud of?” Sebastian turned purple. I doubt anyone had ever spoken to him like that in his entire pampered life. He shook with anger, pointing a trembling finger at me. “You… you are going to regret this.” Right at that exact second, Victor’s sleek town car silently rolled to a stop right behind us. Victor stepped out of the backseat, his expression dark as a storm cloud. The second Sebastian saw him, it was like a switch flipped. Tears instantly flooded his eyes. He practically threw himself at Victor, sobbing beautifully. “Dad, I was just trying to talk to them, I wanted us to be a real family. But Lexi hates me so much. Is it because I took his place? Dad, maybe I should just pack my things and leave. I will give everything back to him.” He choked on his tears, looking like he had suffered the greatest injustice in human history. Victor’s expression darkened even further. His sharp, predatory gaze locked directly onto me. His voice was as cold as a frozen lake. “Lexi. Apologize to your brother.”

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The divorce from my ex-husband six years ago was the single most humiliating chapter of my life. He’d lost his mind back then, spewing the vilest curses, swearing I’d never find happiness. I was shaking with rage. That same day, I bought a one-way ticket and fled the country. It wasn’t until a high school reunion last week that I set foot in this city again. During dinner, someone enthusiastically tried to pour me a glass of wine. But Daniel, my ex, who was sitting right next to me, shot his hand out to block the bottle. “Don’t,” he said, his voice low but shockingly firm. “She’s allergic to alcohol.” 1 The moment he said it, the lively chatter in our private dining room died, replaced by a thick, awkward silence. Every eye in the room darted between me and Daniel. After all, our breakup had been a spectacular train wreck. Six years ago, Daniel had an affair with my best friend, Jessica. He claimed he didn’t want to hurt either of us and actually suggested the three of us could learn to coexist peacefully. The idea was so warped it shattered my reality. After a massive fight, I left the country in a storm of fury. And I hadn’t been back until today. Everyone knew the story, which is why they’d been carefully avoiding any sensitive topics during the initial pleasantries. But here was Daniel, practically begging for attention. After vetoing the wine, he took it upon himself to stand up and fill my glass with iced tea. Mike, one of our old friends, shot him a disapproving look but didn’t say anything when I remained silent. He just forced a smile and tried to smooth things over. “No worries, no worries! If Sophie can’t drink, she can’t drink. A toast with tea is just as good.” “Yeah, totally,” others chimed in, desperate to move past the cringeworthy moment. A reunion was a rare thing, and no one wanted our personal drama to ruin it. I didn’t want to make a scene either. I gracefully raised my glass of tea and took a sip. As I set it down, I caught a flicker of a smile in Daniel’s eyes, as if my simple act of drinking the tea he poured meant something more. I refused to overthink it and calmly looked away. Just then, the waiters began bringing in the food. I was surprised to see they were all my favorite dishes. Then it hit me like a ton of bricks: Daniel had been the one to place the order. I glanced at him from the corner of my eye. He was leaning back in his chair, a smug, expectant look on his face, as if he’d been waiting for me to notice his grand gesture. It all clicked into place. Every single thing he’d done tonight was a calculated move to get close to me. And honestly? It was making my skin crawl. A good ex is a dead ex. They should vanish from your world completely, not pop up trying to play the knight in shining armor. Especially not when, less than a month after I left the country, Daniel had married Jessica. As far as I knew, they were still very much together. A married man making repeated, suggestive moves on his ex-wife? That wasn’t just inappropriate. It was disgusting. Trying to avoid any more drama, I coldly flagged down a waiter and ordered an orange juice. For the rest of the night, whenever a toast was made, I drank that, letting the iced tea Daniel had poured for me grow warm and forgotten. I thought my message was loud and clear. But then, Daniel suddenly reached across the table with his chopsticks and expertly placed a piece of brisket on my plate. “You’ve gotten so thin,” he said, his tone sickeningly intimate. “You must not have been eating well over there.” I stared at the meat in my bowl as if it were something rotten, unable to bring myself to touch it. But Daniel, acting completely oblivious, proceeded to serve me a little of everything, piling my plate high until it was a small mountain of food. Now, everyone was staring. 2 “What’s with those two? You think they got back together?” “No way! Isn’t Daniel still married?” “So what? They were the real couple. If it wasn’t for that Jessica butting in, they’d still be together.” “Man, nothing beats the original, you know?” Thanks to Daniel’s little performance, my former classmates were now convinced we were secretly hooking up again. Some even whispered that I’d come back to the country just for him. And the man himself, the architect of all this gossip, just sat there, watching it all unfold with a calm, detached expression. He didn’t say a word, content to let the rumors solidify into fact. I had no idea what his game was, but I wanted absolutely no part of it. I opened my mouth, ready to shut it all down by announcing that I was already married. But before I could speak, the door to the room swung open. Jessica stood there, a thundercloud on her face. Her eyes met mine, and for a second, she froze. Then, her expression shifted instantly, her face contorting into a sickly sweet smile. “Sophie! You’re back! Why didn’t you tell me you were coming?” She sauntered in like she owned the place and slid into the seat next to Daniel. The moment she sat down, her gaze fell on the dishes covering the table. As my best friend for years, she knew my tastes intimately. Her face went pale with humiliation. But just as quickly, she shot a venomous glare in my direction, as if I had personally orchestrated the menu just to embarrass her. A bitter irony washed over me. The Jessica I remembered wasn’t like this. I remember in tenth-grade gym class, I got my period and bled through my pants. A group of boys started pointing and laughing. “Hey, look! Sophie’s butt is bleeding!” “Ew, that’s so gross.” It was the first time I’d ever been publicly mocked like that. My back went rigid, and I froze on the spot, utterly clueless about what to do. Suddenly, Jessica charged in, whipped off her own jacket, and tied it around my waist. Then she spun around and roared at the boys. “What the hell are you laughing at? It’s called a period. It’s normal! If you’re that clueless, maybe you should pay attention in health class instead of acting like ignorant jerks.” The boys fell silent immediately. Later, I gave her a box of candy to thank her. She took it and thumped her chest, promising, “Anyone ever messes with you again, you just come find me. I’ll take care of them!” I thought she was just kidding, but Jessica was true to her word. Back then, Daniel and I were childhood sweethearts, practically joined at the hip. Our closeness fueled a lot of gossip. Someone even started a rumor that we had already gone all the way. At first, I ignored it. But we were still teenagers, and our skins weren’t as thick as they are now. Hearing it over and over started to get to me, making me feel miserable and wronged. So one day, after another crude joke was thrown my way, I finally broke. I walked to the front of the classroom and tearfully told everyone that Daniel and I had never crossed that line. Daniel stood up to defend me, but that only made things worse. The gossips exchanged gleeful looks and started jeering. “Ooh, look at that. Say two words about the girl and the guy jumps up to protect her. And you say nothing’s going on?” “They walk home together every day. Who knows what they’re doing in private!” “Hahaha.” Another wave of laughter crashed over me. I stood there, frozen, feeling like I’d been struck by lightning. That’s when Jessica slammed her hand on her desk. She stood up, marched over to the group of guys, looked them up and down, and then flashed a lewd grin. “Ooh, look at you three, always going to the bathroom together. Who knows what you guys are doing in there, huh?” She leaned in, her voice dripping with insinuation. “I heard real ‘bros’ are supposed to take care of each other when they’re in need. You guys been taking good care of each other?” If straight romance was a storm in our high school, a gay rumor was a full-blown apocalypse. The boys’ faces went white with panic. They immediately turned to me and Daniel, stammering apologies. After that, they never breathed another word about us. And from that day on, Jessica and I were inseparable. She was the kind of person who was optimistic, kind, and fiercely righteous. She was the one who would charge into battle for me. But the woman standing here today? For a man, she’d not only abandoned her own sense of justice but was now slinging mud at me without a second thought. “Sophie, are you still mad at me for taking Daniel all those years ago? Is that why you came back without saying a word to me?” I was so taken aback by her accusation that I didn’t know how to respond. She seized the opportunity, raising her voice into a pathetic, whiny tone. “I tried to talk to you when I came in, but you just ignored me. You just wanted to humiliate me, didn’t you?” Her voice rose to a crescendo, filled with theatrical self-pity. “I know you’ve never gotten over Daniel, but he’s my husband now! Are you really trying to seduce him right in front of my face?” The room erupted in gasps. Curious eyes bounced back and forth between me and Jessica. But what truly surprised me was Daniel’s reaction. He did absolutely nothing to stop Jessica’s lies. Instead, he just rested his chin on his hand, a ghost of a smile playing on his lips as he watched me. It was a look of pure anticipation. As if he was actually hoping I would try to seduce him. How could he look at me like that? Had he forgotten how he had cursed me, how he had wished me a life of misery? 3 I found out Jessica’s secret boyfriend was Daniel on the day she tried to kill herself. By then, I was already married to Daniel and five months pregnant with our child. She sent me a horrifying photo of her sliced wrist with a simple text: I’m so sorry. I can’t live anymore. The image of raw, red flesh made my scalp tingle with fear. I immediately called an ambulance. At the hospital, I was a wreck, pacing uselessly, not knowing what to do. I just knelt on the cold floor, my pregnant belly heavy, and sobbed, begging the doctors to save her. Thankfully, they managed to stabilize her. I finally let out a breath I didn’t realize I was holding. My relief quickly turned to rage. I was going to find the man who did this to her and make him pay. But I didn’t even know his name. All I had to go on were Jessica’s tear-swollen eyes from our last conversation. After composing myself, I went to her dorm to get her phone. My plan was to lure the bastard out and beat him to a pulp. But when I held her phone in my hand, my world tilted on its axis. The lock screen was a picture of two hands, fingers intertwined. On the man’s ring finger was a wedding band. I recognized it instantly. It was my wedding ring. The one I’d given Daniel. So… the man was Daniel? No. It couldn’t be. Impossible. My hands trembling, I frantically typed in my own birthday to unlock the phone. Password incorrect. I tried Jessica’s birthday. Still incorrect. Finally, with a shaking hand, I entered Daniel’s birthday. The phone unlocked. At that point, the truth was already screaming at me, but a tiny, desperate part of my heart clung to hope. Maybe it’s not Daniel’s hand, just someone with a similar ring… Maybe the password is just a random coincidence… But all my flimsy excuses were obliterated by the thousands of photos in her gallery. Over a thousand pictures of Daniel and Jessica together. Eating at restaurants. Vacationing on a beach. Lying in bed, tangled in sheets. And then… the one that broke me. A snapshot of a white bedsheet stained with a single, damning crimson blotch. A picture taken after the first time they’d slept together. The date stamp was from four months ago. The same day I found out I was pregnant. I remembered it so clearly. When I told Daniel the news, he was so ecstatic he lifted me up and spun me around. Jessica was there, too, excitedly declaring she would be the baby’s godmother. It had been the happiest day of my life. I was carrying new life, with the man I loved and the friend I cherished by my side. I had shared my joy with them in the morning. And that very afternoon, they had betrayed me together. What a fucking joke. The two people who had been my entire world, who had walked with me through my entire youth, had been lying to me all along. And I, in my blissful ignorance, had never suspected a thing. If I hadn’t been trying to play the hero for Jessica, would I have ever found out? The thought that just hours ago, I was on my knees, pregnant and desperate, begging doctors to save her… it made me want to laugh. But the laughter died in my throat. A cold, chilling thought sliced through my mind. Jessica’s suicide attempt… was it a calculated move to force my hand?

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The year my mother and father’s mistress fell to their deaths, I cut off my family and followed Jake to New York. Broke back then, he gave me everything after years of struggle. Near the anniversary of my mother’s death, he said, “Anna, I’m moving the company to London. Will you be upset?” Touched, I told him to go ahead and set things up. Two months later, I was pregnant. I secretly flew to London to surprise him. At his townhouse, I heard a familiar voice—Sophie, my half-sister, the other woman’s daughter. “Honey, are we staying here?” she asked. Jake replied, “Yes. You and the baby are here. I couldn’t leave.” My blood ran cold. I hid as they came out. He helped her, her bump clearly showing. He fussed over her, calling himself an overprotective first-time dad. The way he looked at her was how he once looked at me. After they left, I wandered to my mother’s old house and sat in the dark until Jake called. “Anna,” he asked gently, “sleeping okay?” I couldn’t speak. “No, Jake. I haven’t been feeling well lately. When are you coming back to New York?” “Not feeling well? What’s wrong? Did you go see a doctor?” He sounded so frantic. So worried. If I hadn’t seen that devastating scene with my own eyes, I would have instantly comforted him, told him I was fine, told him not to stress. “I can’t sleep. I have no appetite, and I keep throwing up. Jake… I think I’m pregnant.” The line went dead silent. After what felt like an eternity, he finally spoke. His tone was tight, edged with agitation. “Anna, I’m right in the middle of the most chaotic phase of the corporate move. This is a really bad time for a baby.” He paused, forcing his voice to soften. “Be a good girl. The pregnancy is still early. Go to a clinic and take care of it. Once we’re fully settled back in the UK, we can plan for a family. Okay?” I let out a broken laugh, swiping at the wetness completely covering my face. “Are you saying it’s a bad time for a baby, or is it just a bad time for my baby?” “What the hell is that supposed to mean! I told you, the timing is terrible. Why can’t you just be understanding for once?” I hung up the phone. I opened my laptop, pulled up the UK visa application site, and began filling out the forms. Under marital status, I selected ‘Married’. A line of glaring red text popped up on the screen. “The information provided does not match system records. Please verify and resubmit.” Thinking I had typed the marriage certificate number wrong, I entered it again. Same red text. I stared at the glowing screen for several seconds. My fingers were trembling uncontrollably as I clicked the dropdown menu and changed it to ‘Single’. Approved. So, when Sophie called him her husband, she meant it legally. And the courthouse wedding Jake and I had in Brooklyn three years ago was a complete fake. When we got “married,” Jake had told me the process in the States was incredibly streamlined. No officiant needed, no witnesses required, just signing some papers and getting a certificate. I had trusted him implicitly. I never harbored a single doubt. It turned out he had been playing me for a fool from the very beginning. I booked the next flight back to New York. I dug out that flimsy, pathetic excuse for a marriage certificate. The whole room started spinning. When I finally opened my eyes again, I was blinded by hospital white. “Anna, you’re awake!” Seeing the mix of anxiety and relief in Jake’s eyes made my stomach violently turn. I weakly raised my fists, pummeling his chest. “Why! Why did you lie to me! The marriage certificate is fake! It’s all fake! You legally married Sophie in London. I saw everything! You’re a piece of trash, Jake!” A flash of pure panic crossed his face. “Anna… please calm down. Just let me explain…” Smack. My palm collided with his cheek, draining the last ounce of my strength. Jake pinned my wrists down, the words spilling out of him in a rushed frenzy. “Sophie had a terrible life. Everywhere she went, people treated her like dirt because she was an illegitimate child. Your dad came to me. He begged me to give her a legitimate status. But I love you, Anna. It’s always been you. Once Sophie has the baby, I’ll divorce her immediately, and we’ll get properly married…” I clutched my head, a raw scream tearing from my throat. “Her mother killed my mother! Did you forget that?! My mother paid for your college tuition! Why would you help our enemy? Why!” Jake yanked my hands away. A look of deep impatience settled over his features, and his volume spiked. “Her mother is dead too! Anna, can you not have an ounce of empathy? You’re both victims in this, there is no right or wrong. You have me for the rest of your life. She has absolutely nothing. I just felt sorry for her. I couldn’t let my gratitude to your mother blind me to basic human decency.” I went completely still. I looked at him, my eyes devoid of anything but dead ash. “I’m going back to London.” There were too many things I needed to uncover. The car ride from Heathrow Airport headed toward the suburbs. “That townhouse is in Sophie’s name. I’ve arranged a new place for you,” Jake explained from the driver’s seat. “How many months along is she?” The car jerked to a violent halt. I slammed my head against the dashboard. Pain and dizziness hit me simultaneously. “What are you trying to do?” he snapped. In the past, if I even got a paper cut, he would coddle me for hours. Now, his only concern was whether I posed a threat to Sophie. I laughed out loud. “When exactly did you two start screwing each other? Three years ago? Five?” Humiliation tightened Jake’s jaw. “Anna, what’s done is done. Digging up the past is pointless. If you want to keep your baby, I won’t force you to get rid of it. But I’m warning you, you will not lay a finger on Sophie’s child.” That last sentence was a flat-out threat. I thought my heart was already dead, but those words still sent a vicious, stabbing pain straight through my chest. The second I walked into the new house, I saw Sophie. She was wearing a tight knit maxi dress, proudly jutting out her belly, standing right in the middle of the living room like she owned the place. “Sis, you’re back!” Jake immediately rushed to her side, supporting her lower back. His tone was laced with gentle reprimand. “Why didn’t you stay home and rest? What are you doing here?” Sophie smiled softly, trailing her fingers down his arm. “The baby has been so good today, not kicking too hard. Don’t be such a worrywart.” Jake pinched her nose. “You’re acting like a kid yourself. I swear I can’t handle you.” Sophie shot a sideways glance at me, acting entirely bashful. “Stop it, you’re embarrassing me. My sister is right there.” I stood there like an unwanted guest, forced to watch their disgusting display of domestic bliss. Despite my best efforts, my eyes burned with hot tears. A dull ache started pulsing in my lower abdomen. “Does the deed to this house have my name on it?” I asked. Jake guided Sophie to the plush sofa, settling her down before looking at me. “Of course it’s yours.” I placed a protective hand over my stomach and took a deep breath. “In that case, I want everyone who doesn’t belong here to get out of my house.” Jake’s brow furrowed. Sophie’s eyes instantly welled up with tears. “It’s my fault. I just missed you so much since we haven’t seen each other in forever. If you don’t want me here, Sis, I’ll leave right now.” She made a dramatic show of struggling to stand up, which sent Jake into a full panic. “Sophie is your younger sister. You shouldn’t treat her like this.” The rage I had been suppressing violently boiled over. I screamed at the top of my lungs. “I don’t have a sister! My mother only gave birth to one daughter!” Sophie buried her face in Jake’s chest, her voice trembling with manufactured sobs. “Hubby, just let me go home. Please don’t upset her anymore.” “I’ll drive you back.” He supported her weight as they walked past me, dropping his voice into a low, disappointed register. “I really hope you can get your emotions under control.” The front door clicked shut. I collapsed onto the couch, buried my face in my hands, and cried until I was completely hollowed out. Jake didn’t come back that night. Instead, my phone lit up with a video message from Sophie. [My pregnancy is making things difficult, but he was so worried about my needs, he insisted on helping me out like this.] The video showed them in bed. I didn’t need to watch the rest. [Sis, do you think he’ll be this attentive when your belly gets big too?] A foul wave of nausea hit the back of my throat. I bolted to the bathroom, dry heaving over the toilet bowl. Everything that had happened over the past few weeks felt like a twisted fever dream. I honestly didn’t know what my next move should be. Suddenly, there was a tiny flutter in my belly. It was a kick. My baby’s first movement. Right then and there, I made my decision. I was keeping this child. But this baby would have absolutely nothing to do with Jake. The next morning, I went straight to the sprawling estate of the man I had disowned. My biological father, Richard. “I’m here to take back the shares of the family trust my mother left for me.” A flicker of guilt crossed Richard’s face. “When you ran off five years ago, I already transferred your mother’s portion to Sophie.” My stomach plummeted. “That belonged to my mother! What right did you have to give it to the daughter of a homewrecker!” “Jake knew about it. In fact, it was his suggestion.” Jake… When his tech company went public in New York, I had asked him to help me fly back to London to reclaim my mother’s shares. At the time, he told me Richard had used a corporate loophole to buy them out at a rock-bottom price, and that he could only salvage a cash payout for me. Why? My mother had paid for his entire Ivy League education. He used to tell me she was like a second mother to him. He promised her he would protect me for the rest of his life. How could a human being rot so completely from the inside out? When I got back to the house, Jake was already there. He walked over, reaching out to grab my hand. I sidestepped, letting his fingers grasp empty air. “Exactly how many things are you hiding from me?” He looked me dead in the eye, perfectly composed. “Aside from marrying Sophie, absolutely nothing.” I lost it. I threw myself at him, slamming my fists into his chest. “Liar! Liar! You told my father to give my mother’s trust fund to Sophie! You gaslighted me for years! Who the hell are you, Jake? If you were skilled enough to play me for five years, why didn’t you have the guts to lie to me for the rest of my life!” “Anna, stop it! You have me! I’ll make sure you never have to worry about money for as long as you live. But Sophie has nothing. She needed a safety net. Can you just let this go? We still have a life to build together. If you keep acting like a hysterical maniac every single day, who could possibly stand being around you?” “If you can’t stand it, then get the hell out! I never want to see your face again! Ah…” A sharp, tearing pain ripped through my stomach. I doubled over. “Take me… to the hospital…” Jake’s face drained of color. He reached out to catch me, but his phone rang. “Hubby, my stomach is hurting so bad… please come back, I’m so scared…” His entire demeanor shifted in a heartbeat. “Don’t move! I’m on my way!” He looked down at me. “Anna, Sophie is further along, she can’t handle any stress. Stop throwing tantrums. Let me go check on her, and I’ll come right back to you.” Without a backward glance, he sprinted out the door. “Jake…” I pulled out my phone with trembling, sweaty fingers and dialed emergency services. “The baby is fine,” the doctor told me later. “A few days of bed rest and you’ll be okay. But you cannot afford these massive emotional spikes. The baby feels whatever the mother feels. For the sake of your child, you need to find a way to stay calm.” I exhaled a massive, shaky breath. “Thank you, doctor.” During my days recovering in the sterile hospital room, Jake didn’t call once. Instead, Sophie bombarded my phone with taunts. “All I had to do was say the baby kicked, and he lost his mind with worry. Sis, there’s no point staying by his side as a pregnant mistress with no legal standing. You should just leave. He’s never going to divorce me.” For the sake of the life growing inside me, I locked my phone away and forced myself to breathe through the anger. Once I was discharged and back at the house, I started packing. I was leaving. I would figure out the rest later. Just as I zipped up my suitcase, Sophie let herself in. “Glad to see you finally came to your senses, Sis. But you probably still have some lingering questions. I came over to clear things up for you.” She looked down, gently stroking her swollen belly. Her voice was terrifyingly soft. “Actually, the night before you two flew out to the States? We slept together.” The words hit me like a physical blow. “You must think it’s impossible, right? Since he hated me so much back then. I went to his apartment with a bottle of whiskey to say goodbye. I told him I had no mother, I’d never get a dime of the family money, and I was doomed to be mocked as an illegitimate bastard for the rest of my life. “He felt sorry for me. He drank glass after glass. When he got drunk, it just… happened naturally. “But Sis, do you really think a black-out drunk man can perform? He knew it was me the whole time. “So you see, you lost to me before you even got on that plane.” I stood glued to the floor. I had imagined a thousand different timelines, but I never thought the betrayal ran this deep. On our flight to New York, Jake had been incredibly distracted. I thought he was just anxious about leaving his home country. Now I knew he was leaving a piece of his heart behind. It was pathetic. I had spent the last five years treating him as my safe harbor. Trusting him unconditionally. I was nothing but a spectacular, colossal joke. Seeing the devastation on my face, Sophie smiled. She slowly pushed up the sleeve of her designer cardigan, revealing an exquisite, vintage Cartier bangle on her wrist. That was my mother’s heirloom. When the homewrecker stole it and sold it years ago, it vanished. Later, I heard it surfaced at a private auction in London. I had begged Jake to fly back and bid on it for me. He had returned looking absolutely gutted, telling me he got outbid by an anonymous buyer. Because his startup was struggling, I swallowed my heartbreak and comforted him. I told him if my mother was watching over us, the bracelet would find its way back to me eventually. “Figured it out yet?” Sophie whispered. “He fought tooth and nail in a bidding war to buy this for me. And he lied straight to your face. From the very beginning, you’ve always been second place.” I lunged at her. “Give it back! Give it back to me!” We grappled. In the chaotic shoving, my foot slipped. I crashed hard onto the hardwood floor. A blinding, agonizing cramp seized my lower abdomen. A thick, terrifying warmth spread between my legs. The metallic scent of blood hit the air. My baby… Sophie immediately threw herself onto the floor and started screaming at the top of her lungs. “Ah! It hurts! Sis, why did you push me?!” “Sophie! What happened?! Don’t be scared, I’ll get you to the hospital right now!” Jake had arrived. He didn’t even look at me. He only had eyes for her. Clutching my stomach, fighting through the blinding agony, I begged him. “I’m bleeding… my baby is dying…” Jake finally turned his head. His eyes were a twisted mixture of disappointment and pure rage. His voice dropped to a sinister, chilling octave I had never heard before. “If anything happens to Sophie or my child, I will make you pay.” “Don’t go…” I watched helplessly as Jake scooped Sophie into his arms and bolted. Before he turned the corner, Sophie’s lips curled into a victorious smirk. She silently mouthed the words: You lose again.

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1 My name is Sarah. Five years into my marriage with Jean, I gave up my life to save his, leaving this world forever. The only piece of my soul I left behind was our four-year-old son, Toby. In the years that followed, Jean raised our little boy all on his own, fiercely guarding every single memory of the life we shared. That was, until a woman named Nicole walked into his life. She pursued Jean relentlessly, throwing her whole heart at him. But no matter how desperately Nicole confessed her feelings, Jean turned her down cold. “I made a promise to Sarah,” he told her. “For the rest of my life, my heart belongs entirely to her. She is my one and only wife.” I floated right beside him as a spirit, watching him, silently praying he would keep that promise. I never expected what would happen next. A massive fire broke out at Toby’s school. Nicole charged into the burning building without a second thought. She managed to save my son, but she was trapped under a falling beam and slipped into a deep coma. Jean lost every ounce of his composure. He fell to his knees beside her hospital bed, begging Nicole to open her eyes, over and over again. Nicole’s eyes remained firmly shut. But I, inexplicably, felt a violent pull. Before I knew what was happening, I was sucked directly into her body. I blinked her eyes open. The first person in my line of sight was Jean. He didn’t recognize me. With tears streaming down his face, he looked at me, or rather, the woman he thought was Nicole, and choked out a confession. “Nicole, I love you.” For a split second, I honestly thought the smoke had messed with my hearing. But Jean immediately said it again. “Nicole, I love you.” “I already talked to my parents. The second you’re out of the woods and fully recovered, we are planning the wedding.” “Thank God you’re okay…” He pressed my hand against his wet cheek, looking at me with pure, unadulterated devotion. I lay there completely paralyzed. I had no idea how to tell him that I wasn’t Nicole. I was his dead wife, Sarah. Worse yet, I had no idea how to process the crushing reality that he had genuinely fallen in love with another woman. Seeing my silence, Jean panicked and started apologizing. “I’m so sorry, Nicole. I was a fool before. I clearly had feelings for you, but I was just too much of a coward to admit it.” “I swear to you, from this day forward, I will love you and only you. Okay?” Those words were the exact same words he used when he proposed to the real me years ago. Back then, I had wrapped my arms around his neck, laughing and teasing him. “It’s a deal! If you ever change your mind, I’ll never forgive you, even if I’m dead!” And yet, here we were. All I could do was dig my fingernails into my palms, fighting back a wave of bitter tears as I tried to correct him. “But I’m not Ni…” Before the name could fully leave my lips, a tiny figure bolted into the hospital room. “Mommy! You’re finally awake!” My entire body violently jolted. I watched helplessly as my little boy threw his small arms around my torso, his eyes swollen and red from crying. Feeling the radiating heat of his small body, a massive rush of joy completely short-circuited my brain. My voice trembled uncontrollably. “What… what did you just call me?” “Can you say it one more time?” It had been so unbelievably long since I heard my Toby call me Mom. But before Toby could open his mouth again, Jean gently covered the boy’s lips, offering a patient correction. “Toby, buddy, you can’t call her that yet. Auntie Nicole hasn’t agreed to marry daddy.” “She isn’t your mom right now.” Those words hit me like a bucket of ice water. The brutal reality snapped back into place. Right now, in their eyes, I was Nicole. Even Jean couldn’t spot a single difference. How could my sweet, innocent son possibly know that his real mother was trapped inside this woman’s body? My nose stung fiercely. I lowered my gaze, trying to explain myself one more time. “Actually, I really am Toby’s mo…” Jean completely misunderstood my hesitation. He grabbed my hands, his eyes wild with excitement. “Wait, does that mean you’re saying yes? You’ll marry me?” I froze. I was just about to shake my head. But Toby let out a joyful cheer and hugged me even tighter. “Yay! That means Auntie Nicole is going to be my new mommy! Right?!” I looked at the absolute elation lighting up both of their faces. The truth withered and died in my throat. In the three agonizing years since my death, this was the first time I had seen either of them look so genuinely happy. They truly loved Nicole. As for me… I was a ghost who had been dead for three years. No matter how much it tore me apart, what right did I have to steal the happiness they so desperately wanted? My eyes burned with fresh tears. I awkwardly turned my face away and offered a single, stiff nod. “Yes.” I had no idea when my soul would be ripped away from this body. But if Nicole was the only person they wanted to see, then I would give them exactly what they wanted. 2 Hearing my answer, both father and son practically tackled me in a massive hug. Jean’s voice cracked with raw emotion. “Nicole, thank you…” “Thank you for forgiving me, and thank you for being willing to be Toby’s mom.” Toby was too young to understand the gravity of it all. He just buried his face in my chest, echoing his dad’s thank you. As I sat there, the scent clinging to their clothes drifted into my nose, leaving me entirely dazed. After all these years, they still smelled exactly like gardenias. It was my absolute favorite scent. When I was alive, I constantly bought that specific floral detergent to wash all of their laundry. Whenever I hung the clothes up to dry, Toby used to cling to my legs and grin. “Mommy smells so good! I love it!” And Jean would always pull me into his chest and whisper. “Every time I smell gardenias on you, it just makes me feel so grounded. So safe.” It was the signature scent of our little family of three. But right now, they were carrying that exact same scent while holding another woman’s body. A sickening wave of revulsion and rejection clawed at my throat. I pushed them away, holding my breath. “What is that smell on you two? It’s way too strong. It’s suffocating.” Jean lifted his sleeve to his nose, and his entire body went rigid. Toby immediately piped up to explain. “It’s gardenia flowers! Daddy says it’s because my first mommy loved…” Before he could finish, Jean clamped a hand over his mouth. “It’s just a regular detergent. If you don’t like it, I’ll throw it out and buy a new one tomorrow.” Jean looked at me with total caution, treating me like fragile glass. The very next day, the scent on their clothes completely changed. It was a sickly sweet citrus scent. The exact kind of fruity smell I absolutely despised. To make matters worse, Toby kept clinging to me, excitedly asking if I liked the new smell. Looking at his sweet, innocent face, I forced a fake smile and nodded, silently ordering myself to let go of the past. I wasn’t Sarah anymore. I had to play the role of Nicole perfectly, right up until the day she returned to claim her life. I arrived in silence, and I would leave in silence. If I did that, I could at least lie to myself. I could pretend that in my memories, our family was still as beautiful and flawless as it used to be. To the current Jean and Toby, “Nicole’s” feelings were the only things that mattered. Because he thought “Nicole” didn’t like it, Jean voluntarily took off his wedding ring, leaving behind a stark, pale indentation on his ring finger. Because he thought “Nicole” didn’t want to see any reminders of Sarah, Toby took off the custom silver locket I had personally engraved for him. He stuffed it in a drawer and never wore it again. Bit by bit, piece by piece, father and son meticulously scrubbed every trace of my existence from their lives. And I was forced to sit there and watch it happen. Right before I was discharged from the hospital, my period hit. I lay curled up in the hospital bed, shivering violently from the brutal cramps. Toby scrambled up onto the mattress and snuggled into my chest, using his little body heat to warm my aching stomach. Jean actually called out of work. He rushed all the way home just to cook a pot of warm, brown sugar pecan oatmeal for me. Everything was playing out exactly like it used to. But I knew the truth. They still hadn’t recognized me. Jean scooped up a spoonful of the hot oatmeal and brought it to my lips. “Be a good girl, eat it while it’s hot. The pain will go away soon.” It was a sweet, comforting bowl of food, but the steam rising off it made my eyes sting with unshed tears. I turned my head away. “I don’t want it.” Jean’s hand froze mid-air. His voice hitched with sudden anxiety. “But this used to be your absolute favorite. Why don’t you want it? Is your stomach acting up?” He turned around, fully prepared to hit the call button for the nurse. My voice sliced through the air and stopped him dead in his tracks. “Jean, I’m highly allergic to pecans. I’ve never touched the stuff in my life.” “Who exactly is the woman in your head right now?” 3 My dead heart suddenly sparked back to life. God knows how desperately I wanted Jean to figure out the truth. I wanted to find even the tiniest crumb of evidence that he still loved me. But he just stood there, his lips parting and closing for several agonizing seconds, completely speechless. I wasn’t allergic to pecans. Sarah loved them. But in my inherited memories, the real Nicole was severely allergic, and she had explicitly warned Jean about it multiple times. The fact that he completely forgot about her allergy… did that mean I still held the top spot in his heart? Toby looked back and forth between us. He tugged gently on Jean’s sleeve and whispered a reminder. “Daddy, the person who loves pecan oatmeal is Mommy.” My eyes flooded with heat. I bit down hard on my lower lip and looked away. I couldn’t even describe the twisted, suffocating feeling in my chest. Jean slowly set the bowl down on the nightstand. He pulled me into a tight embrace, apologizing over and over again. “I’m so sorry, Nicole… I completely forgot.” “Sarah always loved eating this. Whenever her time of the month came around, making this for her always made her smile.” “I just haven’t adjusted yet. I’m so sorry. Please, just give me a little more time. I swear I’ll memorize every single thing you like, and I’ll wipe Sarah from my memory entirely. Please?” I bit my lip so hard I tasted copper, letting the metaphorical blood drip straight down into my shattered heart. Fine. Let it be like this. I needed to stop holding onto these pathetic delusions. I was only torturing myself. I rested my head against his shoulder and gave a weak nod. “Don’t let it happen again.” Toby pressed his little face against my arm and spoke up in his sweetest voice. “Don’t worry, I’ll supervise Daddy! We’ll memorize everything about you!” They were men of their word. From that day forward, they never got “Nicole’s” preferences wrong again. After I was officially discharged, Jean brought me back to our family home. During the years I existed purely as a spirit, I had haunted this house. I knew Jean couldn’t bear to throw any of my belongings away. He had kept the house in pristine condition, looking exactly as it did the day I died. He forbade anyone from touching a single thing. Once, when Nicole shamelessly invited herself over, she accidentally knocked over a half-finished Lego castle I had been building with Toby. Jean had completely lost his mind, screaming at her to get out. Afterward, completely ignoring his usual polished dignity, he had dug through the trash bin to find the missing plastic bricks. He and Toby spent hours rebuilding it, placing it perfectly back on its display shelf. But now… I scanned the expansive living room. The Lego castle on the entryway console was gone. The custom ceramic vase I bought for the coffee table had vanished. Even the massive family portrait of the three of us that used to hang proudly above the fireplace had been taken down. The only things left were a few bare nails sticking out of the drywall, acting as a ghost of what used to be there. Every single trace of my existence had been surgically removed by Jean’s own hands. My chest caved in, leaving a hollow, echoing ache. Without thinking, I murmured aloud. “This house… it’s missing so many things.” Jean stepped up behind me, wrapping his arms securely around my waist. He spoke softly into my ear. “You’re right.” “This house is missing a hostess.” “Nicole, will you marry me?” As he spoke, a flawless, glittering diamond ring appeared directly in my line of sight. Even though I knew this exact moment was coming, an uncontrollable tremor ran through my entire body. Should I say yes? If the real Nicole were standing here, she would accept it in a heartbeat, wouldn’t she? As my thoughts spun into total chaos, Jean took a step back. He held the ring up and dropped to one knee right in the middle of the living room. “Nicole, I have never been more serious.” The very next second, a dozen people poured out from the adjacent dining room and hallways. Confetti cannons popped with a loud bang, showering us in colorful paper as our friends erupted into cheers. “Say yes! Say yes!” For a fleeting, dizzying moment, I thought I had traveled back in time to the day Jean first proposed to me. Back then, we were surrounded by this exact same crowd, cheering us on, wishing us a lifetime of happiness. And Jean had spoken his vows in front of everyone, just like he was doing now. He thanked Nicole for lighting up his dark world. He thanked Nicole for dragging him out of the abyss of his grief. And he thanked Nicole for saving his son’s life. “Sarah was the love of my past, but Nicole… you are the salvation of my entire life.” “Please, marry me.” The blinding sparkle refracting off the diamond cut sharply into my eyes. I knew Nicole would say yes. I knew I was supposed to just accept it. But in that exact moment, my throat locked up. I couldn’t force a single syllable out. What kind of woman could stand there and willingly hand her own husband over to someone else? I couldn’t do it. Seeing my frozen silence, Jean’s parents stepped forward. Their eyes were red and pleading as they approached me carefully. “Nicole, honey, we know any woman would feel hesitant about marrying a widower.” “But ever since that woman passed away, Jean has been a walking corpse. You’re the first person to bring him back to life.” “As his parents, our only wish is to see our son happy. We just want him to walk out of the past and actually live again.” “Nicole, please, won’t you say yes to our family?” 4 Looking at my former mother and father-in-law, I suddenly felt like all the oxygen had been sucked out of the room. Even they had completely, effortlessly accepted Nicole as the new woman of the house. Jean’s close friends gathered around, chiming in, urging me not to worry about his history. “Jean is the most fiercely loyal guy on the planet. Once he commits to someone, he loves them until the bitter end. You never have to worry about him changing his mind.” I stood rooted to the hardwood floor, completely dazed, a bitter smirk tugging at the corners of my mouth. Loves them until the bitter end? Never changes his mind? Then why doesn’t he love me anymore? My fingertips turned ice-cold from the emotional pain. I knew I had to make the final call. I reached my hand out toward Jean, pulling every last ounce of strength from my bones to force the words out. “Okay. I will.” His eyes lit up like fireworks. He grabbed my hand with trembling fingers and slid the heavy diamond onto my ring finger. The metal felt incredibly weighty on my skin. Yet somewhere deep inside my chest, there was a gaping, desolate void. The crowd around us clapped and cheered, wiping away happy tears as they showered us with blessings. Toby danced around our legs in a circle, totally ecstatic. “Yay! Daddy and Mommy are getting married! I have a mommy again!” Jean swept me up into a crushing hug, laughing and crying at the exact same time. “Once you’re completely healed, we’re going to have the biggest wedding this city has ever seen.” “I promise you, I’m going to give you an unforgettable day…” I felt like a wooden puppet suspended by strings. I forced my facial muscles into a stiff, unnatural smile. “Okay…” Before the word could fully register, the heavy mahogany front doors burst violently open. Two familiar figures stormed into the entryway, screaming at Jean. “What the hell do you mean, a wedding?! We absolutely forbid it!” I jumped, my head snapping toward the entrance in total shock. Dad… Mom? Toby sprinted toward them, throwing his arms around my mother’s legs. “Grandma! Grandpa! I’m getting a new mommy!” Hearing that, my parents’ faces turned dangerously dark. “What new mommy?!” “You only have one mother in this world, and her name is Sarah!” My mother marched straight past the kid, walked right up to Jean, and slapped him directly across the face. Smack. “You were the one who insisted on dragging Sarah out on that road trip! When that drunk driver crossed the median, Sarah threw her body over yours to take the impact!” “She was our only child! She wasn’t even thirty years old! She died so you could live!” “What did you promise us at her funeral?!” “You swore you would guard her memory forever and dedicate your life to raising Toby!” “My daughter hasn’t even been in the ground for three years, and you’re already rushing to get a new wife?!” “What about my little girl? Was she nothing to you?!” “How is her spirit supposed to rest in peace watching you do this!” “I’m telling you right here, right now. If you think you’re going to remarry and bring a stepmother in to raise Toby, you’ll have to do it over my dead body!” I stared at the deep wrinkles etched into my parents’ faces, at the stark white hair framing their temples. My heart physically ached, a tearing sensation ripping through my ribs. In this entire massive, cold world, my parents were the only people left who still cared about my pain. Jean kept his head bowed, taking the abuse in total silence. He was probably replaying the horrific car crash that stole my life. His face was a mask of suffocating guilt and panic. His mother immediately stepped up, screaming right back at my mom. “My son is in the prime of his life! He mourned your daughter for years, why shouldn’t he be allowed to move on?!” “Besides, Toby needs a mother! What is so wrong with bringing a new woman into the house! Can’t you see the boy wants her here?!” “Are you trying to drive my son and my grandson into an early grave just to satisfy your own grief?!” My mother’s face turned ash-gray with fury. She pointed a trembling finger at Jean’s mother. The next second, her eyes rolled back into her head, and she collapsed. My heart completely stopped. I lunged forward, catching her before she hit the floor, screaming on pure instinct. “Mom!” In the sheer chaos of the moment, nobody seemed to catch the slip of my tongue. Nobody except Jean. His pupils dilated in sheer shock, staring down at me with an expression of total, unadulterated disbelief.

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A terrifying time loop had me trapped. I was forced to relive the same timeline over and over, all just to babysit a boy who was hellbent on throwing himself into a freezing river. I had lost count of how many times the loop reset. I was completely exhausted from trying to save him, and honestly, it seemed like he was finally getting sick of jumping too. The boy stared at me, a strange, intense light flickering in his eyes. He told me he was never going to jump again. I wrapped my arms tightly around his waist, absolutely terrified he might still do something stupid. I couldn’t help but ask him if he really meant it. But his next words sent a violent shiver down my spine. He told me that if he ever had to die in this lifetime, he was making damn sure he dragged me down to hell with him. Is that supposed to be romantic, or just downright terrifying? 1 At six in the evening, I jolted awake from a nightmare. Before my brain could even fully process my surroundings, I threw myself out of bed, bolted out the front door, and sprinted toward Silver Creek Park like my life depended on it. Half an hour later, a teenage boy plunged from the Silver Creek bridge into the dark water below. And I, the helpless bystander who witnessed the whole thing, would be forced to accompany him in an endless cycle of rebirth, doomed to repeat this miserable day. “Almost there. Almost there. Run, you useless legs!” I was gasping for air, spotting the boy’s slender silhouette standing by the riverbank in the distance. I made it in time. He was standing on the wrong side of the safety railing. A crowd of morbid onlookers had already gathered around him. “Move! Let me through!” I shoved my way through the sea of people, vaulted over the metal railing, and locked my arms around his waist in a death grip. “There is always a way out! Please don’t do this to yourself!” I screamed. “Did you bomb your exams? Who cares! I’ll have my family pull some strings and send you to study in Europe! Are you broke? I will literally buy you a mansion and a sports car right now. I’ll give you ten million dollars, just please do not jump!” From start to finish, the boy didn’t say a single word. He just kept trembling. There’s still a chance to talk him down, I told myself. “Are you gonna jump or what? We’ve been waiting out here forever.” “Yeah, if you’re not gonna jump, quit wasting everyone’s time! If you need a hug, go cry to your mommy!” Some middle aged guy had suddenly shoved his way to the front of the crowd. He was holding up his smartphone, recording a video, shoving the lens practically right into my face. “Shut your mouth!” I whipped my head around and roared at him. But in that split second of distraction, the boy ripped himself out of my grip and threw himself backward into the abyss. Great. Here we go again. I hopped back over the railing, snatched the phone right out of the obnoxious guy’s hands, and hurled it straight into Silver Creek. Then, putting my entire body weight into it, I slapped him across the face twice. I pointed at the stunned, red faced man and looked right at the police officer who had just arrived on the scene. “I’m jumping too. And it is entirely his fault.” Then, under the horrified gazes of the crowd, I threw myself into the water to join my tragic river boy. 2 There was no pain. Just a seamless transition back to the very beginning of the loop. I burst out of my bedroom, practically colliding with the person standing in the hallway. “Young Master, what’s the rush?” I stared at Martha. Martha stared at me. She was holding a perfectly pressed designer suit on a hanger. “The ballroom is almost fully decorated. Your friends should be arriving any minute now.” “Martha, what’s today’s date?” I demanded, my voice tight. “It’s May first. Your eighteenth birthday party, sir.” I yanked my phone out of my pocket and checked the screen. May first. A massive wave of relief washed over me. May first meant I was over a month away from the jump date on June tenth. Which meant the loop had thrown me back a whole month before he died. The very next day, I transferred to Oakridge High, the school the boy attended. Thank God he had been wearing his school uniform when he jumped, or else it would have taken me days to track him down. I pulled up the Oakridge High student forum on my phone. His face and name were plastered all over the front page. “Oakridge’s very own AP Honors student, Silas Vaughn, takes home first place in the State Math Olympiad.” Why would someone so brilliant want to end his own life? I walked into my new classroom and spotted Silas sitting in the very back row. After giving a brief introduction at the front of the class, the homeroom teacher asked where I wanted to sit. “I’ll just take that empty seat in the back row. I’m pretty tall, so I don’t want to block anyone’s view,” I said smoothly. The teacher smiled and nodded. I dropped my backpack onto the desk right next to Silas. “Hey. I’m Rowan. Looks like we’re desk mates now. Nice to meet you.” It took a moment for it to register that someone was actually sitting next to him. Silas slowly lifted his head. One second. Two seconds. Three seconds. He averted his eyes. He gave a tiny, barely audible hum of acknowledgment. Alright, so he was the cold and distant type. Too bad for him, there wasn’t a single room on this earth I couldn’t warm up. For the entire morning, I talked his ear off. Even when he got up to fill his water bottle, I trailed right behind him like a persistent parasite. To be completely accurate, it was a totally one sided conversation. Silas rarely gave me the time of day, but whenever I shoved a worksheet in his face and asked for help with a math problem, he would actually take the time to explain it to me. 3 The moment the bell rang, Silas stood up. I immediately stood up too, falling into step right behind him. “I’m going to the restroom,” Silas said, turning around with a look of pure exhaustion on his face. “I know.” I waved him off casually. “I drank way too much water last period anyway. We’re both guys, what’s the big deal about going to the bathroom together?” Truth be told, I had literally just peed during the last period. My bladder was bone dry. I just wanted to stick to him like glue. What if he suddenly had a dark thought and tried to drown himself in a toilet bowl? When a guy’s mind wanders, his eyes tend to wander too. Silas was looking at me like I was an absolute psychopath. By the time I snapped out of my daze, I realized I had been staring directly at his crotch for an uncomfortably long time. “Wait, dude, I…” Silas swiftly zipped his pants, looked away, and practically sprinted out of the restroom. What? I walked back into the classroom. Silas was slumped over his desk, his face completely buried in his arms. As I sat down, I noticed the tips of his ears and the back of his neck were bright red. Was he actually shy? I couldn’t resist poking the bear. “Don’t be shy, man. We’re both dudes.” I leaned in a little closer. “Honestly, you’re packing. Biggest I’ve ever seen.” Silas didn’t lift his head, but the skin visible above his uniform collar turned a deep, furious shade of pink. He looked like a ripe cherry. It was actually kind of cute. But the consequence of teasing the quiet kid was immediate, brutal silence. For the rest of the morning, Silas completely ignored my existence. Even when I asked him for help with a question, he shut me down. “I don’t know how to do this one. Go ask someone else.” Excuse me? Who else was going to teach me a problem that the state math champion allegedly couldn’t solve? Okay, so he was genuinely pissed. 4 “I’m sorry, Silas.” The lunch bell finally rang, signaling the end of the morning classes. Silas looked at me. “Hmm.” “I shouldn’t have made that joke about your size in the bathroom.” Silas totally lost it. He aggressively shoved his books into his backpack and stormed out of the classroom. “You absolute idiot!” I slapped my forehead, questioning how my social skills had deteriorated to this pathetic level. Things would have been perfectly fine if I had just skipped that last sentence. In my past life, the very first time I ever laid eyes on Silas, he was standing on the edge of Silver Creek, ready to jump. I couldn’t stand the thought of a kid my age dying so violently, so I pushed my way to the front of the crowd to talk him down. “Can’t you see how beautiful the world is?” I had yelled. “There is nothing you can’t overcome! Think about your parents!” The second those words left my mouth, he jumped without a single trace of hesitation. From that moment on, I accompanied him through endless, miserable loops. This time, I had taken a long, hard look in the mirror. I grew up drowning in privilege, raised by parents who genuinely loved each other. I lived in the light, so I stupidly assumed the whole world was bright. When Silas jumped, I had effectively become one of his executioners. Even though my intentions were good, I was just too desperate to play the hero. I carried a heavy, sickening guilt when it came to Silas. This time, even if it wasn’t about breaking the loop for my own sanity, I desperately wanted him to live a long, safe life. “Silas, wait up!” I jogged down the hallway, finally catching up to the boy who was practically radiating heat from anger. “I am so sorry. I shouldn’t have said that. My filter is completely broken.” I stepped in front of him. “Let me buy you lunch, okay? Please forgive me.” “No need,” Silas replied flatly. “Go eat by yourself. I have things to do.” “So we’re cool? We’re still best friends?” Silas didn’t stop walking, but he finally turned his head slightly. “Hmm.” 5 Silas was late for the afternoon session. “Sorry I’m late.” He stood in the doorway, chest heaving like he had sprinted the whole way here. “Take your seat.” Teachers always turned a blind eye for the genius kids. Silas walked down the aisle toward our desk in the back. A few guys in the front row deliberately pinched their noses shut. It wasn’t until Silas sat down next to me that I caught the smell clinging to his clothes. Heavy, greasy cooking oil. “What did you eat for lunch? Smells intense,” I whispered. “I work a shift at a diner during the lunch break.” “Oh.” It was then I realized Silas’s social standing in the classroom was absolute garbage. Oakridge High was the most elite prep school in the city, and the AP Honors class was the best of the best. Whenever the bell rang, a massive crowd would gather around the desks of the top five ranking students. But Silas, the literal number one student in the city, sat in total isolation. A few times, I caught some guys whispering a couple rows ahead of us. “He literally smells like a deep fryer. It’s stinking up the whole room.” “Can someone report him to the principal? If he wants to flip burgers, he can drop out. The stench is ruining my focus.” This was blatant, targeted bullying. I was sitting mere inches from Silas, and I wasn’t bothered by it at all. There was no way a faint smell of cooking oil was reaching the front rows. They were just pissed they couldn’t beat his test scores, so they had to find a pathetic reason to attack him. “Is his family really that desperate for pocket change? Showing up smelling like a grease trap is so embarrassing.” “He has zero shame. Think about it, he’s the city valedictorian.” “I wonder if those girls from the next class who have a crush on him would run for the hills if they got a whiff of that.” “Hahahaha.” Through all of it, Silas remained dead silent. It was as if their toxic words couldn’t penetrate his skin. He just kept his head down, quietly working on his math equations. My chest tightened with anxiety. If they kept pushing him like this, what if my Silas snapped and jumped again? “If you have something to say, say it to his face! Hiding in the front row whispering like cowards is pathetic!” I barked out, my voice cutting through the classroom chatter. “Do you want me to buy you a megaphone so you can broadcast your insecurities to the whole school?” “You…” The ringleader’s face turned purple. He raised a hand, but the guy sitting next to him quickly shoved his arm down. “Forget it, man. Just drop it.” The two of them exchanged a few hushed words. The ringleader’s furious glare instantly melted into something much more submissive. It was obvious what was said. “Do you know who that is? That’s Rowan Harrington. The heir to the Harrington empire.” … I had been surrounded by spineless opportunists like them my entire life. 6 “You didn’t have to defend me.” Later that afternoon, as I followed him to the water fountain, Silas suddenly turned around. “What?” “I don’t care what they say. They can’t touch me.” How could he be this passive? The image of Silas as a tragically beautiful, broken genius burned even deeper into my mind. “But if you don’t push back, they’re only going to get worse.” Silas went silent. I was six foot one, but Silas still had half a head on me. I reached up and threw an arm around his neck, pulling him down slightly. “Don’t worry. I’ve got your back from now on.” “Okay.” Caught in the warm summer breeze, I heard Silas whisper his agreement. The closer we got to the final bell, the harder my heart hammered in my chest. During the day, I could shamelessly stick to him like glue. But at night? It wasn’t like I could crawl into his bed. Actually, wait. Yes I could. “Come to the roof with me. I need to make a call.” I grabbed Silas’s wrist and dragged him out of the classroom. Once the call connected, I deliberately put it on speakerphone. “Hey, Dad?” “What do you want?” The furious male voice on the other end was so aggressively loud I almost dropped my phone in shock. His acting was almost too good. “Dad, tonight I…” “Don’t bother coming home tonight! Your stepmother is coming over for dinner, and she gets a migraine just looking at you. Go crash in a ditch for all I care!” Wow. My best friend Finn had literally just finalized my parents’ fictional divorce. I had to admire his commitment to the bit. “Silas.” I looked up at him with wide, pathetic eyes. “My dad kicked me out. Can I crash at your place for one night?” “Your dad sounds incredibly young,” Silas noted dryly. “Ah, haha. Yeah, well, people from his generation married super early, you know?” Of course he sounded young. The guy yelling on the phone was my eighteen year old best friend. “I’ll take your silence as a yes! Dinner’s on me tonight.” “My house… is a dump. You won’t be able to handle it.” That was definitely a yes. “Why wouldn’t I be able to handle it? Honestly, my family used to be super poor too.” The second the words left my mouth, I wanted to rip my own tongue out. I was officially the most socially inept human being on the planet. Thankfully, Silas didn’t press the issue. 7 Thank God my dad was currently on a business trip in London and my mom was busy touring the vineyards in Italy. After shooting a quick text to my butler, I followed Silas home. Silas wasn’t exaggerating. His house was… extremely minimalist. There was barely any furniture, but everything was spotless. “Grandma, I’m home,” Silas called out. An elderly woman with snow white hair stepped out of the tiny kitchen. “Silas, you’re back already?” She wiped her hands on her apron. “Oh my, you’re early today. I haven’t even finished cooking.” “And who is this handsome young man?” “Hi, Grandma! I’m Rowan, Silas’s desk mate. I’m crashing here tonight. I’m really sorry to intrude.” “Oh, nonsense! It’s no trouble at all, sweetheart.” Silas’s grandma was incredibly warm. She even threw together an extra meat dish just for me. “Eat up, eat up. Our Silas is far too skinny. You’ve got a perfect build, Rowan. Don’t go losing any weight now.” “I won’t, I promise.” I shoveled the rice into my mouth. The food was genuinely amazing. Because it was a last minute sleepover, his grandma cleared out a small storage room and set up a cot for me. The sheets were freshly washed. They smelled like clean laundry soap. The exact same scent that lingered on Silas. I wondered what Silas was doing right now. Homework? I had already finished mine, so he had to be done by now, right? What if he was sitting in his room having dark thoughts? I sat up, lay back down, and tossed around in the sheets. My anxiety was keeping me wide awake. I had to go check on him. At one in the morning, I knocked softly on his bedroom door. “Silas, are you asleep?” I could see the light bleeding under the door crack. He was awake. A few seconds later, the door creaked open. “What is it?” “I think there are rats in that storage room. I’m freaking out. Can I sleep in here with you tonight?” Silas pushed his glasses up his nose. After a grueling thirty seconds of silence, he finally caved. “Come in.” 8 “Are you not going to sleep?” I lay on his mattress, watching the boy sitting rigidly at his desk. “In a bit.” “Okay.” I would never understand the stamina of valedictorians. Half an hour later, Silas stood up and opened his closet. He pulled out a thick quilt and a sleeping mat, spreading them out on the floor. “You’re sleeping on the floor?” I asked, bewildered. “Yeah.” “The bed is too small. It’s too hot.” “Oh.” I closed my eyes. Whatever. Once the lights were out, I tossed and turned, completely restless. “Silas, I can’t sleep. Let’s talk.” “We have to get up early tomorrow.” That was a firm rejection. “Just for a minute.” “Fine.” I thought for a second before asking the big question. “Silas, what college do you want to go to?” “Yale.” “What is the one thing you want most in the world?” I had an ulterior motive for asking this. If I knew exactly what Silas wanted, I could hand it to him on a silver platter. If he got everything he wanted, he wouldn’t jump into the river anymore. “I want a stable life. With my grandma.” That wasn’t the grandiose answer I was expecting. “What about you, Rowan?” “What do you want most?” “I want… I want you to stay alive forever.” Silas went completely silent. “Go to sleep. It’s late,” he finally whispered. 9 The days blurred together, and before I knew it, half a month had vanished. As a prestigious prep school, Oakridge High had an incredibly intense academic culture. With only a few weeks left until our final exams, almost every student in the AP Honors class voluntarily signed up for the late night study sessions. I was used to the laid back curriculum of my old international school, so the suffocating pressure was definitely a shock to my system. But Silas signed up, which meant I signed up too. I couldn’t let him out of my sight. During the break after the second evening study block, a girl called Silas out into the hallway. Separated by a single pane of glass, I eavesdropped on their entire conversation. The girl was confessing her feelings to him. Silas rejected her without a second of hesitation. “I’m sorry. I can’t return your feelings. I have absolutely no intention of dating anyone right now.” “Can we at least… start out as friends?” she asked, her voice trembling. “Sorry. I’m not good at socializing. It’s better if we don’t.” “Alright,” the girl said, swallowing her disappointment. “Well, good luck on the exams. I hope you get everything you want.” “Thanks. You too.” Silas walked back into the classroom. I suddenly realized my heart was hammering violently against my ribs. I tried to tell myself I was just panicking that if he got a girlfriend, I wouldn’t be able to stick to him twenty-four seven. “Look at our genius playing hard to get! Rejecting the absolute prettiest girl in school without blinking,” Blake sneered from the front row. “I don’t even know what she sees in him. Aside from his face, he’s a completely broke loser.” I grabbed my heavy calculus textbook and hurled it directly at Blake’s desk. “Keep your garbage mouth shut.” “Whether it’s looks or grades, you don’t even come close to Silas.” “And your personality is a total trainwreck.” The girl who just confessed to Silas was Blake’s long time crush. He had shot his shot a few days ago and got ruthlessly rejected. Now he was using Silas as a punching bag to soothe his bruised ego. Blake’s mouth snapped shut. His chest heaved as his face contorted into something genuinely vicious. He threw all caution to the wind. “Oh, right, the Harrington heir is always here to protect his little pet. You’ve got some neat tricks, Vaughn.” “Word on the street is you two are basically joined at the hip. Eating together, sleeping together. Are you guys hooking up or something?” “Wow, smart move. Hooking a trust fund kid is definitely better than smelling like grease at a local diner. Gotta respect the hustle.” I clenched my fists, fully prepared to shatter his jaw, but someone beat me to it. It was Silas.

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1 For as long as I can remember, the world has reeked of an invisible, clichéd script. Growing up, I read thousands of romance novels only to realize I was living inside a cliché myself—the kind where the toxic, powerful man torments the woman, only to spend a lifetime begging for forgiveness. I saw it everywhere: a divorced neighbor whose ex wept on her porch years later; a sweet graduate whose billionaire boyfriend used her as a cheap stand-in, then offered her his empire. Both women stared back with dead eyes and said they didn’t care. To avoid that fate, I avoided romance entirely—no angst, no toxic billionaires, no tragedy. But life has a sick sense of humor. When I was twenty-five, my healthy mother fell critically ill. The medical bills buried me in debt. While working a double shift, Manhattan’s richest tycoon approached me with an arrogant smirk. “Be my girl,” he said smoothly. “I’ll cover your mother’s bills.” His eyes sharpened. “But you’re just a substitute for Serena. Don’t dream of anything more.” I took his black Amex card, eyes lowered. I needed the money. But if he thought he’d break my heart like those tragic heroines, he was out of his mind. Later, my best friend sobbed that her boyfriend was still in love with his childhood friend. I patted her back. “Give it time,” I said. “He’ll be crying on your doorstep, begging for you back before you know it.” … The very second I got my hands on that black card, I prepaid my mother’s hospital fees for an entire year. You can never be too careful. Rich guys loved cutting off medical funds the minute their precious first loves threw a tantrum. In the sterile white hospital room, my mother gripped my hand, tears spilling over her pale cheeks. “Sienna, you have been fighting so hard. I do not want to drag you down anymore. I have lived a good life…” I squeezed her hand back, giving her a reassuring smile. “Mom, trust me. You know I hate suffering more than anything. I am not going to let anyone walk all over me.” She needed a kidney transplant. I used a massive chunk of Carter’s money to hire the best private investigators to scour the globe for a matching donor. But these things took time. In the meantime, I secretly hired elite tutors across various industries. Growing up, I was fascinated by everything from foreign languages to high finance, but we never had the money for it. Now that I had unlimited funds, I was absolutely going to milk it for all it was worth. Carter Holden was a busy man. He only summoned me twice a week. He knew I was burning through his cash on a daily basis, but he assumed I was doing what every other kept woman did, blowing it on designer bags and cosmetic procedures. To a man of his wealth, it was pocket change. He let me do whatever I wanted. This routine dragged on for over six months. Then, out of nowhere, he told me he was taking me to a private gathering with his inner circle. Carter’s friends were all top-tier elites in their fields. They looked at regular people like dirt on their shoes. The moment I stepped into the VIP lounge, I felt a dozen pairs of eyes stabbing into me, dripping with disdain and mockery. A gorgeous woman sitting in the center of the plush leather sofa let out a sharp, mocking laugh. “Carter, so this is the little pet you have been keeping.” She spat the word ‘pet’ with heavy, deliberate venom. Carter acted like he did not hear the insult. He just ran his hand through my hair and chuckled. “Sienna is obedient and pretty to look at. She suits me just fine.” The group exchanged knowing glances, their smiles turning cruel. “The best part is how much she looks like Serena, right?” At the mention of that name, the light drained from Carter’s eyes. They darkened into a stormy abyss. I sat there in total silence, my expression perfectly blank as I popped a piece of melon into my mouth. Serena was his elusive first love, the one that got away. The only reason I was sitting here was because I shared her bone structure. The woman who called me a pet grabbed her martini and slid over to sit right next to me. She aggressively shoved her phone into my face, displaying an intimate, sun-drenched photo of Carter and Serena. “I bet you did not know,” she whispered poisonously. “Carter and Serena grew up together. Their families made a pact when they were kids. If Serena had not been so wild and left the country, they would probably be married with kids by now.” She took a sip of her drink, relishing my silence. “Serena went to the Ivy League. She is fluent in four languages. She won national art competitions in high school. Having a woman that perfect in his past… no man could ever forget her.” Her eyes swept over my outfit with raw disgust. “And you? A nobody from some no-name state school. I bet you cannot even string two sentences together in Spanish. Let me give you a reality check. Every single person in Carter’s circle speaks at least three languages. Including me.” It took me exactly three seconds to figure her out. She was desperately in love with Carter. She probably thought Serena’s departure was her golden ticket, only for Carter to bring a random girl off the street into his bed instead. The jealousy practically oozed from her pores. I glanced at her, muttered something rapidly under my breath, and looked away. She frowned, completely lost. “What did you just say?” I ignored her. It was nothing special. I had just called her an idiot in eight different languages. A few weeks later, Carter apparently decided that seeing me twice a week was not enough. He pulled some strings and gave me a cushy job in his executive assistant department. On my very first day, I walked into the office only to discover that the jealous martini-drinking girl was my department manager. 2 Carter told me the job was completely fake. He just wanted me around so he could look at me. I was not expected to lift a finger. My only duty was to sit there and look pretty. After a heavy make-out session against his mahogany desk, he had to rush out for a board meeting. Not five minutes later, Valerie marched over, her stilettos clicking sharply against the hardwood floor. She slammed her perfectly manicured hand on my desk. “Get up,” she ordered. “Go to Conference Room 803 right now. There is a client waiting for you.” As I turned and stepped into the elevator, a vicious smirk spread across Valerie’s lips. Two junior assistants behind her started whispering frantically. “Wait, isn’t the Russian VIP in 803 today? Word is he is incredibly difficult. Even Mr. Holden has to tread lightly around him.” “I heard his project is do-or-die for the company! Mr. Holden spent months begging him to fly out here. If Sienna messes this up and blows the deal, she is absolutely dead!” That was exactly what Valerie was banking on. Carter had specifically assigned her to host the VIP because she was the only one in the department who claimed to speak Russian. But she could not exactly tell the CEO that her ‘fluent in three languages’ flex was total garbage. She only knew a handful of basic phrases. If she went in there, she would be exposed in seconds. Throwing me to the wolves was the perfect solution. If I ruined the deal, Carter would dump me in a fit of rage, leaving the spot next to him wide open for her. She sat back at her desk, sipping her overpriced matcha latte, eagerly waiting for the explosion. The elevator pinged. The doors slid open, and I walked out alongside the terrifying Russian tycoon. The man, famous for his icy, ruthless demeanor, was practically glowing with joy. And I was chatting with him in flawless, rapid-fire Russian, making him laugh out loud. The entire department froze. Jaws hit the floor. Valerie’s eyes nearly bugged out of her head. Her acrylic nails dug so hard into her palms they almost drew blood. Just then, she spotted Carter walking down the hallway. Panic seized her. She immediately bolted out of her chair and rushed toward us, stammering out a painful, broken greeting in Russian. Seeing Carter getting closer, she made a desperate move. She completely ignored the client’s personal space and forcefully grabbed the tycoon’s hand, trying to make it look like she was the one who had charmed him. I mentally prepared a funeral for her career. She had no idea that Dmitri was a notorious germaphobe. “What are you doing!” Dmitri ripped his hand away violently, his chest heaving with sheer disgust. “I did not realize this company employed such ill-mannered, offensive people!” Carter’s face went completely pale. He rushed forward, offering a barrage of apologies. But Dmitri was furious. He demanded his coat and threatened to walk out. Sweat beaded on Carter’s forehead. If this deal fell through, half of the company’s projects for the year would be scrapped. They would lose billions. He shot Valerie a glare so cold it could freeze hell. Valerie trembled, the color draining from her face as her knees gave out. She slumped against a desk. Just as Carter was running out of options, I took a half-step forward, smiled warmly, and whispered something quietly into Dmitri’s ear. The raging fire in the tycoon’s eyes instantly softened. Carter stared at me in absolute shock. My Russian was not just passable, it was native-level perfect. After a few more exchanges, Dmitri’s anger completely evaporated. He looked at Carter and announced that he would sign the contract, but on one strict condition. Every single detail of the project had to go through me. Carter let out a breath he had been holding for five minutes and smiled. He promised it would not be a problem. He thought the deal was dead and buried. He never expected me to revive it with a few well-placed sentences. Before seeing Dmitri to his car, Carter cast a deep, lingering look at me. It was a mix of intense pride and a spark of genuine awe. Five minutes later, my phone buzzed. Carter: Thank you. Me: Don’t mention it. I did not text back the part where I thought, ‘Well, I paid for the tutor with your money anyway.’ The rest of the staff swarmed my desk, gushing about how I had saved the company and how a massive promotion was definitely coming my way. Carter had kept our real relationship a secret, so none of them knew I was his paid girlfriend. Valerie, however, scoffed loudly from across the room. “Do not get a big head just because you memorized a few party tricks to make a client laugh. Trash is still trash. Do not actually think you can fake your way to the top.” The very next morning, Carter called a department meeting. He announced that effective immediately, I was replacing Valerie as the head of the executive assistant department. Valerie lost her mind. “Mr. Holden! She is a community college dropout! On what grounds?!” She had a degree from Europe, for God’s sake! Carter stared her down and fired off a flawless sentence in Russian. Valerie stood there, blinking in blank confusion. I smoothly translated his sentence, replying in the same language. Carter arched an eyebrow at her. “On those grounds.” After Carter left, Valerie stormed over to my desk, her face twisted in bitter hatred. “Let me tell you something,” she hissed. “Serena is coming back to the States soon. Enjoy this while it lasts. We will see how smug you are when she gets here!” The pen in my hand snapped in half, black ink spilling across the paperwork. I needed to find that kidney donor. Fast. 3 Maybe I was being paranoid, but it felt like Carter was finding excuses to summon me more and more lately. He needed coffee, but I had to be the one to pour it. He lost a file, and I had to help him tear his office apart looking for it. His tie was crooked, and my hands had to be the ones to fix it. After being called into his office for the fifth time before noon over absolute nonsense, I finally lost my patience. “Mr. Holden, I actually have work to do.” Carter grabbed my wrist, giving it a gentle tug. The next thing I knew, I was sitting sideways on his lap. He played with my fingers, his breath ghosting over my neck as he leaned in. “Work? I thought I made it clear when you started. You do not have to…” “I have to reply to Dmitri’s emails,” I interrupted smoothly. “If I keep him waiting, he is going to get cranky.” His face froze inches from mine. A deeply annoyed pout formed on his lips. “You spend more time with Dmitri these days than you do with me.” “He is your biggest investor, babe. I am working this hard for you.” I had to keep the man signing the checks happy. My mother’s kidney was still floating out there in the ether somewhere. That answer pleased him. The annoyance vanished, replaced by a warm gaze. He wrapped his arms around my waist and leaned in for a kiss. Suddenly, his cell phone rang, shattering the quiet intimacy. Before I could even glance at the caller ID, Carter had already snatched the phone off the desk. A second later, his hands dropped from my waist. He gently pushed me off his lap. “Give me a minute,” he said, his voice strangely tight. I glanced back right before I closed his office door. The moment he answered the call, a radiant, uncontrollable smile broke across his face. A heavy, dull ache hit the bottom of my stomach, but I buried it instantly. I walked back to my desk. Valerie was already waiting, leaning against my cubicle with a sickeningly triumphant grin. “Soak it all in,” she whispered maliciously. “Your fairy tale is over.” Right on cue, Carter threw his office door open and sprinted toward the VIP elevator without looking left or right. Valerie’s grin widened, her eyes gleaming with schadenfreude. She turned to walk away, fully expecting me to break down. Instead, I called her name. She paused, lifting an eyebrow, probably thinking I was finally going to beg her for details. I picked up a massive stack of quarterly reports and dropped them heavily into her arms. “I need these audited by five.” Valerie gaped at me. “Are you insane? There is no way I can finish this by five!” I gave her a sickeningly sweet smile. “You seem to have a lot of free time on your hands.” “If you fail to meet the deadline, I will be having a chat with Mr. Holden about transferring you to the janitorial department.” She ground her teeth so hard I thought they would shatter, but she had no choice. She snatched the folders and stomped back to her desk. By the time I finished my own work, the clock read past nine. I was the ultimate corporate workhorse. Carter definitely owed me a raise. When I finally unlocked the door to his penthouse, I froze in the entryway. Every light in the house was blazing. A pair of unfamiliar, ridiculously expensive designer heels sat on the rug. My stomach dropped. I knew exactly what was happening. As I debated whether to just turn around and book a hotel, a soft, melodic voice echoed from the living room. “You must be Sienna.” I looked up and locked eyes with the woman standing there. It was Serena. No wonder Carter smiled like he had won the lottery. No wonder he ran out of the office like the building was on fire. No wonder Valerie was practically dancing at my desk. The elusive first love had finally returned to claim her throne. Serena smiled at me, her aura perfectly graceful and completely devoid of malice. “You must be the new housekeeper Carter hired,” she said gently. “You have been working so hard. Thank you.” Her smile was flawless. She seemed like an angel. But I knew how this twisted universe operated. I braced myself. Right on cue, the sound of Carter’s heavy footsteps echoed from the top of the stairs. The moment Serena heard him approaching, she closed the distance between us, raised her own hand, and viciously slapped herself across the face. She let out a piercing shriek. “Ah!” Carter practically flew down the stairs. Seeing the violent red handprint on Serena’s pale cheek, his face twisted in panic. “What happened?!” “N-Nothing,” Serena stammered, tears immediately welling in her doe eyes. “I think Sienna misunderstood why I am here. Sienna, I am so, so sorry!” A single, perfect tear rolled down her cheek. Carter froze. He turned to me, his voice dangerously low. “Did you hit her?” I knew the script. In these stories, the billionaire always blindly believes the childhood sweetheart. Defending myself was a waste of breath. So, I fully leaned into the villain role. I nodded, picked my purse back up, and headed for the door. “Yup. Sure did. Slapped the taste right out of her mouth. She had the audacity to step into the room with her left foot first.” Carter looked at Serena, then back at me. Without missing a beat, he said, “From now on, you walk into rooms with your right foot first. Or I am docking your pay for the month.” Serena’s eyes widened in sheer shock. She looked at him like he had grown a second head. I blinked at him, genuinely startled. But I figured he was just making a weird joke and dismissed it. I did not want to breathe the same air as them anymore. I pushed the door open and walked out into the cold night. Because I left so fast, I completely missed the flash of desperate panic in Carter’s eyes. I was walking down the pavement, scrolling through my phone for a nearby hotel, when a notification banner popped up on my screen. Miss Sienna, we found a perfect match for the kidney! 4 I moved with lightning speed, getting my mother into the surgical ward and prepping her for the transplant. I strictly warned the hospital staff and my private investigators to make sure Carter did not find out about any of it. It was surprisingly easy. Carter had practically moved in with Serena. He had not shown his face at the corporate office for days. He did not even notice that I had submitted a formal request for a week of paid time off. When the surgery was finally over and the doctors declared it a success, I slumped into a hospital chair and let out a massive, shuddering breath. It was finally over. This pathetic, suffocating game of pretending to be a billionaire’s pet was done. I was spoon-feeding my mother soup when my phone vibrated. A text from Carter. Carter: You are not at the office? Me: I put in for PTO, Mr. Holden. Taking some well-deserved vacation days. My phone instantly rang. I stepped out into the hallway to answer it. “Where are you.” His voice was low, demanding. I obviously could not tell him I was at the hospital, so I named a random upscale café downtown. He said he was coming to pick me up. I had no choice but to sprint out of the hospital, hail a cab, and beat him there. The second he saw me standing on the corner, Carter strode over and pulled me into a crushing hug. My body stiffened instantly. A line from one of those trashy romance novels flashed through my mind: The man pulled me into his embrace, but the suffocating scent of the other woman’s perfume clung to his collar, making my stomach churn. I tentatively sniffed his coat, fully expecting the scent of Chanel No. 5. Instead, I smelled something entirely different. Just… faint sweat. He noticed the slight wrinkle in my nose and sighed, looking exhausted. “Do not look at me like that. I drove straight here the second I realized you were gone. I did not even have time to shower.” I nodded, pretending to understand. But my mind was clear. I was just the sugar baby. I was not worth the effort of getting cleaned up. If he were going to see Serena, he would have shown up looking like he stepped out of a GQ magazine. “Sienna,” he said suddenly, his grip tightening on my waist. “I am hosting a banquet this Saturday. You have to be there.” I lowered my eyes to hide my thoughts. How poetic. Saturday was the exact day my mother was being discharged. It was the day I planned to vanish from his life. I figured I might as well go. One last appearance to say goodbye to the man who funded my mother’s life. When Saturday arrived, I walked into the glittering ballroom in a simple black dress. Almost immediately, Valerie appeared, clinging to Serena’s arm like a loyal guard dog. They marched straight toward me. “I cannot believe you actually showed your face,” Valerie sneered loudly. “Do you have zero shame?” “Do you even know what tonight is?” Valerie’s lips curled into a vicious, blood-red smile. Her eyes danced with cruel excitement. “Tonight is Serena’s birthday bash. Carter threw this entire party just for her. Did you come here specifically to humiliate yourself?” Serena looked at me with those wide, innocent eyes. She took a step forward and reached out to grab my hands. “Sienna, I am so sorry. I found out you are not actually his maid. Please do not hold a grudge over what happened the other night.” Before I could even attempt to pull my hands away. A sharp, calculating glint flashed through Serena’s eyes. Without warning, she threw her entire body weight backward. CRASH! She slammed directly into a towering, seven-tier champagne fountain. Crystal shattered everywhere, alcohol raining down on the marble floor. The music stopped. Hundreds of wealthy guests whipped their heads around in shock. Carter pushed through the crowd, his face tense as he rushed toward the mess. “What the hell is going on?!” Valerie immediately burst into fake, hysterical tears, pointing a trembling finger right at my face. “It was Sienna! She shoved Serena right into the glass!” Vicious whispers instantly ripped through the ballroom. “Who does she think she is, putting her hands on Serena?” “That is just Carter’s little kept woman. His sugar baby.” “Trash always acts like trash. She actually thought she was special.” “Watch this. Carter is going to destroy her for hurting Serena.” The suffocating wave of insults and curses grated against my ears, burning through the absolute last shred of patience I had left. I looked at Carter. His hands were gripping Serena’s shoulders to keep her steady. His brow was furrowed, a dark storm brewing in his eyes. He looked furious. I let out a quiet, self-deprecating laugh. My phone buzzed in my purse. Miss Sienna, the discharge papers are signed. We are ready to go. I gripped my phone tightly, turned on my heel, and started walking toward the exit. I had barely taken a single step when Carter’s voice cut through the massive ballroom, cold and commanding. “We will see what really happened when I pull the security footage.” I froze in my tracks, turning back to stare at him in pure bewilderment.

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