For me, the global superstar Austin Sterling refused all on-screen kisses and kept a cold distance from every female artist in the industry. He wrote endless love songs, chronicling our ten-year romance for the world to hear. Everyone knew he was a “simp”—a man hopelessly, dangerously devoted to me. Until I found the photos. The photos of him and my best friend, tangled together in a betrayal that dated back two years. It took me a long time to let go of everything, to stage my own death and leave. And then, he lost his mind. 1 At the Grammy Awards, Austin Sterling took home the Artist of the Year trophy. When the host asked about his next move, he leaned into the microphone and said: “My wife is pregnant. I’m stepping away from the spotlight for a year to focus entirely on her.” Austin was born with a cold, sharp handsomeness. Standing at six-foot-three, he usually radiated a chilling indifference that kept people at a distance. But at that moment, his eyes were overflowing with joy and anticipation. The corners of his mouth lifted into a natural, involuntary smile. The whole country knew Austin Sterling was “love-brained.” Two years ago, at the peak of his fame, he announced our marriage. It caused a massive exodus of fans, ended several high-profile contracts, and sent his career into a freefall. A reporter once asked if he was pressured into the marriage or if he regretted marrying so young. He looked directly into the lens, his voice steady and sincere: “I was the one who pressured her. I can’t live without her. I wanted to tie her to my side forever.” “Marrying Sienna is the greatest stroke of luck in my life.” That interview went viral, and Austin’s “devoted husband” persona won him immense public sympathy. He focused on his music and acting, relying on pure talent to claw his way back to the top. Finally, today, he stood at the summit again. And yet, because I was pregnant, he announced another year-long hiatus. In an industry where you’re forgotten in a week, this move was professional suicide. But he told me he didn’t care. He just wanted to be with me. At night, he would pull me into his arms, humming love songs until I fell asleep. Austin loved me very, very much. I could feel it. That was why, two years ago, when the “System” told me my mission was complete, I refused to leave. I married the man I had nurtured and mentored from a struggling trainee to a global icon. The System warned me: “The human heart is a dark forest. Do not gaze into it for too long.” But I believed Austin would love me forever. What did it matter if my real body was dead in another world? Wasn’t living in a beautiful dream a form of happiness? Until I found the photos. Austin and my best friend, in a state of intimate abandon. The timestamp on the files went back two years. Which meant, before he ever proposed to me, he had already betrayed me. 2 When I woke up in the morning, Austin was already researching prenatal recipes. He had cleared his schedule. He just wanted to be there for me. My morning sickness was brutal; I couldn’t keep anything down. So, he spent his days coming up with new, enticing dishes. Pregnancy made me lethargic and irritable. I felt useless and out of focus. So, he bought a hoard of magic tricks to perform for me, trying to make me laugh. Once, while trying to produce a rose from a fireball, he accidentally singed his forehead. His bangs were scorched into curls. As I applied ointment to his skin, tears of pity blurred my vision. He simply handed me the hair clippers and told me to give him a buzz cut. He joked that he’d go for the “tough guy” look—a scar and a buzz cut, the ultimate protector vibe. But I was still sad. He pulled me close and whispered: “Sienna, if it’s too hard… we don’t have to have the baby.” “I only need you.” His voice was incredibly soft. He genuinely pitied me, yet he was terrified that I might actually choose to give up the child. The giant whiteboard in our study was covered in scribbles. Visitors thought he was working on new lyrics. But if you looked closer, you’d see they were baby names. We designed the nursery together. Whenever I made a little handicraft, he’d praise me: “I hope our child turns out exactly like you.” He was so, so excited for the baby’s arrival. I never once doubted his love for the child. But the part that broke me… Was knowing that this love wasn’t exclusive. Long ago, he had already shared it with someone else. “Austin, I want to see the ocean. It’s been a while.” “Sure, honey. Where to?” “Let’s go to Montauk. Madison is there. We haven’t seen her in forever.” Austin’s hand tightened on mine for a split second, but he quickly flashed a smile: “It’s been cold there lately. You’re pregnant; we should go somewhere warmer. Let’s wait for the summer to visit her, okay?” He spoke with such tenderness, acting as if he were only considering my well-being. I searched his face for a crack. There was none. He was a classically trained actor. Flawless performance was his specialty. But his cloud storage backup didn’t know how to act. That morning, I was looking for an old file on a spare phone and accidentally opened his auto-sync gallery. I saw a world of data I didn’t recognize. I realized it was Austin’s private account. Years ago, for convenience, I used to sync my photos to his drive. But after getting a new phone and taking fewer pictures, I had forgotten all about it. As I scrolled through the old memories, my heart felt sweet. Until the later photos hit me like a physical blow— Austin, sleeping in various hotel rooms, always with the same person beside him: my best friend, Madison. Sometimes, they were naked, entwined in bed. Sometimes, Austin was asleep, and Madison was taking a playful selfie with him. Sometimes, the angles were suggestive and blurred… The earliest photo was dated two years ago. And the updates had continued, off and on, ever since. 3 In the ten years I had known Austin, Countless starlets and colleagues had tried to get close to him. He was too beautiful, and his public persona was so cold and distant—like a moon hanging high in the sky. People looked up at him, and they longed to possess him. But he always told me, “Sienna, unless you don’t want me anymore, I’ll never leave your side.” “Sienna, stay with me. I will never betray you.” “Sienna, marry me. Stay with me forever.” His words were so moving. His eyes were so sincere. Was it all a lie? They say the onlooker sees most clearly, so I wanted to ask someone. But my entire life in this world revolved around Austin. All my friends and associates were from his circle. Except for Madison. She was the only non-industry friend I had made during my mission. Madison was sharp, fiery, and brave—like an untamable wild mare. In the past, when my mission hit a wall, I would often go to her for advice. She always told me I was too soft, that I didn’t know how to say no, and that I’d end up suffering for it. I would laugh and say, “Well, I have you. You’ll always knock some sense into me and show me the way.” In this world, the two people I cherished most were Austin Sterling and Madison. Now, that world had finally, completely collapsed. 4 Regarding the trip, I insisted on Montauk. Austin had no choice but to agree to drive me. The night before we left, I heard him get up in the middle of the night to make a secret phone call. “I’ve booked the tickets and the hotel. You have to leave tonight…” “I’m begging you. Sienna isn’t emotionally stable right now. She’s your friend; you know she can’t handle this.” “Madison, I’ll give you anything you want, except for this.” After a long silence, he hung up in the bathroom and climbed back into bed. Seeing that I was “sleeping soundly,” he kissed my forehead. Austin fell asleep. I finally opened my eyes. In the darkness, my tears soaked the pillow. 5 Montauk was beautiful. Austin booked a luxury beachfront villa so I could wake up to the sound of the waves every day. I mentioned wanting seafood, so he woke up at dawn to go to the docks, waiting for the first catch of the day. He took it to a local restaurant to have the chef prepare it. He even said he wanted to watch and learn so he could cook it for me himself. Around noon, the doorbell rang. Austin wasn’t back. It was Madison. Austin had told her to leave last night, but clearly, Madison had no intention of obeying. “Sienna, I don’t want to hurt you,” Madison said, cutting straight to the point. “But I don’t want to settle for less, either.” “I’ve been with Austin for a long time.” Madison always acted like the type who said whatever was on her mind. But I realized now that it wasn’t like that at all. What she said and what she felt weren’t always aligned. She said she didn’t want to hurt me, but she had shown up specifically to do just that. In the past, when she saw a “green tea” girl trying to manipulate Austin, she’d teach me how to spot them and how to defend myself. But she was the one hidden deepest of all. She met Austin through me. She became the “cool bro” to both of us. She played the “big sister” role when we fought. She shared secret little moments with Austin that I knew nothing about. She covered for him at parties I didn’t attend. They had a first time, a second time, a third… and then countless more. “So what do you want me to do?” I asked coldly. “Are you still expecting me to give you advice?” Madison let out a short laugh. “You probably don’t even know. I was going to leave the country, but Austin went to the airport to stop me.” A dull pain throbbed in my lower abdomen. “So? You think Austin will divorce me for you? He loves me.” I realized, as the words left my mouth, that even I didn’t believe them anymore. “Is that so?” Madison sneered and stood up. “Then let’s see who he chooses in the end.” Madison left shortly before Austin returned. Acting guilty, he noticed the extra teacup on the table and asked if anyone had visited. I told him it was a lady from next door who brought over some local pastries. Austin told me not to open the door for strangers. I nodded and ate the hot meal he brought back. Suddenly, nausea surged, and I ended up throwing everything up in the sink. Austin tenderly patted my back and handed me a glass of water. “Austin, do you love me?” “Of course.” “Only me?” “…” Austin nervously asked what was wrong, if I had seen some tabloid gossip. I shook my head and said I was just too invested in a TV show. In the show, the abandoned female lead was so pitiful. Austin laughed and said shows were fake, but his love for me was real. In the middle of the night, Austin was woken by a vibrating phone. He declined the call several times, but the person on the other end was persistent. He finally had to hide in the bathroom to call back. “What? Which hospital?? I’m coming right now!” Austin hurriedly started putting on his clothes. I pretended to just wake up and asked where he was going. He stammered, saying a relative of his had been hospitalized and he had to go check on them. Maybe much later, when he wasn’t so nervous, he’d realize how ridiculous his lie was. He was an orphan. He grew up in the system. He told me when we married that I was his first and only family. So who was this “relative” that suddenly appeared? “I’ll go with you.” I wanted to give him one last chance to be honest with me. But he quickly held me down. “No, it’s the middle of the night. Go back to sleep. I’ll be right back.” Without waiting for me to say anything else, he hurried away. For the next several days, he spent his time at the hospital. He hired a nanny to cook for me and kept me confined to the house. But I faked a stomach ache and went to the hospital myself. 6 Austin and I had our location shared on our phones. Usually, we didn’t check, but he was so preoccupied with his “relative” that he didn’t notice I was already standing outside the hospital room. Through the glass window, I saw this scene— A beautiful, haggard woman with bandages on her wrists, suggesting a suicide attempt. A handsome, gentle man carefully blowing on a bowl of porridge, feeding her spoon by spoon. They looked like a peaceful, happy young couple. The image made it hard to breathe. Suppressing the urge to gag, I dialed Austin’s number. Austin saw the call, and a flash of panic crossed his face. He wanted to decline it. But Madison reached out and hit the “Accept” button. “Sienna… what is it?” Austin’s voice was dry. “Austin, where are you?” I tried to keep my voice as steady as possible. “I’m with that relative. I’ll be home soon.” As soon as he finished, Madison leaned in and kissed his neck, then suddenly bit him hard. Austin couldn’t help but let out a sharp gasp of pain. My heart skipped a beat. “Okay. I’m hanging up.” Maybe I couldn’t hold it back; my voice carried a hint of a sob. Austin panicked. “What’s wrong?” “Nothing. Just a bit of a stomach ache.” “Stomach ache? I’m coming home right now…” He started to stand up, but Madison grabbed him, looking at him with teary, pitiful eyes. Austin softened. “Traffic is bad right now. It’ll take me a while to get back. Look, I’ll call the nanny. Have her take you to the clinic immediately.” I smiled. “Okay.” I hung up and watched them. Madison playfully reached into Austin’s waistband to pinch him. Austin grabbed her hand, tucked it back under the covers, and then leaned over to tell her something—likely telling her to rest and stop acting out. I suddenly felt a violent urge to vomit. I ran into the restroom and threw up until my face was covered in tears. My phone pinged. A message from Madison: Porridge made by Austin is the best. Attached was a photo of Austin holding her hand as he slept by her bedside. I closed my eyes and booked an appointment at an OB-GYN clinic. Austin, you were so excited for this baby. But I’m not. 7 The doctor told me the procedure carried a high risk. The hospital refused to do it. I walked out of the hospital into the warm breeze, but my heart felt colder than ever. I knew I had two choices: Either endure a violent “death” to trigger the system and enter an unknown next world—which could be worse than this one. Or, stay here, pretend I know nothing, and continue to live in the sweet, hollow illusion Austin had built. My mind was a mess. Thoughts raced through my head until my phone rang. It was the nanny. “Ms. Sterling, where are you? Mr. Sterling is home and he’s frantic.” I checked my location. Austin was at the villa. But half a minute later, the dot started moving again, heading straight for Madison’s apartment. The nanny said, “He took a call. A woman was crying on the other end, and he just bolted again…” This was my future. Austin might maintain our marriage, but he would always have a soft spot for Madison. I would be trapped in this eternal triangle, suffering without end. I chose to walk away. 8 The risks for my procedure were too high for the major hospitals. I needed a private clinic. Miraculously, it was as if fate had heard my wish. I found a private clinic online. I followed the address. This was where I would say goodbye to this world. The street was quiet. The clinic looked clean. The office had a faint scent of cedarwood, and the doctor was refined and cool. He didn’t take the massive bribe I offered. He just lowered his eyes, pursed his lips, and thought for a moment. I noticed his name tag: Dr. Silas Thorne. “Are you sure?” He looked at me, his eyes unreadable. I nodded. “Have you really thought this through?” I nodded again. “Yes.” He didn’t say anything else. He took the payment. “Thursday. Come back then.” I felt a sense of relief, as if something had finally been settled. But leaving the clinic, the heatwave felt exhausting. I went to a nearby cafe for a piece of cake. My phone had died. The cashier asked if I had cash. I looked at my empty pockets, feeling humiliated. Just then, a payment card was tapped behind me. It was Dr. Thorne. “Together,” he said simply to the cashier. The cafe was tiny. By the window, there was only one wooden table and two chairs. So I sat across from Dr. Thorne. He had his coffee; I had my cake. Neither of us spoke. But I had a very strange feeling. As if I had lived this moment before. Suddenly, a familiar voice rang out behind me: “Sienna?” It was Austin. He looked furious. He marched over, pulled me behind him, and glared at Dr. Thorne. “Who the hell are you?” he asked coldly. I tried to explain, but Austin cut me off. He grabbed my hand, showing my wedding ring to the doctor. “Don’t you know you should keep your distance from a married woman?” “Austin!” Terrified of offending the doctor I needed, I pulled Austin back and apologized to Silas. “I’m sorry… thank you for the cake.” I signaled him to leave quickly. Dr. Thorne said nothing. He gave Austin a cold, indifferent glance. Just as Austin opened his mouth to say something even more unpleasant, Silas turned and walked away. I breathed a secret sigh of relief. The next second, Austin gripped my shoulders nervously. “Who is he? Why aren’t you answering my calls?” I pointed to my dead phone and briefly explained the cake situation. Austin pulled me into an anxious embrace, sounding both helpless and protective. “You can’t just take food from a strange man.” “Don’t do it again.” I smiled in his arms. “It was just a piece of cake. Why the temper?” Austin tightened his grip. “Don’t you understand? It’s because I love you. It hurts to see you with anyone else.” His voice was deep and pleasant, his warm breath brushing against the skin of my neck. His words were always so moving, so warm. I smiled softly. “I understand.” Of course I did. I gently pushed him away. “I’m hungry. Let’s go home.” “Okay, let’s go home.” Austin gallantly opened the door for me and waited by the curb for an Uber. As we turned the corner, while he wasn’t looking, I pulled the ring off my finger and dropped it into a trash can.

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Good news: I’m the real daughter of a billionaire. Bad news: I was a fake all along. At a family dinner, the “fake” daughter ran to my parents, soaking wet and looking pitiful. “Sister, why did you throw red wine on me?” I looked around, hugged the 2-liter bottle of soda next to me, and gave her a wide, innocent stare. “Are you talking about me? But I’ve been drinking Coke this whole time.” 1 I am Maya Sterling, the youngest daughter of the Sterling Group. My eldest sister, Olivia, is a gold-medal director who wins awards until her hands are sore, internationally renowned. My older brother, Liam, is the current second-in-command of the Sterling Group, with a limitless future. And me… I am a clueless, useless idiot. Maybe my parents’ genes took a wild detour when they made me. Aside from my looks, I didn’t inherit a single one of their outstanding talents. Not only that, but my reactions have always been a bit slower than everyone else’s. In my sister’s words, I was like a Samoyed that snuck into a pack of wolves, getting bullied but still wagging my tail happily, barking, “Big doggies!” Logically, someone at the very bottom of the food chain like me should have been the first cannon fodder sacrificed in any billionaire family feud. But my mom said: “So what if she’s a little slow? Two heads are better than one, and we have a whole family to protect her.” But my mom was wrong about one thing. Since I couldn’t follow the elite billionaire heir route, she dedicated herself to throwing money at me so I could be a carefree, spoiled rich kid. But when other rich kids were thrill-seeking and street racing, I barely managed to pass my driver’s test. When they were out partying and binge drinking, I was allergic to alcohol. When they were playing the field and keeping boy toys, the most I dared to do was hold hands. Over time, my mom had to comfort herself. “It’s better to be a little slow. It doesn’t attract unwanted attention. Keeps the drama away.” But even living like this, I still became a target. 2 Liam brought home a frail girl who looked about 70% like me. The moment she saw my mom, she tragically dropped to her knees, crying her eyes out. “Mom, I finally found you!” My dad instantly felt the chicken leg in his bowl lose its flavor. He put down his fork and stared wide-eyed. “What’s going on? You have a kid on the outside?!” My mom was horrified. “I didn’t! I swear I don’t!” The girl crawled on her knees and bowed deeply to my dad. “Dad, I missed you so much!” My mom dropped her panicked expression, put her hands on her hips, and pointed at my dad’s nose. “You still have the nerve to ask me! Is this one of your past mistakes?!” The girl on her knees choked back tears, while my parents were still immersed in their game of passing the buck. Neither of them paid her any attention. “Dad, Mom, she says she is the real Maya Sterling.” In the end, it was Liam who got straight to the point. “What does that mean? How is that possible?” “I’ve seen the DNA test report. It’s real.” “Then what about our youngest?” My mom pointed at me, who was still burying my head in my food. “The youngest is, of course, your biological daughter, my biological sister.” Liam’s words carried no hesitation. He stood coldly to the side, with no intention of helping the so-called “real” sister up. The girl suddenly raised her head and glared at me fiercely. “She’s a fake! If Mom and Dad don’t believe me, you can take her for a DNA test. You have no biological connection to her!” Her certainty made Liam frown. My parents didn’t respond to her accusation, and Liam continued asking. “So I brought her back to ask you, is this some illegitimate daughter you had on the outside?” My parents shook their heads violently like rattle drums. After a long pause, my mom slapped her forehead. “I know!” I rubbed my forehead and spat out the last chicken bone. Thanks to this farce grabbing their attention, I got to eat all the chicken legs today. Except for the half still in my dad’s bowl. My mom’s eyes shone brightly, incredibly excited. “It turns out I had twins back then!” 3 Everyone’s eyes turned to my mom. The girl was the first to object. “How is that possible? There was clearly only me! I am your only daughter!” “Mom, if you take her for a DNA test, you’ll know…” Her words were cut off by my mom. My mom took her hand, pulled her to sit on the sofa, and looked at her with maternal love. “Sweetheart, a piece of flesh fell from my own body, wouldn’t I know how much it weighed?” “I always wondered why my belly was so big back then. It must have been twins.” “Don’t you agree, honey?” My dad showed a look of sudden realization and nodded repeatedly. “I thought it was because you ate too many supplements during the pregnancy. So it was twins.” “You almost had a difficult labor back then. It must have been during the panic that the hospital lost one of the babies.” Surprisingly, everyone accepted this absurd explanation. Even Liam’s expression softened. The girl looked pale, trying to argue further. Her gaze fell on me, as if expecting me to react with violent rejection. But all I could think was: “No wonder my reactions are so slow.” This girl’s mouth fired off words like it was on 2x speed. All the excellent genes must have gone to her! But I wasn’t jealous. I was always going to be last place anyway. What did it matter if I had one more sibling? I frowned. I had eaten a bit too much and was feeling stuffed, which slowed my thinking even more. “So, between the two of us, who is the older sister?” Under the girl’s expectant gaze, I threw out a completely useless question. “You be the older sister, Maya. Take care of your new younger sister.” My mom smiled brightly, observing the girl’s reaction. She bit her lip, seemingly unwilling, but eventually, slowly nodded. “Mom, my life before this was so hard…” She rolled up her sleeves, perhaps intending to show the scars on her arms. My mom stopped her and thoughtfully draped a blanket over her thin clothes. “Sweetheart, let’s not talk about the past.” “Let’s give you a new name.” “You are the child we lost to the outside world, so we’ll call you… Ava.” Ava swallowed her grievances. “Okay, Mom.” My mom took Ava’s hand and warmly gave her a tour of the house. Overnight, everyone in the Sterling Group, except for Olivia who was away filming, learned of Ava’s existence. And Ava’s challenge to me officially began at that moment. 4 As expected, Ava crushed me in every aspect. She effortlessly blended into the social circles I couldn’t fit into. She played instruments I couldn’t master with ease. Indeed, she looked more like a child of the Sterling family than I did. Piled high with money and the ultimate luxury services, Ava never again showed the timidity of our first meeting. She tried multiple times to steer our parents into taking me for a DNA test. But my mom said: “There’s no need. Our family doesn’t lack the money to raise one more person.” At the autumn gala, Ava fluttered through the crowd like a butterfly. Today, her identity as the “Fourth Miss of the Sterling Family” would be officially introduced to high society by our parents. For this day, she had meticulously prepared a haute couture corset gown, the tailored fabric accentuating her proud curves. Ava followed our parents closely, elegantly and confidently toasting and making small talk with everyone. I sat in a corner, discreetly pulling a 2-liter bottle of Coke from under the heavy tablecloth and filling my wine glass. Elegant. Truly too elegant. I swirled the glass and let out a satisfied burp. The only flaw was that room-temperature Coke wasn’t stimulating enough, and the carbonation dissipated too quickly. I held my wine glass and strolled leisurely out into the courtyard. I had never been good at handling these big scenes since I was a kid, so I was especially grateful for Ava’s existence. While daydreaming, I heard hurried footsteps approaching and instinctively ducked behind some bushes. The heavy, sticky sound of kissing and the rustling of clothes made me blush. Holy crap, who is making out in the garden?! “Tyler… someone might see us…” Ava’s soft moans mixed with a man’s heavy breathing. “Baby, you look so beautiful today.” Tyler was my arranged fiancé. Rather than being surprised that they had hooked up, my main thought made me cover my mouth in a silent scream: Did they not know our family’s exterior was covered in full-color, thermal-imaging infrared security cameras?! Thinking of the security guards staring at each other in front of the HD monitors in the control room… Oh my god, I felt embarrassed for them! 5 It took forever for those two to leave, and my legs were numb from squatting. My engagement to Tyler was a verbal agreement made by our elders. A business marriage, very normal. But the two of us never really clicked. Tyler thought I was boring and plain, and I thought Tyler was a player. The engagement kind of just faded away. But it looked like Ava was very happy to be the rebound. Tyler was the sole heir to the Vance family. Old Mr. Vance’s marriage plan for him was: “Best to have two kids in the first year, three in two years, the more the better.” Looking at Ava’s frail frame, I had deep doubts. Oh well, as long as she’s happy. Before I could even bend down, lift the tablecloth, and refill my drink, a swaying white figure crashed into me. “Ah! Sister, why did you throw red wine on me?” Ava’s eyes were filled with tears, her face pale, as she questioned me, trembling. A large, dark wine-red stain bloomed across her layered skirt. At first glance, it looked like she had just run from a murder scene. Before I had time to react, Tyler was there too. “Maya, how could you bully your sister? Are you jealous that she’s better than you?” “Sister definitely didn’t do it on purpose, Tyler, don’t say that…” The drama at the gala naturally drew everyone’s attention. Soon, everyone noticed the corner where I was standing. Under the curious, drama-hungry gazes of the bystanders, I slowly hugged the 2-liter bottle of soda next to me, my eyes clear and innocent. “Are you talking about me? But I’ve been drinking Coke this whole time.” Everyone showed a look of utter speechlessness. Tyler kept pushing it. “What kind of person drinks Coke at a gala? You just bullied Ava and won’t admit it. Do you know how hard she worked for today…” I didn’t know. I really didn’t know how hard she worked. “I’m allergic to alcohol. I never drink.” “Then you must have snatched Ava’s glass!” Then I would have needed to be holding two glasses. I didn’t really want to keep arguing with this troll. In the end, Ava interrupted the argument. “It was me who didn’t look where I was going and bumped into my sister. It’s my fault. I apologize to you, Sister.” She bowed deeply to me, tears welling in her eyes, while the onlookers whispered among themselves. Honestly, nobody really cared whose wine it was anyway. Ava’s goal was singular: to create the illusion that I was targeting her, thereby establishing her persona as respectful and humble. The rest she left to the rumors and wild guesses. With a teary-eyed Ava in front of me and an aggressive Tyler behind me, I felt a bit distressed. This was broken by an elegant, tall figure. Olivia’s long, slender fingers lifted Ava’s chin, a half-smile on her face. “You’re very talented. Want to be the female lead in my new movie?” 6 Ava accepted, flattered and overwhelmed. A spot in Olivia’s movies was hard to come by, let alone the lead role. After thinking about it for a long time, I decided to hint to Olivia to be careful of Ava. Stuttering in front of Olivia for a while, I only managed to squeeze out one sentence. “She’s not a good person.” Olivia blew a smoke ring at me, watching with a smile as I pinched my nose and coughed. “If you’re worried, come join the crew with me. Big sister will take you to watch a good show.” Ava’s sudden casting caused a heated debate among the crew. “Director Sterling really does favor talented people.” “Look, Ava gets the lead role right away, while Maya can only watch.” “I’ve heard for a long time that Maya is a useless heiress. Maybe the rumors are true, and she’s not really a Sterling.” I sat under a sunshade drinking juice, watching Ava sweating under the blazing sun. I scoffed at the whispers nearby. I had heard these things so much lately that my ears were growing calluses. Ava’s first scene involved wirework over water. Although she had undergone systematic training before shooting, she still looked a bit hesitant. Olivia put her arm around her shoulder and pointed at the award-winning actor, Ethan Cole, not far away. “Ava, your starting point is acting opposite an A-lister. You’re already better than so many people.” “Don’t put pressure on yourself. It doesn’t matter if you mess up. You definitely won’t be worse than Maya.” Since Ava arrived, “little sister” was no longer my exclusive title. Such intimate instructions obviously worked perfectly on Ava. “Sister, I will definitely do a good job!” She nodded confidently. Then came eighteen consecutive NG takes. Olivia strove for perfection and never went easy on anyone. Hoisted high up, dropped heavily down. I thought Ava would call it quits, but she actually pushed through. It wasn’t until evening that I understood the meaning behind Ava’s actions. A comparison photo of us on set was trending online. #AvaNaturalBornActress #AvaDedication #AvaMayaComparison #WhatIsItLikeToHaveAMeanOlderSister In the photos, Ava was respectfully performing difficult stunts mid-air, while I was sitting with my legs crossed in the shade playing cards on my phone. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to work. It was that I really wasn’t helpful. Despite the internet condemning me for making things difficult for Ava, my mom was the first one to get angry at home. “How many times have I told you not to cross your legs! You never listen!” Okay, my bad. 7 After tagging along with Olivia’s crew for a few days, I didn’t want to go anymore. Those days, I was secretly photographed 360 degrees by paparazzi, constantly trending alongside Ava and being gossiped about. It was so annoying. However, Ava was enjoying it. Her popularity was soaring, even driving up the Sterling Group’s stock. My dad generously transferred 5% of his shares to Ava as a wrap gift. The circles were saying that this was the favored true heiress, and questioning what kind of life Maya lived before—no car, no house, no power. No comparison, no damage. True, I thought they had a point. But I had a mouth. I could ask my parents for money. Having money was good enough. Ava clearly wasn’t satisfied. Not only did she have a massive fan base, but she had also gained the family’s approval. My mom put two duck legs in her bowl. I admit, I was sour. Ava smiled gently: “Mom, actors need to maintain their figures. I can’t eat greasy food. Let my sister have it.” “It’s okay, you eat it. Your sister had too much meat before, she needs to eat lighter to rest her stomach.” Ava’s smile twisted slightly, but she quickly adjusted. “Dad, I want to join the family company to learn. Can I?” “Of course. It’s good to be proactive. Liam, arrange it.” My usually silent second brother nodded. “Is Maya coming too?” I shook my head violently. Making me work a 9-to-5 desk job was akin to prison. I wasn’t going. My dad deadpanned a final blow. “Don’t force her. Isn’t lying around at home nice? It’s not like we can’t afford the electricity bill.” See? This is how my uselessness was cultivated. A week after Ava went to the company to “learn,” an anonymous email arrived in the inboxes of the Sterling Group employees. It was the DNA test result between me and my dad. The result showed: “The DNA match between the samples is low. No biological relationship.”

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A long time after breaking up with the heir to the Sterling Group, he had already found someone new. He blocked my resources and snatched a role I had spent six months preparing for, just to pave the way for his new flame. On the day I won the Best Actress award, the host asked me: “I heard that the theme song ‘Prayers,’ which you sang when you first debuted, was named after the love of your life?” In the audience, Julian Sterling suddenly looked up, his face full of disbelief. Very few people knew that the heir to the Sterling Group was named Julian. Until this moment, he didn’t realize that I had once loved him with all my heart. Hiding his name in a song title. But now, I just shook my head and smilingly denied it: “That’s all in the past.” 1 On the way to the film festival, my manager, Sarah, informed me with a grim expression: “Our endorsement contract with Dior for the Asian region has been terminated. They’ve replaced you with Mia Jiang again.” I calmly lowered my eyes and said, “I’m used to it.” She lit a cigarette, unable to suppress her anxiety: “How many resources has she snatched from you this year? From the lead role in Director Lee’s new movie, to top-tier commercial and variety show contracts, and now the most important blue-blood luxury endorsement you had. That lead role in Director Lee’s movie—you prepared for it for six months, kept your schedule clear for a year, gained twenty pounds, and then lost it again. Just as filming started, they swapped you out.” The endorsements and resources were one thing, but I couldn’t let go of that movie role. I pulled the cigarette from Sarah’s fingers. My eyes stung slightly, and I reminded her softly: “Sarah. There’s nothing we can do.” There was nothing we could do. Because backing Mia Jiang was the heir to the Sterling Group, Julian Sterling. The Sterling family held controlling stakes in much of the domestic entertainment industry. Even our own agency was no exception. Mia Jiang was the only girlfriend Julian had ever publicly acknowledged. Within a year of entering the industry, she was already working with famous directors and producers. This time, she was nominated alongside me for Best Actress at the film festival. Julian was lifting her up, making sure to place the absolute best right in front of her. It just so happened that I was in the way. Sarah looked at me: “If you end up being a placeholder for Mia Jiang again this time, and get mocked on the trending topics, you won’t even get a look at any good scripts anymore.” Relying on Director Lee’s movie, Mia Jiang received an award nomination in her first year in the entertainment industry. I started my career from the bottom, working as an extra and a stand-in. Over the years, I became an acclaimed actress, nominated multiple times, but always going home empty-handed. My haters mocked me, calling me the “Almost-Best-Actress.” I looked out the car window at the endless stream of traffic. If I went home empty-handed again, my situation would only become more difficult. Still resentful about the lost luxury endorsement, Sarah spoke without thinking: “Scarlett, you used to be with Julian too. How come he never paved the way for you like this?” I pulled my gaze back from the window, fell silent for a moment, and looked at Sarah. My voice was very light: “Sarah. I was just dating him.” I wasn’t “with” him in that transactional sense. I wasn’t kept like a canary in a gilded cage. We were dating. That’s all. But everyone else didn’t think so. 2 Because he and I belonged to entirely different social classes. We were never on equal footing from the start. Actually, Julian had done something like that for me, but not often—just once. It was for a top-tier fashion resource that every female artist in the country fought tooth and nail for. Sarah had racked her brains figuring out how to get the brand to notice me. But Julian used his private jet to fly me to Europe to attend a small, private dinner hosted by Dior’s CEO. Upon my return, I received the invitation to be the brand ambassador for the Asia-Pacific region. But I was quiet on the flight back. While the plane cruised at an altitude of tens of thousands of feet, Julian knelt on one knee in front of me, cupped my face, and laughed in exasperation: “Why are you suddenly upset for no reason?” I wasn’t angry. I just… didn’t know what to say. “Julian, everything you give me is too expensive. Please don’t do this anymore.” Julian laughed, leaning in until our noses touched, his warm breath falling on my face: “Compared to my entire heart, what is this? We’re dating. What’s wrong with me treating you well? My only fear is that I can’t give you enough.” His nuzzling tickled. I pressed my lips together, and the question I had wanted to ask remained unspoken. If, one day, you don’t like me anymore, how will we settle the score for all these things? If you give your heart to someone else, what then? Now, I already have the answer. Regardless of whether he gave it or not. He will take it all back. 3 The red carpet moment before the film festival is always considered a highlight. Before I even finished walking my section, a commotion erupted behind me, and the cameras of the media and photographers instantly swiveled away. I looked back, and sure enough, it was Mia Jiang. But there was someone beside her—Julian. They were arriving together. Julian had always been extremely reluctant to expose himself to the public eye. I never expected him to be willing to walk the red carpet with Mia Jiang. He saw me, but withdrew his gaze in an instant, looking down to help Mia arrange the train of her dress. Mia asked, “What’s wrong?” I heard him chuckle softly: “Nothing, just a passerby.” 4 During the Best Actress award presentation, the host read my name twice before I dazedly stood up. The large screen on the stage was playing clips of my performance in the film. Amidst the cheers, the moment I took the trophy, I finally realized that I had won. Julian and Mia were sitting in the front row. Having just lost, Mia’s face was ashen. Julian kept his eyes lowered, ignoring Mia. It was as if he was carefully listening to my acceptance speech. My acceptance speech was very long. Name after name tumbled from my lips in gratitude. By the end, Julian’s name still hadn’t appeared. The person who used to hold the number one spot on my list of gratitude had long been personally erased by me. I could only see his jaw clenched, as cold as iron. The host was a famous comedian in the country. While lightening the mood, the host joked: “Scarlett, Reddit has dug up all your stories. I heard that the theme song ‘Prayers,’ which you sang when you first debuted, was named after the love of your life?” Back then, I not only sang the theme song but also wrote the lyrics for it. Selfishly, I hid the name of the person I loved most in the song title. (Note: ‘Prayers’ in Chinese is ‘Qi’, sharing the same character as Julian’s Chinese name ‘Yan Qi’). I saw Julian in the audience suddenly look up, his face full of disbelief. Very few people knew that the heir to the Sterling Group was named Julian. Until this moment, he didn’t realize that I had once loved him with all my heart. I looked at a panicked Mia next to Julian, shook my head, and smilingly denied it: “That’s all in the past.” 5 After returning to my seat with the award, my hands and heart were burning hot, and it took all my willpower not to cry. Before the film festival, the industry hadn’t been optimistic about my chances of winning. The hot favorite was Director Lee’s leading lady, Mia Jiang. I never expected to pull off such an upset. Suddenly, a tissue was handed to me, accompanied by a low voice: “The cameras aren’t panning this way right now. Dry your tears.” Sitting next to me was the Grand Slam Best Actor, Caleb Thorne, a true genius of an actor. He was the male lead in the film I won the award for, and we shared many scenes together. If it hadn’t been for Caleb’s recommendation, the director wouldn’t have thought to let me audition; if it hadn’t been for his acting, I couldn’t have gotten so deep into character and performed at an unprecedented level. But I looked at the tissue in front of me, my fingers curling slightly before I took it, softly saying: “Thank you.” Caleb didn’t say anything more, just gave a guttural “hmm,” his eyes on the stage, as aloof and unapproachable as the rumors suggested. It was just like… The day we wrapped filming. By the sea where we shot, the moonlight spilled across the water. Caleb had confessed his feelings to me, but acted as if nothing had ever happened. 6 The atmosphere within my team when we left was completely different from when we arrived. Sarah was glowing, sweeping away all the previous gloom. Before getting into the car, I was stopped by a few fans who popped out of nowhere. The security guards wanted to drive them away, but I stopped them. I signed autographs for each of them. They were young girls who had traveled God knows how far, and it would be a shame for them to leave empty-handed. As I finished the last stroke of my signature, I heard someone call out to me from behind. The final stroke of my name became slightly stiff. Julian stood a short distance behind me, calling out: “Scarlett.” I kept my eyes lowered, pretending I didn’t hear him. Smiling, I said a few parting words to my fans, then, with my assistant helping with my dress, I got into the car. The engine started, the window half-rolled down. I saw the smiling faces of the fans outside, and Julian standing alone. The arrogant young master’s usual swagger was completely gone. A pair of peach-blossom eyes held no laughter, only a silent, dazed stare directed at me. The last time he called my name like this was the day we broke up. Back then, utterly disappointed and furious, he had said: “Scarlett, you say you love me. Why have I never felt your love?” Through the car window, I waved to my fans and Julian from afar, a peaceful smile on my face, like a final goodbye. The luxury van drove forward. Julian, go look for the answer. If you’re willing to. In those expired memories, maybe there is the answer you’re looking for. But that’s all in the past now. 7 After returning, I was removing my makeup. My assistant, who was a pro at internet surfing, let out an “Ah,” and handed me her phone: “Scarlett, your expired ship is trending.” Tonight, all the trending topics were about the film festival, and I alone occupied several spots. But the number one trending topic was actually a Reddit thread digging up my first love. It had become the top legendary thread on Reddit, titled “Best Actress Scarlett and the Summer She Was Blessed By Him.” The naming of the song “Prayers” was uncovered here. I pressed my lips together and read through the long post, feeling a bit dazed. I had forgotten some of these things myself. Once, when I was filming at Mount Rainier, I had purposely climbed to the snowy peak to hang a red prayer ribbon for Julian. A local TV station was randomly interviewing citizens and tourists, asking them to say a few words to the person they were praying for. Wearing a mask, I smiled and said: “Julian, it’s so cold.” Julian, of course, would never watch a small local TV station. So he never knew that the snow on Mount Rainier fell so heavily that day. The accuracy of the post was actually quite high. It even included a very old interview of mine. Back then, my face was still youthful, and I smiled as I envisioned the future: “If I can win an award one day, he will definitely be the first person on my thank-you list.” The reporter pressed: “Who is he?” In the video, I smiled until my eyes crinkled, but didn’t answer. But on my thank-you list tonight, the first person was the female director of my previous film, thanking her for recognizing my talent. It wasn’t the person I had promised back then. We had already broken up ungracefully; there was already no ending for us. Netizens could tell that my romance had long since had a bad ending. Yet, they were shipping this expired couple so hard they were laughing and crying at the same time. Everyone guessed every male actor I had ever worked with, but no one had a clue. Julian’s name never appeared from beginning to end, and only then did I feel relieved. Netizens can easily go overboard when shipping couples, not to mention that Julian already has another girlfriend now. The internet will forget about this in two days anyway. 8 After winning the award, scripts from famous directors came flooding in. My manager, Sarah, and I were still picking out scripts. There was a transition period between now and the scheduled start date of the script we favored. Sarah arranged for me to be a judge on a highly acclaimed acting competition reality show called “The Actor’s True Colors.” Record one episode and leave. But I didn’t expect to run into so many familiar faces. Among the judges was Caleb Thorne, the Best Actor I had just worked with. I ran into Mia Jiang head-on. Only then did I learn she was participating in this reality show as a contestant. The show’s producers sure knew how to generate buzz. The two of us had just competed for the Best Actress crown at the film festival, and now we were reunited in an acting competition show. The difference was, this time I was a judge, and Mia was a contestant. The ratings were guaranteed to skyrocket. This time, unusually, I didn’t see Julian accompany Mia to the recording set. I heard he cares about her very much. Every time she joins a cast, he accompanies her to check the set’s safety facilities and living conditions. Rumor in the industry was that Julian was the epitome of a devoted, twenty-four-karat good boyfriend. With Julian’s arrogant, young master demeanor, it was hard to imagine him associated with that title. Before the show officially started recording. I had debuted many years earlier than Mia, so I was considered her senior. We sort of knew each other, so I gave her a polite, neutral smile. Just as we were about to brush past each other. Mia called out to me: “Scarlett, I haven’t congratulated you on winning Best Actress yet.” I stopped and turned around. Mia stood there, the corners of her mouth curling up: “Originally, my boyfriend thought I was going to win. He forced me to memorize a long acceptance speech thanking him before the film festival. He’s so childish.” I looked at her quietly. Waiting for her next sentence. Mia’s smile faltered, the corners of her lips drooping as she continued: “But maybe you don’t know, my boyfriend is Julian Sterling. He said the song ‘Prayers’ you wrote the lyrics for is really awful to listen to, and he hopes you won’t use it to disgust him again in the future.” I wasn’t angry. I thought for a moment before offering a bland critique: “Then you two are quite alike. His taste and your acting are equally terrible.” 9 Mia had always had smooth sailing and had never heard such blunt criticism before. She turned pale with anger. If it hadn’t been for the famous director, a great script, and top-tier production backing her, she wouldn’t have even had a chance to be nominated alongside me. I ignored her and walked forward. Turning the corner, I realized someone was standing there. Caleb leaned against the wall, biting down on a cigarette, but unlit. The clear sunlight fell on his face, making him look even more aloof. I never expected him to participate in this variety show. He didn’t even do interviews or commercials, keeping an extremely low profile. I pressed my lips together and called his name, not knowing how much he had just heard: “Caleb.” He turned his head and gave a slight nod. He must have been passing by, accidentally witnessed the confrontation between the two actresses, and had to avoid us to stay out of the drama. He tossed the unlit cigarette into the trash can. Caleb opened his mouth, his voice low and raspy: “The production team is looking for us. Let’s go together.” He wasn’t a man of many words. Even though we had worked together on a movie set for half a year and shared a lot of intense scenes, we weren’t particularly close. Walking side by side down the quiet hallway. The man beside me, with his cold demeanor, suddenly dropped a sentence. Caleb said: “Your ex-boyfriend’s taste is indeed terrible enough.”

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1 Midnight had just passed when my phone lit up with a barrage of texts from another kindergarten mom. She sent a video of the kids eating lunch at school. A second later, a message popped up. “Megan’s Mom, why isn’t your Megan eating her shrimp?” Fighting off the exhaustion of a long day, I typed back a quick reply. “She has a severe allergy.” I thought that would be the end of it. Instead, my phone began vibrating off the nightstand. I flipped it to silent, not wanting to deal with the drama, but then her actual caller ID flashed across the screen. “Megan’s Mom, an allergy is no excuse to just skip food! Kids are super impressionable right now. Because your Megan refused her shrimp, my Penelope decided to copy her and didn’t eat hers either!” My brain completely short-circuited. My remaining sleepiness vanished in an instant. Was this something a normal, functioning adult actually said? Fearing I had misheard her, I reiterated my point. “It is like this, Penelope’s Mom. My daughter is deathly allergic to shellfish. She absolutely cannot eat shrimp.” “Well, obviously I know she’s allergic!” The voice on the other end grew piercingly shrill and dripping with impatience. “But does she have to be so stubborn about it? Spoiling a child is one thing, but you are taking it to another level. You are not only being completely irresponsible with your own kid, but you are actively corrupting other children!” “Honestly, talking to you is exhausting. It is no wonder people say the lower class shouldn’t breed. You don’t even possess basic communication skills.” Hearing that, a hot spark of anger flared in my chest. “Penelope’s Mom, if you have an issue, state it. There is absolutely no need for personal attacks. I will say this once more…” Before I could finish, she cut me off. “Oh, save it. I am not wasting another breath on you.” “Because your daughter refused her food today, my Penelope was deprived of essential nutrients. Since they are classmates, I am going to be generous. You owe me fifty thousand dollars in nutritional compensation for my daughter. Pay up, and we can drop this. But if it happens again, it won’t be resolved so easily.” Fifty thousand dollars? Over a single piece of uneaten shrimp. Why didn’t this woman just go rob a bank? I am a reasonable person, but I refuse to be bullied. I certainly wasn’t going to indulge this sheer lunacy. “Penelope’s Mom, what my daughter eats is her own business. If your daughter is mimicking her, that sounds like a failure in your parenting, not mine.” With that, I hung up, cutting off whatever toxic garbage she was about to spew next. This bizarre encounter left me tossing and turning all night. Keeping Megan in a class with a mother like that was a ticking time bomb. I made up my mind to transfer her to a new private school. “But Mommy, I really want to go today! I promised my friends yesterday I would bring them the cookies we baked. I don’t want to break my promise.” Looking at my daughter’s sweet, pleading face all scrunched up in worry, my heart melted entirely. I couldn’t bear to disappoint her. One more day wouldn’t hurt. As for Penelope’s mother, she was likely just a loudmouthed paper tiger. The kindergarten had teachers everywhere, and security cameras lined every hallway. Thinking of this, my anxiety settled slightly. “Alright, Megan. But if anything feels wrong, you ask a teacher to call me immediately, understand?” “I know, Mommy! Bye-bye!” Just to be safe, I texted Ms. Jenkins, the head teacher, asking her to keep an extra close eye on Megan today. After checking every possible box, I threw myself into my work. My company was bidding on a massive new project, and my workload had doubled. I was drowning in spreadsheets until past one in the afternoon, barely finding a second to grab a glass of water. I opened my messages, instinctively checking my chat with Ms. Jenkins. The screen showed my message from this morning, left completely unread. Ms. Jenkins was usually busy, but she always replied within an hour or two. A four-hour radio silence was entirely unprecedented. A cold knot formed in my stomach. I dialed the teacher’s number. It rang out to voicemail. I tried again. Nothing. Panicking, I tried calling my daughter’s smartwatch. The automated operator voice that echoed through the speaker froze the blood in my veins. The number you have dialed does not exist. 2 A suffocating sense of dread washed over me. Abandoning my lunch, I grabbed my keys and drove straight to the preschool, breaking every speed limit along the way. The moment I burst through the front doors, I spotted Megan’s teacher. I lunged toward her like a drowning woman grabbing a lifeline. “Ms. Jenkins! Where is Megan?” “Oh, Megan’s Mom! Megan is taking her afternoon nap right now. Is there an emergency?” Ms. Jenkins tried to maintain her usual overly bright customer-service smile, but the moment her eyes met mine, a distinct flash of raw panic betrayed her. I ignored her pleasantries and pushed past her, heading straight for the sleeping quarters. “Wait, you can’t go in there! The children are resting! You cannot just barge in!” Ms. Jenkins tried to physically block my path, but a mother’s resolve is absolute. Her slight frame was no match for my adrenaline. “Megan! Mommy is here to take you home!” I yelled down the colorful hallway. Normally, I wouldn’t even need to call her name three times before she would come running with a bright smile. But today, there was only dead, heavy silence. I threw open every door along the corridor. Not only was Megan missing, but the entire nap room was completely empty. There wasn’t a single child in sight. More teachers flooded out from the staff rooms, surrounding me and trying to herd me toward the exit. “Where the hell did you take my daughter!” “Please calm down! This is a school environment, you cannot scream like this. Let’s go to the office and talk this through.” “Exactly, your behavior is incredibly aggressive and inappropriate.” Instead of helping me find my missing child, they began gaslighting me, acting as if my sheer terror was just an irrational tantrum. I was the victim here, yet they looked at me like I was a hysterical trespasser. If she wasn’t in the nap room, she had to be somewhere else. The cafeteria, the art room, the playground. I tore through the building like a hurricane. “If you don’t stop this instant, I am calling the police!” Ms. Jenkins shrieked. “Do it! Call them right now, let them see what you are hiding!” The air in the hallway went completely still. In that split second of silence, I heard it. A muffled, agonizing cry. It was coming from the janitorial closet at the end of the hall. The teachers heard it too, and the color drained from their faces. “That is a staff-only area, you are strictly forbidden to enter!” Their words were meaningless background noise. I threw my entire body weight against the heavy wooden door. It was locked from the inside. I backed up and rammed my shoulder into it again and again. With a loud crack, the lock gave way, and the door flew open. What I saw inside ignited a blinding, murderous rage in my soul. My precious little girl was kneeling on the cold tile. Her tiny wrists and ankles were bound with heavy tape. Someone was prying her mouth open, violently forcing raw shrimp down her throat. “What the hell are you doing to her!” Hearing my voice, Megan struggled with all her might, but she was so small, so completely overpowered. I lunged forward like a wild animal, desperate to rip them away from my baby. But a crowd of women surged forward, forming a human barricade between me and my daughter. Sitting in a chair right in the center of the room, looking utterly smug, was a woman I recognized instantly. Vanessa. Penelope’s mother. “I tried to warn you last night. I told you to discipline your child. Since you refused to be a decent mother, I had to step in and do the parenting for you.” As she spoke, she casually picked up another shrimp and shoved it toward my daughter’s face. Megan’s face was completely covered in a terrifying, angry red rash. Her lips were swollen to twice their size, and she looked like she barely had the breath to cry, let alone speak. Every gasp she took felt like a knife twisting directly into my heart. In all her life, I had never so much as raised a hand to my daughter. And now, she was being subjected to this barbaric torture! “Don’t be so dramatic,” Ms. Jenkins said, stepping in front of me with an expression of sickening sincerity. “Vanessa is a medical professional. She is simply administering a desensitization treatment for Megan’s own good.” “Exactly,” another mother chimed in from the barricade. “Ms. Jenkins approved it. You should be thanking us.” “A preschool is a community. We can’t have special snowflakes ruining the ecosystem. If everyone else can eat shrimp, why should your kid be exempt? If she corrupts our children into becoming picky eaters, who takes the blame? You?” I knew some parents were ignorant and entitled. But the teachers? They were supposed to be educated, licensed professionals. How could they stand by and facilitate this absolute nightmare? 3 I threw myself against the wall of women, fighting tooth and nail, but there were simply too many of them. Vanessa had planned this meticulously. She had brought at least ten other mothers with her. They locked arms, creating an impenetrable flesh wall that kept me agonizingly out of reach. My heart pounded wildly against my ribs. “Let her go right now! She is going into anaphylactic shock, you are going to kill her!” Megan’s cheeks were swelling visibly by the second, her breathing shifting into a terrifying, wet wheeze. Yet, through her pain, my brave little girl used every ounce of her fading strength to comfort me. “Mommy, I’m okay. It doesn’t hurt.” Vanessa smiled, a cruel, wicked twisting of her lips. “See? I told you she was fine. Be a good girl, Megan. Just eat ten more, and Auntie Vanessa will forgive your mommy for the money she owes us.” “Okay, Auntie… you have to promise,” Megan rasped out, tears spilling down her swollen cheeks. “No!” I screamed, my vocal cords tearing. “Megan, do not eat it! Listen to Mommy, keep your mouth closed!” Megan hesitated, pressing her lips tightly together. But in the next second, Vanessa’s hand shot out. She grabbed a fistful of my daughter’s hair, violently yanking her head back to force her jaw open. Another mother eagerly rushed over to help pin the child down. Chunks of Megan’s soft hair were ripped from her scalp. She let out an agonizing, broken wail. “You absolute psychopaths! Let her go! If she dies, every single one of you will rot in prison! Do you want your children to grow up knowing their mothers are murderers?” “I already called 911 on my way here! You are all going down for this!” The threat of prison made a few of the mothers pale. They exchanged nervous glances, the human wall wavering just enough for me to spot a gap. I readied myself to sprint through. Then, Vanessa’s cold voice echoed through the closet. “Let the cops come. Who cares? Everyone knows the Reed family owns New York.” “Keep that crazy bitch pinned down! When I tell Sebastian about this, I will make sure he rewards you all. Any of you whose husbands need corporate backing from the Reed Empire, you will be first on the list.” The Reed family? Sebastian? Sebastian Reed! That was my husband! Since when did he belong to her? Before my brain could even process the sheer absurdity of her claim, hands shoved me violently backward. The promise of wealth erased their guilt. Someone wanting to prove their loyalty to Vanessa grabbed my daughter by the hair and slapped her across the face. “Eat the damn shrimp, you little brat!” Vanessa tilted her chin up, utterly delighted. Seeing her approval, the others joined in. My daughter was tossed around like a fragile, dying leaf in a storm. I screamed until I tasted blood in the back of my throat. “She is lying to you! She isn’t Mrs. Reed! I am!” Under the barrage of blows, Megan was losing consciousness, her tiny chest barely rising and falling. “Lying is an ugly habit,” Ms. Jenkins sneered, intentionally stoking the fire. “No wonder Megan is so disobedient, she learned it from her delusional mother.” I lunged forward and backhanded the teacher across the face with everything I had. “Shut your mouth!” “If you don’t believe me, I will FaceTime him right now!” Vanessa stood up with agonizing slowness, smoothing out her designer skirt, and sauntered over to me. She looked down at me with pure mockery. “A video call proves nothing. Deepfakes exist, darling. You need real, tangible proof in this society.” “Besides,” she smirked, tapping her watch. “You said you called the cops an hour ago. Do you see any flashing lights? Hear any sirens?” It had been over an hour since I made the call from the car. Even in city traffic, they should have arrived by now. My stomach plummeted into an endless abyss. Catching the absolute despair in my eyes, Vanessa covered her mouth and giggled. “Let me let you in on a little secret. The Reed family has this entire block locked down. Unless your precious little mistake finishes every single shrimp in that bucket, nobody is leaving this building alive.” “Mr. Davis, bring in the special gift I prepared for Megan.” The door clicked open, and a man in a tailored suit stepped into the room. When I saw his face, a spark of hope ignited in my chest. It really was him. Assistant Davis, Sebastian’s right-hand man!

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I had a best friend I grew up with. We shared absolutely everything. When we were heartbroken, we cried together. When we were happy, we celebrated together. When she bought me cheap street food, I treated her to Michelin-star dinners. When she gifted me knock-off designer bags, I gave her real Hermès in return. But on my birthday, while playing Truth or Dare, she looked at me with a smirk and said, “I hooked up with your husband. A solid 69.” I froze on the spot. My husband, Brandon, laughed it off and tried to explain, “Babe, Marta is your best friend. If she’s happy, you’re happy. I was just trying to keep the mood light!” Marta didn’t look the least bit apologetic. “Aren’t we supposed to share everything, Serena? If you ever need him, I could lend you my boyfriend too. Oh wait, that would be weird, wouldn’t it? Haha~” 1 The room fell silent. Someone muttered, “Wow, you two really are close.” The words felt like a slap in the face. I instinctively looked at Marta’s hand, which was resting casually on Brandon’s shoulder. “Marta, how could you do this to my brother?” Marta gave me a wide-eyed, innocent look. “It’s not like I cheated on him.” “But honestly, Serena, why didn’t you ever tell me Brandon was so good with his mouth? That’s just selfish of you!” My face cycled through shades of red and green. Our friends started hooting and hollering. “Damn, Brandon, how good are you? Teach us your ways! You bagged both besties at once!” Marta laughed, waving her hands to play it down. “Hey, hey, don’t get crazy. Brandon and I are strictly platonic. I just got lucky because Serena and I share everything~” She wasn’t exactly lying. We really did share everything. We drank from the same cups and slept in the same bed. During puberty, we shared bra sizes. She shared every graphic detail of her first time with me. Over the years, she never held back on sharing her bedroom secrets, down to the exact measurements of every guy she dated. She had even generously offered to let me “try them out” if I wanted. But this was my husband! How could they do this behind my back? Marta must have noticed my face turning to stone. She quickly wrapped her arm around my shoulders to comfort me. “Oh, come on, Serena. Your husband is one hundred percent devoted to you. He literally had to stare at a picture of you just to get hard that day. He didn’t even look at me the whole time!” “Alright, alright, next round!” I couldn’t stomach it. I shoved her arm off me, my face deadpan, and turned to leave. Brandon quickly grabbed my wrist. “Serena, you know Marta has a sex addiction. She had a sudden episode that day. I didn’t tell you because I didn’t want you to worry!” I stared at him, feeling absolutely disgusted. Before I could even voice my fury, Marta gasped dramatically. “Brandon!” “Truth or Dare! You have to do twenty push-ups over a girl!” The second the words left her mouth, Brandon dropped my hand and practically sprinted over to the center of the room, completely forgetting I existed. Everyone else seemed to forget the awkward tension from a minute ago and started cheering. “Serena’s pregnant! She’s got a huge belly, she can’t do it!” “Yeah, what if he crushes the baby? That’s too risky!” Marta stepped up, looking entirely too eager. “I’ll do it then!” She shot me a exaggerated wink. “Keep it in the family, right Serena? Don’t worry, I promise I won’t catch feelings for your man~” Brandon was already enthusiastically ripping his shirt off. “Exactly, babe! You two have been sisters for years. Even if I was butt-naked, she wouldn’t look twice at me!” Marta playfully slapped his bare abs right in front of me. “So true! Even if he was the last man on earth, I wouldn’t touch him!” The room erupted in laughter. Marta unhooked her bra, pulled it out from under her shirt, and laid flat on her back on the carpet. Brandon positioned himself directly over her, his chest pressing flush against hers with every downward motion. I stood there, forced to watch as Brandon’s weight crushed against Marta’s chest. I could literally see the bulge in his pants growing larger with every rep. By the third push-up, Marta suddenly let out a giggling squeal. “Brandon, your belt buckle is digging into me!” My husband didn’t even hesitate to shoot back, “Well, your headlights are poking me back!” The room exploded into a chorus of hoots and laughter. “Serena, I’ve never seen a guy get along so well with his girlfriend’s bestie. You guys are like one big, happy, weird family!” I couldn’t take another second of this humiliation. I turned on my heel and headed for the door. Marta scrambled up from the floor and grabbed my arm. “Don’t leave yet, Serena! You haven’t even opened your presents!” She reached into the pile of gifts and pulled out a box wrapped in a bright pink bow. “Since you’re pregnant and can’t really do the deed right now, we picked this out specifically for you.” She wiggled her eyebrows at me, her eyes dripping with vulgarity. “Your husband used this exact model on me when I had my episode. It feels amazing~” 2 My stomach violently turned. I genuinely felt like I was going to throw up. Brandon sidled up to me and wrapped an arm around my waist. “Babe, I did it for you! I was terrified of buying something cheap that might hurt you or the baby, so I had Marta test-drive it first. It’s completely safe!” While he was saying this, his eyes were blatantly glued to Marta’s braless chest. I shoved him away with all my strength. “What else did you ‘test-drive’ with her? Are you treating her like your wife?!” Clutching my pregnant stomach, I stormed out of the room and slammed the door behind me, leaving my birthday cake uncut. The night air was biting cold, and the street was busy with traffic. Brandon didn’t immediately chase after me. About an hour after I got home, I saw a new post pop up on Marta’s Instagram story. “Serena wasn’t feeling well and went home early for her birthday, so I’m cutting the cake and taking shots for her! Happy Birthday, bestie!” In the video, Brandon was hovering over Marta, protecting her from the crowd like she was the love of his life. Staring at the screen at the two people I trusted most in the world, my heart shattered into a million jagged pieces. People always say men cheat when their wives get pregnant. But I couldn’t comprehend how the best friend who claimed to share everything with me had turned into this boundary-less, toxic nightmare. Late that night, Brandon knocked on my bedroom door, reeking of cheap alcohol. “Babe, are you asleep?” I ripped the door open, furious. “Who is your actual wife? Her or me?” In the past, Brandon would never have let me walk home alone at night, let alone on my birthday. Now, I was heavily pregnant and vulnerable, and he completely ignored me! Brandon looked deeply conflicted. “Marta was taking all the shots for you. She kept saying you couldn’t drink because of the baby, so she’d take the hit. I was worried she’d get hurt or taken advantage of if she got too drunk. You and your brother would be devastated if something happened to her.” Hearing that she had gotten blackout drunk just to protect me made my resolve waver. My heart softened slightly. Since I got pregnant, I had to get up constantly during the night. Brandon had been sleeping in the guest room next door so he could be close by to help me. Later that night, I woke up with a sudden craving. I called out his name a few times, but the house was dead silent. I rolled over. The bed was empty. I waddled out into the living room and heard muffled noises coming from the guest bedroom. I pushed the door open, and my entire body froze. “What the hell are you doing?!” Brandon didn’t even look guilty. He actually took a second to dial up the vibration setting on the toy in his hand. “Marta was feeling sick from all the alcohol, so I came to check on her. I didn’t expect her to have another episode right now…” Marta was writhing on the bed, completely delirious, moaning loudly as the toy worked against her. She was practically climbing up Brandon’s arm. I couldn’t take the absolute disrespect. I slammed the door shut and stormed off. It wasn’t until Marta’s loud, erratic screams echoed through the house that Brandon finally emerged from the room. “Babe, Marta is your best friend. She’s practically my sister-in-law. I couldn’t just leave her suffering, could I?” I was already boiling with rage. “Is that how you treat your family?!” “I didn’t even get hard! I was literally just doing a medical favor for you.” Brandon genuinely didn’t seem to think he had done a single thing wrong. The next morning, Marta woke up acting like absolutely nothing had happened. “Serena, I slept so good last night! For a second, I thought your brother came home and got in bed with me.” She must have completely blacked out. She didn’t remember a thing. Furious, I immediately pulled some strings at my company and arranged for Marta to be sent out of state on an extended business trip. Marta was eating breakfast in her pajamas when she got the email. She didn’t complain. She just frantically started packing her bags. Before she left, she gave me a massive, tight hug. “I’m heading out, Serena! Don’t miss me too much! I’ll bring you back a present!” She was acting exactly like she always did. Warm, bubbly, like a little ray of sunshine. She always remembered to bring me a souvenir whenever she traveled. Watching her rush to put her shoes on, a wave of guilt washed over me. I started questioning if I was overreacting, projecting my own insecurities onto her. 3 She had always been loud, reckless, and completely lacking a filter. Maybe she genuinely didn’t have any ulterior motives. But before my guilt could even settle, Brandon texted me, saying he was suddenly being sent on a business trip too. A sickening knot formed in my stomach. I immediately booked a flight and followed him. The second I landed, my assistant sent me a text. They were together! I rushed to the location my assistant pinned. I spotted them instantly. They were walking shoulder-to-shoulder, looking incredibly cozy, browsing inside a high-end adult toy boutique! Panic clawed at my throat. I immediately dialed my brother’s number. “Tyler, when are you coming back to the States?!” There was a two-second silence on the other end, followed by heavy static. “Serena, what’s wrong? My signal is garbage out here. Once I wrap up this acquisition…” The call dropped before he could finish. I was so anxious I was about to storm into the store, but my phone buzzed. It was a text from Marta. “Serena, which one do you like better?” She sent a picture of herself holding up two completely different adult toys, saying she wanted to buy one to make up for ruining my birthday. Before I could even type a reply, she bought both of them and posted a picture on her Instagram story. “Picking up some gifts for my favorite mom-to-be! Just because you’re pregnant doesn’t mean you can’t have fun!~” My heart skipped a beat. A massive wave of shame and guilt washed over me for suspecting them. Marta grew up in grinding poverty. She never spent money recklessly. When we were kids, she used her hard-earned allowance to buy me street food, and I paid her back by taking her to Michelin-star restaurants. When we got older, she saved up for months to buy me high-quality fake designer bags, and I bought her real Hermès so she wouldn’t look out of place. She hated spending money on herself. Every piece of designer clothing she owned was a gift from either me or my brother. Those two toys were incredibly expensive. Buying both cost nearly two grand, which was her entire living budget for the month. But she dropped the cash without blinking, just for me. She had been doing this for the last two years. She didn’t make much money, but she always prioritized buying me gifts. I felt violently guilty. How could I accuse my best friend of seducing my husband? But when I looked up, they were gone. They had vanished from the store. My anxiety completely overpowered my logic. The sickening dread returned. I was terrified they were off doing something unforgivable again. I paced the mall, trying to convince myself they had just split up to go to their respective work meetings. As soon as I walked out of the shopping center, a friend who worked at a luxury hot spring resort texted me. “Your husband and your bestie just booked a private VIP bath together.” I couldn’t control myself. I hailed a cab and rushed straight to the resort. When I shoved the door to the private suite open, Marta was sitting in the steaming water, looking utterly shocked. “Serena? What are you doing here?” I stared at the empty room. She was alone in the bath. I stood there, completely mortified, not knowing what to say. Until Brandon stepped out from behind the wooden privacy screen. My worst nightmare was confirmed. I stared at them, my entire body shaking. “What the hell are you two doing?!” Marta gave me her classic, innocent wide eyes. “Taking a medicinal bath…” Brandon immediately jumped in to explain. “I ran into Marta at the airport and we walked together for a bit. Suddenly, she had another episode and passed out.” My parents died when I was very young. I only had my older brother, Tyler. But Tyler was constantly traveling for work. Marta was the only person who was always there for me. Years ago, I suffered a severe lupus flare-up. I was literally on my deathbed. Marta didn’t even hesitate. She gave me one of her kidneys. “Best friends share everything. My kidney is your kidney.” After the transplant, Marta’s health was incredibly fragile. The doctors had specifically instructed her to take immediate medicinal baths whenever she had an episode to stabilize her body. Brandon suddenly caught on. “Wait, babe, are you seriously suspecting us of something?” Marta looked at me, her eyes brimming with deep disappointment. “Serena… are you still mad about the push-up thing?”

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1 My mother had gone to all the trouble of making me a pot of homemade chicken soup. On her way to my apartment to deliver it, she got into a massive car wreck. That very night, she was wheeled straight into the ICU. Meanwhile, I was throwing an absolute rager. The video of me popping champagne bottles hit the internet, and the public outrage was instantaneous. “Holy shit, what kind of psycho does this? Did a dog eat your conscience? Your mom is fighting for her life in the ICU, and you’re popping bottles? Even animals treat their parents better!” “The greatest tragedy of your mother’s life was giving birth to a piece of trash like you.” “Hell is empty because all the demons are walking among us. I hope you rot.” I completely ignored the endless stream of venomous comments scrolling across my screen. I swayed my hips to the deafening bass, lifting my crystal flute to the camera. “Come on, drink up!” The party music was shaking the floorboards. I had just topped off my glass when my phone started ringing off the hook again. It was my older sister, Tina. I answered it with a heavy sigh. Through the speaker, her agonizing, ear-piercing wails flooded my ear. “Harper! Mom is gone! She left us!” So loud. I pulled the phone away from my face, deeply annoyed, and rubbed my earlobe. “Alright, she’s dead. It happens. You guys need to lighten up.” “Life and death are just a roll of the dice. Everyone dies eventually. It was bound to happen sooner or later.” “You ungrateful little bitch, are those the words of a human being?” The voice on the other end suddenly swapped to my father, roaring with absolute rage. “You get your ass back here right now and see your mother one last time!” “Hard pass.” I swirled the golden bubbles in my glass. “Why would I go back? It’s bad vibes.” “I’m having a great time over here. If you don’t have anything else to say, I’m hanging up.” To avoid their endless, nagging calls, I just powered my phone off entirely. But less than a minute later, Tina went live on her social media. The background was a somber funeral parlor. Her eyes were puffy and red. She cried to the camera, begging me to come home, and then played the audio recording of the phone call we just had. In an instant, the headline ‘Mother Dies, Cold-Blooded Daughter Refuses to Attend Funeral’ skyrocketed to the top of the trending charts. It completely ignited the fury of the internet. “It happens? Are those even the words of a human being? Your mother worked her fingers to the bone raising you, and this is how you repay her?” “The sister is having a total breakdown, the dad is aging ten years from grief, and you’re just casually sipping champagne? Wow, this is the first time I’ve felt actual physical pleasure from cursing someone out.” “Everyone memorize this psycho’s face. If you ever see her in public, cross the street. You don’t want to be collateral damage when lightning strikes her down.” “Your dad should have thrown you out the window the day you were born. Doxx her, expose her, make sure she’s totally canceled. She shouldn’t be able to show her face in society ever again.” People even started tagging the corporate HR accounts of major companies on LinkedIn. “Take a good look at this girl. If she treats her own flesh and blood like this, do you really want to hire her? Would she have any loyalty to your company or your clients? I will personally boycott any brand that hires this sociopath.” Thousands of people followed suit. The online mob mentality reached a boiling point. My direct messages and voicemails were instantly maxed out, overflowing with the most vile, graphic death threats imaginable. Right around then, a close friend of mine couldn’t sit back and watch anymore. He stepped up to defend me online. “Everyone, please calm down. The situation isn’t what you think it is. There has to be a hidden reason for this.” Then, he posted a massive thread of bank transfer receipts, showing all the money I had sent my family over the years. “Look at the dates and the amounts. Every single nice thing in their house was bought by Harper. The fridge, the washer, the AC unit, even the solid gold bracelet her mom wears. Harper bought all of it using her college scholarships and money from working three part-time jobs.” “Since the day she left for college, she hasn’t taken a single dime from her parents. Does a person like that really sound like the monster you’re all making her out to be?” 2 The furious internet mob wasn’t buying a single word of it. “How much did she pay you to run PR for her, you corporate shill?” “Wow, your Photoshop skills are top-tier. Faking bank records now?” “Birds of a feather flock together. Get off the internet. Even if she played the good daughter in the past, her actions right now prove she’s a total sociopath. You can’t wash this clean.” Within hours, his social media accounts were completely overrun and hacked. Right at the peak of the outrage, Tina, who had been streaming from the funeral parlor all day, suddenly had an emotional collapse. Looking directly into the lens, she wailed in absolute agony. “Harper, please come home! Just come home!” “If you’re hurting, just talk to me! I’ll help you fix it!” The very next second, her eyes rolled back, and she collapsed in a dead faint right in front of the casket. The stream erupted into chaos. Dad rushed into the frame, scooping Tina up in his arms, tears streaming down his weathered face. “My sweet girl! Oh, my poor, sweet girl!” “She’s been sitting by her mother’s side day and night, refusing to sleep. She didn’t want me to lift a finger because of my bad back.” “She washed her mother, emptied her bedpans, and took all the burden without a single complaint. She was so worried about her little sister handling the grief that she literally exhausted herself into a coma!” The internet ate it up. “I’m literally sobbing right now. Tina is such an angel.” “She is the definition of a devoted daughter. This is so heartbreaking!” “Please get some rest, Tina. Your mom is watching from heaven, and she wouldn’t want you to ruin your health.” “My heart aches for her. Look at Tina, and then look at that animal of a sister. The difference is night and day.” Watching the clips roll in, a harsh laugh tore from my throat. I casually typed a reply in the comment section. “Stop faking it. You’re so dramatic.” Immediately after, I posted a brand new update on my main feed. “The party continues! We’re going on a seven-day bender! As long as I’m breathing, the music doesn’t stop!” Attached was a high-res photo of a fresh row of Dom Pérignon bottles waiting to be popped. That single post was like pouring a bucket of ice water into a vat of boiling oil. The internet absolutely detonated. It was the final straw that snapped whatever tiny shred of sanity the public had left. “Seven days? Isn’t that the traditional mourning vigil? This ungrateful bitch is using her own mother’s memorial week as an excuse to get wasted?” “Holy shit, this creature doesn’t deserve to breathe oxygen. I’m praying for karma to strike her down tonight.” “They say the spirits of the dead visit their families during the vigil. I hope her mom’s ghost comes back and haunts the hell out of this absolute monster. She is the scum of the earth.” Overnight, Tina’s reputation as the ultimate tragic, loving daughter reached national news. Her follower count skyrocketed into the millions. The next morning, dressed entirely in black mourning clothes, she showed up outside my apartment complex. She had a live stream going and a massive banner in her hands. The banner read in bold, blood-red letters. Harper, Please Come Home. She stood on the sidewalk, screaming up at my window through tears. “Harper, I’m begging you! Please just open the door! Mom is gone. You have to come say goodbye to her!” “Think about everything Mom did for you! We were so poor growing up, but whenever we had anything good to eat, Mom wouldn’t touch a single bite. She saved it all for you.” “She lied and said she wasn’t hungry, just so you could have a full stomach! Remember when you had that awful fever? Mom stayed awake for three straight nights holding you. You were her entire world, and in the end…” Tina choked back a perfectly timed sob, wiping her cheeks. “In the end, she died because she was trying to bring you dinner! Harper, how can you be this cruel? She loved you so much, are you really going to let her cross over with a broken heart?” The chat in her live stream was moving so fast it was a blur. And it wasn’t just the internet anymore. A massive, angry mob had gathered right outside my building. “Don’t cry, Tina! We’ve got your back!” “Someone start a GoFundMe for Tina so she can sue this ungrateful brat. I’ve literally gone through a whole box of tissues watching this. Tina is too pure for this world.” “Get out here and face us, you coward!” The chanting down below was getting louder by the second. I smirked. They really wanted to put on a show, didn’t they? Fine. I’ll give them a front-row seat. 3 I walked over and threw the window wide open. “Are you done acting yet? You look incredibly ugly when you cry.” “Attend a vigil? Ugh, no thanks. It’s bad luck.” “It’s not bad luck! Mom would never hold this against you! Just come home, please!” Seeing me finally respond, Tina looked like she had grabbed onto a lifeline, shaking her head frantically. I scoffed, cutting her off completely. “I really didn’t want to go. But since you came all the way down here to beg me, I guess I can make a concession.” “Tell you what, I’ll send Diesel in my place. That seems pretty fitting.” I put two fingers to my lips and let out a sharp whistle. A massive, sleek black Doberman trotted out from the living room. I reached down and patted his head. “Go on, Diesel. Head downstairs and mourn your mother.” “Woof!” Diesel barked happily, his tail wagging as if he completely understood the assignment. “What’s wrong, Tina? You don’t look happy.” “You…” Tina stared up at me, the color completely draining from her face. She looked like she had just been slapped. I gave her a slow, mocking smile. Then, I glanced down at my phone. The comment section was a literal warzone. I let out an exaggerated sigh. “And as for the rest of you brain-dead keyboard warriors… is this really all you do with your lives?” “You sit around all day with nothing better to do than obsess over a stranger’s family drama. You are a bunch of absolute failures in the real world, desperately trying to feel morally superior on the internet. Pathetic.” “If you all love attending funerals so much, why don’t you go? You can carpool with my dog. It’ll be a blast.” The live stream chat literally froze for a solid second. And then, it exploded like a nuclear bomb. “WHAT THE FUCK! Did I hear that right? Not only is she sending a dog to her mom’s funeral, she’s actively insulting us? She has the nerve to talk down to us?!” “?????” “Holy shit, she is completely unhinged. I can’t take this anymore. I’m calling the police.” “Do it! I’m reporting her too! If she doesn’t end up behind bars, there is no justice in this world.” I watched in real-time as dozens of people bragged about dialing 911. A genuine smile finally broke across my face. But this wasn’t quite enough. I turned around and grabbed a heavy plastic bucket I had prepared earlier. It was sealed tight. I dragged it to the window, looking down at the furious mob. “You guys might want to step back,” I called out sweetly. “I’d hate for there to be collateral damage.” With one massive heave, I tipped the bucket over the ledge. A tidal wave of rancid, fermented garbage sludge and raw sewage plummeted directly onto Tina’s head. Splash. The overwhelming stench of pure, rotting decay hit the air instantly. “Ahhhhh!” Tina let out a piercing, hysterical shriek that cracked in the middle. But she recovered terrifyingly fast, a flash of pure, murderous hatred burning in her eyes. She was still trying to stay in character. “Harper, how could you be so immature? If you hate me that much, just take it out on me!” “Why do you have to drag innocent bystanders into this?” Watching her stand there dripping in filth, trying to act like a saint, I actually burst out laughing. “Sister, I think you need to go home and take a shower. You’ve always been full of crap, but now you actually smell like it.” Right on cue, the wail of police sirens cut through the neighborhood, coming to a screeching halt below my building. “You in the window! You are suspected of public endangerment and assault!” an officer barked through a megaphone. “Cease your actions immediately and come down with your hands visible!” “No problem, Officer! I’m fully cooperating!” I raised my hands with a bright smile and shouted back. The walk from my building to the squad car was a gauntlet. People were screaming in my face. Some people even threw rotten eggs and garbage at me. “Sociopath! Animal!” Even as the police were shoving me into the back of the cruiser, some guy was chasing the car with a brick, trying to smash the window. The internet was practically throwing a parade. “Serves her right! This absolute menace should have been locked up days ago.” “She is a cancer on society. Give her the maximum sentence. People like her are a danger to everyone around them.” “Poor Tina. She didn’t deserve any of this.” 4 By the time I was standing in the defendant’s box in the courtroom, Tina had completely cleaned herself up. She was wearing a crisp, elegant black mourning dress. Her eyes were perfectly red, her posture a masterclass in suppressed grief. The ultimate tragic daughter. “Damn, I threw that bucket way too early,” I muttered, shaking my head in mock disappointment. “Order in the court!” The Judge slammed the gavel down hard. He glared at me with absolute authority, his voice echoing through the silent room. “Harper Preston. The prosecution has charged you with public endangerment, assault, and creating a severe public disturbance. Furthermore, the court notes a shocking display of gross negligence and reckless disregard for basic human decency regarding your late mother.” “How do you plead?” A loud, sharp laugh tore from my throat. “Plead? Why the hell would I plead guilty to any of that?” “There was a rabid dog barking outside my window. Dogs love eating garbage. I just fed it a nice meal. Is that a crime?” “And reckless disregard for human decency?” I looked around the room like I had just heard the funniest joke of my life. “Your Honor, with all due respect, you’ve got this entire thing backward.” The courtroom erupted into a frenzy of whispers. The gallery was practically vibrating with anger. The Judge hammered his gavel repeatedly. “Order! Order!” “Miss Preston, I strongly advise you to watch your tone in my courtroom.” I smiled politely, casually reaching into my pocket. I pulled out a tiny USB drive and held it up. “Your Honor, I would like to submit evidence for my defense against these heavy accusations of moral decay. The proof is right here on this drive. I request that it be played for the court immediately.” The court clerk took the drive and plugged it into the media system. The massive monitors in the courtroom flickered to life. The video showed the interior of Mom’s funeral parlor. People were walking around in black suits, wiping fake tears. Suddenly, a team of grim-faced men in crisp suits stormed into the room. They marched straight toward the casket, forcefully shoving the crowd aside. When my father tried to block them, two of the men grabbed him by the arms and hauled him away. My father was thrashing wildly on the screen. “What the hell are you doing?! Who are you people?” “Why are you disturbing my wife’s rest?! Let me go!” “You can’t disrespect the dead! Is there no law in this country?!” Watching his panicked, desperate face on the monitor, I sneered, my voice cutting through the silent courtroom. “They’re the medical examiners.” I paused, letting the words hang in the air. “Time for an autopsy.” The moment the words left my mouth, a graveyard silence fell over the room. Tina’s face went totally bloodless. But she reacted with terrifying speed. She dropped to her knees, crawling toward my defense box, sobbing hysterically. “Harper, why?! Why won’t you just let her rest? Why do you have to humiliate her corpse?!” “If you’re angry, punish me! You can take my life if you want, but please, I am begging you, leave Mom out of this! Let her go in peace!” “I know you’re just mad about the internet comments! I’ll apologize! I’ll take the blame! Just call those men off! That’s our mother! Your own flesh and blood!” She let go of the wooden railing and started bowing frantically to the gallery and the Judge, tears streaming down her face. “Please, somebody help me! Make her stop!” “Don’t let my mother suffer in death!” Tina’s performance was flawless. The sheer desperation in her voice instantly ignited the crowd’s fury all over again. The public gallery and the live stream chat went completely nuclear. People were screaming, ready to tear me limb from limb. The courtroom descended into absolute chaos. “You animal! Drag her out of that box and beat her to death!” “Your Honor, lock her away forever! You can’t let her desecrate a corpse!” Several people in the gallery completely lost their minds. They shoved past the bailiffs, vaulting over the wooden partition, and tackled me to the ground. Fists and heavy boots rained down on me. Someone grabbed a fistful of my hair and slammed my head viciously against the oak paneling. Warm blood instantly poured down my forehead, blinding my left eye. “You piece of shit! You won’t even let your dead mother rest! Why are you still breathing?!” “I’ll do the world a favor and kill you myself! I don’t care if I go to jail, it’s worth it!” “Order! Bailiffs, clear the gallery! Order!” The Judge was screaming, slamming his gavel so hard the wood splintered, but the mob was out of control. My arms and legs were pinned to the floor. Blood dripped into my eyes, blurring my vision. But on the monitors, the video was still playing. And then, every single scream, every curse, every violent punch in that courtroom ground to an absolute, dead halt. The rage evaporated, replaced by the sound of sharp, collective gasps. “What the…?”

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1 On the day of my sister’s wedding, I personally handed Grant, my new brother-in-law, the gift I’d spent weeks picking out. But when it came time to open the gifts, a hush fell over the entire room. The exquisitely wrapped Hermès box didn’t contain a luxury handbag. Instead, a crude, anatomically correct sex toy lay exposed on the stage. The note attached—”Curious to see which one you like better~”—sealed my fate, cementing the “fact” that I was trying to seduce my sister’s new husband. My sister, Brooke, flew into a rage, accusing me of treachery and attacking me right there at the reception. Even my own parents, convinced I had deliberately sabotaged the wedding, filmed my “disgrace” and posted it online for the world to condemn. In an instant, hashtags like #SisterInLawGivesSexToy and #MaidOfHonorHitsOnGroom went viral in our city. My life, my career, and my future were annihilated by the storm of rumors. Later, unable to bear the relentless cyberbullying, I was on my way to the police station when I got into a car accident. When I opened my eyes again, I was back at my sister’s wedding. And the gift I had personally handed over was sitting center stage, gleaming under the lights… … “And now, let’s see the wonderful blessing the bride’s sister has for the happy couple!” The MC’s voice, identical to the one in my past life, sent a jolt through my entire body. The moment her hand was about to touch the gift box, I shot up from my seat and rushed onto the stage. Under the stunned gaze of every guest, I slammed my hand down on the lid. In my last life, this was the exact moment my carefully chosen gift was revealed to have been swapped for a sex toy. In front of everyone, I was branded a homewrecker trying to steal my sister’s husband. Brooke cut me out of her life, my parents threw me out of the house, and every good thing I had ever known came to a screeching halt on that day. Even my life itself ended in a torrential downpour three months after her wedding. “Ava?” Brooke stared at me, her face a mask of confusion. “What are you doing up here?” I couldn’t let her open it. The tragedy of my past life could not be allowed to repeat. Taking a deep breath, my mind raced. “Brooke! Just opening a gift is so boring! Don’t you want to see the thought I put into getting it for you?” Before Brooke could respond, Grant cut in, his voice laced with irritation. “Don’t make a scene, Ava. This is a big day for your sister and me. We have a schedule to keep, so let’s not waste time. Just open the gift. We can talk about your… ‘thoughtfulness’ later, in private.” I gave him a smile that didn’t reach my eyes. I remembered how, in my last life, after he learned of my supposed ‘unrequited love,’ he acted like a concerned elder trying to guide me away from a dark path, all while subtly hinting to everyone that I’d been obsessed with him for years. The memory made my stomach churn with nausea. Keeping my hand pressed firmly on the box, I played along with his words. “It’s because it’s your big day that we can’t be so casual!” Without giving him a chance to argue, I gestured to the tech booth. The large screen behind the stage flickered to life, playing the vlog I had prepared. The video showed me walking into an Hermès boutique, carefully browsing the collection, and finally, signing the receipt for a custom piece with a staggering six-figure price tag. In my past life, Brooke loved luxury goods, but Grant was broke and always bought her fakes. To avoid any suspicion about the gift’s authenticity, I had specifically filmed the vlog, planning to play it after she opened the gift. But because of that damn sex toy, the wedding descended into chaos. Even when I later showed the video to prove my innocence, no one believed me. This time, I was making a preemptive strike. This had to change the outcome. And it worked. The moment the bill appeared on screen, Brooke’s eyes lit up. The suspicion on her face vanished, replaced by a greedy excitement. She grabbed my hand, her voice eager. “Ava! You really shouldn’t have… this is too much!” Despite her words, her other hand shot out to grab the gift box without a moment’s hesitation. “Not so fast, sis!” I pressed down on the box again, cleverly positioning my body between her and the gift. “It’s crowded in here, and people are moving around. What if someone bumps into it or takes it by mistake? That would be a tragedy. It’s better if I hold onto it and give it to you personally after the ceremony.” I kept my hand firmly on the box, my knuckles turning white with tension. I knew the contents had already been swapped. If Brooke insisted on opening it now, the nightmare would just start all over again. Thankfully, though she was reluctant, the thought of keeping her expensive gift safe won out. “You’re right, you always think of everything. You better guard it with your life! Don’t let it out of your sight!” I nodded with a smile, letting out a small sigh of relief as I picked up the box to head off the stage. But as I turned, the floor beneath my feet suddenly vanished. The portable steps I had used to get on stage were gone. I fell hard, and the gift box flew from my hands, tumbling through the air. Its contents spilled onto the floor, and under the brilliant stage lights, the items gleamed with the tell-tale, fleshy sheen of silicone. In that instant, the entire hall fell dead silent. Brooke’s shriek was so piercing it nearly shattered my eardrums. “Ava! Is this your wedding gift to me?!” My heart plummeted, and an icy dread flooded my veins. Could it be that even with a second chance, I was doomed to repeat the same fate? 2 In that split second, as chaos erupted, I swiftly snatched the flirtatious handwritten card that had landed near my hand and tucked it up my sleeve. By then, Brooke was dragging Grant down from the stage, her face a storm of fury. “Ava!” she screamed, her eyes wide with disbelief. “You handed this box to Grant yourself! I saw you! I thought it was something special, but… you used this disgusting trash to humiliate me!” She clung to Grant’s arm, her eyes red, playing the part of the deeply betrayed sister. “And you even filmed that video as a cover? Tell me, was this whole elaborate scheme just an excuse to seduce your own brother-in-law?” The moment the words left her mouth, the contemptuous stares of the guests pinned me down, just like before. Grant stepped forward then, wrapping a protective arm around Brooke. “Brooke, calm down! Let me explain!” He shot me a look of feigned helplessness. “Ava… she’s young, she doesn’t know any better. Of course, I have no improper feelings for her. Even if she… feels something for me… my heart only has room for you.” He paused, his voice thick with performative pain. “I just can’t believe she would resort to this to ruin our wedding. Brooke, this is my fault. I’m so sorry you have to go through this.” His words acted as a cue, and the whispers around us grew into a wave of condemnation. “So shameless, pulling a stunt like this at her own sister’s wedding!” “She always seemed so innocent, but she’s got a filthy mind.” “Giving a gift like that? It’s a blatant provocation, isn’t it?” My parents, shaking with rage, stormed over to me. My father’s slap cracked across one cheek, my mother’s across the other, leaving my ears ringing. They grabbed my shoulders and forced me down onto the carpet. “You disgraceful thing! On your sister’s happiest day, you just had to make a scene! Are you that desperate for a man you’d go after your own sister’s husband? Apologize to your sister right now!” With that, they shoved their phones in my face, ready to film my humiliation. Everything was happening exactly as it had before. A surge of fury shot through me. I snatched the phone from my mother’s hand and smashed it on the ground. “Are you done?!” I looked up, my face already swelling, my voice colder and calmer than I had ever heard it. “You all keep saying I gave them this, that I’m trying to seduce Grant. Where’s your proof?” Brooke lunged, trying to grab my hair, but I sidestepped her. She stumbled into my mother’s arms. “It’s right here in plain sight! You little tramp, and you still won’t admit it!” I let out a cold laugh. “Are you blind? Did you not see the video? I spent three hundred thousand dollars on your wedding gift. Why on earth would I swap it for this cheap piece of junk?” Brooke froze. She knew a toy like that was nowhere near the price of a custom Hermès. I had already spent the money. The bag was a one-of-a-kind piece, custom-made for the wedding, with their names and wedding date engraved on the hardware. It made no sense for me to switch it out at the last minute for something so worthless. Just then, Grant, who had been silent, suddenly spoke up. “Maybe you changed your mind! Maybe you bought the bag and then regretted it, so you decided not to give it! Ava, I know you can be a bit of a spender, but I never thought you’d do something like this. If you didn’t want to give it, you shouldn’t have! Did you think we would force you? Why use this to drive a wedge between me and your sister and deliberately ruin our wedding?” His twisted logic instantly shifted everyone’s focus back to me. Before the guests could even react, my father shoved me from behind. “Is what your brother-in-law said true?” he bellowed. “Ava, did you really get selfish and swap out your sister’s wedding gift?” My mother clutched her chest, acting as if I’d given her a heart attack. “Is this how I raised you? I told you sisters to support each other! You’re living the high life in the city now, with your own apartment and car, and you can’t even spare a decent gift for your sister? You ungrateful brat! It was only three hundred thousand dollars, not your life savings!” Their baseless accusations sent a familiar chill through me. Growing up, my parents had always favored my sister. They kept Brooke with them, giving her everything she ever wanted, while I was dumped with my grandparents in the countryside, without a cent of support from them. When Brooke dropped out of high school, they pulled strings and borrowed money to get her a cushy office job. Meanwhile, I fought my way through college on student loans and part-time jobs, finally establishing a life for myself in the city. But every time I came home, it was always the same story. “Look how hard your sister has it. You need to help her more.” “You got lucky and made some money, but don’t you forget who gave birth to you!” “What’s wrong with buying your sister something nice? She’s your family!” No matter what I achieved, all I ever got was a dismissive wave. “What’s the point of being so successful if you’re never around? Not like your sister, she stays here to take care of us in our old age.” So, I bought the bag. A three-hundred-thousand-dollar bag, without blinking an eye, all to make my sister happy, to earn their approval, to get just one single look of pride from them. And what did I get in return? A public slap in the face, a violent shove, vicious curses, and baseless slander. I sneered, pulling out my phone and taking several sharp photos of the obscene objects on the floor. “We live in a digital age. Every purchase leaves a trail. Since you’re so convinced I bought this to ruin the wedding, let’s just contact the online seller and have them look up who the real recipient is.” 3 In my last life, when I was drowning in online hate, some internet sleuths had actually managed to track down the custom online shop based on a serial number on the bottom of the toy. So for me, finding the seller now was easy. Sure enough, a quick reverse image search led me straight to them. The moment I did, Grant, who had been standing by looking distraught, went pale. He rushed forward, his tone doing a complete one-eighty. “Ava, that’s an invasion of privacy! Stop this nonsense! It’s my fault, okay? It’s all my fault. I didn’t handle things right, and you got hurt.” He then tried to guilt-trip me. “Whatever it is, we’re family. Let’s deal with it behind closed doors! Don’t air our dirty laundry for everyone to see. Please, Ava, I’m begging you. For your sister’s sake, let’s give her some dignity.” I coldly shook off his hand as he tried to grab my arm and projected my phone screen onto the main display. “My dear brother-in-law, suddenly we’re ‘family’? A minute ago, when you were implying I was trying to seduce you, you didn’t seem so concerned about keeping things private.” I flashed a brittle smile. “Someone went to a lot of trouble to ruin my reputation today, but I have nothing to hide. Since some people refuse to believe me, let’s find out the truth right here, right now, in front of everyone!” “You!” “What’s the matter, Grant? Are you… nervous?” Before he could react, I hit the call button. A moment later, a professional customer service voice echoed through the banquet hall. “Hello, thank you for calling. How can I help you today?” I explained the situation, and the representative on the other end quickly pulled up the order information. Unfortunately… it had nothing to do with Grant. “Are you sure the recipient’s last name is Reed, and the phone number ends in 8977?” “Yes, ma’am. That’s all the information I’m authorized to provide.” After I hung up, Grant visibly relaxed. “See, Ava? Stop making a big deal out of nothing. Your gift must have been swapped by this Ms. Reed person. Your sister and I will check the guest list later. Now, can you please drop it? We have a wedding to finish.” I laughed, a harsh, humorless sound. “A three-hundred-thousand-dollar gift just vanishes, and you call that ‘making a big deal’? It seems my reputation is worth about as much as that bag in your eyes—absolutely nothing.” “Will you ever let it go?” My mother grabbed my arm, yanking me off balance. “So we misunderstood you for a minute, what’s the big deal? We get it, you’re rich, you bought your sister a lavish gift! Someone else proved the nasty thing wasn’t from you, so that should be the end of it! Are you really going to hold up your sister’s entire wedding over this?” “Mom! That was three hundred thousand dollars…” Even Brooke was getting antsy. Just then, the MC on stage, Lorna, spoke up. “Bride and groom, we still have a long schedule ahead, and we’re running on a very tight timeline.” “If we continue to be delayed by this matter, it could seriously affect the rest of the ceremony. We might have to cut some parts of the program if we run out of time. What would you like to do?” Brooke had hired Lorna specifically because she was a woman known for running elegant, modern weddings without any awkward, old-fashioned rituals, focusing entirely on the couple’s experience. Just as expected, Lorna’s words made Brooke hesitate. Lorna was a top-tier MC, and her schedule had to be booked a year and a half in advance. She was incredibly hard to get. After a moment of deliberation, Brooke’s desire for a perfect wedding won out. She gritted her teeth and told Lorna to continue with the ceremony. With my parents watching me like hawks, I was unable to investigate any further. Sitting back at my table, my mind was a whirlwind of thoughts. Something wasn’t right. Based on Grant’s reaction, he was definitely involved in the gift swap. But the name and address from the seller didn’t match him at all. So who bought the sex toy? Who was trying to frame me? Soon, the wedding ceremony drew to a close. The MC and the rest of the wedding planning team were packing up to head to their next event, and my parents sent me to see them off. After a few polite goodbyes, I was about to head back into the hall when the hotel receptionist called out to me. “Ma’am, your party left something in storage here!” I was about to explain that I wasn’t with the wedding team when she started reading off the information. “The item was left under the name Ms. Reed, phone number ending in 8977. Is that correct?” A jolt went through me. I whipped my head around. “What did you just say?!”

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Two years into the divorce proceedings, I ran into Richard at our high school reunion. My first love was standing outside the venue’s restrooms, blocking my path. “Still dragging things out with Marcel?” he asked. “If you don’t mind, let me represent you.” I smiled and nodded, not offering a refusal. Richard was undeniably brilliant. He managed to secure half of Marcel’s assets for me. But on the day we were supposed to sign the final papers, I overheard their conversation through the cracked office door. “You’re quite the genius, Richard. Using your position as her attorney to steal evidence and hide assets,” Marcel’s tone dripped with mockery. “Do you think Kristen is going to lose her mind when she finds out I’m actually on your side, and that this fifty percent is just the tip of the iceberg?” Richard’s voice was like ice. “I am not on your side.” “I am doing all of this for Maya’s happiness. If you ever dare to hurt her, I will make you pay ten times over!” Maya. Maya Ford. The secretary Marcel had been having an affair with. My knuckles turned white as I gripped the door handle, my chest aching as if a knife had been twisted into it. All those comments at the reunion about how perfect we looked together, all the nostalgic regret over our past… it was all a cruel joke. 1 Taking a deep breath, I pushed the door open and walked in. Both men turned to look at me simultaneously, not a trace of guilt on their faces. “Kristen, sit over here.” Richard spoke first, waving me over. With their conversation still echoing in my ears, I tightened my grip on my purse strap and walked toward him. Richard pulled out a handkerchief, thoughtfully wiping a few raindrops off my jacket. “I should have picked you up, but my car broke down halfway there. Did you get caught in the storm?” I shook my head. He explained himself while pulling out a chair for me. During our four years in college, Richard had taken care of me with this exact same meticulous devotion. In the six months since we reconnected over this lawsuit, his attention had only intensified. Our mutual friends constantly teased him. “Richard, you’re going to spoil her rotten.” “This is true love, waiting for her before the ink is even dry on the divorce.” Others laughed at him, calling him a sucker. They brought up the ancient history of our messy breakup, saying Richard was a lapdog who had forgotten the sting of the whip. But Richard ignored them all. He would cover my ears. “I already lost you once. I am absolutely not letting you slip away a second time.” I actually thought he was still holding onto our past. I thought he genuinely wanted to try again. Now I realized how incredibly pathetic and delusional I had been. The warmth in his eyes was nothing but a custom-made honey trap. Looking at the chair he pulled out, I set my purse down and leaned slightly toward him. “Walk me through the finalized documents.” Richard nodded, highlighting the key points on the pages, his signature clean, crisp cologne washing over me as he leaned in. I tilted my head, listening intently, occasionally leaning close to whisper something with a smile. Marcel slouched lazily in his chair, his eyes narrowed, a glint of sharp scrutiny in his gaze. “Your legal representation comes with quite the premium service package, Richard.” “If I didn’t know better, I’d say you were sleeping with my soon-to-be ex-wife!” Marcel’s sarcastic remarks cut through the air. He was clearly pissed. The two of us looked entirely too intimate. Even the brief exchanges of eye contact between Richard and me were getting under his skin. No one responded. I just quietly looked at the two men sitting across from and beside me. “I’m sorry I’m late.” A sweet voice drifted in as the heavy mahogany door swung open. It was Maya. This time, the two men didn’t just turn their heads; they both stood up. “Maya, what are you doing here?” Marcel quickly walked over to her, wrapping his arm around her waist without a shred of hesitation. In my peripheral vision, I saw Richard’s fists clench tight. “I was worried about you…” “And this is a huge moment in your life. I felt like I needed to be here with you.” Halfway through her sentence, Maya turned her gaze to me. I smirked, looking down to play with my wedding ring, pretending I hadn’t noticed her at all. “Who is this pathetic, star-crossed lover act for? Do you think you’re the last woman who’s going to end up in Marcel’s bed?” The moment the words left my mouth, Marcel’s eyes darkened, the smug smile completely vanishing from his face. “Kristen, there’s no need to be so incredibly vicious.” “I know you can’t bear the thought of divorcing me, which is why you’ve dragged this lawsuit out for two years. What, getting cold feet at the finish line?” I let out a cold, sharp laugh, raising my eyes to look at the perfectly victimized expression on Maya’s face. “I won’t be having any regrets today.” “Marcel, didn’t you always obsess over my first love? Well, here he is.” I gestured to Richard, who was sitting just one seat away from me. 2 “You’re Kristen’s first love?” “The one she dated for four years? The one she had that dramatic, life-shattering breakup with?” Marcel fired off the questions rapidly, his gaze fixed on Richard, suddenly shifting. His tone was laced with a deep, bitter resentment. Richard stiffened, shooting me a look of pure confusion. I shrugged and smiled. “We’ve been married for five years, and he has always been a thorn in your side. But I know how to keep a secret. You dug around for five years and found absolutely nothing.” Richard blinked, his eyes darting briefly toward Maya before he finally nodded. “A pleasure, Marcel.” Marcel’s face turned an ugly shade of purple, his eyes darting frantically between Richard and me. “Stop staring. You’re not going to figure it out by glaring at us.” “Just sign the papers so your true love doesn’t have to keep playing the role of the dirty little secret.” I leaned over, grabbed the thick stack of documents from Richard, and signed my name on every single line without hesitation. This divorce had been dragging on for two years. We had reached the mediation stage at least three or four times. And every single time, right at the precipice, I backed out. It wasn’t because I loved Marcel. It was because I refused to lose to a woman like Maya. The first time I saw Maya was in Marcel’s office. She was fresh out of college, looking for a job. A high ponytail, a flannel shirt, canvas sneakers—she radiated a raw, unpolished youthfulness. The second I laid eyes on her, I thought of Richard. When Richard was a freshman, he had that exact same earnest, unrefined look, as if he hadn’t quite figured out how to exist in a city like New York. But I had fallen hopelessly, irrationally in love with him. I chased him relentlessly for three months. Finally, he agreed, his face dark with frustration. “Kristen, you’re like a piece of gum stuck to my shoe. It’s so annoying.” “One year, Kristen. We date for exactly one year, and then we break up.” We ended up dating for four years. I was the one who initiated the breakup, right before graduation, the day before his birthday. Richard knelt in the pouring rain outside my dorm, begging me for an entire night. I stayed hidden in my room, never taking a single step downstairs. The whole campus called me heartless. They said Richard had been played by a rich girl and tossed aside when she got bored. After we broke up, I never saw him again. So when I saw Maya, my heart inexplicably softened. Marcel flipped through the resumes in front of me, his finger stopping on Maya’s. “You’ve seen this one. HR says she’s solid, but I think she looks too incredibly plain. I’m looking for an executive assistant, not a charity case.” Marcel’s mouth was brutal. He grew up obsessed with flashy, superficial things. He only liked beautiful people. Like me. He had liked me since we were kids. Mostly because I was beautiful, and because I completely ignored him. That was exactly why, when my family’s company collapsed and everyone else ran for the hills, Marcel stepped up and offered to marry me. I put my hand over Marcel’s, stopping him from flipping to the next page. “Hire her. I think she’s great.” “She looks genuine, and her skills are solid. It’s not a bad idea to mold someone from the ground up.” To make me happy, Marcel hired Maya. Back then, the novelty of our marriage hadn’t worn off for Marcel. When he wasn’t at the office, he was practically glued to my side. After every time we slept together, he would relentlessly interrogate me. “What was your college boyfriend’s name?” “How far did you guys go? Did he ever bring you here?” “Am I better in bed, or was he?” “Kristen, do you still love him?” Marcel was unbelievably immature. From the day we eloped, a seed of insecurity had been planted deep in his mind. Everything he saw reminded him of Richard; everything he did was a competition with a ghost. But I never said a word about him. The next time I saw Maya, she was wearing a designer tweed suit, sitting just outside Marcel’s private office. The heavy makeup made her look older, sophisticated, and striking. You couldn’t help but look twice. “Miss Davis.” “Mr. Stark is still in a meeting. You’ll have to wait out here.” In this entire building, everyone called me Mrs. Stark. She was the only one who called me Miss Davis. In the entire executive suite, no one would ever dare block my path. She was the only one who told me to take a seat and wait. I stared at the faint red marks on her neck and the incredibly expensive necklace resting against her collarbone. “You must be exceptionally good at your job, Maya.” “You’ve been at Stark Corp for less than six months, and you’re already buying six-figure jewelry.” 3 “It was a gift.” Maya’s delicate face instantly flushed crimson. In that exact moment, I knew she was sleeping with Marcel. That necklace was something I had bought to hit a purchase quota for a Birkin bag. It had been sitting untouched in my jewelry box for months. A few days ago, Marcel had asked me for it. I assumed he was giving it to a client’s wife. He gave it to Maya. Since we got married, Marcel hadn’t returned to his old playboy ways. He had actually stayed faithfully by my side for two years. Doing the math, I suppose his patience had simply run out. A man like him was never going to settle down for anyone. This marriage was nothing more than a strategic alliance for me, a tool to keep my family’s legacy from entirely collapsing. So I wasn’t heartbroken. My only concern was how to maintain this hollow marriage, or, failing that, how to extract as much of the Stark fortune as possible in the divorce. I just hadn’t expected the other woman to be Maya, the girl he initially couldn’t stand. And unfortunately for me, Maya wasn’t content playing the quiet mistress. While she was texting me graphic photos and videos of them together, I was navigating a Stark family dinner, flawlessly playing the perfect wife. I was expertly deflecting his parents’ demands for a grandchild while simultaneously figuring out how to handle her. [Miss Davis, I’m pregnant with Marcel’s baby.] [Marcel and I are truly in love. Please, let him go.] I ignored the messages. I pretended none of it was happening. But I never expected Marcel to come home blackout drunk that night and confess everything. “Maya is pregnant. The baby is mine.” “I want her to have it.” I stared blankly at Marcel sitting across from me. My mouth opened and closed, my hand instinctively resting over my own stomach, giving a violent twitch. “Are you absolutely sure?” “I am. I’m going to make room for her.” Marcel looked at me in pure disbelief. Perhaps he hadn’t expected me to agree so easily. But the brief flash of joy vanished instantly. He grabbed my wrist, his voice rising in an angry accusation. “Kristen, have you ever actually loved me?” “Are you still hung up on that damn college boyfriend?!” “I have an affair, ask for a divorce, and tell you I’m moving my pregnant mistress into this house, and you don’t even care!” I watched Marcel throw his tantrum. I watched him smash an entire cabinet of expensive liquor. I let him pin me down and take whatever he wanted from me, without a single ounce of resistance. “Kristen, could you just… even a little bit. Could you just love me a little bit?” I didn’t say a word. After that, Marcel rarely came home. He started bringing Maya to high-profile events. When I wasn’t there, Marcel would intercept drinks for her, hold her umbrella, and drive her to and from the office. They played the perfect, deeply-in-love couple. The tabloids went wild. Every single time, I stepped in, paying exorbitant sums to kill the stories and scrub the internet. I sat comfortably on my throne as Mrs. Stark, cleaning up Marcel’s messes. But Maya couldn’t handle the waiting. Or rather, her baby couldn’t wait. “Miss Davis, when are you going to agree to the divorce?” “I refuse to let my child be born a bastard.” I stirred my coffee, finding the whole situation almost tragically funny. “Getting a kid a birth certificate is incredibly easy. Marcel can make one phone call.” “You are way too naive, Maya. Dissolving a high-society marriage involves an immense amount of capital and corporate interests. It isn’t that simple.” “Think about it. Do you really believe the Stark family is going to welcome a mistress and an illegitimate child through the front door?” “Furthermore, I’m not the one refusing to divorce. Your precious Marcel is the one dragging his feet.” Maybe my words cut a little too close to the bone. That very night, Maya attempted suicide. She lost the baby. Marcel rushed home, his eyes bloodshot with rage. He pinned me to the wall by my throat, nearly choking the life out of me. “Kristen, who told you to go see her!” “Do you have any idea she almost died?! Because of your vicious little speech, she lost our child!” “Do you want a divorce that badly, Kristen?” “Fine! We’ll get a divorce!” 4 I found out later that Maya slitting her wrists to force the divorce was what actually caused the miscarriage. She told Marcel I had tracked her down and threatened her. Her single tearful sentence, “I love you so much,” locked down Marcel’s heart. Her other sentence, “Kristen never loved you,” completely severed the final thread between Marcel and me. “Maya was never actually pregnant.” “She’s just a gold digger trying to secure the bag. She staged the whole tragedy.” “Mrs. Stark is way too forgiving. If it were me, I’d drag the divorce out for years just to make that cheating bastard and his mistress absolutely miserable!” When those rumors finally reached my ears, my hand froze right as I was about to sign the divorce papers. “I’m not signing this.” “Marcel, you are at fault here. I want you to leave this marriage with absolutely nothing.” And so, the legal battle dragged on for two agonizing years. It dragged on so long that Richard eventually walked back into my life. Honestly, I didn’t care how much of the Stark money I walked away with. I just wanted to make Maya’s life a living hell. But Richard’s sudden reappearance, the elaborate trap he set… it suddenly made the whole thing feel incredibly tedious and exhausting. I didn’t even have the energy to care about their secret relationship anymore. “Just sign it.” I pushed the documents across the table toward Marcel. But Marcel just sat there, his pen hovering over the paper. Maya watched him with frantic anxiety, looking as if she wanted to snatch the pen and sign it for him. “Marcel, I have an OBGYN appointment this afternoon,” Maya murmured, keeping her head bowed, her voice soft and coaxing. She was pregnant again. Marcel’s pen stopped entirely. He couldn’t bring himself to press the ink to the page. After a long, suffocating silence, he tossed the pen aside. “We’re not signing this today.” “I’ll take you to the doctor.” Maya hadn’t realized her little nudge would completely derail the plan. She grabbed his arm. “I’m not in a rush! Let’s just finish the paperwork first.” Marcel froze, shooting a dark glare at me and Richard. “I’m not signing it.” “Kristen, you’re just waiting for this divorce so you can run back to him, aren’t you?” “Let me tell you something. Keep dreaming!” Marcel turned on his heel and stormed out of the conference room without a backward glance. Maya shot Richard a frantic, tear-filled look before chasing after him. Before I could even process what had happened, Richard rushed out after them. “I’ll go find out what he’s thinking.” The sheer panic on his face looked like it was for my benefit, but I knew the truth. He was worried about Maya. Sure enough, just around the corner, Maya was buried in Richard’s chest, sobbing. “Richard, what do I do?” “What am I supposed to do now?…” Richard gently rubbed her back, whispering soothingly before asking, “You told me Kristen was the one refusing to finalize the divorce, but based on what just happened, it’s way more complicated than that.” “You need to find the right moment to figure out exactly what Marcel’s end game is.” “Maya, you know I’ve got you.” “As long as it gets you the life you want, I will handle everything.” …

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1 When I opened my eyes, I found myself right back in the chaotic moments before my wedding. Julian and his identical twin brother, Perry, were standing directly in front of me, both dressed in the exact same bespoke tuxedo, their hair styled identically. “Chloe, can you tell which one of us is me?” Julian asked, his voice teasing. In my previous life, I had picked Julian out instantly. He had smiled, taken my hand, and walked me down the aisle, vowing in front of all our family and friends that he would love me forever. After the wedding, he treated me like absolute royalty. I honestly believed I had found true happiness. That is, until Monica, a girl from Julian’s college, died when her cruise ship was hit by a freak tsunami. Everything shattered. He lost his mind. He dragged me to the roof of a high-rise and threw me off, screaming like a madman, “If you had just picked the wrong brother at the wedding, I could have gone with Monica to travel the world! She wouldn’t be dead!” “Chloe, why did you have to recognize me that day!” His voice was choked with pure despair and venomous resentment. This time, without a single second of hesitation, I threw myself directly into Perry’s arms, my voice sickeningly sweet. “How could I ever not recognize you!” I heard Julian let out a quiet sigh of relief beside us. But he didn’t notice how tightly Perry’s arms wrapped around my waist, nor did he see the raw, burning ambition hidden deep in his twin’s eyes. … “You guessed right.” Perry’s eyes darkened instantly, his grip on my waist tightening possessively. “Chloe, the ceremony is starting soon,” Julian urged from the sidelines. “You two head out first. I need to change out of these clothes,” Julian added, shooting a triumphant, conspiratorial look at his brother. I pretended not to notice a thing, linking my arm through Perry’s and stepping out of the bridal suite. The moment we pushed the door open, we practically bumped right into Monica. Her gaze swept past me and locked onto Perry’s face. After a few seconds of intense scrutiny, a flicker of sheer, unmistakable glee danced in her eyes. “Chloe, wishing you and Julian a very happy marriage!” She placed heavy, deliberate emphasis on “Julian,” her congratulations laced with thick, biting mockery. Monica was sneering at me for picking the wrong groom. In my previous life, she had run away from the suite in tears. When I asked about it, Julian brushed it off, claiming Monica was just emotionally unstable due to some career setbacks. I trusted him implicitly. I didn’t give it a second thought. It wasn’t until Julian hurled me off that building that I finally learned the truth. He and Monica had made a sick bet. If I failed to pick him out on our wedding day, he would assume Perry’s identity and spend the next three months traveling the world with Monica, a grand romantic gesture to make up for the fact that they couldn’t be together permanently. After the three months were up, he planned to switch back with Perry and pretend absolutely nothing had happened. In this life, I decided to give them exactly what they wanted. I looked at the undisguised triumph in Monica’s eyes and flashed her a blinding, radiant smile. “And I wish you everything you’ve ever wanted.” Without giving her a chance to process that, I pulled Perry toward the grand ballroom. The orchestral music swelled, signaling the start of the ceremony. My name and Julian’s were emblazoned in massive gold letters across the screens behind the altar. But Julian and Monica were sitting in the dimly lit audience, leaning against each other intimately as if no one else was in the room. It was as if this wedding had absolutely nothing to do with him. The ceremony flowed flawlessly until the final, crucial moment. The officiant smiled warmly at the crowd. “Now, the bride and groom may embrace and share their first kiss.” I leaned into Perry’s chest and tilted my head, my eyes sweeping over the crowd. A memory struck me. In my past life, when Julian pulled me in for this embrace, he had secretly kissed my earlobe and whispered, “Chloe, I finally get to marry you.” Right now, he was in the audience, holding another woman. When my gaze locked onto his, Julian instinctively dropped Monica’s hand. But as his eyes shifted to the man standing beside me, the reality that they had swapped identities finally hit him. He rubbed his nose, looking suddenly guilty and uncomfortable. Monica stared down at her empty hand, her expression turning incredibly dark. Suddenly, she stood up and shouted toward the stage. “A hug is so boring! Let’s see a real kiss from the newlyweds!” Her outburst ignited the crowd. The guests immediately started cheering and chanting. “Kiss! Kiss!” “You’re married now, don’t be shy!” Julian stopped breathing. He shot to his feet, violently yanking Monica back down into her chair, and roared at the crowd. “They don’t like PDA! Stop pressuring them!” A month ago, when going over the itinerary with the planner, Julian had specifically insisted on skipping the kiss. Looking back, he had already been laying the groundwork for Perry to take his place at the altar. Thinking of this, I reached up, grabbed Perry by his silk tie, pulled him down, and stood on my tiptoes. I kissed him deeply. “Chloe!” 2 Julian violently kicked his chair back, vaulting himself onto the stage in one fluid motion. Under the shocked gasps of hundreds of guests, he practically tore me away from Perry, screaming in my face. “Chloe! Have you lost your mind?! How could you kiss him?!” I blinked at him, the picture of wounded innocence. “I’m kissing my own husband at my own wedding. How is that crazy? And why are you so angry about it?” Perry grabbed my hand, smoothly pulling me behind his broad back. “‘Perry,’ I know it’s hard to watch your brother get married, but Chloe is your sister-in-law now. Show some respect.” As he spoke, he casually swiped his thumb across his lower lip, wiping away a smear of my lipstick, looking as if he were savoring the taste. Julian’s eyes went completely bloodshot with rage. “You need to remember who…” Before he could finish his threat, Monica rushed onto the stage and forcefully grabbed his arm. “Stop it!” She leaned close to his ear, hissing through her teeth. “Julian, whatever your problem is, deal with it backstage! Can’t you see the press and the entire city are watching you?!” Julian finally looked out at the audience. Hundreds of pairs of eyes were glued to him. The media crews hired by Sterling Corporation had every camera lens zoomed in on his face. The sheer stupidity and impulsiveness of his actions finally dawned on him. If the press found out that the heir to the Sterling empire had forced his twin brother to stand in for his political marriage to the Davis family, the resulting scandal would obliterate the company’s stock. Seeing Julian finally regain some sanity, Monica quickly stepped to the microphone to run damage control. “I apologize, everyone! ‘Perry’ is just overwhelmed with emotion seeing his brother tie the knot. He had a bit too much champagne to celebrate.” “Please, enjoy the reception! Don’t mind this little brotherly spat.” The MC, a seasoned professional, immediately seized the opportunity to defuse the tension. “It seems the Sterling brothers share an incredibly deep bond! Moving on, let’s welcome the phenomenal pop star, Lexi, to sing a special blessing for our beautiful newlyweds!” Before Julian stepped off the stage, he shot Perry a look of pure, venomous hatred. “You’re dead, kid. Just wait.” Perry maintained his calm, polite smile, but his eyes were absolute glaciers. While the grand ballroom outside was filled with music and laughter, the private bridal suite was a warzone. Julian hurled his crystal champagne flute directly at Perry’s feet. A shard of shattered glass bounced up, slicing a thin red line across Perry’s cheek. “Perry! I told you to stand in for the ceremony! I didn’t tell you to actually act like her husband!” “Chloe doesn’t know the truth, but you damn well do!” “When she kissed you, why didn’t you push her away?! You were actually enjoying it, weren’t you?!” Perry slowly raised a hand, wiping the drop of blood from his cheek. “Push her away? And have tomorrow’s headlines scream that the Sterling heir is disgusted by the Davis family bride?” “Or maybe you’d prefer ‘Sterling Heir Publicly Rejects Arranged Marriage at the Altar’?” Julian stared at the cold mockery in his brother’s eyes. He lunged forward, grabbing Perry by the lapels of his tuxedo, his voice shaking with suppressed fury. “Don’t think I don’t know exactly what game you’re playing!” “I should have known you didn’t agree to help me and Monica out of the goodness of your heart. You never got over Chloe!” “But don’t delude yourself into thinking you can swoop in and steal her!” He slowly released his grip, his gaze turning to absolute ice. “I’ve transferred you to the European tech acquisition project. It lasts exactly three months. Your flight leaves tonight.” “In three months, everything resets.” “I am the heir to the Sterling empire, and the only man marrying Chloe is me.” I stood right outside the door, hearing every single word. But Julian had made one massive miscalculation. Whoever I married became the heir to the Sterling empire. 3 Years ago, the Sterling patriarch, Julian and Perry’s grandfather, had allowed me to choose which of his grandsons I wanted to marry. The three of us had practically grown up together. I knew perfectly well that both brothers were in love with me. The event that finally pushed me to choose Julian was a terrifying accident. When I was eighteen, I was kidnapped by a ruthless corporate rival of my father’s. Right as the kidnapper raised a knife to execute me, Julian burst in, took the blade directly into his own stomach, and saved my life. The day he was discharged from the hospital, I told the Sterling patriarch that my choice was Julian. That was the exact day our engagement was announced, and simultaneously, the day Julian was officially named the heir to the Sterling empire. He saved my life, and in my past life, I repaid that debt with my own blood. In this life, our ledger is completely clean. Hearing footsteps approaching the door, I quickly turned and walked down the hallway, pulling out my phone. “Set up a meeting for me. I need to speak privately with Chairman Sterling.” That night, Perry didn’t follow his brother’s orders. He didn’t board a flight to Europe. He walked straight into our new marital penthouse. When he opened the door, I was lounging on the velvet sofa, swirling a glass of whiskey. A flicker of surprise crossed my face, but I smoothly stood up, poured a second glass, and offered it to him. “Drink?” Perry took the glass, his intensely heated gaze locked onto the damp residue of whiskey on my lips. “I’m thirsty for something else…” His Adam’s apple bobbed, his voice low and incredibly gravelly. “Chloe.” Before I could react, his shadow fell over me. He cupped my face in his large hands and crashed his lips against mine. Maybe it was the alcohol in my bloodstream. I didn’t push him away. Instead, I leaned into him and kissed him back. My response seemed to obliterate his remaining self-control. He became insatiable. From the living room to the hallway, from the sofa to the mattress. Right up until the point of no return. He suddenly froze, his muscles taut. “Chloe, do you know exactly who I am?” He stroked my cheek, his eyes a storm of agonizingly restrained desire and complex fear. I wrapped my arms around his neck, arched up, and whispered directly against his ear. “Perry.” Before the word fully left my mouth, he crashed down on me. Moonlight spilled through the floor-to-ceiling windows, casting tangled shadows against the wall. It wasn’t until the first faint light of dawn breached the horizon that the room finally grew quiet. The next morning, the shrill ringing of Perry’s phone woke me. “The project manager in Europe just called me. You never got on that plane.” “Perry! Where the hell are you right now?!” Julian’s enraged roar echoed through the speaker. Perry pinched the bridge of his nose, his voice lazy and completely unapologetic. “It was my wedding night. Where do you think I was?” His voice was still raspy from the night before. A beat of silence passed before Julian’s voice cracked, rising an entire octave. “Perry! This isn’t funny! Get your ass to the airport right now.” “I’m currently on a yacht, and I’m about to lose signal.” Half-asleep and annoyed, I mumbled into the pillows. “Turn that down, it’s too loud.” Dead silence on the other end of the line. When Julian finally spoke, his voice was visibly shaking. “Was that Chloe?” “Is she in bed with you? Did you sleep with her?!” Before Perry could answer, the call dropped abruptly. Julian had probably lost his satellite connection on the water. With that chaotic wake-up call, my exhaustion evaporated. I felt an intense gaze burning into the top of my head. Remembering the absolute madness of the previous night, a violent flush of heat rushed to my cheeks. Perry finally broke the silence. “Chloe, you knew it was me from the very beginning, didn’t you?” I nodded slowly. “Since we were kids, I have never once confused the two of you.” Even though they shared the exact same face. One look was all it ever took for me to know exactly who was standing in front of me. “Then why did you pick me yesterday?” Looking at the desperate, fragile hope swimming in his dark eyes, I told him the absolute truth. “Because the man I wanted to marry was always you.” Perry froze, blinking as if he couldn’t comprehend the words, before letting out a low, breathy laugh. “So Julian thought he was playing you this whole time, but he was actually the one being played.” But by noon, Julian, who was supposed to be halfway across the ocean on a romantic cruise with Monica, suddenly burst through the penthouse doors. He grabbed Perry by the shoulder and violently shoved him toward the master bathroom. “Perry, take your clothes off right now! We’re switching back!” 4 Seconds later, Monica stormed into the apartment, completely ignoring the protests of the building’s head of security. She walked right past me as if I were invisible, marching to the bathroom door and pounding her fists against the wood. “Today is my birthday! You promised you would spend my birthday with me!” Her voice cracked, thick with dramatic tears. “This was my only wish last year! We had a deal! Just give me this one last day!” Exactly one year ago today, I had been in a minor car accident and was rushed to the ER. Julian told me he was stuck on a business trip overseas and couldn’t get a flight back. The truth was, he was throwing Monica a birthday party. The bathroom door clicked open. Julian stepped out. Seeing the crystalline tears clinging to Monica’s eyelashes, his face softened instantly. He pulled her tightly against his chest. “Stop crying. I promise, I’ll stay.” Monica buried her face in his shirt, her shoulders trembling delicately. “I knew you wouldn’t abandon me.” Perry leaned against the doorframe, watching them with icy indifference, before walking over to me. “Chloe.” It was only then that Julian finally realized I had been sitting on the sofa the entire time, quietly observing the whole spectacle. A flash of genuine conflict crossed his eyes, but he quickly composed himself. “Since today is Monica’s birthday, why don’t the four of us go out and celebrate together?” “‘Julian,’ Monica is just your old college friend, right? You shouldn’t mind.” He shot Perry a look loaded with silent threats. Perry completely ignored him, turning his gaze down to me. “What do you think, honey?” I stood up, looping my arm casually through Perry’s, and shook my head. “We’ll pass. We’re heading to the courthouse this afternoon to file our marriage certificate.” In my past life, Julian had been terrified of upsetting Monica, so he kept making excuses, calling the certificate a “meaningless piece of paper” to delay making our marriage legally binding. But Perry was different. He wanted the ink dry and the legal standing absolute. Julian’s eyes widened in sheer panic. “You’re filing the certificate today?!” His face drained of color, turning a sickly shade of gray. But it only lasted a fraction of a second before he forced a tight, stiff smile. “Well, if you have paperwork to handle, we won’t get in your way.” Right before he left, he subtly slipped his own ID into Perry’s jacket pocket. Making sure I couldn’t hear, he leaned in and hissed at his brother. “I know you’re just mad on Chloe’s behalf, and that audio clip this morning was just to piss me off.” “But I swear I am not betraying Chloe. I just want to be here for Monica as a friend, to help her check this world tour off her bucket list.” “I swear, after today, we switch back permanently. I’ll spend the rest of my life making it up to Chloe.” “You file that paperwork for me, and I’ll forget this whole stunt you pulled.” The second the door closed behind them, Perry pulled Julian’s ID out of his pocket and casually dropped it into the trash can. Watching him do it, everything clicked into place. Julian actually believed Perry was just putting on a performance to scare him. He thought he was so incredibly clever. He had absolutely no idea that the woman he was supposed to marry, and the empire he was supposed to inherit, were already gone. At the courthouse, the paperwork was processed with lightning speed. Forms filled. Signatures signed. Photos submitted. The heavy steel stamp slammed down. Two small red booklets were handed to us. Under the names of the legally bound couple, it read: Chloe Davis and Perry Sterling. Right on cue, a text from Julian lit up Perry’s screen. “Did you get the certificate done?” “Send me a picture of it right now.” “You do this for me, and when I officially take over the Sterling empire, I’ll make you a full partner. We’ll run it together.” Perry snapped two photos of the open certificate and hit send. A second later. Julian’s phone call ripped through the silence of the car.

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1 I was escorting a high-value prisoner on a commercial flight when a flight attendant began openly flirting with the man next to me. I shot her a warning look and quietly asked her to move us to a secluded pair of seats. She rolled her eyes. “Do you own this airline? What’s the problem with me talking to this gorgeous guy? Are you jealous or just painfully single?” Her boldness left me speechless. I called for the chief attendant, but before help arrived, she broke into dramatic tears, telling everyone I was bullying her. Sympathetic and accusing eyes turned toward me. I could not explain aloud that the “gorgeous guy” was a notorious serial killer on death row. Just as the tension peaked, the prisoner made his move. He seized her in a chokehold and yelled for the pilot to turn the plane around. Since you’re so eager to please a man, now is your chance. … My name is Renee. I am a homicide detective. I spent three grueling months deep undercover just to track down Silas, a serial killer who had terrorized the entire country. It took everything I had to finally slap the cuffs on him. Following strict orders from the top brass, I was transporting him back to the state precinct via a commercial flight. Before boarding, my captain emphasized one rule above all else. Total secrecy. If the passengers found out who Silas was, it would trigger a mid-air panic. I kept my badge tucked away and draped a thick jacket over the steel cuffs binding Silas to my wrist. I whispered a harsh warning for him to behave, my eyes scanning every single face in the terminal. I couldn’t afford a single second of distraction. Shortly after the plane leveled out, a fresh-faced intern flight attendant pushed her beverage cart down the aisle. The moment her eyes landed on Silas, they stuck to him like glue. She purposefully slowed her pace, completely invading my personal space as she leaned over me to get closer to him. Her voice dripped with an artificial, sugary sweetness. “Hey handsome, what can I get you? Water, coffee, or maybe some juice?” Silas slowly looked up at her. A chilling smirk played at the corner of his mouth. My stomach dropped. I instantly answered for him. “No thank you. He doesn’t need anything. We are trying to rest, so please do not disturb us.” The intern acted like I was invisible. She shot me a look of pure disgust before leaning even closer to Silas. “Are you feeling okay, handsome? Do you need me to grab you some medicine?” I forced down the rising anger in my chest and deepened my voice, heavily stressing my next words. “I said we do not need anything. We want to rest. Do you not understand English?” I glanced around the half-empty cabin. “Also, I need you to move us to the back row. Keep us as far away from the other passengers as possible. I don’t like the noise.” That was apparently the wrong thing to say. The girl flared up like a cat backed into a corner. She slammed her plastic cup onto my tray table. Water splashed directly onto my shirt, but she didn’t offer a shred of an apology. “Excuse me, lady, but I was talking to him. Did I ask you?” “Did your daddy build this airplane? You think you can just demand seat changes? Why don’t you go sit on the wings then?” My eyebrows knitted together. I kept my voice as level as humanly possible. “We are traveling together. I am speaking for him. He isn’t eating or drinking. Please stop hovering.” I flicked my eyes downward, practically begging her to notice the silver handcuffs hidden beneath the coat. She was completely oblivious. Instead, she raised her voice, dripping with pure arrogance. “Drop the act, lady! You must be seriously starved for male attention if you’re throwing a tantrum just because I said hi to a hot guy!” Her loud, piercing tone drew the attention of half the cabin. Heads swiveled in our direction. “Seats on this flight are assigned. You think you’re some kind of royalty?” My eyes widened. I genuinely could not fathom how a supposedly trained professional was acting like a high school mean girl. Having said her piece, she turned back to Silas, her voice suddenly morphing into a whiny pout. “Sir, look at her. I was just trying to offer you good customer service, and she’s attacking me.” “If she tries to file a complaint against me after we land, you have to promise to defend me, okay?” Silas gave me a dark, amused look before speaking in a low, slow drawl. “Don’t worry, sweetheart. A pretty girl like you doesn’t deserve to be in trouble.” The intern blushed furiously, staring at her feet. She immediately dug a notepad out of her apron, scribbled down her number, and slid it toward him. “Here. My name is Brittany. Add me on Insta.” I took a massive breath, grinding my teeth together so hard my jaw ached. “I said, change our seats!” 2 Brittany jutted her chin out, looking completely untouchable. “And I said no! Even if you drop dead today, you’re dying in that exact seat!” My hands began to shake with suppressed fury. I couldn’t hold it back anymore. “Go get your Chief Flight Attendant right now! I want to know if this is the standard of professionalism Trans-Global Airlines accepts!” Brittany scoffed loudly. “God, women are so pathetic. Always letting jealousy ruin everything and instantly crying to the manager.” “Call her! You think I’m scared of you?” Whispers broke out across the cabin. A fiery rage spiked in my chest. I had been a detective for eight years. I had personally taken down some of the most vicious predators to ever walk the earth. But I had never met someone so willfully, painfully stupid. She had absolutely no idea that the gorgeous guy she was throwing herself at was a monster with hands soaked in innocent blood. The Chief Flight Attendant hurried over shortly after. She put on a polite, practiced smile. “Ma’am, is there a problem I can assist you with?” Before I could even open my mouth to explain, Brittany stepped forward and practically threw herself at the older woman. “Aunt Helen!” Then she buried her face in her hands and started sobbing hysterically, making sure every single passenger in the cabin was watching her performance. “Aunt Helen, this woman is bullying me! I was just doing my job, and she started screaming at me out of nowhere! She’s demanding a seat upgrade and threatening to get me fired!” She deliberately shouted the words bullying and fired, playing the role of a frail, helpless victim to absolute perfection. The passengers in the front rows swallowed the bait instantly. People started standing up, craning their necks to look. A few even pulled out their phones to record me, their voices laced with pity for the weeping intern. A middle-aged man in a polo shirt pointed a thick finger at me. “Hey lady, you need to back off! The poor kid is just an intern doing her job. What kind of monster threatens a young girl’s livelihood?” His wife nodded vigorously, glaring at me with utter contempt. “Exactly. Dressed so nice but acting like pure trash. That girl is someone’s daughter. You’ll have kids of your own someday, you know! Have some compassion!” “Some hags just can’t stand seeing a young, pretty face. It’s pure, bitter jealousy.” “Don’t worry, sweetie! If she tries to report you, we will all write to the airline and defend you!” A businesswoman across the aisle violently yanked off her sleep mask and shot me a lethal glare. “Can you shut up? Your life must be incredibly sad and pathetic if you get off on harassing service workers.” The wave of baseless accusations made my blood boil. “Are you all blind? Or just completely brain-dead?” “She is completely twisting the truth! I politely told her multiple times to leave us alone, and she refused to stop harassing us. All I did was ask for a seat change, and she flips the script and plays the victim!” Seeing the crowd rally behind her, Brittany cranked up the waterworks. She choked out her words through heavy sobs. “Thank you, everyone. Thank you for seeing the truth. I’m just trying to do my job, and she’s targeting me!” She then actually buckled her knees, pretending she was about to drop to the floor. “Ma’am, I’ll take the blame! I’m so sorry! Please, I’m begging you, don’t get me fired! I’m sorry! I’m sorry!” A chorus of disgusted clicks and sighs echoed through the plane. “Flight attendants are human beings too. Look at how terrified the poor thing is.” “This lady is out of her mind. Does she think she owns the sky?” Helen’s polite mask vanished instantly. She yanked Brittany up, shielding the girl behind her own body, and stared at me with eyes like shards of ice. 3 “Ma’am, I suggest you watch your tone. Service workers are not beneath you.” “Professionally speaking, she is my subordinate, and checking on passengers is her literal job description. She did nothing wrong.” “Personally speaking, I am her aunt. I helped raise her. I know her character infinitely better than some bitter stranger.” She paused, making sure her voice carried to the back rows. “It is 2026. As a fellow woman, why are you tearing down another girl just to get a man’s attention? You’re a textbook pick-me. Maybe log off the internet and stop projecting your insecurities onto innocent women!” “A pick-me? Tearing down women?” I genuinely let out a dry, humorless laugh. The sheer absurdity of the situation had pushed me past the point of anger. I looked her dead in the eye. “You have a lot of nerve. You didn’t even bother to ask for my side of the story. You blindly took your niece’s word for it. Isn’t that the exact same thing you’re accusing me of?” “She’s an intern, so fine, I’ll write off her stupidity. But you are the Chief Flight Attendant. You are in charge of this cabin. Did you not read the pre-flight briefing regarding a high-risk VIP on board? Do you have any idea how much trouble you are in if you compromise my operation?” The whispers grew louder, tinged with heavy sarcasm. “Oh please, a VIP? Who does she think she is? If she was important, she’d be in first class.” “Empty cans rattle the loudest. Just listen to her.” “This is hilarious. It’s like she’s never been on a plane before. The secondhand embarrassment is killing me.” Hiding behind her aunt, Brittany flashed me a smug, victorious smirk, her eyes practically dancing with mockery. Helen faltered for a fraction of a second before her face hardened again. “Don’t you dare try to intimidate me with some fake VIP status. I have the manifest for every single person on this aircraft, including you! If you don’t want me calling your employer when we land, I suggest you sit down and shut your mouth. One more word, and I’m calling the Air Marshal.” We were locked in a stalemate. My fingertips brushed against the cold leather of my police badge inside my pocket. Right at that moment, another flight attendant rushed out from the back galley and grabbed Helen’s shoulder. She leaned in, whispering frantically. “Helen, I just double-checked the system. There is a high-level VIP on this flight! The company flagged it with absolute top priority. We cannot mess this up!” The smugness washed right off Helen and Brittany’s faces. The older woman hastily grabbed her company tablet, her fingers swiping frantically across the glowing screen. 4 Brittany leaned over her aunt’s shoulder, her eyes glued to the alert on the screen. Her initial panic faded. Within seconds, a nasty, triumphant grin spread across her lips. Helen locked the tablet and slowly looked back at me, radiating pure arrogance. She let out a sharp laugh. “You’re actually right. There is an incredibly important VIP on this flight. But guess what? It’s not you.” She stood a little taller. “We are hosting Dr. Arthur Harrison, the country’s top cardiovascular surgeon. He’s flying out for an emergency medical summit. Corporate gave us strict orders to ensure his absolute comfort and silence.” The entire cabin erupted into cruel laughter. “Oh man, she actually had me going for a second. Thought she was a senator or something.” “Did you hear the lady? Dr. Harrison needs quiet. What are you gonna do when you stress out a surgeon, huh?” Brittany, utterly drunk on her own perceived victory, rolled her eyes so hard I thought they might get stuck. She turned to Silas, her face softening into faux concern. “Sir, I honestly think the woman next to you is mentally unstable. For your own safety, why don’t I escort you up to first class? We can actually talk without the crazy lady screaming at us.” She reached out, attempting to grab his arm and pull him up. Panic surged through my veins. The last thread of my patience snapped. I didn’t care about being humiliated. But Silas was a lethal weapon. I could not let him leave my side for a single second. I yanked my badge out of my pocket and held it up high. “I am a police detective! I am in the middle of an active operation!” Before I could even blink, Brittany snatched the leather wallet right out of my hand. She didn’t even glance at it. She just ripped the internal ID card cleanly in half. “I could buy a whole box of these fake badges on Temu. If you’re a cop, then I’m the freaking President of the United States!” She puffed out her chest, acting like a superhero saving the day. “Do you realize what you’re doing? Handcuffing him to you is illegal imprisonment! I am saving this man!” With a sudden burst of manic energy, she grabbed the steel chain linking my wrist to Silas’s. She planted her feet and pulled upward with all her body weight. “Let him go! Let him go right now, you absolute psycho!” I lunged forward, desperately trying to pry her fingers off the metal. “Do not touch the cuffs! You are going to get everyone killed! He is a convicted murderer!” We wrestled violently in the cramped aisle. Snap. The metal link shattered. The sudden release of tension threw me completely off balance, sending me crashing hard into the armrest. I threw my head up. Silas’s wrist was completely free. Half of a broken, jagged handcuff dangled uselessly from my own arm. 5 A blur of motion tore past my vision. It was so fast my brain struggled to process it. By the time I scrambled upright, Silas was already standing directly behind Brittany. His massive hands clamped down around her throat. The sheer force was horrifying. Brittany’s face instantly turned a sickening shade of crimson. “Tell the pilot to turn this plane around! Now! Or I snap her neck like a twig!” Brittany’s eyes bugged out of her skull. Her tongue protruded slightly as she gasped for air that wouldn’t come. Her manicured nails clawed frantically at his thick forearms, tearing at his skin, but he didn’t even flinch. He was an unmoving wall of muscle. “I am not going to repeat myself! Turn the plane around or every single one of you dies up here!” Silas’s voice was devoid of any human emotion. The entire aircraft plunged into a terrifying, suffocating silence. The passengers who had been laughing and mocking me seconds ago were now paralyzed, their faces drained of color. A heartbeat later, absolute pandemonium broke out. Screams, sobs, and terrified prayers bounced off the curved ceiling. Passengers scrambled over each other, trying to press themselves as far back into their seats as possible. Helen, the Chief Flight Attendant, looked like she was going to vomit. She cowered behind the Air Marshal, her legs physically giving out beneath her. “Please! Don’t hurt us! We’ll give you whatever you want, just don’t do anything crazy!” Trapped in a suffocating grip, Brittany was drowning in pure terror. She choked out a pathetic, rasping whimper. “P-please… handsome… I’m sorry… cough… let me go…” Even as she was being strangled to death, she pathetically tried to rub her cheek against his arm, acting like her flirtation could save her. She was banking on a miracle. She severely underestimated the monster holding her. Silas didn’t care about her pretty face. His eyes darkened, and his grip tightened until a sickening, wet popping sound echoed from her throat. He leaned in close to her ear, his voice laced with venomous mockery. “I really should be thanking you, sweetheart. I never would have gotten these cuffs off without your help.” Brittany’s complexion shifted from crimson to a bruised purple. Her airways were completely crushed. Tears of agonizing regret spilled down her cheeks. She couldn’t even manage a whisper anymore. I ripped the broken cuff off my wrist and locked my eyes onto him. Every muscle in my body was coiled like a spring. “Silas, there is nowhere to run! Hijacking an aircraft is a federal offense. You let her go, put your hands up, and I swear I will ensure you make it to trial alive!” A decade of intense police training kept my heart rate steady. I couldn’t afford to panic. But Silas wasn’t a street thug. He was a trained, calculated apex predator. Good cops had died trying to put him behind bars. Taking him down inside a metal tube thirty thousand feet in the air, surrounded by civilian hostages, was a nightmare scenario. Silas shot me a sideways glance, letting out a dark chuckle. “I’m already sitting on death row, detective. What are they gonna do? Kill me twice?” “Besides, it’s just you up against me. You really think you can take me down?” His eyes darted around the chaotic cabin, calculating his next move, looking for a better insurance policy. Right at that exact second, Brittany, desperate to save her own skin, managed to wheeze out a single, damning sentence. “I… I know where the doctor is! Take him! He’s worth way more than me!”

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