Chapter 1

1

It was the sixth year of my mission to conquer Bennett Sterling's heart, and he married his first love.

A friend once asked him, "You've been with Natalie for six years. Haven't you felt even a spark of genuine love for her?"

Bennett's eyes held nothing but icy detachment. He let out a cold sneer. "Why would I fall for a woman who threw herself into my bed? I find her disgusting."

So on the day of his wedding, I stood alone on the edge of an abandoned high-rise construction site.

Bennett called my phone. "Stop throwing a tantrum. You're Chelsea's maid of honor. Get back here right now."

My heart finally turned to ash. I spoke calmly to the system in my mind, "I want to give up on the mission. I want to go home."

***

The day Bennett Sterling married Chelsea Lawson, I put on a pristine white dress and climbed to the top of an unfinished building. Watching the rolling crimson sunset at the edge of the sky, my lips curved into a genuine smile.

In all my years of trying to win Bennett over, this was the lightest I had ever felt.

My phone screen flashed relentlessly in my hand. Countless missed calls poured in, as if people were desperately trying to blow up my line.

I ignored every single one until Bennett's name lit up the display.

My heart gave a faint, treacherous thump. Holding onto a pathetic sliver of hope, I answered the call.

The moment his icy voice came through the speaker, regret washed over me.

"Where did you run off to this time?" Bennett demanded. "I will send someone to pick you up."

He paused, then snapped with irritation, "Stop causing a scene. Chelsea is worried sick about you. You're her maid of honor and her sister. Get your ass back here immediately."

I suddenly laughed. I laughed at my own naivety, at my foolish sentimentality. I could not believe I had still harbored a shred of hope for this man.

"Bennett," I whispered softly, "if Chelsea knew that her maid of honor, her own sister... had slept in her husband's bed for six whole years, would she completely lose her mind?"

My voice was barely a murmur, but the line went dead silent.

After a long pause, his voice turned dangerously low. "Natalie Vance, don't push your luck."

Hearing his warning, I wiped away the solitary tear at the corner of my eye and hung up the phone.

In the distance, giant billboard screens across the downtown skyscrapers flashed Bennett's grand declarations of love for Chelsea. The entire city of Seattle seemed drenched in the fragrance of fresh roses, a lavish spectacle Bennett had prepared exclusively for his bride.

Yet, he had completely forgotten that I had a severe pollen allergy. With this much pollen in the air, I would suffer anaphylactic shock and die on the spot.

Of course. Chelsea was the only person who existed in Bennett's heart. Why would he ever remember trivial details about me?

Clutching my aching, suffocating chest, I let out a self-deprecating laugh. It turned out this heart of mine could still ache for Bennett Sterling. How utterly pathetic.

Scrolling through social media, I saw photos of Bennett smiling tenderly at Chelsea. A wave of dizziness hit me. I had never realized Bennett could look so gentle.

He was entirely unrecognizable from the man in my memories.

The Bennett I knew was always brooding, keeping a rigid distance whenever we were around others.

I remembered asking him why he avoided standing near me in public. I remembered his disgusted expression as he said, "Everyone knows you're my adoptive sister. If people find out we're sleeping together, what will they think of me? What will they think of you?"

"You might have no shame, but I have a reputation to protect!"

A hollow laugh escaped my lips as I looked down at the concrete pavement dozens of stories below.

Jumping from here would leave a gruesome mess. But I could no longer care. All I wanted was to leave this world behind.

To leave Bennett behind.

The phone rang again, and when it auto-connected to the headset, Bennett heard my laughter. He asked angrily, "What are you laughing at?"

"Bennett, I want to go home," I said softly.

Hearing my words, his temper flared even hotter. "Can you stop acting out? Keep this up, and you'll never be allowed back into the Sterling family home!"

I said nothing more. I took off the headset and hurled the phone over the ledge.

Listening to the distant crack of the device shattering into pieces on the concrete below, I felt as though my heart had shattered right alongside it.

Bennett, the home I want to return to is mine alone.

It has nothing to do with you. It is a world where you do not exist.

Loving you is exhausting. I'm letting go, Bennett.

"System," I whispered into the wind. "Send me home."