Chapter 1

1.

“Miss Vance, this is your custom ‘Disappearance Protocol.’ Are you sure you want to execute the ‘accidental cliff fall’ program during your wedding livestream in two weeks?”

“Yes.”

The agent across the table pushed up his glasses, his expression serious. “Are you certain? Once you fake your death in front of a national audience, your current social security number, credit history, and all identifying information will be permanently erased. There’s no going back.”

Elara gripped the folder in her hands, her knuckles turning white. She nodded firmly.

“Yes, I’m sure.”

Stepping out of the Midtown Manhattan office building, Elara was immediately confronted by the massive LED screen in Times Square. It was playing an exclusive interview on a loop: Alistair Thorne, with his arm wrapped around her, announcing their engagement.

On screen, the man was handsome and wealthy, the woman beside him elegant and captivating. Even the congested traffic on Broadway seemed to slow down for the scene.

In the video, Alistair held her tightly. The man known on Wall Street for his cold ruthlessness had red-rimmed eyes, his voice trembling uncontrollably.

“Today is the greatest day of my life, because Elara has accepted my proposal. I want to invite the entire world to witness our wedding next month…”

A stream of social media comments scrolled rapidly across the bottom of the screen:

【Alistair is absolutely obsessed with Elara! Crying over someone else’s love story again…】

【Who would’ve thought the head of Thorne Capital was such a hopeless romantic? I heard he fell for her at first sight at her graduation show at Parsons when he was nineteen. He started crazily expanding his business empire at twenty just to be worthy of her talent. At twenty-two, he flew across the Atlantic over two hundred times in one year just to see her while she was studying in Paris. And now that she’s said yes, he wants the whole universe to know she’s his… This man is the definition of romance!】

【Elara is so lucky to have found a man like him!】

Elara’s eyes filled with scorn as she read the comments. She looked down, lighting up her phone screen to look at the screenshot in her photo album again.

In the picture at the top, a strange young woman stared seductively at the camera, her skirt hiked up to her waist, revealing bruised, red skin on her backside.

【Alistair~~ you spanked me so hard yesterday! You have thirty minutes to get to my apartment and rub it better, or I’m going to throw a tantrum you won’t be able to fix!】

Below it, Alistair had replied almost instantly: 【You little devil. Wait for me.】

…

The world envied her for finding the perfect partner, praising Alistair for his deep love.

But she was the only one who knew. Behind her back, Alistair had been keeping a college girl in a luxury apartment near Columbia University for two whole years.

Tears blurred Elara’s vision, and her memories became hazy.

Her parents had died in a car crash when she was nineteen. As she was collapsing in grief, it was Alistair who held her at the funeral, swearing before their two cold gravestones that he would spend his life protecting her.

He had once broken his leg when a car almost hit her. He had chartered a private jet to Marseille just because she casually mentioned wanting authentic French bouillabaisse. She knew the passwords to all his bank and social media accounts. His Instagram and Twitter backgrounds were all pictures of her…

All their friends said that Alistair Thorne was destined to be Elara Vance’s most loyal devotee.

Even on the day he proposed, Alistair himself had choked up, saying he couldn’t live without her and making her swear before God that she would be his wife for all eternity.

But this was the same man who, on the very night of their engagement party, drove to another woman’s bed.

The thought of it made Elara close her eyes in despair.

If his betrayal was this complete, then he couldn’t blame her for destroying everything.

She would “die” in the full glare of the public eye, erasing every trace of “Elara Vance” from the world and disappearing from his life forever.

Elara wiped her tears, about to stand up, when a weight suddenly settled on her shoulder.

A tall figure bent down, helping her up and gently pulling her into the warmth of his cashmere coat.

“Elara, didn’t I tell you to wait for me in the car so we could pick out the diamond together? Why did you run off and squat by the side of the road by yourself?”

Seeing the tear stains on her face, Alistair’s voice filled with anxiety.

“Why are you crying? Are you not feeling well?”

Elara didn’t answer, just looked at him quietly.

The worry and pain on his face didn’t seem fake. But the scent of fresh citrus cologne, mixed with the cold air, silently announced that he had just been intimate with that other woman.

She turned her head, avoiding the scent clinging to him, and lowered her eyes to hide the flash of disgust.

If just the sight of her tears could make him this frantic, she was curious to see how he would react when he watched her fall from a cliff at their wedding.

After a long moment, after Alistair had checked her from head to toe for any injuries, Elara finally spoke softly, “My period started. I have cramps.”