Chapter 1

I was the imposter, the girl who lived a lie for twenty years.

The moment the biological daughter returned, I became the villain in everyone's story.

The man I loved told me to get lost.

The brother I raised treated me like garbage for her sake.

Even my fiancé tore up our marriage license at the courthouse and left me standing there.

The mission failed, and my heart was cold.

But the moment I truly decided to die, they all started begging me to stay.

It didn't matter how hard they tried.

I didn't want them anymore.

1

The deadline to win over the second male lead was ticking away.

I had spent years trying to save him from his tragic fate.

But one word from the real daughter was all it took.

Barrett Sterling vanished the second before we were supposed to sign our marriage license.

The clock struck five, and the courthouse doors slammed shut in my face.

I dialed his number for the nineteenth time.

This was my last chance.

The line was dead; he had blocked me.

I sighed and asked the system in my head, "Are you sure I can leave this world if I die?"

The system gave me a firm yes.

I nodded and pulled out my phone to call an Uber.

I was busy calculating which method would be the quickest way to end it.

I didn't care how much it hurt.

"Still waiting here, Elara?" a mocking voice sneered from behind.

It was Gavin Vance, the boy I had called my brother for two decades.

Our parents were always busy, so I was the one who practically raised him.

I was there for every detention and every heartbreak.

When he got into an Ivy League school, he told me I was the first person he wanted to thank.

But the moment Piper Sinclair walked through our front door, everything changed.

Gavin's eyes lit up as he called her "Sis," breaking the heavy silence of our home.

He was the reason she integrated so quickly into the Vance family.

All because she had given him a piece of candy on a rainy night once.

Meanwhile, I, the one who held the umbrella for his entire youth, was branded a criminal.

I was the obstacle preventing their happy family reunion.

Gavin stopped calling me sister.

Out of some twisted sense of pity, he usually ignored me.

But lately, he had nothing for me but insults and cruelty.

Back in the courthouse, news had come that Piper was having a breakdown from "childhood trauma."

Barrett had left instantly.

He didn't care that the clerk said it would take less than a minute to finish.

Before he left, he tore the unsigned marriage agreement and threw it at my feet.

"Elara, you better pray she's okay," he had hissed.

That was the three-hundredth time.

Since I started this mission, he had chosen Piper over me three hundred times.

The system declared my mission a failure.

I should have realized it sooner.

Trying to change a man's obsession only ends in self-destruction.

In this world, everyone revolved around Piper.

I let out a dry, sarcastic laugh and glanced at Gavin.

"What does it matter to you where I am?"

"Shouldn't you be at your real sister's side, playing the hero?"

Piper was always claiming she was about to end her life.

Meanwhile, I was the one actually dying.

I had to die before my body gave out naturally.

Otherwise, my soul would be trapped here forever, unable to return to my real home.