Chapter 1: Ill-boding News   

The sun was shining brightly amid the vast expanse of a clear blue sky. Birds were chirping happily. Flowers were in bloom. Children were out and about having fun. Beaches were full of people enjoying the warmth of summer and the scent of the sea breeze.

Meanwhile, a certain lady was at home, enjoying her rare vacation. It had been a long time since she was at home doing nothing. Perhaps, several years ago when she was still young.

She had almost always gone to her office or was on a trip to who knows where, that she could count with her fingers the days that she just stayed home doing nothing, especially in summer. She was often on tour during summers.

It was almost like a miracle that she was not going out today. She had almost always enjoyed summer on the beaches before.

Even she, herself, wondered why she had no plans this summer. She had only thought of staying home or going to her office. No tours to lively beaches or beautiful lakes and rivers.

She had not even booked any flights to go somewhere either for business or personal purposes. Even she, herself, found it weird. But somehow, this summer, she just wanted to lay low and focus on office work and her secret occupation.

Her name was Vivian Stephen Chen. Twenty-seven years old. Married. But a virgin.

She did not count what her husband did to her after their wedding night, since he was not able to put it inside her.

As long as she had not yet had a man’s member inside her, she was still a virgin. That was her definition of virginity. So, despite being married for three years, she was still one. How was it possible for a married woman to remain a virgin?

Well, it was three years ago when a multibillionaire offered her a deal. It was a very tempting deal that she was not able to run away from. She agreed and married him for the thrill, the money, and his looks. He paid her to marry him so he could get his inheritance from his mother’s side.

The thrill she was expecting died down as the years went on, but at least she enjoyed the money. He also called her every now and then, so she still got to enjoy his looks.

What he gave Vivian was a huge sum of money for her, but it must have been a measly amount to him.

After their marriage, they never met again despite remaining married on paper. They communicated by phone but that was all they had. They did not see each other again in person after their wedding.

He was one of the reasons Vivian could afford to take a day off and take it easy. He had paid her two billion and she used it wisely.

Vivian made her company bigger and created branches in other locations. She started doing more business and invested in the stock exchange, trading, and other opportunities she found.

Wanting to be more productive, she even helped her friends put up their own businesses by being one of the main investors and lent money to help them become stable. Once the businesses stabilized, she earned money from them without lifting a finger.

Vivian worked super hard the past three years when she was given the opportunity to get her hands on that lump sum of money.

It was all to ensure that she would still be stable no matter what happened between her and her contract husband. She did not want to end up penniless and bankrupt if her husband decided he no longer needed any connection to her.

Now, Vivian was also a multibillionaire in her own right. She was still no one compared to her husband, but at least, she would not be bullied so easily when it came to it. She had prepared her own escape routes.

Vivian had thoroughly prepared herself that she could also return the two billion her husband had paid her in case he suddenly had a lover and wanted his money back.

He had been sending her monthly allowances as well, and she used it for more investments. There were also a lot of gifts sent for her birthdays, Valentine’s Day, their marriage anniversary, Christmas days, New Year, and other special holidays.

Vivian had made sure she accounted for all those and added the cost of his gifts and monthly allowances to the account where she had stored the amount of what he had paid her.

She had always been the kind who calculated and planned everything in advance. Her marriage was sudden but everything else, she planned very carefully.

Vivian did not want to be a paper tiger. Thus, she prepared herself for the worst. Now, she was ready for it, or so she thought.

Sighing in contentment, she realized that her husband had not crossed her mind for a while now. His last call was a week ago.

The previous night, Vivian was surprised when she woke up in the middle of the night drenched in sweat after a nightmare and he was the first person that came to her mind.

She could not remember what her dream was about, but she was certain it was not good. She suddenly felt a bit worried. Was her husband-in-paper doing something dangerous? She prayed that he was not doing any prohibited business.

Before they got married, Vivian came to know about his businesses and there was nothing shady. Of course, being as rich as him meant that he was always in danger.

They had shared information about each other in order to perfect a loving couple act in case she had to meet his parents or his entourage, but it never came to that.

Based on the information she got from being with him for a few days, he was not really a bad guy. Unless all she saw was pretense.

Vivian knew he hid a lot from her but she did not really care as long as he kept his word on their agreement. She knew at least that he was not a mass murderer or anything like that.

Due to the nightmare, Vivian could not return to sleep despite not remembering what it was about, so she opened her computer and was engrossed with other work until morning came.

Vivian did her daily routine, had breakfast, and lazily read a novel on the couch.

It was a lovely day, but she was too lazy to go out. A day at home doing nothing was a treasure. She had been praying for a break like this to come, even if just once in a while. She waited patiently and it was finally granted by the gods. She would rather not ruin it by going out.

After several hours, she opened the TV to take a break from her book. As she was watching the news, she saw her husband’s face for the first time in a while.

“The Chairman of the Li Group, Mr. Alexander Li Martin is currently missing after his private plane crashed on a mountain last night. . .”

According to the news, her husband, whom she called Zander as per his instructions, was supposedly on his way to a business meeting in Tokyo. However, as of 11:00 PM the previous night, they lost contact with him and his cohorts.

The reporter continued to narrate as Vivian gawked at the TV.

The Li Group received news that her husband’s private plane had been spotted going in the wrong direction and staying in midair for a few minutes before there was an explosion and it went down the mountain by midnight and had caused a massive fire.

Li Group had declared that her husband and those who were with him were missing.

However, according to theories from experts, it was unlikely that anyone would survive a plane crash at that height, especially after it fell and caused a massive fire.

Accordingly, rescuers had been sent immediately but the fire had caused too much delay. Neither survivors nor carcasses were found. It was likely that they were burned to ash since everything inside the plane was burned.

Vivian blinked repeatedly. Her vision was suddenly getting blurry. She realized that tears were streaming down her cheeks.

She was crying for the husband she barely knew. Or was it because she was a widow now? She shivered, not wanting to accept it. She barely knew the guy but he had been kind to her. He had been fun to talk with, as well.

The news was like a bucket of iced water that was suddenly poured over her warm, comfortable life and she shivered in trepidation.

Vivian had a feeling that the plane crash was not an accident so she quickly packed her things and left the house she was living in.

It was likely that the plane crash was caused by explosives attached inside or purposefully ruining a machine important to its functions.

It was an assassination. She had read so many novels about things like that that she could not just sit still.

If someone was after her husband’s life and tried to kill him (or had succeeded in doing so), they may come for hers as well, since there was a chance she might inherit a part of his wealth after his death. Not that Vivian wanted it. With his family not knowing her, it was highly unlikely.

But whoever had done the assassination might not know that she was a wife in name only. No one knew whether they had had children or not, so people might come looking for her.

Vivian had no time to grieve. She swallowed her fear and sadness. She resolved to protect herself first.

A/N: Hi everyone! 

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