LOGINFor three years, she was nobody. No name worth remembering. No money worth counting. She was just Jason Sterling’s quiet, invisible wife—the woman his world walked past without a second glance. That was exactly how Jasmine Vance wanted it. On their third anniversary, she found him where he shouldn’t have been—with the woman he’d sworn was “just family.” She didn’t scream. She didn’t cry. She just smiled, pulled out her phone, and let the world watch. By morning, Jason Sterling’s empire had a crack in it. By the end of the week, it was rubble. Only then did people start asking the real question. Who exactly is Jasmine Vance? Because powerful men don’t fall that fast. Not unless someone very specific wants them to. And somewhere in the shadows, a man who has always known the answer to that question is finally stepping into the light. He never once saw her as a nobody. He knew exactly who she was. And he had been waiting for the day she finally stopped hiding.
View MoreJasmine
The background jazz music was soothing as it wafted through the large dining hall. I found myself humming along until… “Another glass of the Dom Pérignon, Madame Sterling?” the waiter asked in a thick French accent, tilting the bottle. “Mr. Sterling is delayed, but there is no reason the night cannot begin.” I looked at the empty chair across from me. Jason was forty minutes late. It wasn’t the first time, but tonight was very special to us. I really wanted to believe tonight would be different. “Yes, please,” I said, forcing a polite smile. I took a sip, the cold champagne bubbling against my throat. It tasted expensive, the kind of vintage my father used to stock by the crates in our winter estate. But I had spent three years pretending to be amazed by Jason’s upper-middle-class lifestyle, letting him believe he was introducing me to a world I couldn’t otherwise afford. It turned sour the moment I looked around the room. In the corner booth, a young couple was holding hands over a candle, whispering and laughing. Near the door, a man walked in with his arm wrapped tightly around a lady’s waist, pulling her close. My chest ached. Three years ago, Jason and I were just like them. Starry-eyed, holding hands, completely obsessed with each other. We married within six months. Today was supposed to be our third anniversary. We should have walked in here together, with his arm around my waist, just like the couple sitting in the corner. My eyes wandered to them. They were leaning so close to each other that they were almost touching noses. I stared at them with dazed eyes, completely sucked in, until my phone beeped loudly. I blinked, pulling myself back to reality. My heart did a quick, hopeful flutter as I grabbed my bag. I expected a text saying, ‘I’m downstairs,’ or ‘Stuck in traffic.’ It wasn’t from Jason. It was an unknown number. Unknown: You look very fine tonight, Mrs. Sterling. It’s a shame Jason is balls deep in another woman right now. Sienna Suites, 104 West Lane. Penthouse B. I froze. Instantly, the warmth of the restaurant vanished, replaced by a wave of cold goosebumps that broke out across my arms. A violent spike of nausea hit me. My head spinning, I swept a panicked glance around the dining room, terrified that someone was watching me, laughing at me. But the waiters kept gliding past with silver trays, and the lovey-dovey couples remained locked in their perfect, smiling worlds. My mind raced. I clutched my bag, my hands shaking so badly I could barely hold it. This can’t be real, I told myself. Jason is cold; he’s arrogant, but he would never do this. Can he? I couldn’t sit there for another second. I stood up, abandoning the bubbling champagne, and rushed out into the humid night air. The drive across the city was a blur. Neon lights smeared across the windshield as tears burned behind my eyes. My grip on the steering wheel was trembling, the tires screeching as the car veered recklessly over the lane lines. I gasped for air, but my chest felt locked behind iron bands. I had given up everything for him. My family’s staggering wealth, my status, my inheritance—I had walked away from it all and accepted a vow of poverty to prove I loved a man who was currently throwing me away like trash. I had endured his mother’s snide remarks about my lack of a family pedigree. I had let his friends look down on me as a penniless nobody. When I finally pulled up to the Sienna Suites, I felt completely hollow. I entered the lobby, legs wobbling. I approached the reception desk and mumbled the words, half-expecting the lady to turn me away or call security. “I’m here for… Penthouse B. Jason Sterling.” Instead of looking confused or asking for identification, the receptionist smiled. It was a wide, brilliant, rehearsed smile that sent a shiver down my spine. It felt surreal, as though I had stepped into someone else’s nightmare. I actually pinched the flesh of my inner arm to force myself awake. “Ah, yes, Mrs. Sterling,” she said cheerfully, sliding a sleek black card across the counter. “Our guest has been expecting you. Here is the master key card.” Expecting me? I didn’t breathe a reply. I snatched the plastic with a clammy hand and hurried toward the elevator. The ride up was dead silent, save for the thumping of my own pulse roaring in my ears. Ding. The doors slid open directly into the penthouse. I didn’t even have to look. The noises hit me first. A low, breathless giggle, followed by a heavy, familiar groan. I knew that groan. I had heard it a thousand times in the dark of our own bedroom. It was him. But the high-pitched, desperate whimper that followed didn’t belong to me. It belonged to Victoria—his stepsister. The very woman I had spent months feeling insecure about. Every time I had brought her up, Jason had scoffed, calling me crazy, telling me it meant nothing. My heart plummeted straight into my stomach. I took unsure steps forward, my heels making no sound against the soft, plush carpet. The double doors to the master bedroom were wide open. They were right there on the bed. Jason’s tailored suit jacket was discarded on the floor; his shirt was torn open, his pants pulled down around his thighs. They hadn’t even had the decency to fully undress. Victoria was straddling him, her silk dress bunched up around her waist. I stood paralyzed in the shadows, watching her back arch, her fingers tangled in his dark hair as she rode him. The sickening wet sounds filled the room. I couldn’t see her face, but Jason’s face was framed perfectly by the headboard. His eyes were locked on her with a look I hadn’t seen directed at me in years. The shock hit me like a physical fist to the gut. The suffocating mix of betrayal, rage, and grief tightened around my throat, choking out my air. I wanted to scream. I opened my mouth to tear the room apart. But no sound came out. And then, as the initial shock settled, I felt myself go very still. The violent shaking in my hands stopped entirely. The chaotic panic evaporated, replaced by a cold, razor-sharp clarity. The three-year test was officially over. And Jason Sterling had just failed it. I stood perfectly straight, my shoulders dropping as my face smoothed into a flawless, emotionless mask. Slowly, calmly, I reached into my designer bag and pulled out my phone. I opened the camera app, framed the sweating, writhing couple perfectly in the lens, and hit the button to unlock the live feed to my family’s network.Jasmine“A trip?” Laura nearly shrieked, dropping her iPad onto the desk with a loud thud. She slammed both palms down, leaning halfway across the table. “What do you mean, a trip? Jasmine Vance, where is he taking you?”I held up my hands, stifling a laugh as I shut my laptop. “I don’t know all the details yet, okay? He just told me to pack a small bag for a couple of days on a yacht and that he’d have a car ready for us by four.”Laura’s eyes widened, her mouth forming a perfect, dramatic O. She gasped, clutching her chest.“The yacht! Oh my God, Jasmine! Do you remember? Months ago, back when we were literally swooning over his photos on the internet and fantasizing about what his actual dating life looked like, we said he was the type to take a girl on a ridiculously lavish yacht date!”“Oh wow!” My eyes widened in realization. “We actually said that!”“I swear on everything, Jasmine. I swear on my life, I didn’t tell Sebastian!” Laura insisted, pointing an accusing finger at the
VictoriaI let out an exasperated sigh as I got into the limousine. My face was set in a deep scowl, and my knuckles were white from how tightly I was clutching the fleece blanket around my shoulders. Beneath it, the front of my pastel pink dress was ruined, a dark red, ugly splotch. There was no saving the dress.“You acted like a hysterical animal, Victoria,” my mother said through clenched teeth. That was the only sign of the intense anger she was feeling inside. She sat perfectly erect in the back seat, one leg crossed over the other, staring straight out the tinted window, her back rigid.I swallowed, taking a moment to calm myself.“Mother, she—”“Quiet.” She didn’t even turn her head. “I don’t care what excuse you have. You stood in the center of a high-society event, one we attended to clean the dirt off our name, the dirt your sleazy half-brother brought upon us.”There it was, the jab at Jason. It wasn’t a typical Eleanor rant if there wasn’t a jab directed at him.“You pour
JasonI walked through the grand doors of the Sterling Mansion. Victoria’s face pulled into a frown as soon as she saw me. She was sitting in the living room.“Victoria,” I said, taking a step toward her. “Come on. Are we really still doing this?”She didn’t even spare me a glance.“I said I was sorry,” I tried again, stepping into her space and reaching out to touch her arm. “The other day, it was just a slip of the tongue. You know I didn’t mean—”The sound of approaching footsteps caused us both to look up instantly. A housemaid walked past carrying a tray of fresh linens, bowing her head quickly as she scurried by.I instantly froze, snapping my hand away and clearing my throat dramatically.Victoria didn’t even flinch. She rose to her feet and walked away, her heels clicking loudly against the marble floor.I let out a long exhale before marching out into the garden to find Eleanor.She was standing near the manicured rose bushes, holding a pair of golden shears. Two maids stood
Sebastian“She’s perfect, isn’t she?”I reclined in my leather executive chair as I stared at the pictures on my laptop. It was the image from the photoshoot with Jasmine and Cassie. Jasmine was standing in the center of the frame, a pretty smile on her face, glowing like an actual goddess while her stepsister looked like a confused statue beside her.“Who, sir?”I blinked, snapping out of my trance. My executive assistant, Mark, was standing beside my desk, holding a heavy stack of documents in his hands and looking at me with a completely bewildered expression.I quickly cleared my throat, adjusting the cuffs of my suit jacket.“The... details in the photo, Mark. The lighting, the simplicity of the style. It’s...” I flicked my fingers as I searched for the word. “Exceptional.”“Ah. Right,” Mark said slowly, setting the files down on the desk. “The Vance Global PR metrics are up by forty percent following yesterday’s release.”My eyes drifted back to Jasmine’s face on the screen. My
Jason“Smile, Jason,” Victoria hissed under her breath, her fingers digging into the sleeve of my tuxedo. “The cameras on the left are watching us.”I loosened my jaw, plastering a stiff, practiced smile across my face as we walked down the red carpet of the Grand Imperial Gala. Flashbulbs went off
Jason“Are you that dumb, Jason?” Eleanor screamed. This was the first time I had seen her in a state of disarray. She was always perfect, not a hair out of place. Now, her clothes were damp, and her hair was sticking to her forehead as she paced the marble floor of the foyer. The storm outside was
JasmineThe car was still on the inside, but outside, it was the complete opposite. The rain lashed against the bulletproof windows, blurring my view of the city.And then I finally broke.The cold mask I had worn in the penthouse and on the driveway crumbled. I pulled my knees to my chest, buried
JasmineThe camera on my phone didn’t shake. I held it perfectly steady, watching the little red ‘LIVE’ icon blink. Thanks to the master access credentials I’d quietly retained after helping design parts of Sterling Media’s shareholder communications network years ago, this wasn’t just going to my






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