Divorce

My day was already planned out. I had planned to visit my father, Frederick Winslet.

I served breakfast very early at the dining table before Alexander headed out. For three years, I had been nothing but a tool for Alexander to toss aside and cheat on.

I adjusted my dress in the mirror, watching my reflection with steady, unblinking eyes.

My face was no longer pale from the morning sickness that would have plagued me in my past life a week from today. I had changed that timeline completely, and with it, my destiny.

I was no longer the fragile, desperate woman who cried over his mother's endless humiliations or begged for a single crumb of affection.

I had laid out the hot plates on the huge mahogany dining table before Alexander headed out. Everything had to look completely normal, completely unsuspicious.

If I showed even a sliver of defiance too soon, I would be locked away again for being too demanding and annoying.

Three long years, I had been a tool for Alexander Hamilton to toss aside, step on, and cheat on with Steph.

Not anymore.

The moment his luxury car pulled out of the driveway, I packed my essential documents from where I had hidden them and left. I didn't head back to the bedroom.

My day was already figured out. No more sobbing or waiting for Alexander to come back home late and drunk.

My first stop was the Winslet estate to visit my biological father, Frederick Winslet.

***

The air inside Frederick’s private study was thick with the scent of aged leather and expensive tobacco. He didn't even look up from his financial ledgers when I stepped inside, his brow furrowed over the impending bankruptcy of the Winslet Group.

"If you're here to beg for an allowance, Lavina, save your breath," Frederick said, his tone dripping with routine dismissiveness. "You know our priority right now is securing Stephanie’s future with the Stone family alliance. I don't have time for marriage problems."

I didn't answer with tears or pleas.

Instead, I reached up, unclasped the heavy diamond ring from my finger, and let it drop.

Clack.

The diamond wedding ring clattered onto the polished mahogany table, spinning once before coming to a dead stop right beside his ledger.

Frederick froze, his eyes snapping up from the paper to stare at the ring, then at my face.

"What is the meaning of this?" His voice rose.

"I accept your dilemma," I said, my voice completely devoid of warmth, smooth as ice. "I will take Stephanie's place. I will marry the dying Stone heir instead."

Frederick rasped, his voice faltering as he half-stood from his leather chair. "You... what? Lavina, have you lost your mind? The Stone heir is a bedridden recluse. That engagement was arranged for Stephanie to save our company, but she is far too fragile for such a burden!"

"And I am disposable enough to bear it," I replied, meeting his gaze with utter coldness, masking the years of discarded worth he had buried under my feet. "You need Stone Corporation's infinite capital to keep your business alive, but you don't want your precious Stephanie tied to a dying man. I am offering you the perfect solution. I take the Stone name, your debt disappears, and Stephanie stays safe."

Frederick stammered, his mind racing as his corporate safety net suddenly shifted on its axis. "You... you would really do this? What about Alexander?"

"In return," I said, leaning over the table, my tone slicing through the silence like a razor, "I demand a complete legal severance. Erase my name from the Winslet family register. No inheritance, no family ties, no public record that I was ever your daughter. In fact, pretend I was never born."

Frederick stared at me, dumbfounded by the sheer finality in my eyes. He had expected tears, defiance, or jealousy over Stephanie, but he was looking straight at a complete stranger.

‘Let them think I am self-sacrificing,’ I thought silently, watching my father nervously draw up the preliminary severance agreement’. They have no idea what is coming.’

In my previous life, I had clung to the hope that this man would eventually love me as his true daughter. I had bled out in a dark, freezing warehouse while Alexander saved Stephanie, unaware that my real birthright was an ancient royal bloodline that meant more than all the Winslet and Hamilton wealth combined.

They thought they were sacrificing me to a dying recluse, but they were actually handing me the key to absolute freedom before the world turned into an ice-choked graveyard.

I signed the legal waiver without a single second of hesitation, collected my certified copy, and walked out of the Winslet mansion without looking back.

Instead of returning to the Hamilton villa to play the dutiful servant, I took a taxi straight to the outer industrial district.

I stood alone in the center of a massive, empty warehouse I had rented under an anonymous corporate shell using my liquidated personal savings. The ceiling arched high above me, and the dusty air was cold and quiet.

My phone buzzed sharply in my palm. I flipped it over to read the message flashing across the screen:

[ALEXANDER: Where are you? Get back to the villa immediately and prepare dinner. Stephanie is coming over.]

A slow, chilling smile touched my lips. I didn't reply.

I didn't block him.

I simply set the phone to silent and slid it into my pocket, leaving him to wait for a wife who was never coming back.

I dropped to my knees on the cold concrete floor and pressed my bare palm flat against the ground.

Awaken, I commanded in my heart.

A sudden, violent wave of liquid heat erupted from deep within my spirit, surging down my arms and into the physical space around me.

My dormant royal bloodline realm responded to my intent, expanding rapidly into an invisible, endless time-frozen vault tethered directly to my soul. I could control it with my mind and store as many items and medicines as I wanted.

The air in the warehouse rippled like distorted water, the immense spiritual pressure making my hair float as the link locked into place.

The countdown had begun. Sixty days left.

And this time, my soul vault would hoard everything needed to survive the end of the world.