Ten Years of Make-Believe

When I opened my eyes again, the sky had gone completely dark.

Outside the abandoned factory, there was nothing but the wind howling off the ocean. No doctor, no security team, just a phone buzzing nonstop beside me. Leah was gone.

I lunged for the phone and answered it, practically shouting, "Adrian, where is Leah?"

There was a pause on the other end before he said, "Security already took her back to Maple Ridge. There wasn't enough room in the car, so they took the child first. I had to go save Vera. I was planning to come back for you once everything was over."

The tightness in my chest eased slightly. As long as Leah was safe, I didn't even want to ask why he'd left me here alone, battered and bleeding.

"Send a car for me. I need to see Leah right now."

A woman's muffled groan came through the phone. Adrian's tone softened immediately. "Vera's hurt. I'm with her at the hospital. Get yourself a ride back."

My knuckles whitened around the phone. "For that show you two staged, Leah and I were tortured for three full days. Now you expect me to get back from the middle of nowhere on my own while you stay at the hospital with the woman who helped set me up?"

The line went silent for a long time.

Then Adrian let out a low laugh, as if he were finally tired of pretending. "So you already know."

"That woman?" he said slowly. "Elena, you probably don't know this yet, but the paperwork for the marriage you always believed was legal was never filed."

My breath stopped.

Ten years ago, we held our wedding at a seaside chapel. The license, the filing, even the witnesses had all been handled by the Cole family's legal team. Adrian personally handed me a copy bearing the official seal. I never doubted that it might have no legal force.

"Before the wedding, I had the lawyers withdraw the registration application," he continued. "Before you even got pregnant with Leah, Vera and I had already completed our civil registration. She's the one the law recognizes as Mrs. Cole.

"As for you, you were just a woman who lived in my house, had my child, and never knew the truth."

A chill ran through my entire body, but I denied it instinctively. "That's impossible. When Leah was born, I hemorrhaged. You stayed outside the operating room all night. You said no matter what happened, we were a family."

Adrian sighed, as if he were reasoning with someone who refused to accept reality. "I've let you into my private Instagram account. See for yourself."

When the page refreshed, the first photo showed Vera in a white dress, nestled in Adrian's arms. It wasn't the ceremony everyone knew about. It was a small civil wedding, with an officiant, lawyers, and a handful of mutual friends present.

In the photos that followed, they kissed outside city hall, cut a cake at a restaurant, and raised their glasses as friends congratulated them. The last image was their marriage certificate. The date was six months before my lavish wedding.

Everyone had known all along.

I was the only joke, standing amid the guests' applause, believing I had finally married the man I'd loved for years.

Adrian's tone turned casual. "Do you believe me now? I was drunk when I slept with Vera, and you're the one who assigned her to me as my executive assistant in the first place. She's different from you. You have your family, your career, your reputation. She has nothing. She was afraid you couldn't handle it, so she never let me tell you."

I leaned against the icy wall, my laugh raw and hoarse. "How noble of you both. You used my trust as cover and gambled with Leah's life and mine to absolve your guilt."

"Don't make it sound so ugly," he said coldly. "You're the Walker family heir and the youngest project lead at the research center. You've been gone three days, and you've already forgotten how to behave with even a shred of dignity?"

I slowly sank to my knees and called out silently, word by word.

[System, I'm not staying here anymore. I'm taking Leah back to the original world.]

A crimson countdown appeared before my eyes.

Three days.

Adrian, I spent ten years making you fall in love with me, and it took only this moment to understand that you were never worth it.

On the phone, he continued as if announcing a decision that had already been made. "There's a family dinner at Maple Ridge tonight. Since you already know the truth, I'll publicly acknowledge Mia as my daughter and have the lawyers add her to the Cole family trust."