Chapter 1 The Shattered Illusion

The moment I got off the plane, I clutched the hard-won medicine and hurried toward the VIP lounge. But just as I reached the door, I overheard something that made my blood run cold.

"I heard she went abroad herself to get you this medicine. Don't you think sending someone to stop her was going too far? Arden gives you everything she has. If she ever found out…"

There was a brief silence inside before Wayne Kinsey spoke in a casual tone. "She'll never know. And even if she does, I'll just spend the rest of my life making it up to her."

I lowered my gaze to the cut on my arm, the one I had taken while protecting the medicine. So the men who tried to rob me at the airport had been sent by Wayne himself. That was when the pain of the half-healed wound finally burned through my numbness.

The sensor doors to the lounge slid open, and Wayne rushed toward me in his wheelchair.

As he drew near, he immediately caught the metallic scent of blood on me. Panic flashed across his face, and in his haste, he nearly toppled from his chair. Without a thought for himself, he grabbed my hand and inspected it with trembling urgency. "Arden, are you okay? Where are you hurt?"

His eyes brimmed with concern, his touch as gentle as it had always been. Yet I no longer felt even the faintest trace of love in it. I quietly pulled my hand away. "It's nothing, just a scratch—"

But before I could finish my words, my vision went black. Days of exhaustion and running around had finally caught up with me, and I fainted.

When I woke, I was lying in Wayne's private lounge. My wound had already been bandaged, but he was nowhere to be found. I sat up to grab my phone, and my eyes fell on a notebook on his desk. Curiosity made me flip it open. Every page was filled with Wayne's handwriting.

'Naomi likes sour food. After meals, take her for a walk to help with digestion.'

'Prenatal class on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. Accompany her to yoga on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays.'

My hands trembled as I turned page after page. From every checkup to every craving, from the smallest detail to the biggest event, Naomi Sharpe's pregnancy was documented in meticulous detail. Each line was brimming with hidden affection, stabbing into my chest until my heart ached. Wayne, her brother-in-law, was more attentive than her real husband could ever hope to be.

My mind flashed back to that day five years ago, when the system had declared me doomed. Wayne had appeared out of nowhere and saved me, trading his legs for my survival.

I had been so naive then, believing him to be my salvation. I never realized he was the one pushing me into the abyss all along. Even the love he had once seemed willing to give his life for was nothing but an act. And I had been foolish enough to feel guilty, desperate to cure his legs as if I owed him everything.

The tears I shed now washed away the last fragments of attachment I had for him. This false marriage, carried on for five years, needed to end here.

As I closed my eyes and finally let go, a cold mechanical voice rang through my mind. "Host, the system has detected a second mission failure. Do you wish to terminate it?"