Chapter 01

“Adrian, I’ve invited you here to tell you something very important.” A young woman in her mid-twenties, Lyra—the only daughter of the Lanes family—said.

Her eyes burned with seriousness as though she had swallowed a bottle of impatient rage while looking at her husband, Adrian Foster.

Adrian stood frozen, as though his ears were open but his heart was still wondering what the urgency was about.

“You’ve invited me to your office, which is unusual. What’s the matter, dearest?” he asked, curious.

Lyra sighed.

“I don’t think this marriage is working for me anymore.” She paused.

Adrian’s heart shattered in an instant, like the fragment of a broken star.

“What do you mean?” he questioned, hoping that if she repeated herself it would change the meaning.

“I’m sorry, but you’re not helping my life in any way. It’s really stressful that I have a lot of opportunities I can’t grab because I’m married to you—and you’re just a loser anyway. You can’t bring any fortune to my life. I have to give you $100 every day for your upkeep, and I get nothing in return,” she muttered nonchalantly, sitting in her chair as the CEO.

Three years ago, Mrs. Lane suddenly introduced Adrian Foster to the family and said her granddaughter must marry him. Just to make her happy, Lyra’s mother, Nola, agreed and convinced Lyra to please their old grandmother, who was battling cancer, since it was her only wish.

Suddenly, after their wedding night, a mysterious investor appeared, someone she had never seen or heard of before, pouring money into her business and helping her rise to CEO of the family company. With her grandmother now gone and her position secure, Lyra felt Adrian was nothing more than a burden she no longer needed.

Adrian stood for a moment, not saying a word.

Then he cracked his voice and said, “Okay.”

Lyra’s expression, which had been hard all along, became soft at once.

She didn’t expect Adrian to agree easily. She expected him to plead and try to make her feel pity for him, but he was confident about his response.

Huh?

She muttered before realizing it had slipped from her lips.

“Is it a divorce you want now? It’s fine, I’ll sign it. Since it’s what would make you happy—and I promised Grandma before she died that I’d always make you happy,” he said without showing any expression on his face.

After all, since he’d been in the family for three years now, he had no dignity left with them. He always got scolded by his mother-in-law. But Adrian never took any of these to heart; instead, he always tried to please them by doing laundry and cleaning the house. It was never a real marriage for Lyra, and he knew that too.

“Adrian—I didn’t mean…” Adrian raised a hand.

“You don’t have to explain. I know you want the best for yourself, and to you I am not worth your status anymore. So it’s all good.”

“Pen?” he said.

Lyra was shocked. Her face turned pale.

A part of her felt like she had made the wrong choice and was about to lose something.

But then, he’s just a nobody. Who does his love help? He’s nothing but a loser—I won’t regret losing him.

She muttered in her mind.

Adrian was done signing the papers and immediately turned to step out.

“But Adrian. You don’t have to be mad at me. I know how hard it is for you to pretend that you’re okay with this. But here—take this. It’s a compensation for you. You can start a new life with this,” she said, pushing a cheque note on the table towards him.

Adrian turned back.

“Keep your money.”

Huh?

“It’s a million dollars, Adrian. Don’t make this mistake. You only work as a mere doctor and can’t earn this much in your lifetime,” she added.

Her face was a twist of pity and anger.

“You’d need it more than me, Mrs. Lyra. Take care,” Adrian said, as if he had practiced a goodbye greeting for a long time.

Lyra, confused, said, “Stop there.” She yelled, her eyes darkened as if her ego had been stepped on.

Adrian turned slowly and looked at her.

His tone was still simple, and his face had an unreadable expression. “What now? I already signed your papers. Do I owe you anything else?” he asked in a different tone.

He usually sounded soft and sweet to her before, even though she never reciprocated it.

“Oh…” she said, realizing she wasn’t supposed to be angry at him. “Oh okay, take care too,” she said, her heart pounding loudly.

Adrian was about to open the office door when the door was pushed open by someone—it was Lyra’s mother, Mrs. Nola.

With a knowing smile, she shot Adrian a disdainful look.

It meant they had plotted it all along, only that Adrian didn’t notice he was a pawn in their game.

Adrian intended to ignore her and walk away, but she called out.

“Hey, Adrian, don’t forget to pick your bags on the way out. I helped you pack them outside. You might want to run fast so the rain doesn’t soak them,” Mrs. Nola said with a mocking expression. The satisfaction on her face was palpable.

Adrian stopped in his tracks. He slowly looked back and caught the view of a small black box he recognized as his. It held the Ebon Star Necklace, whispered to be the most expensive piece in all of Vereluxe.

“I wonder where Adrian got this fake necklace… does he want to fool you into believing it was from the Xanders Corporation? The same necklace that was marked ‘not for sale’—I saw it in his bag while I was throwing his things out of the house,” she muttered with disdainful satisfaction on her face as she showed it to Lyra.

The Ebon Star Necklace

This necklace is an exquisite, one-of-a-kind piece:

A pendant of deep midnight sapphire surrounded by a halo of flawless white diamonds, hanging from a delicate platinum chain. The necklace’s design is inspired by the night sky of Vereluxe, with the sapphire centerpiece reflecting an ethereal glow, rumored to be blessed by a centuries-old dynasty.

Indeed, it was the real one, but who would dare to have bought that very necklace that was marked ‘not for sale’? Definitely not this poor Adrian, they thought.

Before the blink of an eye, Adrian grabbed the box from her.

“Of course it’s the real necklace from the Xanders Museum. I wanted to gift it to Lyra for her birthday—but not anymore, since we’re now divorced,” Adrian spoke in a chill tone that sent a wave of guilt through Lyra’s heart.

Could it be real? Have I made a mistake by divorcing him? she thought, her heart pounding but not for long before she snap out of her enotions.

“Lyra, don’t think much of it. Look, that necklace is a fake. If it’s not fake, then tell us how much you bought it for?” Nola asked.

“I don’t know how much it cost,” Adrian said calmly.

“You see? He’s just a useless garbage person. How could you claim it’s real and not know its real price? You better not let anyone see that with you, or else you’ll end up in prison for claiming to have the Ebon Star Necklace,” Nola said with a straight face.

“Adrian, I know you’re hurt because of the breakup. But that doesn’t mean you should try to show off. You know it’s not proper to claim a fake necklace as the real one—especially since the Xanders Corporation won’t let that slide easily if they find out,” she spat.

Adrian shook his head. He had gotten the necklace just the night before today. He planned on presenting it to his wife on her birthday in two weeks, and he knew he had never shown her his real identity. Maybe it was the right time to reveal it after three years of their marriage. But now, things seemed to be playing out another way.

“Anyways, Damian would soon be back. And once he comes back, I’m sure that our family business would skyrocket to the top in this city. We’d no longer have to worry about running into bankruptcy,” Nola said with a grinning smile.

Lyra smiled. “Mama, don’t worry. Damian already promised that after our engagement he’d invest in the company,” she replied with a satisfied smile.

Damian Kade. The son of a top elite figure in the whole of Vereluxe City, known for their prestigious influence. Damian is the successor of the Kade family, and with Lyra’s fate tied to him, it was sure success for the Lanes Group.