Chapter 1

After half an hour of sex, Torres handed me a birth control pill, as usual.

"Take it now. Don't cause me any trouble."

I took it and swallowed it skillfully.

"This is the 150th time. You promised that after I took 150 pills, you'd marry me."

He looked surprised, then seemed to remember something. He lifted my chin with his fingertip.

His tone was frivolous.

"Vivian, how can you take pillow talk seriously? Anna's coming back from abroad today. Pack your things and move out. I don't want her to see any trace of you."

After he left, I sat on the edge of the bed in silence for a long time.

Finally, I set his villa on fire.

Didn't he want to erase all traces of me?

Then I'd make it completely clean.

Three years ago, Torres offered Anna 1.5 million dollars in cash to make her stay, but she rejected him firmly.

"Get lost! Who wants your dirty money?"

She turned and ran. I took the initiative to approach him.

"That money... can you give it to me? I look seventy percent like her. You can think of me as her."

He looked down at me, a playful smile appearing on his face. "Sure."

That night, I slept with him.

Afterwards, he handed me a birth control pill from the drawer.

"Take it. After you take 150 of these, I'll marry you."

I didn't take his words to heart. I took the 1.5 million that Anna didn't want and went to the hospital to pay my mom's medical bills.

My anxious heart found a lifeline, and I felt slightly at ease.

Anna was my half-sister, not much younger than me.

To be precise, her mother was the mistress. My mom couldn't bear my dad's betrayal and ended the marriage with her own hands.

I was only eight years old then, and I took my mother's surname.

Three years ago, my mom was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. The exorbitant medical costs forced me to beg my dad for help.

He refused. "I have money, but I don't owe her anything."

Then he turned around and publicly bid twenty million dollars for an agate necklace for his mistress-turned-wife.

Twenty million—enough to save my mom hundreds of times over...

When I was desperate, Anna and Torres happened to have a fight. In her anger, she went abroad and cut off contact with him.

I seized the opportunity to take her place and secure a lifeline for my mom.

That evening, I woke up in the hospital. The TV was broadcasting news about Torres going to the airport to pick up his first love, Anna.

The nurse changing my IV smiled and said to me, "The CEO of TR Group is quite devoted. Three years have passed, and he still can't forget his first love!"

I didn't respond.

My heart felt like it had been stabbed with a blade. The pain spread from my chest outward.

Initially, I got together with Torres only for his money. I couldn't say I had any feelings for him.

The first time my heart fluttered was when he prepared a birthday party for me.

From age one to twenty-two, he had prepared every year's birthday gift for me.

"Vivian, all the birthday presents you never received in the past, I'm making up for them all at once."

Since I could remember, my parents had been locked in endless arguments, tearing our family apart.

I'd never had a proper birthday, let alone birthday gifts.

The second time my heart fluttered was when I had a high fever of 103.1°F.

Torres put down a twenty-million-dollar deal and flew over ten hours on his private jet from abroad to be by my side.

"I don't trust them to take care of you."

He barely slept for three days and nights. Only after my fever broke did he collapse beside my bed and fall into a deep sleep.

The last time I fell for him was when I'd fallen asleep exhausted. He helped my mom to the bathroom. Torres showed no disgust and was extremely patient.

"Ma'am, Vivian is my girlfriend. It's only right that I take care of you."

I thought Torres loved me too.

Over the years, we became more and more compatible in bed. He no longer mentioned Anna in his sleep but whispered my name instead—Vivian.

I thought I'd won, but I ended up losing completely.