Chapter 1

"Skylar, are you sure you want to become an officer?"

I looked at my father's memorial photo and nodded solemnly.

"In a week, we'll stage your disappearance. The name Skylar will vanish from this world, completely."

After leaving the police station, before I even stepped inside my own home, the sight of a woman's high heels by the door immediately caught my eye, a sharp stab of dread.

I numbly pushed open the front door. The sound of a woman's gasps, laced with pleasure, drilled into my ears.

The bedroom door was deliberately left ajar, framing him with another woman.

I knew he was getting back at me for abandoning him all those years ago.

But the moment I saw the woman's face, I completely lost it. I lunged forward like a maniac:

"Liam, are you out of your mind? How could you? Why my own sister!?"

I rushed forward, desperate to drag Chloe off the bed.

"Chloe! Get out of here, now!"

Liam shoved me away violently. I stumbled back, crashing into the wall.

My back screamed in pain, but it was nowhere near the agony that ripped through my heart.

He calmly pulled the blanket over Chloe.

He turned, his gaze icy as he looked at me.

"Skylar, what right do you have to question me?"

"Who I'm with is my business."

"When you left me for money all those years ago, why didn't you think about today?"

All the unspeakable truths and crushing grievances, the reasons I couldn't explain, turned into a bitter, icy ache, choking me.

"I didn't!"

I left him back then to protect him.

My father was an undercover agent, brutally murdered after his identity was exposed.

Dangerous enemies had vowed to wipe out his entire family.

I had to leave Liam to keep him safe, to keep him from getting entangled.

When Liam was critically injured in a car accident, I secretly underwent surgery in the room next door, risking my own life to donate a kidney to him.

He knew none of this.

Chloe, wrapped in the blanket, her voice trembling with a feigned sob.

"Skylar, don't blame Liam."

"We truly love each other."

She snuggled deeper into Liam's arms.

"Skylar, you're the one who's in the way. You're the one who's redundant."

Liam immediately pulled her closer, his voice chilling.

"Skylar, shut up."

"If Chloe hadn't donated her kidney to me back then, I'd be dead already."

"You gold-digging woman, what nerve do you have to stand here shouting?"

"If anything happens to Chloe, I swear I'll make you pay for it with your own life!"

I froze, rooted to the spot.

My mind went utterly blank.

Chloe... donated a kidney?

How *dare* she claim that?

Liam picked Chloe up and walked past me.

"Get out."

"Don't defile my sight."

As she brushed past, Chloe's voice whispered in my ear.

"Skylar, my birthday is in three days. You'll come, won't you?"

I spent the remaining days slowly packing my belongings. Soon, Chloe's birthday arrived.

Liam booked the most expensive hotel in the city, throwing her an extravagant party.

He announced publicly.

"Chloe is the only woman I, Liam Vance, will ever recognize as my love."

"She saved my life with her kidney."

The guests buzzed with agreement.

"Mrs. Vance truly is a kind soul."

"Unlike some women, clinging to her position."

"Exactly. I heard she ran off for money back then, and now she's shamelessly crawling back."

Every whispered word felt like a poisoned dagger twisting in my heart.

I stood there, holding a champagne flute, my hand trembling uncontrollably.

I had become the laughingstock of the entire city.

I slipped into the stairwell, desperate for a moment to breathe.

But Chloe followed me.

The fragility on her face vanished, replaced by triumph and pure provocation.

"Skylar, did you hear it all?"

"Liam loves me."

I looked at her coldly.

"Chloe, you know perfectly well who really donated that kidney."

Chloe scoffed.

"So what?"

"Right now, Liam believes me."

"He's convinced I'm the one who saved his life twice."

"Twice?" My stomach dropped.

"Oh, I forgot to tell you." Chloe's grin widened with smugness.

"Last time Liam went missing in the mountains, I was the one who rescued him too."

The revelation hit me like a bolt of lightning, leaving me utterly frozen, bone-chillingly cold.

My sacrifice, the love that cost me my health, the deep, personal pain I endured, all of it—she'd stolen it and claimed it as her own triumph!

A furious, searing pain surged through my chest, making me sway, almost losing my footing.

She leaned closer, her voice dropping to a malicious whisper.

"Skylar, you're not even fully healthy with just one kidney. Why are you still clinging to the title of Mrs. Vance?"

"Doesn't it disgust you, holding onto that position?"

"Give Liam to me."