Chapter 1

When I married a divorced man, everyone warned me that being a stepmother was a thankless, impossible role.

I refused to believe them. I poured ten years of my youth into raising his daughter, pulling her back from the edge of deep emotional withdrawal.

Until her wedding day.

Standing in her bridal gown, my stepdaughter turned toward me, flashing a brilliant, mocking smile.

"Vivian, thank you for looking after my dad and me all these years on my mom's behalf."

"Now that she's back, you can leave."

My husband hung his head, silent.

Her biological mother stood up from the front row. "If it wasn't for you, we never would have broken up in the first place."

My stepdaughter linked arms with her real mother, beaming at me.

"Vivian, my mom is right. Besides, I won't ever need your money again. I have a rich husband now. Stop intruding on our family."

In that instant, everything clicked.

No wonder her attitude had done a complete 180 over the past six months. No wonder she had the nerve to betray me openly at her own wedding.

She genuinely believed she had married into high society and had finally outgrown her stepmother.

What she didn't know was that this entire marriage had been brokered by me.

Six months ago, billionaire CEO Arthur Lin had approached me, desperate to negotiate a massive business partnership.

I gave him only one non-negotiable condition: his only son had to marry my stepdaughter.

I had never breathed a word of this arrangement to her.

I didn't want her to feel pressured. I didn't want her to think of her wedding as a corporate transaction. I didn't want her to overthink things.

I simply wanted to secure her a grand, privileged future.

I calmly set down my teacup, stood up, and walked over to the groom.

"Mr. Lin, I owe you an apology."

"I was blind. The wedding is off. But our business deal still stands."

My stepdaughter hurried over in her high heels, dragging her designer train behind her, the triumphant smirk not yet wiped from her face.

"Vivian, what the hell do you mean by that?"

I looked directly into her eyes. "It's simple. Your marriage to the Lin heir was negotiated by me."

Her expression twisted, and she froze dead in her tracks.

"What did you say?"

"Six months ago, Mr. Lin came to me begging for a partnership. I set one condition: his only son had to marry you."

My voice was entirely devoid of emotion.

Her knuckles turned bone-white as she clutched the fabric of her wedding gown.

"You're lying! Lucas told me himself that he loves me!"

"This wedding has nothing to do with you!"

Lucas, who had remained silent the entire time, finally spoke. His tone was as cold as ice.

"I only approached you because my father ordered me to. Personally, I never felt anything close to love for you."

With that, he took a step back, widening the distance between them as if avoiding something utterly repulsive.

Chloe whipped her head toward him, her lips trembling violently.

"Lucas, you're lying, right? You treated me so well for the last six months! You promised you'd give me a real home!"

Lucas tugged loose his tie, a look of sheer impatience crossing his face.

"Those were polite pleasantries. You didn't actually buy into that, did you? I've been playing along with your little act for half a year. I'm exhausted."

He turned to me, bowing slightly with utmost deference.

"Ms. Vance, my father said everything is up to you. If you say the wedding is off, I'm leaving right now."

Without another word, he spun on his heel and walked away, not hesitating for a single second.

Chloe lunged forward like a madwoman, grabbing his sleeve.

"No! You can't leave! We've been together for six months—don't you feel anything for me at all?!"

Lucas glanced down at where her fingers clutched his cuff, his brow furrowing in disgust.

"You want the truth? Absolutely nothing."

One by one, he peeled her fingers off his arm.

"You are too fake. Just watching you exhausts me."

"On every single date, you were calculating. Calculating my family's wealth, calculating my parents' network, calculating what you could squeeze out of me. Did you really think I couldn't see through you?"

Her hands were pushed away, falling limply to her sides. She stood there as if her spine had been violently ripped out.

Right then, Chloe's biological mother, Brenda, charged over from the head table, her high heels pounding loud against the floor.

"Fine, walk out if you want! But if the groom walks, the bride price stays! Eight million dollars, not a single penny less!"

Her voice was shrill and deafening. The entire ballroom fell dead silent, every pair of eyes turning toward our spectacle.

Lucas turned back, looking at her as if she had just told the most ridiculous joke on earth.

"A bride price? The wedding never happened. What bride price?"

Brenda's face flushed a furious scarlet, and she shoved her finger right in Lucas's face.

"The Lin family sits on a multi-billion-dollar empire! What's eight million to you?!"

"Your family proposed this match! Now you want to call it off just like that? You owe us compensation!"

Lucas scoffed, not even deigning to answer her. He cast an apologetic glance in my direction.

"Ms. Vance, I'm sorry you had to witness this circus."

Seeing Lucas ignore her completely, Brenda whipped around and aimed all her venom directly at me.

She stormed up until her finger was inches from my nose.

"It's you, isn't it?! This is all your dirty work! Over ten years ago, you tore me away from my daughter, and now you come here to ruin her wedding! How can a woman be as vile and vicious as you?!"