Chapter 2

I stood up calmly and continued walking toward our apartment.

Lily didn't know.

Seven years ago, everyone in the Vance family had died. I was the only one left.

My father, mother, older brother, and even Mrs. Gable and Mr. Henderson, the nanny and butler who had watched me grow up, were all buried at the bottom of the ocean. The fish had long since picked their bones clean.

To clear the path for Chloe, everyone who could prove my identity had been wiped out.

After escaping from that basement, I couldn't even build gravestones for them. I could only stand by the shore and pour glasses of white wine into the waves.

Back then, Chloe had already been living as the Vance heiress for six months.

She was loud, flashy, and arrogant.

Using my identity, she checked into luxury hotels with Christian. Shipments of adult toys were delivered to the Vance estate one after another.

And she handed over the company my father had spent his entire life building to Christian on a silver platter.

The media was flooded with reports of their deeply romantic marriage.

Meanwhile, I was shivering in a cheap, damp rented room, unable to sleep night after night.

My dreams were filled with the bloated, pale faces of my parents drowning in the ocean, reaching their hands out to me, begging me to save them.

Seven years ago, I was too young, too impulsive, and too reckless.

During the corporate acquisition signing ceremony, I broke in with a crowd of reporters.

I screamed like a madwoman.

I tried desperately to prove that I was the real Evelyn Vance.

The media pointed their cameras at me. Amidst the blinding flashes, I saw Christian let out a soft, amused chuckle.

He took a step forward, shielding the imposter behind him.

His voice cut through the chaotic room, cold and merciless.

"I don't know this woman. My wife will only ever be the one I recognize."

Even my one-year-old son, who was held by the imposter, cried out in fear as I tried to approach.

"Mommy, that scary lady is copying your face. I'm scared..."

While I stood there frozen,

Chloe lifted her face, a face identical to mine, and smiled triumphantly as she hugged my son tight.

She had won.

She stole my child, my husband, and my entire life. She became the sole Vance heiress.

And I became a lunatic who was obsessed with marrying rich through extreme plastic surgery.

In the end, the farce ended with the police dragging me away.

Inside the precinct, I cried hysterically. I kept screaming that Christian had murdered my family and teamed up with an imposter to steal my identity.

But no one believes a madwoman.

Besides, launching an investigation required evidence. And I had absolutely none.

I was locked up for a day. When I was released, Christian's luxury sedan was idling at the gate. A cherry-red ember of a cigarette glowed between his fingers.

"Evelyn, you should have realized this sooner."

"If I want someone, you can't stop me."

"If you had just been obedient, I wouldn't have had Chloe get surgery to look like you. You would still be the Vance heiress, and you would still be my wife."

"Get in. Let's go home. You haven't seen Leo in six months. Don't you miss him?"

...

"Mom, we're home."

Lily's voice pulled me back from the abyss of my memories.

I looked at the dark, grimy stairwell and walked up, completely used to it by now.

Compared to the past, my life now was heaven.

After Christian dragged me back to the Vance estate, I became Chloe's literal shadow.

Whenever there were business dinners she didn't want to attend, Christian would drag me along to drink with his investors.

Whenever there were charity galas she found boring, Christian would bring me to act as a silent, beautiful doll.

During those two years, I reached out to so many people, trying to tell them the truth.

The board directors of the old Vance Group, my childhood best friend, my college juniors who went into journalism...

I contacted everyone I could think of.

I wept, poured my heart out, and begged them to go to the police with me to rip off Christian's hypocritical mask.

But all of them looked at me with pity and concern.

They didn't believe me.

To them, my constant resistance was just a symptom of severe schizophrenia.

My best friend ended up personally handing me back to Christian,

imploring him to find me a better psychiatrist and take good care of me.

And just like that, I was officially branded a lunatic.

Christian grabbed my hand, slid the wedding band back onto my finger, and smiled gently.

"Evelyn, nobody believes you anymore."

"In this entire world, only I know your pain and your anger."

"Just live peacefully with me from now on. Stop scheming. Do you really want to spend the rest of your life in a padded cell?"

I stared at him blankly.

Tears rolled down my face and into my mouth, leaving a bitter, salty taste.

After that,

whenever I wasn't needed as a double, I was locked away in a secluded suburban villa under the watchful eye of the butler.

I could only sit in the empty backyard, staring blankly at the sky.

And during those times,

Christian would take Chloe on lavish honeymoons.

Their private jet would soar right over my head, leaving sharp, mocking white streaks across the blue sky.

Christian once asked me, Don't you miss Leo?

Back then, I couldn't give him an answer.

But now, I could tell him with absolute certainty.

No. I don't.