“I accept your offer.” I said coldly, the air sharp with finality. “I will disappear from Alexander Hamilton’s life forever… and marry the Stone heir instead.”

The diamond wedding ring clattered onto the mahogany table like a final nail in a coffin.

Across the lavishly furnished drawing room, Frederick Winslet, my biological father froze mid-sip of his tea.

“You… what?” he rasped, voice filled with disbelief.

“I said I will marry the Stone heir who is on his deathbed.” I repeated, meeting his stunned gaze. “The forced engagement meant for your beloved daughter Stephanie? I will take it instead.”

Three years as Alexander Hamilton’s secretary. Three years as his hidden wife. And one month ago my entire life fell apart.

Kidnapped on my way home from work, I was kept in a windowless warehouse for four days screaming myself hoarse.

My wrists torn raw from the nylon that chewed through flesh. I heard them calling Alexander. Twenty-seven times.

Not once did he bother to answer.

Eventually, one of the men laughed, holding the phone out on speaker. A woman’s voice came chuckling: “The boss has better things to worry about. Try someone who gives a damn.”

They left me there after that.

I don’t remember how I was found. The police said I had been unconscious.

A week of starvation, a day away from death.

When I was wheeled into the hospital, I kept asking for my husband but he never came.

Instead, I saw the tabloids the next morning:

[Love in air: Alexander Hamilton photographed with childhood sweetheart Stephanie Winslet leaving a private resort in the Bali.]

And just like that, the illusion I had wrapped around my life disintegrated.

While I was suffering, my husband was with his secret lover, my ‘sister’ Stephanie.

The girl who was swapped with me at birth.

After spending sixteen years in countryside with my poor grandmother, it was discovered that I was the biological daughter of the Winslet household.

‘We cannot let go of the daughter we have raised for sixteen years. Unlike you Stephanie is fragile Lavina. Now that you are staying with us don't covet what is not meant for you.’

That was the first thing they told me while looking at me like I was a blemish on their legacy.

“I know you don’t want Stephanie to marry a dying man but you also need Stone Corporation’s help to sustain your business. Well, congratulations. Your unwanted daughter will do it instead.”

Eerie silence swallowed the room.

Frederick Winslet stared at me. My biological mother said nothing, her face morphed in shock.

I stood up slowly, gathering the last shreds of dignity I had left.

“In return.” I said coldly “Erase me from the Winslet family. No name, no inheritance. Pretend I was never born.”

I paused. Then added, voice cracking just slightly.

“Tell my husband that this is my last gift to him- freedom.”

***

The Hamilton villa was unusually quiet when I stepped in.

Walking inside with cautious steps I breathed shakily at the sight infront of me- an intimate candle light dinner straight out of my dreams.

Was this… for me?

Then I heard his voice.

“I get it, Stephanie. It’s alright if you can’t come this time.”

“Don’t worry baby. I messed up most of the recipes anyway so how can I let you taste such awful food. Lavina will be home soon so the food won’t go to waste.”

I stood there frozen, tears stinging before I could stop them.

I stepped forward slowly, quietly as if I didn’t already know I didn’t belong in this scene.

Alexander turned around taken aback by my presence before a scowl formed on his lips. “Lavina why are you so late? If someone sees you working like this, they might think you work more than me, the CEO.

“Was just... finalizing some deals.”

“Whatever…You always say I don’t try enough.” he added. “So I wanted to surprise you this time with a .”

Bile rose my throat and I didn’t answer. Couldn’t.

My gaze drifted to the roses too beautiful, they looked just like my wedding bouquet.

Too much like it.

Maybe that was why my fingers trembled as they brushed the petals, trying to pretend, to believe, just for a second, that it was all meant for me.

Slap

My hand recoiled instantly as a sharp sound echoed throughout the manor.

Pain stung across my knuckles making me recoil in shock like I was burned.

Alexander had slapped my hand away so hard that red bruises started to appear instantly, I stared at my husband of three years in horror making his face drop, stunned.

“Lavina…” His voice was low, cautious, as if unsure what he had just done. “I didn’t mean… I wasn’t thinking right okay……You know I don’t like people touching my things…”

His eyes darted to my hand as he hurried inside to bring a first-aid box.

“I was just worried that you would ruin the arrangement I spent hours preparing…” he trailed off, his words dying somewhere between excuse and guilt as he tended to the wound while I sat frozen.

He picked up the bouquet, thrusting it toward me as he was done. “Here, you can have them.”

“It’s alright." I spoke trembling.

“Forget it alright. Didn’t you always complain to have a dinner with me, today is your day.”

With that various dishes were piled in my plate like I wasn’t a human but a feeding pig that he wanted to use to throw off the waste while he just took a few bites for himself.

I remembered it clearly when we were newly married, I had once playfully stolen a bite from his plate. He hadn’t said a word to me then.

Instead, he called the butler over and said coldly ‘Throw it all out. It is contaminated now.’

Since that day, I never ate beside him again and now that I was leaving, there was no point in starting.

“I am not hungry, I just want to sleep.” The atmosphere turned ice as Alexander’s smile froze.

“I did so much for you and you are still throwing a tantrum, for god’s sake Lavina it was an accident-“

“And I will forgive you if you just sign these documents.”

My voice was quiet…too quiet. calm, decceptively so.

Alexander’s brows furrowed as I slid a document across the table.

“What is this?”

“Just some formalities.” I said, forcing my gaze away from him. “For the future.”

“As my secretary can’t you just handle this yourself instead of bothering me. This is ruining my mood.”

It was at this moment his phone buzzed.

Stephanie.

The name flashed bold and bright across the screen. His face lit up instantly, as if something inside him clicked back into place.

Moving away from my eyes he answered without hesitation.

“Yes. I am still at the villa, I was just waiting for you. No, no problem… give me five minutes.”

I watched him.

Watched the man I married, casually walk past the remnants of the dinner he claimed to make for me, walk past the bruises still blooming faintly on my hand and pick up a pen.

“I will sign whatever you want.” he said, not even glancing at the pages. “Just don’t stay mad, okay?”

His signature scrawled across the bottom of the last page like the final cut of a blade. Sharp. Irrevocable.

He set the pen down and reached for his coat. “We will talk later, Lavina. This is urgent so just eat by yourself and go to bed..I would be late.”

Then he left.

Just like that.

No questions.

No goodbyes.

The door shut behind him, soft but final. A silence bloomed around me so loud it rang in my ears.

My gaze drifted to the folder.

[Final Decree of Divorce]

He didn’t even read the title.

And I… didn’t stop him.

As soon as I clicked the photo of the divorce agreement and sent it to a number, a message instantly beeped on my phone.

[Damien Stone: Now that you have agreed to marry me. One month from now, I will come to claim what belongs to me.]

The next morning when I arrived at the Hamilton Enterprises, the office felt colder than usual.

“Lavina” Alexander’s commanding voice ordered me from inside our joint glass cabin, cold and detached like he was the boss and I was a mere employee, like he wasn’t the man who had once kissed me, held me in his arms.

When I stepped inside he didn’t bother to look up from his phone or ask me to sit.

“Close the door.” Only then did he lift his eyes. Cold unreadable.

“Lavina, I will keep this brief.” he said, standing with a rigidness that made the room feel even smaller.

"People are starting to talk and frankly, I can’t afford to have my reputation dragged down by you. As of this moment, you are fired from your secretary position. Don't bother showing up at this head office again. Starting tomorrow, you will report to a different branch...far away from here."

He paused looking at me with distant eyes.

“Stephanie will take over as my secretary.”

The atmosphere chilled as I stood frozen without being able to utter a single word.

His words felt like a dagger was being pushed in my heart.

This was the firm I helped Alexander build from scratch.

When the lead investor laughed at his pitch, I chased the old man in a torrential downpour. For Alexander to have one more chance for presentation I worked as a free slave in the inverstor’s company for one long year, ran errands for him like a dog and kneeled infront of his office for an entire night, just for one single chance.

I never asked for credit and neither claimed any shares when the company went successful, instead I worked five shifts a day for three years without a break, even when I was sick I refused to take rest, all because I wanted to lesson my husband’s burdens.

And yet he did not even think twice before throwing me away.

At one time I felt he kept our marriage secret to keep me safe from jealous slanders from media houses but only now I understood, he never felt any emotion for me in the first place. Alexander’s love has always belonged to Stephanie.

“Lavina…you have enough experience to work anywhere but think about your sister, Stephanie is fragile and her husband just died so she needs support, in return I will-”

“Alright.”

The room stilled.

The rehearsed excuse crumbled mid-air.

“That’s all? Aren’t you mad?” Alexander blinked somewhat taken aback.

His hand tightened around the velvet box in his hold that he meticulously prepared.

Last night he had ordered a customised diamond pendant with our initials on it, a present to lessen the blow, like a bone to the dog.

“If that is all, I will take my leave.”

“Lavina…what do you mean? Aren't you going to ask me anything?”

He expected me to cry and beg to remain by his side, to be angry that I was being sacked and my calmness made him open his mouth in protest.

At that moment the door burst open without a knock.

“Alex! I have sorted your documents, do you need me to bring anything else… Oh! Sister Lavina?”

Stephanie’s voice rang with artificial sweetness, all doe-eyed innocence as she stepped inside, oversized bag swinging.

CRASH

The sound was piercing.

A music box with a ballerina kept on my smaller desk hit the floor and splintered open. A soft, broken melody spilled out before dying.

My breath caught in my throat as I looked at the broken porcelain doll on the ground.

The one Alexander and I had made in a pottery class together after I had a miscarriage. It had a hidden compartment, holding the sonogram picture of the child we never got to meet.

“Sister, I am so sorry, it was an accident..please don’t be mad-” Stephanie gasped fake tears escaping her eyes as Alexander rushed to her side.

“Why would she be mad at all?!” Alexander intervened.

“Lavina, why do you keep such useless junk by your side, what if Stephanie got hurt?!”

Useless junk?

The only thing that made me survive depression as I grieved the child I miscarried while Alexander returned to work the next day was junk?

I sank to the floor, hands trembling slightly as I picked up the cracked porcelain. One jagged edge sliced into my finger cutting deep.

Blood dribbled down but Alexander did not see me.

“Steph, you are cut.” Alexander whispered, lifting her hand to examine a small scratch on her wrist. “Come. Let’s clean this up.”

He didn’t take a second look at me.

Didn’t notice the blood running down my fingers.

He walked out, his hand on Stephanie’s back like she was a fragile doll made of glass. The door closed gently behind them.

I remained, sitting on the cold marble floor, the broken music box clutched against my chest , my blood soaked into a tissue and slowly I packed all my things, throwing away the unwanted memories.

The old plane ticket to Santorini Greece, where he first said I love you. Torn in half.

The rare Swiss watch I bought him? Still in my drawer. I left it, unworn and unwanted.

And everything else…all gone.

When Alexander returned fifteen minutes later, the cabin was hollow.

No faint perfume in the air. No messy post-its on the edge of the desk. No hum of my laptop screen.

Even the little cactus he used to tease me about vanished.

Just one thing remained.

A faint smear of blood near the leg of his desk.

He stared at it, still and speechless.

He stepped back, something rattling inside him.

Just as he turned to leave, I opened the door to retrieve the documents.

“Lavina wait!”

I paused, looking over my shoulder.

“This is temporary Lavina, this isn’t permanent. When the rumours die down…I will bring you back.” My lips curved and yet the smile didn’t reach my eyes.

“I waited for you long enough…it doesn’t matters.”

For my parents Stephanie was their beloved princess and for Alexander she was his one and only priority. Even when she choose someone else over him, he still hadn’t let go of her.

No matter how much I tried the outcome would not change.

I was about to leave when Alexander called me.

"Lavina...wait, there is an auction tonight and the organizers invited me." I was about to refuse, but he cut me off.

“You are still my subordinate. I can’t show up at something like that event without one.”

Alexander’s pressurizing gaze said that he would not listen to a ‘No.'

At last I just nodded recalling Damien message from last night.

In a month I was going to leave eitherways.

“Of course” I said coolly, voice devoid of emotion. “One last task.”

The VIP section of the auction lounge glittered with beautiful gold chandeliers.

Just as the host requested, I arrived an hour ago to submit the ‘extravagant’ items that Hamilton Enterprises will put on auction for kids fundraiser.

But as soon I stepped closer to the semi-private area marked “Elite Access Only” familiar voices sounded behind the small crack in the door.

Alexander and his childhood friends. The men I had cooked for, laughed with, served wine to like they were my own brothers laughed like wolves encircling a prey.

“Now that Stephanie’s back in the picture, you are finally free Alexander.” one said amused.

Another chimed in curiously “But what are you going to do with Lavina now?

She is decent, sure, but come on. Between her and Stephanie? One is the Winslet family’s beloved heiress, and the other…” A chuckle. “Just a plain, awkward secretary who got lucky.”

The words sliced through the door and straight into my chest.

I remembered how Alexander had smiled that day....introducing me as the ‘humble girl from a poor village’ ,claiming his friends disliked arrogance.

But now I knew.

He wasn’t protecting me.

He was hiding my identity so that his Stephanie could stay in spotlight.

“And infertile too, isn’t she?” someone added casually. “Didn’t she miscarry once and fail IVF procedures like four times? You will be an idiot to bet your legacy on a faulty woman like her.”

The silence that followed felt like a noose tightening around my throat. The words cut deeper than knife making it harder to breathe.

Alexander didn’t mind their words.

Instead, he spoke.

“It is not Lavina’s fault, she has been a good placeholder.” he said at last, tone disturbingly calm. “But in the end that is all she is. I cannot let a substitute carry my seed.”

The world tilted beneath my feet.

“The first time I got Lavina pregnant was a pure mistake and I was unsure, but then she miscarried.

I was sad but truth to be told I never meant to have a child with her. Didn’t want to take any chances so I started giving her strong contraceptives secretly.

Only with that I didn’t mind her making a fuss about going through various fertility procedures knowing that nothing will succeed in the end.”

My heart stilled.

And then it hit me.

The bitter tablets I used to gag on. The ones he insisted I swallow. The ones he claimed would ‘keep me healthy.’

Each time I went through the painful fertility process, Alexander gave me hope… hope that I could be a mother knowing completely well that it was him at the end who would make me feel despair that was worse than death.

‘We will try again, when you're stronger.’ He said each time embracing me tightly.

“Man, you knew how much your mother despised Lavina for having a faulty womb and you still made her go through that because of Stephanie…at this point I feel pity for her.”

“I only married Lavina because my grandfather insisted.” Alexander continued, laughing bitterly. “He loved Lavina’s purity. I didn’t even have a say.”

“Stephanie is everything I ever wanted.”

That was it.

That was the moment.

I turned and ran away. My tears blurred everything as I clutched my mouth hard to stop the sobs as I held storm in.

I couldn’t cry here. Not where the walls might echo it back.

I didn’t realize how long it was when my phone buzzed.

[ALEXANDER: Where are you? Get back up here. Hurry.]

I stared at the screen through tears, a bitter smile ghosting my lips.

Of course.

Even now, he thought he could summon me like a trained pet.

With my heart completely shattered I called the butler at Alexander’s home.

“Bring me all the items inside my safe now.”

Wiping off my tears I strode inside calmly as if nothing had transpired, as if my heart wasn’t split in half.

The auction hall was filled with elite CEOs all over the city. Flashlights glimmered the moment Alexander arrived with Stephanie beside him.

“Lavina, you are here.” I looked at them without a word as the press swarmed around us.

“Mr. Hamilton!” a reporter yelled, shoving her mic over the velvet rope. “Is it true you made Miss Lavina resign from the company today?”

“Mr. Hamilton, is your personal assistant also your romantic partner? The rumors…are they true?”

More microphones. More cameras flashing.

Stephanie’s hold on Alexander’s arm tightened as her eyes glared daggers at me.

But before Alexander could coldly deny any sort of connection I stepped in.

“There has been a misunderstanding.” I said coolly, my voice slicing through the chaos making everyone quieten down instantly. “There is absolutely no personal relationship between Mr. Hamilton and me.”

“Mr. Hamilton is the CEO of Hamilton Enterprises.” I said, voice unwavering. “And I was a company employee. Nothing more nothing less.

I can resign any time, and it is be no different than an intern walking out. Infact, I have almost finalized a deal with another business tycoon to work for them.” A gasp ran through the crowd as Alexander froze in his place.

His jaw tensed as he looked at me, the faintest flicker of panic crossing his expression but he couldn’t interrupt without confirming the chaos.

One reporter, bolder than the rest, pushed forward with several photographs of a couple ring from Paris.

“Are you saying everything is false? That you didn’t got secretly married three years ago and that you are not his wife when the ring you never take off is a commissioned couple set of rings from the most famous designer in Paris- the male version of which Mr.Alexander is still wearing now-”

“But do you see me wearing that ring?” I said quietly before raising my fingers for everyone to see and no wedding ring was there.

The hush was suffocating.

Alexander took a step towards me, face unreadable remembering my smiling face as I vowed to never take off the ring: the symbol of our unbreakable bond.

Then I reached into my bag, pulled out a glossy folder, and handed it to the nearest reporter.

“Here’s a notarized statement from the Paris registrar. No record of marriage between Alexander Hamilton and Lavina. Infact I am already promised to another man.”

Gasps rippled through the press like electricity.

Alexander stepped forward, lips parting but the loud chime of the auction bell cut him off.

Perfect timing.