Elara’s POV

“You’re really going to do this?”

Mika, my best friend, sighed, her voice sharp, a whisper just short of shouting. She sat frozen at the edge of the bed, watching me slide the divorce papers into a plain red envelope.

“Today?” she added. “On your wedding anniversary?”

I nodded. “It’s poetic, isn’t it?”

I didn’t mean it to sound bitter. But the words tasted like ash.

Across the room, the anniversary dinner I’d spent two hours making sat untouched. The candles had burned out. The roast had gone cold. Even the champagne had gone flat. Everything I planned… for nothing.

Just like always.

“Elara,” Mika said carefully, “are you sure?”

My hands trembled slightly as I sealed the envelope shut. “I waited three years for him to choose me. Tonight, I finally realized, he never will.”

—

The penthouse was silent.

The rain outside clung to the windows. Each drop sounded like a clock ticking down.

I checked my phone.

No messages. No missed calls.

Then, finally, at 11:43 p.m., one message popped up.

Sierra: Don’t wait up. Thorne’s staying with me tonight.

No apology. No shame.

I locked my phone, set it facedown, and stood up.

My legs felt numb as I walked toward his home office. The one room I was never allowed to enter.

“Don’t touch anything in here,” he’d once said, months into our marriage. “It’s where I think.”

I guess I didn’t qualify as part of his thoughts.

I stepped in anyway.

The room smelled like him, leather, cologne, and polished ambition. It made my chest tighten.

On the desk, I laid down two envelopes.

A white one.

A red one.

Resignation.

Divorce.

I paused, then took a sticky note from the drawer and wrote one line:

Happy Anniversary. You won’t even notice I’m gone.

Then I left.

I made it halfway to the front door when I heard it open.

“Elara?”

Thorne’s voice echoed through the marble entryway. Calm. Dry. Unbothered.

I froze.

He walked in, shaking rain from his coat, his eyes landing on me like I was housekeeping, out of place, too quiet.

“What are you doing up?”

“I needed to talk to you,” I said. “Check your office.”

His brow furrowed. He walked past me without another word.

Moments later, he called.

“Elara, what the hell is this?”

I turned slowly. “Read them.”

His voice dipped. “You’re divorcing me?”

I nodded once.

“For what?” he scoffed. “Because I missed dinner?”

“Because I always miss you,” I whispered.

A sudden flashback popped in my mind. It was last year when I had the flu.

Burning fever. Couldn’t move.

I called him, barely able to speak. He picked up on the fifth ring and said, “I’m at dinner. Can’t this wait?”

It wasn’t a question. It was an order.

He didn’t come home that night. Sierra posted a story from the passenger seat of his car.

I laughed bitterly at the thought.

“I’ve done nothing but give you a home,” Thorne snapped, bringing me back to reality.

“You gave me a house,” I replied quietly. “Not a home. Not once.”

He scoffed, running a hand through his hair. “You’re being dramatic. I married you. I’ve provided for you. No one else would’ve done that for—”

He stopped.

But I already knew what he meant.

For a maid’s daughter.

That’s what I was to them. A charity case the Vances adopted out of pity. The girl who grew up in hand-me-downs, who never got her name on the family Christmas cards.

I was never their daughter.

Just a problem they cleaned up with marriage papers.

He then showed the resignation letter next.

“You’re leaving the company too?”

“You don’t want me there,” I said. “You never did. I overheard you once, remember?”

His face flicked.

I continued. “You told Mr. Kim I was ’a placeholder secretary the Vances forced on you.’ And you were right. I was.”

He was quiet now.

“You’ve humiliated me in front of investors. You’ve taken Sierra to business trips I was scheduled to attend. You made me ride separately to our wedding.”

“I had meetings—”

“You left me alone at the altar for forty-five minutes, Thorne.”

That stopped him.

But he didn’t apologize.

He never did.

He just crossed his arms. “So what? You’re going to walk away with nothing? Where will you go?”

“I don’t know.”

That was the truth.

“I don’t have a plan. I don’t have a name. I’m not Sierra. I’m not a Vance. I’m nothing.”

My voice cracked then and I hated it. I hated that he heard me break. That he saw even one thread of weakness left in me.

“But I’d rather be nothing than this.”

He stepped closer.

His voice lowered. “You leave tonight, Elara… don’t expect to come back.”

My hands were shaking, but I lifted my chin.

“I’m counting on that.”

I walked out into the rain, no umbrella, no coat.

I stood on the curb, blinking against the storm, clutching my bag like it was the only thing tethering me to reality. I couldn’t go back to the Vance house. I couldn’t stay in the penthouse. I didn’t even know if I wanted to keep breathing through tomorrow.

But then, my fingers moved to a number I hadn’t dialed in three years.

I stared at it for a long time before pressing the call.

The phone rang once.

Then twice.

Then—

“Elara?”

That voice. Low. Rough. Familiar.

I swallowed. My throat was tight.

“Aiden,” I said. My voice cracked. “Can you…”

I closed my eyes. My pride crumbled.

“Can you come get me?”

Elara’s POV

Aiden’s car pulled up less than ten minutes after I dropped him my location, headlights cutting through the rain like they were searching for me.

The passenger door opened before I even reached for the handle.

He leaned over. “Get in.”

I slid inside, soaking wet, my hands cold and limp in my lap. He peeled off his jacket and draped it over my shoulders without a word.

“Where to?” he asked quietly.

I couldn’t answer. I stared out the window, blinking hard, the rain blurring into white streaks.

He waited.

“I have nowhere,” I whispered.

Aiden gave a quiet exhale. “Alright. Then we’ll go to mine.”

We didn’t speak as the city lights slipped by. The air between us was stitched with too many unspoken years.

I hadn’t seen him for years. Back when my name was just Elara. No last name. No family. Just the maid’s quiet daughter who clung to books and the boy next door.

And then she died.

And the Vance family adopted me.

They told me I was lucky. Special. Chosen.

But behind their smiles, I saw it in their eyes. I wasn’t a daughter.

I was a problem they were cleaning up.

“I want you to listen carefully,” Mrs. Vance said, pouring tea into delicate porcelain like we weren’t discussing my future.

I was seventeen. Sitting stiffly in the family room that never felt like mine.

“There’s a marriage proposal,” she said. “From the Ashfords.”

My fingers tightened around the teacup. “Sierra?”

Mrs. Vance glanced at me with a soft, practiced smile. “No, darling. You.”

I blinked. “Me?”

She set the teapot down. “You wear our name, Elara. It’s time you repay it.”

“But I… I’m not—”

“You’re not really a Vance,” she said kindly. “We know. That’s why this is perfect.”

My chest tightened.

“Thorne Ashford is marrying into the Vance name,” Mr. Vance added. “Not the girl. The name. You’ll be his wife. On paper. That’s all he needs. That’s all you need.”

I couldn’t breathe.

“Be grateful,” Mrs. Vance said, gently touching my hand. “This is more than your mother ever could’ve given you.”

I blinked back into the car. My throat felt raw.

Aiden was still silent. He didn’t ask anything. His hands on the wheel were the only stable thing in my world right now.

We turned through the gates of his estate, a quiet, elegant mansion nestled between tall trees.

The driver stopped. Aiden stepped out first, walked ahead without looking back. I followed.

He brought me to a guest room at the end of a long hallway.

He stopped at a door at the end of the hall.

“Guest wing,” he said. “Fresh clothes in the closet. Bathroom’s through there.”

I nodded. “Thank you.”

He didn’t move.

I glanced at him. “You’re still quiet.”

“So are you.”

“I don’t know what to say.”

“Neither do I.”

We stood there in that awkward quiet, two ghosts with too much history.

Then, softer, he asked, “Are you okay?”

I hesitated. Then, “No.”

He nodded once.

“You can stay as long as you want.”

Another pause.

“Why did you pick up?” I asked quietly.

He looked at me like I’d asked a stupid question.

“You called.”

He said, then looked away.

Later, after the shower, after the tea, after the dry clothes and the folded towels…

He stood in the doorway again, one hand resting on the frame.

“Get some rest,” he said.

“I’ll try.”

He turned to leave.

“Aiden.”

He stopped.

“Goodnight,” I said.

He looked back, just a little. “Goodnight, Elara.”

I didn’t go to bed right away. Instead, I wandered barefoot down the hall.

I don’t know why. Maybe I just couldn’t sit still in silence. The weight of the day still clung to my skin, even after scrubbing it raw.

I passed what looked like a library. A gallery wall of black and white photographs. A hallway lined with closed doors.

No staff. No footsteps. Just me and the echo of my own breathing.

Until something about it unsettled me.

I turned a corner.

Stopped.

And that’s when I felt it.

A hand clamped hard over my mouth from behind.

I barely had time to inhale before everything went black.

When I woke, the floor beneath me was cold.

My arms were bound. My ankles were tied.

The air reeked of oil and damp concrete. A dim yellow bulb flickered overhead.

I blinked. My head spun.

Across from me, a soft whimper broke through the quiet.

“Elara?!”

Sierra.

She was tied up too, mascara streaked down her cheeks, her dress torn at the hem.

“What—where are we?! What is this?!”

My mouth wouldn’t move. Panic closed around my ribs like a vice.

The door slammed open.

Two masked men entered.

One carried a gun. The other, a phone.

“Call him,” one said.

When they dialed a number, my stomach turned.

It rang once.

Twice.

Then—

“This is Thorne Ashford.”

My heart dropped.

The man’s voice was low and direct.

“We have your wife. And Sierra Vance.”

A beat of silence.

“Only one leaves,” the second man said. “Choose.”

Sierra’s scream cracked the air.

“Thorne! It’s me! Please, please don’t let them hurt me! Please!”

I wanted to scream. Move. Anything.

But I sat frozen, breath shallow, blood roaring in my ears.

Then his voice came through again.

Calm.

Sharp.

Final.

“I’ll take Sierra.”

Elara’s POV

“I’ll take Sierra.”

His voice echoed through the warehouse like a blade.

I didn’t cry. I didn’t scream. I didn’t flinch.

But inside, I shattered.

My ears buzzed. My breath thinned.

Across from me, Sierra sobbed. “Thorne! Thorne, thank you, I knew it! I knew you’d come for me!”

I stared at her through the haze.

The masked man ended the call as they went outside.

The rope around my wrists had gone numb.

I couldn’t feel my hands anymore. I couldn’t feel much of anything.

Across from me, Sierra sat slumped in a chair. Her knees were scraped. Her arms, bound like mine. Her expression was dazed. Like she was still trying to convince herself this wasn’t real.

Neither of us spoke.

There was no one to beg.

No one listening.

Only the sound of footsteps outside the door, growing louder.

Two men entered again. Black jackets. Masks. One carried a length of rope. The other carried the phone.

“She’s no use,” the first one said, jerking his chin at me. “This is the wife, right?”

The other nodded. “That’s what the intel said.”

“Dump her.”

The words didn’t register right away.

Then Sierra flinched. “Wait–what do you mean, dump her?”

“She’s a dead end,” the first man muttered. “The Ashford guy doesn’t want her. She picked you. Let the water have her.”

The rope hit the floor with a heavy thud. They untied my legs.

One of them grabbed my arm and hauled me to my feet.

Panic didn’t come like a scream. It came like ice. Quiet. Immediate. Final.

I didn’t fight. I couldn’t.

They dragged me toward the door.

“Wait,” Sierra said, her voice thin. “Wait, please, don’t—”

She sounded scared. Not for me but for herself. Like she knew that once I was gone, her turn would come.

The door groaned open.

A corridor. A second metal door at the end. I could hear water through it.

Then the phone rang. The one in the second man’s pocket.

He stopped. Swore.

“Who the hell—?”

He picked up.

“Yeah.”

A pause. His body went still.

Then, he went quiet.

“What? Are you sure?”

The man turned to glance back at me.

Then louder, “She’s not the maid’s daughter?”

My heart stalled.

He stepped away from me, holding the phone closer to his ear.

“You’re saying the one we’re about to dump is the real Vance heir?”

Silence.

Then a long, hard curse.

He ended the call.

“New orders,” he muttered.

The other man frowned. “What?”

“No more games. We keep her alive.”

He pointed at me.

“This one’s not the decoy. She’s the one they want.”

“But Thorne—”

“Thorne picked the wrong girl. Doesn’t matter anymore. We’ll ransom the real Vance for a bigger value.”

—

I woke up gasping.

The room was warm again.

No rope.

No concrete floor.

Just silk sheets and the soft morning light creeping through the window.

I lay still for a moment, chest heaving.

A dream.

It was just a dream.

But my heart… still believed every second of it.

And those words echoed louder than anything.

They haunted me.

Then, a soft knock on the door broke my trance.

“Elara?” Aiden’s voice.

I cleared my throat as I sat up. “Come in.”

He opened the door, dressed in soft gray slacks and a black t-shirt. His hair was still damp from a shower.

“You’re awake,” he said.

“Barely.”

He paused. “Nightmare?”

I nodded once. “Yeah.”

He didn’t ask more.

He stepped in, setting a tray on the nightstand. A toast, tea, fruit, and a small bowl of something warm.

“I didn’t know what you liked anymore,” he said.

I offered a small smile. “Anything warm is fine.”

I reached for the tea, wrapping my fingers around the mug like it was the only solid thing in the world.

He sat on the edge of a reading chair, giving me space. “You look better today.”

“Better than what?”

“Better than soaked, freezing, and barely breathing.”

I gave a dry laugh. “That’s a low bar.”

He tilted his head, watching me for a second. “You dream about what happened last night?”

I hesitated.

“Sort of.”

I didn’t know how to tell him the worst part wasn’t being kidnapped in the dream.

It was the words.

The shift.

The choice.

His voice.

“I’ll take Sierra.”

Even in my dreams…

He chose her.

“I keep thinking I imagined it,” I murmured, not meeting his eyes. “But it felt real. Too real.”

Aiden leaned back slightly, resting his elbows on his knees. “I don’t know what you’ve been through these past few years. But… if dreams are giving you answers, maybe your mind’s already asking the questions.”

I sipped the tea. “You sound like a therapist.”

“I’ve been accused of worse.”

I smiled for real that time. Small. Fragile. But real.

For a few seconds, the silence between us wasn’t heavy. Just still.

Then my phone buzzed on the nightstand.

A message.

Mrs. Vance: Family dinner tonight. Come with Thorne. There will be announcements. Wear something presentable.

The tea soured in my mouth.

Aiden watched my face shift. “Something wrong?”

I looked up slowly.

“She wants me to go to dinner with Thorne,” I said.

“And?”

“She said they have… announcements.”