Chapter 1
1068words
The audit report explicitly accused my father and brother of embezzling billions.
My father died of a heart attack in detention, taking his innocence to the grave.
My brother's car veered off the road and plunged into the river while he was rushing to defend our father.
While sorting through my brother's belongings, I found footage of my fiancé, Ethan Lane, on an Encrypted Cloud Drive.
The man who'd told me he was in Australia choosing our wedding rings was actually sitting in our corporate rival's boardroom.
In the video, he swirled his wine glass and smirked at his co-conspirator:
"The Howard men were becoming problematic—refusing to falsify accounts—so I had to eliminate them."
"As for Nina… once I secure her inherited shares, I'll make sure she 'voluntarily' signs them over to me."
I stormed into Lane Group headquarters and overheard him reassuring my mother with that gentle voice I'd known for ten years:
"Don't worry, Auntie. Leave Nina to me. I'll handle all of Howard Group's debts personally."
After hanging up, his expression changed instantly as he turned to his secretary with a cold smile:
"The old woman is pathetically gullible. Once we secure those shares, we'll ship her off to the psychiatric facility to join her precious daughter."
I snatched the crystal vase from his desk and hurled it at his head.
But he caught my wrist mid-swing and wiped away my tears with his fingertips, his smile both cruel and tender.
"Heard everything, did you? What a shame. I'd planned to let you play Mrs. Lane for a few more days."
Just then, my phone vibrated in my pocket.
An encrypted message flashed across my screen:
[Miss Howard, results from last week's blood sample: Ethan Lane is blood-related to you. Further testing recommended to confirm paternal source]
I stared at this man—the one I'd loved for ten years, the one who'd murdered my father and brother—and burst into hysterical laughter.
So the Howard empire he'd schemed so hard to steal should have carried the Lane name all along.
My laughter cut through the air, shattering Ethan Lane's perfectly crafted facade.
His grip on my wrist suddenly tightened. The excruciating pain of bones grinding together drained all color from my face.
"What's so damn funny?"
His voice remained deep and mellow, but now stripped of all warmth, leaving only icy calculation.
I didn't answer, just searched his handsome face for any resemblance—even the slightest—to my father or myself.
But there was nothing.
This face I'd loved for ten years, so familiar I could trace every contour with my eyes closed, now seemed so alien it turned my stomach.
"Answer me, Nina Howard! What the hell are you laughing at?!"
He lost his patience and flung me aside like trash.
I staggered backward and slammed into the wall, my head making a sickening thud against the plaster.
The pain sharpened my focus.
I steadied myself against the wall, straightened my spine, and enunciated each word:
"I'm laughing at you, Ethan Lane."
"I'm laughing because you've schemed and murdered and destroyed—all to steal what was already rightfully yours!"
His body went rigid.
"What nonsense are you spewing?"
"Nonsense?" I thrust my phone in his face. "See for yourself! Look at the true family name behind the Howard fortune you've been so desperate to steal!"
He barely glanced at the screen—he didn't care enough to read it.
He dismissed it as desperate ramblings.
"You've lost your goddamn mind!"
Ethan snatched my phone and smashed it against the floor.
The screen shattered instantly—just like my heart had moments before.
"Nina, you've become such a disappointment."
He seized my jaw with the same hands that had caressed me countless times.
He squeezed so hard I thought my jawbone might crack.
"I'd planned to let you keep your dignity—sign over the shares peacefully and live as a comfortable, pampered widow."
He leaned close to my ear, like a lover whispering sweet nothings, but his words dripped with venom.
"Why must you force my hand?"
"You think a broken vase and some text message can hurt me? Your brother's 'accident' must have been far more painful. I watched his car plunge into the river myself. The flames were absolutely beautiful."
My blood turned to ice.
I thrashed wildly, clawing at his face and driving my knee toward his groin.
"Monster! You fucking monster!"
He subdued me effortlessly, pinning my hands behind my back and crushing me against the wall.
"Yes, I am a monster."
He smiled, his warm breath on my neck sending waves of revulsion through me.
"A monster created by your precious Howard family. Your father with his hypocritical morality, your brother with his insufferable arrogance—what gave them the right to look down on everyone?"
"Now they're both dead, and everything the Howards built belongs to me. Including you, Nina Howard."
He bit down hard on my shoulder, the sharp pain forcing an involuntary cry from my lips.
The office door burst open as his secretary Amy rushed in with two security guards.
"Mr. Lane!"
Ethan released me, instantly transforming back into the cultured gentleman the world knew.
He straightened his collar and regarded me with manufactured concern.
"Nina, I understand you're distraught, but you can't keep hurting yourself like this."
He turned to the security guards:
"Miss Howard is overwhelmed with grief and emotionally unstable. Take her home and watch her carefully. Don't let her harm herself."
The guards flanked me on both sides, dragging me away like a broken doll.
"Ethan Lane! Let go of me! You murderer!"
I screamed until my throat burned, but the Lane Corporation employees in the hallway just stared at me like I was deranged.
In their eyes, I was just the lucky girl marrying into wealth who'd lost her mind after her family's tragedy.
Ethan didn't spare me another glance.
Right in front of me, he dialed my mother.
He spoke into the phone with sickening tenderness:
"Auntie, please don't worry. Nina is simply heartbroken. I've just collected her, but she's quite emotional. I've arranged for someone to take her home to rest."
"I promise you, as long as I'm here, nothing will happen to Nina."
They dragged me into the elevator, the metal doors sliding shut.
In the final moment before the doors closed, I caught Ethan's cold, victorious smile.
