Chapter 1
In the third year of Selena Melford and William Smith’s marriage, she received what could almost be called good news.
She could finally leave him.
“One more month,” Mrs. Melford's voice came through the phone, cool and detached as always. “Your sister will be back by then. Until that day, keep playing her part. When everything’s over, I’ll give you thirty million. You can live however you like after that.”
“I understand,” Selena replied softly. Her tone was as still and lifeless as stagnant water.
When the call ended, she lifted her gaze to the enormous wedding portrait hanging on the wall.
In the photo, William stood tall and immaculate in his tailored suit, handsome like a god carved from light. She, dressed in a gown worth a fortune, smiling with poised gentleness beside him.
“Three years…” she murmured, her fingertips brushing the frame. “It’s finally ending.”
Three years ago, the marriage alliance between the Smith and Melford families had made headlines across the world. The bride, Anna Melford—Selena’s twin sister—had been the one chosen by the Smiths.
But on the eve of the wedding, Anna disappeared, leaving behind a letter.
“Mom, Dad, I can’t live bound by an arranged marriage, though I know it’s my duty. Give me three years to find my freedom. I’ll come back then.”
To preserve the partnership between the two families, the Melfords had no choice but to bring home the younger twin they’d abandoned to the countryside years ago.
That forgotten daughter—Selena—was forced to take Anna’s place and become the substitute bride.
“William doesn’t love your sister,” her mother had warned coldly the night before the wedding. “He’s in love with the girl his family once sponsored. You won’t have an easy life in that house. But if you behave, keep pretending to be Anna, and endure three years, everything will be over.”
Selena had simply nodded, obedient and silent.
Of course, she knew who William was—the golden boy of high society, the face of every financial magazine, the man every socialite dreamed of marrying.
And she had also heard about Alice White.
The scholarship student the Smiths had sponsored. The woman William had loved so deeply he’d been willing to defy his family for her. But Alice, proud and independent, had refused a love without blessing and chosen to leave for another country.
The Smiths, relieved by her departure, wasted no time arranging his engagement.
Married life, however, turned out far harsher than she’d imagined.
William’s study was lined with photos of Alice. Every week, he flew to Paris to see her in secret. Selena, his lawful wife, didn’t even have the right to enter the master bedroom—her room was a small guest chamber at the end of the hall.
Still, she played her role to perfection. For the sake of both families, she devoted herself to him with quiet desperation.
When he worked late, she left the porch light on until dawn.
When his stomach ached, she rose at five to make breakfast.
When he wanted silence, she became the quietest presence in the house.
Gradually, rumors spread that Selena was hopelessly in love with her husband. And perhaps—just perhaps—something in William began to shift.
The photos in his study disappeared. The trips to Paris stopped. He started remembering her birthday, coming home early when she caught a cold, even sharing her bed at last.
For a fleeting moment, Selena almost believed that something real had grown out of this counterfeit marriage.
Until three months ago, when Alice returned.
Everything reverted to how it had been.
William’s heart belonged to Alice once more. The study filled again with her photos; he stopped coming home at night. Society laughed at Selena, the pitiful stand-in who had mistaken illusion for love.
But she only smiled—quietly, calmly.
Because she had never loved William at all. The only reason she stayed by his side was for the money and freedom her parents had promised her. His love, if it existed, might have made things easier—but if it didn’t, she couldn’t care less.
No one knew that Selena and Anna, though twins, had lived entirely different lives.
When their mother gave birth to Selena, she lost so much blood that she almost died. From that moment on, the woman’s eyes held nothing but loathing for her second daughter. Their father, a man who adored his wife to obsession, saw Selena as a curse.
At five, she was sent away to live with a nanny in the countryside.
She still remembered that winter—the stove in the nanny’s house broke, and she shivered for days, without even a thick coat to keep her warm. Meanwhile, Anna sat cozy in a heated villa, wrapped in soft wool dresses, cherished by the parents who had long forgotten Selena existed.
Eighteen years of such treatment had long worn away any illusion she had about family.
Now, just one more month, and she would receive the thirty million promised for impersonating Anna these past three years. Then she could finally leave this city and live a life that truly belonged to her.
As that thought brought a faint smile to her lips, her phone suddenly buzzed.
William.
She drew a deep breath and answered, “Hello?”
“In twenty minutes, bring some sanitary pads to Nightfall,” his voice was cold, clipped, like a blade of ice. “Night-use ones.”
He hung up before she could reply.
Selena stared at the phone in her hand, instantly understanding who they were for.
William remembered Alice’s menstrual cycle more precisely than his own company’s IPO date.
Outside, rain poured in sheets. The drive from the Smith family villa to the Nightfall Club would take at least forty minutes in weather like this.
Still, Selena grabbed an umbrella and stepped out into the storm.
Halfway there, traffic came to a standstill. She glanced at the clock—twelve minutes left. Gritting her teeth, she shoved open the car door and ran into the downpour.
Rain soaked through her clothes within seconds. Her heels slipped again and again on the slick pavement until, finally, she stumbled hard into a puddle. Pain flared hot in her knee.
But she didn’t stop. She pushed herself up and kept running, arriving at the club at the nineteenth minute.
Just as she lifted her hand to knock, laughter drifted out from the private room.
“William, seriously? You made your wife deliver that in this weather? It’s at least a forty-minute drive from your place!”
“Alice’s cramps are bad,” William’s voice was calm, almost indifferent. “She’ll find a way.”
“Well, that’s true. Everyone knows how much she loves you. Three years by your side, even knowing you love someone else—never a word of complaint.”
Someone teased, “Come on, William, not even a little moved? A woman that devoted?”
The room fell silent.
Selena held her breath. After a few seconds, William’s voice came, cool and steady.
“No matter when—between Alice and her—I’ll always choose Alice.”
The words were merciless, yet Selena didn’t feel pain. If anything, relief washed over her. She waited until the laughter inside resumed before knocking on the door.
When she stepped in, every head turned, startled.
“D*mn, talk about perfect timing!”
“Why is she drenched like that?”
William rose, frowning deeply. “What happened to you?”
Selena handed over the package, carefully shielded from the rain. “You said twenty minutes. I didn’t want you to wait, so I ran the rest of the way.”
She didn’t mention the fall, nor the throbbing pain in her knee.
William’s expression shifted. He suddenly took off his jacket and wrapped it around her shoulders. “Put this on.”
Then he nodded toward the package. “Take it to the ladies’ room.”
Selena nodded and obeyed.
When she knocked on the restroom door, a delicate voice answered from inside, “Who is it?”
“Sanitary pads,” Selena replied.
There was a pause, then the door cracked open. She handed the package through and turned away without another word.
Back home, she took a long, hot shower. The cut on her knee stung faintly beneath the water.
Lying in bed afterward, she felt a strange lightness—freedom was so close she could almost touch it.
Just as she was drifting off, the door burst open with a violent kick.
William stormed in, grabbed her wrist, and yanked her up. “Get up!”
Before she could react, he dragged her off the bed, pulling her down the hall toward the staircase.
“William? What are you—”
She didn’t finish. A brutal force slammed into her, sending her tumbling backward. Her head struck the edge of a step, and she rolled all the way down.
Pain exploded through her body.
She lay crumpled at the bottom, vision blurring, warm liquid trickling down her forehead.
“Why…” she whispered, trying to push herself up, “why are you… doing this to me?”
From the top of the stairs, his face was shadowed against the light, his voice cutting through the air like ice.
“Was it you who pushed Alice?”
Selena blinked, dazed. “What?”
“Don’t play dumb!” He descended step by step, fury in every movement. “You’ve been pretending to be calm for months, waiting for this, haven’t you? Do you know what you’ve done? You pushed her from the window! She’s broken half her bones—she almost died!”
“I didn’t…” Her voice trembled as she shook her head, pain spinning her world into darkness. William crouched down, his fingers clamping tightly around her chin.
“Anna, have my years of kindness made you hallucinate? Let me remind you again—we’re nothing more than a marriage of convenience. There are no feelings involved.”
He leaned in, his breath brushing her ear, each word deliberate and cold.
“The love you want… I will never give you.”
Pain shot through Selena’s jaw, her vision dimming at the edges. And yet, strangely, she wanted to laugh.
Because she had never… not once… wanted his love.