Chapter 1

I was married to Charles Ford for five years. I took him from a nobody living in a rundown apartment and built him into a billionaire.

The moment his first love came back, he handed me divorce papers.

He said, "Emily is back. Olivia, sign it. Don't make me lose what little dignity is left between us."

I picked up the pen. Under his contemptuous stare, I signed my name.

The moment the pen left the paper, a thousand piercing voices exploded in my mind.

My mother: "My Olivia, I'm so sorry. The truth is, you're actually the real..."

My best friend: "If only I'd told her sooner what a complete bastard Charles really is..."

And finally, Charles's voice, a gut-wrenching, bloodied scream of pure regret. "Olivia, don't leave me. I was wrong... Please... Don't die."

I froze.

I found I could hear them, the last words everyone would ever say to me.

*****

"Olivia, sign it," Charles said. His voice was cold and sharp, like a scalpel, cutting through the last pretense of peace between us.

He slid the divorce papers across the table. Every word on them felt like a reminder of how badly I'd lost.

"Emily's back," he said, lounging in his expensive leather chair, a cigarette dangling from his fingers. Smoke curled around him, blurring his handsome but heartless face. "Sign it. Don't make me ignore the final dignity left between us."

I'd been with him for five whole years, from a cold, shabby apartment to a penthouse overlooking the city skyline.

I watched him drink until his stomach bled for a project, and saw investors yelling at him, pointing fingers right in his face.

Every time, I was the one holding his hand, telling him, "It's okay. We'll start again."

I thought we were comrades-in-arms, family, an unbreakable bond. But in the end, it was my own wishful thinking.

Emily Green, the name I'd only ever heard from him, the unattainable love he could never let go, came back and, with barely a word, ground my five years of devotion into dust.

My heart felt like it was being squeezed by an invisible hand, the pain so sharp I could barely breathe.

But when I looked at him, no guilt at all on his face, every bit of sadness froze into a coldness that seeped into my bones.

I didn't cry or make a scene. I picked up the expensive pen, the chill from its tip creeping up my fingers and settling in my chest.

I wrote my name, stroke by stroke, with so much force that the pen nearly tore through the paper.

The moment the pen lifted from the paper, it was like a depth charge had gone off in my brain. A storm of voices, loud, sharp, and achingly sad, crashed into my mind all at once.

"Olivia, I'm so sorry. You're the real one from the Lynn family..."

It was my mom's voice. She'd died of a heart attack three years ago, but it was so clear, filled with endless guilt and things she never got to say.

Which Lynn family? What was she talking about?

Before I could even wrap my head around it, another familiar voice crashed in, "Olivia, I'm sorry... If only I'd told you sooner that Charles slept with a wealthy woman to secure an investment when he was starting... He's a complete bastard..."

It was Sophie, my best friend. The regret in her voice was so strong that it felt like it was about to overflow.

A coldness swept through me, as if my blood had frozen solid. Was he actually sleeping with a rich woman?

So, all those hard days I thought we endured together had dirty deals going on behind my back, things I never even imagined.

Then, a man's voice, hoarse and torn with anguish, desperate and raw, erupted in my mind like a thunderclap, "Olivia, don't leave me. I was wrong... I was so wrong... Please, don't die... Look at me one more time..."

I jerked my head up. Charles stood before me, watching with impatient eyes and a mocking smirk, as if he was looking at someone defeated, finally forced to face reality.

But the anguished cry echoing in my mind, the one so desperate it made my soul tremble, was unmistakably his voice.

One was right here, cold as ice, and the other was from the future, burning with regret.

I stood there, completely overwhelmed, my mind barely able to process everything that hit me.

Were these their final words?

Could I really hear the last thing they'd ever say to me?

Charles saw me linger without moving after signing the papers. His frown deepened. "The money will be transferred to your account. The house is yours. Olivia, don't ever let me see you again."

Every word he spoke was laced with venom, cold and sharp as a dagger of ice.

If this had happened ten minutes ago, I would've felt like my heart was being ripped apart.

But at that moment, as I looked at him, his future cries were echoing in my mind. That piercing pain inside me faded and was replaced by an eerie, cold calm.

I slowly got to my feet, didn't bother to look at the agreement or at him. Without another word, I turned and headed straight for the office door.

I had no questions and no tears.

Charles was caught off guard. He'd expected me to cry, cling, or go hysterical, but none of that happened.

He probably thought I'd turn into some pathetic ex-wife, pleading for him to stay.

"Olivia," Charles shouted after me, his voice sharp with shock and frustration.

Without pausing, I pulled open the heavy door and walked out.

His bewildered, perplexed gaze burned into my back as I left.

As I walked into the brightly lit hallway, a cold smile slowly tugged at my lips.

Charles, the game began.