Chapter 3

The day of the Centennial Celebration arrived.

I sat in my empty living room and opened the final event itinerary on my tablet. I scrolled through the pages. I was completely erased.

Celia was everywhere.

She was scheduled to walk the red carpet with Grant. She was seated at the center of the main table. She was listed to give the Mercer family speech. And at midnight, she would hold the Founder’s Key and ring the centennial bell.

I looked for my name. I finally found it at the very bottom of the document.

Lydia Ashford.

Side Table 17.

Notes: No media access.

Grant didn't call me. He didn't order me to behave or help Celia. He simply expected me to show up, sit in the dark corner, and accept my erasure silently.

I kept reading. I reached the final section of the itinerary: The Time Capsule.

Every hundred years, the Grand Aurum seals a time capsule in the lobby walls. Five years ago, when Grant and I first got married, I had secretly prepared an item for it.

I had written a letter to the future daughters of the Ashford family.

My message was simple: Never shrink yourself so someone else can look tall.

I looked at the final manifest for the time capsule. My letter was gone.

It had been removed.

Replaced by a framed photograph of Celia and her son.

The caption underneath the photo read:

To the Next Generation of Mercers.

My blood turned to ice. Celia couldn't have done this alone. She didn't have the authority to alter the time capsule manifest.

I looked at the bottom of the page. There was a single, digital signature of approval.

Grant Mercer.

He personally approved it.

That was the last straw. It was the final nail in the coffin of our five-year marriage.

He wasn't just giving her tonight. He was actively erasing my existence from the future. He wanted history to remember Celia, and he wanted the world to forget me.

The last lingering shred of my love for him died in that exact second.

I stood up. I didn't cry. My mind had never been clearer.

I drove straight to the Ashford Hospitality headquarters. I walked into the grand boardroom where Daniel and the senior directors were waiting.

Daniel pushed a heavy, leather-bound folder across the table.

"Are you ready?" he asked.

I took the pen and signed the top document:

ACCEPT APPOINTMENT AS CHAIRWOMAN OF ASHFORD HOSPITALITY.

My true identity was officially restored.

11:58 PM.

I stood in the shadows of the Owner's Suite on the top floor of the Grand Aurum. The floor-to-ceiling windows gave me a perfect view of the massive ballroom below.

Downstairs, the celebration was at its peak.

Grant and Celia had just walked the red carpet. The applause was deafening. Flashbulbs lit up the room. Grant looked like a king. Celia stood proudly by his side, wearing my family's Founder's Key around her neck.

He scanned the room. He didn't see me at Side Table 17. He looked relieved.

I watched him lean over to his assistant. I could read his lips perfectly.

"I knew she'd calm down eventually," Grant smiled.

Upstairs, Daniel stepped up beside me. He placed the final management agreement on the glass table.

There were only two options left at the bottom of the page.

[ RENEW ]

[ DO NOT RENEW ]

I picked up the pen.

Downstairs, Grant raised his champagne glass to the crowd.

"Tonight marks the beginning of the next hundred years of Mercer!" he announced proudly.

The crowd cheered. Celia kissed his cheek. He smiled, completely unaware that the floor was about to vanish from beneath his feet.

I pressed the pen to the paper.

I checked the box.

[ X ] DO NOT RENEW.

I signed my name with a sharp, irreversible stroke. It was done.

I looked at the digital clock on the wall.

11:59:56

Daniel stood silently at my side.

11:59:57

Grant was still holding up his glass, soaking in the glory.

11:59:58

He still thought the world belonged to him. He still thought I was waiting in the shadows.

11:59:59

I looked down at the man who had traded my devotion for his ego.

"Happy anniversary, Grant," I whispered into the quiet room.

Then—

Midnight.