Chapter 1
“I accept your offer.” I said coldly, the air sharp with finality. “I will disappear from Alexander Hamilton’s life forever… and marry the Stone heir instead.”
The diamond wedding ring clattered onto the mahogany table like a final nail in a coffin.
Across the lavishly furnished drawing room, Frederick Winslet, my biological father froze mid–sip
of his tea.
“You… what?” he rasped, voice filled with disbelief.
“I said I will marry the Stone heir who is on his deathbed.” I repeated, meeting his stunned gaze. “The forced engagement meant for your beloved daughter Stephanie? I will take it instead.”
Three years as Alexander Hamilton’s secretary. Three years as his hidden wife. And one month ago my entire life fell apart.
Kidnapped on my way home from work, I was kept in a windowless warehouse for four days screaming myself hoarse.
My wrists torn raw from the nylon that chewed through flesh. I heard them calling Alexander. Twenty–seven times.
Not once did he bother to answer.
Eventually, one of the men laughed, holding the phone out on speaker. A woman’s voice came chuckling: “The boss has better things to worry about. Try someone who gives a damn.”
They left me there after that.
I don’t remember how I was found. The police said I had been unconscious.
A week of starvation, a day away from death.
When I was wheeled into the hospital, I kept asking for my husband but he never came.
Instead, I saw the tabloids the next morning:
[Love in air: Alexander Hamilton photographed with childhood sweetheart Stephanie Winslet leaving a private resort in the Bali.]
And just like that, the illusion I had wrapped around my life disintegrated.
While I was suffering, my husband was with his secret lover, my ‘sister‘ Stephanie.
The girl who was swapped with me at birth.
After spending sixteen years in countryside with my poor grandmother, it was discovered that I was the biological daughter of the Winslet household.
‘We cannot let go of the daughter we have raised for sixteen years. Unlike you Stephanie is fragile Lavina. Now that you are staying with us don’t covet what is not meant for you!
That was the first thing they told me while looking at me like I was a blemish on their legacy.
“I know you don’t want Stephanie to marry a dying man but you also need Stone Corporation’s help to sustain your business. Well, congratulations. Your unwanted daughter will do it instead.”
Eerie silence swallowed the room.
Frederick Winslet stared at me. My biological mother said nothing, her face morphed in shock.
Dended to Mary Another Man My Ex husband Regrete
1/5 07%
2:20 pm
I stood up slowly, gathering the last shreds of dignity I had left.
“In return.” I said coldly “Erase me from the Winslet family. No name, no inheritance. Pretend was never born.”
I paused. Then added, voice cracking just slightly.
“Tell my.husband that this is my last gift to him- freedom.”
The Hamilton villa was unusually quiet when I stepped in.
Walking inside with cautious steps I breathed shakily at the sight infront of me- an intimate candle light dinner straight out of my dreams.
Was this… for me?
Then I heard his voice.
“I get it, Stephanie. It’s alright if you can’t come this time.”
“Don’t worry baby. I messed up most of the recipes anyway so how can I let you taste such awful food. Lavina will be home soon so the food won’t go to waste.”
I stood there frozen, tears stinging before I could stop them.
I stepped forward slowly, quietly as if I didn’t already know I didn’t belong in this scene.
Alexander turned around taken aback by my presence before a scowl formed on his lips. “Lavina why are you so late? If someone sees you working like this, they might think you work more than me, the CEO.
“Was just… finalizing some deals.”
“Whatever… You always say I don’t try enough.” he added. “So I wanted to surprise you this time
with a ”
Bile rose my throat and I didn’t answer. Couldn’t.
My gaze drifted to the roses too beautiful, they looked just like my wedding bouquet.
Too much like it.
Maybe that was why my fingers trembled as they brushed the petals, trying to pretend, to believe, just for a second, that it was all meant for me.
Slap
My hand recoiled instantly as a sharp sound echoed throughout the manor.
Pain stung across my knuckles making me recoil in shock like I was burned.
Alexander had slapped my hand away so hard that red bruises started to appear instantly, I stared at my husband of three years in horror making his face drop, stunned.
“Lavina…” His voice was low, cautious, as if unsure what he had just done. “I didn’t mean… I wasn’t thinking right okay……. You know I don’t like people touching my things…”
His eyes darted to my hand as he hurried inside to bring a first–aid box.
“I was just worried that you would ruin the arrangement I spent hours preparing…” he trailed off, his words dying somewhere between excuse and guilt as he tended to the wound while I sat frozen.
2:20 pm
He picked up the bouquet, thrusting it toward me as he was done. “Here, you can have them.”
“It’s alright.” I spoke trembling.
“Forget it alright. Didn’t you always complain to have a dinner with me, today is your day.”
With that various dishes were piled in my plate like I wasn’t a human but a feeding pig that he wanted to use to throw off the waste while he just took a few bites for himself.
I remembered it clearly when we were newly married, I had once playfully stolen a bite from his plate. He hadn’t said a word to me then.
Instead, he called the butler over and said coldly Throw it all out. It is contaminated now.
Since that day, I never ate beside him again and now that I was leaving, there was no point in starting.
“I am not hungry, I just want to sleep.” The atmosphere turned ice as Alexander’s smile froze.
“I did so much for you and you are still throwing a tantrum, for god’s sake Lavina it was an accident-”
“And I will forgive you if you just sign these documents.”
My voice was quiet…too quiet. calm, decceptively so.
Alexander’s brows furrowed as I slid a document across the table.
“What is this?”
“Just some formalities.” I said, forcing my gaze away from him. “For the future.”
“As my secretary can’t you just handle this yourself instead of bothering me. This is ruining my mood.”
It was at this moment his phone buzzed.
Stephanie.
The name flashed bold and bright across the screen. His face lit up instantly, as if something inside him clicked back into place.
Moving away from my eyes he answered without hesitation.
“Yes. I am still at the villa, I was just waiting for you. No, no problem… give me five minutes.”
I watched him.
Watched the man I married, casually walk past the remnants of the dinner he claimed to make for me, walk past the bruises still blooming faintly on my hand and pick up a pen.
“I will sign whatever you want.” he said, not even glancing at the pages. “Just don’t stay mad, okay?”
His signature scrawled across the bottom of the last page like the final cut of a blade. Sharp. Irrevocable.
He set the pen down and reached for his coat. “We will talk later, Lavina. This is urgent so just eat by yourself and go to bed..I would be late.”
Then he left.
Just like that.
2:20 pm
No questions.
No goodbyes.
D D
The door shut behind him, soft but final. A silence bloomed around me so loud it rang in re
ears.
My gaze drifted to the folder.
[Final Decree of Divorce]
He didn’t even read the title.
And I… didn’t stop him.
As soon as I clicked the photo of the divorce agreement and sent it to a number, a message instantly beeped on my phone.
[Damien Stone: Now that you have agreed to marry me. One month from now, I will come to claim what belongs to me.]
