1 My husband was the long-lost heir to the Nordling family fortune. And when they found him, I was standing right beside him, three months pregnant. In the blink of an eye, he became a revered corporate successor. I remained the girl from a small fishing village. Everyone said we no longer belonged together, but Damian Nordling never seemed to care. I thought I was still his wife, legally and in every other way that mattered. It wasn't until I heard he was engaged to the daughter of the Vance family that I understood the truth: our marriage had already been voided. Later, on the day I had an appointment scheduled for an abortion, a vision of a child suddenly appeared before me, like a projection on a screen. Her tiny face was scrunched up, her little hands open as she looked at me with tears streaming down her cheeks. "Mommy, I want to live... please don't abandon me..." "I love the ocean, just like you! I'll be your best diving buddy one day! I want to be your friend, Mommy!" I could see the child inside me? I placed a hand on my stomach, and an idea sparked. Fine. I'll keep the daughter, and get rid of the father. … "Are you certain you want to leave while you're pregnant?" Damian's mother asked, twirling a string of pearls around her fingers, her expression hopeful. "Yes, I'm certain." "Excellent. I will give you a generous sum of money. However, to avoid any complications, you must wait to leave until after Damian's engagement in two weeks." I nodded and signed the contract, a legal promise that I would never return to the city. The rain was pouring outside. When I got back to the villa, I could hear Damian talking with his friend, Preston, in the living room. "Damian, once you're engaged to the Vance girl, what are you going to do with Lena? Send her back to that fishing village?" Damian frowned. "Of course not. She's carrying my child. I would never send her back to a place like that." A bitter smile touched my lips. The "place like that" he spoke of with such disdain held all of our happiest memories. Preston nodded. "Right, it is your kid, after all. Besides, for families like ours, it's not unusual to have three or five women on the side." "Still, that girl from the village really hit the jackpot. To think she'd just randomly pick a guy who turned out to be the long-lost Nordling heir." "Latching onto the Nordling family... her ancestors must have done some serious good deeds." He was getting more animated, completely missing the dark shift in Damian's expression. "Preston," Damian cut in, his voice cold. "I've told you before. She has a name." The sudden chill made Preston uncomfortable. He mumbled a few excuses and left. I was hiding around the corner and ran right into Damian as he came looking for a drink. He froze for a second, then a small smile appeared. "When did you get back? You should have said something." I knew what he was really asking. He was testing me, trying to figure out how much I'd overheard. I met his gaze, a rebellious spark of defiance flaring inside me. "Damian, are you really getting engaged?" A brief silence hung between us. He knew he couldn't hide it anymore. "Lena, trust me. No matter what happens, I will always keep you and the baby by my side." That wasn't the answer I wanted. "But Damian, we're already married. Why are you getting engaged to another woman?" I pulled out the marriage certificate I had always treasured and opened it in front of him. "Look, this is you." As I spoke, our eyes fell on the document together. The people in the photo were still smiling brightly, but the name... Right. I had almost forgotten. He wasn't "Liam" anymore. He was "Damian Nordling." When he reclaimed his true identity, his old, fabricated one was legally nullified. We didn't even need a divorce; the certificate was now meaningless. "Lena, don't be like this." Damian snatched the certificate, folded it, and pressed it into his palm. "Now that I'm back, I have responsibilities." "My father had an illegitimate son, and his nephews are all circling, trying to get a piece of the Nordling empire. This marriage alliance is the only way for my mother and me to secure our position." A tear finally escaped and slid down my cheek. He had his responsibilities. And "us" was no longer one of them. He patiently wiped my tear away, but his voice grew colder. "I can give you anything but marriage. What more could you possibly want?" I laughed. He was actually asking me what more I could want. 2 While Damian was out at a social function, I started packing. In two weeks, on the day of his engagement, I would officially leave the Nordling family. As I was about to book a ticket, the vision of my daughter appeared again. She looked at me anxiously, her little fists clenched. "Mommy, we can't go back to the fishing village! Daddy will find us there too easily." "What about Driftwood Isle, down south? It's beautiful, the weather is perfect, and most importantly, it's remote and no one will bother us." My hand paused. I listened to her and changed my destination to Driftwood Isle. All that was left was to pick up my mother before I left, so we could start our new life together. A moment later, I came across a few old photos of Damian and me, and my mind was pulled back to our time in the village. Back then, he was Liam. He'd been brought to Seacliff Harbor by a distant relative of his adoptive family when he was about three. It wasn't uncommon for people in the village to bring back children they'd had while working elsewhere, so no one suspected a thing. At seven, we were classmates. At fourteen, he wrote me my first love letter. At eighteen, to buy me a coming-of-age gift, he went out to sea with the fishermen for ten days and nearly drowned in the surf. The day he personally fastened the delicate hairpin in my hair, I finally broke down and threw myself into his arms. He just stood there, smiling like a fool, his hands hovering awkwardly, unsure where to put them. The image of him just now, his voice cool and distant as he urged me to accept my new reality, flashed in my mind. It was impossible to reconcile that man with the simple, earnest boy I once knew. It was only now that I truly understood. In just a few months, the intoxicating world of wealth and power had completely changed him. The person named Liam had died back in that little fishing village. I ran my fingers over the hairpin I had cherished for so long, and finally, I left it in the drawer of the nightstand. At midnight, Damian still wasn't home, but he sent me a text. He no longer fussed over my health like he used to. Instead, he forwarded me a link: A Crash Course in High Society: Mastering the Rules of Etiquette and Survival... I scoffed. Lately, he'd been desperately trying to push me into his world, as if mastering these skills would somehow bring me closer to him. But I wasn't him. I didn't have the blood of the elite running through my veins. I would never learn to analyze stocks or appreciate fine art, let alone bake, taste wine, or coordinate designer outfits. My only passion was the vast, endless ocean and the freedom of diving. This time, I deleted the message. I would no longer force myself to learn things I hated. My baby, who had been quietly watching, clapped her tiny hands and gave me a thumbs-up. "Mommy's finally woken up! Two thumbs up!" 3 A few days later, I went out to eat by myself. My appetite during pregnancy was insatiable. The vision of my daughter appeared again, wiping drool from her mouth as she pointed at the food on the table. "Mommy, I want that one! And that one... I'm not done with that, can we order another plate?" Just as I was enjoying my meal, a group of people walked in. Leading them was the very woman Damian was set to marry: Seraphina Vance. I had never met her, but one of her friends whispered in her ear, and her gaze immediately locked onto me. Before I could react, they had invited themselves to my table, seating themselves across from me. The girl who had been whispering spoke first. "Well, well, if it isn't the little pet Mr. Nordling keeps at home." Another girl chimed in. "I hear you've been causing quite a scene. Don't you know how to be a proper mistress?" I laughed instead of getting angry. "Miss, do you have experience being a mistress? You seem awfully eager to give lessons." "You—!" She was speechless, her face turning crimson. Seraphina, however, just smiled. Her arrogant eyes scanned me from head to toe as she toyed with the massive diamond ring on her finger. "You're not a complete pushover, I'll give you that." She then casually gestured towards my stomach. "I can tolerate Damian having women on the side," she said elegantly, "but I'm not fond of him having children. Why don't you give the baby to me to raise? I promise I'll treat it as my own." "You've been with Damian for a while, you deserve some compensation. Name your price, and I'll do my best to meet it." Her condescending attitude was infuriating. I was about to get up and leave, but she blocked my way. "Miss Reed, I suggest you think this through. The child you bear may have the Nordling name, but it will be born to a woman with no official standing. At the end of the day, it will be nothing more than an illegitimate child. And I'm sure you know how difficult life is for someone like that. A loving mother plans for her child's future. Surely you understand that?" Before I could reply, the little vision of my daughter shook her tiny fist. "Mommy, don't listen to her! She only wants to raise me so she can get rid of you completely! Once she has me, she'll abuse me until I'm dead!" I looked at Seraphina's deceptively beautiful face and said firmly, "Thank you for your concern, Miss Vance, but I'll raise my own child." "Why are you being so difficult?" Seraphina dropped the facade, her face filled with contempt. "How could a backwater girl like you possibly raise a child properly? I hear your mother is just some lowly fisherwoman. Something born from trash will always be trash." I had wanted to walk away, but the word "mother" rooted me to the spot. My baby's voice piped up again, full of indignation. "This evil woman has such a nasty mouth! It's okay, Mommy, Daddy's almost here!" But I wasn't waiting for Damian. I wasn't waiting for anyone to save me. My blood boiling, I looked at Seraphina's smug face, grabbed my water glass, and threw its contents squarely at her. "Ah!" she shrieked, just as Damian rushed in and pulled her behind him. He glared at me, a chilling frost radiating from him. The next thing I knew, he picked up a glass of soda from the table and poured every last drop over my head. 4 "Waaah, bad Daddy! That mean lady started it!" My baby was sobbing in my mind, but the people around us had already scattered, leaving only the curious eyes of the other diners, discreetly watching my humiliation. Damian's words echoed in my head. "Lena, I've been too lenient with you. You need to reflect on your actions." He hadn't even asked what happened. He just punished me on behalf of someone else. No, not someone else. His fiancée. The Liam I once knew would never have let me suffer the slightest injustice. The Damian of today had become the very person to crush my dignity. I laughed at myself, grabbing a napkin to wipe the sticky liquid from my face. My phone rang. It was my mother. When I answered, there was only silence. My baby's voice was frantic. "Mommy, go home, quick! Grandma's collapsed! You have to see her one last time!" I rushed back to the village to find my mother breathing her last. She gripped my hand, her voice a thread. "Where's... Liam? Why isn't he with you? He promised... he'd take care of you for me." I just sobbed and shook my head. There was no Liam anymore. "Lena... be happy," she whispered, and then her eyes closed forever. A week later, after handling the funeral alone, I returned to the villa. The huge house was empty of Damian. The housekeeper stammered, "Mr. Nordling... went with Miss Vance for a dress fitting. T-tonight is their engagement party." I checked my phone's calendar. It was today. I also had 99 missed voice messages from Damian. His tone was softer, full of explanations. "Lena, I was wrong to do what I did that day. But I was trying to protect you. If I had defended you, Seraphina would have only hated you more, and she would have come after you even harder." I didn't want to hear it. The eighteen-year-old Liam would have fought for me, bare-fisted and direct. The new Damian's way of protecting me was to help another woman humiliate me in public. Another message popped up. "My secretary said you went back to the village. It's good for you to get away for a bit. You can spend some time with your mother." My mother? Laughter and tears mingled on my face. The kind old woman who had treated him like her own son was gone forever. I sent the housekeeper away, retrieved the hairpin from the drawer, and went to their engagement party. It was eight o'clock when I arrived, just as the ceremony was reaching its peak. Damian, in a sharp suit, was gently sliding a ring onto Seraphina's finger. I had rushed out without a coat and stood shivering at the edge of the crowd, clutching the hairpin. The diamond on the ring was blinding, its brilliance mocking my poverty. After the formalities, Damian raised his glass with the guests, their laughter weaving a warm melody. His eyes scanned the room and then, they met mine. His smile froze. He saw the black mourning ribbon pinned to my chest. He started to move towards me, but Seraphina pulled him away to greet another guest. As he was led away, he looked back at me and mouthed the words, "Wait for me." I sneered. That was what I hated most about him. He was never completely evil, but his love was never pure either. I turned, handed the hairpin to a passing waiter, and said calmly, "Please give this to Mr. Nordling. And wish him a happy engagement." Damian Nordling, from this moment on, we are strangers.
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