To Kill Serena, To Become Her

When I was eighteen, my father let my stepmother marry me off to an infamous politician.

"This is how you'll repay us for raising you."

Liam took a bullet for me. As the bullet pierced his chest, he gasped, "Ava, run."

"I'll repay her debt. If that's not enough, take my life instead."

I ran. My family's bodyguards never found me again.

Five years later, Liam became a Silicon Valley titan, his face gracing the cover of Forbes.

He signed a prenuptial agreement that gave me half of his company's shares. He said, "Everything I have is yours."

The gossip in our circle was always the same—

Others clawed their way to the top for fame and fortune. Only Liam did it for the one he loved.

The day he topped the list of the world's wealthiest, he placed a wedding ring on my finger.

We stood in the seaside villa we had designed together, ready for our wedding.

But just then, a panicked girl's voice suddenly echoed in my mind:

"Mom! Don't marry Dad!"

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1

My hand froze.

"Mom! I'm in your belly! I'm Thea, your daughter."

My hand drifted to my still-flat stomach.

"Mom! Dad is a bad man!"

"After the wedding, he'll cheat on you constantly, and you'll end up hating each other!"

"You'll be miserable for twenty years!"

"Mom, you deserve so much better! Don't marry him!"

Liam and I... we would become enemies?

But the man before me was overcome, his eyes already red-rimmed at the very thought of our marriage.

I couldn't help but shake my head.

"No, sweetie," a voice in my head gently countered. "Your father isn't that kind of person."

"We've known each other for years. He took a bullet for me. A love like that can withstand anything."

"But Mom, growing up, all I ever saw in your eyes was numbness."

"Maybe Dad loves you now, but..."

"When I was twenty, you and his mistress fell into the water at the same time, and he chose her without a moment's hesitation!"

"By the time I got there, you were already...!"

A mistress?

I nearly laughed out loud.

"My silly girl," I thought, "your father would never even look at another woman."

Underneath the gunshot scar on his chest, my name was tattooed.

He called it a medal he wore over his heart.

I refused to believe he would betray me.

"Ava."

Liam's steady voice trembled with emotion, his hand shaking as it clutched the microphone.

"I... I prepared for so long... but seeing you in your wedding dress, I..."

"I..."

It's said that a man marrying the woman he loves can be too choked up to speak.

Seeing his ragged breathing now, how could he possibly not love me?

"It has to be a misunderstanding, sweetie," I thought.

"Mom! One step to the left!"

A deafening crash echoed beside me.

I instinctively stepped to the left.

Liam stumbled, knocking over the giant champagne tower. It shattered in a glittering explosion of glass and foam.

"Cover your ears!"

I clapped my hands over my ears without a second thought.

The next second, the massive crystal chandelier not far away shattered, raining down with a sound like thunder.

He stared at me, his eyes wide with surprise.

My own jaw had dropped.

My reflexes had always been sharp.

But those two warnings... it felt like I could see the future.

"Mom, I'm your daughter. Why would I lie to you?"

A chill snaked down my spine.

Liam... would betray me? And make my life a misery?

"I'm sorry, Ava. I was just... overwhelmed."

As he reached for my hand, I recoiled.

"Who is she, Thea?" I asked in my mind.

"She's right here... at the wedding."