08/20/2026
The chill of late autumn gusted through the floor-to-ceiling windows of the most opulent penthouse in Manhattan. A divorce agreement lay flat on the Italian marble coffee table, weighed down by a Chase bank check bearing a six-figure sum in USD—equivalent to exactly two hundred million yuan.
Alexander Vance—the man who controlled the lifeblood of the Wall Street-renowned Vance financial empire—leaned back against the leather sofa, his fingers tapping leisurely against the armrest. His face was as cold and impassive as a plaster statue, his razor-sharp gaze fixed directly on me.
"All expenses for the pregnancy, childbirth, and the care of the two children have been fully accounted for here," he said, his voice deep and devoid of emotion. "The divorce agreement is clear. Once signed, you walk out of this house and sever all ties with the Vance family."
I looked at the check. Two hundred million yuan. A sum enough to afford anyone a life of luxury.
Did he expect me to weep, to feel my pride wounded, or to drop to my knees and beg to remain "Mrs. Vance"?
I smiled faintly, picked up the Montblanc pen, and decisively signed my name on the final page without a moment's hesitation.
"Thank you for your generosity, Alexander," I said, folding the agreement and slipping the check into my Hermès handbag. "I wish you and your 'childhood sweetheart'—fresh back from Paris—a blissful life together."
Alexander raised an eyebrow, momentarily surprised by my uncanny composure, but the arrogance of a ruler quickly returned to his eyes. He stood up and adjusted his tie. "The children are asleep in the nursery. The driver will take you to the airport tonight. I’ve already arranged a car and a residence for you in London." He turned and walked away, confident that everything remained firmly under his control. Little did he imagine that on this chessboard, I would be the one to make the final move.
Four hours later.
A private jet took off from JFK Airport, soaring into the vast expanse of the night sky, heading straight for Europe.
Inside the luxurious cabin, the soft, steady breathing of three-month-old twins could be heard. The twins—a boy and a girl—lay peacefully in their specialized bassinets.
I gently readjusted the lambswool blanket over my children, a cold smile playing on my lips.
Alexander Vance believed his scheme was flawless and undetected. He saw me as nothing more than an ordinary girl who had lucked into a wealthy family; he assumed that once I had outlived my usefulness—having borne two heirs for his clan—he could simply pay me off and kick me out to make room for his old flame.
But he had overlooked one crucial detail: I was the one who had hand-picked the entire medical team, the nurses, and the household staff throughout my pregnancy and delivery at the family’s private hospital.
That afternoon, the moment he left the penthouse for his sham engagement party with his mistress at the Plaza Hotel, the household staff—all of whom had received generous bonuses from me—quietly packed up. The twins were examined by a private physician and whisked directly into a waiting vehicle, bound for the airport.
By the time Alexander discovered the empty bassinets in the room, my children and I were already cruising at an altitude of 10,000 meters.
He offered me two hundred million yuan in exchange for my freedom and the children? No. I took his two hundred million yuan—and took the Vance empire's only two heirs along with me. Five years later. Zurich, Switzerland.
It was a winter morning; snow blanketed the historic streets in white. At the headquarters of a leading European private bank, a closed-door investment conference was underway, attended by the world's most formidable financial conglomerates.
Alexander Vance sat at the head of the conference table.
Over the past five years, the Vance empire had flourished in terms of figures, yet he himself had been living a waking nightmare. The night he returned to his penthouse—only to face an empty apartment and the missing medical reports regarding the two children—he had nearly lost his mind. He had turned New York upside down, leveraging every connection from the FBI to the underworld to find me, but I had vanished like a drop of water evaporating into thin air.
The disappearance of the two legitimate heirs had drawn constant pressure from the Vance family board. His former mistress was ousted the very next week after he discovered she had attempted to tamper with my medical records. Alexander had grown cold and ruthless, burying himself in work to fill the void.
"Apologies for keeping you waiting."
The cedar doors of the conference room opened....