Chapter 1

"Ms. Foxglove, this is the full fake death package that you have signed with us. The time of death will be at the wedding half a month later, and the cause of death is by jumping into the sea and drowning. The person whose death will be faked is yourself. If the details are correct, please sign your name here."

Melody Foxglove nodded and scrawled her signature on the line at the back of the document pages.

…

The streets were lively as Melody walked home. As soon as she lifted her gaze, she could see a video of Joshua Gretchen proposing to her being played in a continuous loop on one of the huge billboards in the sky.

He was kneeling on the ground on one knee, holding out a ring to her while his hands shook. He used to always be a calm and collected person, but he was visibly anxious while waiting for her response.

As soon as he heard her saying "I do", the tears he had been holding finally flowed down his cheeks in relief.

The video looked so beautiful that the two young ladies next to Melody couldn't help holding on to each other as they sighed in envy.

"Oh my God, Joshua really loved Melody so much!"

"I know, right? He's such a romantic guy. I heard that he grew up with her! He confessed to her when she was 15 years old and gifted her an expensive crown made of priceless pink diamonds when she was 20, saying she was his forever princess.

"And when Melody got into an accident when she was 23 and was in dire need of blood transfusions because of her rare blood type, he immediately donated as much blood as he could to save her life. He nearly died from giving too much of his blood!

"And now, when she's 26, he globally streamed his proposal to her and finally won the heart of the woman of his dreams. How could there be such a perfect man in the world who loves his fiancée so much?"

Melody didn't bother staying to continue listening to the two young ladies. She just lowered her eyes to hide the self-mockery in her eyes.

Everyone was envious of her relationship with Joshua. Everyone always said that Joshua was deeply, madly, and hopelessly in love with her.

That was why nobody would ever think that a man like him would actually be seeing someone else behind her back for three whole years, and with an influencer at that.

She'd found out multiple times that whenever he told her that he was busy with overtime work at the company, he was actually busy rolling in the sheets with his side chick, Angel Saddler. And each time, Melody would feel as though her heart was being ripped to shreds, leaving her with a bloody, mangled mess.

Melody browsed through the lewd, obscene photos in her gallery and suddenly recalled the time when her parents divorced when she was 15 years old. Neither side wanted to keep her and argued fiercely with each other.

Joshua had pushed the door wide open and grabbed Melody by her hand, telling her parents, "If you don't want her, I do!"

It was also since then that Joshua had given all of his heart to her.

He'd gotten into fights for her and broken three of his ribs before. He always remembered when she was starting her period, and he also often showed her off on his social media platform. Even Joshua's friends teased him for being such a helpless romantic and called him "Melody's No.1 Fan".

While sliding the engagement ring onto her finger, he'd kissed her with tears flowing down his cheeks, pleading with her that she would love him forever and never leave him. He told her that he would go crazy if she were to leave him.

He was the first to say he couldn't live without her, yet he was also the first to shatter her trust.

Since this was the case, she planned to fake her death and disappear from his life forever. She would change her name so that he would never be able to find her again.

Melody reached up to wipe away the tear tracks on her face. Just as she was about to leave, a Maybach suddenly screeched to a halt right in front of her. A large figure then opened the backseat door and exited the car, rushing toward her.

"Mel! Didn't I ask you to wait for me at home while I finished up some work before taking you to try on your wedding gown? Why did you come out here by yourself?"

It was Joshua. While talking to her, he held her hand and realized that her fingers were as cold as ice. Without hesitation, he immediately removed his coat and put it around her shoulders.

"Your hands are literally frozen, and you haven't got a coat on you either. Are you trying to get yourself sick so that I'd die worrying about you?"

Melody didn't answer him. She just looked up at him in silence. He didn't seem to be faking the worried, loving look in his eyes. However, it just made her even more confused. How could he be in love with two people at once?

Joshua zipped her up in his coat and was just about to lead her back into the car when the two young ladies from earlier heard them both and spun around instinctively in surprise. When they saw it was indeed Joshua and Melody, their eyes lit up.

They approached the couple with red faces and stammered, "H-Hello. Are you Mr. Joshua Gretchen and Ms. Melody Foxglove? W-We're both your fans. Can we please get a photo with you?"

Melody didn't want to disappoint them, so she nodded after hesitating briefly.

As soon as they got permission, the two fangirls stood on each side of Joshua and Melody before looking into the camera.

Joshua wasn't a fan of having his photo taken, but he just pulled Melody closer to him and looked into the camera with her as well.

After taking the photo, the fangirls thanked Joshua and Melody profusely, wishing them a happy marriage for the rest of their lives.

A happy marriage for the rest of their lives?

Melody turned to look up at Joshua next to her. As soon as their gazes met, Joshua's eyes were filled with a sweet gentleness again, as if he happily agreed with what the two fangirls said.

However, Melody knew that they wouldn't be spending the rest of their lives together in marriage forever.

…

They arrived at the wedding gown boutique for Melody's fitting. As soon as Melody stepped out of the car, the sales assistant immediately went up to her to welcome her.

There was a hint of slight envy in her tone as she said, "Ms. Foxglove, all 1,000 wedding gowns that Mr. Gretchen had customized for you have arrived. You may try whichever styles you want to see which ones you like."

Melody said nothing. She just turned to look behind her and saw Joshua looking at something on his phone. The lustful look in his eyes was undeniable. Melody had only seen such a lustful gaze in his eyes in the lewd photos when he was with Angel.

After realizing that Melody's eyes were on him, Joshua immediately put his phone away and looked at her apologetically.

"I'm sorry, Mel, but something urgent just came up at the company, and I need to rush back to settle it. I'll get Sean to wait here with you. He'll send you back home once you're done trying on the gowns."

He was talking about Sean Jenson, his personal driver.

With that, Joshua kissed Melody on the forehead and rushed to another car of his before leaving her alone in the boutique.

The sales assistant immediately approached Melody and asked, "Ms. Foxglove, would you like to try on the gowns now?"

Melody shifted her gaze and shook her head.

"No. I don't want them anymore."

After all, there would only be a "dead" bride on their wedding day.

Chapter 2

Melody got back into the car to go home. As soon as she unlocked her phone, Angel's message immediately jumped out at her.

It was a screenshot of Angel's conversation with someone.

The screenshot showed a photo of Angel wearing a black, lacey bunny costume while sitting on the ground in a very provocative pose. She was staring at the camera with a glazed, innocent look.

Her text read, "Master, if you can come over in 20 minutes, this bunny is all yours to savor."

Right underneath her provocative text, the message bubble from Joshua's profile photo said, "Wait for me."

Melody let her phone screen dim out as she closed her eyes, trying her best to suppress the prickly feeling in her heart.

She thought that she'd be desensitized by now, after seeing countless similar photos, but she wasn't. The pain still surged through her, radiating from her heart and settling deep in her bones.

In the end, she locked her phone and put it away.

Late that night, Melody fell asleep in her bed, curled up, with her eyes red and bloodshot. Meanwhile, her phone buzzed every hour until the next morning.

It wasn't until Melody woke up that she realized Angel had been sending her photo messages every hour on the hour, and the photo messages were none other than of the numerous used condoms they'd used last night.

"He fucked me all night in all sorts of positions. I couldn't even get up this morning. Has he ever done such things with you?"

Melody didn't reply. However, she couldn't stop scrolling through the photos dozens of times.

When Joshua came home, he saw Melody lying in bed with red, teary eyes. She was gripping her phone so tightly that her knuckles had turned white.

Joshua felt his heart leap into his throat. He hurried over to her and held her in his arms, asking anxiously, "Mel, why are you crying?"

Was she crying?

Melody snapped back to the present and looked at him. Then, she touched her face. It was only then that she realized she'd been crying so hard that her entire face was wet with tears.

A long while later, she chuckled lightly. However, her laughter wasn't enough to mask the sadness in her eyes.

"It's nothing. I just saw a bunch of really touching photos."

Joshua caressed her cheek and asked gently, "What kind of photos would make you cry such sad tears, Mel? You're making me worried to death."

Melody was just about to answer when the butler, Gaston Baxter, knocked on the open door and said respectfully, "Mr. Gretchen, the car has already been prepared for you."

Joshua hummed in response and turned to Melody in his arms. "Mel, I'm sorry for leaving you behind in the wedding boutique yesterday. I'll make it up to you by taking you to an auction. I'll buy you anything you want, okay?"

Melody didn't answer, so he took that as a silent yes. He then carried her out of the room and selected an outfit for her, including her shoes and accessories.

At the auction, Joshua basically bought all the jewelry during the first half of the auction to try to make Melody happy, even though she didn't seem to show any interest in them.

During the break, a few men walked over from the back of the room. They were some of Joshua's good friends.

"Aha! I was just wondering who you were, buying up literally everything during the first half of the action! It was you all along, Josh!"

"And to think that I was thinking of buying something for my grandmother for her birthday. I couldn't even get my hands on a single item!"

"We should have known. He's a sucker for his wife, after all. Hey, Josh, give us a chance to grab something in the next round! I've been planning to get something later!"

The guys kept teasing Joshua and joking around with him. However, Joshua barely spared them a glance before turning back his attention to Melody, peeling clementines for her.

"Nobody is getting anything for the second round either. Everything today belongs to Melody, and Melody only!"

The men just groaned loudly in defeat and held a hand to their chests dramatically. Still, they knew that they were no match for Joshua.

The corners of Joshua's lips tugged upward slightly. However, he proceeded to ignore them and continued peeling the clementines for Melody, trying to cheer her up.

However, Melody just shook her head calmly and said, "I don't want them. You can eat them yourself."

Soon, the auction resumed for the second round of items. Just as it was about to start, the doors suddenly burst open, and a lady in a short red dress strutted into the room.

Melody immediately felt Joshua stiffening beside her.

She looked up and caught sight of Angel's face at once.

Chapter 3

Angel folded a few hundred dollar bills and stuffed them into the usher's pocket. Then, she smiled seductively at him. Before the usher could snap out of it, she was already making her way to the seat next to Joshua.

As she sat down, everyone present gasped audibly. They started wondering who she was to him.

"Isn't she just some random influencer? Who gave her the balls to sit down next to Mr. Gretchen?"

"Isn't she scared that Mr. Gretchen is going to blacklist her from all her social media platforms?"

"Hey, lower your voice! What do you know? I heard that she's got someone huge as her sugar daddy. Haven't you seen her rows and rows of luxury designer bags and accessories during her live streams?"

…

Melody was just about to look away when she saw Angel openly grabbing hold of Joshua's hand and putting it right under her short dress.

Joshua's hand tensed at once. He wanted to withdraw it instinctively, but Angel wouldn't let him and held it there. She then started moving against his hand.

In the end, Joshua stopped struggling and didn't withdraw his hand anymore.

Melody immediately looked away, trying her best to steady her shaking hand.

For the second half of the auction, Melody was visibly distracted. It wasn't until the final auction item was revealed and everyone exclaimed loudly that she was pulled back to reality from her pain.

Melody lifted her eyes and looked forward, catching sight of a beautifully sparkling necklace lying in the center of a velvet cloth.

The auctioneer excitedly introduced the history of this beautiful necklace. Legend had it that this used to belong to Queen Ellie, and it was her favorite necklace because it represented pure, unfading love.

Joshua must have realized that Melody seemed interested in this necklace, so he immediately raised his auction paddle.

"10 million dollars!"

At once, a woman's voice sounded right next to him.

"30 million dollars!"

Joshua looked to the side and saw that Angel had also raised her auction paddle next to him. She could feel his fierce gaze on her, so she just turned and smiled at him with lust in her eyes.

"Sorry, Mr. Gretchen, but my boyfriend loves me a lot and wants to give it to me as a gift as well!"

Joshua's face darkened at once. "50 million dollars!"

"100 million dollars!"

"150 million dollars!"

Finally, Joshua used his secret hand signal.

The auctioneer in the front immediately struck his gavel on the podium and said, "150 million dollars, sold to Mr. Gretchen! Congratulations, Mr. Gretchen, for winning the bid for this Lover's Heart necklace!"

Applause thundered around the hall. Joshua then withdrew his hand silently and kissed Melody next to him.

"Wait here for me. I'll go and get the necklace for you."

Melody watched as Joshua got up from his seat and left. Then, Angel also got up from her seat before giving Melody a long, meaningful look.

It wasn't until everyone was gone that Melody finally unclasped her fists. Her long nails had dug into the flesh of her palms, drawing blood. However, it was as if she couldn't feel any pain at all. She just got up and walked out of the hall.

The screen on her phone was still lit up. She had just read a message on her messaging app.

"Basement parking lot."

Most of the people must have already left because the only car left in the parking lot was the Maybach there.

If anyone tried going any nearer, they would immediately be told off by Sean, who was standing a distance away from the car. That was why nobody else realized that the car was shaking from the inside.

Melody could hear Angel's moans and Joshua's grunts coming from the back of the car.

All of a sudden, she felt as if her body had lost all of its strength. She leaned heavily against the pillar and watched the scene before her.

The door to the back seat was wide open, and Angel and Joshua were both stark naked inside the car as they fucked each other's brains out. Melody could even see Angel's legs tightly wrapped around Joshua's waist as she moaned and cried out in pleasure.

"N-Not so hard, Master! I-I can't handle it…"

Joshua's eyes were dark and lustful. "Didn't you ask for it, you little vixen? I'm going harder on you. You'd better handle it whether you like it or not!"

Then, with another grunt, he suddenly grabbed her waist and pulled her even closer.

Chapter 4

Melody held her hand to her mouth. She couldn't bear to watch them any longer and ran helter-skelter out of the parking lot.

She ran for what felt like hours. Finally, she fell on her butt at the emergency staircase and held a hand to her rapidly beating heart, gasping loudly for air. Tears also started cascading down her cheeks by the buckets.

She'd initially thought what Angel and Joshua did during the auction was bad enough, but she couldn't have been more wrong. Whatever they did in the car was a hundred times worse, and she felt extremely suffocated by it.

Ever since getting together with Joshua, he had proven himself to be extremely pure, romantic, and gentlemanly with her.

He would blush whenever he held her hand and shiver when kissing her. He'd even held off their first time together, saving it for after she finally agreed to his proposal.

She'd laughed back then, asking him how he'd been able to hold back for such a long time just waiting for her. However, he just held her in his arms and told her in his hoarse voice, "Mel, it's impossible for any man to hold off doing it with the woman they loved.

"It's just that I love you too much and don't want you to regret anything, so I wanted to wait until you were 100% sure."

He had treated her so preciously that Melody immediately felt surrounded by his warmth. She thought she'd finally fallen in love with the right person, but now, reality had just slapped her in the face with a bucket of ice-cold water.

She covered her face in despair and cried so hard she nearly fainted in the stairwell.

A long while later, Melody finally got up and robotically walked over to the nearest washroom. Right at that moment, her phone buzzed in her pocket.

Angel had sent her another photo of their post-coital mess in the car. There were even bits of torn-off black stockings in the corners.

"The car is full of our lovely scent. Oh, and by the way, Josh promised to give me that necklace of yours. Lover's Heart belongs to me now!"

Melody didn't want to read any further. She just turned her phone off.

By the time she had finished touching up her makeup and walked out of the washroom, she finally saw Joshua, who had come back to look for her.

As expected, he greeted her empty-handed. Moments later, Melody was pulled into his embrace. She could faintly smell someone else's perfume on him.

Melody was just about to push him away when Joshua started talking right above her head.

"Mel, that necklace is a little damaged, and I don't think it fits you anymore. I'll buy you a better, shinier necklace next time, okay?"

Melody inhaled deeply and looked up at him. She held back her sobs and said, "But what if I told you I only want that necklace?"

Joshua looked at Melody's tear-streaked face and felt as though his heart was being squeezed very painfully. He quickly tried to comfort her, saying, "My baby, Mel, don't cry anymore. That necklace really doesn't suit you. But I'll get someone to buy you another one right now, alright?"

Melody chuckled when she heard this.

In the past, Joshua would give her anything she wanted without any hesitation. But now, he rejected her wishes for another woman.

It seemed as though Melody hadn't just lost him physically to Angel—she'd also lost her place in his heart to Angel now.

Joshua felt his heart aching for Melody when he saw her in this state. Just as he was about to say something else, Melody shoved him away.

"Whatever. I don't want it anymore," she said, sounding exhausted.

Joshua wanted to chase after Melody when he saw her leaving, sad and disappointed. However, she suddenly stopped in her footsteps. Joshua immediately followed her line of sight and saw Angel walking past them right at that moment, wearing the Lover's Heart necklace around her neck.

Joshua paled at once. Just as he was about to say something again, he noticed that Melody had just resumed walking past Angel as if she had never seen anything.

It wasn't until Joshua saw that Melody had completely disappeared out of sight that he finally grabbed Angel's hand. "Are you out of your mind? Didn't I tell you never to appear before Mel? She is where I draw the line!"

Angel didn't seem the least bit upset after getting yelled at by Joshua. She just grinned at him and said, "Well, sorry for that, but she didn't seem to have noticed anything. I won't do that again next time."

Then, she pulled down her collar a little more and said, "Let me make it up to you tonight, okay? I've got a bigger surprise for you."

Joshua gulped, his Adam's apple bobbing as his eyes turned dark with desire.

He never returned home that night. He just told Melody that he had some urgent matters to attend to at the company.

Melody knew that he was lying, but she didn't question him any further or make a fuss about it. Instead, she just continued settling her own things silently.

Since she was going to fake her death and leave Joshua for good, she needed to destroy every last evidence of her existence. When that time came, she was going to leave nothing but a dead body behind for him. No memories, nothing.

It took her three hours to tidy up her things, set them aside, and burn them all up.

Then, she pulled out a massive box from the bottom of the bookshelf. It contained all of the birthday presents she'd received from Joshua over the past ten years.

When she was 15 years old, she received a love letter from him. Every word he wrote oozed with his love for her.

When she was 18 years old, he gifted her a pair of crystal shoes, saying he wanted to walk with her, hand in hand, for the rest of their lives.

When she was 20 years old, he gifted her a tiara made with priceless pink diamonds, saying that he would forever treat her as his precious little princess.

When she was 22 years old, he gifted her a diamond ring he'd personally designed for her, saying that he was going to continue proposing to her every year now that she was of age until she finally accepted his proposal.

…

Melody wrapped up all these gifts and put them up for sale on eBay for nine dollars and ninety-nine cents.

The items were all precious jewels valued at over 100 million dollars, but she was only selling them for less than ten dollars. They sold out at once.

Melody called the post office to pick up the parcels from the house. Just as she was about to retire to her room, the door suddenly flew open.

Joshua rushed in, all drenched and disheveled as he grabbed hold of Melody's shoulder and asked in a shaky voice, "M-Mel? What's the meaning of selling off my gifts online at just 9.99 dollars?"

Chapter 5

Melody looked up at Joshua. He seemed to have rushed home as quickly as he could in the sheeting rain. His coat was soaked, but he didn't seem to care. He just looked at Melody with a panicked expression on his face.

She just asked softly, "How did you know?"

"It was all over the internet and even made the headlines of trending news."

Melody just wanted to explain when Joshua hugged her tightly. His shaky voice was laced with fear and uncertainty as he said, "Mel, what's the meaning of this? Why did you sell those things off? Are you planning to leave me? Don't you want me anymore?

"What have I done wrong? Please, don't leave me. I'll change, okay? I'll change my ways…"

Joshua actually sounded like he was about to burst into tears. However, Melody just stared straight ahead of her, a look of self-mockery appearing in her eyes.

If Joshua was so afraid of her leaving him, then why did he even bother sleeping with other women behind her back?

Was it because he had full confidence in himself that he wouldn't get caught? Or was it because he thought she was naïve and innocent to fool and would never catch on?

He was already driven to such a state of panic after somewhat realizing that she was planning to leave him. If that was the case, Melody couldn't wait to see his reaction after finding out she would be "reduced" to nothing but a dead body on their wedding day.

She slowly pushed him away and said calmly, "It's not what you think. I just don't like them anymore, so I thought of selling them off instead of letting them rot away.

"Moreover, we're already getting married soon. Why would I suddenly want to leave you? Have you done anything to betray me?"

At first, Joshua had felt at ease when he heard the front part of Melody's explanation. However, when he heard the second half of what she had to say, he couldn't help tensing up again.

He gripped her hand tightly and swore, "No, Mel. I swear that I never did anything to betray you or let you down. You know it, baby. You know how much I love you."

Melody smiled faintly. "If you didn't, then what are you so worried about? Alright, it's getting late. I'm going to sleep."

She then turned and left.

Joshua felt his heart thump anxiously in his chest. However, he kept telling himself that they would get married very soon, that Melody would be his wife, and that nothing would change. Absolutely nothing was going to change.

Still, because of the things that Melody did in succession to one another, Joshua felt unusually anxious and uneasy about it. He stayed with her the entire night until dawn.

His phone lit up just then, and as soon as he saw who sent him the text message, all traces of sleepiness in his eyes were gone.

He glanced at Melody sleeping peacefully next to him and pecked her gently before getting out of bed and leaving.

One second later, Melody also opened her eyes and glanced at her phone.

She'd just received a text message from the death-faking agency. They told her that they'd just located a body double in the hospital morgue that looked exactly like her.

They'd already ironed out all the details, so all that was left was just for her to take a look to see if there was anything else that needed to be improved.

Melody couldn't deny that the body lying in the morgue looked very similar to her, whether in terms of facial features, body structure, or even height and weight.

If she weren't alive herself, she would actually think that the corpse lying there was her own.

Joshua would probably never doubt that it was her.

As of now, she'd already gotten everything prepared. She just needed to wait for the time to arrive.

After discussing with the staff members, Melody returned to the hospital's ground floor. Just as she passed by the gynecologist clinic, she happened to glance in. However, that glance was enough for her to stop short in her tracks, completely frozen in place.

Just a short distance away, Joshua was helping Angel, who had a tiny baby bump, out of the gynecologist's office.

She saw Joshua treating Angel carefully and preciously as they walked out of the clinic. In fact, he looked very happy to be a father.

So, Angel was pregnant? And Joshua was the father?

They had a kid together?

…

Melody had no idea how she made it back to the villa.

It was dark inside, and the only source of light was the faint brightness of her phone screen. Just as the screen was about to dim, Angel's text message notification lit it up again.

This time, she sent Melody a photo of her gynecology test report and a link to Angel's live stream platform.

"I'm three months pregnant! The baby's dad seems overjoyed. Oh, by the way, I will live stream with my baby daddy tonight to celebrate my pregnancy. You're most welcome to join if you want to wish us well!"

Melody's frozen fingers twitched for a split second. The coldness from her fingertips seeped right into her heart.

After tapping on the live stream link Angel sent her, Melody instinctively tapped on the screen record button in the top right corner.

A while later, Angel suddenly appeared onscreen in maternity clothing with a motherly smile. She then showed her fans her pregnancy test and told them how happy she was to be a mother.

The screen was filled with congratulatory words and well-wishing comments from her fans.

All of a sudden, a hand appeared right beside Angel. That hand looked extremely familiar to Melody.