Chapter 1

1: 1

Elise Cooley and I grew up together in the same orphanage.

Later she married the least-favored illegitimate son of the Farley family, and she was the one who tore down the Farley kin for him and put him in the chairman's seat at Farley Group.

As for me, with nothing but a single Primordial Gold Thread, I clawed a fortune out of a heap of the dead, founded Kyros Capital, and became Farley Group's largest outside shareholder.

Everyone said the two of us, one holding the power and one holding the money, were the two women in the New York elite circle you could least afford to cross.

Today was my best friend's third wedding anniversary, and also the celebration gala for the group going public.

I was the only family she had, so of course I came to congratulate her.

Elise came toward me in her gown, glowing, and slipped her arm through mine.

"Vanessa, I finally made it."

I smiled and patted the back of her hand, and my fingertips slid naturally to the pulse points at her wrist.

The next second, I went rigid.

Her pulse pecked like a sparrow, faint and cutting off at the edges. It was the classic dead-and-severed pulse.

Worse still, this body's pulse did not belong to my best friend at all, the one who had suffered a congenital arrhythmia since childhood.

If Elise had died long ago, then what exactly was the woman with her arm through mine right now?

......

The Farley Group IPO celebration gala had booked out the entire Summit Grand Hotel.

Outside the banquet hall, dozens of media crews had their lenses set up.

Both sides of the red carpet were lined with New York's socialites.

When I arrived, the noisy crowd went quiet for a beat.

"That's Vanessa Ashford."

"Ms. Ashford of Kyros Capital came herself."

"Three years ago, when Farley's cash flow collapsed, she's the one who put in two billion to save them. Without her, where would Farley be today?"

"I heard she's not just Farley's second-largest shareholder, she also holds a veto vote on the board. Even Raymond Farley greets her politely as Chairwoman Ashford."

The chatter reached my ears, and I paid it no mind.

I crossed the crowd and spotted Elise at the center of the banquet hall at once.

She wore a dark green gown, her black hair pinned up, a gardenia-shaped diamond hairpin set beside her ear.

That was the wedding gift I had given her.

Three years ago, when she was about to marry Raymond Farley, I had objected.

Back then Raymond was only the Farley family's illegitimate son, the one they kept out of the light, with no real power, surrounded by kin watching him like circling hawks.

To help him rise, Elise had lost a pregnancy, taken a blade, and nearly been shoved down a staircase by the Farley family.

It broke my heart, and more than once I urged her to divorce him.

But she always laughed and pulled me into a hug.

"Vanessa, I know you don't like him."

"But I've never held on to anything in my whole life. I want to hold on to a home."

Every time she said that, I couldn't push her anymore.

When we were twelve, we lived through a fire.

She carried me out of the burning dormitory on her back, and a fallen beam broke one of her ribs.

At fifteen, when my adoptive family returned me to the orphanage, she climbed the wall and ran more than ten miles to find me.

The year we were twenty, her heart condition flared, and I knelt in the hospital corridor all night.

We shared no blood, yet we understood each other better than any kin in the world.

She wanted a home, so I put two billion under her to catch her if she fell.

"Vanessa!"

Elise saw me, and her eyes lit up at once.

"You finally came. I thought you'd use a meeting as an excuse to stand me up again."

She grumbled, but her arm had already slipped through mine, easy and familiar.

I looked down at her.

Her eyes, her voice, the gardenia scent on her, even the way she tipped her chin up slightly when she spoke, all of it was exactly the same as before.

"It's your third wedding anniversary. How could I not come?"

I smoothed back the loose hair by her ear.

"No gift for me this time?"

She held out her hand to me, her eyes curving up just slightly.

I took the document from my assistant and held it out in front of her.

"Five percent of Farley's shares, transferred into your name."

The smile on her face faded a little.

"Vanessa, I already have Farley shares."

"Those came from Raymond. He can take them back anytime. This portion is mine to give, and it belongs to you alone."

I looked straight into her eyes.

"Elise, no matter who you marry, you need your own way out."

She was quiet for a moment, then suddenly reached up and hugged me.

"You really haven't changed at all."

She rested her chin on my shoulder, her voice very soft.

"I always feel like the whole world wants to hurt me, and you're the only one who can protect me."

"Isn't that so?"

"Of course it isn't."

She laughed and drew back, but her eyes had gone a little red.

"Now it's my turn to protect you."

With that she caught my hand and pulled me toward the center of the banquet hall.

Raymond saw us coming and raised a glass.

He pulled Elise into his arms and announced to all the reporters:

"Besides celebrating Farley going public today, I have one more thing to announce."

"I will give fifty percent of the Farley shares in my name, free of charge, to my wife, Elise Cooley."

The banquet hall erupted in applause.

Held in his arms, Elise was glowing, yet her eyes stayed on me the whole time.

"Vanessa."

She stepped out of Raymond's hold and came to my side again.

"I finally made it."

She smiled and slipped her arm through mine.

I smiled too.

But as I patted the back of her hand, my fingertips slid naturally to the pulse points at her wrist.

The next second, all the blood in me froze.

Beneath my fingers, the pulse pecked like a sparrow, faint and cutting off at the edges.

This was the dead-and-severed pulse of the Primordial Pulse art.

Only a corpse whose flesh had already died, whose soul had been forcibly bound in place by some outside force, would give a pulse like this.

Worse still, this pulse was steady and strong, without the faintest sign of the congenital arrhythmia.

It didn't belong to Elise.

I flung her hand off.

The false Elise couldn't keep her footing and staggered back two steps.

Raymond caught her, quick on his feet.

"Vanessa, what's wrong with you?"

The false Elise looked up at me, her face full of shock.

I stared at her and asked, one word at a time:

"Who are you?"