The shrill ring of the phone jolted Daniel awake. His eyes cracked open, adjusting to the dim light of the study room. He hadn't meant to fall asleep here, sprawled across the leather chair, a glass of whiskey half-empty on the desk beside him.
Rubbing his temples, he cursed under his breath.
Last night's encounter replayed in his mind like a broken record—Anna's defiant eyes, her steady voice as she uttered the unthinkable. Divorce.
The very word still grated against his pride.
But worse than her insolence was the memory that lingered. Her scent. Sweet, maddeningly fresh, clinging to his senses long after he had left her chamber. She had looked far too tempting in that damned wedding gown, and it had unsettled him more than he cared to admit.
The phone buzzed insistently on the desk, dragging him back to reality. Daniel's eyes flicked to the screen. His jaw tightened.
He snatched it up. "Yes, Henry."
At once, the voice of his assistant came through, crisp but hesitant.
"Boss, we traced the cab Miss Kathrine took. It went to the airport. However…"
Daniel's brows drew together. "However what?"
A beat of silence. Then Henry's reluctant reply:
"Boss, she never boarded any flight."
Daniel's grip on the phone tightened until his knuckles whitened.
Hours before the wedding, Kathrine had vanished—humiliating him in front of society, forcing her desperate family to shove Anna in her place to avoid his wrath. A substitution he had reluctantly accepted.
But sparing the Bennett family did not mean sparing Kathrine. He had ordered his men to track her down. She could run, but she wouldn't hide forever.
Now, this?
"I don't care whether she boarded a flight or not," Daniel said after a long pause, his voice cold and cutting. "Keep looking for her. I want her found."
There was no mistaking the steel in his tone.
"Y-Yes, Boss."
The line went dead. Daniel tossed the phone onto the desk with a sharp clatter, leaning back in his chair. His jaw ached from how tightly he clenched it.
Kathrine had not only embarrassed him—she had jeopardized his plans.
His eyes flickered to the glass of whiskey, but he didn't reach for it. Instead, he raked a hand through his hair, his thoughts dark and restless.
Anna asking for divorce. Kathrine vanishing into thin air.
The Bennett sisters were turning into a bigger complication than he had ever anticipated.
And yet…
His mind betrayed him, dragging him back to Anna again. The fire in her eyes. The way she had refused to cower. The way her body had felt against his when he had pinned her to the wall.
Daniel exhaled sharply, forcing the thoughts away.
She's nothing. She's a replacement.
Kathrine is the goal.
'Focus.'
The sun was already up and it was time for him to get for work until.
Knock. Knock.
The sound broke his concentration. Daniel's head snapped toward the door, his expression shifting back into composure, though his eyes darkened with impatience.
"Enter," he said, his tone clipped.
The door creaked open, revealing Mariam with an unusually anxious face.
Daniel's brows drew together instantly. The old woman was far too easy to read. "What is it, Mariam? Speak."
She wrung her hands, her voice trembling. "Y-Young Master… the madame—"
That was all Daniel needed to hear. At the mere mention of Anna, his blood surged hot. He didn't wait for Mariam to finish. With a sharp stride, he stormed past her, his expression carved in stone.
Moments later, he shoved open the door to the bedroom.
Empty.
The bed was untouched, the room eerily silent. Curtains swayed from the breeze slipping in through the balcony doors, but there was no trace of her.
Daniel's hands curled into fists at his sides, his jaw flexing as fury coiled in his chest.
"Anna Bennett," he growled, his voice low and lethal, "how dare you defy me."
Her words from last night echoed in his mind like a cruel reminder.
"I want a divorce."
"How about we don't take this further and just end it."
His nostrils flared as he scanned the room again, his mind already racing through possibilities. Did she dare run from him? On their wedding night?
The sheer audacity made his blood boil.
Daniel Clafford was not a man who tolerated rebellion. Not from business rivals. Not from allies. And certainly not from the woman who bore his name.
His lips twisted into a cold smirk as he turned on his heel.
"If she wants to play this game…" he muttered darkly, "then she'll learn exactly what it costs to defy me."
***
Meanwhile, Anna hailed a cab heading straight for the Bennett mansion the very next morning. After Daniel's outright rejection of her plea for divorce, she had made her decision—she needed to talk to her parents face-to-face.
There were two reasons.
First, she refused to remain shackled in a loveless marriage, knowing exactly how it would end for her if she let history repeat itself. Second, she needed to confront the reality of her father's company. If she truly wanted freedom, she would have to find a way to protect their business without Daniel's shadow looming over them. That meant getting involved.
She exhaled heavily, her body sinking into the worn seat of the cab. Doubt whispered in her mind, taunting her with all the ways this could fall apart. Was she being too confident? Too reckless?
No.
She brushed the thought away, lifting her chin as she closed her eyes, drawing in slow, steady breaths.
But the peace didn't last.
An image flashed in her mind—her and Kathrine from her past life. The way Kathrine had smiled so easily, the way Daniel's eyes had always softened around her, never around Anna.
Her eyes snapped open, her spine straightening as if an electric jolt had run through her.
She wouldn't lie to herself. She had been heartbroken. But she could no longer deny what was always true: Daniel belonged to Kathrine. He had chosen her, proposed to her, loved her. Anna had only ever been a placeholder in his life, a body to fill the void her sister left behind.
The thought made her chest constrict painfully, as if invisible hands were squeezing her heart.
No, she reminded herself fiercely. I was just a replacement. Nothing more.
And how could she forget the way Daniel had treated her in their marriage? The indifference. The cold dismissals. How every effort she made—losing weight, learning his favorite meals, reshaping herself into the wife he should have wanted—had gone unnoticed, discarded like they meant nothing.
Not even their child had been spared.
Her throat tightened, tears stinging the corners of her eyes. The memory of her unborn child—the tiny heartbeat that had once fluttered inside her—still carved into her soul. The pain of losing him remained sharp, a wound that had never healed.
But twisted in with the grief was a cruel comfort.
Perhaps it had been a mercy.
Her baby would never have to grow up in a house so devoid of love, with a father who would never acknowledge him, and a mother constantly begging for scraps of affection.
Anna's lips quivered, her hand pressing lightly against her stomach as her eyes grew moist.
"Miss, we've reached."
The cab driver's voice yanked her from the spiral of thoughts. She blinked quickly, brushing away the wetness from her lashes before stepping out of the vehicle.
The sight of the Bennett mansion—grand yet suffocating—loomed before her, carrying with it both familiarity and unease.
Grrr…
Her stomach growled loudly, startling her. Anna froze, heat rushing to her cheeks.
She hadn't eaten a single thing since yesterday. Between Daniel's looming presence, his rejection, and the restless night replaying his words, food had been the last thing on her mind.
A groan slipped past her lips as she pressed a hand against her stomach, half in annoyance, half in embarrassment.
All because of him, she thought bitterly. The man who kept me awake all night and drove me here at dawn.
Her jaw set, her eyes hardening with resolve as she walked toward the entrance.
This time, she wouldn't beg. This time, she would fight.