"Mom, where's my sister? You... you didn't dump her somewhere, did you?"
That little voice was crisp and shocked, and Elena Whitmore's mouth twitched hard.
She'd been single since birth for twenty-six years. Had never even held a man's hand. So where exactly did this fully grown son come from?
Elena stared, her mind blank for a beat.
Who was she?
Where was she?
Standing on the steps in front of her was a little boy, maybe three or four, dressed in a proper little British-style suit.
So handsome he looked like he'd just walked out of a kids' fashion ad.
Behind him stood a three-story white villa, understated but screaming money.
Elena lifted her eyes again and saw the house number behind him.
No. 1 Banshan Road.
Boom!
Something exploded in her head.
So she... she'd transmigrated into a book?
"Ethan..."
A gentle voice came from inside the villa.
Elena's thoughts got cut off on the spot.
She looked up again just in time to see a man walking out through the front door.
Whoa.
Her eyes lit up, and she blanked out for a second.
The man was over six-three, with cold, deep-set eyes and sharply defined features that gave off that mixed-blood kind of vibe. His jawline was sharper than her whole career plan.
White shirt, black suit. As he walked out, he adjusted the Windsor knot at his collar.
Elena's gaze landed on his long, straight, bony fingers, and as a self-proclaimed hand fetish enthusiast, she couldn't help swallowing.
The moment he saw her, his expression shifted.
Broad shoulders, narrow waist, legs for days. He came down the steps in just a few strides. "Why are you here alone? Where's Sophia?"
The second Elena got a clear look at that outrageously handsome face—
and then looked at the little boy beside him, basically a one-to-one mini copy—
she instantly understood.
The big one and the small one in front of her were Victor Whitmore, the male lead in the book, and their son, Ethan Whitmore.
So Sophia was the daughter from the boy-girl twins... Sophia Whitmore?
Realizing something, Elena's pupils shrank.
A layer of goosebumps shot up her back like tiny needles.
The good news: her husband was a top-tier big shot in the capital circle, filthy rich, and she had both a son and a daughter.
The bad news: she was not the heroine.
She was the vicious side character in the book. The toxic ex-wife who was just about to get divorced.
First she blackmailed him with old favors.
Then she stirred up drama nonstop.
And on top of that, there was the elegant, calm, untouchable white-moonlight woman there as a comparison.
A character like her? If she didn't die miserably enough, it would practically be disrespectful to the readers.
While Elena was still hesitating,
Victor had already walked up to her, face dark. "I'm talking to you. Where's Sophia?"
Ever since the day they got married, she'd been making scenes nonstop. If he answered one phone call, she'd suspect there was some woman on the other end trying to seduce him.
After getting pregnant, she got even worse.
The twins had almost died in the womb.
And all these years, she'd pulled every stunt imaginable, ignoring the children completely, not acting like a mother in the slightest.
Today, she had unusually suggested taking the kids to the amusement park, but she only took Sophia and left Ethan behind.
And now, Sophia was missing.
As if guessing what Elena was thinking, Victor's eyes turned even darker. "You lost her? Where did you leave her?"
The man's presence was icy and oppressive.
Elena's brain spun at top speed, and she quickly figured out the situation.
She had landed in the exact moment before Victor was supposed to leave for the airport to pick up his white moonlight.
To stop him from going, she'd left her daughter behind at the amusement park.
She figured it would only be an hour or two. There was a driver, bodyguards, surveillance everywhere. No way the kid could actually be lost.
Not only would her daughter be found, she'd also stop him from running to his white moonlight.
But reality had slapped her in the face.
Her daughter wasn't found.
Victor, utterly disappointed in her, flew into a rage and said she was vicious, poisonous, and didn't deserve to be a mother.
That very night, he brought up divorce and moved out of the villa.
And on the night Victor invited the white moonlight to dinner, she took her son to the rooftop of a high-rise across from the sky restaurant.
"Victor, I want you back by my side. Swear you'll never see her again. Otherwise, I'll jump from the ninety-ninth floor with Ethan!"
And then...
she really jumped with the little boy in front of her, the one pretty enough to be a child model?
What the actual hell!!!
When Elena had read that part, her face looked like that subway old man meme.
Was this even remotely reasonable???
She, Elena Whitmore, the number one wealthy madam in the capital circle.
If a man wanted to cheat, she'd happily pack his bags and send him a thousand miles away, okay?
With Victor's current wealth and status, if they got divorced, getting half his assets would be almost effortless.
Rich, free, with both kids and a huge villa—after divorce, the money in her bank account would be enough for her to keep eighteen hot male models with perfect bubble butts. She still wouldn't spend it all in ten lifetimes. That kind of life would be insanely good, all right?
And instead of living the dream, she kept ruining her own life—and dragged both kids down with her too?
Was she insane?!
Whether she was the crazy one or this whole world had gone off the rails,
one thing was crystal clear now.
Her daughter was missing.
And she'd personally caused it!
Elena: "..."
It's fine. There's still time!
The amusement park was only a little over ten minutes from the villa at Banshan. If she rushed back now and found—
Elena turned to run.
A hand yanked her arm.
"Talk!"
Elena looked up.
Victor's face was black as ink. "Elena, even a tiger doesn't eat its own cubs. You—"
"You think I did it on purpose?" He was gripping so hard her arm felt like it was about to snap. Elena jerked free with force. "You just said it yourself—even a tiger doesn't eat its young. She's the child I carried for ten months. No one cares more about them than I do!"
She felt a little guilty saying that, sure, but the second she thought of a tiny doll-like little girl crying her lungs out in a packed amusement park, her heart clenched hard.
She explained fast, "I went to the restroom, and when I came back, Sophia was gone. I called the driver, but he didn't pick up. I thought he'd brought Sophia home first, so I came back."
"Aren't you going to the airport to pick someone up? Then go. You'll be late if you keep standing here..."
After saying that, Elena reached out to rub her son's head.
The boy turned away and dodged her hand, glaring at her with open resentment.
That was enough for Elena to understand—the gap between mother and son had been there for a long time. It wasn't something a couple of sentences could fix.
She pulled her hand back, crouched down, and looked at him seriously. "Ethan, I didn't abandon your sister. Stay home and don't run around, okay? I promise you—I will bring your sister back."
The second she finished speaking, Elena stood and ran outside.
Vroom!
The engine roared, and the Ferrari vanished from sight.
At the villa entrance, Victor frowned.
He had assumed Elena was using their daughter's safety to keep him from going to the airport. It wouldn't have been the first time. She had pulled that kind of move so many times over the years he couldn't even count them.
But looking at her just now... maybe that wasn't it?
Playing hard to get?
Or... had he misunderstood her?
The thought flashed by.
He didn't have time to think deeper. Victor pulled out his phone and called the bodyguards.
On the winding mountain road, the red Ferrari tore forward like a streak of burning flame.
Elena made several calls in a row.
"Hello, police? I want to report a missing child—my daughter is gone! ..."
"Hello, management? My daughter is missing. Please help me pull the surveillance footage from near the Ferris wheel from half an hour ago..."
"..."
Her thoughts were moving crazy fast, but there was only one thing in Elena's heart.
She had to find Sophia.
If the sky wanted rain and her husband wanted to cheat, fine!
But nobody, absolutely nobody, was going to stop her from becoming the hero who dropped from the heavens—
and the filthy rich queen with freedom, money, and both her kids.