I left the Raymond Corporation building just as the sun tilted westward. The afternoon light stretched long across the crowded street, glinting on the glass façade of the tower where, only hours ago, I had cast away my past.

Inside me, everything fell silent, as if all emotions had dried up. No more anger. No more humiliation. Only emptiness.

I caught a bus heading toward the airport. Sitting by the window, I watched the city blur past, the neighborhoods, the strangers, the streetlights beginning to glow in the dusk. I had no destination in mind. I only wanted to leave this place, as far as possible.

Then I remembered the town I'd lived in two years ago, before moving to the city with Edric. I opened my phone, checked the flight schedules, and chose the soonest flight there.

As the bus crossed the bridge leading out of the city, my phone began to vibrate. On the screen appeared a name I never thought would call me again: Rodina Raymond.

I hesitated before answering.

"Anne, dear, where are you?" Her voice was soft, warm, and familiar. "The maid told me you left the mansion with your luggage. Did something happen?"

Rodina's voice still held that gentle tone, a mother's kindness that had always embraced me, even though I was never truly her daughter-in-law.

I took a slow breath and replied, "I'm fine, ma'am. I just... need to get away for a while. Between Edric and me, there's really no reason to stay anymore."

There was silence for a few seconds, then a quiet sigh.

"I see. Honestly, I expected this day would come sooner or later. Edric... he's such a foolish boy."

I smiled faintly, though my lips trembled.

"Please don't say that. I don't blame him."

My voice came out small, as if I were speaking more to myself than to her.

I leaned my head against the window and let the scenery drift by. Memories began to surface, the day I first met the Raymond family.

It was during a heavy rainstorm on a mountain road. I had run out from a shabby roadside inn to pull someone trapped from a burning car. I didn't think about anything then, only smoke, explosions, and the rain pounding down before everything went black.

When I woke up in the hospital, Rodina and her husband, Mr. Raymond, were by my side. They told me I had saved their whole family, that they didn't know how to thank me.

Who I was at that time, I didn't really know.

Another accident before that had taken away my memory. All I knew was my name: Anne.

No family, no friends, no past.

I lived in the mountains, taking small jobs to survive with an empty mind and a hollow heart.

The Raymonds told me to stay, that they would take care of me as one of their own. So I stayed.

And then Edric appeared.

He was the eldest son, still recovering from the trauma of the accident. Rodina told me that if I agreed to marry Edric, they would consider it repayment for saving their lives. They would give me a home, comfort, and companionship for him.

But behind that promise, on our wedding day, Edric handed me a thin folder.

I still remember that day clearly.

Inside was a contract, barely two pages long, with words that chilled my heart:

"The marriage will last two years. No emotional involvement required. After that, both parties are free to end it."

I smiled and signed my name.

Not because I believed in love, but because I needed a place to start over. And deep down, I had hoped that maybe within those two years, I could find something, perhaps a sense of belonging, a bit of peace.

But today, I understood.

Not all beginnings are meant to end in warmth.

Rodina's voice pulled me back to the present.

"I know about Edric and Bella," she said quietly. "Everyone in high society is talking about it. I have no right to ask you to stay. But please remember this, Anne... no matter what happens, the Raymond family will always be grateful to you. If you ever need help, call me anytime."

I bit my lip, my voice shaking.

"Thank you, ma'am. These two years... I'm truly grateful for your kindness. Perhaps the only thing I'll never regret is meeting the Raymond family."

"Anne, you're a good girl," she said softly. "It's just a pity that Edric couldn't see it."

I smiled through my tears, which slipped down onto the back of my hand.

"He doesn't owe me anything. From the start, it was only an agreement."

"Even so," she said slowly, "I believe one day he'll regret it."

I said nothing. I just listened to the hum of the bus wheels and the wind whistling through the cracks of the window. When the call ended, my heart felt as if it had quietly closed a chapter of my life.

The bus stopped at the airport.

I pulled my suitcase along, merging into the crowd. The air smelled of jet fuel, filled with the sharp voice of announcements echoing through the terminal.

I had nothing left to carry except a few clothes and my small savings money I'd earned myself over the past two years by teaching children, translating documents, and baking pastries to sell online.

Edric never knew, and I never told him.

I didn't want to leave with empty hands.

After all, I still wanted to live a life where I could hold my head high.

As I stepped down the terminal stairs, a sudden roar split the air.

A black car came speeding from across the road that was too fast for anyone to react.

In that instant, I heard someone shout, and then everything went dark.

The sound of screams echoed in my ears. Warm blood ran down my cheek.

My vision went white and then blurred into nothing.

...

At that same moment, inside the Raymond Corporation.

Bella sat cross-legged on the leather sofa, phone in hand. The screen's glow reflected in her eyes, sharp and glimmering like a blade.

On the screen was a single line of text:

"It's done. You don't have to worry anymore."

Her lips curved into a faint, satisfied smile, so cruel and elegant.

She set the phone down, leaned back, and gazed through the sunlit glass.

Edric entered, holding two cups of coffee.

"What are you smiling at?" he asked, curious.

Bella turned, tucking a strand of soft brown hair behind her ear, her smile radiant and sweet.

"Nothing," she said lightly. "I just got rid of something that's been keeping me up at night."

Edric frowned slightly.

"Something?"

Bella stepped close, took her cup, tilted her head, and smiled again.

"Don't worry about it. Now..." she whispered, her voice honeyed, "shouldn't we celebrate?"

Edric hesitated, a flicker of doubt in his eyes, but then he simply nodded.

"Alright."

The office door closed.

Inside that luxurious room, the faint scent of coffee lingered in the air... and Bella's knowing smile shimmered on the glass like a hidden shadow.

It was a long, reversed dream.

It was also the life of a girl named "Anne."

In truth, that name "Anne" was something I came up with on a whim after reading it in a book.

When I first regained consciousness, I was in the small hospital of Karism Town. Other than the doctors and nurses, there wasn't a single person around. I couldn't remember who I was, where I came from, or what had happened to me.

According to the doctor's account, I had been found unconscious by the roadside, covered in blood and wounds. There was a gash on my head, and a kind farmer nearby had rescued me and brought me to the hospital.

Perhaps because of the injury to my head, my memory was completely gone. There wasn't a single piece of my past I could recall.

When I was discharged, I had nothing. No possessions. Not even a name.

The town police arranged a place for me to stay for a month, and I took a temporary job cleaning the local library.

On my first day of work, my eyes caught sight of a book that had just been returned.

"Anne Beneath the Sea."

It told the story of a girl named Anne who, like me, had lost her memories. She had no family, no identity, only an endless imagination of a world deep beneath the ocean.

From that moment, I decided to call myself Anne.

But unlike the Anne in the book, I had no eternal dream of a radiant underwater kingdom. I had to live in the reality of being utterly alone, a girl who even had to steal her name from a fictional character.

My days passed slowly, until that fateful afternoon.

The sky was dark and heavy, rain poured down in sheets, and the streets were deserted. No one would go out in such miserable weather.

I had rented a small house far from the center of town. Crowds made me feel lost and uneasy, while solitude at the edge of the world made me feel safe. So when the Raymond family's car crashed off the cliffside road, I was the only one who saw it happen.

It was a luxury vehicle, the kind I had never seen before, speeding too fast, crashing straight into the rocky wall. Miraculously, the reinforced structure seemed to have protected those inside, but the car had flipped, trapping them.

The storm was fierce, but that same rain might have been what kept the car from exploding. Still, if no one rescued them, they wouldn't survive. Out here, in this isolated place, no one else would find them until the storm was over.

I threw on a raincoat and ran toward the wreck.

The car lay upside down, motionless. Smoke was curling from the hood.

My heart clenched. I grabbed a stone and smashed through the window.

Inside were three people, a middle-aged couple and a young man behind the wheel. I pulled the couple out first, one by one. Then, as I tried to drag the man from the driver's seat, a sharp stench of gasoline hit my nose.

Fuel had leaked into the cabin.

"Damn it!"

I used every ounce of my strength to haul his heavy body out of the car, clutching him tightly as I ran. But I was too late.

A deafening boom split the air.

The blast threw me backward, and the world went dark.

When I opened my eyes again, I was back in the same familiar hospital. But this time, someone was waiting beside my bed.

"My dear girl, you're awake!"

A gentle woman with sea-blue eyes was looking down at me.

I recognized her. She was the middle-aged woman I had saved from the wreck.

Just by her bearing, I could tell this was a woman of status, the kind who belonged to the upper echelons of society. The wife of a politician, perhaps, or of some powerful businessman.

"I'm Rodina Raymond," she said warmly. "You saved our lives. You saved our entire family."

During the weeks I remained unconscious, Rodina had stayed by my side, personally tending to me. Her kindness moved me deeply.

Later, I met her son, Edric. My first impression of him wasn't bad, he just seemed distant, detached. According to Rodina, the accident had left him traumatized. His emotions hadn't fully recovered.

It seemed the Raymonds had investigated me thoroughly.

When they discovered I was a nameless girl with no past, living quietly on the fringes of society, Rodina made me an unexpected offer.

"You saved our family," she said. "Let us give you one in return. Come live with us, Anne. Let me adopt you as my daughter."

Her words filled me with a faint hope I hadn't felt in so long.

But soon after, the Raymonds arranged for me to meet Edric again.

He was still numb, responding slowly to questions. When his parents asked how he would feel about marrying me, he hesitated only a moment before nodding.

I was stunned.

Rodina smiled and said gently, "Adopting you might be difficult in high society, dear. But if you become Edric's lawful wife, things will be much simpler. It's better than being merely a foster child, don't you think?"

"Anne, will you agree to this?"

At that moment, the warmth in her eyes made me believe her sincerity. I accepted without knowing how much pain that decision would later bring.

That marriage left me with nothing but a shadowed name and a shattered heart.

"Miss Anne... Miss Anne!"

A doctor's anxious voice pulled me from my thoughts.

"You're finally awake. You've been in a coma for two weeks since the accident."

Two weeks.

I blinked, realizing how much time had passed.

With the doctor's help, I sat up. He asked for my family information, my hometown but I said nothing.

"Miss Anne," he continued, "in your examination, we discovered that you're pregnant. The baby is healthy."

Pregnant?

I froze. I had left everything behind, yet now I was carrying a Raymond child?

No. That wasn't right.

A laugh escaped me, so low and incredulous.

"Miss Anne?" The doctor looked alarmed, unsure what to make of my laughter.

"Not Anne," I said softly. "Anne is dead."

I brushed my hair back, my palm resting gently on my abdomen. I could feel the faintest warmth of life beneath my skin.

"This child belongs to Salvaria."

Edric Raymond, that unfaithful billionaire could never be the father of my child.

Because I was never Anne.

Anne was only a brief illusion in the life of Mary Salvaria.

"Anne is dead," I whispered. "I am Mary Salvaria."

I smiled faintly and looked up at the doctor.

"Could I borrow your phone? I need to make a call."

Later, I rummaged through the bag that had once belonged to "Anne," pulled out her phone, ignored the missed calls on the screen, removed the SIM card, and tossed both the card and the phone into the trash.

The story of Anne ended there.

That life, that borrowed name, was over.