All because I saved George Larson from an asthma attack when we were kids, I became his obsession.

On the day of my parents’ funeral, I was kidnapped right from the service. When I woke up, I found myself in bed at the Larsons’ residence, with a marriage certificate lying on the nightstand.

George stood by the bed, his eyes filled with affection as he said, “Luna, welcome home.”

I did not want to marry George, for I did not love him. However, every time I tried to run away, George would show up out of nowhere and drag me back. No matter how hard I tried, I could not shake him.

After seven years of being entangled in that toxic mess, George finally found someone else. Her name was Annie Atkins, and she had a beauty mark under her left eye, just like mine. Not only that, but her eyebrows, eyes, and figure were also eerily similar to mine. Even our fashion sense was almost identical.

Annie’s social media was filled with pictures of her and George, looking every bit like the perfect couple. She acted like the Larsons’ daughter-in-law already.

Thinking that George had finally moved on, I laughed and congratulated him on finding someone new. However, George then ran his hand over the scar on the back of my neck, his gaze soft.

“Luna, I know you don’t want me to touch you, and you hate attending events with me, but I’ve found a solution!

“I’ll shape her into someone just like you. She’ll take your place in public, doing everything you don’t want to do.”

I reached up to touch that scar too, feeling overwhelmed with despair.

Once George left for work, I shivered and opened my hand, revealing the phone I had stolen earlier. A terrifying thought crossed my mind.

For seven years, no matter what I did to try and escape, George would always appear, furious, and drag me back. Even when I had gotten rid of all the guards and destroyed every hidden camera…

I untied the ropes binding my wrists, took a deep breath, and carefully made my way outside again.

As I got to the backyard, George’s phone buzzed.

“Target is about to exit the safe zone. Should the stun alarm be triggered?”

“Target has exited the safe zone. Stun alarm will be triggered.”

I stared at the phone, and a familiar pain shot through the back of my neck.

Of course.

I had always thought the dizziness and slow movements I experienced whenever I tried to run were the lingering effects of my last suicide attempt. However, I knew now that the scar on my neck was no accident. George had implanted a tracking and stun device in my body.

That was why every time I tried to escape, I would become sluggish and dizzy until George came and dragged me back himself.

"Keep her dizzy."

A wave of nausea shot from the back of my head to my throat, and I dropped to the ground, retching. I tried to unlock George's phone, only to discover there was no passcode—just facial recognition.

I let out a bitter laugh, thinking, ‘Is this it? George, are you really planning to imprison me for life? Do you want to push me to my death?’

Lying helpless on the lawn, I laughed, hopeless. If that was how it was going to be, why not just electrocute me?

In my hazy state, I heard the voices of girls approaching. The one leading them seemed to be carefully eyeing the layout of George’s estate, debating whether to enter and nearly stepping on me in the process.

"Annie, I heard nobody’s allowed inside this part of the Larsons’ estate. Maybe we shouldn’t go in," one of the girls said nervously.

"But it’s George’s birthday today. I’ve got to have a surprise for him, no matter what!" Annie replied.

That voice belonged to Annie?

Curiosity got the better of me, and I glanced up, studying the woman who was supposedly my replacement. Annie noticed me too, and her expression changed as soon as she took in my face and clothes.

"Why do you look so much like me? Are you trying to imitate me? You shameless bitch!" She shrieked and charged at me, landing a hard slap across my face.

I was stunned. One was crazy, and the other was obsessed—what a perfect pair.

"You fake! You even went as far as to get a beauty mark like mine! Do you really think sneaking into George’s estate and pretending to be me will get you into his bed?"

Annie grabbed my chin roughly, slapping me again and again. As the diamond ring George had given her was sharp, it cut deep gashes across my face.

"Studying my face and my style won’t help you! Don’t you know George doesn’t let anyone near this place?"

Out of breath, Annie looked down at me in disgust. "You’re lucky I’m nice. I should’ve let you go and watched you try to climb into George’s bed. I’d like to see if he’d throw you into the sea to feed the fish!"

My mind, already muddled with pain, could not focus. After her slaps, I collapsed, vomiting again, unable to fight back.

Struggling to prop myself up, I tried to speak, but my voice came out hoarse from disuse.

"You… don’t recognize me?"

Annie sneered. "Do you know how many women try to get surgery to look like me just to please George? Why would I waste my time knowing the names of every worthless pest like you?

"Since today’s George’s birthday, I guess I’ll clean the house for him. It’s time to deal with you pathetic women who don’t know their place."

I stared at Annie’s twisted face and said, "Annie, George never loved you, did he? What makes you so sure you’ll ever be Mrs. Larsons?"

My raspy voice was like a devil’s whisper, stripping away every ounce of her dignity.

Annie rushed toward me, her eyes wide with fury as she glared down at me.

"What did you say? How dare you talk to me like that, you imposter? I’ll kill you!"

With that, she yanked off her high heel and swung it at me. The pointed heel slashed across my face, tearing a chunk of skin and dragging my mouth up toward my ear. Blood gushed uncontrollably.

Yes, I was in so much pain that it felt like I might die, or maybe dying would be better than being trapped in that estate, staring into George’s obsessive eyes every day.

Annie screamed, "I’ll beat you to death! I’ll tear that tattoo right off your skin and rip your whole face off!"

‘Fine,’ I thought, and I taunted her again.

"But my beauty mark is natural, not a tattoo!" I grinned. "What about yours?"

Annie froze for a moment, then suddenly burst into a hysterical scream.

Oh, so her beauty mark was fake after all. It seemed like she knew she was just an impostor too.

The two girls standing behind her seemed uneasy. “Annie, maybe you should ask who she is before doing anything. You don’t want to mess with the wrong family and get in trouble with your dad again.”

Annie sneered. “George is throwing a birthday party at the company today. Anyone important is at the event hosted by the Larson Group. What kind of heiress would be sneaking around here, trying to break into my house?

“Only a rat from the gutter would dream of pretending to be someone else and using dirty tricks to climb the social ladder. You want to be Mrs. Larson? Dream on.”

Annie spoke each word slowly and deliberately, all while raising the heel of her shoe high in the air.

The next moment, the sharp heel stabbed straight into my eye. A wave of excruciating pain shot through my head, followed by a rush of warm liquid pouring down my face. The pain was worse than when I had slit my own throat.

Was I finally going to die? Was I finally free?

Through the blinding pain, my mind suddenly cleared. I could feel the blood pouring from my eye and my body trembling uncontrollably.

Annie’s maniacal laughter echoed around me.

“For the rest of your life, you’ll be blind! I’ve destroyed the one thing that looked like me. Let’s see how you plan to seduce George now, you shameless thing!”

For the rest of my life? What a cruel curse.

Why? Why was it so hard just to die?

I laughed bitterly and, with whatever strength I had left, grabbed Annie’s collar. Although my vision was gone, I could hear the sickening crunch of my damaged eye, and the blood continued to pour out.

“Shameless? My skin is way better than yours! George applies my skincare himself every single day!

“Are you mad? You’ll never be better than me, so go ahead, kill me!”

I put everything I had into my grip, and Annie could not break free. She took several slaps from me before collapsing to the ground, and I fell right beside her.

For all I cared, Annie could either kill me or die with me. Thus, I reached out blindly, grabbing Annie’s arm and sinking my teeth into it as hard as I could. I bit down with all my strength, almost to the bone.

Annie screamed in rage, pressing down on my wounded eye, until I was nearly unconscious and finally let go.

“You psycho! I’ll kill you today! Somebody, tie this lunatic up!”

I had forgotten Annie was not alone.

There was a moment of hesitation as the others stood still, unsure, but soon I heard the rustling of someone searching for a rope. They quickly tied up my arms and legs again.

I could not move at all, but several of them still held me down, pinning my arms and legs, afraid I would fight back.

Then, something sharp started jabbing into my face over and over again. It felt like a thick, metallic needle stabbing brutally into my cheeks, my nose, my chin…

“So, you think your skin’s better than mine, huh? Is that why George is always pampering you? Well, let’s see how pretty you are after this! I’ll ruin your face, every inch of it! Let’s see how you can steal him from me!”

I could feel that my face was completely shredded. Even the slightest twitch sent waves of agony through my body, but I could not see anything anymore.

“George is mine, you filthy little homewrecker! Pretending to be me to get close to him? Dream on!”

With that, she grabbed a pair of garden shears from the ground.

“Trying to copy my style by wearing cheap knock-offs, huh? Pathetic! All my clothes are custom, handpicked by George himself. And here you are, parading around in fakes, feeling proud?

“Take it off! You don’t deserve to wear anything like mine!”

Annie screamed like a madwoman while wildly hacking at my clothes with the scissors.

Most of my outfit was slashed to pieces, and my skin was cut up so badly that blood was dripping everywhere, from my face, arms, and body. I was covered in it.

Annie’s clothes had also started ripping at the seams with all the wild movements, but she did not care. She just kept swinging the scissors at me.

What she did not realize was that her clothes were the real knock-offs.