Theater: NovelMaster | Language: English
Synopsis
I stood by Asher Pierce for ten long years. Everyone in New York called me "Lady Jill" with bowed heads and trembling respect.
Everyone knew Asher loved me down to his bones. Yet in all those years, he never once mentioned marriage.
Until my birthday this year, when his right-hand man rushed in, breathless with excitement:
"Lady Jill, the Boss ordered a ring behind your back. He’s proposing tonight!"
I sat alone in the dark until dawn broke. But what arrived wasn't a diamond ring—it was the front page of the New York tabloids:
[Shipping Tycoon Asher Pierce Nights with Heiress Chloe Belmont: A $30 Million Pink Diamond to Seal the Deal]
In the photo, Chloe was curled into Asher’s arms, smiling like an angel.
That blinding pink diamond on her finger was worth enough to buy back the three hundred innocent girls she had trafficked into international waters.
The tabloids mocked me between the lines, calling me a nameless shadow, a fool who wasted ten years of love on a criminal who tossed her aside.
I didn’t lose my temper.
I just quietly loaded my magazine with cold, heavy bullets.
Badge number: 12138. I was the deepest undercover plant the NYPD had ever buried in this city.
I knew Asher would protect her.
But my heart belonged to more than just him. It belonged to justice.
The cigarette burned down to my fingertips. The ashtray on the marble table had already piled into a tiny grave, beside the quiet newspaper.
I stubbed it out and stood up, ready to confront him.
Hurried footsteps echoed from the foyer.
Asher had beaten me to it.
He didn't even bother kicking off his shoes. He stormed straight up to me, his dark eyes blazing with fury:
"Jill, are you out of your damn mind? Why are you having people tail Chloe?"
Such a harsh tone.
Maybe he had spoiled me too much over the past ten years. Just the sharp edge in his voice made an unexpected surge of hurt prick my eyes.
I didn't answer his question. Instead, I calmly tapped another cigarette from the pack.
I inhaled the nicotine deep into my lungs to numb the bitter ache in my chest before I spoke.
"Just curious."
"I wanted to see what kind of woman could make you throw away ten years of us."
Asher flinched, as if slapped.
He looked away, his sharp edges softening into exhausted defeat.
"Jill. It’s been ten years. I’m just so damn tired."
"I know how capable you are. You’re ruthless, fearless—the perfect queen for this city. But I’m just a man."
"Chloe isn't like that. She doesn't have your power. She's just sweet, simple, waiting up to make me a warm bowl of soup when I come home. With her, I can breathe outside the bloodshed. Can't you... just look the other way? Just let me rest."
I stared at him in silence as he stood there, praising another woman with that tender, longing voice.
Every syllable was a dull blade sawing through my flesh.
It hurt worse than the three bullet wounds I took for him years ago in an alley in Hell's Kitchen.
I picked up the manila folder I had prepared and tossed it onto the coffee table.
"Asher, the Belmont family isn't as clean as you think. And Chloe is far from the sweet, innocent heiress you see."
"Look for yourself."
Asher’s brows furrowed tight.
Without even glancing at the folder, he shoved it away in irritation.
The envelope spilled open. Surveillance photos scattered across the floor, showing Chloe in private corners of galas, whispering with Southeast Asian human-trafficking kingpins.
"Jill, what more do you want from me? I’m already trying to make it up to you!"
"Every kingpin in this city has a dozen mistresses on his arm. I’m the only one who stayed faithful to one woman for ten years! Now there’s just Chloe, and you won’t stop digging into her, suffocating me!"
"If you have such a hard-on for justice, why didn't you just become a cop?!"
Asher roared, completely out of patience.
He spun on his heel and stormed out, nearly knocking over Sammy, his lieutenant who was rushing inside.
Sammy stood frozen for a second, then quietly walked over to pick up the scattered mess.
He kept his head down, offering a cautious murmur:
"Lady Jill, the Boss is just distracted by something shiny. You..."
"Samuel Morales. Badge 89757. Detective, NYPD Manhattan North."
I cut him off cold, reciting his credentials without missing a beat.
Sammy’s body went completely rigid.
His hand instinctively twitched toward the Glock tucked at his lower back. His face froze in terror, a nervous grin cracking his lips:
"Ma'am, the heartbreak is making you hallucinate. Me? A cop? You're kidding..."
"Badge 12138. Detective Inspector, NYPD. Direct orders from Deputy Chief to link up with you. The Belmont operation is hitting a wall, isn't it?"
Sammy stood dead in his tracks.
Within seconds, the slippery facade of a street thug vanished. His gaze sharpened into that of a seasoned operative:
"Yes. It's bad. The Belmonts are tied in with corrupt foreign officials, which stalls federal interference. Our only shot is cracking them open from inside New York."
"But Pierce has been shielding Chloe day and night. We can't lay a finger on her."
I nodded quietly.
My existence was classified at the highest level.
Unless the sky fell, I was to remain buried, never activated.
"I have a plan, and I need your help. Chloe’s been trying to recruit you behind Asher’s back, right? Take the bait."
"Then find the right moment, and let her kill me."
"Asher will tear her apart."
Sammy stared at me, his eyes wide in absolute disbelief:
"Ma'am... you can't be serious..."
My voice was chillingly calm:
"Samuel, for ten whole years, I’ve played the mob boss's lady."
"Kill me. That is an order."Sammy’s feigned loyalty worked like a charm.
The shipping routes and port projects I had spent months setting up were handed to Chloe one after another.
Her moves were sloppy, almost childish, but she had Asher’s silent permission behind her.
He even took the logistics proposal I bled over for weeks and casually tossed it across Chloe’s desk.
"Here, use this. Don't stay up late anymore—it hurts me to see you tired."
I never caused a scene.
I quietly watched Chloe tear away piece after piece of my territory.
After seeing endless tabloid photos of Asher parading Chloe around town, the hurt had hollowed out. There wasn't even pain left.
Until Chloe reached for Pier 42.
That pier was the throat connecting New York waters to the high seas. If the Belmonts secured it, the number of missing children smuggled out would double overnight.
I knew I had to speed up my death.
Gripping the lab report I’d received from the clinic that morning, I pushed open the door to Asher’s penthouse office.
He was standing by the floor-to-ceiling glass, on a call, his voice soft and dripping with affection.
I didn't need to guess who it was. Chloe.
Asher turned with a frown. When he saw me, irritation flashed across his eyes.
"Yeah, I'll come over tonight, baby. Be good."
He hung up reluctantly, turning to me with cold detachment:
"What is it? I told you to take time off. You shouldn't be at the office right now, you..."
"I want Pier 42."
My words cut him short.
It was so blunt that even Asher looked caught off guard. He immediately scoffed:
"No. I already promised that terminal to Chlo—"
I didn't let him finish. I slid the white envelope across the mahogany desk.
[Positive. Gestational age: approx. 6 weeks.]
Asher froze.
As his eyes scanned the paper and registered what it meant, his fingers began to tremble uncontrollably.
He snapped his head up, his eyes suddenly rimmed in red.
"You... you never wanted to have a child with me before. Why now...?"
Compared to his raw shock, I was stone-cold.
"I’ll carry it to term. Give me Pier 42."
Asher looked like he had been struck across the face.
The joy drained from his features, leaving wide, wounded disbelief.
Then, a harsh, humorless laugh tore from his throat.
"Jill... are you using our baby as a bargaining chip?"
I met his gaze, finding his question utterly ridiculous.
"What else would it be?"
"Did you really think I’d willingly bear the child of a man who cheats on me?"
"You don't have to agree. It just means I visit the clinic again this afternoon and take care of it."
The office dropped into suffocating silence.
Asher stared at me as if looking at a stranger.
A dry, bitter rasp tore through his chest.
"Fine. Fine. Great!"
"You really are the ruthless queen everyone fears. Cold. Merciless."
He glared into my eyes, his own swirling with a mix of fury and shattered pride:
"The pier is yours."
"And you will keep this baby safe."
I said nothing, turning toward the door.
"Jill!" he called out suddenly.
My hand lingered on the handle.
"Besides the baby..." His voice was barely a whisper. "Did you really have nothing else to say to me today?"
I paused.
I couldn't understand what right he had to sound so broken.
He was the one who strayed. He was the one who asked me to tolerate it. He was the one who empowered Chloe.
There was nothing left between us.
"Nothing."
I walked out without looking back.
Behind me on his desk, his phone screen lit up slightly, displaying an empty recent call log.
He had lied.
He wasn't on the phone with Chloe at all.
Clutching that flimsy sheet of paper, Asher broke down, caught between weeping and laughing like a madman:
"Jill... how the hell did we end up like this...?"To compensate Chloe for losing Pier 42, Asher threw millions into buying her a fleet of luxury yachts.
But I knew a few toys couldn't replace a smuggling corridor.
Chloe wouldn't let it go.
Sure enough.
Tonight was the black-tie gala celebrating the launch of Asher's new maritime alliance. Drained from early morning sickness, I made a brief appearance and slipped toward the side exit.
Just as I stepped into the shadows of the colonnade, Chloe cut me off, flanked by two armed heavies.
"Jill, why are your men blocking the Belmont ships from entering the harbor?"
I stopped, eyeing her coldly:
"It's my pier. I decide who docks."
"Instead of wasting your breath cornering me, Miss Belmont, maybe you should figure out what to do with those two cargo vessels floating aimlessly in international waters."
I leaned in, dropping my voice to a dangerous whisper:
"I heard the NYPD Major Case Squad and federal agents are tearing apart the manifests on those ships. Tell me, what kind of 'cargo' is so filthy that it brought the entire Department of Justice down on your heads?"
The color drained from Chloe’s face in an instant.
Like a cat whose tail was stepped on, her voice turned shrill:
"You leaked the coordinates!"
"How much do you know?! I'm warning you, back off! You think you're still the untouchable queen of this city? Asher loves me now! He won't lift a finger to save you. Stop dreaming!"
I shook my head, amused. Asher was right about one thing—she really was an idiot.
If I had relied solely on Asher’s protection to survive, I would have died in a ditch in Vegas years ago.
"Miss Belmont, you’re the one dreaming."
"Your family has left a trail of blood. If I hand my files to federal prosecutors right now, not even God himself could save the Belmonts. Let alone Asher."
Chloe exchanged a panicked glance with her guard.
She hadn't expected me to dig so deep into their operations.
The bodyguard’s expression darkened, his hand immediately reaching under his tailored jacket for his holster.
I was faster.
In a fraction of a second, the zipper of my clutch flew open, revealing a modified compact pistol.
BANG! BANG!
The first round drilled cleanly into the guard's right shoulder. He shrieked, his gun clattering to the floor as blood soaked through his suit.
The second round tore through the cylinder of the other guard’s revolver.
The weapon exploded in his grip, shards of metal shredding his flesh. He collapsed, howling, completely neutralized.
The acrid stench of cordite filled the corridor.
I raised the barrel, aiming it dead between the eyes of a trembling, pale-faced Chloe.
Honestly? In that single split second...
I really wanted to pull the trigger.
"JILL! ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND?!"
A thunderous roar shattered the air.
Asher sprinted over and, without a shred of hesitation, threw his entire body in front of my gun, shielding Chloe completely.
Such a familiar stance.
Except ten years ago, in a rain-slicked alley, the person he had shielded with his life was me.
Everything had rotted away.
Asher’s security team flooded the corridor, surrounding me in seconds.
My hand didn't shake. But my throat burned with acid.
"Asher, look at the two men bleeding on the floor. They drew on me first."
"You swore once that if anyone touched a single hair on my head, you’d slaughter their entire bloodline."
"Does that promise... mean nothing now?"
Asher didn't turn around.
He kept Chloe tucked tight against his chest, murmuring a quick reassurance before glaring back at me with pure disgust:
"Jill, can you stop clinging to the past?!"
"People change."
"Just like you promised we’d have no secrets. So why the hell are you investigating Chloe behind my back?!"
Right on cue, Chloe let out a fragile, muffled sob against his lapel:
"Asher, please, you have to believe me!"
"The Belmonts run legitimate businesses! It’s all my fault my dad’s ships couldn't dock—I just wanted to beg Jill to reconsider."
"Out of nowhere, she pulled a gun on me..."
Chloe looked up, tears streaming down her cheeks as she gripped his shirt:
"My guards were only trying to protect me! They drew to keep her back, and she butchered them!"
"Asher, please don't let her kill me!"
Asher remained silent.
He stepped back, keeping Chloe safely shielded behind his frame.
A hollow chuckle escaped my lips. I felt completely, bone-deep exhausted.
With a flick of my wrist, I spun the grip around and offered the gun to Asher.
"Her or me."
"Choose."Asher stared at me, his eyes churning with emotions too dark and tangled for me to decipher.
I didn't care anymore.
He reached out. Instead of taking the gun, he viciously slapped my hand away.
CLATTER!
The gun crashed to the marble floor.
"Jill, this is your final warning."
"If you ever touch Chloe again, I won't care if you're carrying my child. I will ruin you."
With that, he wrapped his arm around Chloe and led his men away, leaving me behind.
The hallway felt freezing.
As cold as the night ten years ago when Asher and I plunged into the freezing harbor to escape a hit squad. The water was icy, but he held my hand so tight it bruised, whispering:
"Don't be afraid, baby. I swear I'll get you out alive."
My phone vibrated in my pocket.
An anonymous text:
[Chloe is moving against her father’s orders. Tomorrow night, 1:30 AM, Pier 42.]
A second later, a ping from Sammy:
[Boss's Lady, a massive shipment is arriving at the docks. I've locked down the perimeter. See you tomorrow at 1:30 AM.]
It was time.
I looked out at the pale moonlight filtering through the skylight, whispering into the emptiness:
"Goodbye, Asher. Jill is about to die."
No one answered.
The following night. 1:25 AM. My black sedan pulled into Pier 42.
"Lady Jill, this way."
Sammy led me toward the deep end of the warehouse row.
I followed him a few paces into the dark before coming to an abrupt halt.
"Sammy, this isn't the way to the dry docks."
"The unloading bay is on the other side."
Sammy stopped. He didn't turn around, his voice muffled:
"Boss Pierce’s orders... shortcut. The drop changed."
I instantly backed away, my hand sliding under my trench coat, leveling my barrel at the back of his head:
"Something’s wrong with you. What are you doing?"
A rustle broke out from the shadows above.
ZIP! ZIP! ZIP!
Silenced rounds whistled past, tearing into the rusted shipping containers behind me with heavy metallic thuds.
Floodlights on the warehouse ceiling slammed on, bathing the concrete in harsh white light.
Chloe walked out from behind the crates, flanked by a dozen heavily armed mercenaries.
The barrel of her Beretta was still smoking.
"Impressive reflexes, Lady Jill."
"Too bad... starting tomorrow, that crown belongs to me."
I whipped my head toward Sammy, my voice raspy with simulated fury:
"Sammy... you sold me out?!"
Sammy let out a sleazy, mocking laugh:
"Can you blame me, Ma'am?"
"Everyone with eyes knows who holds Pierce’s heart now. Miss Belmont pays in hard cash, not your empty promises. Your reign in this city is over."
Chloe savored the shock on my face, her grin spreading wide.
She tossed an extra pistol to Sammy, nodding toward me:
"Here. You said you wanted to prove your loyalty."
"Put a bullet in her. Do it, and you're the fourth-in-command of the Belmont syndicate."
Sammy took the weapon, a groveling smirk plastered across his face.
He turned toward me, sneering:
"Don't hold it against me, Lady Jill. You only have your own uselessness to blame!"
Just as his finger tightened on the trigger—
Our eyes locked in the briefest fraction of a second.
Now!
I threw myself violently to the right!
BANG!
The shot rang out.
The bullet grazed my left arm, slamming into the steel barrel behind where I had stood!
He deliberately pulled the shot!
Chloe erupted in fury, kicking Sammy hard in the ribs:
"Useless idiot! You can't even hit a pregnant woman?!"
Sammy groaned, apologizing frantically as he raised the gun again.
BANG!
This one tore through my right forearm.
Agony flared. I gasped, blood soaking my sleeve crimson.
"Hunt her down! Don't let her leave this dock alive!" Chloe screamed.
Clutching my arm, I sprinted into the labyrinth of towering cargo containers. Gunfire chewed at the metal behind me, accompanied by the frantic stomping of boots.
My stamina was bleeding out with every heartbeat.
Just as my knees began to buckle—
WHOOSH!
Two blinding halogen high beams cut through the black night, striking me straight in the face.
Tires screeched violently against wet asphalt.
It was Asher’s Maybach.
What was he doing here?
He wasn't supposed to be here.
Asher kicked the door open. When he saw me drenched in blood, his pupils shrank to pinpricks. He sprinted toward me in sheer panic.
"Jill! You—"
Behind me, Chloe’s voice shrieked in deranged triumph:
"She stopped!"
"SHOOT HER! KILL HER!"
BANG!
A final gunshot ripped through the night air.
The bullet tore clean through my lower back, bursting out through my abdomen.
The kinetic force slammed me forward.
Hot blood sprayed from my lips.
As I collapsed, the warm mist splattered across Asher’s pale, horrified face.
His arms caught my falling body.
Trembling like a frightened child, his hands hovered over my face, wiping away the blood in desperate, frantic strokes:
"Jill... Jill... look at me, baby, look at me..."
I parted my lips, wanting to tell him something. But all that came was a surge of blood, choking every sound.
I really wanted to tell him...
My name was never Jill.
I am Serenity Vance.
And I really was a cop.
My hand slipped from his chest, falling limp to the cold gravel.
Jill Vance would never wake up again.
Chapters (4)
Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Watch & Promotions
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