Chapter 30

Peter had met Valeria several times and honestly couldn’t see what the fuss was about. Sure, she was young, but aside from that? The girl was clearly artificial as hell—everything from her personality to her obvious plastic surgery. From the moment Peter first met Valeria, he’d pegged her as a manipulative schemer. She didn’t deserve to be mentioned in the same breath as Anastasia. The fact that they were half-sisters made it even more twisted. Knowing Jasper was her stepsister’s fiancé and deliberately pursuing him anyway? That was some next-level psycho behavior.

But Jasper seemed completely bewitched by Valeria’s youth and fake sweetness, finding her childish tantrums “adorable” instead of recognizing the red flags. Classic case of thinking with his dick instead of his brain. As they say, hindsight is 20/20. Once Jasper actually lost Anastasia for good, he’d realize what an idiot he’d been.

Eventually, Jasper laughed bitterly. “Are you kidding? Valeria’s sweet and affectionate, plus she actually shows enthusiasm in bed. Unlike Ana, who was basically a nun—completely frigid and boring.”

Peter kept his mouth shut, knowing argument was pointless. Reality would teach Jasper soon enough. Right now, his friend was too pussy-whipped to think straight. Jasper’s massive ego had always been his weakness—he genuinely believed women should be grateful for his attention.

He’d convinced himself that Anastasia needed him to survive. Seeing her walk away so decisively had shattered that delusion, and his wounded pride was demanding revenge.

So the next morning, he finally transferred the buyout funds to Anastasia’s account. When Anastasia saw the bank notification, she stared at the amount for a long moment. Three years of her life, reduced to a number on a screen. But looking at those digits, she felt something unexpected—relief. Finally, they were even. Finally, she could start fresh.

With her newfound freedom, Anastasia decided to focus on job hunting and the upcoming competition results. The preliminary round winners should be announced soon. Since she had time on her hands for the first time in months, she decided to hit the grocery store and cook Cassian a proper dinner. She’d been too busy with the J&A drama to do anything domestic lately.

Putting on comfortable jeans and a cashmere sweater, she headed out for the supermarket. It was only a few blocks away, so she decided to walk and enjoy the crisp autumn air. She was crossing the street near the market entrance when a beat-up van suddenly swerved toward her. Before she could process what was happening, the vehicle screeched to a halt and two masked men jumped out. One clamped a chemical-soaked cloth over her mouth while the other grabbed her arms, dragging her toward the open van door. Anastasia tried to scream, but the cloth muffled everything as her vision started going dark.

The chemical burned her lungs as her body went limp despite her desperate mental fight to stay conscious. In her final moments of awareness, one thought pierced through the terror: Cassian. Would he even know something had happened to her?