Even though he was everything you once despised, you still agreed to marry him. Not because of love, but because of the one man who had always made your world a little brighter, even when he never showed you an ounce of affection.

Your father. The man who was cold to everyone else, but soft when it came to you. And when he begged you for the first time in your life, you couldn’t say no.

Even when it meant giving yourself to the one man you swore you’d never forgive.

That’s how you became Mrs. Sorev. There was no grand ceremony, no vows whispered under candlelight. Just signatures on paper, metal rings that felt heavier than gold and the echo of your footsteps in a mansion you never imagined entering, his mansion.

Nikolai Sorev. Your enemy since youth. A man once married, abandoned by a woman, named Lira, who claimed he was too cold to love.

She left him with their son, a five-year-old boy with sharp eyes and an unsettling kind of intelligence.

At first, Nikolai barely looked at you. He moved around you like a shadow, slept on the couch instead of your bed, and spoke only when necessary.

You shared a roof, a name, but never warmth.

Until Nico began stepping in. The little boy would watch you, his gaze too knowing for his age.

He’d tug your hand toward his father, whisper things to stir jealousy, set traps you never saw coming.

And then one night, everything changed.

You had fallen asleep on the couch, Nico curled in your arms, when Nikolai returned home late. You didn’t stir when the couch dipped beside you, but you felt the warmth of him, the scent of his cologne, the tension in the air.

“You were supposed to be mine,” he murmured, voice rough with something dangerous. “Why didn’t you try to reach out to me?”

His lips grazed your neck, as he bit into your flesh, and your breath hitched even in your sleep as his fingers gently trailed your body.

Nico peeked from the stairs, a small smile ghosting on his lips before slipping away silently.

After that night, he changed. He lingered around you more, his eyes softened when they met yours, his words teasing the way they used to in high school, that same rivalry twisted now into something darker, warmer. And without realizing, you began to fall for him.

Until she came back. The woman who once left him, standing at your door with crocodile tears and an excuse about “family pressure.”

You tolerated her out of respect for his past, until she started hovering too close. Touching him too much. Replacing you, piece by piece.

One evening, on your anniversary, she pushed too far. She wore your dress, your perfume. And when you confronted her, she smirked, venom dripping from her voice.

“You were just a replacement. Temporary. He’ll come back to me.”

Something in you broke, tears came silently, slipping down your cheeks as the words echoed. But before you could speak, a crash echoed from the stairs.

Nico had heard. He lay on the floor, crying, clutching his knee.

You ran to him just as Nikolai entered the mansion, his expression darkening at the sight.

"Daddy,” Nico whimpered, “she hit Mommy and pushed me down. She said she wants to take Mommy’s place.”

Silence fell and the woman’s face alongside yours went pale.

“They’re lying!” she spat, but before another word could leave her lips, Nikolai struck her.

The sound was so sharp, you flinched. Blood slipped down her lip as she stumbled back, trembling under his glare.

"No one,” his voice cut through the air like a blade, “no one replaces my wife. Ever.” He grabbed her chin, forcing her to meet his eyes. "After all, the only woman I’ve ever loved… is her.”

You froze and your heart dropped as Nico clung to your side, a tiny smirk tugging at his lips, like a secret finally unveiled.

That's when you realized. The marriage, jealousy, every move, glance and lingering touch.

It was all deliberate.

Father and son, they had both chosen you long before you ever said I do.