Chapter 1
I opened my eyes again, and the phantom sensation of being choked still lingered on my neck. Cold sweat instantly drenched my back.
I looked around. It was my familiar rental apartment, the lingering scent of instant noodles still in the air.
Had I… come back to life?
“Maya, what are you spacing out for? Come on, help me look!”
My cousin, Tiffany Miller’s voice, jolted me back to reality.
I stiffly turned my head. She was holding up her phone, and on the screen played a video I knew all too well.
In the video, two men stood side by side. One was mature and composed, the other bright and charming. Both wore clothes that hinted at an exotic, far-off land.
“Miss Tiffany Miller, hello. I’m Kael,” the older brother, Kael Thorne, said, his voice deep and magnetic, his eyes sincere.
His younger brother, Zane Thorne, then spoke, his smile dazzling. “And I’m Zane.”
“We are sincerely looking for a wife to spend our lives with.”
“From the first moment we saw you, we knew, Tiffany, you are the one destined for us.”
“We sincerely invite you to meet us, to give us a chance to get to know you, won’t you?”
In my previous life, my first reaction to that marriage video was utter absurdity.
What era were we in? Claiming ‘destiny’ after seeing someone only on a video? This was either a catfishing scam or worse, a human trafficking trap. Pure bait.
I painstakingly tried to explain the risks to Tiffany, from online fraud to human trafficking, from fake personas to international crime.
Finally, after talking until I was hoarse, I managed to convince her.
Though her face showed reluctance, Tiffany reluctantly closed the video, promising she wouldn’t contact those two men again.
I thought that was the end of it.
Until six months later, a live stream by a blogger named “Seraphina Blackwood” went viral overnight.
In the live video, a woman dripping with jewels was nestled happily in Kael and Zane’s arms. Inside a palatial mansion, the dining table was laden with exotic gourmet dishes most people had only dreamed of.
She casually picked up a limited-edition Hermes bag and flaunted it.
“So many people ask me how I suddenly started living this life. The secret? I married well, darling!”
“When my husbands first asked me to meet them, I actually thought it was a scam. Who knew they were secretly billionaires?”
“You’re asking what I do now? Every day, I just shop, get beauty treatments, and have SPA days.”
“My only complaint is that the brothers are just so… passionate. I can barely keep up!”
“Why can I marry two men? Oh, my husbands come from a unique enclave. Their community practices polyandry – one wife, multiple husbands. And there are still so many handsome bachelors without wives!”
“You want me to ask for you? Sure! If you’re interested, sweethearts, remember to DM me after the stream!”
Tiffany completely lost it after seeing that live stream.
She believed I had deliberately blocked her from marrying into wealth and becoming one of the elite.
So, that night, she barged into my apartment, rushed to my bed, and choked me to death.
“Maya Reid, you b*tch! If it weren’t for you, I’d be living like a goddess right now! Why did you stop me?!”
The suffocating pain and her twisted, enraged face were the last things I remembered before dying in my past life.
Seeing me still lost in thought, Tiffany nudged me again. “Maya, they seem so sincere, and they’re so handsome. Tell me, should I go meet them?”
Watching her face flush with imaginary bliss, a chill ran down my spine.
My good intentions in my previous life had led to my brutal death.
This time, Tiffany Miller, I won’t stand in your way.
So, when she asked, I simply replied, “Cousin, this is a huge decision for your life. You need to think it through and decide for yourself.”