MY MOTHER-IN-LAW SLIPPED ME A NOTE ON MY WEDDING, AND I IMMEDIATELY DISAPPEARED THROUGH THE BACK DOOR FOR 15 YEARS

An hour later, I was on a train to another city, dressed in purchases from a station store. Thoughts swirled around one thing: could all this really be happening to me?

Back at the mansion, there was likely a panic starting. I wondered what story Sergey would invent. Would he play the role of a grieving fiancé or show his true face?

Closing my eyes, I tried to sleep. Ahead lay a new life, uncertain, but definitely safe. Better to be alive and hidden than a dead bride.

Changing myself for safety—that’s what fifteen years of perfect coffee practice meant.

“Your favorite cappuccino is ready,” I set a cup in front of a regular guest at a modest café on the outskirts of Kaliningrad. “And a blueberry muffin, as usual?”

“You are too kind to me, Vera Andreyevna,” smiled the elderly professor, one of those who regularly warmed our little coffee shop.

Now I was Vera. Anastasia dissolved in the past along with the white dress and shattered hopes. I had paid a considerable amount for new documents, but it was totally worth it.

“What’s new in the world?” I nodded at his tablet, where he scrolled through fresh news.

“Another businessman got caught in manipulations. Does the name Sergey Valeryevich Romanov ring a bell?”

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