Surrounded by cheering spectators, her husband, and her adorable twins, twenty-seven year old former supermodel Livia Astor is happy.
She has everything a woman can ask for—beauty, fame, children, wealth, and love.
At this moment on the 23rd of August, her life is perfect. Nothing can interrupt her bliss. She will not allow it.
She is so immersed in her joy that she is hardly paying attention to the football match she is spectating.
The Skyline Defenders are winning their first competition in seventeen years. What has changed? Her younger toddler, Cornelia, developed a fondness for the team's brightly-coloured uniform. A few words to her husband, and the Skyline Defenders changed ownership.
Under her husband's leadership, the football team is quickly becoming a force to be reckoned with. Indeed, Raylen Vale has not just the golden curls of Apollo but also the golden touch of King Midas—every company, enterprise, project, hobby he touches becomes successful.
Livia rests her head against her husband's broad shoulder as the Skyline Defenders score their winning goal. He presses a kiss into her dark red waves and murmurs something about how nicely the scent of her new shampoo complements her beauty. The twins—Cornelius and Cornelia—are too engrossed by the footballers to disturb this moment of romance between their parents.
The Vales look like a picture-perfect family, and they are.
At the end of the games, reporters rushed up to Raylen, eager to find out how he has managed to turn the Skyline Defenders around in such a short amount of time. Livia takes her proper place beside her husband as he stands before the sea of "Mr Vale this" and "Mr Vale that."
Out of habit, she scans the reporters. She does not suspect her husband's character and loyalty to her, but she is not naïve enough to believe in the innocence of strangers. Especially the innocence of unknown young ladies.
Today, none of the reporters look especially striking. Just normal girls with normal looks and normal jobs. One does seem a bit on the pale and sickly side, but such girls never become the mistresses of rich men. From the looks of it, she cannot even beat her fellow reporters in speed, friendliness, and professionalism.
But Raylen Vale is a kind man. And as he turns towards that reporter—likely some newbie or intern—he kickstarts the beginning of the end of beauty queen Livia Astor's flawless life.