On the second morning after deciding to leave, Nina was packing the last few books she owned.

Her phone suddenly vibrated. It was the assistant calling. "Dr. Avery, Mr. Blackwell was injured in a shootout last night. He took a bullet in his left shoulder and lost quite a bit of blood. He's back in his room now."

Her fingers froze.

For ten years, no matter how late it was, how exhausted she felt, or how dangerous the situation might be, the moment he was injured she would grab her medical kit and rush to him.

It was both the contract and instinct.

Without hesitation, she picked up the medical kit and headed toward the east wing of the main building, Julian's private bedroom. She had walked in and out of that room hundreds of times.

But when she reached the door, she stopped.

The door was slightly ajar, leaving a narrow crack.

From inside came Aria's bright laughter. "Julian, don't move! It's going to sting when I disinfect it."

Then Julian's deep voice followed, laced with amusement. "Be gentle… damn, that really hurts."

Nina felt as if she had been struck by lightning.

He said it hurt?

How many wounds had she treated for him over the past ten years?

When bullets lodged in his flesh, he would bite down on a towel without making a sound.

When a blade cut so deep the bone was visible, he could still smile and ask her, "Long day today?"

Even with a fever of 104 degrees, he once held her hand and said, "Don't worry. I'm not dying."

He had never once shown weakness in front of her.

But now, facing Aria, a simple "that hurts" carried a tone almost like a spoiled complaint.

Through the crack in the door, Nina saw Aria sitting on the edge of the bed in a silk nightdress, her long hair falling loosely over her shoulders as she dabbed iodine onto the gunshot wound on Julian's shoulder with a cotton swab.

Julian leaned against the headboard, watching her with gentle eyes. He even lifted a hand to brush a loose strand of hair away from her cheek.

"Aria," he said softly, almost like a sigh. "You're finally back."

Aria's eyes reddened slightly. "I'm sorry for making you wait ten years."

"It was worth it." He took her hand and pressed it against his chest. "As long as you came back, everything was worth it."

Standing outside the door, Nina dug her nails deep into her palm to keep from making a sound.

So this was how he looked at someone he truly loved, warmth in his eyes so deep it seemed ready to swallow the other person whole.

She knew she should leave immediately, yet she remained rooted to the spot, unable to tear her eyes away.

Suddenly, as if sensing something, Aria turned sharply toward the door.

Their eyes met. A flicker of triumph flashed through Aria's gaze. Then she deliberately leaned forward and pressed a soft kiss to Julian's lips.

"Don't move," she said playfully. "You'll reopen the wound."

Julian didn't avoid her. Instead, he chuckled and wrapped an arm around her waist. "Alright. I'll listen to you."

Nina could no longer stand there. She turned and hurried away.

Tears slipped down her face silently, but she wiped them away with force.

Back in her room, she dropped the medical kit heavily onto the table. The metal instruments clattered loudly.

She remembered a winter night three years ago when Julian burned with a fever and fell unconscious. She had stayed by his side for three days and nights.

When he woke, all he said was a faint, "Thank you for your work, Dr. Avery."

And yet today, he had shown such vulnerability in front of Aria.

At that moment, in the east wing bedroom.

Julian leaned against the headboard, his shoulder wound already treated by Aria.

A bodyguard stood at the door and reported quietly. "Mr. Blackwell, Dr. Avery came by this morning."

Julian paused slightly while holding his glass of water. "She came? Where is she?"

"She stood at the door for a while, didn't knock, then left." The bodyguard hesitated. "She looked… pretty upset."

Julian lowered his gaze, his fingers tracing the rim of the cup. "She's always been sensitive. With Aria back, it's normal for her to feel unsettled."

"But she's packing her luggage," the bodyguard said hesitantly. "I heard she even booked a ride to the airport. Is she really leaving?"

Julian chuckled softly, though his eyes grew colder. "Impossible. She's loved me for ten years. She chose to stay by my side." Besides…"

He set the cup down, his tone firm. "If Aria gets pregnant in the future, the baby must be delivered by someone we trust completely. Nina is an excellent doctor. I wouldn't trust anyone else to deliver Aria's child."

The bodyguard looked like he wanted to say something, but in the end he only nodded and withdrew.

Julian looked out the window. The sunlight was bright and warm.

He believed Nina would remain by his side as she always had.

He had never considered that even a shadow could grow tired of the dark.

That evening, the butler appeared outside Nina's room and handed her a gilded invitation. "Ms. Avery, tomorrow is the Blackwell family's Spring Banquet. Mr. Edmund Blackwell specifically requested your attendance. Please make sure you come."

Nina took the invitation. Her fingertips were cold.

Nina didn't want to attend the Blackwell Spring Banquet. If she went, it meant watching Julian and Aria being intimate with each other.

It would be like driving a knife straight into her heart.

But the invitation had been written personally by Edmund. "Nina, the ten years are nearly over. This will be the final family banquet. You must attend."

She understood. It was both a dignified farewell and a final warning. When she left, she was not to break the Blackwell family's rules.

The banquet was held in the century-old Rose Hall of Blackwell Manor. Influential figures from across the Eastridge Coast filled the room, dressed in tailored suits and glittering jewels. Beneath the polite smiles and laughter, however, every word carried an edge.

The moment Nina stepped into the hall, her gaze fixed on the head table. Julian stood there in a black custom-tailored suit, his eyes behind gold-rimmed glasses as calm and deep as the ocean.

Beside him, Aria leaned close, wearing a wine-red mermaid gown that made her dazzlingly beautiful. She was smiling as she adjusted his tie.

Suddenly, Julian raised his glass. His voice was low but carried clearly through the hall. "Today, I formally introduce Aria Monroe to all of you. She is my fiancée and the only woman I will ever love."

The only woman he would ever love.

Nina dug her nails into her palm so hard that the sharp pain was the only thing keeping her from losing control.

For a moment, the hall fell silent.

Then thunderous applause erupted.

But Nina noticed clearly that several patriarchs of the old families exchanged subtle glances. Their expressions were complicated.

They all knew.

They knew that ten years ago Julian had been nothing more than an illegitimate son suppressed by his uncle, and it was Nina who stayed beside him through three assassination attempts and two violent shootouts.

They knew that last year the mafia had tried to lure him with a honey trap, and that woman ended up with her limbs severed and dumped into the harbor that same night.

They also knew Julian had never allowed any woman within arm's reach of him except Nina.

Once, Nina had been Julian's only exception. Now, Aria was the one who could stand beside him openly and legitimately.

Nina lifted her champagne glass to hide the pain inside her, but the tremor in her fingers betrayed her.

So ten years of life and death beside him meant less than a single sentence—the only woman he would ever love.

Aria suddenly approached, her smile sweet. "Nina, you came too? I thought you wouldn't dare face this."

Nina didn't even look at her. She took a small sip of champagne. "Face what? The fortune you came back for after ten years away?"

Aria's expression stiffened. "What do you mean by that?"

"Exactly what it sounds like." Nina finally lifted her eyes, her gaze full of contempt. "Ten years ago, when Julian was being hunted across the city and hiding in a dockside warehouse eating stale bread, where were you? Trying on wedding dresses overseas with some other man?"

Her voice wasn't loud, but every word was clear. "Now that he sits firmly at the top of the Blackwell Group and holds half the Eastridge Coast in his hands, suddenly you're back. Miss Monroe, do you love Julian, or the heir to the Blackwell Group?"

Aria's face went ashen. "That's nonsense! My family forced me to leave!"

"Really?" Nina let out a cold laugh. "Then why did he search for you for three years without receiving a single reply? Yet the moment a financial magazine reported last month that the Blackwell Group's valuation had surpassed one hundred billion dollars, you suddenly became heartsick with longing and rushed back?"

Around them, the guests pretended to continue their conversations, but every ear was sharply tuned to the exchange.

This was no ordinary rivalry between two women. This was the public tearing away of Aria's mask.

Aria's eyes reddened as her voice trembled. "Julian! You see how she's slandering me!"

Julian approached with a frown, his voice carrying a warning. "Nina, that's enough."

Nina looked at him and suddenly laughed. "Julian, do you actually believe her? The woman who walked away when you were at your lowest?"

Julian's gaze darkened. "The past is best left in the past."

"Fine." Nina set down her glass and turned away. "I wish you both a lifetime together. May you never be separated."

She walked through the crowd and left the Rose Hall.

Nina took a deep breath. She had just turned into a side alley to call for a car when a sharp pain struck the back of her neck.

Someone grabbed her from behind and pressed a cloth soaked with anesthetic over her mouth and nose.

She struggled, but her limbs quickly weakened and her vision blurred.

The last thing she saw was a black van without license plates parked at the alley entrance. The door slid open, revealing a pair of polished leather shoes.

A man spoke quietly. "Mr. Blackwell said not to kill her. Take her to Warehouse No. 3 at the docks."

Nina's heart jolted. Were these Julian's men?

The sea wind cut across Nina's face like blades.

She hung beneath the steel cables of the bridge, her hands bound behind her back, with thirty meters of black seawater beneath her feet.

Night fog drifted across the water, and the distant horn of a cargo ship echoed like a funeral bell.

Footsteps approached through the mist.

Julian walked toward her in a black cashmere coat, his expression calm as ever, as if he had just stepped out of a board meeting.

Behind him stood six bodyguards in black, each resting a hand on the grip of a gun.

"Let me down," Nina said, her voice trembling despite her effort to stay calm.

Julian stood at the edge of the bridge, looking down at her. "Why did you humiliate Aria at the banquet?" he asked calmly.

"She provoked me first!" Nina said urgently. "I only told the truth!"

"Enough." Julian's eyes turned icy. "Aria lost her parents and spent ten years alone overseas. She's suffered more than enough. What right do you have to question her?"

Nina's voice broke. "What about me? I was the one beside you for ten years. Now that she's back, I'm nothing to you?"

Julian fell silent for a moment, then gave a faint laugh. "Nina, have you forgotten who I am?"

He removed his glasses, revealing eyes devoid of warmth. "For ten years I tolerated you because you knew your place. Now I see that you don't."

He stepped closer, his voice dropping low. "You and Aria have never carried the same weight in my heart."

Nina felt as if she had fallen into an icy abyss.

"So now that Aria is back, you don't need me anymore?" Nina let out a bitter laugh.

Julian turned and gave an order to the bodyguards. "Hang her there for an hour. Let her remember that the Blackwell family's rules are not something she can challenge."

"Julian!" Nina screamed. "You can't do this to me!"

Julian didn't stop walking. "I protected you before because you stayed in your place. Now that you've crossed the line, you deserve punishment."

The bodyguards obeyed and tightened the rope.

Nina was hoisted higher. The freezing wind cut through her, and her wrists felt as if they might dislocate.

Watching his retreating figure, she suddenly remembered something from five years ago.

An enemy family had planted a bomb in her car. He dismantled it with his bare hands and told her then, "As long as I'm here, no one will touch you."

Now the person hurting her the most was him.

"Julian! Please… I'm afraid of heights!" she cried. "Let me down!"

No one responded.

The waves slammed against the bridge pillars like a beast growling in the dark.

She struggled violently as the rope tore into her skin, blood running down her arms.

For ten years he had kept her in a sheltered world, making her forget that he was, at his core, a ruthless mafia leader who devoured people without mercy.

Second by second, time passed.

Her consciousness began to blur as countless memories flashed before her eyes. He had taken drinks for her, killed for her, stayed up through the night with her during long shifts…

All of it was a lie. All of it had been manipulation.

Suddenly, a sharp crack sounded above her head.

The rope snapped.

"Ah!" Nina plunged into the freezing seawater.

Saltwater flooded her mouth and nose. She struggled desperately, but she sank deeper and deeper.

In the final moment before darkness claimed her, she saw the distant headlights of Julian's car fading away above the water like a dying star.

When she woke again, the sharp smell of disinfectant filled her nose.

She was lying in a VIP room at a private hospital, her wrists wrapped in bandages, her whole body aching.

One of Julian's bodyguards stood beside the bed. "Dr. Avery, you're awake?"

"Did he send you to save me?" Nina asked hoarsely.

The bodyguard nodded, then lowered his voice. "This was a warning. Don't provoke Miss Monroe again, and don't go near Mr. Blackwell."

Nina closed her eyes as tears slid down her face.

Her phone vibrated beside the pillow.

She opened it, and a news notification appeared on the screen.

"Blackwell heir Julian Blackwell makes romantic declaration to his fiancée!"

The photo showed hundreds of drones lighting up the night sky, forming the words, "Marry Me, Aria!"

Aria leaned against Julian's chest, looking up at the sky with a radiant smile.

It was the same wish Nina had once mentioned carefully.

On her birthday three years ago, she had casually said, "I heard people overseas use drones for proposals. It sounds romantic."

Julian had only replied coldly, "Childish."

Now he had filled the entire sky with lights for Aria.

Nina threw the phone to the floor, curled into herself, and finally broke down in tears.