The bodyguards immediately understood Anastasia's order. They hoisted me up and threw me into the water.

It was winter, and the pond was freezing. I shivered violently the moment I hit the water. I scrambled for the shore, but a firm hand shoved me back down.

"Mr. Beck, we can't let you up without the ring," one bodyguard said, his voice flat and cold. "If you want this to end soon, you'd better find it fast."

I bit my lip and resigned myself. I floated and fumbled in the icy, murky water, my fingers probing the dirt over and over.

Dirty water seeped into my sleeves, numbing my fingertips until they almost lost all feeling.

From dawn to dusk, I kept searching. I only managed to find the ring just as Anastasia's parents were about to return.

Clutching it tightly, I made my way step by step to Anastasia's room and gently knocked on the door.

Anastasia opened it, her gaze heavy. "I'm gonna let it go this time, but you'd better stay away from Philip from now on."

She flipped her palm, and the ring I had worked so hard to retrieve floated lightly out the window of the hallway, vanishing into the dark night.

"Philip doesn't like this design. I'll make him a new one."

I watched the ring disappear into the darkness and forced a small smile.

That made sense. She had already decided that the past was a burden, and there was no room for a ring marked by old memories.

Despite Anastasia's parents' lingering reservations about Philip, they couldn't go against her insistence.

Reluctantly, they began meticulously planning the engagement party. It was an extravagant affair, every detail designed to impress.

During the event, guests kept sneaking glances at me.

"Tough luck for Mason. The woman he worked so hard to get back is marrying someone else."

"They grew up together and were perfect for each other. Everyone thought they'd end up together. I honestly never saw this coming."

"If I were Mason, I'd slap that cheating couple instead of attending their engagement party."

Meanwhile, Philip, dressed in a top-tier designer suit, strolled toward the center of the ballroom.

Anastasia held his hand, the love in her eyes almost spilling over.

She cleared her throat. Her usual casual tone faded into one of composed seriousness as she announced, "Ladies and gentlemen, allow me to formally introduce—"

Before she could finish, the lights in the ballroom flickered twice and went out completely.

In the darkness, the sharp clatter of chairs mixed with screams, turning the scene into utter chaos.

I instinctively stepped back into a corner, but a hand suddenly clamped onto my wrist, and a foul-smelling handkerchief was pressed over my nose and mouth.

A dizzying, spinning sensation hit me instantly. I struggled desperately, and in the last moments before consciousness slipped away, I could only hear the deafening screams around me.

After God knows how long, I heard Philip's intentionally low growl through the chaos.

"Damn it! Who told you to make a move at the engagement party? Besides, I told you to kidnap me and blame it on Mason. Why did you take him, too?

"You bunch of idiots! It doesn't matter how realistic you act now. You can forget about the final payment! You've ruined my whole plan!"

My awareness slowly returned, and I immediately pieced things together.

It was another one of Philip's schemes, though this time, it didn't seem to go as he expected.

During the struggle, I had felt a gun holster on the other person's waist. These weren't the small-time goons Philip had hired.

What made my stomach drop further was that the voice of the leader sounded disturbingly familiar.

The leader sounded like one of Anastasia's rivals, the same man she had driven to ruin not long ago during a corporate battle.

After a long pause, the kidnappers finally started a video call. "Ms. Kain," one of them sneered, "you've got two people here. One's your childhood sweetheart of 20 years, and the other's the man you fell in love with after losing your memory. Who do you want to save?"

Anastasia kept her composure at first, but the moment her eyes landed on the red mark across Philip's face, she completely lost control. "If you so much as touch a hair on Philip's head, I'll make sure every last one of you goes down with him!"

My eyes stayed shut, but a sting burned behind them, and tears quietly trailed down my cheeks.

I didn't know what I was hoping for. I should've known what her choice would be.

The kidnapper burst out laughing. "You really thought I was gonna let you pick?"

Before I could react, someone yanked me backward and shoved me into a glass tank. I hit something warm. It was Philip's body, pressed tightly against mine.

The next thing I knew, the tank was hurled into the sea with a thunderous splash.

Heavy rocks weighed the bottom down, dragging us under fast.

I fumbled for a key, gripped it tight, and smashed it hard against the glass wall.

The raging current tossed shards of glass across my limbs, cutting me, but I clenched my jaw and hauled the unconscious Philip out before I struggled with all my strength toward the surface.

When we finally broke the surface, I was completely drained, but I didn't dare stop. I pushed Philip onto a piece of driftwood and gently tapped his shoulder.

"You have to live."

As long as he survived, Anastasia would have something to hold on to.

I was still clinging to the driftwood, trying to swim toward the shore, when the ALS suddenly kicked in, and my arms went numb.

I sank helplessly into the dark water.

I slowly closed my eyes as I watched the surface shimmer above me like fractured glass.

I decided to give up.

Just before everything went black, I hazily saw someone reaching for me through the water.

Was it real, or just a dream? I wasn't sure.

When I opened my eyes again, all I saw was the harsh white ceiling of a hospital room.

A nurse leaned over me, relief flooding her face. "Thank God, you're finally awake! You've been out for two days!

"If you hadn't woken up soon, we would've had to stop your antibiotics since you didn't have any ID. With your lungs infected, that would've gotten bad real quick!"

My voice came out, hoarse and broken. "Did anyone come to see me while I was out?"

The nurse sighed. "No one. You poor thing. The young man who came in with you only swallowed a bit of seawater. His girlfriend booked him a VIP suite and hasn't left his side since."

For a second, I froze, then let out a small, bitter smile.

Right then, a soft knock came at the door. A familiar voice followed.

"Hey, Mason."

I looked up sharply. The moment I saw the beautiful woman standing there, my eyes flooded again.

"When I couldn't reach you, I decided to find you myself," she said.

She crossed the room and wrapped me in a firm embrace, her hand gently running over my hair. "Come on. Let's go home."

Katherine Hudson and I boarded a private jet together.

The jet cut through the clouds, soaring far away toward another country.

I wiped away the last of my tears, looked out the window at the fading horizon, and whispered my final goodbye in my heart.

I just wanted Anastasia to be happy with Philip. From here on out, our paths would never cross again.