After hanging up, I returned to the home I had shared with Adrian for three years.

I began quietly erasing every trace of my life there.

I threw away every gift he had ever given me. The paintings, the jewelry, the luxury items I had once treasured—now they were nothing but proof of my own foolishness.

I deleted every photo of him from my phone.

I packed the few belongings I had brought with me into a suitcase.

Adrian probably thought my request for divorce was just a tantrum. To make it up to me, he started coming home more often.

He would hold me from behind like he used to and ask how my day had been.

He would bring back my favorite desserts and set them in front of me.

He would even set aside an entire day's work just to sit with me and watch old movies.

The more he did, the more disgusted I felt.

I moved like a puppet without emotions. Whatever he said, I followed—no resistance, no response.

My silence seemed to unsettle him.

"Serena, are you still upset with me?" He pulled me into his arms, a hint of helplessness in his tone. "I only sent you to detention so you could calm down. It was meant to teach you a lesson. If you behave, I'll take you out somewhere nice. Alright?"

He didn't wait for my answer. Instead, he dragged me straight onto a yacht that was about to set sail.

A lively party was already underway on board.

Perfume lingered in the air, glasses clinked, and laughter flowed easily.

Adrian led me through the crowd. Everyone raised their glasses to greet him—then turned those same eyes on me, filled with curiosity and disdain.

I pulled my hand free and walked out onto the deck alone.

The sea breeze tangled my hair and scattered the heaviness in my chest.

Behind me, the sharp click of heels echoed.

I didn't need to turn around to know who it was.

"Serena, you really don't know when to disappear, do you?" Vivian came up beside me, holding a glass of champagne. "Do you really think acting pitiful will make Adrian look at you twice? You're ugly and pathetic. You're not even qualified to be my replacement. Adrian will divorce you soon and marry me. You'd better have the decency to walk away on your own."

I kept my eyes on the distant horizon and ignored her.

"What, lost your voice?" Seeing no response, she grew bolder and shoved me. "I'm talking to you!"

This time, I didn't hold back.

I caught her wrist mid-shove, twisted it, and pinned her against the railing.

"Vivian, you'd better stop provoking me." I looked at her, my voice cold. "Or I won't be responsible for what I do next."

"You think you can touch me?" A flicker of panic crossed her face before arrogance returned. "Go ahead. Try it. Adrian will never let you off."

She suddenly cried out, "Help! Serena's gone crazy! She's trying to push me into the water!"

At that moment, the yacht lurched. My footing slipped, and my body tilted, about to fall into the sea.

Vivian screamed and tried to pull away, but I held on tight.

In the end, we both plunged into the sea.

The freezing water swallowed us whole. All we could do was struggle and gasp for air.

Adrian noticed the commotion almost immediately. When he saw who was in the water, his pupils shrank sharply.

Without hesitation, he dove in and swam toward us as fast as he could.

I drifted in and out of awareness, rising and sinking in the water. When I saw Adrian coming toward me, I thought—finally—there was hope.

But the next second, he swam right past me—straight toward Vivian, farther away.

He caught hold of Vivian and pulled her toward the yacht with all his strength.

From start to finish, he never once looked back at me.

Cold seawater rushed into my mouth and nose, stealing my breath. My limbs slowly went numb.

The water washed over my face again and again, stripping away the heavy foundation and pushing aside the sticky fringe.

Just as I was about to stop struggling and sink beneath the surface—

I saw Adrian, nearly pulling Vivian onto the yacht, suddenly pause as if sensing something, then turn his head sharply.

My body drifted in the vast ocean like a piece of debris.

His pupils contracted, shock and disbelief flashing across his face.

For a split second, it seemed he had seen Serena's face in the water transform into something unfamiliar—yet breathtakingly beautiful.

But it was only an instant.

He turned back, intending to get Vivian safely aboard first—then come back for Serena.

The moment he climbed back onto the yacht, my consciousness slipped into endless darkness.

I felt myself sinking… deeper and deeper.

Until a pair of strong arms caught me and held me steady.

When I woke again, I found myself lying in an unfamiliar cabin.

A warm blanket covered me, and a small brazier glowed nearby.

A stranger dressed in black casualwear sat across from me, a tablet in hand as he worked through what looked like business matters.

"You're awake." He looked up, his gaze calm and steady. "How are you feeling?"

"Was it you who saved me?" I struggled upright, my voice rough and hoarse.

"It was nothing." The man set the tablet aside. "You've been unconscious for a day."

A whole day...

My heart jolted as I suddenly remembered my promise to my father.

"Thank you." I threw off the blanket and started to get out of bed. "I have to leave right away."

"No rush." The man rose to his feet and poured me a glass of hot water. "Your friend is still searching for you everywhere. If you walk out like this, are you sure he won't find you?"

My friend?

I froze for a moment before realizing he meant Adrian.

"He's not my friend." I took the glass from him and spoke quietly.

The man didn't press further. He only gave me a thoughtful look. "This ship will stay docked here for another two hours. You can take that time to rest properly. In two hours, I'll have someone take you wherever you want to go."

"Thank you."

After finishing the hot water, I went into the bathroom.

In the mirror was a face that looked ashen and unfamiliar.

The seawater had washed away every layer of disguise from my face, revealing what I had really looked like all along.

My soaked bangs clung to my forehead, and the heavy black-framed glasses were long gone.

The face in the mirror had delicately shaped brows and eyes, with a high, elegant bridge to the nose.

It was the kind of face that could drive men mad and stir envy in women.

I stood there staring at myself in the mirror for a long, long time.

Then I turned on the faucet and carefully washed away the very last traces of makeup still clinging to my face.

I didn't want to hide anymore.

And I didn't want to keep myself concealed anymore.

Two hours later, the man had someone take me to a private airport.

A helicopter was already waiting on the tarmac.

Walter Reed, my father's longtime butler, was standing at the foot of the steps. The moment he saw me, his eyes turned red.

"Miss Sterling, you've suffered far too much."

"Walter, let's go home." I gave him a small smile and boarded the helicopter.

The helicopter soared into the sky, leaving far behind the city that had held three years of my humiliation and pain.

What I didn't know was that someone had secretly photographed my face at the harbor, and the images were already spreading wildly across the internet.

"Stunning natural beauty spotted at the harbor, looks too good to be real."

"Now this looks like a real heiress, that elegance is unreal."

Within hours, the posts had shot to the top of the trending charts, and countless people were trying to find the girl who looked like she had stepped out of a dream.

Meanwhile, Adrian had nearly turned the entire stretch of sea upside down.

He had sent out dozens of rescue boats and hundreds of divers, searching for me without rest through the entire night.

Only then did the rescue teams, one by one and with great caution, voice the truth no one wanted to admit—Serena had no chance of surviving.

Adrian had not slept all night. His eyes were bloodshot, and there was a raw, frayed edge to him that even he did not seem to recognize.

He smashed everything in his office that could be smashed.

Then a news alert popped up on his phone.

"Unbelievable beauty spotted at the harbor, outshines socialite Vivian instantly!"

He glanced at it casually.

The woman in the photo had her head slightly lowered. Her long hair was lifted by the wind, revealing a profile so beautiful it stole the breath from anyone who saw it.

Adrian's breathing stopped for a beat.

That face...

He had seen it before.

In that single glance over his shoulder, after pulling Vivian to safety, this was the face he had seen in the freezing black water.

At the time, he had thought it was a hallucination.

He stared at the photo, his heart pounding wildly as an absurd, terrifying suspicion rose from deep within him.

Adrian shot to his feet so abruptly that his chair slammed backward and knocked over the floor lamp behind him.

The conference room fell into dead silence. More than a dozen executives stopped mid-report and stared at him.

Adrian stared at the phone screen, his fingers repeatedly zooming in on that face.

For three years, I had always kept her head lowered, my heavy bangs hiding most of my face.

But once, late at night while pulling a blanket over me, he had caught a glimpse of the line of my jaw after I brushed my bangs aside.

It matched the curve in the photo exactly.

Adrian tightened his grip on the pen in his hand, crushing it without realizing how hard he was squeezing.

With a sharp snap, the custom pen broke in two, and ink dripped through his fingers onto the documents below.

"Meeting adjourned." Adrian turned and walked out of the conference room.

He strode out of the room and issued an order to the assistant hurrying after him.

"Find out. Trace the source of the photo. Find out where this woman went."

His voice was rough, edged with barely restrained agitation.

Back in the executive office, Adrian stood before the floor-to-ceiling windows.

He looked down at his ink-stained palm, the unease in his chest growing stronger by the second.

It was a feeling he had never before associated with me.

An hour later, his assistant knocked and came in, drenched in sweat.

"Mr. Blackwood... we couldn't find anything."

The assistant lowered his head, not daring to look at Adrian's expression.

"The photo was scrubbed from the entire internet three hours ago. We couldn't find a single backup anywhere. Whoever did it used top-tier methods. Other than the fact that the original photo was taken at Kingsport Harbor, we have nothing."

Adrian turned and kicked the trash can beside his desk.

The metal bin slammed into the corner wall with a deafening crash.

"So you're telling me that in Kingsport, there's actually someone I can't trace?"

He strode up to the assistant, grabbed him by the collar, and fixed him with bloodshot eyes.

Just then, the office door burst open.

Vivian ran in wearing a thin white dress, crying as she came.

She threw herself straight into Adrian's arms.

"Adrian, you're looking for Serena, aren't you?"

She clutched at his shirt, her tears soaking into the fabric.

The force in Adrian's hand loosened.

He looked at Vivian, but what rose in his mind was my image falling into the sea.

"Adrian, stop looking for her. I'm scared."

Vivian looked up at him, her eyes swollen from crying.

"It was all my fault. I shouldn't have argued with her, but she really had gone crazy. She had her hands around my throat, saying she'd drag me down with her. She said she was jealous of how much you cared about me. She said if I died, maybe you'd finally look at her."

Vivian curled into Adrian's arms, her shoulders trembling nonstop.

In the past, the moment Vivian cried, Adrian would gather her into his arms.

But now, Adrian only looked down at her.

He realized that even while crying, Vivian instinctively adjusted her angle, making sure she still looked fragile and delicate.

And I, the quiet woman who had rarely said much of anything...

I had never cried like this in front of him.

Not long after I married Adrian, one of the Blackwood family banquets had turned ugly.

Adrian's uncle had poured scalding coffee over the back of my hand.

I hadn't cried then either. I had only taken two steps back, hidden my hand behind me, and smiled as I shook my head, telling him it didn't hurt.

Even on the day he had me forcibly sent to detention, I had only looked at him in silence.

A wave of irritation rose in Adrian's chest.

He pulled Vivian's hand away, his tone turning stiff.

"Serena fell into the sea and still hasn't been found. The rescue teams say her chances of survival are practically zero."

"She's probably dead already. What exactly are you still holding on to?"

Vivian's sobbing stopped short.

She froze where she stood, staring at Adrian in disbelief.

Adrian walked behind his desk, sat down, picked up another pen, and lowered his head to resume working through the documents.

"You haven't been well lately. Go back to the family estate and rest."

Vivian stood there, her hands and feet turning cold.

She had sensed the change in Adrian.

The man who used to have eyes only for her now would not even spare her a glance.

That look of impatience had once been reserved for me alone.

Vivian clenched her fists so hard her nails bit into her palms.

She realized that even as a corpse, I was starting to take back ground that Vivian had thought was hers.

She said nothing more. Hiding the resentment on her face, she lowered her head and walked out.

The office fell silent again.

Adrian stared at the words on the page in front of him.

Every word seemed to blur into my face, covered in freckles, wearing that humble, eager-to-please expression.

All at once, the spacious office felt so empty it was suffocating.