I don’t know how long I stood there before I heard a faint tapping from the window.

Through the glass, from the building opposite, a familiar figure was waving frantically at me.

Stephanie. My best friend.

She typed something on her phone and pressed it to the window: **[Ariana, are you okay? I couldn’t reach you!]**

I shook my head, mouthing the words: *I’m locked in.*

Her face went pale.

Then she was typing furiously, holding up her phone again: **[That bastard Aaron! Wait for me—I’ll get someone right now!]**

Half an hour later, the apartment door swung open, unlocked by a professional locksmith.

Stephanie rushed in, threw her arms around me, and burst into tears.

“Ariana, you scared me to death! I heard Aaron was divorcing you, your phone was dead… I thought you’d—”

“I’m fine.”

I patted her back, my voice hoarse. “Stephanie, can you tell me everything that’s happened these past six years? Every detail.”

She froze, studying my unnervingly calm expression, her eyes clouded with worry.

“Ariana, you… you’re not…”

I knew what she was leaving unsaid.

She thought I was using the amnesia act again—escaping reality.

I shook my head, a thin, bitter smile touching my lips. “I’m not pretending. I woke up, and it was six years later. My memory… it’s still the morning after our wedding.”

Stephanie’s jaw dropped. For a long moment, she couldn’t speak.

In the end, she chose to believe me.

From her account, I pieced together a more complete—and far more brutal—picture of those six years.

The jewelry design career I’d been so proud of? Derailed by my own emotional breakdowns. I’d botched several major projects and had long since been pushed to the sidelines in his family’s firm.

As for Aaron’s mother, that woman who’d always looked down on my background—she’d spent those six years humiliating me in every way imaginable. And I, in turn, had done nothing but cry and throw fits.

“So, I have nothing left,” I said softly.

No lover. No career. No friends. Just the reputation of a “madwoman.”

Stephanie squeezed my hand, her voice firm. “No. You have me. Ariana, leave that scumbag. We’ll start over.”

I looked at her, warmth flooding my chest.

Yes. Even if the whole world had abandoned me, I still had Stephanie.

I picked up the divorce papers and the pen Aaron had left. Without a moment’s hesitation, I signed my name at the bottom.

*Ariana.*

The stroke was clean. Decisive.

From today on, I would live for myself.

The next morning, I found Aaron waiting at the café below Aaron's Group.

He was already seated by the window when I arrived, his expression cool and detached.

Without a word, I slid the signed divorce papers across the table.

"I've signed."

Aaron picked up the document, his brows lifting slightly, as if surprised by my swiftness. "Finally come to your senses?"

"Yes," I said calmly. "Finally."

I held his gaze. "Thank you for your 'care' over the past six years. Consider us even."

My composure seemed to unsettle him. Frowning, he drew a black credit card from his wallet and pushed it toward me. "There’s ten million on it. Take it as extra compensation. Just stay away from Reese and me from now on."

I glanced at the card and almost laughed. Did he really think six years of my youth—and whatever affection I’d given—were worth so little?

I didn’t touch it. "That won’t be necessary. What’s in the agreement is enough. You’re a busy man, Aaron. I won’t waste any more of your time."

I stood to leave.

Just then, a sugary voice floated from the entrance. "Aaron, your secretary said you were here. So you were meeting with Ariana."

Reese glided over in head-to-toe Chanel, a Hermès Birkin swaying from her arm—every inch the poised heiress. Her eyes flicked to the divorce papers on the table, a flash of triumph quickly veiled by delicate sympathy.

"Ariana… you’ve already signed? You didn’t have to rush. Aaron and I could have waited…" She reached out as if to take my arm, a gesture of faux sisterly concern.

I stepped smoothly aside. "Ms Reese, we’re not that close."

Her face stiffened. She turned a wounded look toward Aaron. "Aaron, look at how she’s—"

"Ariana," Aaron cut in, his expression darkening. "What are you trying to pull? Remember what I said yesterday."

I had no interest in staying for the performance. Without another word, I turned and walked out.