Chapter 3

The air in the hospital room was suffocating me.

"I have things to do these next few days. Just have the nurses take care of you."

I was afraid I wouldn't be able to breathe if I stayed any longer.

With that, I hurried out of the room, ignoring the visible disappointment on his face.

Once I got home and closed my bedroom door, all my strength drained away, and I slid down to the floor.

Click. A photo fell out of my bag.

It was a picture of Alessandro and me in formal wear, smiling at each other under a champagne tower on the day of our 18th coming-of-age party.

I still remember the 18-year-old boy holding my hand, his eyes curving into crescents, entirely filled with my reflection.

"Jane, we're going to be together forever, we'll never be apart!"

But now, another woman was living in his heart.

And I was moving thousands of miles away to Italy, never to return.

I rose to my feet and started tossing out everything related to Alessandro.

The high-end jewelry sets he gave me, the stuffed animals from our childhood, the out-of-print records of my favorite singer he spent a month tracking down...

But Alessandro had occupied every moment of my life since I was born. It felt like no matter how much I threw away, I couldn't get rid of our memories completely.

I packed for a whole afternoon, and there was still a lot left.

I stopped and contacted my wealth manager, telling him to transfer all the real estate under my name.

Since I couldn't throw it all away, I would just abandon it.

Over the next few days, I was busy handling the paperwork for the asset transfer.

Alessandro's figure seemed to slowly fade from my mind.

I no longer stood by the door all day waiting for him like a girl madly in love.

And when he kept texting me saying he missed me, I just sent brief, careless replies.

On the day I finished all the paperwork, Alessandro called me.

"Jane, where are you? I'm discharged today. I've prepared a surprise for you."

I pursed my lips, then told him to come to my house.

Over twenty years of history... it was time for a proper ending.

Alessandro arrived quickly.

As soon as he saw me, he blindfolded me with a silk scarf and led me to his car, claiming he wanted to keep the surprise.

When we arrived, I took off the blindfold and realized we were at the Long Island villa—the house we had picked out for our future home.

He held my hand, his usually stern face breaking into a bright smile:

"Today is our 10-year dating anniversary. I had someone decorate this place just for you as a surprise. It's completely your style, you're going to love it."

I froze. Glancing at the calendar on my phone, I remembered it really was our anniversary.

I lowered my eyes, showing no excitement.

Fine. Where this relationship started, it will end.

Alessandro didn't notice anything wrong and led me inside with his arm around me.

When the front door opened, I saw the furniture inside.

It was indeed my style.

But the vases and paintings were all smashed, and the walls were covered in cheap graffiti.

On the massive portrait of Alessandro and me hanging in the living room, a giant 'X' was painted over my face, surrounded by words like "Slut" and "Bitch."

I turned to Alessandro and twitched my lips. "Is this the surprise you were talking about?"

Alessandro's face turned pitch black. Gritting his teeth, he called Marcus. "What the hell is going on? Who did this to Jane's and my house? Damn it!"

Marcus stammered, "That was... Mia was the one handling it..."

Hearing that, Alessandro's face got uglier, but his blazing anger actually simmered down.

He leaned close to coax me.

"I'll deduct half a year of Mia's salary as punishment. Don't be mad, okay baby? Today is our anniversary, don't let irrelevant people ruin our mood."

"I'll have the house restored, or we can just pick a new one. How about that?"

Alessandro always had a flawless memory. He couldn't have forgotten that just days ago, he promised to fire Mia the second she made a mistake.

Yet he immediately offered an alternative punishment, just to keep her as his secretary and keep her close.

I saw right through him.

And what hurt even more was...

He forgot the significance of this house.

It was his gift to me on our first anniversary. I loved it so much, and we promised we would live here forever.

But now, he just casually said: pick a new one.

I remained silent, simply taking a seat with absolute composure.

Whatever. However long Alessandro wanted to keep Mia around had nothing to do with me anymore.

Alessandro's tense body relaxed. He had the butler bring out the wine he ordered.

When the bottle of hazelnut liquor was placed on the table, I sighed internally.

Hazelnut liquor. Mia was dead set on ruining this anniversary.

"I'm deathly allergic to hazelnuts."

Alessandro, who had known me for over twenty years, obviously knew this too.

This time, he couldn't hold his anger back.

"I'm going to find Mia. I want to know exactly what the hell she thinks she's doing!"

With that, he got up furiously and marched toward the door.

Watching his retreating back, I hesitated for a second, then followed him.