Chapter 4

In reality, Harrison knew Cathy was probably faking it.

But he couldn't resist testing me.

Just as his men had said, he had protected me for five years, given me the lavish life of a future Donna. I was supposed to be a tamed pet, completely surrendered to him.

Even if he was entangled with other women, a few sweet words and a few passionate kisses from him should have been enough for me to gratefully let it go.

After all, he was my protector, and I was the one hopelessly in love with him.

With these thoughts, Harrison pursed his lips and went ahead with revoking my security detail and access to the estate.

He stared at his phone, firing off an aggressive message. "Do you realize what you did wrong yet?"

"Apologize like a good girl, and I'll be generous enough to forget this ever happened."

But Harrison had forgotten that in my home country, far away, I had a family, a job, and friends. I had a life of my own.

When I gave all that up to cross an ocean, it was because I loved him, and I did it willingly.

I never begged for his protection. I simply thought that as the wife of the heir, these things came with the territory.

So when I received his message, I found it laughable.

I didn't even reply. I just glanced at it coldly and shut off the screen.

The minutes ticked by, turning into hours. Outside the window, the sky grew dark.

The chat window remained silent. Something was wrong.

Harrison slowly began to realize things were spiraling out of his control.

Because of the unresolved residency, I had no private bank accounts under my name.

On this turf, crawling with rival crews, the streets were a constant threat of violence. The amount of cash I had on me was pitiful, not even enough for a room in the cheapest motel.

He yanked at his tie in frustration. Even though he was furious with my defiance, he never actually wanted anything bad to happen to me.

Moreover, he had publicly declared me the future Donna of the family.

Without the protection of the Moretti name, I was a target for every rival organization.

A knot of panic tightened in his chest.

Finally, he couldn't stand it anymore. He sent me a rare message of compromise.

"Your security access at the estate has been restored. The black card is yours to use. Be good. Stop this, and come home."

"It's too dangerous for a woman like you to be wandering around in mob territory. I won't hold tonight against you. Just come back, and I'll give you whatever you want."

I still didn't respond.

As the night deepened, Harrison descended into a full-blown, indescribable panic.

He frantically refreshed his banking system. The black card, its limit restored, showed no activity. He immediately cut into the estate's security network; the camera feeds showed I hadn't been back since the afternoon.

A beautiful woman, publicly branded as a Moretti, stripped of her security, exposed and alone in dark alleys filled with junkies and rival gangs...

She was like a tempting piece of meat, ready to be torn apart.

Harrison's brow twitched. A wave of cold dread washed over him.

He couldn't sit still. He paced back and forth, his finger hovering over the screen for a long time, typing and deleting.

He sent one last message:

"Stop this foolishness. Come home."

Still, there was no reply. Because at that moment, I was sitting quietly by the window of an airplane.

In the cold light filtering through the glass, I calmly read his message, then popped the SIM card from my phone and snapped it in two.

I powered the phone down and watched the screen go completely dark.

The turbine engines roared to life as the plane accelerated down the black runway.

I watched as the land I once thought was my romantic destiny shrank in the distance, until it disappeared completely from view.

No tears. No regrets. Only liberation.

Harrison.

From now on, we are dead to each other.

And back at the private clinic, my complete disappearance finally shattered Harrison's forced composure.

Just as he was about to swallow his pride and mobilize his underworld forces for a city-wide search, a call from his right-hand man, Marco, beat him to it.

"Boss, I just finished a job at the international terminal. I was about to head to the estate to see you and Mrs. Aurora."

"But I could have sworn I just saw her boarding the flight to her home country."

"Boss... did you know she was leaving?"