Chapter 8

Valerio listened in silence, allowing his friends to vent their frustrations until their impatience finally reached a boiling point.

Only then did he speak, his voice low and even. "Five years from now, if they're still trying to force me into this marriage, I'll fake my own death. I'll take on a new identity and run away with Maureen to somewhere nobody knows us. We'll live off the grid in peace for the rest of our lives."

Everyone in the room stared at him in disbelief.

"Valerio, have you lost your mind? You're the CEO of the Gould Group. Are you really willing to give up everything you have for Maureen?"

"Besides, if you stage that, Selma will definitely spend the rest of her life mourning you, considering how obsessively devoted she is to you. Your parents will be crying themselves to sleep every night, too. Can't you think of another way out?"

Valerio had already considered all these consequences, so his answer came swiftly and without the slightest hesitation.

"If she wants to spend her life mourning me, let her. Our family fortune will support her anyway. As for my parents, they're strong people. They'll grieve for a while, but they'll move on. There's no need to worry."

Selma stood motionless, taking in every word. Although her fingertips trembled slightly, a look of serene relief gradually settled over her face.

She lowered her head and took several quiet breaths, repeating a simple thought to herself.

"The path I've chosen is the right one."

Rather than let Valerio fake his death and leave Florian and Lynn devastated, it would be far better for her to erase every trace of her love for him. That way, everyone could have the life they wanted, and she could finally be free.

Without making a sound, Selma slipped away and returned home, where she spent the entire night packing her bags.

The next morning, she received a phone call from the hospital.

"Ms. Simon, your procedure is scheduled to begin in two hours."

"Understood. I'll be there on time."

Selma arranged for a courier service to collect her luggage and ship it directly to Port Azure. Once everything was taken care of, she went to say goodbye to Florian and Lynn.

Neither of them wanted to see her leave, and they insisted on accompanying her to the airport. However, Selma didn't want them to discover that she was about to undergo the love-eradication procedure, so she gently shook her head and declined.

Lynn let out a heavy sigh and repeatedly dialed Valerio's number, growing increasingly frustrated when he failed to answer.

"What is wrong with that boy? Why won't he pick up? Selma is leaving, and he can't even be bothered to come and say goodbye?"

Watching Lynn grow more anxious with every unanswered call, Selma reached out and squeezed her hand. "It's okay. He'll find out sooner or later."

With that, she drove straight to the hospital.

Before the procedure began, the doctor conducted one final confirmation.

"Ms. Simon, are you certain you want to proceed with the love-eradication procedure?"

"I am."

Just as Selma was about to turn off her phone, a notification appeared on the screen.

It was a new post from Maureen.

In the photograph, she and Valerio stood together on the shore beneath a brilliant sunrise, their fingers intertwined as they smiled radiantly at each other.

The caption read: [Watching the sunrise with the love of my life. Pure bliss.]

Selma studied the tenderness in Valerio's eyes, and for the first time, she felt that perhaps this was how things were always meant to be.

Valerio would no longer need to fake his own death just to escape her.

She switched off her phone and deleted every contact channel connecting her to Valerio and Maureen. Then, with everything finally settled, she lay down on the operating table.

As the anesthetic slowly entered her veins, her consciousness began to dissolve into a fog, and memories of her past with Valerio surfaced one last time.

She remembered meeting him at eight years old, when the sight of him had made her heart pound like a drum. She remembered her eighteenth birthday, when he had casually tossed her a silver bracelet that she treasured to this day.

She remembered being twenty, suffering from a high fever and calling him more than ten times, only to receive the cold response, "Don't bother me."

And then there were the countless nights she'd spent curled up alone beneath her blankets, crying her eyes out.

All that love. All that unbearable agony... began to scatter and disappear like dust carried away by the wind.

When Selma finally opened her eyes, she had no idea how much time had passed.

The doctor stood beside her bed and asked, "Ms. Simon, do you still have romantic feelings for Valerio Gould?"

She blinked in confusion as a hazy image surfaced in her mind: the childhood friend she had grown up with.

"Valerio... Gould?" She repeated the name uncertainly, then shook her head. "No, I don't love him. Why would I love him?"

A satisfied smile spread across the doctor's face.

"Excellent. The procedure was successful."

Selma frowned as a dull ache suddenly throbbed in her head. "Do I... have something important to do?"

The doctor nodded. "The sedatives haven't completely worn off yet. Before the procedure, you asked me to remind you that you had a flight to catch."

Selma immediately sat upright. "Right! I'm going to Port Azure."

She swung her legs over the side of the bed, grabbed her bag, and hurried toward the door, although her legs were still weak.

The doctor quickly stepped forward to steady her.

"Take it easy. You have plenty of time."

When Selma finally stepped outside the hospital, the early summer sunlight bathed her face in warmth. The weather was beautiful, and for reasons she couldn't quite explain, she felt remarkably lighthearted.

Raising her hand, she hailed a taxi at the curb.

"To the airport, please."