Chapter 4

Xander's POV

I didn't reply to the text. Instead, I turned around and began sorting through everything Wendy and I had accumulated over the past ten years.

The vast rose garden that Wendy had personally planted for me, the hair tie she bought during one of our flea market trips, and even the photos we had taken together on our travels over the years—I destroyed everything connected to me, one by one.

Blaine sent me a live update every half hour, as if worried I wouldn't know my wife was with him.

When midnight struck, countless birthday wishes from relatives and friends flooded my phone. Only Wendy's was missing.

She hadn't forgotten. She was just too exhausted and had fallen asleep.

The next morning, before dawn broke, I blocked every number and account belonging to the two of them. Then I snapped my SIM card in half and threw it into the trash.

Finally, I set fire to the villa that had been filled with ten years of memories.

The flames soared into the sky, illuminating the road ahead of me.

All the photographs, clothes, and jewelry—even the emerald necklace Wendy had bought just yesterday—went up in flames, carrying with it all the love and resentment I had carried for ten years.

In the blink of an eye, everything was reduced to ashes.

From now on, Xander Fisher was dead—and Xander Lynch was reborn.

…

By the time I arrived at the airport, Emily had already sent a private jet to pick me up.

Before boarding my flight, I saw the news of the villa fire being broadcast live on a giant screen. I spotted Wendy, her face deathly pale.

She stood amid the ruins, on the verge of a breakdown, and kept repeating, "How did this happen? Why?"

She frantically asked the police and paramedics whether I was still alive, but they all stared at her like she was insane.

In the end, the police spoke up helplessly.

"Our condolences, Ms. Fisher. This fire was caused by a gas leak, and there were no casualties. Who is this Xander Fisher you keep mentioning?"

Ever since I married Wendy, she had kept me in that villa. And only now did I realize that, for ten years, I had willingly become her pampered househusband.

She didn't allow me to have contact with the opposite gender. Later, she even got jealous of people of the same gender.

So, not to mention making new friends, I didn't even have a neighbor to visit.

I took one last glance at the broadcast, then turned and headed for the gate.

…

Third-Person POV

Wendy never imagined a time would come when proving Xander's existence would be this difficult.

She gritted her teeth and checked the surveillance footage, only to be told the system had been hacked three days ago.

Still refusing to give up, Wendy used every connection she had to find Xander's whereabouts.

Five minutes later, her friend finally found a photo of him standing in front of a private jet, his back to the camera.

"I tried my best, Wendy. But seriously, how could your freeloader of a husband possibly afford a private jet?"

When Wendy saw the Lynch Group logo on the side of the jet, her face instantly went pale, and a thought surfaced in her mind.

Xander was about to become himself again. He didn't want her anymore.

At that moment, a button was pressed somewhere, and the sandalwood box that had been sitting in Wendy's car suddenly started blaring an alarm.

Unbeknownst to Wendy, Xander had placed a divorce agreement inside the box.

Wendy's hands trembled as she picked up the box, clutching it like a lifeline. "That's right! How could I have forgotten! Xander left me a gift!

"I knew it! He loves me! He hasn't abandoned me!"

Wendy, acting as if she had just been pardoned, carefully opened the sandalwood box.