All Chapters of When Lies Kissed Romance: Chapter 1 - Chapter 9

9 Chapters

Chapter 1

Once I made all the arrangements for my departure, I ended the call and put the folder where I had found it.Just then, I caught a familiar whiff of cigarette smoke and instinctively looked up. It was him.Victor walked in, his suit still chilly from the night air. He hugged me from behind, his warm chest pressed against my back. His voice was soft, low, and magnetic. “Why are you still awake?”“It’s nothing. I was just thinking of games for our club’s annual teambuilding event.” I smiled, forcing my voice to sound even yet excited. He kissed the top of my head. “Don’t push yourself too hard. You’ve stayed up too many nights for that project. I found you a new health advisor.”In the five years since we got married, everyone knew how much Victor loved and pampered me. He would put on an apron and research recipes whenever I said I had no appetite, and he would hold me and sing me lullabies whenever I could not sleep.They said the heir to the mafia family was cold and heartless,

Chapter 2

The next morning, Victor was choosing his cufflinks in the walk-in closet when I said calmly, “I’ll join you for the banquet tonight.”He paused and looked at me in the mirror with some surprise. Before long, however, he recovered and hid his reaction with his usual smile. “Of course you can come with me. But there will be a lot of people, so let’s leave after handing over our present.”I was curious to see what this banquet he had so carefully planned looked like. After all, this was my last time attending a party with him as his wife.The estate was brightly lit, and everyone in our circle was there to congratulate Summer on her pregnancy as well as her takeover of the club.I weaved through the crowd with a glass of champagne, listening to the praise and congratulations heaped upon Summer. “Miss Summer, congratulations on taking over the club!”“The new game you designed was genius! The club is sure to make waves throughout the city.”Summer reveled in the praise, smiling

Chapter 3

Our journey to the hot-air balloon was quiet. Victor held my hand in his warm palm, talking about the birthday celebrations he had planned for me. “I've booked all the newest custom dresses. You can wear whichever you want for your birthday.” He paused, his voice turning gentler. “Once the dust settles down, let's try for a baby too, shall we? Didn't you love kids?”I just listened to him quietly without replying, staring at the scenery outside the car window.He still did not know that we had a child once, but that little angel left us for good because of the orders he gave.Not long after the car drove out of the estate, his phone started ringing. He picked up the call and said something softly before turning to me with a perfectly apologetic expression. “A problem came up with the goods at the port. I have to take care of it myself.”I nodded and said calmly, “Go ahead. The family's matters are more important.”He paused, as though wanting to explain. “Zoe, I…”“It's fine,

Chapter 4

Victor froze and then grabbed the soldier’s collar, his aura cold as ice. “What did you say?!”The soldier was so nervous he stammered. “Boss, your wife said she wanted to ride the balloon herself. After that, there was a gunshot, and the balloon exploded! It crashed into the sea.“I could see she’d been feeling down the entire time. S-She clearly committed suicide!”“That can’t be! I don’t believe it! How could she do such a thing?!” Victor interrupted his subordinate with a rough voice. “Why didn’t anyone inform me when she rode the balloon on her own?”The soldier hesitated before saying carefully, “Boss, I tried calling you all night, but your phone was off…”Victor immediately took out his phone, but its screen would not light up no matter how he pressed it. As he turned it on, he turned to look at Summer, his gaze turning cold. “Did you turn my phone off?”Summer stiffened at the cold look in his eyes and hurriedly explained. “I would never do that! Maybe you turned it of

Chapter 5

The email I had scheduled for Victor was my final judgment of him and my final farewell to that ridiculous marriage.When the contents of the email blew his world apart, I was sitting in an apartment in a small town by a snowy mountain, far away from the chaos.There was no mafia family here, nor was there anything to do with Victor. There was just a silent room and a window with a view of the snowy peaks.I started a new life under the name “Carolyn Dawn”, bidding farewell to the poor Zoe who spent her whole life carefully trying to prove herself. No one knew where I was hiding, and no one knew I was fully prepared to stay here for the rest of my peaceful, lonely life.When I first moved to this town, I refused to talk to anyone. My everyday life revolved around the cafe where I was working and my apartment.Everyone just assumed I was an introverted foreigner and slowly stopped trying to reach out to me. That was exactly how I wanted it.I once believed that my talents were m

Chapter 6

Despite saying that, I still asked my contact to send me a final concluding report later.The report was short. After she was divorced and chased out of the mafia family, Summer vanished from upper society. As for Victor, he used all his resources to search half the world to no avail. According to the report, he had not been seen in public for a while. He had become depressed and obsessed, a shadow of who he used to be.I read the report expressionlessly, then deleted the report as well as my contact’s email. Victor was starting to regret everything, but I had long left his world.All of his belated devotion seemed like a joke to me.“Carolyn, you make such beautiful latte art!” The young new waitress interrupted my thoughts, leaning over the counter.I hurriedly pushed the cup toward her and chuckled softly. “It’s just a rose, nothing special. Go bring it to the customer.”“Carolyn…” She tilted her head and asked me, “Are you unhappy?”I paused before smiling at her. “No. Y

Chapter 7

The next day, I received the last message my contact sent of their own accord. It was a link to a financial news article regarding Victor.The report said that the once-ruthless heir to the mafia family had not been seen in public for a few months now, and he had completely delegated his duties to his second-in-command. There was even a candid photograph of Victor standing alone in the estate where things had gone wrong, looking desolate and numb.I stared at that photo for a long time, feeling neither resentment nor vengeance. All I had was a mysterious sense of calm.Perhaps his regret was real, but so what? I was no longer the wife he used to hide his true intentions, and I did not want to become his salvation after his regret.“Miss Dawn.” The regular customer called out to me again, waking me from my thoughts.I turned to see him standing next to my table. He was here again today, offering me an intricate leather-bound file.“...I won’t join you,” I declined coldly without e

Chapter 8

“Summer,” I said evenly and coolly, as though I was addressing a stranger. “This is a private hotel. If you continue to make a ruckus, I’ll ask security to escort you out.”“Escort me out?!” She laughed manically, as though she had heard the most absurd joke. “Zoe, you bitch! You ruined everything! You ruined my marriage and my reputation, yet you’re here acting like you own the place?! I wouldn’t be in this state if it weren’t for you!”Her eyes were filled with hatred, as though she wanted to rip me apart. “Even Victor… Even he abandoned me because of you! Do you really think you’ve won?”She rushed at me like a lunatic before completing her sentence, her long nails aimed at my face. Before I could back away, though, someone jumped in front of me.It was that regular customer at the cafe who invited me here, and the heir to this hotel, Luke Wynne.“Please mind your behavior, ma’am.” Luke gripped Summer’s wrist, his voice calm but firm.Summer put up a mad struggle, but just the

Chapter 9

In the hotel's presidential suite, the private doctor had just finished bandaging up Luke's wound. He still looked rather pale from the blood loss. I sat by his bed with a cup of warm water, feeling my heart finally settle a little as he fell soundly asleep.Just then, someone knocked softly on the door of the suite. It was Victor.He stood alone at the door, no longer surrounded by his subordinates or as confident as he used to be. His regretful gaze on me was fragile and practically pleading.“Zoe…” he said hoarsely. “Can we… talk?”I closed the bedroom door behind me for Luke's sake and walked Victor to the living room's floor-to-ceiling window.“I was wrong, Zoe.” His eyes were red from tiredness. “I only realized how wrong I was after you left. “I remembered the soup you made for me when I missed my meals. I remembered how you kept a light on for me no matter how late I stayed out for my meetings… I realized just how precious these things were, when I used to take them f

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