Chapter 1Love Lost in the Maze, Never Returning

After Adam Croft left me at the altar for a scholarship student, his father froze all his assets and blacklisted him from every major corporation.

The golden boy of the Croft empire became a pauper. In less than six months, the scholarship student was in bed with a rich old man.

Adam, broken and gravely ill, came back home to marry me. He reverted to the cold, ruthless heir he was always meant to be.

For ten years, we maintained a marriage of polite distance, a model couple in the eyes of society.

I believed the rest of our lives would be a smooth road to happiness.

Until the day I found ten love letters Adam had written to Serena Vance, hidden in our safe.

The first letter began: “Even if you’re a bad woman, I’m all in.”

The last one ended: “If I die before you, all my money is yours.”

It turned out that throughout our entire marriage, he had been steadfastly in love with another woman.

That night, I scheduled an abortion.

* * *

“Are you certain you want to terminate this pregnancy?”

Dr. Evans held my hand, her gaze falling on the skin riddled with tiny needle marks. Her voice was full of pity.

For years, I had desperately wanted a child with Adam. The mountain of empty medicine bottles and used syringes in my bathroom could attest to that.

I signed the consent form and lay down on the cold steel of the operating table.

My mind drifted back to the rainy night ten years ago when Adam came home.

He was drenched and burning with a high fever, muttering deliriously, “Don’t leave me… please, don’t leave.”

I held him in my arms all night, patting his back and singing soft lullabies as if he were a child.

When he woke up the next morning, we went to the courthouse and got married.

He even gave me the wedding he’d denied me. A spectacular, city-stopping event that silenced all the gossip.

I went from being the laughingstock of high society to the object of everyone’s envy.

A girl who had been abandoned once thought her years of secret adoration had finally paid off.

It was nothing but a delusion, born from a desperate need to be loved.

Just as the surgical instrument was about to touch me, the baby kicked.

Tears streamed down my face. I sat up, stopping the procedure.

When I got home, Adam was in his study, working late as usual.

He sat perfectly upright, meticulously reviewing documents, the top button of his suit still fastened.

Who would have guessed that this man, as cold and unyielding as a glacier, would resort to something as cliché as writing letters to pour out his longing for a girl?

I walked over silently and slid the divorce papers in front of him.

A flicker of disbelief crossed Adam’s eyes.

“Is this because I didn’t go with you to the prenatal appointment today?”

He had no idea I’d almost ended the pregnancy.

I smiled, a sharp pain lancing through my heart.

“Yes. That’s exactly why.”

The man tore the papers to shreds without a change in expression and offered me a black credit card.

“I’ve been busy. If you’re going to throw a tantrum, pick a better time.”

I didn’t take it. I looked him straight in the eye.

“Serena Vance is divorced and back in the country. Did you know?”

A flicker of something unnatural crossed his brow. “No. And I don’t care.”

How could he not know?

He was the one who hired her divorce lawyer. He was the one who personally met her at the airport.

He did it on our wedding anniversary.

I threw my phone down in front of him.

The screen showed a gossip article titled, “Croft CEO Rekindles Old Flame.” The comment section was exploding.