Chapter 1
"Are you certain you wish to permanently erase all personal records? Once processed, you will vanish entirely from this world--no identity, no trace, no proof you ever existed."
Staring at the woman in her early twenties submitting an identity erasure application, the clerk could hardly conceal his astonishment.
Zoe Hart nodded, her voice soft yet unwavering. "I am certain."
At her reply, the clerk stamped the documents. "The erasure process will take approximately fifteen days. Please wait patiently."
She turned and left the Civic Identity Bureau without another word. Outside, she tapped a few commands into her phone; moments later, a flight confirmation arrived from the airline.
With arrangements settled, she called a taxi back to the manor.
The car wound toward the exclusive residential estates, stopping where taxis could go no further. She was not far from Jarin Voss's manor, so she stepped out and walked slowly forward.
Before long, her gaze fixed on a Maybach parked along the roadside.
The car shuddered violently with unmistakable, indecent movement. The window was rolled halfway down, revealing a man and a woman inside.
The handsome man leaned back, lighting a cigarette, his suit jacket casually unbuttoned. One hand pressed the woman's waist in rhythmic motion; the other dangled out the window, stubbing out the glowing ember.
On his slender, knuckled hand glinted a wedding band, engraved with two letters: ZH.
Zoe Hart.
Her body trembled faintly. She pulled out her phone and dialed the number she had pinned to the top for seven years.
He answered instantly. Jarin's gentle voice, laced with a strange hoarseness, came from the speaker. "Darling, what's wrong?"
"Are you at the office?" She did not answer his question, her eyes glistening quietly as she spoke in a casual tone.
"Of course." A low chuckle sounded through the line, his voice softening further, soothing. "Missing your husband already? I'm sorry--work's been chaotic today. Wait for me at home a little longer, darling. I'll be back soon."
She said nothing more and hung up.
At that exact moment, the Maybach she was staring at shook even more violently, the movements growing increasingly unrestrained.
She bit back the stabbing pain in her chest and turned away, refusing to look again.
An hour later, the gates of Voss Manor burst open.
Jarin hurried inside, a bouquet of fully bloomed roses in one hand and a box of pastries in the other.
In the living room, Zoe did not greet him as she usually did. She simply sat on the sofa, seemingly oblivious to his return.
Guilt flooded his expression. He fussed over her, kissing her forehead repeatedly. "Darling, a sudden meeting held me up. I'm late. I'll take any punishment you want, okay?"
She lowered her eyes, staring at the fresh, dense love bites visible beneath his unbuttoned shirt, and whispered, "Jarin, do you still love me?"
He did not realize the marks on his chest had given him away. Panicked by her question, he pulled her tightly into his arms. "Why would you ask that? Of course I love you. The whole world knows I love you more than my own life. How could I not?"
Jarin's words made Zoe laugh bitterly to herself.
Yes, the whole world knew--Jarin was hopelessly, irrevocably in love with his wife, Zoe. He would give his life for her.
She had come from a broken home. For as long as she could remember, her parents had fought nonstop, sometimes violently, smashing dishes and even grabbing knives, each ready to kill the other.
Yet after every screaming match, they would cry to her, claiming they only stayed together for her sake.
Raised in such chaos, she finally witnessed their divorce during her first year of high school. She grew deeply distrustful of love; despite countless suitors, she never considered dating.
Jarin appeared at that very moment. He fell in love with her at first sight and launched a relentless pursuit.
He confessed seventy-eight times; she refused seventy-eight times. Then a car crash changed everything. Without hesitation, he shielded her with his body. She escaped unharmed. He broke three ribs and lay in bed for three full months.
Her heart had been forged from iron, but he had pried it open with half his life.
After they began dating, the wealthy Voss Family opposed Jarin's relationship with someone of ordinary background. So he turned his back on his family, renounced all inheritance rights, and built a new empire alone--drinking until he vomited blood--until he forced his family to accept her.
After marriage, he spoiled her recklessly.
For her birthday, he spent hundreds of millions on fireworks and hired professional teams for drone shows to delight her.
For their anniversary, he rented every digital billboard in the city, declaring his love to the world.
When she was kidnapped by his enemies, who humiliated him and demanded he kneel, he knelt for her. The act exploded across every headline.
For days, trending topics blazed with their names:
Jarin Kneels for Zoe
The One-in-a-Million Jarin
True Love Warrior Falls
But the man who loved her so fiercely had, in their fourth year of marriage, secretly sheltered his new secretary.
By day, he held her and swore his love; by night, he lay with another woman.
That Maybach belonged to Jarin. How desperate had he been to act so shamelessly right outside their home with Lynn Frost?
She had known the truth for three full months. In those months, she had doubted, suffered, despaired--but never confronted him.
The only thing she had done was file to erase every trace of her identity.
"Jarin, do you remember what I said on our wedding day?"
Zoe looked into his eyes, smiling faintly as he froze.
"I told you: you pried open my heart with the fiercest love. If you ever stopped loving me, tell me plainly--I would not cling to you. But if you lied to me, I would disappear forever, so you could never find me."
Now, her words had come true.
In half a month, she would be gone completely, leaving him to search the world in vain.