5
For these five years, they had used all their connections and resources, practically turning the entire country upside down, but never found any trace of me.
Lucas had been too thorough. He not only changed my identity but cut off all my connections to the outside world, making me vanish without a trace.
<
11:24 Thu, 10 Jul
That night, the family doctor gave me a thorough examination.
Apart from the fractured wrist and some superficial injuries, there was more damage from long-term malnutrition and mental suppression.
Ethan stayed by my bedside the whole time, personally applying medicine to my wounds.
His movements were as gentle as if he were handling a priceless treasure.
“I’m sorry, young miss.” His voice was full of self-reproach. “I was useless. It took me five years to find you.”
I shook my head and held his hand. “It’s not your fault.”
“You’re here now. That’s what matters.”
He gripped my hand tightly, as if afraid I
Would disappear again.
“Young miss,” he raised his head, his eyes filled with unprecedented determination.
“From now on, I won’t let anyone hurt you, not even a little bit.”
I looked at him, my heart filled with mixed emotions.
The next day, the reckoning for Lucas officially began.
The Ruan family’s legal team filed lawsuits against Lucas on multiple charges including “illegal confinement”, “intentional injury”, and “fraud”.
At the same time, Ruan Group began a full-scale attack on Lucas’s small startup
company.
All projects cooperating with him were unilaterally terminated, banks rejected all his loan applications, and suppliers came knocking to collect payments…
His world was visibly crumbling at an alarming rate.
And this was just the beginning.
୮
Lucas was sent to the hospital.
–
Comminuted fracture of the leg bones. The doctor said even if it healed, he would be left
with a permanent limp.
Lying in the hospital bed, he hadn’t even come to terms with this when he received news that his company was on the brink of bankruptcy.
“How could this happen? How could it suddenly be like this?” He screamed frantically at
his assistant on the phone.
“Wasn’t our contract with Hongxuan Group signed and sealed? Why are they willing to pay the breach of contract penalty to terminate the cooperation?”
The assistant on the other end of the line trembled as he spoke: “Mr. Lin, it’s not just Hongxuan. All our partners have terminated their contracts with us at the same time.”
“The bank also… also said there was a problem with our credit rating and demanded we repay all loans immediately…”
Lucas was thunderstruck. He wasn’t stupid; he instantly understood.
It was the Ruan family.
It was Aria Ruan taking her revenge.
Yvette stayed with him in the hospital for two days. Seeing him turn into a cripple drowning in debt, she immediately showed her true colors.
tell
“Lucas Lin, didn’t you say you were so capable? How did you end up like this?”
She stood with her arms crossed, looking at him on the hospital bed with disgust. “Let me
you, I have no intention of starving alongside you!”
Lucas looked at her in disbelief: “Yvette, what are you saying? Didn’t we promise to be
together forever?”
“Forever?” Yvette let out a cold laugh.
r
“That was when you had money! Now you have nothing left, and you still expect me to stay with you? Keep dreaming!”
“We’re already legally married. Now that you’re bankrupt, by law, I’d have to bear half your debts! Hurry up and figure something out. We need to get divorced!”
Lucas looked at this woman he had doted on for years, feeling for the first time the
heart-piercing pain of betrayal.
He suddenly thought of Aria.
7141
He remembered how, no matter how late he came home in those five years, there was always a light left on for him.
No matter what setbacks he faced in his career, Aria would always gently comfort him,
telling him “It’s okay, everything will get better.”
He remembered how she wouldn’t even buy herself a new piece of clothing to save money for him…
All those sacrifices he had once taken for granted now replayed in his mind like a movie,
frame by frame.
A strange emotion called remorse, like vines, frantically entangled his heart, making it
hard to breathe.
