Chapter 7
While vacationing in Vardal, Alexander suddenly felt an overwhelming emptiness.
It was like quicksand slipping through his fingers, like a rose wilting, like a heart being torn in
two.
Had he lost something?
As time passed, this sense of unease grew stronger.
He finally couldn’t bear it any longer. With a bang, he stood up, knocking over a chair, and said to Ivy, “I need to fly back home immediately. Sorry, Ivy, I can’t stay with you this time. I’ll make it up to you later.”
Ivy panicked, trying her usual tricks. “Alexander, I have something very important to tell you
tonight…”
“Save it for next time, no matter how important!”
This time, Alexander’s attitude was unusually resolute, so resolute that he didn’t even giving her
another glance before rushing out.
Somehow, a voice in the back of his mind seemed to warn him that if he delayed any longer, he
would never see someone again.
And that someone was the person he valued most in his life, the one he could never afford to lose.
Once off the plane, he drove furiously back to the Hawke estate. He rushed through the front door,
only to find it pitch–black inside.
No lights. No one. Silence.
A bad feeling surged through him.
He sprinted to the bedroom. The bed was empty, even the wardrobe had been cleared of all
clothes.
It was as if the large villa had overnight lost all traces of Isabella’s life there.
Panicked, he dialed her number several times before finally getting it right, but the line played the message, “The number you have dialed is no longer in service.”
Not off, but disconnected… Damn it! What happened to Isabella? Where had she gone?
He was on the verge of collapse, trembling as he pulled out his phone and ordered his bodyguards
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to check the surveillance.
“Check! Every day’s footage since my wife returned from vacation–check it clearly and thoroughly!”
He practically shouted the words hoarsely.
Tears streamed uncontrollably. How he wished this was just an illusion, that when he woke up,
Isabella would still be by his side.
The footage was pulled up and played.
On the first day, Isabella went downstairs loaded with bags, but came back with nothing in her
hands.
The next day, she burned a pile of papers under a tree for half an hour.
The third day… Alexander gritted his teeth. “Where’s the footage for the third day? Why isn’t it
there?”
The bodyguard trembled. “The footage seems to have been deliberately destroyed. We’ve tried everything, but the data can’t be recovered…‘
Alexander slumped to the floor in despair.
))
It was Isabella. She had deliberately ruined the surveillance before leaving, to prevent him from finding her.
Did she hate him so much that she didn’t want to see him even for a moment?
He closed his eyes hopelessly, letting tears flow freely.
“Ms. Miller, this is your attending physician, Mr. Smith. He will take full charge of your treatment from now on.”
Isabella lay in a hospital bed in Luminara, set to undergo surgery the next day.
If the surgery went well, her memories would gradually return.
Thinking of this, she finally felt a sense of relief, mixed with eager anticipation.
For so long, she had been living under the false identity of “Mrs. Hawke,” but now she only wanted to know who she truly was.
A video was playing in the room.
The man on the screen had sharp, refined features, dressed in a crisp, perfectly tailored suit,
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standing tall and poised.
More importantly, the moment Isabella saw him, she felt an intense sense of familiarity, as if she
had met him long ago.
“Miss, don’t you recognize him? This is the CEO of the Carter Group, Nathaniel Carter. Their
business spans the country. When the Carter Group makes a move, entire businesses fall like
dominos.”
A woman in the bed next to hers said enthusiastically. Isabella replied politely, “Oh.”
In truth, she didn’t care much.
Someone so powerful and influential could never have anything to do with her life.
That afternoon, she went for a walk down the hospital corridor and unexpectedly ran into
Nathaniel.
The feeling that she had met him before hit her even stronger.
Just as she was about to ask if they had met before, dizziness overwhelmed her, and she fainted.
Nathaniel suddenly froze mid–step.
By instinct, he turned his head but saw nothing.
His secretary asked, “Mr. Carter, what’s wrong?”
Nathaniel shook his head. “Nothing. Finding someone is more urgent. Let’s go.”
The surgery lasted a full seven hours.
When Isabella awoke, her head throbbed painfully, and a flood of memories surged into her mind.
Turned out, she was the youngest daughter of the Miller family in Eastbridge, and her biological parents were the local wealthiest family.
She even had a childhood fiancé.
If it hadn’t been for that car accident, they would already be married.
Her fiancé’s name was Nathaniel Carter.
Chapter 7
