“I never hid, Mark couldn’t find me, didn’t you
secretly erase my information to keep him
away from me?”
Chloe laughed self–deprecatingly. “Yes, but I
regret it. I thought I could replace you once
he couldn’t find you. I was wrong. Mark truly
loved you.”
“He found out, investigated me, found out
about the bullying. He knew your last call
before you left was to me, and believed I was
jealous, retaliated, sent you abroad.”
“He went crazy searching for you, thinking I
killed you. He tortured me, saying he was
avenging you! I can’t take it anymore. Mark is
yours, I give up!”
I looked at my building, a relieved smile.
“I don’t want Mark anymore. What you don’t
want
n’t want What you‘
want, I don’t want. What you’re giving back is
trash to me.
Mark appeared at the end of the red carpet.
Haggard, unshaven, alone.
وو
“Lana, you really don’t want me anymore?”
“Yes. The moment you chose Chloe over me
and the baby, our love turned to hate.
He approached cautiously. “Lana, it’s great,
you’re alive! Just being alive is enough!”
“Chloe is manipulative, I was deceived! If I’d
known she was this evil, I wouldn’t have
trusted her with my life and my baby’s!”
“Give me another chance, Lana. I’ve
investigated, I’ll make Chloe pay, for our
child! But the OR cameras were hacked, we
can’t see what happened. Can you tell me?”
I smiled. The man who professed his love
took three years to ask about my ordeal.
“It doesn’t matter.”
I shook my head, dismissing them.
I didn’t want negativity on my grand opening.
Mark refused to leave, he was beaten until he
was covered in blood, but he clung to the
ground.
“Lana, you can’t get rid of me! I’m your
husband! The man you loved for seven years!
Don’t try to escape me!”
I’d reported myself missing and erased all
traces of Lana Chen the moment I left.
Three years had passed, my records were
gone, Mark and I were no longer married.
“Your wife is dead, you’re a widower.”
“I’m not Lana Chen, you’ve got the wrong
person.”
Mark pulled out a knife, threatening everyone
around him.
I found it laughable. “Mark, stop. This isn’t
China, guns are allowed, are you really going
to use a knife against a gun?”
Armed security guards emerged from the
く
building, guns pointed at Mark.
Mark gulped, leaving Chloe behind.
Chloe, lacking identification, couldn’t return
to China, and became a street person. She
ended up in a dangerous area, robbed and
drugged.
She never returned, a broken shell of a
person.
Mark returned to China, desperately trying to
restore the footage and find Chloe.
When my third branch opened, the footage
was finally recovered.
Mark went crazy, spending his fortune
searching for Chloe, to bring her to justice.
Chloe was unrecognizable. When she saw
him, a glimmer of sanity returned. “Mark, I
knew you wouldn’t leave me, you still care
about me!”
Mark didn’t say a word; he abandoned her to
the mercy of the people in that abandoned
<
factory.
Chloe’s limbs were broken, her voice gone.
