Chapter 1

On the airport highway, Julian Lennox drove his Maybach like a madman and crashed into my car.

The car body slammed hard against the guardrail. Dizzy and disoriented, I pushed open the car door, only to see Julian, his face covered in blood, walking toward me.

"Zoe Vance, come back with me!"

Shaking with rage, I yelled, "Are you insane?!"

He stared intently at Adrian Carter, who was shielding me, his eyes filled with madness.

"Your mother is still lying in the hospital! You think you can survive after leaving the Lennox family? You're nothing but a dog raised by the Lennox family. If I don't let you leave, you will never leave!"

Ten years of sincere devotion, exchanged for nothing but the phrase "a servant's daughter."

Now that I have finally decided to marry and leave, he chased me to the airport like a madman and wrecked my car, all just to stop me from moving on to a new life.

I sneered as I dialed 911.

"Julian Lennox, listen closely."

"From this day on, even if I die, I will never return to your side."

Zoe Vance POV

The Earl Grey tea in the teapot was boiling, the bubbling sound amplified in the silent room.

Holding my breath, my slender body pressed tightly against the wooden door, not daring to make a single sound.

Just on the other side of the wall sat Julian Lennox, the man I had loved for a whole decade.

"Julian, I watched Zoe grow up. Her character and appearance are top-notch. Her mother is now in a vegetative state, and I promised back then to keep her safe. You're not getting any younger. If you are willing, I want to marry Zoe to you. It would fulfill a wish of mine." The voice of Julian's mother, Clara Lennox, was warm but carried an undeniable hope.

Behind the wooden door, my fingers clenched my hem tightly, my knuckles turning white.

It had been ten years. Ever since I stepped into the Lennox family home with my mother at fifteen and became Julian's "sidekick," all of my youth, all of my attention, had been reserved for him alone.

I had been waiting for an answer from him, waiting until I was driven nearly mad.

However, after a brief silence, a cold chuckle broke the quiet air.

"Mom, are you joking?" Julian's voice was lazy, dripping with an innate superiority like a blade dipped in ice, stabbing precisely into my heart. "Zoe Vance? Who does she think she is? Just someone from an ordinary background. To put it nicely, she's a college student funded by the Lennox family. To put it bluntly, she's the daughter of menial household staff. You want me to marry a servant? Does the Lennox family have no dignity left?"

"Julian! How can you talk like that!" Clara scolded.

"Am I wrong?" Julian's voice was devoid of emotion, even carrying a hint of impatience. "She is used to following me around like a shadow. That is what she is supposed to do, and what she wants to do. Don't project your own ideas onto our relationship. I have no feelings for her whatsoever. Don't bring this up again, lest she starts having some unwarranted illusions."

Accompanied by the harsh scraping sound of a chair being pushed back, Julian's footsteps receded without a hint of hesitation. Finally, the room's door slammed shut.

Behind the wooden door, I slowly slid down to the floor, my tears like severed pearls, falling silently onto the carpet.

A servant's daughter. Unwarranted illusions.

As it turned out, while I stayed up late organizing documents for him, stayed awake all night when his stomach pains flared, and threw myself in front of danger for him without hesitation, to him, I was nothing but an obedient dog.

Ten years of entanglement, I thought I could eventually warm a block of ice, but I forgot that when ice melts, it only turns to water and flows away, leaving nothing behind.

"Come on out," Clara's sighing voice sounded from outside the wooden door, heavy with distress.

I wiped my tears, used the wooden door to support myself as I stood up, and forced my weak legs to walk out. My face was as pale as paper, but my eyes held the dead silence of someone newly awakened from a dream.

"Don't take Julian's words to heart. He is just a bastard, spoiled by me," Clara said, taking my cold hand, her eyes slightly red. "Zoe, you've suffered so much."

"Mrs. Lennox, I don't feel wronged," I forced a smile that looked worse than crying, my voice raspy but unusually calm. "He's right. I'm not worthy. I never found my proper place."

"Silly child," Clara stroked my hair, her eyes filled with helplessness and regret. "Your mother was severely injured trying to save me and ended up in a vegetative state. I owe you both a debt I can never repay in this lifetime. I thought that by entrusting you to Julian, he could keep you safe and secure for the rest of your life. But now it seems he is the unlucky one."

Clara paused, her gaze hardening. "Zoe, you are an excellent, good girl. Even if you can't be his wife, I will never let you suffer. Since Julian is so foolish, I will introduce you to a good man. I'll make sure to find you someone who understands you, loves you, and cherishes you in the palm of his hand, alright?"

I looked at the white hair at Clara's temples, remembering how she had loved me like her own daughter over the years. Without Clara, my mother and I would have been living on the streets long ago. I took a deep breath, suppressing the tearing pain in my heart.

It had been ten years. It's time to end it. I could no longer act like a beggar, pleading for Julian's meager scraps of attention.

"Alright," I raised my head, the humility and hope that once filled my eyes completely gone, replaced only by resolve. "Mrs. Lennox, I agree. As long as it's someone you choose, I'll marry him. Thank you for taking care of me all these years."

Clara pulled me into her arms, her tears falling. "Good child, I only wish for your happiness. Once you leave that bastard, you will live better than anyone else."

I closed my eyes, letting my tears fall for Julian Lennox one last time.

From today on, Julian's joys and sorrows have nothing to do with me anymore. I will sever this ten-year bond and live my own life.

I loved fiercely and gave it my all; now that I hate, I will also let go completely.