The day Adrian Sterling secured the majority shares of the Sterling Group, he ended our three-year relationship.

Not quietly.

Not peacefully.

He appeared before the media with his new lover and announced to the world that I was dead.

Three months later, we met again.

At an investment bidding conference.

This time, I wasn't standing behind him.

I was sitting at the front of the room.

As Isabella Hawthorne, theeldest daughter of the powerful Hawthorne family.

When the final bid opened, I calmly raised my paddle.

"Fifty million."

The room fell silent.

With a single move, I took the project Adrian had spent months securing.

The one he believed was already his.

The conference ended in stunned whispers.

But Adrian didn't leave.

Instead, he cornered me in a hallway, his eyes red, his voice rough with emotion.

"Bella… I regret it."

Before he could touch me, my bodyguards forced him back against the wall.

I looked down at him coldly.

"Watch your place, Mr. Sterling."

My voice was calm. Detached.

"The Sterling Group is not enough to act arrogant in front of aHawthorne, is it?"

Chapter 1

"Break up."

The message Adrian sent me contained only two words.

I was standing in a crowded market buying groceries for dinner.

Just a minute earlier, I had texted him gentlely:

"I'm cooking your favorite tomato beef stew tonight."

Then his message appeared.

The tomatoes slipped from my hands and rolled across the pavement.

Ipanicked, andran home without even taking my basket.

At the entrance of our old apartment complex, a smalltruck was parked outside.

Workers were carrying boxes downstairs.

And Adrian stood at the doorway, directing them.

"Adrian?" I ran up to him, forcing a smile. "Why are you moving things? Are you going back to your hometown? Why didn't you ask me to come with you?"

I grabbed his arm.

He shook me off immediately, frowning.

"Didn't you see my text?"

My chest tightened.

"I saw it… but it must be a joke, right?"

His voice turned cold.

"It's not a joke."

"We're done, Isabella."

The words hit me like ice water.

"Why?"

I couldn't understand.

Three years together.

Three years of living in a cramped apartment, eating cheap meals, struggling through every hardship.

We had promised each other that when things got better, we would finally live a good life.

Adrian looked at me with distant eyes.

"Because we're not from the same world."

Before I could respond, a sleek black luxury car stopped outside the building.

A beautiful woman stepped out.

Elegant.

Expensive.

Everything about her screamed wealth.

She walked straight to Adrian and slipped her arm around his.

"Adrian, are you finished here?"

He nodded.

Then he looked at me again.

Calm. Detached.

"Isabella, let me introduce."

"This is Clara Whitmore, my fiancée."

My mind went blank.

"Fiancée?"

Clara smiled sweetly, as if greeting an old friend.

"Isabella. I've heard about you."

Her tone was polite.

But her eyes held faint amusement.

I suddenly felt ridiculous standing there in my cheap clothes, holding a plastic bag of vegetables.

Adrian spoke again, his voice emotionless.

"My real identity is the heir of the Sterling Group."

"I came here three years ago because my family wanted me to experience ordinary life."

"I stayed longer than planned."

Every word felt like a knife.

"So… our relationship…"

"Was just a phase," he finished.

Clara squeezed his arm possessively.

"Adrian has returned to his world now."

"And you should return to yours."

The movers carried out the last box.

Everything that belonged to Adrian was gone.

Just like that.

Three years of memories erased in a single afternoon.

I stood frozen.

Adrian finally looked at me one last time.

"You'll receive compensation."

Compensation.

As if our relationship were a business transaction.

My hands trembled.

"I don't want your money."

His expression hardened.

"Take it."

"You'll need it more than I do."

Then he turned and walked toward the car with Clara.

Without looking back.

The luxury car drove away.

Leaving me alone in the dusty courtyard.

That night, I returned to the empty apartment.

Half the furniture was gone.

Even the small sofa we bought together had been taken.

I sat on the cold floor.

For a long time, I didn't move.

Finally, my phone rang.

It was a number I hadn't seen in years.

I answered slowly.

A deep voice spoke on the other end.

"Miss Hawthorne."

"It's time for you to come home."

My fingers tightened around the phone.

Home.

A place I had run away from three years ago.

The Hawthorne family.

One of the wealthiest dynasties in the country.

I closed my eyes.

"Fine," I said quietly.

"I'm coming back."

Three months later.

The investment bidding conference was packed with executives and reporters.

When I entered the room, whispers spread instantly.

"The Hawthorne family's eldest daughter is here."

"She disappeared for years, didn't she?"

"They say she's finally returning to the business world."

I ignored the murmurs and took my seat.

Across the room sat Adrian Sterling.

He looked even more composed than before.

Successful.

Powerful.

The perfect heir of the Sterling empire.

But the moment our eyes met—

His expression froze.

Because the woman he once abandoned was now sitting among the top investors.

The bidding began.

Several companies competed fiercely for the project.

Adrian's offer quickly became the highest.

Everyone assumed the deal was already his.

Until I raised my paddle.

"Fifty million."

Gasps rippled through the hall.

The chairman hesitated.

"Miss Hawthorne, are you certain?"

I smiled faintly.

"Very."

Adrian stared at me, disbelief flashing across his face.

The final hammer fell.

The project belonged to the Hawthorne family.

After the meeting ended, I walked down a quiet hallway.

Suddenly, a hand grabbed my wrist.

Adrian.

His eyes were red.

"Isabella… why didn't you tell me?"

I slowly removed his hand.

"Tell you what?"

"That you're part of the Hawthorne family."

I looked at him calmly.

"Would it have changed anything?"

He fell silent.

His voice dropped.

"I made a mistake."

"I regret it."

Before he could step closer, my bodyguards stepped forward and restrained him.

I gazed down at him coldly.

"Mr. Sterling."

"Please remember your position."

"The Sterling Group is nothing compared to the Hawthorne family."

Then I turned and walked away.

Without looking back.

Adrian stood frozen in the corridor long after Isabella walked away.

For the first time in his life, the always-composed heir of the Sterling Group felt something dangerously close to panic.

He had believed Isabella was ordinary.

A girl from a small town.

Gentle. Quiet. Dependent on him.

But the woman who had just walked past him carried the cold authority of someone born into power.

A Hawthorne.

The realization struck him like lightning.

Three years.

He had spent three years with her.

And he had never known.

Inside the conference room, executives were still discussing the shocking result of the bid.

"The Hawthorne family suddenly entering this project… that's huge."

"Sterling Group must be furious."

"Did you see Mr. Sterling's face just now?"

The whispers spread like wildfire.

Meanwhile, Isabella calmly signed the acquisition documents.

Her assistant leaned closer and spoke softly.

"Miss Hawthorne, the board asked if you'd like to attend tonight's celebration dinner."

Isabella closed the folder.

"No."

Her tone was calm but distant.

"I have other matters to deal with."

She stood and walked out.

The moment Isabella stepped outside the building, a black Rolls-Royce pulled up beside the curb.

Her bodyguard opened the door.

Inside sat an older man with silver hair and sharp eyes.

Edward Hawthorne.

Her grandfather.

The true head of the Hawthorne empire.

"You did well today," he said.

Isabella smiled faintly.

"It was nothing."

Edward studied her carefully.

"Did you see Adrian Sterling?"

She paused briefly.

"Yes."

"And?"

Isabella looked out the window as the car began moving.

"Nothing worth mentioning."

But deep inside, the old wound still ached faintly.