Luke rubbed his nose and cursed inwardly before pushing the door open and going in. Looking at the expressionless man sitting behind the desk, he sat opposite him without invitation. "Gideon, don't you have any idea why Luna is so desperate to divorce you? If it weren't for your entanglement with Serena, why would she be like this? Even I, an outsider, can see that she loves you to her very core."

Only then did Gideon speak slowly: "Serena and I?"

"On the wedding day, you abandoned her for Serena and cancelled the ceremony. Shortly after the marriage, you took Serena to the UK for several days without a single word of explanation. A few days ago, you took a woman to a hotel—who else could it be but Serena? Luna is your wife; where have you placed her in your heart?"

Gideon's frown deepened, but he offered no explanation, simply asking flatly, "Do you think Luna is innocent?"

"At least I don't think she did anything wrong."

He gave a cold scoff and stood up. "I'll take you somewhere."

In a dark basement, there was no sunlight or warmth—only a flickering, nearly dead hanging lamp that failed to fully illuminate the space.

The door creaked open, and the man inside suddenly became agitated. "Sir, please let me go! Everything I said last night was true! I know I was wrong, and I'm willing to take any responsibility!"

Gideon's voice was icy: "Tell me what you said last night, one more time."

Chapter 24: Entangled Until Death

The man was trembling all over, but he had no choice but to repeat himself: "Sixteen years ago, I was driving past the mountain road when three girls suddenly darted out from the roadside. I slammed on the brakes, but because I was going too fast, I still hit them. One little girl was terrified and froze on the spot. Her two companions tried to pull her away, but I don't know if it was because she was too scared, but she actually pushed those two companions out..."

"Sir, sir, I shouldn't have fled the scene, but I was so scared at the time, and my child had just been born. I was confused and did the wrong thing. I'll take any responsibility, I just beg you to spare my family!"

As soon as he finished speaking, the door was closed again.

Luke followed behind Gideon, his expression somewhat uneasy. "What does this mean? It couldn't be that the person who pushed them out was Luna, right?"

"You already know the answer. Do you still need to ask me?"

"..." He only knew how to ask; he didn't know the damn answer.

Wait, that's not right.

He remembered that back then, Luna was hospitalized for a major car accident and spent two whole months in bed before she could move. According to what Gideon was saying, if she had pushed her two companions out to block the impact, she shouldn't have been so severely injured herself.

"Then how can you be sure the one who pushed them was Luna?"

Gideon paused in his tracks and glanced at him sideways, his expression chilling. "There were three people present at the time. One was Serena, one was Luna, and the other was..."

He clenched his fists, clearly trying his best to endure something. "She caused a death. Can this debt ever be cleared?"

Luke let out a sigh. "Gideon, do you love Luna?"

This was the second person to ask him this question today.

But Gideon couldn't answer.

Love? How could he.

"Is what you care about the person who died, or the fact that she caused a death? Do you dare to face your own heart?"

Luke left after saying this, leaving Gideon standing alone. A mocking sneer curled his lips. When he was ten, he met a girl he wanted to protect and care for, but that girl died because of Luna.

How could he love her? How could he possibly?

Perhaps Luke was right; he didn't dare face his own heart because there was a nightmare there. Once opened, it would be drenched in blood.

But even so, he would not let Luna go.

Entangled until death—that would be fine.

...

Luna was lazily soaking up the sun in the garden when Luke suddenly called. His tone was serious, so she came out while yawning.

In the cafe, Luke’s brow was knitted tightly, as if he were hesitating whether to speak.

"Hey, you didn't call me out just to watch your eyebrow performance, did you?"

"..."

Luke’s heavy mood was momentarily broken by her teasing. "Luna, you really are heartless."

After being criticized, Luna pursed her lips and got straight to the point: "What's this all about? Just say it."

"You..." Although Luke didn't believe she would do such a thing, she was a girl after all. How could he easily ask about something as heavy as carrying a human life?

Seeing his repeated hesitation, Luna couldn't help but frown. "Are you going to say it or not? If not, I'm leaving."

"I'll say it, I'll say it. Young people shouldn't be so impatient." Luke took a soft breath before tentatively asking, "Do you still remember how you got into that car accident when you were a child?"

Chapter 25: Unworthy of Forgiveness

She paused, her eyes darkening.

Those were the things she was most unwilling to mention.

She thought she had forgotten, but to her surprise, it still hurt this much when brought up again.

"Do you really need to know?"

Luke nodded affirmatively.

"...That day, after the three of us—Lily, Serena, and I—escaped from the warehouse, we got separated from the other children. Serena said the hairpin her mother gave her had fallen out, and that it was the only memento they had. Lily and I went back with her to find it. As a result, there was an accident on the road. Lily died trying to save me."

"What exactly happened?"

Luna closed her eyes. The scene from that day seemed to resurface; everywhere she looked was shocking, heart-wrenching blood.

When the car drove past, Serena was terrified. She and Lily went to pull her, but Serena pushed the two of them forward...

Lily was clearly about the same age as her, yet at the moment the car crashed toward them, she shielded Luna's head tightly. Lily herself died on the spot.

"Although Lily protected me, the force of the impact sent me tumbling into a mountain ravine. I was scratched all over by branches. After being sent to the hospital, I looked like what you saw."

She spoke nonchalantly, but Luke saw a trace of deathly stillness and gloom in her eyes.

He remained silent for a moment before saying, "The one you called Serena... do you know her full name?"

"I don't know. we always just called her Serena. Just like I didn't have a name when I was little; they all called me the Ugly Duckling. After the accident, I was sent to a different orphanage and was adopted into another city shortly after. That's when I got my name. My adoptive parents were very good to me, but they passed away one after the other two years ago. Then Grandpa Arthur found me. He..."

Reaching this point, Luna stopped. She just lowered her head, her thoughts unknown.

Luke understood completely now. If he hadn't guessed wrong, the "Serena" Luna mentioned was the very same Serena today. If this was the truth, then Serena had deceived everyone!

This was truly interesting.

"Luna, don't you hate Serena? If it weren't for her, Lily wouldn't have died, and you wouldn't have been seriously injured."

She spoke calmly: "What's the use of hate? I lost all contact with those children from the orphanage long ago. My adoptive father said that no matter what, I should never lose my kindness. At that time, she was just a child too."

Luke let out a sudden laugh. "You think so, but others don't. Luna, one must not lose their kindness, but some people are simply unworthy of your forgiveness."

"What do you mean?"

Luke said nothing more, simply giving her a phone number. "This is the new address and contact information for the orphanage you were at. It has the records of where all the children were sent after being adopted. You should go take a look; I believe you'll find something very interesting."

This was all he could do to help her. The rest was up to her.

Luna held the piece of paper, frowning.

She didn't understand why Luke suddenly came to ask about the accident, nor why he wanted her to contact the old orphanage, let alone the hidden meaning in his words.

She had never told these stories to anyone; even Annie didn't know.

Luke, he...

Sigh, never mind.

After returning to that home which didn't belong to her, Luna trimmed and arranged the flowers. Just as she was about to take the scraps out, she saw the ugly doll lying on the sofa.