"Sorry, sir, this lady has not been to our restaurant today."

Half a month of tossing and turning had not only drained Ethan’s energy but also exhausted his cash.

Because of the language barrier, he had been scammed by unscrupulous taxi drivers.

He had been cheated out of a huge sum trying to buy leads that turned out to be fake.

The once high-and-mighty Captain Ethan was now scruffy and unshaven, unable to even afford the rent for his motel.

Until today, the assistant told him that Ivy would be attending an academic seminar at the Zurich University Hospital.

This lead was real.

Ethan stood at the entrance of Zurich University Hospital for two full hours before finally waiting for Ivy.

Ivy was wearing a camel-colored long coat, paired with crisp white shirt and dress pants underneath.

She was walking out of the building with Lucas, the two of them laughing and conversing in low voices.

Lucas considerately opened an umbrella for her, and Ivy looked up and smiled at him.

That smile was something Ethan had never seen before.

What was even more blinding were the matching rings on their ring fingers.

The sight seared into Ethan’s retinas; his reason snapped instantly, and he lost all capacity for thought.

Only one thought remained in his mind: take her back.

"Ivy!"

He wanted to grab her hand, pull her away from Lucas, and demand to know why she was torturing him so cruelly.

But before his frozen, red hands could touch the corner of Ivy’s coat.

"Bang—"

Lucas didn't hold back, landing a solid punch squarely on Ethan’s face.

Having not eaten or rested properly for half a month, Ethan had no strength to withstand it.

The massive force sent him stumbling back a few steps before he fell into the freezing snow.

The bone-chilling cold came from his tailbone, but it couldn't compare to the icy cold in his heart.

He looked up, his mouth filled with the metallic taste of blood, but what crushed him most was Ivy’s reaction.

From start to finish, Ivy didn't spare him a single extra glance.

Faced with his current disheveled and destitute state, there was no surprise or heartache in her eyes—not even a ripple.

As Ethan rushed over, she had subconsciously stepped behind Lucas.

That action was filled with reliance and trust toward Lucas, and defense and disgust toward him.

Lucas shielded Ivy completely behind him, looking down coldly at the wretched Ethan in the snow.

"Captain Ethan."

Lucas spoke slowly, his voice carrying a warning.

"Ivy is my fiancée now. Please show some self-respect."

Chapter 11

Ethan refused to give up.

He used every means possible to dig into everything about Ivy.

Like a persistent stalker, he obtained her residence, itinerary, and work schedule.

He stubbornly believed that the eight years of affection they shared, and those moments of life-and-death struggle in the line of fire, were etched into their bones and couldn't be easily erased.

As long as he apologized, as long as he made the crimes of that woman, Selena, public, and as long as he was sincere enough, Ivy would return.

She would, for sure.

Finally, at an international rescue technology seminar open to the global media, Ethan waited for what he deemed the "perfect opportunity."

During the Q&A session, ignoring the security guards, he grabbed a microphone and rushed to the front of the stage.

In front of all the media and experts, he launched into a tearful apology to Ivy, who was sitting at the presiding table.

"Ivy, I’m sorry! I was wrong!"

"I was blinded by greed, deceived by that poisonous woman Selena!"

"I have investigated all the truth; she has already received the punishment she deserved!"

He tried to use their past bond to emotionally blackmail her.

"Ivy, look at me, it’s me, Ethan! We’ve dismantled bombs together, rescued people from ruins together, we promised to be teammates for life—have you forgotten it all?"

"Please, give me one more chance, let’s start over, okay?"

The international experts on stage beside Ivy were clearly taken aback by this sudden outburst.

The camera flashes in the entire hall instantly shifted from the experts, focusing squarely on Ivy alone.

Long lenses, short cannons, countless cameras—all trained on her.

Everyone held their breath, waiting for the female lead of this cross-border emotional drama to respond.

It was a meticulously planned moral trial; Ethan wanted to use the pressure of public opinion to force her to bow, to force her into submission.

Ivy looked quietly at the man acting like a madman below the stage, her eyes calm without a ripple.

In the gaze of the entire world, she slowly raised her hand.

A move no one had expected.

She took off the high-tech, world-class cochlear implant from her left ear.

Then, she brushed aside the hair by her ear, revealing the scar on the right side of her skull—a scar left by multiple surgeries—clearly to everyone, to all the cameras.

The entire hall fell into a deathly silence; even the flashes seemed to stop.

Ivy picked up the microphone, looking straight at Ethan. Her voice wasn't loud, yet it carried through the speakers to every corner of the room.

"Captain Ethan."

She paused, the corner of her lips curling into a polite, distant smile.

"My new life began the moment you personally destroyed my world."

She reached out a finger, gently pointing to the position of the scar.

"So, from this perspective, I truly should thank you."

"Thank you for letting me see clearly that some people and some pasts are simply not worth looking back on."

After saying this, she put the implant back on.

The surrounding chaotic noises enveloped her once more.

And Ethan’s heart-wrenching wailing and repentance had already been actively blocked out of her world by her.

Ivy’s speech was broadcast globally, reaching the entire world.

Ethan, ruined in body and reputation.

Under the eyes of everyone, Ivy stood up, walked to Lucas’s side, and naturally hooked her arm through his.

Lucas said nothing, merely smiling gently at her, gripping her hand tightly.

The two of them walked away calmly amidst countless flashes.

From start to finish, Ivy never looked back at Ethan even once.

Chapter 12

The uproar at the seminar became the final straw that broke the camel's back.

Ethan was immediately relieved of his duties as captain and began to undergo a comprehensive internal investigation for "severely damaging the organization's reputation."

All his positions were suspended; his former halo and honors vanished overnight.

He locked himself in his empty apartment, watching various news reports about Ivy day after day.

Watching her shine brightly on the international stage, seeing her and Lucas out and about, their faces radiant with joy.

Utterly disheartened.

He finally understood that he had completely and permanently lost her.

He thought things would end there, but unexpectedly, while Ivy was downstairs taking out the trash, she ran into Ethan, who had been waiting bitterly.

The man before her was scruffy and unshaven, long stripped of his former demeanor as a rescue team captain, his eyes filled with unbearable pain.

"Ivy, I beg you, just give me ten minutes, I..."

Ethan trembled, reaching out to grab her hand.

However, the moment his hand was about to touch Ivy, his phone rang frantically.

Ethan didn't want to answer, but the caller ID was his father, the chairman of the Fu Group.

As soon as the call connected, his father’s voice came through:

"Ethan, get back here right now! That woman you provoked has destroyed the Fu family!"

As it turned out, Selena, upon learning in China that her forgery of evidence and theft of meritorious deeds had been exposed, was facing military tribunal and imprisonment.

Driven to desperation, she had utilized Ethan’s past trust in her, as well as her convenient access to Ethan’s study, to steal core secrets from the medical technology company under the Fu Group.

Along with a vast amount of funds, she had transferred them to the Fu Group’s biggest competitor.

Now, the Fu Group was facing massive breach-of-contract penalties; their capital chain had snapped, the stock market had crashed, and his father, overwhelmed by anxiety, had been rushed into the ICU.

"Ethan, if you don't return, just wait to collect your father’s corpse and watch the Fu family go bankrupt!"

The call hung up.

Ethan gripped his phone tightly, staring at Ivy, who was within arm's reach.

He had clearly traveled across thousands of mountains and rivers to find her, yet reality was ruthlessly dragging him back into that mess.

"Ivy..."

He sobbed painfully.

Ivy’s expression was indifferent.

Her tone held no waves: "Mr. Fu, it seems you have many family affairs to handle. Don’t disturb my life again in the future."

With that, she turned and left.

Ethan knelt in the snow, closing his eyes in despair.

He knew he had lost even this final chance to beg.

Chapter 13

Ethan flew back to the country overnight.