Chapter 1 — By the time he regretted it, I had stopped looking back

In order to marry the white moonlight in his heart, he did not hesitate to use all his connections and personally pushed me into prison. On the day of the wedding, my true identity was suddenly exposed. He immediately canceled everything and sent someone to the prison to pick me up that night. The warden scratched his head, looking awkward.

"That girl... left three days ago."

I didn't just leave. I brought 62% of his company's shares with me, leisurely sat in first class, and took off from that place a long time ago. The sound of the iron gate closing echoed loudly. Like a slap straight to my face. I stood in the reception area of the detention center, my dress still pulled to wrinkled, my wrists still marked with red streaks from being held tightly.

"Khuong Duong."

The female police officer across from me read my name, raised her head and looked at me, her eyes carrying an emotion that was hard to put into words.

"Disturbing public order, detention for 15 days."

Disturbing public order. I quietly recited those four words over and over in my heart. Three hours ago, I just stood in Tham Yen Bach's office and asked him a question.

"The person written on the wedding invitation... is it Hua Nhuoc Tinh?"

He didn't even bother to raise his head to look at me. The pen in hand was still steadily signing each file, the tie was neatly tied, and the cufflinks reflected the cold light.

"Khuong Duong, you've been causing a lot of trouble lately."

I was with him for 4 years. From the time he was Deputy General of Tham Thi Group, until the day he sat on the Chairman's chair. I used to replace him with alcohol, staying up with him many nights. Every time his stomach illness recurs at 3 a.m., I run all over the city looking for medicine. The day Hua Nhuoc Tinh returned home, he told his secretary to remove all my belongings from the General Director's office. There wasn't even a "We're done" sentence. I just came to ask him one question. His bodyguard immediately stepped in. Four men escorted me down from the 32nd floor and put me straight into a black business car. While I was struggling in the car, I heard the driver receive a phone call.

"General Manager Tham told me to lock her up for 15 days and wait until after the wedding to release her."

Hanging up, the driver glanced at me through the rearview mirror.

"Miss Khuong, don't waste any more effort. General Manager Tham's intention is that he doesn't want you to come to the wedding and cause anything unsightly."

Each of my fingers tightened the edge of the chair. Nails dug deep into the skin, knuckles turned white. It's not like I'm disturbing public order. But Tham Yen Bach was afraid that I would ruin his wedding, so he locked me up first. The female police officer gave me a set of gray clothes. When I received the clothes, my hands didn't shake at all. There was not even the slightest expression on his face. Maybe she's seen too many things like this. She didn't ask anything else, only after I finished changing my clothes did she say another sentence.

"The phone signal inside is not good, but you can still make one call. Do you need to notify your family?"

The corners of my lips curled slightly. Tham Yen Bach must have always thought that I was a helpless orphan. Anyway, for the past 4 years, I've always told him that.

"No need."

The female police officer nodded and led me inside. All this iron gate opened. Another wing The other gate closed. The light in the hallway was white, reflecting on the cold, gray cement wall like a hospital morgue. I was assigned to a detention room of 6 people. There were already 3 people inside. A middle-aged woman with wavy hair sat close to the wall biting melon seeds, a young girl with a crew cut was doing push-ups, and an older woman in a nightgown was dozing. As soon as she saw me walk in, she was biting a melon seed and immediately raised her head to evaluate.

"Oh, newbie."

She rolled her eyes and looked me up and down.

"You look so young. What crime did you commit?"

"Disrupting public order."

"That's all?"

She smirked.

"I thought you killed someone. In this room, your crime is the lightest, little sister."

I didn't reply. Just quietly find an empty seat and sit down. The iron bed was so hard that lying on it for a while made my back hurt. I stared at the ceiling. Fragments of memories continuously appeared in my head. Tham Yen Bach's hand is signing a document. The strength of the bodyguards as they dragged me out. Driver's words.

"Wait until after the wedding to release."

And Hua Nhuoc Tinh's face. I've seen that face before. In Tham Yen Bach's desk drawer, there is an old photo taken 10 years ago. On the back of the photo there is only one line of text.

"Wait for me to come back."

She has returned. The person who must disappear is me. I closed my eyes. Not because of sleepiness. But because I need to think about what to do next. There are too many things Tham Yen Bach doesn't know. For example, "Khuong Duong" is just the name I conveniently gave myself when I left home at the age of 18. For example, my real last name, he sees it every day. It is located right above the name of the largest shareholder of Tham Thi Group. I turned around, facing the wall. On the cement layer, someone used their fingernail to carve a text.

"Sooner or later this guy will go out."

Looking at that line of words, I suddenly burst out laughing. There's no need to wait sooner or later. 3 days is enough. At six o'clock the next morning, there was a knock on the iron door. Not the warden. It was my sister biting melon seeds and patting my shoulder.

"Hey, little sister, wake up. Someone's here to see you."

I opened my eyes, my back stiffened. After a night of sleeping on an iron bed, my whole body felt exhausted. Going through the hallway, I went to the visiting room. Separated by a layer of glass, on the opposite side is a man. He is about 40 years old, has a round face, is a bit chubby, wears a gray polo shirt, looks like a high school Physics teacher. But the watch on his wrist is enough to buy a villa. I sat down and picked up the receiver.