Chapter 1

Jiang Chen thought he had protected Su Lin by pushing her away. He thought he had made the right decision. But every time he saw her from afar—her tired eyes, her forced smiles—it felt like a knife twisting in his heart. He had underestimated her. Su Lin was never one to give up. Even as the Xu family loomed over them like a storm, she refused to walk away. “Jiang Chen,” she whispered one evening when she finally caught him alone. “Stop running from me.” His hands clenched at his sides. “It’s not safe.” “I don’t care.” She reached out, her fingers grazing his wrist. “If you think I’ll ever stop loving you, you’re wrong.” Jiang Chen inhaled sharply. The weight of his love for her, buried beneath months of guilt and restraint, threatened to crush him. But love wasn’t enough. Not when the people who wanted to tear them apart were still watching.