9
Julian Sterling was escorted out of the venue by security, his crutch broken. It was as if nothing had happened inside.
A plainclothes organizer approached me, lowering his voice to apologize:
“Professor Sterling, I’m very sorry you were disturbed. We have already placed Julian Sterling on the global travel restriction
list.”
A smile touched my lips, and I nodded in thanks:
“Thank you, organizers. I’m fine, please don’t worry.”
The banquet soon ended, and the crowd thinned out at the exit.
I didn’t expect Adrian Vance to be waiting for me outside.
He stood tall and straight, casually draping his suit jacket over my shoulders, his movements natural.
“Stella, what exactly was hidden in those fragments?”
I made a joke, turning to walk around him:
“Do you really want to shield me from the storms? Some things, you only find out when the restoration is complete.”
11:12 AM P
<
Returning to the work group’s evidence room, it was late, but a few colleagues were still working overtime.
In front of the evidence cabinets, Adrian Vance suddenly turned, his voice slightly tense:
“Stella, I love you. I can give you everything you want.”
He knelt before me.
“Marry me!”
A colleague peeking from outside the door paused, chuckled, then quickly retreated. A colleague peeking from outside the door
at cp
The atmosphere was uncharacteristically relaxed and warm.
Under the harsh fluorescent lights, I couldn’t help but smile:
“Adrian Vance, are you serious?”
“I’m very serious.”
If in my previous life I was trapped by obsession,
now wh
the past was clear.
I nodded, my voice unconsciously laced with a hint of a smile:
“Yes.”
Who would have thought that three months later, my wedding would be held at the Vatican Art Museum?
The ceremony was presided over by the Pope himself, representing centuries of faith and new beginnings.
Below the altar, countless colleagues and powerful figures gathered.
Adrian Vance, in a custom suit, held my hand firmly.
Guests cheered, and the media, with their long lenses and microphones, fueled the excitement:
“Mr. Vance, you’ve truly found a treasure this time!”
“Professor Sterling, your restoration skills are unparalleled, a legendary touch!”
Everything was as prosperous as a dream.
Yet, no one saw the shadow across the ocean, where another world was crumbling.
Serena Hayes, the pawn who had once disguised herself as my friend, was now evading an international police manhunt.
After months of fleeing, she spent her meager savings on black market plastic surgery. But due to poor sterilization and drug misuse, her face festered, transforming her from human to monster overnight.
On the dilapidated underground operating table, the suffocating reek of stale oil and decaying flesh clung to the air.
Even the most beautiful face was now consumed by hatred and hysteria.
<
V
She screamed at the mirror, seeing only her grotesque reflection.
Her former handler sneered, tossing a stack of fake IDs at her, blowing out a puff of smoke:
“Ugly freak, no one wants you even for a hooker. Get out and rot!”
No one spared her another glance. The night outside the black market was chillingly cold. She wandered through the city’s underbelly alleyways in a foreign land, coughing up blood, choked by dirty water.
