###Chapter 1
“Zachary, are you certain the suspect’s name is Oliver Garrison?” I froze, asking my subordinate again and again, unable to accept that my very first case after being transferred to the bailiff’s office was my husband abducting a young girl.
Zachary Atkins spread his hands helplessly. “Chief, you’re new here, so maybe you don’t know. The Garrison Group is Newport’s economic pillar. Even if Oliver turned to ashes, we wouldn’t mistake him.”
He lowered his voice, a hint of amusement in his tone. “But really, it was just him coaxing his little girlfriend. She lost her temper because Oliver took work calls while shopping with her. Upset, he carried her into the car and when he couldn’t calm her down, she called the police. It’s not the first time. Everyone in Newport knows Oliver spoils that girl to the bone.”
My vision dimmed and the coffee cup slipped from my grasp, shattering as it hit the floor.
Zachary rushed to gather the shards. “Chief, are you okay? You look so pale.”
I stood frozen, my mind blank.
Ten years of marriage and only now did I realize my husband had belonged to someone else first.
Through the blinds, I saw her lying lazily on the sofa, heels tossed aside, bare toes brushing against his throat as if teasing.
“You made me sign that deed for the bay villa I didn’t even want. And you hurt my foot…”
Oliver was kneeling before her, the same hands that once signed billion-dollar contracts now gently holding her foot, massaging it with care.
He even tore off his tie worth tens of thousands, gently wrapping it around her sole as though she were the most fragile treasure.
“It’s my fault. I shouldn’t have forced my baby. Punish me by letting me give you another gift, alright? For example… our baby?”
The girl’s playful laughter drifted through the air. The sun burned at thirty degrees, yet I felt as though I had fallen into an ice cellar.
And so, with everything laid bare, I could only prepare the most special, unforgettable gift for my husband on our tenth wedding anniversary.
***
The year we married, Oliver knelt before me and admitted he had oligospermia, that he might never be able to give me children in this lifetime. If I truly wanted one, he promised he would go to the orphanage and adopt the cutest child for me.
How laughable that I had believed him all these years, never once doubting a single word he said.
Even though I longed desperately for a child of my own, I still comforted him, telling him that living childfree wasn’t so bad.
But in the end, Oliver never refused children; he only refused to have them with me.
To him, that must have been the cruelest joke of all.
Through the window, I saw my subordinate lift a notepad, beginning to question the abduction incident.
The girl, Vespera Pittman, suddenly burst into laughter, swaying with mirth. “Can’t you see? This is just me and my boyfriend fooling around.”
She pouted and pointed at Oliver. “It’s all his fault for always ignoring me. He gave me that villa more than half a month ago, yet I haven’t even gone there once and he didn’t even notice!”
“And today I got my period, yet he was still so domineering!”
She lifted her right white leg. “Look, this is proof he hurt me. Fine, he did commit a crime, arrest him then!”
What sounded like an accusation was nothing more than shameless boasting.
My young subordinate’s face flushed red, right up to his ears.
At the same time, my gaze fell on her calves, covered in fresh marks. There was no need to wonder; they had clearly just been together in the car.
My eyes burned as hot tears spilled onto the case file, blurring the three characters of “Oliver.”
“Enough.”
His gaze darkened, jealousy flashing as he stripped off his multimillion-dollar suit jacket and draped it firmly over the part of her legs exposed by her miniskirt.
“This is the police station. If you want to play ‘arrest,’ I’ll play with you as much as you like tonight.”
With that, he scooped Vespera into his arms and slung her over his shoulder, casting a brief glance at my subordinate. “I’ll be taking her away.”
“But…” my subordinate started, trying to stop him, yet lacking the courage.
“I’ll treat your chief to drinks later and explain everything.”
The girl kicked her playful feet as he held her steady. “Oliver, your punishment is to make me brown sugar ginger tea at home.”
“Alright, alright, my princess. Your husband will cook for you right away.”
They disappeared down the corridor, leaving my thoughts in chaos. For the first time, I saw the man who had always been so restrained before me become possessive, alive and domineering with someone else.
For the first time, I realized that the man who never lifted a finger at home would willingly cook a bowl of brown sugar water for the one he loved.
So this was love? Then what had my ten years amounted to?
The Lozano and Garrison families had been bound together for a century and Oliver and I had been betrothed since we were sixteen.
At the beginning, I hadn’t felt much for him.
Later, during a school field trip, we strayed into a bear’s territory. That day, Oliver shielded me with his back from a fatal strike, collapsing in a pool of blood.
Before he was lifted onto the stretcher, his bloodied hand clutched my wrist. “Leah, I’ll protect you for life and never let you be hurt.”
In that moment, I fell for the boy who had staked his life to protect me. At twenty, we walked into marriage.
But work kept us apart, time and again. Guilt weighed on me and this month I finally gave up my prestigious post in the Bureau of Justice, transferring from the capital to Newport, just to be with Oliver.
I had meant it as a surprise for our tenth wedding anniversary. Yet before I could give mine, he delivered the cruelest surprise first.
Back at my office, I sat dazed, unaware of how much time had passed, until my phone buzzed with breaking news.
[Garrison Heir spends tens of millions on a foreign princess’s emerald diamond jewelry, sweetly proposing to his girlfriend at the Rose Hotel?!]
