Chapter 3

Meanwhile, in a bedroom in the Thorne family mansion.

Seraphina Thorne, dressed in a luxurious nightgown, lounged elegantly on the sofa, her fingertips drumming impatiently on the armrest.

Before her stood a burly bodyguard, head bowed, awaiting orders.

“Who did Cole call today? And why? Find out, the sooner the better.”

The bodyguard acknowledged the command and swiftly retreated.

A dark, unreadable glint flickered in Seraphina’s eyes.

Morning light filtered through the gaps in the old curtains, falling on me.

I slowly woke up and walked out of the room to find breakfast on the table, with a sticky note beside it:

“Lily, I’m off to work. Remember to eat breakfast. Love you!”

I smiled softly, taking a bite of bread, the wheaty aroma filling my mouth.

Casually, I opened my phone to scroll through videos.

After just a few scrolls, there it was again—clips from yesterday’s live stream of the Blackwood heir and Seraphina Thorne’s engagement.

Tapping into the comment section, sure enough, it was flooded with envious remarks.

Suddenly, one comment caught my eye:

“That Mr. Blackwood has serious plot armor; I heard he was kidnapped five years ago and went missing. He came back and immediately got engaged to Seraphina Thorne.”

Five years?

I froze. Liam, too, was rescued by me on a rainy night, five years ago…

I quietly put away my phone, quickly tidied up the apartment, and then headed to the watch shop.

The shop assistant greeted me with a beaming smile the moment she saw me.

“Ms. Hayes, your custom watch is here! I’ll get it for you right away.”

A moment later, the assistant emerged, holding a delicate black gift box with both hands.

I opened the box, and the watch instantly caught my eye, its dial glowing softly under the light, the strap exquisite.

“Ms. Hayes, you have excellent taste. I’m sure your boyfriend will absolutely love it.”

“Thank you!”

I gently caressed the watch, a smile unconsciously curving my lips, and left the shop with the gift box.

Back home, I meticulously inspected the gift box.

For this watch, I’d been working extra shifts after my regular job.

No matter how tiring it was, the thought of Liam’s surprised face when he received the gift made it all worthwhile.

Today, I’d even taken a day off, planning to surprise Liam tonight.

Thinking it had been a while since I’d brought him lunch, I went to a nearby market and bought ingredients.

Back at the apartment, I was busy once more.

“Liam will be so surprised and happy to see me.”

I thought to myself as I grabbed my insulated lunch container and walked out the door.

The moment I stepped onto the construction site, the cacophony of machines and workers’ shouts washed over me.

I was just about to pull out my phone to call Liam.

“Mr. Blackwood! Over here!”

Suddenly, a booming voice snatched my attention.

I instinctively looked up and froze, the insulated lunch container slipping from my grasp and clattering to the ground.

Liam was surrounded by a group of workers.

He was dressed in a sharp suit, his posture rigid, his eyes keen, exuding an unapproachable aura with every move—a completely different person from the playful, goofy boy in our apartment.

I froze on the spot, my mind blank.

My heart hammered in my chest, my mind reeling with questions:

What on earth was going on? Why was Liam surrounded and being called “Mr. Blackwood”?

I instinctively took two steps forward, wanting to confront him, but then abruptly stopped.

What if it was just a misunderstanding? Would questioning him in front of all these people embarrass him and affect his work?

But if he had been deceiving me all this time, what did these five years of our relationship even mean?

As I hesitated, Liam casually looked up, and our eyes met.

However, he merely gave me a dismissive glance before leading the group towards me.

As they drew closer, my heart pounded violently, threatening to burst from my chest.

Yet, as he passed right by me, the man didn’t even spare me a second look.

My heart instantly tightened, and I cautiously called out,

“Liam?”

“What did you call me?”

Cole stopped, his brow furrowed, his voice icy.

At that moment, the foreman rushed forward, scrutinizing me with an unfriendly tone.

“Who are you? What are you doing here? Liam? What Liam? This is Mr. Cole Blackwood, CEO of Blackwood Corporation!”

I was stunned. This was Cole?

I was about to explain when Cole immediately cut in.

“That’s enough. First, come with me to check on that batch of building materials.”

He finished, then cast a cold glance at me.

“This is a construction site. Don’t let unauthorized personnel just walk in.”

With that, he and his entourage walked away.

I stood rooted to the spot, watching their retreating backs, only snapping back to reality after a long moment.

“So that’s Cole Blackwood.”

I let out a soft breath, quickly picked up the insulated lunch container, then pulled out my phone and dialed Liam’s number.

Once, twice… I dialed several times, but only the monotonous buzzing tone came through the receiver. No one picked up.

“Why isn’t he answering?” My brows furrowed.

Just then, a co-worker passed by, and I quickly stopped him, anxiously asking,

“Excuse me, sir, do you know Liam Blackwood?”

“Liam? There’s no one named Li—,” The co-worker scratched his head, looking troubled.

“Lily!”

Before he could finish, Liam, dressed in a work uniform, suddenly ran around the corner, asking with surprise, “What are you doing here? Didn’t you say you wouldn’t bring me lunch?”

My eyes instantly welled up. The continuous suspicion had tormented me, and a wave of hurt washed over me.

“Liam, where were you? Why weren’t you answering your phone?”

“Lily, I… I’ve been having a upset stomach all day, and my phone was on silent…”

As he spoke, Liam glanced at the insulated lunch container in my hand and quickly changed the subject.

“Lily, is this lunch for me? You’re so thoughtful! Let me take you somewhere, this isn’t a good place to talk.”

With that, Liam led me out of the construction site to a temporary休息处.

Seeing my expression, Liam gave a helpless smile. “You look so troubled. Did you just see Cole Blackwood?”

“There’s a big project bidding recently, and the Blackwood Corporation is absolutely determined to win it. But Mr. Blackwood received information that someone might be taking kickbacks, which not only affects the company’s profits but could also lead to losing the bid. So, Mr. Blackwood decided to come to the construction site personally to investigate.”

As he spoke, Liam quickly pulled out his phone, opened WhatsApp, found the main construction site group chat, and showed me the notice.

“See, Lily, this is the message the foreman posted in the work group chat yesterday, informing everyone that Mr. Blackwood would be coming to investigate. The foreman even promised that if this investigation goes smoothly and the project bid is successful, everyone will get a bonus.”

Then, he scrolled up, finding another announcement.

I took the phone and examined it carefully, but my brows remained tightly furrowed.

“Okay, but you two look *so* alike.”

Even with the concrete evidence, and everything making logical sense, I still felt like something was off.