Five years.
It had taken Ella Lin exactly 1,825 days to convince herself that the past was truly dead.
She stood at the pinnacle of power, her every step echoed by the twin shadows of her sons, now grown into miniature versions of the man she swore to forget.
But no matter how high she climbed…
There was one ghost she could never escape.
The Global Charity Gala.
A night that belonged to her.
She wore a breathtaking crimson gown, her presence so dazzling it made the chandeliers above seem dull.
Reporters swarmed the entrance, the air electric with excitement.
"Chairwoman Lin, will the twins be attending tonight?"
"Rumor has it you've rejected every suitor in the last five years—are you still waiting for someone?"
Ella smiled faintly, her crimson lips curving into a practiced expression of indifference.
"Some men are better left in the grave," she answered coldly, stepping through the golden doors.
But fate had a cruel sense of humor.
Because as she entered the grand ballroom, a sudden hush fell over the crowd.
Every head turned.
Every breath caught.
Standing beneath the grand staircase, dressed in a perfectly tailored black suit, his back straight, his head held high—
Leon Xu.
Or… the man who looked so hauntingly like him, even the air around him seemed to freeze.
Ella's heart slammed against her ribs.
No.
It couldn't be.
He was dead.
Gone.
Lost in the icy void of the Arctic.
And yet…
When he turned, their eyes met.
Those same dark, dangerous eyes—burning with the same possessive madness she had spent years running from.
He took a single step toward her, the crowd parting as if the devil himself had returned to claim what was his.
"Ella Lin," his voice was lower, rougher, but unmistakably familiar. "Did you really think death could keep me from you?"
Her legs weakened, her carefully constructed walls cracking under the weight of his presence.
"Impossible," she whispered, her hands trembling.
He smirked, a dangerous curve of his lips that sent shivers down her spine.
"You declared me dead, held a funeral, spent years pretending you'd won. But you forgot one thing..."
He leaned in, his breath warm against her ear.
"I promised you—if not in this life, then in the next… I would find you."