At three o'clock in the morning, Nancy's cell phone ringing pierced the silence.
She fumbled to press the answer button, and the security guard's urgent voice immediately came: "Miss Nan, your studio has been broken into! The police are here!"
Nancy woke up instantly.
With only ten days left until the Milan Young Designers Competition, and all her entries and materials stored in her studio, she hastily threw on her coat and rushed out of her apartment.
Five minutes later, the taxi stopped in front of the college's design building.
Amidst the flashing police lights, Nancy saw her mentor, Professor Luca, talking to two policemen with a serious expression on his face.
"Nan!" Luca saw her and walked over quickly, "I'm sorry..."
Nancy pushed open the half-closed glass door, her breath catching. Her studio looked like it had been through a hurricane—mannequins had been toppled, fabrics were scattered across the floor, designs were torn to shreds or splattered with ink, and half-finished dresses had been slashed beyond recognition by sharp objects.
The most fatal thing was that the laptop where she stored the design drawings was missing.
"Where's the surveillance?" Nancy's voice trembled.
The security guard shook his head. "The surveillance system was jammed. They only captured two masked figures."
The police officer took notes: "Have you offended anyone recently? Or do you have any business competitors?"
Nancy bit her lower lip.
Offending someone? The only thing she could think of was rejecting Anna's boyfriend's invitation to cooperate, but that wouldn't cause such malicious damage.
unless...
A thought flashed through his mind—the Corsican family.
Do Leon's enemies see her as his weak spot?
"Can it be repaired?" Luca asked softly.
Nancy squatted down and picked up a design drawing soaked in ink.
This was her flagship work, which she had spent three weeks painstakingly completing, and now only a blur of lines remained.
Despair washed over her like a tide, and she could hardly hear the conversation between Luca and the police.
"The competition stipulates that the work must be original..." she muttered to herself, "It's too late to redo it..."
As the sky gradually brightened, Nancy was still sitting in the mess.
After collecting evidence, the police left and promised to increase patrols in the surrounding area.
Professor Luca helped her contact the college cleaning department, but made it clear that it was almost impossible to redo the entire entry.
"Nan, maybe next year..."
"There's no next year." Nancy shook her head. This was her last chance before graduation; the LVMH judges were only looking at this class.
She mechanically cleaned up the mess, not even noticing the bleeding from the pin on the fabric, until a pair of shiny Oxford shoes came into view.
"It seems I'm a step late."
The deep male voice made Nancy look up.
Leon Corsica stood at the door, wearing a long black trench coat, his face as gloomy as iron.
He was followed by Marco and two other men who looked like bodyguards.
Nancy stood up suddenly, her vision darkening and she nearly fell. Leon quickly stepped forward and held her shoulders.
"Are you okay?" he asked, with a hint of tension in his voice that Nancy had never heard before.
"As you can see, it's all ruined." Nancy broke free from his hand. "The competition is over, and your sponsorship is wasted."
Leon ignored her sarcasm and walked towards the slashed main dress.
He traced his slender fingers over the knife marks on the fabric, his eyes growing darker.
"Not an ordinary thief." He said a few words in Italian to Marco, who immediately took out his cell phone and started dialing.
"What do you mean?" Nancy asked.
Leon turned to her and said, "A thief would steal something, not destroy a design. This was a premeditated attack."
"How do you know something happened here..."
"Marco has been sending people to protect you," Leon interrupted her. "The patrol discovered something unusual during the early morning, but it was too late when they arrived."
Nancy suddenly felt a surge of anger: "Protection? Or surveillance? If it weren't for your 'attention', I might not have become a target at all!"
Leon's expression became dangerous: "Do you think this is the trouble I caused?"
"I don't know what to think!" Nancy grabbed a piece of scrap fabric and threw it on the ground. "I just know that my two years of hard work have all gone to waste!"
Surprisingly, Leon didn't get angry.
He looked around the studio in silence, then took off his windbreaker and hung it behind the door, and rolled up his shirt cuffs.
"How much usable material is left?"
Nancy was stunned: "What?"
"I'm asking, how many of these materials are still usable?" Lyon repeated, his tone incredibly calm.
Nancy pointed blankly at the cabinet in the corner: "Some basic fabrics and accessories were not damaged, but the key materials..."
"List," Leon interrupted her. "Make a list of everything you need to re-purchase. Marco will take care of it."
"But the blueprints..."
"Don't you have a backup in your head?" Leon raised an eyebrow. "A real designer wouldn't just store his work on a computer."
This sentence aroused Nancy's fighting spirit.
She raised her chin. "Of course I remember every detail. But even if I did it all over again, it's impossible to finish six sets in ten days..."
"Nine days," Leon corrected her. "We've already wasted most of today."
"This is simply..."
"Nancy." Leon suddenly moved closer, so close that she could smell the faint scent of cedar on him. "Tell me, do you want to give up?"
His icy blue eyes stared straight at her, and there was something in them that Nancy couldn't resist - not a threat, but a challenge.
What she hates most is being looked down upon.
"Of course not," she heard herself say.
"Very good." Leon nodded and turned to Marco. "Contact Dolce & Gabbana's fabric supplier and prepare according to Miss Nan's list. Also, find three reliable seamstresses who are tight-lipped."
Marco nodded and left. Leon said to Nancy again: "Pack up the things you can use. I'll wait for you in the car."
"Where are you going?"
"My apartment." Leon was already walking towards the door. "There's enough space for you to use as a temporary studio."
Nancy froze in place: "Wait, this is inappropriate..."
"Do you have a better choice?" Leon turned around, a sneer on his face, "Or would you rather waste your time here?"
An hour later, Nancy sat in front of the floor-to-ceiling window of Lyon's luxurious apartment, with the basic tools that Marco had urgently purchased in front of her.
Lyon's "apartment" actually occupies the entire top floor of a historic building in the city center. It is decorated simply yet luxuriously, and a huge workbench faces the view of Milan Cathedral.
"This place... is very special." Nancy said carefully, not daring to ask about the origins of those antique ornaments that looked priceless.
Leon handed her a cup of coffee. "It used to be a safe house, but it's rarely used now." He pointed to the end of the corridor. "Your bedroom is over there. It's ready."
"Bedroom?" Nancy almost spilled her coffee. "I didn't plan to..."
"Jiutian, Nancy." Leon sat down opposite her, "You don't really have time to go back to your apartment and sleep, do you?"
He is right.
Nancy bit her lip and began to sort out the remaining design sketches.
Leon opened his laptop to process emails, and the two of them fell into a strange tacit silence.
In the evening, Marco returned with the first batch of fabric samples and a piece of news.
"We found those two people." He whispered to Leon, "They are Carlo's men."
Leon's expression froze instantly.
He stood up and said, "Take good care of Miss Nan." Then he strode towards the door.
"Wait!" Nancy stopped him, "Have you found the person who destroyed my studio? I want to go with them."
Leon narrowed his eyes: "This is not something you should be involved in."
"That's my work! I have the right to know who did it!" Nancy insisted.
The two of them confronted each other for a moment, and finally Leon sneered: "Whatever you want. But don't regret it."
There was an inconspicuous gray car parked in the underground garage. Nancy sat in the back seat, her heartbeat getting faster and faster as the car sped up.
Twenty minutes later, the car stopped in front of an abandoned factory.
"Stay in the car." Leon ordered, but Nancy had already pushed open the door.
The inside of the factory was dark and damp. Two tied-up men were kneeling on the ground, their faces covered in blood.
Nancy gasped - she recognized the tattoo on one of the men's wrist; it was the logo of the gym that Anna's boyfriend often went to.
Leon pulled over a chair and sat down, his posture as graceful as if he were at the opera.
He asked something in Italian, and one of them spat blood in response.
The following scene became Nancy's lifelong nightmare.
Leon didn't even stand up, just nodded to the bodyguard.
Amidst the screams, Nancy learned that Anna's boyfriend owed Carlo a loan shark, and that he destroyed her work in order to please the rival of the Corsican family.
"Enough!" When Leon pulled out his gun, Nancy rushed forward, "I already know the truth, let's go!"
Leon turned to look at her, his eyes frighteningly unfamiliar: "This is the rule, Nancy. They touched something they shouldn't have touched."
"I will seek justice for my work myself!" Nancy grabbed his arm, "Not with a gun, but by defeating Anna in a competition!"
Leon stared at her for a long time, then finally put away his weapon. He said a few words to the bodyguard, then pulled Nancy away.
On the way back, Nancy huddled in a corner, shaking uncontrollably. She had seen Leon's dangerous side, but tonight's violence was beyond her imagination.
"Now you see it." Leon broke the silence, "This is the real me. Do you regret following me?"
Nancy didn't answer. She just looked at the lights passing by outside the window and suddenly realized that she was making a deal with the devil.
After returning to the apartment, Nancy rushed directly to the bathroom, turned on the faucet and scrubbed her hands frantically, even though she had never touched blood.
When she came out, she found a cup of hot milk and two sleeping pills on the bedside.
Leon leaned against the door frame: "Work starts at six tomorrow. You need to rest."
Nancy wanted to refuse, but the exhaustion and shock of the past few days finally broke her down.
She swallowed the pills and fell into a deep sleep.
——
The next morning, Nancy was awakened by the aroma of coffee.
In the living room, Leon was already dressed and reviewing documents. The workbench beside her was filled with brand new fabrics and tools, more professional than the ones she used in school.
"The seamstress will be here for an interview at nine o'clock," Leon said without looking up. "After breakfast, we'll start working."
The days that followed were like a dream.
Lyon took care of his "business" during the day and came back to review Nancy's progress at night. Strangely enough, he had an amazing intuition for design, and several of his suggestions enhanced the work a lot.
Nancy gradually adapted to this peculiar work rhythm and even began to look forward to his "inspection" every night.
Late at night on the fifth day, Nancy fell asleep on the table. When she woke up, she found Leon's coat draped over her shoulders, and he was standing in front of her design, his brow furrowed.
"The lines here are too soft," he said, pointing to the waist design. "Not strong enough."
Nancy retorted sleepily, "But female curves..."
"Strength doesn't come from edges and corners, Nancy." Leon explained with rare patience, "True strength knows when to be soft and when to be hard. Just like you."
This sentence made Nancy completely sober.
She looked up into Leon's eyes and found that they were no longer a cold blue, but like a melting glacier, reflecting the morning light.
At this delicate moment, Marco suddenly knocked on the door and came in: "Leon, Mrs. Lin from the Chinese community wants to see Miss Nan."
Nancy stood up in surprise: "Mrs. Lin? How did she know I was here?"
Marco had a strange expression on his face. "She said there was something important, about...your safety."
Leon raised his eyebrows: "You have quite a lot of admirers, designer."
At the Chinese Community Center, Mrs. Lin grabbed Nancy's hand as soon as she saw her: "Nancy, you must stay away from Corsica!"
Nancy was puzzled: "What's wrong? He helped us..."
"Do you know how he got his start?" Mrs. Lin lowered her voice. "The fire in Chinatown ten years ago killed people in three shops... It's rumored to be the Corsica family's way of eliminating their rivals."
Nancy felt a chill down her spine. "Is there any evidence?"
"Where's the evidence for this?" Mrs. Lin handed her an old newspaper. "But look at the survivor's description—'the blue-eyed devil'..."
On the way back, Nancy clutched the newspaper, feeling extremely confused.
Lyon's apartment was brightly lit, like an isolated island floating in the darkness.
She didn't know whether the person living there was a guardian who would save her dream, or a demon with blood on his hands.
When she pushed open the door, Leon was standing at the workbench, holding the hem of her newly completed dress. Under the light, his profile was well-defined, and his eyelashes cast shadows on his cheeks, making him look almost... gentle.
"Is Mrs. Lin okay?" he asked, his tone as calm as if he had not just been accused of murder.
Nancy took a deep breath: "Leon, what do you know about the fire in Chinatown ten years ago?"
The room suddenly became eerily quiet.
Leon slowly lowered the fabric and turned to face her.
At that moment, Nancy saw the cold man in the factory again.
"Is this your problem," he asked word by word, "or Mrs. Lin's?"