Chapter 1
“Norah Serpentine, are you sure you want to reactivate your father’s badge and become an undercover officer?”
Beneath the solemn national emblem, Norah gave a firm nod. “I’m sure.”
The first step to becoming an undercover officer was to erase all traces of her past life. The name Norah Serpentine would vanish from this world forever.
Thus, the higher-ups would stage her fake death, and she would start anew under a different identity.
Upon returning from the police station, Norah hadn’t even reached her bedroom door when she heard the soft, breathy moans of a woman from inside.
Expressionless, she stared at the wide-open door, trying to recall just how many women Justin Johnson had brought back before this one.
Every single day during their three years of marriage, Justin brought home a woman who resembled Norah, deliberately leaving the door wide open, making no effort to hide his affairs.
He did that just to punish Norah for abandoning him all those years ago.
But this time, Norah froze when the woman inside let out a moan.
In the brief moment of distraction, the suggestive sounds had already ceased.
Justin emerged from the room with a towel wrapped loosely around his waist, his bare torso still glistening with moisture. His gaze was cold as it landed on her.
“Perfect timing. We’re out of condoms. Go buy some.”
With that, he pulled out a thick stack of cash from a nearby drawer and tossed it at her face.
“The rest is your tip. You love money, don’t you?”
The slap of bills against her skin burned, but Norah didn’t bend down to pick them up. Instead, she looked at him, her eyes red with fury.
“You’ve slept with countless women over the years. Why couldn’t you at least spare Selena?”
There was a limit to revenge. Justin knew better than anyone that Selena Jones was her best friend.
Justin’s sharp eyes glowed with icy malice as he sneered. “Did you spare me back then?”
Norah’s heart clenched in pain as memories surged violently, drowning her.
She and Justin had once been deeply in love. They were the campus beauty and the star athlete, the model couple admired by all.
They had promised to marry as soon as they reached legal age. But just when their love was at its peak, Norah suddenly broke up with him and left the country with a wealthy heir.
The day she broke up with him, he chased after her for a long time, his eyes red. A man as proud as him had begged her over and over not to leave, swearing that he would achieve greatness one day.
He pleaded with her to wait, give him time, and promise she wouldn’t fall in love with someone else.
But Norah remained cold, refusing to say a single extra word. Even when she watched him get into a car accident while chasing after her, she didn’t look back.
The accident was severe. As his kidney ruptured, a transplant was the only way to save his life.
Covered in blood, lying on the operating table, he still struggled to sit up and call her.
But every call he made with his last ounce of strength was rejected.
The deeper the love, the deeper the hate. From that day forward, Justin despised her.
He spent four years climbing to the top of the business world, becoming the wealthiest man in town.
And the very first thing he did after reaching the pinnacle of success was forcefully marry her, only to bring woman after woman home just to humiliate her.
But only Norah knew that their breakup wasn’t because she didn’t love him, nor was it because she craved wealth and status.
She had no choice.
Her father had been an undercover officer. His mission had failed, and his identity had been exposed to drug lords. After they killed him, the cartel turned their vengeance on his family.
Upon learning of the threat, her family fled. To keep Justin out of danger, she had no choice but to break up with him.
Along the way, she learned about his accident. Risking her own life, she sneaked into the hospital to donate her kidney. She had already left in a hurry before he even woke up.
She never expected that by the time she returned home, her entire family—her four grandparents, her mother, and her younger sister—had been slaughtered by the cartel.
She was the only one who survived.
Her eyes reddened with fury at the thought of the brutal deaths of her family.
Seeing this, Justin spoke coldly, but deep in his gaze, there was a hint of something else—expectation.
He asked, “What, are you about to tell me you had your reasons back then?”
Snapping back to reality, Norah simply shook her head, firm and resolute.
“There were no reasons. You weren’t wrong—I was just a shallow, materialistic woman who worshiped money.”
She couldn’t tell him back then. And now, she never could. Her family’s blood was on her hands, and she carried their vengeance on her shoulders.
She and Justin were never meant to have a future. These past few years had been nothing more than borrowed time.
But now, she had made up her mind. She would take up her father’s badge.
Her new mission would be a matter of life and death. Soon, she would finally reunite with her family.
