Chapter 4

From the moment Aria willingly offered her heart in exchange for his life...

An hour later, the massive fire was finally extinguished, but thick black smoke still billowed from the ruins.

Upon investigation, it was discovered that the lock on Aria's room door hadn't been tampered with.

This meant that whoever was trapped inside couldn't have escaped.

Although the search and rescue team didn't find Aria's body in the room,

They did discover a blackened artificial heart.

Zoran returned to Carlisle Manor in a daze, where Ivy excitedly pounced on him.

She clung to him, whining playfully.

"Brother, the design competition today went so well. I'm sure I'll win first place."

But at that moment, hearing about the design competition only filled Zoran with uncontrollable rage.

If it weren't for this damned design competition, why would he have imprisoned Aria?

If he hadn't imprisoned Aria, how could she have disappeared in this sudden fire?

Yes, disappeared. He refused to believe Aria was dead!

Until he saw Aria's body with his own eyes, he would firmly believe she was still alive somewhere!

Ivy continued to chatter endlessly in his ear.

Suddenly remembering something, Zoran asked in a grave tone, "Did you go see Aria this morning?"Early news reports confirmed that the building where Aria lived had been completely destroyed by fire.

Although Aria's body hadn't been found, she had started the fire and locked the doors. The odds weren't in Aria's favor!

Ivy nervously avoided Zoran's questioning gaze.

"I did go there, but I saw the door was locked, so I left."

For a moment, Zoran suspected Ivy.

But remembering how Ivy had risked her life to save him from criminals when they were children, he felt like a complete jerk for doubting her.

The day after Aria's fate remained uncertain.

The judges' panel posted the latest update on the official website.

The first prize in this year's design competition was awarded to an anonymous participant from Angel's Orphanage.

The prize money would be donated entirely to Angel's Orphanage.

Ivy, who had already booked the victory celebration, smashed her phone in rage after seeing this news.

Zoran was also following the competition closely.

Ivy never wanted to mention that she was once an orphan, and she cared most about her ranking in the competition. She would never participate anonymously.

So this winner from Angel's Orphanage could only be...

"Aria?"

The exhaustion from a sleepless night vanished in that moment.Zoran felt a flicker of hope ignite in his heart, and he immediately drove to Angel's Orphanage.

However, the information he discovered left him deeply disappointed.

The winning artwork was indeed Aria's.

But she had given it to the orphanage director a week ago, entrusting them to submit it to the competition on her behalf.

Learning of Zoran's identity, the director handed him a rusty cookie tin.

They said it contained Aria's most treasured possessions.

Disheartened, Zoran carefully opened the cookie tin.

When he saw the contents, he froze.

A custom diamond bracelet...

This was the one he had foolishly stolen from his mother as a child.

After Ivy saved him from thugs, he gave her this bracelet so they could recognize each other in the future.

When he found Ivy years later, she said she had accidentally lost the bracelet.

But why was this bracelet now in Aria's possession?

Puzzled, Zoran continued examining the other items in the cookie tin.

Besides some worn-out dolls, there was a stack of yellowed sketches.

He knew Aria had loved drawing since she was little.

During their two years together, Aria had drawn many portraits of him.

With trembling hands, Zoran opened the sketchbook.Inside were portraits of the orphanage director from her younger days, as well as childhood pictures of Ivy and other orphanage kids.

When Zoran flipped to the last sketch, the color drained from his face.

It was a little boy about ten years old.

He knew that teardrop mole under the boy's eye all too well.

Because the boy in the drawing was himself!

A wave of inexplicable panic washed over Zoran.

He and Aria had only met two years ago.

How could Aria possibly know what he looked like as a child?

The director beside him sighed, "I saw the news. Poor Piper, such a tough life..."

Piper?

Zoran blanched, "Director, who's Piper?"

The director replied, "Why, it's Aria. Piper was her childhood nickname."

Zoran was dumbfounded. "Then what about Ivy? What was Haven's nickname at the orphanage?"

The director thought for a moment. "It was just Ivy."

The last bit of color drained from Zoran's face.

Kidnapped as a child, the criminals had tied him up in a log cabin.