Temporary Luna, Permanent Heartbreak - Chapter 16: Chapter 16

Under Grandma Rose's guidance, Zara made her way out of the mountains. The first thing she did when she returned to the city was contact the relevant local authorities.
She wanted to build a road leading to the village, install internet infrastructure so the elderly and children could access information from the outside world.
She also planned to build schools and hospitals to improve their living conditions.
Zara's ultimate goal was to transform the village into a tourist destination, providing job opportunities to attract those who'd left for work to come back and be with their families.
It was a massive project. Zara invested over a hundred million dollars and personally led a team back to the village for construction.
"Sweetie, why did you come back?" Grandma Rose's eyes welled up with tears when she saw her. "It's so rough out here—you're not made for this kind of hard living."
"Everything's gonna be different soon. Life's gonna be so much better for everyone here." Zara hugged Grandma Rose tight.
The elderly and children in the village didn't really understand what "development" meant, but they knew Zara wouldn't hurt them.
Everyone who was able came to help out.
No matter how much Zara tried to dissuade them, they insisted on doing their part.
Zara arranged for professional medical teams to give health checkups to all the villagers, and she personally taught the children, giving them their first lessons in reading and writing.
For the first time, she felt like her life had real meaning.
Turns out, a world without Kai could be just as rich and colorful.
One day, Zara was teaching the children math word problems when Grandma Rose walked in with someone.
"Sweetie, someone's here to see you." Grandma Rose was smiling.
Zara's heart skipped a beat. Her first thought was that Kai had found her, and she felt an unexpected wave of annoyance.
She loved her current life and didn't want any more involvement with Kai.
She frowned and looked up toward the door, immediately freezing in place.
Grandma Rose pushed the man behind her forward. "I tested him for you, honey. He's not a bad guy."
"Thanks for the endorsement. I'll make sure to stay on the good side." Sterling Ashford stood in the doorway wearing a black tracksuit, backlit by the sun. The smile on his face was as warm as the sunlight behind him.
Zara stood up, looking at him in surprise. "Mr. Ashford, what are you doing all the way out here?"
"I came looking for you." Sterling said straightforwardly.
"Looking for me?" Zara tried to think if there were any contracts between them that still needed handling.
Ever since her parents died, Zara had hired a professional manager to run the pack's company, so Sterling was no longer the Silvermoon Corporation's legal counsel.
She'd hired him to handle the property issues with Kai and had already paid his fees in full.
After getting together with Kai, she'd barely had any social life of her own, and she wasn't really friends with Sterling either.
She couldn't think of any reason why he'd come looking for her.
"Zara, do you really not remember me? Five years ago, you got into that car accident trying to save me." Sterling brought up the past, pain flashing in his eyes.
Five years ago, he should have been the one hit by that car. His half-brother had hired someone to kill him, and just as the car was about to hit him, Zara had pulled him aside.
The killer was furious that she'd interfered and ran her down instead.
If she hadn't tried to save him, she never would've gotten hurt, Vixen never would've shown up in her life, and she wouldn't have gone through all that hell...