Chapter 2

The only sound left in the bedroom was the faint hum of the air conditioner.

Mortimer sat on the edge of the bed, holding my hand.

"Does it still hurt?"

The worry in his eyes wasn't faked. I shook my head.

"Much better now."

"I'm sorry. I made you miss your celebration dinner."

Mortimer smiled and bent to kiss the back of my hand.

"Silly. What dinner could ever matter more than you and the baby?"

"As long as the two of you are safe, I don't care whether I make department head or not."

The gentler he was, the deeper the hatred sank in me.

A man this good, and in my last life they'd driven him to stand on that balcony the whole night through.

In the end he'd hit the concrete like a fallen leaf.

I drew a slow breath and forced myself calm.

By the timeline of my last life.

Right about now, Effie should have everything set up in the private room.

The drink drugged, the camera in place.

But Mortimer hadn't gone this time. So what would Effie do?

Sure enough, the work tablet on the nightstand suddenly lit up.

It was the tablet Mortimer used for company email.

A message alert popped up on the screen, from their department group chat.

Mortimer didn't pay it any mind, still rubbing my stomach. I reached over and picked up the tablet.

"Let me see who's looking for you."

Mortimer didn't stop me.

"Probably a coworker asking why I didn't show."

I tapped the screen open. It was a message from an anonymous account.

"Disgusting. Acts so upright all the time, and turns out he's an animal in private."

Right after it came a blurry photo.

In the photo, a man in a white shirt just like Mortimer's had a woman pinned down on a couch.

Half the woman's face was blurred out. The group chat exploded.

"Holy crap, who is that?"

"Look at the shirt... isn't that Mortimer?"

"Is that Effie? God, they went at it right in the private room?"

"That's insane. Didn't he just get married not long ago?"

I watched the messages scroll past and let out a cold laugh.

Effie really was cornered and lashing out.

Mortimer hadn't gone, so she'd found a stand-in with a similar build and staged the shot.

Mortimer noticed something off about me and leaned in to look.

One look, and the color drained from his face.

"This... what is this?"

He snatched the tablet away and stared hard at the photo.

"This isn't me! I never even went!"

He was shaking all over, fingers typing furiously on the screen.

He wanted to explain to the group. I clamped my hand down over his.

"Don't reply."

Mortimer lifted his head, eyes red as he looked at me.

"Trace, you have to believe me."

"That photo is fake. Someone's setting me up!"

I looked at how frantic he was, and it broke my heart.

Last life he'd been exactly like this, every single person pointing at him and cursing him out.

Manager Whitney had forced him to resign to take the blame, and he'd knelt on the floor begging me to forgive him.

I'd been so shaken by that photo that I lost all reason and didn't give him a single chance to explain.

This time, I wouldn't make the same mistake.

"I know it isn't you."

Mortimer froze, staring at me blankly, as if struggling to take in what I'd said.

"Then you... just now, you..."

"I was faking."

I didn't hide it.

"If I hadn't faked the stomach pain, would you have stayed?"

Mortimer was completely stunned. He looked at the photo on the tablet, then back at me.

"Why? You already knew they were out to hurt me?"

I pointed at the messages still jumping across the screen.

"If you explain now, who's going to believe you?"

"This photo is just the beginning."

"Next, Effie will step in herself, crying that you abused your position to prey on her."

"Manager Whitney will step up to 'set things right' and pressure you into signing a resignation agreement."

"And your promotion will fall right into Effie's lap, nice and clean."

With every sentence I spoke, the color drained a little further from Mortimer's face.

On the tablet, Effie's main account finally appeared.

She'd posted a long voice message, her voice choked with tears.

"I'm so sorry, everyone. I never thought Mortimer would do something like this... I can't show my face anymore."

The group erupted all over again.

Mortimer sank down on the edge of the bed, defeated.

"Why? I always treated her well. Why would she try to destroy me like this?"

I stared coldly at the screen.

"Because you're in her way."

I wrapped my arms around Mortimer's trembling shoulders.

"Don't be afraid. I won't let them get what they want."