Chapter 3

I ended up in the hospital.

For an entire month, Christian never showed up.

Unable to bear the silence any longer, I broke down and asked my best friend, Chloe.

Chloe sighed, her expression grim. "Amanda... Christian stabbed his dad to protect you. He's sitting in a holding cell right now, facing felony charges. The university found out, and they're expelling him."

What?!

Panic surged through me. I ripped the IV needle right out of my hand, blood smearing my skin as I tried to scramble out of bed.

It was all my fault.

If not for me, his life wouldn't be spiraling into ruin.

In the original book, he had a brilliant future with Evelyn. He was supposed to build a multi-million-dollar company and become a brilliant, celebrated tech prodigy.

I shouldn't have been so selfish. I shouldn't have tried to alter his destiny just because I couldn't bear to let go of his love.

Tears blurred my sight as I wept uncontrollably. "Chloe, it's my fault... I ruined him."

Chloe gently wiped my tears away with a tissue.

"This isn't on you, Amanda. How could you have known his family was that messed up?"

I shook my head violently.

"No, Chloe, you don't get it. I'm his curse! The story says he's only supposed to find his bright future after he completely abandons me. It's because I held on... because I wouldn't let him go that this happened!"

Chloe stared at me intently. "Amanda, I don't believe in fate, and neither do you. Nothing is written in stone. If you don't like how things are going, you fight to change them."

Her words hit me like a bolt of lightning.

She was right.

If my consciousness hadn't awakened, I would have walked blindly into a tragic end and deserved every bit of it.

But I already knew the pitfalls ahead. I had the power to rewrite my own ending.

Sitting here crying like a helpless victim wouldn't fix anything. I needed to pour every resource I had into changing our story.

I immediately called my older brother and demanded he hire the absolute best criminal defense attorney in the country for Christian.

Next, I called my dad, ordering him to leverage his status as the university's largest donor to pressure the administration into dropping the expulsion.

I made sure there wouldn't be a single black mark left on Christian's academic record.

Finally, I begged the doctors to discharge me and, with Chloe supporting my arm, rushed straight to the police precinct.

There, in the grim visiting room, I saw Christian looking utterly defeated.

The moment his eyes met mine, a flicker of light flashed across his gaze, only for him to quickly look away. "What are you doing here?"

I swallowed the lump in my throat.

"I came to see you."

He squeezed his eyes shut, his voice dripping with self-hatred.

"You shouldn't have. I wanted to kill that monster for years anyway. It has nothing to do with you, so don't feel guilty. And stop wasting your time on me... Someone like me isn't good enough for you."

"Christian... oh, Christian."

I remembered how he had worked three part-time jobs for months just to buy me a decent birthday gift, only for the old me to mockingly toss it into the trash.

I remembered how, on a pouring rainy night, I complained about feeling sick, and he spent days' worth of wages on an expensive Uber across the entire city just to bring me soup—only for it to turn out to be a cruel prank.

I remembered being drunk at a VIP club with my wealthy friends, putting him on speakerphone and humiliating him so everyone could laugh at my "loyal little dog." Even then, he had never walked away.

He had never once said he wasn't good enough.

The truth was, I was the one who was never good enough for him.

The old Amanda—petty, selfish, toying with genuine hearts like cheap playthings—had never deserved a shred of real love.

Memories of my past cruelty flashed before my eyes, tearing at my soul.

My voice trembled. "Christian."

"Yeah?"

He kept his eyes closed, like a condemned man awaiting his final sentence from the universe.

"You have always been good enough for me. Always. The only thing I will never regret in this life is falling in love with you."

"My only regret is that I didn't give you my whole heart from the very start."

Christian's eyes snapped open.

He stared at me in complete disbelief, his breath catching in his throat.

"Don't worry," I said fiercely, locking my eyes onto his. "I won't let that monster destroy your future. I'm going to get you out, I'm going to protect you, and I'm going to make sure you become the person you were always meant to be."

"Do you trust me?"

After laying my bare feelings out in the open, my heart hammered against my ribs, waiting for his verdict.

I watched his lips, desperate for an answer.

"I trust you," he whispered.

A tear slipped down his cheek, followed by the faint, tremulous curve of a smile.