Then I snapped the SIM card in half.
I vanished.
Meanwhile, Damien Thorne was holding a
press conference.
In front of flashing cameras, he got down on
one knee
wheelchair
metaphorically, from his
proposing to Isabelle Moreau.
Just as the ring was about to slide onto her
finger, the atmosphere in the room shifted.
Gasps rippled through the crowd.
My video was playing on the large screen
behind them.
The first face seen was Damien’s.
He stood on a cliff edge with a group of
thugs.
“Hurry up!” he snapped in the video. “If
anyone finds out, we’re all screwed!”
The men beside Damien nodded grimly.
They dragged forward a woman, bound and
They dragged forward a woman, bound and
gagged, sobbing uncontrollably.
Damien pulled out a short knife.
He carved a bloody cross onto the woman’s
face.
“You let your son try to steal my inheritance?”
he spat viciously. “You think you had the
right?”
“Don’t worry, you can die peacefully now. It
won’t be long before I send Caleb down to
join you!”
Then, he lifted his foot.
And kicked the woman hard, sending her
plunging off the cliff!
The video ended with my voice, altered by a
voice changer.
“Damien Thorne, you murdered Caleb Vance’s
biological mother.”
“You owe a life for a life!”
く
Chapter 2
5
Thanks to Damien Thorne being such a
goddamn spectacle, the press conference
was packed.
More reporters than I’d ever seen in one
place.
Every single one of them saw the video.
They swarmed him like sharks smelling blood.
“Mr. Thorne! Is that you in the video?”
“Did you murder Caleb Vance’s biological
mother?”
“So Caleb tried to kill you for revenge, is that
right?”
“Care to comment?”
“Standing here proposing marriage like a
fucking murderer, don’t you feel even a shred
of guilt?”
Damien panicked.
His first instinct was to run.
く
But with his broken leg, trapped in that
fucking wheelchair, there was nowhere to go.
Isabelle covered her face.
The engagement ring slipped from her grasp
and clattered to the floor.
She turned on him, her voice frantic.
“Damien, what the hell is going on?”
“You told me you never did anything to piss
off Caleb!”
“How the fuck should I know where that video
came from?” Damien stammered.
“I swear I…”
Damien suddenly seemed to remember
something.
He fumbled, looking down, probably for his
phone.
But another microphone was shoved right in
his face.
“Mr. Thorne, the police are likely on their way
now !!
く
right now.”
“Are you going to deny these charges?”
“Murder means prison time.”
“Did you do something this brutal just for
money?”
“Is the Thorne fortune really worth more than
a human life?”
Damien’s anger finally ignited.
He violently shoved the nearest reporter,
sending them stumbling back.
On every camera feed, his eyes blazed
crimson
“Get out!”
exactly like in the murder video.
“All of you, get the fuck out!”
Bodyguards finally pushed through the chaos
onto the stage.
They hustled him and Isabelle away.
In the car, Damien frantically kept calling my
number.
Isabelle, beside him, was rambling
<
“Damien, say something! Is it true? Did you
actually kill someone?”
“Shut up.”
Damien shot her a venomous look.
She immediately fell silent.
But he quickly realized his tone was wrong.
He softened his voice.
“Caleb faked his alibi at that auction, didn’t
he?”
“A video like this can obviously be faked too.
Don’t believe it.”
“Oh, thank God…” Isabelle breathed, though
doubt lingered in her eyes.
“You need to clear this up, Damien! Fast! Or
your life is over.”
He kept dialing my unreachable number.
He slammed his fist against the back of the
front seat.
“Damn that Chloe Reynolds! She’s fucking
hiding!”
<
Isabelle frowned.
“This has something to do with her?”
Damien didn’t answer.
But he knew.
He knew I was the one who released the
video.
Because that day, when he snuck away to
murder Caleb’s mother…
He forgot about the one person who might
follow him out of stupid, blind love, wanting
to surprise him for his birthday.
Me.
Last year, on his birthday, I thought he was
going up the mountain to pray or some shit.
So I grabbed his gift and secretly followed
him.
I never expected to witness him commit
murder with my own eyes.
I recorded the video in a panic.
AAPZ
found out
<
I recorded the video in a panic.
Just in case someone found out I was there.
A little insurance policy for myself.
In my past life, even though I ended up
crippled and paralyzed after marrying him, I
convinced myself I was happy.
So I deleted the video back then.
I never once thought of using it against him.
But this time around, Damien made it brutally
clear he wanted me dead.
I had no choice but to use it to protect
myself.
