Chapter 1

I slammed the door open.

The sharp noise made all four people on the couch look up at the same time.

My childhood friend, Austin Walter, froze with his drink halfway to his mouth, while my best friend, Bailey Somner, had a frozen smile on her face.

Only my boyfriend, Sam Marshall, didn't panic.

He stood up smoothly and said, "Penelope, you're just too proud. Ruby only wanted to take you down a notch. She didn't mean any harm."

My throat felt dry, as if I had swallowed gravel.

"Sam, you went to law school too! That's defamation! It's slander!"

Sam frowned, clearly annoyed. "The video's already been taken down. Why are you still making such a scene?"

All of a sudden, a memory flashed through my mind. I remembered the exact day Sam passed the bar exam. He had wrapped his arms around me outside the firm and sworn with total sincerity, "Penelope, if anyone ever picks on you or treats you unfairly, I’ll fight for you."

I turned my head and stared at Bailey.

"Bailey, do you think so too?"

Bailey avoided my eyes instantly. "Penelope, we're all friends here. There's really no need to make things so ugly."

"Friends? Since when did you guys become friends?"

Bailey paused for a moment before letting out a long sigh. "Ever since the last time we all hung out together."

She glanced at me sideways and added, "Penelope, to be completely honest, you really are a bit too self-centered. Ruby's right. You can't expect the whole world to revolve around you all the time."

I suddenly wanted to laugh out loud.

Back in our senior year of college, when Bailey's family went bankrupt, she couldn't even pay her remaining tuition. I was the one who gave her all my competition prize money and internship pay to pull her through those dark days.

Back then, with tears streaming down her face, she had told me, "Penelope, if anyone ever picks on you in the future, I'll be the first one to take them down."

Austin walked over then, reaching out to pat my shoulder just like he used to, but I sidestepped to dodge his touch.

His hand froze in midair, and his expression instantly darkened. "Penelope, stop throwing a fit."

I looked up at him, feeling the irony sink in.

When he failed his college entrance exams, I was the one who stayed up late with him, reorganizing study notes and going through every single problem line by line. When his mom was hospitalized, and he was too busy launching his startup to be there, I was the one running around the hospital, staying up all night by her bed to take care of her.

A hollow laugh escaped my lips, and my eyes stung with sharp tears.

"Okay," I nodded slowly, my voice barely above a whisper. "I get it now."

Without another word, I turned on my heel and pulled open the front door.

Sam yelled out from behind me, "Penelope! Once the hype around the video dies down, everything will be fine! Do you really have to be so difficult about this?"

I ignored him, rushed downstairs, and started my car.

However, as soon as I hit the road, my phone blew up with notifications. The high-definition version of that video was currently pinned right at the top of the local forum's homepage, with my face and full name completely exposed for everyone to see.

The call from my company's HR department came even faster than I expected.

"Miss Hill, you should just hand in your resignation."

I tried to explain, but the voice on the other end shot back flatly, "We don't care whether it's real or fake. The reputational damage to the company is real, and we're well within our rights to seek compensation."

I hung up the phone and headed straight back to my apartment.

Unfortunately, my landlord was already standing right outside my door, looking at me as if I were a walking plague. "Pack up and get out right now! With all those rumors spreading online, who knows if you've got some nasty disease? How am I supposed to rent this place out later?"

Before I could even open my mouth, my cardboard boxes were thrown right out into the hallway.

"Get lost!"

I gathered my boxes and headed downstairs into the pouring rain. Raindrops streamed down my hair and trickled into my collar, freezing me to the bone.

Throughout that night, I tried countless times online to explain that the video was just an AI deepfake, yet the comment section was flooded with nothing but vile, filthy abuse.

Suddenly, my phone buzzed with a text message from Sam.

[Penelope, where are you? It's pouring so badly outside, don't go getting yourself sick.]

[I've already talked to Ruby about this. Drop the matter, so we can all move on.]

I stared blankly at the screen, my fingertips trembling uncontrollably.

The video had twenty million views, and with that, I had lost my job, lost my apartment, and had my reputation destroyed. Yet in his eyes, it was all reduced to a casual brush-off.

My phone buzzed again right after.

[Penelope, answer me. Don't make me worry.]