Chapter 2

Henry's POV

Rachel seemed to have completely forgotten that I had broken up with her half an hour ago.

She wrapped her arms around me from behind, as if nothing had happened. "How about we go on a vacation next month?"

She had not even finished speaking when Clarence suddenly let out a little gasp.

Rachel's attention instantly shifted to him. "Clarence, what's wrong?"

She stared at his handsome face, worry plain in her eyes.

"My chest feels a little tight. Maybe I'm still shaken up from what happened at the auction."

Without another word, Rachel took Clarence's hand and led him toward the bedroom. She didn't spare me another glance.

The moment before the bedroom door closed, I met Clarence's smug gaze.

I let out a soft laugh.

I wanted to tell him that he really didn't need to go this far.

A few minutes later, moans started to sound from the master bedroom.

I sighed.

My heart didn't hurt as much as I'd expected. Instead, I felt strangely relieved.

Those two finally got what they wanted. It was time for me to honor my own ten-year promise too.

I gathered all my identification documents and found a hotel nearby.

I planned to head straight to the airport the next morning, but early the next day, my hotel room door was suddenly kicked open by Rachel and several others.

She looked absolutely furious, grabbed me by the ear, and dragged me straight out of bed.

"Henry Murray, how can you be this cruel? Clarence only did all that because he loves me too much! What did he ever do wrong?"

I hissed from the pain in my ear and frowned at her. "What did I do?"

Rachel slammed her phone on my chest.

"Not only did you secretly record Clarence and post the video online, you even went around accusing him of being the other man just to destroy his reputation!

"Thanks to you, Clarence almost tried to jump off the building!"

I took the phone and glanced at the news. I immediately understood that this was another one of Clarence's tricks.

I gave her a cold smile.

"I didn't post the video, but the Internet isn't wrong anyway. Isn't Clarence the other man?"

Rachel laughed in disbelief and ordered her bodyguards to drag me outside.

They did not stop until they hauled me onto the hotel rooftop.

Only then did Rachel turn to me. She crouched down and grabbed my chin hard.

"Henry, you're going live right now to tell everyone that you're the one who came between Clarence and me. Then, you'll get on your knees and apologize to him. Do that, and I'll let this whole thing go."

The bodyguards twisted my arms behind my back so hard that cold sweat broke out across my face. Still, I refused to beg despite the pain.

Rachel scoffed. The bodyguards tied my hands up, then lowered me over the edge of the rooftop, leaving me suspended a hundred feet above the ground.

I made the mistake of looking down. Dizziness washed over me instantly.

Memories from my childhood, when I had almost been thrown off a cliff by a kidnapper, came rushing back. All the color drained from my face.

My voice trembled uncontrollably. "Rachel, I didn't post that video… Pull me back up…"

Rachel's voice came from somewhere above me, cold and sinister.

"If it wasn't you, then who was it? I gave you a chance. It was you who refused to take it."

Then, she turned to the bodyguards beside her and said, "Take pictures of him like this and send them to Clarence. Don't pull him back up until Clarence says to."

I don't know how long I was left hanging there.

All I knew was that my heart would not stop pounding, while my stomach kept churning.

Eventually, I started to hyperventilate. The last thing I saw before I blacked out was Rachel reverently pressing a kiss against her phone screen.

When I woke up again, I was lying on a cold concrete floor.