Chapter 3

“I’ve seen many kinds of people in this world. But I’ve never seen anyone so brazenly cry ‘thief’ while they themselves are the thief.

“Not only are you shamelessly denying your crimes, but you’re also pinning the crime on somebody else. Why don’t you just drop dead?!”

My heart sank.

Before I ended up in the detention center, I suspected Gilbert and Selene would try to frame me and would not give up.

I did not expect the worst-case scenario to come to pass.

I lowered my head in silence. The crowd believed I was guilty because they had already exposed my lies.

They practically shoved the shop’s receipt in my face. “You thief, you came to my restaurant and dined in without footing the bill. You even smashed the plates and bowls. How can you be this shameless?!

“The food was $8,888, $200 for the broken plates, and more for lost wages. You owe me a total of $10,888!”

The mall manager and his staff from the luxury boutique frowned. “You’ve stolen a luxurious and trendy bag from the counter. The bag alone is worth $100,000. Together with other matching merchandise, the total cost is $300,000. On top of that, you damaged public property. That brings it to a total of $400,000. Pay up!”

The family whose only son was hit and killed got even more agitated. They pointed at me and shouted, “The police station is right across the street. If you don’t give us an explanation, I’ll have the police immediately arrest you and sentence you to death!”

I sucked in a deep breath. “I really have done none of these. The culprit who did all this is called Selene. I know her. She’s my ex-boyfriend’s childhood friend. If you don’t trust me, I can bring her here to confront you. Also, I’ve been locked up at the police station for the past three days. I—”

Before I finished my sentence, Gilbert and Selene rushed over and cut me off.

As soon as he saw me, Gilbert slapped me hard across the face.

“Lydia, I’m breaking off our engagement!

“Selene knew you were released today, and she was kind enough to come with me to pick you up. How dare you slander her like this?!

“You’ve done something wrong, but you still refuse to admit it. I don’t want a fiancee like you! You don’t deserve to be part of my family!”

Selene looked at me with teary eyes.

She sobbed as she said, “Lydia, I know you never liked me because I’m Gilbert’s childhood friend.

“At home, you accused me of breaking a plate when you were the one who broke it. You accused me of hitting our neighbor’s children when you were the one who did it. For the sake of not ruining your relationship with Gilbert, I always bit my tongue and took the blame.

“But you can’t accuse me of something so serious that it involves someone’s life and death!”

After Selene was done, she gave Gilbert a nudge. She then took a few steps back to put some distance between them.

“Gilbert, if I have to be slandered and defamed just because I’m your childhood friend, then maybe we shouldn’t be friends anymore!

“I really can’t stand people accusing and judging me anymore! I didn’t do any of it, yet I’m the one who has to apologize to them! Sometimes, I even have to take their beatings! I’ve had enough of such humiliation!”

The situation would have been better had Selene not said that. The moment she did, the crowd instantly grew restless.

The way they looked at me was filled with blame and hatred. Some of them even picked up stones and hurled them at me.

I was not able to dodge in time. A stone scraped my cheek. It split my skin and drew blood.

The crowd froze for a second. Even the livestream comments came to a halt.

After a moment of silence, they swung their fists at me and yelled that I needed to give them an explanation.

Just then, the police noticed the commotion. They sent a squad of officers over to check it out.

When they saw me, the head of the squad, Sergeant William, stopped short in surprise.

“Lydia, you’ve just been released from detention. Why’re you here instead of heading home?”