Chapter 1

At the company party, I stared at the packet of powder in William Bennett's hand, my heart clenching. Humiliation and anger washed over me as memories of my previous life came flooding back.

Back then, I'd felt sorry for Katherine Miller and stepped in when William was giving her a hard time. But William wasn't willing to let her go.

He slipped something into her drink, planning to take her away once the drugs kicked in. Fortunately, I'd called the police in time to save her.

But the very next morning, Katherine showed up at the office with the police and accused me of drugging her and trying to rape her.

I was arrested and branded a rapist before I even had a chance to defend myself.

The company fired me while the investigation was still ongoing.

Although I was eventually released due to insufficient evidence, the relentless online harassment had already taken its toll on my mother. The stress caused her to have a heart attack, and she ended up in the ICU.

Even when I was at the hospital taking care of her, people wouldn't stop gossiping about the accusations. Some particularly vicious trolls even tracked me down at the hospital and caused a scene.

The doctors and nurses believed the rumors, too, and gradually started treating us coldly.

Between the constant online harassment and the judgmental looks and whispers everywhere we went, our lives had become unbearable.

The day Mom died, I was completely devastated. I confronted Katherine and demanded to know why she'd turned on me after everything I'd done to help her.

But she just rolled her eyes, looking completely unbothered. "I never asked you to save me. You're the one who decided to stick your nose where it didn't belong. Whatever happened to you is your own problem.

"I worked hard to land this job. I'm not going to risk getting fired just because you decided to piss off my manager."

Just then, William came strolling out of the bedroom without a shirt on. He wrapped an arm around Katherine and smirked at me. "You were too stupid to know your place. Of course you got fired. Getting rid of someone like you would be as easy as squashing a bug."

I saw red. I lunged at him, tackled him to the floor, and started punching him over and over.

But a moment later, Katherine screamed behind me. Something struck the back of my head, and everything went black.

When I woke up, I was back here.

The thought of William's smug face made my blood boil, but I forced myself to stay calm. I'd been given a second chance at life, and I wasn't about to make the same mistake twice.

When William glanced suspiciously in my direction, I quickly looked away. I picked up my wineglass, turned, and walked to the other side of the room, keeping my expression neutral as if I hadn't noticed anything.

Meanwhile, Katherine had just come back from the restroom, completely unaware of what William was planning. She was still smiling and going along with him as he encouraged her to drink more.

The next morning, I'd barely sat down at my desk when I heard someone hurrying toward me. I looked up and saw Katherine.