Chapter 2

Before I could even close my laptop, Karina called.

I answered.

"Honey!" Karina cried. "He's still here. He's still walking around outside the door! I'm so scared!"

She was really good at acting.

In my previous life, that crying voice had fooled me completely.

"Where are you? Hurry home! Drive slowly on the way and be careful!"

It was those conflicting instructions—hurry up and slow down—had thrown me into a panic in my previous life. I had only wanted to get home as quickly as possible.

My voice remained calm. "Don't worry. I just called the security in our neighborhood.

"They're heading over now."

There was an obvious pause on the other end.

"Huh? You called security?"

"I also told them to bring their batons. Take another look through the peephole and send me a new video so I can confirm."

Karina's voice immediately became flustered. "I-I'm too scared! I don't dare open the door! It looks like he's watching me!

"Honey, don't worry about the security guards. Just come home quickly! I only want you here!"

She started whining sweetly.

"Okay. I'm going to the parking garage now."

I hung up. I started typing rapidly on the laptop.

I was a programmer.

Back in my previous life, I had hacked into the public security cameras outside our home because of a dispute with a neighbor.

I entered the code and bypassed the firewall.

The surveillance footage appeared on the screen.

My front door was completely deserted. There wasn't a single person in sight.

The streetlight illuminated everything clearly.

Even the curtains behind the familiar window had been left slightly open.

I could imagine Karina hiding behind that gap with her phone in hand while smugly waiting for news of my death.

I took a screenshot and sent it straight to Karina.

[Honey, there's nobody outside.]

[Maybe you were mistaken. I asked security to check too, and they said nobody was there.]

After I sent the message, Karina was silent for several seconds.

She immediately called me back. Her voice was panicked now, and the crying tone from earlier was completely gone.

"M-Maybe I saw it wrong.

"Honey, I'm sorry. I've been working too much lately. I must have been seeing things.

"You don't have to come back. Just keep working. I won't bother you."

She was desperate to end the call.

"I just missed you too much," she added.

"Okay. Go to bed early."

I pretended to believe her and hung up.

I then immediately called Tanya.

"Mike? What's wrong?"

"Help me check the call records between Karina and Harry for the past three months. Right now!"

Tanya paused for a moment. "Mike, did you and Karina have a fight?"

"Don't ask questions. Just do it. The sooner, the better."

I hung up. The hatred inside me was almost overflowing.

I recalled what had happened in my previous life.

The day after I died, Karina withdrew every dollar from our joint account. It was the money we'd been saving to buy a home in a good school district.

She didn't even leave anything for my parents.

Harry even comforted my parents, saying that he would treat Karina like his own sister and take care of her.

My parents cried tears of gratitude and thanked him for being such a good man.

'A good man?'

I wanted to see how long these two could keep up their little act.