Chapter 2

After that day, Scotty left our household and went with Maggie.

He was the son of our housekeeper and was practically a childhood playmate of mine. After the housekeeper passed away, he would occasionally work for our family.

We had never treated him unfairly in the slightest, either.

Before he left, out of our friendship, I gave him a case of his favorite liquor.

What I never expected was that my goodwill only sparked Maggie's anger. This Maggie no longer had the calm and steady demeanor she had once carried in her previous life.

Instead, she had a sharp, reckless arrogance of someone who had returned to her youth and reunited with the one thing she could never let go.

She stormed into my office and coldly accused, "Aaron, I know that you're upset that I chose Scotty the other day, but that doesn't give you the right to ruin him!

"Given our past relationship, I'll let it go this time. I really hope you won't continue to test me!"

Looking at her furious expression, I discreetly bit down on my lip until the metallic taste of blood spread across my tongue.

He truly was the one thing she couldn't get over. The 40 years we'd spent together in the previous life were now worth nothing.

After hastily throwing out a few more threats at me, Maggie stormed back out, not even giving me a chance to ask or explain anything.

Half an hour later, my assistant, Julian Forren, reported what he'd found back to me.

As it turned out, Scotty had drunk the liquor I'd given him and ended up in the hospital from an allergic reaction.

I was very confused. The liquor I'd given Scotty was his favorite brand. How could he suddenly be allergic to it? Besides, in my previous life, he'd secretly drunk from that case of liquor countless times.

And yet, he'd somehow ended up in the hospital only after I gave it to him?

I had Julian prepare the car so I could go see Scotty and retrieve the remaining liquor for testing, as well as to explain things.

However, the moment I stepped into his hospital room, Scotty immediately sank to his knees in front of me, tears welling up in his eyes. He grabbed the hem of my shirt and pleaded in a broken voice, "Sir, I know you like Maggie too, but feelings can't be forced. Maggie and I truly love each other. Please, I'm begging you—don't break us apart!"

I froze, my mind going blank for a second. But quickly enough, I realized what was happening.

Behind those teary eyes, I caught a flicker of smugness. He was framing me on purpose. And the goal was obvious. He wanted Maggie to see how "cruel" I was.

As expected, Maggie burst into the room and violently grabbed my arm. Her eyes blazed with rage as she snarled at me, her words forced through clenched teeth, "I just warned you, Aaron Tilman, and you're already trying to hurt Scotty? Do you really think I won't do anything to you?"

Looking at the woman who now seemed to hate me with every fiber of her being, my chest felt like it was being stabbed by a dozen blades.

I forced down the tears welling in my eyes, took a deep breath, and defended myself.

"I didn't hurt Scotty. I only came here to take back the liquor I gave him so I can send it for testing. If there really is something wrong with it, I'd be happy to compensate him."

Maggie opened her mouth, and for a brief moment, panic flashed in her eyes as she released my wrist. After spending 40 years together in the previous life, she knew exactly what kind of person I was.

But Scotty's sniffles quickly hardened her expression again.

"Stop pretending to be the nice guy here. I'll investigate this myself. You'd better pray that I don't find out you deliberately tried to harm Scotty!"

I nodded calmly and turned to leave without saying another word.

Before leaving, I had someone at the hospital look into the cause of Scotty's allergic reaction.

The purplish handprint on my wrist seemed to overlap with the one from my previous life. It was as if it was constantly reminding me to let go of Maggie. She was no longer my wife who'd spent 40 years by my side.