Chapter 2

"Dad, I want to take up your offer to inherit the family business," I said.

Dad sounded ecstatic when his voice echoed through the receiver. "Great! I'll have my men process the paperwork right now. Can you take care of everything on your end within a week?"

I hummed in assent.

In my past life, I was supposed to move abroad after graduating from high school to take over the family business. However, I rejected my family's arrangements for Luke's sake. To stay by his side, I ignored my family's connections and stayed in the country by myself.

Only when I took my last breath did I realize that Luke never loved me.

Since that was the case, there was no need for me to yearn for something that I could never have.

I met the school administrators to process my withdrawal from the school.

When my friends found out that I was leaving, they threw a farewell party for me.

I didn't expect to bump into Luke at the party.

My friends filled me in on what was going on.

"Do you remember how you gave up on buying Luke's contract during the auction after Janice raised the price to 150 million dollars? In the end, Luke had to go around begging everyone to buy his contract until Daniella Emerson finally agreed to help him out."

Luke shot a look of resentment at me before intentionally wrapping his arms around Daniella's neck. He then crawled under the table and began serving her with an adoring expression.

"Do you still like me the way I am right now, Daniella?" he asked.

Behaving as if they were the only two people in the room, Daniella reached down to Luke and said, "I do! I spent 150 million dollars on you. I wouldn't do that for someone I don't like!"

He was blushing furiously when he crawled out from under the table. He scoffed and said, "Did you see that? I'm willing to give myself to any other woman except you. Someone like you doesn't deserve me!"

Luke had always known exactly which buttons to push to rile me up. He behaved the same way in my past life. If I made him slightly upset by asking him not to mingle with Janice too much, he would immediately seek out a few women and take many intimate photos with them to provoke me.

"Have you learned your lesson yet?" he would ask me. "The more you ask me to stay away from other women, the more I'll get close to them!"

When I suffered a mental breakdown and sank to my knees, Luke simply dialed Janice's number and spent an entire night of revelry with her.

Unfortunately for Luke, my feelings for him had already disappeared. He could no longer upset me by provoking me that way.

I simply smiled and said, "Go on then. Keep doing what you were doing."

…

I hadn't even sat for five minutes when Janice suddenly burst into the bar.

She suddenly fell to her knees in front of me before she started slapping herself over and over again, crying, "I've learned my lesson, Theresa! I shouldn't have challenged you during the auction. You've already punished me for my transgressions. Can you please have mercy on me?"

I looked at her with a mildly confused expression and asked, "What did I do to you? We haven't had any contact since the auction."

Meanwhile, Luke tried to help Janice back up to her feet, catching a glimpse of the gruesome wounds on her body when he touched her. His expression instantly turned icy as he turned on me and spat, "Did you hire someone to harass Janice, Theresa? How could you be so petty?"

Janice was trembling violently when Luke helped her to her feet and rolled up her sleeves to expose the reddened wounds.

She pulled her sleeves down and said in a troubled voice, "You don't have to defend me, Luke. I was wrong for thinking that I could challenge someone rich like Theresa when my family is dirt poor. She just wanted to teach me a lesson by sending her men to rough me up."

Luke's heart ached terribly. He glared at me with reddened eyes and snapped, "Apologize to Janice right now!"

I had experienced many similar situations in my past life. I knew that it was pointless for me to explain myself to someone who would never believe me.

A knowing smile stretched across my lips as I stared into Janice's eyes, which were sparkling with greed.

"Apologize?" I asked. "Why don't you ask her what she really wants? In fact, why don't you tell me yourself, Janice?"

Janice hid behind Luke. Her eyes were still glimmering with greed when she said, "Of course, if you're willing to, I was hoping that you could reimburse my medical bills."

Luke seemed to be caught off-guard by Janice's words.

After all, everyone knew that she would end up as the laughingstock by making such a request during such an event.

Luke felt a little humiliated, but he still decided to support Janice, saying, "Hurry and transfer the money to Janice. Besides, it's not as if you need the money. You should also transfer the full amount you were prepared to pay at the auction to Daniella.

"I'm willing to accompany you for the next few days once you transfer the money to them."