Chapter 2

"Look at that, Ms. Parker. Your boyfriend cares about you so much he's even calling to check in on you." The young police officer who had been attempting to talk me out of this flashed me a faint, relieved smile, genuinely believing he had just found a breakthrough.

"Your parents are also waiting for you to come home, and you're a bank executive with a promising future and a comfortable life. Why would you even consider throwing that all away?

"Please just tell us about whatever you're going through. We can all help you get through this!" His voice was earnest, carrying the passion and kindness that belonged to someone young.

Unfortunately, he didn't know a damn thing.

I spun around and looked into his eyes. My gaze carried a plethora of emotions he could never comprehend. Then, I started counting down, "Ten, nine, eight…"

The gale on the rooftop completely died down at that moment. Everyone's eyes were locked on me, assuming that I was about to jump. The blood drained from the young police officer's face, and he instinctively tried to sprint toward me.

"Three, two, one."

It was time.

To everyone's utter bewilderment, I didn't leap off. On the contrary, I turned on my heel and slowly raised both hands toward the police. "Cuff me. I'll tell you the reason I did this."

The police looked at each other, completely caught off guard. I even took two steps forward, extending my wrists toward them. With a click, the handcuffs locked around my wrists.

I lowered my head and looked at them, a relieved smile tugging at the corners of my mouth. "This is the most comforting piece of jewelry I've ever worn in my life."

Everyone looked at me as if I were a total lunatic.

The live stream chat exploded yet again.

"Holy crap, what a plot twist! Is this some kind of performance art?"

"I don't get it, but consider me blown away!"

"Is she actually nuts? First, she wrecks the place. Then, she threatens to jump off a building. Now, she's asking to be handcuffed?"

Just then, a barrage of urgent sirens wailed from below, and several black sedans screeched to a halt right at the entrance of the mall. The doors swung open, and a group of sharp, stern-faced people in tailored suits stepped out.

I recognized the woman leading them—Scarlett Thornton, the CEO of Continuum Bank, a middle-aged woman with an imposing presence.

Several special agents in uniforms were trailing right behind her, though their demeanor was noticeably different. The badges on their chests bore the words, "IRS Criminal Investigation".

They were here. Sure enough, it happened at the exact same moment as it had in my previous life.

Ms. Thornton, accompanied by several special agents, took the private elevator straight up to the rooftop. The moment she saw me in handcuffs, her expression hardened. Her eyes were filled with anger and disappointment.

"You've let me down, Roxanne!"

Elio Woods, the supervisory special agent of the Criminal Investigation unit, walked up to me. He flashed his badge and said coldly, "Roxanne, we received a report that between 1:00 pm and 3:00 pm this afternoon, the central vault of Continuum Bank had 300 million dollars worth of gold reserves stolen, and 500 million dollars in funds were illegally transferred.

"Based on our preliminary investigation, all the transaction permissions point to your personal master key."

The moment his words fell, the crowd erupted into another earth-shattering uproar.

Gold theft? Massive wire fraud? Those two accusations were far more explosive than jumping off a building to commit suicide.

In an instant, all the camera lenses turned toward me. The flashes were so blinding that I couldn't keep my eyes open.

"That's impossible! My daughter would never do such a thing!" Mom screamed and tried to rush forward, but Dad held her back with all his might.

The color had drained from Dad's face. Looking at me, the heartache in his eyes shifted into absolute despair and utter disbelief. "You ungrateful wretch… How could you…"

He couldn't finish his sentence as his entire body trembled with anger.

Just then, two familiar figures emerged from behind Ms. Thornton.