Chapter 2

Before I could finish speaking, she suddenly raised her hand.

Two sharp slaps landed across my face. My ears rang, and my cheeks burned.

After hitting me and tearing into me, Sarah stood there like a victorious general.

Then she turned to shield the assistants behind her.

“Don’t be afraid, everyone. I may be a victim too, but I’m also at fault for failing to keep my husband in line. I’ll make sure you get justice!”

She pointed at me and shouted, “Daniel Cooper, tomorrow we’re doing a live-streamed paternity test! Let the whole country see how a billionaire CEO abuses his female employees!”

I watched them leave together.

It felt as if she had carved a piece out of my heart with her own hands. Cold wind swept through that hollow, carrying eight years of memories with it.

This time, I did not turn to my best friend to complain, as I had in my previous life.

I would not let myself be cornered again, not when it would only end with me dying for a crime I never committed.

But the next second, someone began pounding on my office door.

“Daniel Cooper! What kind of monster are you? Open the damn door!” William Lee’s furious roar made the door shake.

“You’re a man—if you did it, then own it! You got them pregnant, and now you’re refusing to take responsibility. There are plenty of guys out there who can’t even get a date, while you had eighteen women at once! How could you do this to Sarah?”

Just as I thought.

Sarah had gotten to him first and played the victim.

I forced myself to stay calm and called through the door, “William, what did Sarah tell you?”

“You’ve got the nerve to ask?” He spat on the other side of the door.

“Sarah cried until her eyes were swollen! Eighteen pregnant women are waiting for you in the conference room to take responsibility, and you still call yourself a man?”

“Sarah sent me to get a sample of your hair for the test!”

His indignant accusations sent a cold sweat down my back.

After the paternity report came out in my previous life, he kicked me so hard that he broke eight of my ribs.

William was a champion kickboxer for fifteen years. I would not stand a chance against him.

I could not let him get hold of my hair.

I quickly steadied myself and lied through the door. “William! I... I think I might have the flu. I’m terribly dizzy, and I don’t want to pass it to you! Whatever it is, we can talk another day. Just go home for now!”

“Cut the crap!” William pounded on the door again. “You can hide today, but you can’t hide forever! You cowardly bastard. You did it, but you won’t own it!

“I’m getting your hair for that test today, one way or another!”

Sweat broke out across my palms. “William, trust me. There’s a real misunderstanding here! I swear I never did anything with any of them!”

“A misunderstanding?” William sneered from outside the door.

“Eighteen pregnant women all just happened to misunderstand you? Daniel Cooper, you can’t even be bothered to make your lies believable!”

He slammed his foot against the door, making my ears ring. “If you didn’t do it, then take the test and get it over with! The more you hide, the guiltier you look!”

“Just let me explain...”

“Explain my ass!” He kicked the door again. “A real man owns up to what he’s done. Acting like a coward only makes the rest of us look bad!”

Each deafening blow against the door pounded against my chest like a drumbeat.

Panic overtook me. I scrambled to drag the desk beside me over to block the door.

I could not let him get inside.

Absolutely not.

But just as I dragged the desk in front of the door, I heard a soft click.