Chapter 3

That very night, I packed all my belongings from the new house and moved to my office's employee quarters.

Lumi must have called me a hundred times, but I never answered—I was serious about cutting ties with her and her clique.

One day, Zac suddenly sent me a video of Lumi lying on a hospital bed, heavily bandaged but still bleeding.

Bawling, Zac told me, "Help! Lumi chased after you in her car when you left the wedding, but her brakes were broken and she crashed! She's dying!

"To make things worse, my parents are facing trouble in business, and their credit cards are frozen! Can you foot Lumi's medical bill for now? We will pay you back in the future!"

My tears gushed uncontrollably upon seeing Lumi hurt. "Alright, just calm down! I'll send you the money right now!"

I had an accident as a sophomore too and was admitted to the ICU.

They were short on my blood, but Lumi luckily had my blood type and gave me almost 30 ounces of her blood, saving me from the brink of death.

It really drained her, and she passed out for three days and remained anemic to this day, passing out if she stood for too long.

I had to help—even without romantic feelings, I also owed her my life.

That was why I didn't hesitate to wire all $20,000 I had to the account number Zac gave me and started to leave to visit Lumi.

However, security soon encircled me, with my boss advancing at me, glowering as he flung a report in my face. "How dare you conspire with a rival!"

My fingers shaking, I picked up the report to see that I had really wired my money to a rival company!

"No!" I cried. "I'm not a traitor! I was set up!"

Naturally, no one believed me as the security guards quickly took my luggage and threw everything outside.

The boss himself soon returned with my letter of termination. "Hal Zimmer, you're fired! I've also called for the entire industry to blacklist your name. No one will ever hire a traitor like you!"

I felt so weak I almost fell on my knees.

Muddleheaded, I shambled outside to pick up my luggage, only to hear shrill laughter.

As I looked up to see Carl waving a report at me, I realized this was yet another one of Sirius' 'pranks'.

So Lumi played dead, while Zac tricked me to wire all my money to a rival company, after which Carl reported me to the top brass.

It was a scam achieved through perfect teamwork, which I had fallen for once again.

I could feel my blood rushing up my brain as I trembled uncontrollably.

Before I could give chase, my phone rang again as a gravekeeper called. "Good morning, Mr. Zimmer. Your grandfather's urn lot rental is expiring. Please pay the rent soon."

But what money would I pay them with when Sirius had taken everything from me?!

I must reach Lumi and get my money back!

Hence, I called the cops while heading to White Mansion posthaste.