Chapter 2

The car soon arrived at its destination.

Only then did I realize we seemed to be at an engagement party.

Peyton's childhood sweetheart saw me, and her face twisted for a moment.

The next second, she and her friends surrounded me.

"Where did you come from? Who said you could keep clinging to Peyton?"

She spoke through gritted teeth.

As Peyton approached, she brushed past my shoulder and plunged into the pool. The move was quick and discreet.

I fell silent for a moment, then told the system:

[I should learn to seize every chance to get myself killed like that.]

"Ah! How could you push her?"

Her friends shrieked.

Peyton rushed to her rescue. Once he pulled her out, he pointed at me and snapped:

"Have I been too lenient with you? Have you forgotten your place?"

"How dare you bully someone I care about?"

I raised my eyes and almost laughed.

"If you don't need me, Mr. Wyatt, you can let me go."

"You!"

The mockery in my smile seemed to get under his skin.

Peyton lost his temper and grabbed the necklace around my neck, pulling it tight.

A red mark appeared on my neck as I struggled to breathe.

Yes. Pull harder.

My eyes lit up. I deliberately pulled in the opposite direction, and a look of satisfaction spread across my face...

But the death I imagined never came.

Peyton suddenly let go, and the force of my own movement sent me tumbling to the ground.

"What's wrong with you?"

"Why did you turn into this the moment it became my turn?"

Peyton spat the words through gritted teeth.

"Peyton, you lose your temper too easily. Do you really think she wanted to die?"

I knew that voice all too well.

I opened my eyes.

The man who spoke was handsome, with a faint, cold smile on his lips.

It was Gavin Sullivan, my second love interest.

I came into his life when his family was at its lowest point.

I drank with business executives for his sake until my stomach was perforated. I also spent six months caring for his critically ill mother.

I remembered how he once held my hand and told me I was an angel sent into his life.

Now he looked down on me as I lay there, a witness to my humiliation.

"Is this your new tactic? I'll admit, it's different."

"Why take such an extreme approach to winning us over?"

"I suppose you have to take risks to get what you want. You're quite the actress."

[These men are awful! They faked their affection scores and strung us along. That's why we failed so many times!]

The system fumed on my behalf.

Then a pair of polished black dress shoes stopped in front of me.

"Shannon Wynn, who do you think you're fooling?"

"You'll do anything to seduce a man. You're disgusting."

I looked up and saw his face.

It was Shane Chandler, my first love interest.

I still struggled to breathe.

I lay on the ground and coughed weakly, my face flushed.

Shane couldn't help moving a little closer.

Was that sadness and resentment in his eyes?

I couldn't tell. He quickly turned his face away.

Then his familiar, icy insults fell on me.

"You're making a spectacle of yourself. Did you think threatening to die would earn you sympathy and raise your affection scores?"

"None of us will fall for your tricks. You've worked so hard to win us over. Didn't you know we could control the affection scores ourselves?"

I didn't look at him. I kept my head down, trying to catch my breath and stand.

"What about you? Was your affection score of 99 fake too?"

I got to my feet and stared at Shane, as if I could see right through him.

He was nothing like the man I met ten years ago.

Back then, Shane was an unacknowledged son his parents kept out of sight.

They left him in a shabby rental apartment, where he couldn't even afford the rent.

When the landlord evicted him, he huddled beneath an awning to escape the rain.

The downpour soaked half his body.

Then I stopped beside him and held my umbrella over him...

However much I hated to admit it, I gave Shane my whole heart.