Chapter 3

Caught in a flood of memories, Fiona kept her eyes glued to Mark's backup phone screen even after it darkened.

It was really hard to reach his heart—he never laughed, barely talked, and only sat in a quiet corner all day, reading books.

The first time she celebrated his birthday, he didn't even look surprised, instead knocked the cake she had baked off her hands and threw away her present.

"No one asked for it," he snorted, and left.

Even so, she stayed by the cake and cried for the longest time—not just because of Mark's cold rejection, but because she knew her father would get upset with Mark if she went home crying.

Still, after everyone went to bed very late into the night, Mark showed up again, quietly cheering her up with his little hand sewn dolls.

Putting up a puppet show, he told her indirectly that because his parents had died in an accident on the same day, he had never celebrated his birthday ever since.

Since then, Fiona learned that Mark wasn't cold—he just needed time to warm up to anyone.

She just had to take her time to slowly overcome those obstacles in his heart, convincing him to trust her and fall for her.

Never could she have expected that doing that would cost her everything.

-

Mark only found out that Fiona was starting work when he saw her at the office and was at once frowning.

"Do you think this is a playground?" He snorted, clearly convinced that she was just a pretty face when she clearly wasn't.

On the other hand, Fiona never looked at him at all, as her eyes remained fixed on his 'assistant'.

Eventually, Mark turned toward her as well, twitching uncomfortably but only for a brief second.

"A new employee?" Fiona eventually asked.

"She's just an intern. You can go home now if you have no other business here," Mark replied shortly.

Fiona snorted—he really couldn't wait to chase her away to protect the woman behind him.

Still, she asked, "Why should I leave? The Starr family owns this company."

Mark glowered right then, and Fiona knew she had hurt his swelling ego with her words.

Labels like 'sponsored suitors' or 'one of Fiona Starr's husband candidates' were always a sore spot for him—he had already accomplished his own achievements, but all of it remained eclipsed under the Starr family's fame.

However, hurting Mark was exactly what Fiona wanted to do, not to mention that wasn't even a fraction of how much he had hurt her in her past life!

As Fiona turned, seemingly leaving, Sue was already reaching out, ready to pat Mark on the back.

That was when Fiona turned around again, and Sue's hands were left hanging in the air.

Even so, Fiona kept staring at her calmly, leaving her instantly pale and flustered in guilt, until Mark passed her a document folder and said, "You can go."

Fiona felt as if a hand clenched around her heart.

Mark's tone was so tender that even he probably didn't notice—it just went to show how protective he was toward Sue.

Then why didn't he just reject Fiona for Sue, even going on to marry Fiona?

It definitely wasn't the Starr family's fault that Sue killed herself, but ironically, Mark blamed Fiona and her father anyway.

Soon after Sue left, Mark's phone jingled.

Fiona was going to leave too when she felt a vice-like grip around her waist abruptly and frowned.

When she turned, she cringed and shuddered when she saw Mark's sinister glare.

It was as if he had shed his skin and revealed his true malicious nature, just as he did in her past life!

Shoving his phone at her face, he growled, "Did you do this?"

Fiona couldn't free herself and eventually gave in and looked at the phone and saw that it was the photo of Sue being molested.

Seeing how calm she was, Mark immediately made up his mind that she was guilty, not bothered to listen to what she had to say.

His hand clenched so hard around Fiona's wrist. Her tears welled up in her eyes, while the corner of her eyes reddened, but she gritted her teeth and fought against the impulse to cry out.

Because she refused to cry for Mark ever again.

"It! Wasn't! Me!" She snarled every syllable through her teeth!