Through the security camera, I watched Liam standing outside for a long time before finally leaving.

Right then, I got a call from Bethany.

“Scarlett, is Liam with you? Tell him to come home. Grandpa's angry.”

She sounded like the lady of the house.

How did I not see it before?

I steadied myself.

“Isn’t he always listening to you? Why don’t you tell him to go home?”

“I called him, but he hasn’t answered. I'm worried about him.”

“Oh, so you’re checking up on him?”

I said, dripping with sarcasm.

Bethany acted like she was deeply ashamed, choking up as she asked,

“Scarlett, why are you trying to humiliate me? I know I'm not good enough for him…”

I didn’t want to keep talking to her, so I hung up.

Bethany was the daughter of Liam's family's housekeeper.

She’d lived with her mother in the Foster household ever since she was little.

I liked to hang out with Liam, so I went to the Foster home a lot.

Over time, Bethany and I became friends.

You could say, when we were younger, the three of us were a really close little group.

We were always together.

But three people can be a crowd.

When we hit puberty, since they both lived in the Foster home, they rode in the same car to and from school.

Liam and Bethany got closer.

And I was gradually left out.

I was so clueless back then.

I didn’t realize Bethany didn’t like me, and I kept going over to see her.

I didn’t realize Bethany liked Liam.

I even asked Bethany to help me win Liam over a bunch of times.

Then Bethany jumped off the roof, leaving a suicide note blaming me…

I found out that Bethany saw me as the person who’d ruined her chance with Liam.

Turns out, she’d never thought of me as a friend.

Turns out, she thought me asking her to deliver love letters to Liam was an insult…

But she never told me she liked Liam.

That suicide note basically proved I’d driven Bethany to her death.

For years after, I could still remember Liam standing next to Bethany’s body, staring at me with this cold, awful look.

He grabbed my throat. “Scarlett, you’re a murderer!”

I woke up from the dream, drenched in sweat.

Thunder crashed outside, making me disoriented.

In my past life, I died on a stormy night like this…

Maybe Liam was sick of being rejected so many times, and he felt like he was losing face.

He didn’t come looking for me after that night.

I was glad to have some peace and quiet.

When I had a moment, I called my uncle.

“Uncle Michael, I want to end the engagement.”

Uncle Michael wasn’t really related to me.

My grandpa had adopted him.

After my parents died in an accident, Uncle Michael took care of me and raised me.

He had a good head for business, and under his leadership, Scarlett Inc. became a huge success.

I didn’t like my uncle in my past life.

People kept telling me that since Uncle Michael didn’t have Scarlett blood,

it was like raising a tiger cub to let him take care of Scarlett Inc.

They said he was ambitious, and an adopted son couldn’t be trusted.

So, I didn’t like him either.

But during the decades of fighting with Liam after our wedding, he was always the one who stood up for me and taught Liam a lesson.

When everyone said I was the one who killed Bethany, Uncle Michael told me, “You didn’t do anything wrong. They’re the ones who are wrong.”

Remembering it all, my eyes started to sting.

The person on the other end of the line didn’t say anything.

I repeated, “Uncle Michael, I don’t want to marry Liam.”

“Okay.”

My uncle’s voice was low and rough, like he’d just woken up.

“Scarlett, I’ll always be on your side. As long as you’re happy.”

“If you want to get married, I’ll drag Liam to the wedding myself. If you don’t, no one can force you.”