Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Both of us were transmigration hosts sharing a single system.

Gemma's mission was to redeem Carter Cole, the tragic second male lead.

They had been married for three years, and Carter had treated her like absolute ice the entire time.

My mission was to redeem Damian Mercer, the ruthless villain.

Damian had locked me in his luxury villa for three years, solely because my face slightly resembled the female lead's.

Honestly, neither of us hated our setups at first.

Carter came from old money and held immense corporate power in the city.

Damian ran both the underworld and legitimate business empires with an iron fist.

If they had one thing in common, it was money.

Obscene amounts of money.

For three years, we acted like devoted, desperate women on the surface.

Behind their backs, we spent their fortunes like crazy and lived like queens.

But the plot had derailed.

Stella Rhodes, the original female lead, was back.

According to the original novel, Carter was her ultimate simp.

He was the devoted, loyal second male lead who would sacrifice everything for her.

And my boyfriend, Damian, was even worse.

Stella was the untouchable angel in his heart.

He was willing to burn the entire world down just to clear a path for her.

"If we don't leave now, we'll end up dead," Gemma pointed out.

"The moment Stella landed, she pulled that stunt to make Carter think I bribed his secretary."

"Carter will probably just hand me a divorce settlement. But what about your crazy boyfriend? That psycho will literally murder people."

A chill ran down my spine.

She wasn't exaggerating.

Once, Damian took me to a high-profile gala. A couple of men stared at my cleavage for two seconds too long.

Damian had their legs broken that night and threw them into the ocean to feed the sharks.

And that was how he treated people who offended his stand-in.

If he ever thought I was in Stella's way, my fate would be a million times worse.

I didn't have nine lives to waste on him.

We had to escape.

Hurting my feelings was fine, but risking my life was out of the question.

Seeing my resolve, Gemma asked, "The system lets us take our money back to the real world. Did you save enough?"

I shook my head.

"Nope, not much. But I know you're loaded, so I plan to live off you."

Gemma gave me a deadpan look.

Luckily, we were best friends, and she was already prepared to be my sugar mommy.

I peeked at her bank account balance, and the string of zeroes made my eyes widen.

With our funds secured, we began scheming our exit strategy.

After brainstorming, we agreed that faking our deaths was the cleanest and most dramatic way out.

We really had no other choice.

Over the past three years, both of us had stayed close to the most powerful men in the city.

We knew way too many dirty secrets about the Mercer and Cole families.

If we didn't fake our deaths, they would hunt us down even if we divorced them.

Too many eyes in the city were watching us.

"Who dies first?" I asked.

"I'll go first, then you," she replied.

"Why do you get to go first?" I protested.

"Because I want to get it over with."

Everyone knows the person who stays behind has to clean up the mess and deal with the funeral.

And I despised dealing with drama.

"Rock, paper, scissors," I challenged.

She won.

"Best two out of three!"

She won again.

I threw my hands up in defeat. "Fine! You die first, happy?"