Chapter 1

After I was reborn, I didn't step up for the girl who got caught stealing.

If she went to class, I dropped out.

If she came to my house, I moved.

I did everything I could to cut all ties with her.

In my last life, I knew she only married me for my family's money, yet I still gave her my whole heart.

She called the jewelry I bought her "tacky." She called my affection "annoying." I lived in a cold, loveless marriage, thinking she would eventually love me back.

I endured twenty years of her cold glares, never even daring to touch her bedroom door.

Then came the day of the fire. I risked my life to push her out of the window.

As I was dying, I saw my uninjured wife throw herself into the arms of our old class president.

She cried, saying that her decades of miserable marriage were finally over.

She said if she could start over, she wanted to grow old with the man she truly loved.

At that moment, my heart turned to ash. I let the flames swallow what was left of my life.

When I opened my eyes again, I was back at the club where she worked. She had just been caught stealing a customer's wallet.

This time, I chose to call the police.

The moment I hung up, the class president, Caleb Brooks, snatched my phone and slammed it onto the ground. It shattered into pieces.

"Are you crazy! If you call the cops, everyone will think Maisie actually stole it!"

"She works so hard to help her mother. She's suffered enough. How can you frame her like this!"

I looked at him and frowned.

In my last life, I didn't call the police. I stepped up for Maisie Miller and took the blame for everything.

I ended up getting beaten black and blue by the customer's thugs before they let it go.

Back then, Caleb didn't stop them. He just covered Maisie's eyes so she wouldn't be scared by the blood.

I always thought Caleb was a good friend who was helping me protect the girl I loved.

Now I knew they had been playing me for a fool from the very beginning.

"Caleb, I didn't do anything wrong. If someone commits a crime, you call the police. If she's innocent, the police will prove it."

My voice was flat, but firm.

I picked up the broken phone and held it in front of him.

"Also, this phone is the newest model. It cost over fifteen hundred dollars. When the cops get here, they can document the damage so you can pay me back."

"You!"

Caleb's face turned bright red, but he couldn't find any words to argue.

Suddenly, Maisie started sobbing.

She was naturally beautiful, and with her looking so victimized, it was hard for anyone not to feel sorry for her.

"I really didn't take it. The gentleman dropped his wallet, and I was just picking it up for him."

"You're only insulting me because my family is poor. Why? Do poor students not deserve dignity?"

Caleb quickly pulled her into his arms to comfort her.

He turned and shouted at the crowd: "Everyone, look at this! We're juniors in college. This guy, Elias Thorne, has been a simp for Maisie for three years. He's doing this because she rejected him!"

The onlookers immediately began whispering and pointing at me.

"How shameless. To harass a girl just because she won't date him. Someone should report him to his school!"

Seeing them hugging reminded me of the last thing I saw before the fire took me.

A wave of fury erupted in my chest.

The next second, my fist crashed into Caleb's face.

I hit him hard enough to make his lip bleed.

Maisie screamed and slapped me across the face.

"Caleb is telling the truth! Why did you hit him? I am so disappointed in you!"

A few young guys in the crowd started pushing me around.

They cursed at me, saying: "You think you're tough? You can't just bully people in front of us!"

I grit my teeth and let them push me to the ground without saying a word.

Just then, several police officers walked in, and the crowd moved aside to let them through.