My phone rang.
As expected, it must be Henry who requested a ride home from his alleged overtime work.
I answered the call with a sneer as his tired voice filled the line.
"Nicole, I've just wrapped up a project inspection with a client. It's in a remote area, and I can't seem to find a taxi. Could you come pick me up?"
His tone was imperious and unchanged from my previous life.
In my past existence, I had naively believed his excuse that he was genuinely unable to hail a taxi and that he was helplessly ensnared by circumstance.
I couldn't stand the thought of him spending the entire night out in the cold, so I threw on some clothes and drove to the spot he had mentioned. I was ready to scoop him up into the warmth of my car and bring him back to the safety of home.
But to my utter shock, it was revealed to be an intricate web of deceit designed by him and Selena.
He had knocked me unconscious the moment I stepped out of the car.
He also paid the homeless man to stage an act of violation.
Before Henry, the homeless man assaulted me, crafting a cruel illusion of my infidelity, all to furnish Henry with the fabricated proof of my supposed betrayal.
I had been a fool.