Fulfill Your Guilt Chapter 2

Terry blinked, clearly stunned by my quick agreement.

"I'll sign," I repeated, "but on one condition."

I looked up at him, my gaze as calm and still as a frozen lake.

A complex emotion flickered across his face. After a short pause, he nodded. "Anything. Name any other terms you want. I'll do my best to meet them."

I didn't answer. I just picked up the pen, flipped to the last page of the agreement, and signed my name—Vivian Sterling—with a steady, clean stroke.

"You're not even going to read the terms?" Terry’s brow furrowed, his eyes filled with a confused, searching light.

I smiled faintly. "No need. It doesn't matter." I capped the pen and pushed the document toward him. "Is there anything else?" My voice was flat, as if I were discussing the weather.

"I'll pick you up tomorrow morning. We'll go to the courthouse."

I gave a slight nod but said nothing more.

Terry’s expression was a tangled mess of emotions, but in the end, he just sighed, turned, and left. Molly followed him. At the door, she paused, glancing back at me from the corner of her eye. A smirk played on her lips.

Slowly, deliberately, she mouthed three words: I won.

Then she was gone.

In my last life, she did win. And I lost everything.

But this time, I refused to lose. Not one single thing.

A while later, my phone screen lit up. A message from Ryan.

Viv, I heard from Terry. I know what he did was wrong.

But you know how long it took him to get over Leo's death.

He's pouring all his guilt for Leo into taking care of Molly.

He told me that once the media storm dies down, he's going to throw you another, even grander wedding. Just trust him, okay?

I let out a soft, humorless laugh, but my eyes burned with tears.

It was the same script as last time. When Terry couldn't get me to sign the papers, he'd turned to his friends for advice. He’d forgotten that his friends were also my friends.

Blinded by his own drama, he couldn't see the truth. But Ryan could.

Ryan had tried so hard to talk sense into him, begging Terry not to throw away his marriage for Molly. Then he’d come to me, singing Terry’s praises, telling me what a loyal and honorable man he was. If Leo hadn't shielded Terry with his own body, Terry would be dead.

Back then, I had sobbed, my words choked with rage.

"He's put her first for years! I know he feels guilty, and I've tried to be understanding. But now… there are a million ways to clear up this mess, and he chooses to sacrifice me—to sacrifice twelve years of our life together."

Ryan had opened his mouth, but no words came out.

He had asked Terry the same question. Terry’s answer had been chillingly simple: "Someone has to get hurt. I can only fail Vivian. She loves me. She’ll understand my position."

Just because I loved him, I was the one to be sacrificed?

What kind of twisted logic was that?

Thankfully, this time, I still had a chance to save myself.