The Set-Up Chapter 1

The day my colleague was assaulted in the conference room, I burst in and saved her. I even told her to call the cops.

But the next day, she turned on me, accusing me of being the attacker and claiming I’d coerced her into silence.

The company fired me on the spot. My wife divorced me. Friends ghosted me, and family looked the other way.

Even though I was eventually released due to lack of evidence, I was already a social pariah, a monster in the eyes of the world.

A month later, I saw her in the park, wrapped in the arms of her real attacker. When I ran over to confront them, he shoved me into the lake.

As the water filled my lungs and my world went black—

I snapped my eyes open. I was back in my office, on the day it all began.

* * *

"What are you doing? No… let go of me!"

"Mmph… Help… somebody, help me…!"

I pushed open the door to my office and followed the sound. Through the glass walls of the conference room, I could see two entangled silhouettes.

I leaned against the doorframe, frozen.

The screech of a toppling chair, the scrape of a desk across the floor, all punctuated by muffled sobs and desperate pleas.

It was all so familiar. And so cruelly ironic.

In my past life, I was working late when I saw my colleague, Rachel, being assaulted by our manager, Rick Hughes. I kicked the door open, laid Hughes out with a single punch, and got Rachel out of there.

Hughes, calmly straightening his tie, had sneered at me. "You dare ruin my fun? You'll pay for this, Jeff."

I had picked up Rachel's jacket from the floor, draped it over her trembling shoulders, and tried to comfort her, insisting she report it to the police.

When I got home that night, I told my wife, Emily, what happened. She said she was proud of me.

But the next morning, Rachel showed up at my desk with two police officers.

She pointed a shaking finger at me, her voice choked with tears. "It was him! He tried to rape me in the conference room after work yesterday! I barely managed to fight him off… He threatened me, told me if I said a word, I’d lose my job and he’d go after my family!"

I just stood there, stunned, as the cold steel of handcuffs snapped around my wrists.

"That's a lie!" I roared. "Rachel, I saved you! Why are you framing me?"

But no one believed me. My coworkers stared, whispering. I was hauled away to the precinct.

Good news travels slow, but bad news spreads like wildfire. The "rapist" label burned through the entire office building, then through my circle of friends and family.

My wife's family, especially. The rumors spiraled out of control, each telling more monstrous than the last. Emily came from money; she’d never known hardship. But because of me, she was drowning in a humiliation she couldn't bear. The pressure finally broke her. She asked for a divorce.

The company fired me. In the divorce, I walked away with nothing. I had lost everything.

A few days later, the police let me go. Lack of evidence.

But my life was already in ruins. I was holding the divorce papers, wandering aimlessly, when I found myself by the lake in the park. I was about to end it all.

That’s when I saw them. Rachel and Rick Hughes—kissing passionately under a willow tree.

I stormed over and grabbed her arm. "How could you do this to me? I saved you!"

She pulled me aside, her voice a low hiss. "I’m just a low-level assistant, Jeff. What was I supposed to do?"

"He's the Chairman's brother-in-law! What good would calling the cops do? He’d be out in a day, and I’d be out of a job, with my family in his crosshairs!"

"So you destroyed my life instead?" I yelled, my voice cracking. "I lost my job! I lost my home! I’m branded a rapist because of you!"

She just scoffed. "You're a college grad. You can find another job anywhere. I'm not like you. I don't have a degree. If I lose this job, I starve."

"It's your own fault you couldn't hold on to your job or your wife, so don't blame me. Even without this, she would've left your broke ass eventually!"

Looking at her selfish, twisted face, I snapped. I raised my hand and slapped her, hard.

"You little piece of trash! You dare touch my woman?" Hughes charged at me and shoved me, hard, off the small bridge.

I plunged into the icy water of the man-made lake and drowned.