Chapter 2

“Let go! Are you out of your mind?”

I dangled in midair from the twenty-eighth floor, and my entire arm hurt so badly it felt like it was about to be torn off.

Half of Adrian Foster’s body was leaning over the edge of the rooftop, and the veins on the back of his hand stood out one by one.

“Lily Carter, get up here!” he said through clenched teeth, struggling badly.

I looked at his face, full of shock and anger, and only found it utterly absurd.

In the previous nine lifetimes, he had used that same face to watch coldly as I was trampled into the mud.

“Adrian Foster, you’re way too deep into the role.”

I used my other hand to pry at his fingers.

“The plot in this lifetime hasn’t reached the point where you regret everything yet, so if you save me now, doesn’t that count as breaking character?”

Adrian Foster’s pupils suddenly contracted, and his breathing fell completely out of rhythm.

“You… know everything?”

The mask in his eyes shattered in an instant.

I did not answer and only looked at him coldly.

Just then, the iron door to the rooftop was kicked open.

“Adrian! Why are you bothering with this crazy woman?”

A woman in a biker jacket, with a bob haircut that reached her ears, strode over in a rush.

Chloe Bennett.

Adrian Foster’s childhood best friend.

She was also the female lead of this world, the woman with the irresistible charm halo.

The moment he heard Chloe Bennett’s voice, Adrian Foster’s whole body stiffened.

The hand that was gripping me so tightly actually loosened by half a degree.

“Adrian, come over here, it’s too dangerous!”

Chloe Bennett wrapped her arms around Adrian Foster’s waist and pulled him back hard.

“If she wants to die, then let her die, because she threatens people with suicide every day like she actually matters.”

Her tone was full of contempt and annoyance.

Adrian Foster’s face instantly turned deathly pale.

He did not push Chloe Bennett away, and he did not even dare turn back to look into Chloe Bennett’s eyes.

I felt his wrist trembling.

The system’s shrill alarm screamed wildly inside my mind.

[Warning! Male lead’s behavior has deviated from the main storyline! Please correct it immediately!]

Adrian Foster clearly heard it too.

The madness in his eyes was gradually replaced by a mechanical coldness.

The next second, he suddenly pulled hard and dragged me back from the edge onto the rooftop.

I crashed heavily onto the rough concrete floor, and my knees were instantly scraped open as blood seeped out.

Before I could even catch my breath,

Adrian Foster looked at me, and his gaze had already returned to that familiar, suffocating disgust.

“Lily Carter, are you done making a scene?” His voice was icy.

“To force me to marry you, you’re even using a trashy trick like jumping off a building?”

I lay on the ground and suddenly laughed.

See?

This was what he called nine lifetimes of devoted love.

As long as Chloe Bennett appeared and as long as the system gave a warning, he could instantly turn back into the executioner who tortured me.

“Adrian, I told you she didn’t really dare jump.”

Chloe Bennett walked over, stepped on the back of my hand, and ground it hard with the sole of her shoe.

A piercing pain shot through me, and I bit my lip hard without making a sound.

“Lily Carter, we’re all adults, so stop playing these crying, screaming, and suicide-threat games.”

“Adrian and I grew up together, and I see him like family. Can you stop being so petty and jealous all day? Is it even fun?”

I raised my head and met Chloe Bennett’s provocative gaze.

“Like family?” I sneered.

“Would family go to his room in the middle of the night in a lace nightgown to borrow his bathroom?”

Chloe Bennett’s expression changed slightly, but she quickly returned to her self-righteous look.

“That was because the water at my place was shut off! We have nothing to hide, so why is your mind so filthy?”

She turned to Adrian Foster and pouted aggrievedly.

“Adrian, look at her, she’s starting to attack people again.”

Adrian Foster looked at the red and swollen back of my hand under her foot, and the corner of his eye twitched slightly.

But he did not push Chloe Bennett away and only said coldly to me, “Apologize.”

I wondered if I had misheard him.

“What did you say?”

“I told you to apologize to Chloe. You slandered her innocence.”

I looked at the man in front of me.

Just now in midair, the pain and madness in his eyes seemed to have only been an illusion.

“And if I don’t?”

I slowly pulled my hand back and climbed up from the ground.

Adrian Foster stepped forward and grabbed my chin.

He used so much force that it almost crushed my bones.

“Lily Carter, don’t test my limits.”

He leaned close to my ear and spoke in a voice only the two of us could hear.

“You’d better behave, or I’ll show you what true hell looks like.”

I looked into his eyes, and there was no love in them, only warning.

“Fine.” I forced out a smile uglier than crying.

“Adrian Foster, remember what you said today.”