"So, you really think I was raped by those kidnappers?" she asked, her tone t.


    Lionel stared at her, finding himself at a loss for words.


    Could it be that it wasn''t true?


    Hannah let out a derisive snort, her eyes filled with contempt. "You''ve never had a single thought of your own when ites to me. You believe whatever people say, whatever they post."


    "Especially when someone uses me of doing something wrong. You never bother to verify it; you just jump straight to ming me. You automatically assume it''s true, and yet here you are, ying the part of a devoted lover, talking about sticking by me no matter what."


    She stepped forward, poking a finger into his chest. "The truth is," she said, enunciating each word, "you''re disgusted to your core, aren''t you?"


    With a sharp shove to his shoulder, Hannah turned and walked downstairs,pletely ignoring the look on his face.


    He immediately chased after her, calling out to her retreating figure. "I never thought that!"


    Hannah stopped and turned back. "The moment Yves and Quennel saw the video, they called me. They said they''d help investigate and bury the story, that it was obviously a fake."


    "My colleagues were just as certain it couldn''t possibly be me, saying that with Al deepfake technology being what it is, anyone could have fabricated it. They even asked their own friends to help look into it."


    "You were the only one," she said, her voice trembling with restrained fury, "the only one who decided it had to be me. That I would do something like that with those men. That I would enjoy it!"


    She let out a long sigh, her gaze dropping to the floor. "Honestly, I don''t even care what you think. I really don''t."


    But she did care. She had waited all day for his call, and it never came.


    When Cora and Lily had gone to his mother''s and told their stories, he had called


    to yell at her without even checking the security footage. When something minor happened with Sandra, he called immediately to me her.


    But when it was her own crisis, her own reputation on the line? A full day of silence.


    It all came down to the simple fact that she still cared too much, and that was why it hurt so badly.


    "Lionel, this has nothing to do with


    S


    you. Just stop bothering me." Hannah''s eyes flickered to the corner, where Cora was trying hide after being caught eavesdropping. Go on, have dinner, she said coolly. "You don''t want your new maid to worry herself to death over you."


    She didn''t care who had brought Cora back, and she had no intention of asking.


    The changes in this house no longer concerned her.


    As Hannah descended the stairs, Cora scrambled to hide but was caught red- handed. Hannah simply walked past her without a word.


    Cora scurried up the stairs to Lionel''s side.


    "Sir! Your face is all swollen. I''ll get you some ointment right now!"


    Seeing his handsome face marred by the red handprint, her heart ached with a possessive pity. She ran off to get the first aid kit, cursing Hannah a thousand times in her mind.


    Throughout dinner, Lionel tried several times to speak to Hannah, but she just scrolled through her phone while she ate, pointedly ignoring him.


    Later that evening, she went into the master bedroom and locked the door from the inside.


    Lionel stared at the closed door for a moment before heading downstairs to grab the spare key. He let himself in.


    "Hannah, we need to-"


    He was cut off by the shrill, custom ringtone that shattered the silence in the


    tom. The sound, so uniquely


    JUMS


    tied to one person made the air got still.


    The phone kept ringing, its incessant noise making it impossible for Hannah to concentrate on her work.


    "Aren''t you going to answer that?" Hannah asked, looking up from her screen. "What if it''s an emergency?"


    He picked up the phone. Staring at the name on the screen, his thumb moved slowly toward the answer button.