Chapter 4
I hated this man, but I hated those traitors even more!
I wanted Brenda dead! I wanted them all to suffer!
The guy just kept quiet.
Since he didn't say anything, I started recording a video on my phone and filmed my last words.
I said, "I'm Jessica Ross. My boyfriend slept with my own sister. I just can't live with this, so I'm ending my own life."
[Jessica is seriously hardcore. She'd rather end her own life than let Patrick die, just so he can stick around and get revenge on Brenda. Makes you wonder if Patrick's gonna start doubting who Brenda really is.]
[If I were her, I'd go full villain too. Honestly, the female lead totally deserved to be killed.]
[The female lead scammed her ex for cash, refused to help him, and even made her innocent sister take the blame. The male lead hooked up with his girlfriend's sister. These two are just nasty.]
[This is a straight-up villainess story. No way a gold-digging scammer would be the main character otherwise.]
[Jessica is honestly so innocent and pitiful. Even the villain's got it rough...]
I grabbed my phone and walked out onto the balcony. I set it down on the floor, then stepped onto the stool, ready to climb over the edge.
"Get down," he said, his tone cold and emotionless.
I turned around, looking at him in confusion.
He said calmly, "I'm convinced you're not Brenda."
[Wait, the villain actually bought it? So Brenda's whole plan just went up in smoke?]
[Brenda started all this mess, and Jessica got caught in the crossfire. I just want Jessica to make it out alive.]
[This is the first time I've ever wanted the villain to win over the main character.]
I realized I might be a little crazy. Hearing him say he believed me, I even felt a spark of gratitude toward him.
I climbed down from the stool and slumped to the floor, completely spent.
He, on the other hand, looked totally relaxed. He plopped down on the couch, pulled off his mask, and lit up a cigarette, blowing out a cloud of smoke.
"Even though you're not Brenda, I can't let you go until I've dealt with her," he said.
Once the adrenaline wore off, I totally chickened out again, too scared to even make a sound.
He came over and loomed over me, looking down with that intimidating stare.
"Do you need the bathroom or not?" he asked.
I gave him a suspicious, puzzled look.
He took a deep drag on his cigarette and said calmly, "I'm going to tie you up."
"I have to!" I blurted out.
Once I was done, I headed straight back to the living room, no prompting needed.
"All done," I said.
He kept his eyes glued to his phone, not even glancing up. "Let's eat first. What do you want?"
I was fine until he brought up food, then my stomach started growling like crazy.
I'd rushed over to check on Brenda right after work and hadn't had a bite to eat. No wonder I was starving.
"I'm not picky. Anything's fine," I said.
He didn't even bother to answer.
Since he was clearly ignoring me and there was no way I was going to risk leaving, I just sat down at one end of the couch.
I tried to make myself as invisible as possible.
He might not be planning to kill me right now, but that didn't mean he wouldn't change his mind later.
Three minutes later, the guy finally put his phone down.
He shot me a glance, then just as quickly looked away, staring blankly ahead. He was lost in thought, maybe reworking his plan to kill me.
From the comments, I pieced together who this guy really was.
His name was Patrick Finch, and he was Brenda's online boyfriend.
Three years ago, they met on the internet. It didn't take long before they became an online couple.
Patrick was busy building his startup in another state, while Brenda was doing her grad studies here in the city. So they had to settle for a long-distance thing, barely getting to see each other in person.
While they were dating, Brenda said she needed reassurance and asked Patrick to send her all his earnings, calling it a "voluntary gift."
Patrick, hopelessly love-sick, actually went along with it just to ease her worries.
Brenda had planned to move to Patrick's city after graduation to be with him.
But right before she graduated, Patrick's company ran into serious trouble and soon went bankrupt.
As soon as Brenda found out he was broke and drowning in debt, she dumped him without a second thought.
Patrick tried to win her back, but when he saw it was hopeless, he had no choice but to agree.
After the breakup, Brenda never brought up paying him back, and Patrick never asked her for the money either.
Then, three months ago, Patrick's mom, the only person he had left, suddenly had a heart attack.
Patrick barely managed to scrape together enough for the first surgery, but it didn't go well, and now she needed a second one.
This time, Patrick just couldn't scrape together enough for the surgery, so he begged Brenda to lend him 70 thousand dollars.
But Brenda claimed she was broke and wouldn't give in, no matter how much Patrick begged.