Fired for a Cigarette_ The Cost of Loving Her

Valeria was so sure of herself, she must have forgotten—our home had surveillance cameras.

I immediately copied the footage from last night and sent it to her.

Her reaction was even more hysterical than before.

"Andy! You're even more disgusting than I thought! Installing surveillance cameras at home—what kind of sick game are you playing?"

"I’m giving you thirty minutes to delete all of it and come apologize to both me and Brian!"

My head throbbed from the sheer nonsense.

I hung up on her and added her number to my block list.

Lucy had already booked my flight to Paris.

Just as I was grabbing my bags and calling a taxi, another call came in—this time from Brian.

I didn’t even hesitate. Blocked.

Suddenly, the company group chat started blowing up.

Everyone began tagging me at once.

"Mr. Gerrin! You should head to the hospital! Ms. Brooks’s been in an accident!"

I wasn’t planning to respond.

But someone sent a blurry photo of the crash.

It was quickly deleted, but not before I saw clearly—the bloodied figure lying on the ground was Valeria.

Despite everything, I hesitated for only a second before telling the driver to turn around and take me straight to the hospital.

When I arrived, there was someone lying in the hospital bed—but it wasn’t Valeria.

It was Brian.

His leg was in a cast and Valeria was sitting at his side, gently blowing on a spoonful of chicken soup before feeding it to him.

In the ten years I’d been with Valeria, she had never once done anything remotely like that for me.

Not even ordered me takeout.

Just as I turned to leave, she suddenly stood up and grabbed my arm.

Without explanation, she shoved a set of car keys into my hand and said sharply,

"If anyone asks later, just say you were the one driving today."

Everything clicked into place.

"You want me to take the blame for Brian?"

Valeria scoffed and waved her hand.

"Why do you make it sound so dramatic? It’s not taking the blame. It’s just a small favor."

I yanked my arm from her grip.

"I'm sorry, I can’t help you with this."

Her face turned ice cold.

"Andy! You’re my fiancé! If you can’t even help me with this, how do you expect me to trust you enough to marry you?"

"Then let’s cancel the engagement." The moment the words left my mouth, her eyes flew open in shock.

Before she could respond, my phone rang again.

“Mr. Gerrin? This is the traffic police. A vehicle registered in your name was involved in a collision on McCross Road. We suspect a hit-and-run. I’d like to confirm—were you the one driving the car this morning?”

Before I could say a word, Valeria snatched the phone from my hand.

“Yes, it was him.”

“I’m his fiancée. I was in the passenger seat when the accident happened.”

“Sorry for the trouble. I’ll convince him to turn himself in right away.”

She ended the call before I even had the chance to breathe, let alone speak.

Then she did something she had never done before—she clung to my arm with desperation.

“Andy, I know there’ve been a lot of misunderstandings between us lately. So once you help Brian with this one small favor, we’ll get married. Okay?”

How could she say something so shameless with a straight face?

It was one thing to flirt with Brian at the office.

But now she wanted me to take the fall for him—go to prison for him?

I ripped my arm away from her and looked her dead in the eye.

“I won’t agree to something that insane. Don’t even bother asking again.”