She Came Back to Burn Them All

04

In my last life, Rowena hadn't shown herself this early.

She had bided her time, holding it all in, and only after my father threw himself into the sea did she step forward as the heartbroken, wronged wife to take over the entire company.

Back then I only thought his betrayal had broken her heart.

Now I could see it clearly.

She hadn't been heartbroken at all.

She had simply been waiting for the perfect moment to pull the net closed.

"Dirk Henson, right here in front of the whole internet, we're getting a divorce!"

"I'm taking custody of Sara!"

Dirk lifted the stack of papers with shaking hands, and when he made out the words on them, his face went slack with disbelief.

"You had all of this ready?"

Rowena wept as she spoke.

"You get yourself into a scandal, and now you're the one questioning my motives?"

"I'm saving the whole Henson family!"

"Your filth has already blown up across the entire internet. The stock hit its limit-down the second the market opened!"

"If you don't sign and cut yourself loose, you'll drag the whole group into the fire single-handedly!"

The livestreamer who'd led the jeering earlier zoomed his camera in at once and shouted his approval.

"Everybody, look at this—this is what real female strength looks like!"

"Mrs. Henson, putting justice over family, tearing that scumbag apart with her bare hands!"

Wanda lifted her head from Rowena's arms, her eyes brimming with tears.

"Ma'am, I'll say it again, I don't want any compensation."

"I only hope no other girl ever has to suffer the way I did."

Rowena forced a signing pen into Dirk's hand.

"Sign it!"

"If you're still any kind of man who stands to take a leak, then own your responsibility. Don't make Sara and me carry your shame and get talked about behind our backs too!"

Dirk looked at me.

There was a plea in that look, and despair, and a deep, deep shame.

"Sara, I can't let thousands of people in this group go down with me."

"Just let this be the last thing your father does for you."

A hundred cameras in the room all fixed on the pen in Dirk's hand.

They were all waiting.

Waiting for Dirk to sign his own name and hand over everything the Hensons had built.

I hauled my foot back and kicked out at the table.

"CRASH."

The table toppled over, and the stack of papers scattered into the air like snowflakes.

The room broke into gasps, and a few people even screamed in fright.

I brushed off my trouser leg and looked at Rowena and Wanda.

"Wonderful."

"Truly Oscar-caliber acting."

"The old saying really is true. The people who wrong you always understand better than anyone just how wronged you are."

Rowena's face changed on the spot, and she jabbed a finger at me, cursing.

"Sara, your father did something lower than an animal, and you're still defending him with no shame at all?"

Wanda instantly shrank back into Rowena's arms, trembling.

"Sara, I know you've always looked down on me."

"But I'm only stating a fact."

"No girl would ever throw away the innocence of her whole life to falsely accuse some old man."

As she said it, she yanked the scarf away from her collar.

From her neck down to her collarbone, Wanda's skin was covered in vicious scratch marks.

On the big livestream screen beside them, the comments flew faster and nastier than before.

【*God, this is too cruel.*】

【*This old creep is just a pervert.*】

【*This woman needs to get off the planet!*】

【*The capitalist's daughter is vicious, not a shred of empathy.*】

【*Don't be scared, Wanda, the whole country's got your back!*】

Right on cue, Wanda cried until she doubled over, her voice going hoarse.

"I haven't slept a full night in half a month."

"The second I close my eyes, I see him coming at me in the car like an animal."

"I'm so scared. I have depression now. I've even thought about dying."

"Please, everyone, help me."

At that, Dirk, who had swallowed all the abuse in silence, finally broke completely.

Tears burst from his eyes as he shouted into the crowd.

"I didn't!"

"I never touched her!"

Rowena cried right along with him, shaking her head hard.

"Dirk, it's come to this, the evidence is right here, and you still want to argue your way out?"

"How are Sara and I ever supposed to face anyone again?"

Listening to the flawless duet the two of them were performing, I suddenly felt that the me of my last life had been a complete fool.

A performance this seamless could never have been improvised on the spot.

I swept my eyes over the room.

"My father can't think straight the moment he sees a pretty young woman, so you decided I was just another idiot you could push around too?"

"What a shame. There's only one real kind of fool in this world."

"The kind who thinks they're clever, and takes everyone else for a fool."

I pulled a silver flash drive from my pocket and tossed it straight to the head of security behind me.

"Half a month ago I decided the company's security measures weren't good enough."

"So I had the legal department buy a batch of the highest-definition surveillance equipment. Hidden in-vehicle cameras included."

I watched Wanda's pupils contract in an instant at the shock, and I spoke slowly, one word at a time.

"How terribly inconvenient."

"My father's Maybach happens to be the very first test car fitted with 360-degree, no-blind-spot, twenty-four-hour surveillance."