The Scapegoat's Rebirth

Hearing a strange man’s voice from my phone, Marco’s tone sharpened, clearly alarmed.

Victor looked straight at me, his voice a taunt.

“I’m Serena’s ex. But don’t worry, I’m married now. I have zero interest in her.”

Marco was silent for two seconds before asking, “Then why are you calling me from her phone?”

“No reason. Just wanted to tell you a little story about your dear wife.”

“Do you know how she ruined her family’s business?”

“It was because I dumped her. She set a fire for revenge. If my wife hadn't saved her, she would've disappeared long ago.”

“But after she survived, she started wallowing in self-pity, getting into all sorts of trouble all over the city.”

“For all these years, she’s been living by leeching off my wife. She sold my wife’s wedding jewelry to support her own family, got addicted to gambling, and had my wife max out my secondary card to pay her debts.”

“You probably don’t know this, but your wife also sleeps around with members of other families. Their wives have come looking for her.”

“A while ago, she picked up something nasty doing God-knows-what. I’d advise you to get yourself checked out, too.”

“How can you stand being married to such a filthy woman?”

“It’s pathetic for a man to live like you do. It must be exhausting, being played for a fool day after day. If I were you, I’d have offed myself by now.”

Victor’s tirade was a relentless assault, dragging my name through the mud.

On the other end of the line, Marco fell into a long silence.

Marco and I had always had a good relationship after we married.

He was an upright and kind man, always gentle and considerate with me.

He never cared about the burn scars on my body, even saying I was a wounded angel and that he would shelter me from the storms for the rest of our lives.

With him, no matter how big our arguments were, he would always patiently coax me, never giving me the cold shoulder or getting angry.

But this time, it seemed Victor had angered him so much that he didn’t want to say another word.

Victor hung up the phone and looked at me with a triumphant expression.

“Well? Still not going to tell me where Lena is?”

The bodyguard released his hand from my mouth.

“You break into my house, hold me down, assault me, slander me… I’ll kill you for this.”

I glared at Victor, wishing I could tear the idiot to shreds.

Seeing my continued defiance, Victor grew even angrier.

“Then I’ll show you what happens when you cross the Gambinos!”