Chapter 2

The female voice in the recording did sound like mine.

But I knew that the person speaking was definitely not me.

Hearing Betty's string of slanderous accusations, I also lost my temper.

"You can't just say whatever you want. The person in that recording isn't me."

"Six months ago, I didn't attend Juliet's wedding because I was on a business trip abroad and couldn't make it back."

"Thompson and I have never even met. How could I possibly have any thoughts about him?"

Betty clearly didn't believe me.

"Chloe, I watched you grow up. That's clearly your voice in the recording, and you still won't admit it."

"Juliet has an introverted personality. You've been her only close friend since childhood."

"She never guards against you, so she must have sent you lots of photos and videos of Thompson."

"Thompson is so excellent. It's normal for you to have thoughts about him. The blame is on Juliet for being too naive."

"All these years, I've treated you like a daughter. I never thought you'd be thinking about Thompson and secretly encouraging her to divorce!"

I laughed instead of getting angry.

"Your imagination is way too wild."

"I spent the past year on an Antarctic research expedition where there was no signal."

"I couldn't receive any messages Juliet sent, much less fall for Thompson because of them."

Hearing this, Betty's voice rose considerably.

"Antarctica? Research expedition? You?"

"Chloe, I know you're panicking because your thoughts were exposed, but you can't just make things up."

"Juliet graduated from a top Ivy League school and can only work as an ordinary clerk."

"Back then, your SAT score was mediocre and you only got into an ordinary college. How could you possibly qualify for an Antarctic research expedition?"

"You probably did some shameful work outside and didn't dare come back to your hometown for a year!"

It's true that I didn't do well on the SAT back then.

But I studied hard during college, later got into Harvard for my doctorate, and finally joined the Polar Research Center.

All these years, I worked tirelessly for one goal—to join the Antarctic research expedition I'd always dreamed of.

I never imagined someone would consider it shameful work.

I pulled out my plane ticket from my pocket and said, "Stop slandering me."

"This is my ticket from just returning from Antarctica. My luggage is still downstairs."

Thompson looked at the ticket in my hand and laughed.

"Chloe, I can't believe you prepared a fake ticket to support your lie. Looks like you've been planning this for a while."

I said angrily, "If you still don't believe me, I can call my colleagues who went with me and have them testify."

Thompson scoffed, "What good is a phone call? Who knows if you coordinated your story beforehand?"

"You said you had no cell signal in Antarctica, but six months ago on Juliet's and my wedding day, I received your money transfer. That record is still there!"

"If you really had no cell signal, how could you have transferred the gift money!"