Alice's POV
Melvin turned on me, his eyes filled with disgust. “Alice, can’t you be reasonable for once? I’m begging you, alright? Just help Chloe this one time. You being this petty really makes me hate you.”
“Hate me?”
I stared at him, at the man I once loved with all my heart, and my voice trembled. “Melvin, you want me to take the blame, ruin my own future, just to protect a manipulative girl who wrecked everything on purpose? That’s what you call being reasonable?”
Before I could react, he raised his hand and slapped me across the face. “You’re talking nonsense!”
The sting spread instantly, leaving half my face numb and my mouth tasting of blood.
I looked at him in shock.
He shouted, his voice rising, “How could Chloe have done it on purpose? Alice, how did I never see that you're jealous and vicious before?”
Jealous? Vicious?
I froze.
What exactly was I supposed to be jealous of?
Her fake tears? Her shameless flirting?
“I’m not jealous,” I said coldly, meeting his eyes. “I was blind. Blind enough to fall for a spineless fool who can’t even tell right from wrong.”
His expression darkened, and he spat his words without thinking.
“Yeah, I’m a fool! A fool for ever letting myself get tangled up with you, a spoiled rich girl with nothing to offer but money! Do you have any idea how much pressure I’ve been under? Everyone laughs at me, says I’m living off a woman!”
He then pointed at Chloe, clutching her hand tighter. “But Chloe isn’t like you! She’s pure, kind, and fragile, needing someone to protect her! With her, I finally feel like a real man!”
Then his voice turned sharp, striking where he knew it would hurt most.
“And don’t think I don’t know about your family. Your parents divorced ages ago. They don’t care about you! All you’ve got is an empty shell. Stop acting like you’re better than anyone else.”
My body went cold, like ice had replaced my blood.
My parents’ divorce was the one wound I’d kept hidden. I had only ever told him once, on a drunken night, crying in his arms.
I told him I felt like an unwanted ball, kicked back and forth between them.
And what did he say then?
He said, “Alice, you’re not a ball. You’re my treasure. My home will be your home. I’ll never abandon you.”
Turned out, he remembered every word not to protect me, but to use it against me.
Right on cue, Chloe chimed in, her voice soft and trembling, every word a dagger, “Sir, don’t say that to her. Even if her family situation is complicated, and she’s a little overbearing, and failed a course, and maybe doesn’t know how to be considerate… she still… she still likes you.”
I let out a sharp laugh.
What a perfect move, pretending to defend me while pointing out all my “flaws.”
And just like that, Melvin’s anger flared even higher.
He jabbed a finger in my face and shouted like he’d been waiting years to unleash it, “Likes me? That’s not love! That’s control! You’re possessive, obsessive! Alice, let me make this clear. This responsibility is yours, whether you like it or not. If you so much as drag Chloe down with you, we’re done. And don’t think your family’s money makes you untouchable! You ruined that sample, and even your father won’t be able to save you!”
I looked at his furious face, then at Chloe, hiding behind him, covering her smile with her hand.
And suddenly, I didn’t feel like crying anymore.
This must be what it felt like when your heart finally died.
Slowly, I pulled out my phone.
Melvin’s eyes narrowed. He barked, “What are you doing? Calling your dad? Don’t bother, he can’t help you with this!”
Yet I ignored him. With steady hands, I dialed the head of the lab and the lead professor in charge of the entire project and put it on speaker.
The call connected quickly.
“Alice?” Professor Daniel Schuman’s stern voice came through. “What is it? Have you recorded the data?”
Upon hearing the professor's voice, both Melvin and Chloe stiffened, their faces paling. They hadn’t expected me to go straight to the top.
I drew in a deep breath, forcing my voice to stay calm.
“Professor, I’m very sorry to disturb you. There’s been a serious incident in the lab. The core sample for the Dawn Project was knocked over during handling. It’s completely destroyed.”
Three seconds of silence, then his furious roar blasted through the phone:, “What? Destroyed? Who did it? Who was responsible?”
I could feel the panic ripple through the two standing in front of me.
Melvin’s face twisted, and he mouthed at me furiously, “Alice! Don’t you dare!”
I met their terrified stares, leaned closer to the phone, and spoke clearly, “It was Melvin Manning and Chloe Savage.”
