"Sandra, you shouldn't have falsely accused Lorraine in the first place," Neil said, his eyes straying over to Lorraine's stomach. He looked pained. "You brought this on yourself. You'll have to live with the consequences of your actions."

He was blaming me for the loss of Lorraine's baby.

Did he really love children that much?

My heart ached.

We once had a child together too.

Back then, Neil had gone missing while hiking up a snow mountain. To find him, I had scaled the same mountain but ended up falling off a cliff and landing in a pool of my own blood, losing our child in the process.

He had probably forgotten how he had cried while holding me at the time.

Just as our standoff grew tense, a man wearing a pair of gold-rimmed spectacles entered the police station.

"Peter?" I said.

Peter Sutton nodded at me. "I've brought the detection equipment from the institute."

The police officer immediately made the call. "Good. We have the equipment now. This is a serious matter. Let's do a full-scale search!"

"What does that mean?" Lorraine asked, baffled.

The police officer ignored her. He swiftly headed out with Peter.

The police conducted a thorough search of the area around my house that very night, including Lorraine's house.

Neil inhaled sharply through his nose at the sight of this. He pulled me aside and asked, "What exactly do you do for a living? Why are they kicking up such a fuss over a lost item?"

I had never told him what I did at my job as it was classified.

"It's top secret. The thing I lost is lethal. If you don't want to die, give it back immediately."

"Don't try and scare us," Lorraine interrupted. "If it's really as dangerous as you say it is, then you'll get a heavier punishment for stealing it!"

At that, Neil's uncertainty disappeared from his expression, replaced with a look of determination. "Lorraine is right."

Even now, they still couldn't understand the gravity of the situation. They were too ignorant to believe what I said.

After searching all night, Peter finally packed up the equipment. "We didn't find anything. The iridium is likely still sealed in the lead container. Hopefully, no one tries to open it."

The police were exhausted too. "Well, I suppose that's the best news we can get for now."

Lorraine relaxed. "I don't think it was ever stolen. She probably lied to cover up her own theft."

Neil chimed in, "Yeah, the surveillance footage only showed one person. The evidence is all there."

Silence filled the room.

Peter patted me on the shoulder. "The research institute will be investigating this matter fully, but I believe you'll be fine."

I gave him a grateful look.

The police officially declared this as an open case. As the person responsible for losing the iridium and endangering public health, coupled with the surveillance evidence against me, I was named the sole suspect in the case.

Neil and Lorraine exchanged a smile when the decision was made to detain me.

"Are you two happy now?" I asked.

Lorraine raised her head arrogantly. "The murderer of my child is going to jail. Of course, I'm happy."

"And you? Is that how you feel too?" I turned to Neil, the man I had spent so many years with.

"Does it matter how I feel? Did you care about my feelings when you forced Lorraine to abort our child?" he spat. The look he gave me wasn't one of love—it was one of hatred and vindication.

I met his eyes. Even though I kept telling myself that the man who once stood up for me and risked his life to defend me from street thugs had ceased to exist, my heart still clenched painfully.

I lowered my eyes. When I looked back up, the last trace of affection I had for him vanished.

Now that I saw how gleeful they were about my impending imprisonment, I wouldn't hold back anymore.

Before handing over my phone to the police, I made some quick postings.

Peter glanced at my phone. "Getting ready to fight back?"

"Of course. If I don't, they'll think I'm a doormat for them to stomp on."

It didn't take long for me to list out the entire timeline of my relationship and Neil's cheating in chronological order. Then, I posted all of it on social media.

The whole story was structured like a thesis, complete with precise wording and a catchy title. It soon garnered a lot of attention.

Neil and Lorraine remained completely oblivious about this, still basking in the thrill of their success.

Before being taken away, I smiled at them. "Don't celebrate too soon. Remember how smug you both feel now, because soon, you'll pay for this with your own lives and prove my innocence."

They clearly had a death wish, since they were bold enough to steal Iridium-192.

In that case, I would just sit back and wait for them to reap what they had sown.

Neil and Lorraine thought I was just bluffing. Cheerfully, they left hand-in-hand.

Barely a night had passed before Neil urgently requested to visit me in jail.

I was told that he was frantic, but still, I declined all of his requests to meet me.

Three days later, Peter posted bail for me. I was released temporarily to await trial.

When I walked out of jail, the situation had turned completely upside down.

Neil was standing outside the police station, holding a bouquet of roses. When he saw me, he rushed forward and tried to grab my hand.

Peter stopped him.

He gave me a questioning glance. I smiled lightly. "It's fine. Let me talk to him."

We sat down at a cafe to talk.

Neil shoved the roses at me, showing no awkwardness at all despite the sudden change of attitude. "Sandra, our relationship is about to go long-distance. We should make up and get along while we can still see each other."

I laughed, unable to believe the audacity. Did he just equate my potential imprisonment to a long-distance relationship?

I pushed away the flowers. "If you have nothing nice to say, I'm leaving."

Neil quickly got to the point after that. "The article you posted that day has caused a lot of trouble for Lorraine."

I took out my phone and quickly checked my social media.

The Internet was in an uproar, condemning Lorraine for knowingly becoming a homewrecker and dating a known cheater. She was buried under an avalanche of negative press.

Clearly, life had been rough for her lately.

"So?" I folded my arms and looked around.

There was a woman sitting at the table beside us. Her face was covered with a mask and a cap, but I could tell from the figure that it was Lorraine.

The hands resting on her lap were covered in red rashes.

I looked back at Neil. He was coughing every now and then.

I was shocked.

These were symptoms of radiation sickness.

It looked like they had opened the container containing Iridium-192.

Neil spoke again. "I want you to publicly apologize to Lorraine. You have to admit in writing that I have been with her for years and that you, out of jealousy, had fabricated all those lies about her."

I thought I had misheard him at first. "You want me to admit that I'm the homewrecker and that I tried to slander Lorraine, who is your actual girlfriend?"

"It's just on paper," Neil tried to reassure me. "It doesn't matter as long as we truly love each other. Besides, you'll be in prison soon. By the time you get out, no one will even remember this.

"It's different for Lorraine. She is a public figure, so she still needs to maintain her reputation."

Before he even finished his sentence, I slapped him hard across the face. "Shameless wench!"

The crisp sound echoed around the cafe, drawing curious looks from the other patrons.

Neil, caught off guard by the slap, immediately became angry. "Sandra! How dare you assault me while on bail? Do you know that I just need to call the police, and you'll go right back to jail?"

I picked up my hot coffee and splashed it all over him. "Instead of threatening me, you should get yourself to a hospital. I doubt you'll survive the winter!"

Neil was furious. "You're always harboring ill will toward us! That's all you know!"

He tried to grab me by the collar, but Peter quickly intervened. He lifted Neil up and tossed him aside effortlessly.

"She's speaking the truth," Peter said.

He towered almost half a foot over Neil. When he leaned in, his commanding presence made Neil instinctively back away.

"You again?" Neil glanced between us suspiciously. "Is this what you've been keeping secret? Every time you disappear for months, telling me that it's for your job and that it's top secret, you're actually with him, aren't you?

"You've already slept with him, right? So, stop pretending to be a victim when it comes to Lorraine. You're disgusting."

Peter raised his hand and punched Neil, sending him sprawling.

Seeing this, Lorraine finally couldn't continue pretending to be a normal stranger. With a cry, she rushed over and helped Neil up. "How can you be so violent in broad daylight? Aren't you afraid that we'll call the police?"

I leaned over and gently brushed my hand against her hair. A few strands stayed in my palm even after I drew away. "You're losing a lot of hair. You should get that checked at a hospital. Then, once the results come out, you probably wouldn't dare to call the police."

Lorraine slapped my hand away. "You're insane. I just have a cold, and here you are making a scene out of it."

My kindness had been taken as ill will.

I didn't bother arguing further and walked away, pulling Peter with me.

It had started snowing outside. The cold wind swept away the anger simmering in my heart.

"Sorry for dragging you into this, Peter," I said.

"Don't worry about it," Peter said calmly. He walked beside me, his hands stuffed into his pockets. "They're already showing signs of radiation sickness. Do you feel sorry for them?"

I stopped. "I might have, before."

Iridium-192 was lethal. I had warned them multiple times before, but they never believed me, thinking that I was just bluffing. They were focused solely on framing me.

The fallen snow beneath my feet was no more than muddy slush, now mixed with dirt.

I stepped right over it.

"I just hope they reap what they sow."

That night, Lorraine started a livestream.

She tearfully addressed her audience through the camera. "I wasn't a homewrecker. I knew my boyfriend long before Sandra did.

"A few days ago, she stole something from her job and accused me of doing it. Luckily, the surveillance footage proved my innocence, and she will be heading to prison soon.

"Can you really believe what a criminal-in-waiting says?"

She cried pitifully, her acting skills on full display in a bid to salvage her reputation.

The audience eagerly joined in the gossip.

"Wait, what? Thesis Lady is the villain after all?"

"She's clearly making this up. They got caught cheating, so now she's resorting to personal attacks."

"Am I the only one curious about what was stolen?" I sipped on my coffee and repeatedly posted the same comment over and over again.

Faced with a barrage of skepticism and attacks, Lorraine chose to respond to my question as it seemed like the safest one. "It's called iridumb-19 or something, some pretentious term.

"She even tried to scare me, saying it was lethal and that it could kill people. She made it sound so dramatic when she was threatening me."

Suddenly, she covered her mouth, overcome with a bout of dry heaving.

Someone in the audience pieced it together. "Iridumb-19 … Iridium? Iridium-192? Holy crap, who would dare to steal that?"

"Can someone explain what that is?"

"You don't have to know what it is. Just know that it can give you acute radiation sickness with just two hours of close contact. Your flesh will literally melt off your bones!"

As soon as that comment was posted, a flood of explosive messages drowned out the entire comment section.

Right in front of the entire audience, Lorraine's eyes rolled back, and she fainted dead away.