That year, we turned down every high-paying job offer and chose entry-level positions at the Department of Occupational Safety instead. We wanted to make a real difference.

Brody dropped to one knee in our cramped apartment. But what he offered wasn't a diamond ring.

It was a ring he'd crafted himself from a scrap piece of industrial-grade alloy, polished smooth by his own hands.

"Lara, wait for me. One day, I'll replace this with a real one."

Tears welled in my eyes. I couldn't speak, so I kissed him instead and slipped that heavy ring onto my finger.

"To me, this is more real than any diamond," I said.

The memory tasted sweet, while reality cut like a knife. I swallowed the bitter ache and turned to look at Brody. His eyes flickered with something unreadable.

Ellie bit her lip and sighed, brows furrowing as though she truly pitied me. "If Lara hadn't gone down the wrong path back then, she'd probably have a bright future now. What a shame…"

She didn't need to finish. Brody had clearly followed the thought to what came after. His expression darkened instantly.

He lifted Ellie's hand to his lips and kissed it gently. "She was always calculating, always chasing profit. She could never compare to you.

"If only I'd met you first..."

While they whispered to each other, my memory flickered again.

"Lara Quinn, you're being dismissed."

That day should have been my 25th birthday.

The screen lit up. I stood with my head bowed as someone slapped me hard across the face.

"You'd better get your act together!" The department's loudspeaker began broadcasting my termination notice on a loop.

"Following an investigation, Ms. Lara Quinn, while serving as a safety technician, was found to have accepted corporate bribes and falsified critical safety data, resulting in severe safety hazards.

"Effective immediately, Lara Quinn is dismissed and permanently barred from re-employment."

The familiar faces of my colleagues looked at me differently now.

"No wonder she's been wearing designer clothes lately. It turns out she was taking dirty money!"

"Poor Brody. He's about to marry someone with a criminal record!"

I kept my head down and gritted my teeth as I walked home. My eyes stung with tears, but I didn't say a word in my own defense.

When I got home, Brody didn't ask a single question. He acted like nothing had happened and cooked an entire spread to comfort me.

"Lara, it's okay. We can still make a difference outside the department."

I stared at the ribs on the table without lifting my gaze. Then I reached out and flipped the entire table over.

"Can making a difference pay the bills? Brody Pierce, I'm done with this endless poverty!"

His face went white as a sheet. "Don't do this…"

I stood up and cut him off without mercy. "I'm not doing anything! I'm telling you the truth!"

I pulled the ring he'd made for me off my finger and hurled it to the floor. "Wearing this thing makes me feel dirty!"

The sharp clatter echoed through the silent apartment. I stepped on the ring and ground it beneath my heel.

The metal scraped and shrieked. Brody's eyes turned bloodshot.

"Lara!"

I ignored him and kept going, my voice dripping with mockery.

"Let me tell you something. Mr. Wilcox from Apex Industries has already given me a large sum of money. That's worth a hell of a lot more than your pathetic dreams!"

I watched the color drain completely from his face. Then I smiled coldly, turned around, and slammed the door behind me.

The memory paused. The screen went dark, and the crowd in front of it erupted.

"That woman is pure evil! She threw away her conscience for money!"

"Mr. Pierce almost had his entire life ruined by someone like her!"

Furious comments flooded the screen like a waterfall, each one calling for me to be torn apart piece by piece.

In the courtroom, Brody's body trembled slightly. He clenched his fists so hard his knuckles went white.

Ellie threw her arms around him at just the right moment, gently patting his back. "Brody, don't be upset."

She let out a soft sigh, her voice carrying perfectly measured sympathy. "Lara only ever cared about money. She couldn't see what really mattered.

"Thank god you saw her true colors in time, or else…"

Brody's breathing quickened. He pulled Ellie tighter against him. "Ellie, I'm so glad I have you.

"Lara didn't deserve my feelings. She didn't deserve my future."

I watched them hold each other for a moment, then lowered my eyes. Apparently, souls could feel heartbreak too.

The screen lit up again, showing a private room in an upscale club. Beneath the crystal chandelier, I wore a tight red dress and moved between a group of sleazy chemical plant executives.

Glasses clinked. I had a sultry gaze as I laughed, all traces of the innocence I'd shown Brody completely gone.

"Ms. Quinn, you're such a pleasure to work with. Here's to you."

Gerard Wilcox from Apex Industries raised his glass, his heavy face plastered with a leering smile. I drained the wine without hesitation.

"You're too kind, Mr. Wilcox. We're all friends here."

I leaned closer with a coy smile, letting his hand slide around my waist. After God knew how many drinks, my hand rested against Gerard's chest as I pouted sweetly.

Finally, he nodded in satisfaction and pulled a bank card from his suit jacket. "This is the first hush payment. From now on, I'm counting on you to… polish our factory's data."

I took the card without hesitation and tucked it into my dress.

"Don't worry, Mr. Wilcox. You know I always deliver."

Raucous laughter erupted from the room.

"Ms. Quinn is so straightforward!"

"Ha! That bookworm Brody Pierce has no idea what women want!"

I smiled brightly, my face a mask of shameless flattery. My pale fingers flirted with his belt, tugging it suggestively.

The next instant, he waved his hand and ripped away my only piece of clothing right in front of everyone in the room.

The image blurred. Outside the courtroom, the crowd's fury reached its peak.

Comments saying "criminal", "disgusting", and "shameless for money" scrolled frantically across the screen, threatening to drown it entirely.

Brody's expression turned completely dark. The rage in his eyes looked ready to burst into flame.

"A woman like her, who only cares about money, deserves to be used by men. Dying in some bastard's bed would be too good for her!"

The comments piled on.

"How can a soul like this be pure white when she was literally selling herself?"

"She's filthy to the core. Mr. Pierce must have been blind to fall for a woman like that!"

Wave after wave of outrage crashed through the crowd.

Ellie wrinkled her nose in disgust, barely masking the revulsion in her voice. "How did Lara end up like this? Just for money?"

Brody's face turned ashen. He stared at me on the screen, his fists clenched so tight the veins bulged.

"Animal!" He spat the curse through gritted teeth.

Just when everyone thought the truth had been laid bare, the scene suddenly shifted. It was late at night in a damp, run-down basement.

Covered in hickeys, I sat beneath a dim yellow lightbulb and pulled stacks of cash from a metal box under the bed. Piles of bills sat on the table as I carefully divided them into hundreds of envelopes.

The comments froze for a moment, then erupted into a heated discussion.

"Why is she still living in a basement? Could there be more to this story?"

"What more could there be? Everyone saw her sleeping around!"

"She's probably planning to use that dirty money to bribe her way up the ladder. I've seen plenty of women like her."

"Look at all those envelopes. She must have a lot of clients!"

"Oh my God… How many terrible things did Lara do?" Ellie turned her face away as though she couldn't bear to watch anymore. She wiped at her tears in silence.

Brody pulled her into his arms, about to comfort her. But suddenly, a face appeared on the giant screen.

It was Ellie.

"Ellie!"

The moment she appeared in the footage, I jumped up and hurriedly gathered all the envelopes from the table. Then I pulled a USB drive from the drawer and handed it to her, my expression grave.

"Ellie, this has all the original evidence of their falsified pollution data, plus the ledgers showing bribes to senior officials. You have to give this to Brody yourself and get him to report it anonymously!"

I gripped her hand tightly, my voice desperate and pleading. "Remember, don't tell him it came from me. They're already watching me!

"If they find out I stole this evidence, they'll kill me!"

Ellie took the USB drive. Something complicated flickered in her eyes. "Lara, why are you doing this? Brody hates you now."

I smiled bitterly and shook my head. "If he finds out, knowing him, he'll report it without thinking twice. Then we'll both die.

"At least… at least this way, he gets to live."

The image cut off abruptly. The spectators frowned, struggling to believe what they'd just seen. The entire narrative had just flipped.

Panic flashed across Brody's eyes for a split second. He grabbed Ellie's wrist instinctively and demanded an answer.

"That evidence came from Lara? Why didn't you ever tell me?"

Ellie's eyes immediately reddened at his words. Her voice broke as she spoke, looking pitiful and fragile.

"When Lara broke up with you, it was so ugly, and she was hooking up with all those executives. I was just afraid that if I told you, you wouldn't want it…"

Upon seeing her cry so pitifully, Brody's heart softened immediately. He pulled Ellie into his arms and murmured soothing words.

The courtroom crowd saw this and fired off more comments.

"It's just a USB drive. Who knows what that woman Lara actually put on it?"

"Seriously? Are there really people dumb enough to believe a criminal would collect evidence?"

"So what if Ellie kept it secret? Don't forget that the explosion case was solved because she voluntarily handed over the key evidence!"

Seeing countless people defend Ellie, Brody said nothing more. Only his slightly furrowed brow remained.

I watched Brody still holding Ellie in his arms. I pressed my hand against the space where my heart used to be. It felt terrifyingly empty.

Just then, a technician let out a shocked cry.

"Mr. Pierce, something's wrong! Lara Quinn's soul particles are fluctuating violently! She… she has another memory segment with multiple layers of encryption! It's being forcibly decrypted now!"

Every eye turned back to the screen, while panic seized Brody's chest.

Then, an elderly voice rang out from the giant screen.

"Lara Quinn, from today forward, your code name is Clarity. You're our only chance to cut out the cancer that is Apex Industries."