My phone buzzed violently in my pocket.

It was Ian.

I deliberately did not answer. I did not need to. I knew it was Ian trying to get me to rush back to the office, waiting for me to step into the trap.

I sniggered.

I hailed a taxi, but instead of heading to the office, I headed to the lottery center.

"Hello, I'm the one who won eight million dollars this morning. I need an official notarized certificate confirming my identity as the winner, right now."

In my previous life, I was so desperate to pay for my son's surgery that I had skipped the notarization completely.

That mistake cost me everything.

After I was framed, I thought about getting my winning notarized, but Mara and Ian had already bought off the staff at the lottery center.

They changed the personal details of the winner to a different person, so I could not prove that I had won the eight million dollars legally.

Once I had been notarized as the legal winner of the lottery, I even got the staff to print me the receipt of the transaction details of the money to my account.

I was not going to give Mara or Ian any opportunities to set me up in this life.

My phone rang once more. Still from Ian.

With a swipe, I answered the call.

"Jack! Why haven't you returned to the office yet? Don't you know something urgent has happened? This has to do with you. Mr. Madison has asked you to return right away!"

Ian sounded anxious, yet he would not explain what on earth was going on. Classic manipulation.

I knew he was trying to confuse me and make me feel worried, so that when I arrived at the office, I would be caught off guard by his plans.

I said calmly, "Sure, I'll be there."

I arrived at the office at my own pace. Ian looked at me with disappointment and furrowed brows, saying, "Jack, how could you do such a thing? You've really lost your mind."

I replied, "Stop speaking in riddles. Say what you mean."

Ian tried to suppress the smugness in his eyes and raised his voice on purpose, "Jack, you can stop the act. The company has found out about you secretly embezzling millions of their money!"

At that moment, the colleagues who were all working suddenly looked up at me in shock.

"Jack has always looked so honest and serious at work. How bold of him!"

"The company had found out someone was embezzling funds last week. Who would have thought that it was Jack!"

"You really can't judge a book by its cover. He looks honest, yet he was secretly such a greedy man!"

"Why does he need so much money? Is he having multiple lovers besides his wife?"

"It's hard to say. I heard that his son is sick and needs to undergo surgery. Maybe he's doing this for his son!"

"No matter what, embezzling company funds is illegal! A person with wrong morals like him will just end up in prison! Just watch!"

Everyone looked at me with condescension while murmuring among themselves.

Ian smiled smugly.

I remained calm, saying, "I didn't embezzle the funds. It wasn't me."

Richard Madison, the general manager, bellowed as he threw a stack of documents at me.

"Jack, there's cold, hard proof! You can stop lying! I trusted you! I was even going to recommend you for promotion last week. This is how you repay the company?"

I looked at them page by page.

They were financial audit reports, records of abnormal fund transfers from the company’s internal system. Every operation was logged under my name and employee ID.

Then, I saw the last page.

The most recent transaction was ten minutes ago.

Eight million dollars had been transferred from the company’s financial system into a bank account registered under my name.

I took my phone out and logged into my bank application.

Sure enough, I noticed a deposit of eight million dollars into my account ten minutes prior.

Richard barked, "Jack, what do you have to say for yourself?"

My colleagues looked at me with even more condescension.

"The evidence is right in front of him! See how he gets out of this! Just call the police to arrest him!"

"We worked so hard for the company just to earn a living. What right does he get to take the company's money?"

Anger spread quickly throughout the entire office.

Everyone was an employee doing more or less the same work. Of course, none of them were happy to see a colleague cheat the system and get rich overnight.

Ian watched it all unfold, his eyes gleaming with triumphant satisfaction.

I looked at Ian, but said to Richard, "Mr. Madison, don't you think this is all a little too convenient? I arrived at the office ten minutes ago, and eight million dollars just suddenly appeared in my account. I'm guessing that it was Ian who gave you all this evidence?"

Ian looked furious. "So, what if I did? Although we're colleagues, I can't just sit and let you hurt the company like this, which was why I reported you to Mr. Madison!"

I snickered. "I'm not the only one who can log into the financial system. Besides, the last time I logged in, you deliberately came over to have a look. You must've seen my password. How do I know you didn't do this just to frame me?"

Richard also thought things were too much of a coincidence. They looked into the embezzled company funds the week before. It had nothing to do with me, yet all evidence suddenly pointed to me.

Richard looked at Ian with furrowed brows.

A pang of panic flashed across Ian's face, but he immediately regained his composure.

"Mr. Madison, don't listen to Jack. The only reason I suspected him, besides the records, is because I also have a witness!"

"Yes, I'm the witness!"

The entire office was suddenly in an uproar, looking at Mara standing at the entrance of the office in bewilderment.

"Isn't she Jack's wife? Gosh!"

"If his wife says so, it must really be true!"

Ian said smugly, "Jack, even your wife reported you. What do you have to say about that?"

I was not surprised by Mara's appearance. In my previous life, Mara appeared right in the nick of time, just when the entire office was suspecting me of crimes I did not commit, to give the final fatal blow.

Mara was a great actor. Her eyes instantly reddened as she exclaimed, "Jack, I really didn't want to come forward, but I feel terrible!"

I sneered. "Mara, if you really had a heart, you'd be at the hospital with our son. Not here with Ian trying to frame me!"

Mara had a gleam of shiftiness in her eyes, but she immediately calmed down and yelled, "I'm doing this for our son! I don't want you to continue making this mistake until the point of no return!"

Mara continued with conviction, "If our son has a father who is a criminal, he will be bullied at school! He won't be able to live with his head held high! Your mistake will destroy our son's future!"

"Jack, it's not too late to admit to your crimes. You'll just end up in prison. This is just the punishment you deserve for committing such crimes!"

Ian chimed in, "Mara's right. Jack, you should turn yourself in. If you cooperate, maybe your sentence will be lighter."

"Yeah, your crimes have been exposed. Doesn't help being stubborn. You should just confess."

"You took something that wasn't supposed to be yours, so you should prepare to pay the price! Jack, turn yourself in!"

In that moment, everyone in the room had already decided my guilt. The chorus of asking me to turn myself in echoed endlessly around me.

Mara and Ian could barely contain their excitement and smugness.

I did not panic at all. Instead, I calmly said, "Mara, you're lying. If I had stolen the company funds, our son would've gotten the surgery a long time ago.

"I won eight million dollars today and handed the card to you so that you could pay for his surgery. Then, you turn around and accuse me of stealing from the company. How could you do this to Jayden, who's still lying in the hospital?!"

At the mention of our son, Mara did not budge one bit.

She said righteously, "I'm not lying! What would I gain from lying? Yes, Jayden needs the money to save his life, but you can't just embezzle funds! If you do, he'll only grow up being mocked and despised!"

I looked at Mara and enunciated, "Mara, Jayden is our only son. Are you really risking his life just so you could frame me?"

Mara's gaze turned icy, but she replied, "Jack, I'm doing this for our son! Stop being so stubborn and just turn yourself in. I'll find another solution for Jayden's surgery. We'll wait for you to come out of prison!"

Mara's performance was so flawless that the entire office began to side with her.

"I don't think his wife is lying. No mother would risk their son's life just to frame her husband!"

"Yes. They only have one son. I'm sure it would pain her to not have the money for her son's surgery, but Jack embezzled the funds. No matter what, he shouldn't have touched the money."

"Mara still has some senses in her. If there's no money for surgery, they could crowdfund online! It's much better than stealing from the company!"

"Besides, he stole millions. I don't think the surgery costs that much! He's just using his son as an excuse when in fact he just wants to spend the money on himself!"

Ian and Mara stood together, looking at me arrogantly.

I had no expression on my face, but I was secretly confused. Mara always claimed that our son's sickness had cost a lot of money, which affected the quality of her life.

However, I won eight million dollars in the lottery. With that money, not only could we cure our son, but we would also still have plenty left.

Besides, I was about to get a promotion and a raise. Our days were looking up. Why was she so adamant about joining Ian to betray me?

Ian was already married. Did she think that if she joined forces with Ian, she could become his wife?

Mara saw me standing there speechless. She thought I had nothing left to say.

She subconsciously touched her tummy and said kindly, "Jack, you've already broken the rules. You can't run from this. Just treat this as setting an example for your son. Turn yourself in. I promise you, I'll get him cured, alright?"

I glared at her. Besides money, there had to be some other reason for her to betray me.

At that moment, Richard said impatiently, "Call the police!"

I looked at my phone and smiled. "There's no need for that. They're already here."

As if right on cue, a few police officers entered the office.

Mara and Ian delightedly pointed at me and said, "Officers, that's Jack Lowe! Arrest him!"

The officers looked at me and nodded before asking, "Which one of you is Ian Staffer?"