Chapter 1

The wind on the rooftop howled around me. There was a 330-foot drop staring back at my shoes, and behind me was a welcoming committee of a dozen distressed police officers and firefighters.

Beyond them, a literal sea of people was holding up their phones, recording the scene. Right in the heart of the mall, a giant billboard was broadcasting my feat in real time.

At 2:30 pm on July 5, 2024, a woman in a bank uniform—that would be me—was running amok, smashing fire hydrants. Glass shattered, water geysered from the ruptured hydrants, and everything from the first to the third floors was a complete mess.

The stream's live chat was fast-paced.

"Is she out of her mind? Bro is literally trashing the mall in broad daylight."

"@RPD hurry up and arrest her! She's about to jump!"

"Hold up, I know her! She's Roxanne Parker, an executive at Continuum Bank. She's been on the financial news before!"

"She's an executive? Did she snap from the stress?"

The female police captain leading the team raised a megaphone. Her voice rang out, firm and measured, "Calm down, Ms. Parker! Please step back from the edge. I'm sure we can talk about this. Whatever it is, we'll help you resolve it!"

Ignoring her, I pulled out my phone to check the time. There were 30 minutes left before they made their move.

"If you take one more step forward, I'll jump." My voice was incredibly calm, yet it made all the police officers freeze in their tracks. None of them dared to take the risk.

Just then, a young reporter squeezed his way to the front and yelled, "Why are you doing this, Ms. Parker? Are you trying to punish society?"

I glanced at him and raised my voice to the microphone he held out to me. "I want to go viral. The more eyes on me, the better."

The crowd erupted.

"She's a lunatic! She's willing to risk her life just to go viral!"

"People like her belong behind bars! She should rot in prison!"

Scorn, curses, and bewildered looks washed over me like a tidal wave, but I couldn't care less.

Right then, a commotion broke out beyond the police cordon. My parents, Robert Parker and Margot Spencer, were being supported by a few officers as they stumbled through the crowd.

"Rox!" Mom choked out. "What on earth are you doing? Get down from there right this instant!"

Dad's lips quivered, his graying hair whipped into a mess by the wind. His clouded eyes were filled with anguish and disbelief. "Have you lost your mind, Roxanne? How can you do this to us?"

Looking at their weathered faces, my heart felt as though it was being crushed by an invisible hand, squeezing until I couldn't breathe.

In my previous life, because of me, Mom and Dad went to their graves branded as the "parents of a criminal", hounded by the neighbors' gossip until they died of misery. This time around, I had to use this method to protect them.

I closed my eyes, forcing back the tears that threatened to spill over. "Go home." When I opened my eyes, my voice was devoid of emotion. "I want the world to know who I am. I want all eyes on me."

The female police captain frowned and chided, "You're being incredibly selfish, Roxanne! Look at your parents!"

At that moment, my phone rang. I answered it, and my boyfriend, Callum Fisher's, pretentious voice came through the receiver. However, in the background, I could hear a woman's muffled, suppressed giggle.

"Are you still working at the bank, Roxie? I'm grabbing dinner with some friends tonight, so I won't be coming home. You'll have to figure out dinner on your own, okay?"

I could distinctly hear the subtle noises Jasmine Powell was intentionally making on the other end of the line, and it made my stomach twist with visceral disgust. In my previous life, these were the two people I trusted the most—and together, they had sent me straight to hell.

Suppressing the emotions churning inside me, I kept my tone deadpan. "Okay."

After hanging up the phone, I looked at the time displayed on the mall's giant screen. There were only five minutes left. Callum and Jasmine had successfully completed the transfer.