Chapter 2: The Truth

Penelope couldn't remember how she had fallen asleep.

The pain in her stomach and the grief in her heart felt like an invisible ocean, and she was just a small boat adrift in it.

When she woke up the next morning, the other side of the bed was already empty.

Just then, Samantha's call suddenly came through.

Penelope lifted her hand to answer. Samantha's voice was somewhat apologetic. "Sorry, Penelope. I was swamped with work yesterday. I'm checking the system for you right now."

Penelope responded heavily, "Okay."

The sound of keyboard typing came through the phone—Samantha was searching.

It was only a few seconds, but to Penelope it felt like a century. Then Samantha's voice came through, full of disbelief, completely crushing the last faint glimmer of hope hidden in her heart into utter despair.

"Penelope, I checked the marriage system. It shows you're unmarried. But didn't you already marry Dominic?"

Samantha's words were like a sharp sword hanging over Penelope's head, finally falling.

Penelope couldn't control herself anymore. She dropped the phone and rushed straight into the bathroom.

There was no food in her stomach, but she couldn't stop dry heaving.

This sickening feeling of betrayal made her barely able to stand.

Penelope's face was covered in tears from retching. She slowly walked out of the bathroom. Samantha still hadn't hung up and was anxiously asking questions.

"Penelope, what's wrong? Are you okay?"

Penelope's voice trembled, each word carrying despair. "I'm fine. Thank you, Samantha. I have some other things to handle. I'll hang up now."

"Okay, let me know if you need anything."

After hanging up, Penelope slowly closed her eyes.

She didn't cry. Instead, she sat on the edge of the bed and opened her laptop.

Her fingers tapped lightly on the keyboard, pulling up a dark web terminal interface. Lines of green code appeared on the screen. She entered several strings of commands, data streams scrolling rapidly reflected in her pupils.

In just three minutes, she had hacked into the city hall's underlying database.

In the original records, the marital status field corresponding to her identity information clearly read: Unmarried.

And every query log had been carefully tampered with—including the interface she had called when she hacked in to check three years ago. All the return values were fake.

Penelope leaned back in her chair and let out a very soft, bitter laugh.

It wasn't that she lacked the ability to check—she had trusted him too much.

Now, she would never trust anyone again.

Back then, she thought marrying Dominic meant she had found a safe harbor in life. Although his personality was cold, and their interactions over the years had been perfunctory and polite, with Dominic only showing warmth in bed, she had still worked hard to maintain the marriage.

Until this moment, when the lie was torn apart.

The marriage she had relied on and worked so hard to maintain was a complete and utter fraud!

Penelope looked at the photo of her and Dominic on the nightstand. In the picture, only she was smiling. Dominic stood half a body's width away from her, his expression cold.

How had she only now noticed that even when taking photos, Dominic was unwilling to be close to her?

"Liar!"

Penelope forcefully swept her hand, throwing the photo into the trash can.

She pulled out her contacts and made a call.

"Hello, please draft a divorce agreement for me. As soon as possible."

She was getting a divorce.

After handling all this, she dragged her exhausted body to work.

But as soon as she entered the company, she was called to her supervisor's office.

Her direct superior, Grant Hoffman, was looking at her with displeasure. "Penelope, what exactly are you doing? Why hasn't the partnership with the Sinclair Group been finalized yet?"

A flash of surprise crossed Penelope's eyes.

She had talked to Dominic about the collaboration between the two companies before, and Dominic had clearly agreed.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Hoffman. I'll go ask Mr. Sinclair right away."

Grant urged impatiently, "Hurry up. The partnership with the Sinclair Group is key to our future development."

Penelope nodded reluctantly. After leaving the company, she took a cab straight to the Sinclair Group.

She knew where Dominic's office was. She stood at the door about to knock when suddenly a woman's flirtatious voice came from inside the office.

"Dominic, I'm already back in the country. Aren't you going to come clean with Penelope? I know you tricked her into marriage back then to protect me, to stop all those people at home pressuring you to get married."

"But now that I'm back, can't everything go back to how it should be?"

The woman's words exploded in Penelope's ears, one by one.

Her eyes hollow, she looked through the half-open crack in the office door and could just see Dominic holding Catherine lovingly in his arms.

It wasn't that Penelope hadn't thought about confronting Dominic about why he lied to her. They were married, after all. But now, before she could even ask the question, the answer was already laid out before her. She had been Dominic's planned substitute all along.

Dominic hadn't noticed her outside the door and was still focused on comforting Catherine.

"Dealing with the marriage between Penelope and me is a bit complicated. Even though it's fake, everyone outside knows she's my wife. Give me some time to handle it."

Catherine nestled in his arms coquettishly. "I know you have your difficulties. It's okay. No matter what happens, I'll always wait for you."

Penelope's eyes burned as she watched.

The pain she had barely suppressed with painkillers that morning now wrapped around her densely, like invisible vines tightly strangling her neck, making it almost impossible to breathe.

She had always thought Dominic was a very cold person, but at this moment she truly realized that wasn't the case.

Dominic could be gentle, could comfort people—it was just that there was always a place for Catherine in his heart.

He had even pushed her out as a shield to help Catherine return to his side faster and better.

Penelope practically fled in panic.

She returned to the company like a ghost, her mind full of the office conversation she had just overheard.

She wasn't just a fool—she was a useful tool.

A colleague saw her looking lost and came over, waving a hand in front of her. "Penelope, why do you look so pale? Oh, I forgot to tell you—our company suddenly hired a new executive today. I heard he's really handsome."

Penelope blinked, about to speak, when suddenly enthusiastic applause erupted behind her.

"Let's welcome the company's new president, Matthew Hartwell."

Penelope whipped her head around, eyes full of disbelief as she looked at the man and woman walking in from the entrance.

For so many years, the name Matthew had been a scar at the bottom of her heart she didn't dare touch, because Matthew was her first love.

But at this moment, there was a beautiful woman standing beside Matthew.

Her colleague gossiped curiously, "The woman next to Mr. Hartwell is so pretty. She must be his girlfriend, right?"

Penelope's hand, hanging at her side, silently clenched tight.

Matthew's expression was blank as he surveyed everyone in the room, not even giving Penelope an extra glance.

"Everyone, although I just started, I hope you can all maintain your original work attitude and ability. Let's work hard together in the future."

Just then, a flowerpot on the second-floor stairs suddenly fell!

"Watch out!"

The flowerpot smashed on the ground, shattering into pieces.

Matthew didn't hesitate to protect Chloe Hamilton in his arms. His movement was so forceful that he didn't even notice he had bumped into Penelope beside him.

Penelope was completely unprepared. Her already weak body, hit by this sudden collision, fell hard to the ground. A piercing pain instantly shot through her wrist.

She didn't even have the strength to stand up. She could only gasp for breath and look up at Matthew in the distance.

Matthew still didn't spare her a glance. Instead, he kept asking Chloe if she was scared.

Penelope's heart was wounded again at this moment. With a colleague's help, she slowly stood up with desperate irony. The phone in her pocket suddenly rang.

It was a call from Dominic's assistant, Tessa Young.

"Mrs. Sinclair, Mr. Sinclair wants you to help Ms. Morrison handle the PR for yesterday's birthday publicity. In exchange, the Sinclair Group will partner with your company."