Chapter 17 Trap Me #2
“The situation is the same now… but I won’t do it again. I won’t sign another contract. If he’s married… good. I hope he is. Then at least, he won’t try to trap me again.”
She nodded to herself firmly, as if trying to hold herself together, even though her heart was beating painfully under her ribs.
Janet looked back at the massive building again, her eyes scanning every corner desperately as if Alexander would suddenly appear. But the street stayed silent. No cars pulling up. No familiar figure walking inside.
Nothing.
Slowly, she sank down against the cold wall near the entrance, her knees weak, her body trembling. She kept staring at the glass doors without blinking, waiting… even as her eyes grew heavy and exhaustion pulled at her.
Hours passed.
Day turned into night.
Night faded into another morning.
Still no sign of Alexander.
Janet looked completely undone—hair disheveled, clothes wrinkled and dirty, her face pale and lost—completely drained. She still didn’t move from her spot. She kept staring at the building, expression blank.
The cleaning lady arrived early in the morning. She paused, confused to see Janet sitting on the ground like a lost soul, but she didn’t say anything. She quietly swept around where Janet sat and moved on quietly.
Just then, a cab stopped nearby.
Christie and Victor jumped out in a panic the moment it stopped, panic written all over their faces. They spotted Janet immediately and rushed toward her.
“Janet?” Christie cried as she fell to her knees beside her. She grabbed Janet by the shoulders, lifting her carefully to help her stand. “What is going on? What are you doing here? Why are you sitting on the ground like this?”
Victor cupped Janet’s face, trying to get her attention.
Janet blinked at them, confused, her senses still blurred.
Victor finally got her focus and snapped, “Where the hell have you been?! We looked everywhere! We went to your house, asked the neighbours—no one knew where you were!”
He grabbed her arms. “Your mom’s condition is critical. She needs the surgery right now. They can’t take her in until you sign the consent form.”
Like a switch flipping, Janet’s expression twisted. Her eyes filled with panic and anger.
Suddenly, she gripped his arms and shoved him away violently.
“I’m not leaving this place!” she shouted, her voice cracking. “I can’t leave! I have to wait for Alexander so I can borrow money from him for Mom’s treatment!”
Her voice cracked, trembling, desperate.
“I need a lot of money… a lot,” she whispered, as if convincing herself. “As long as I get enough money from Alexander, Mom’s heart can be cured. Just like five years ago… last time… I saved her. Only I can save her. I just have to sacrifice my life. I have to get this money!”
Victor frowned deeply and grabbed her shoulders, turning her to face him directly.
“Janet, stop thinking about money!” he snapped sharply. “Christie and I already collected enough! We HAVE the money for the surgery! But your mom’s condition is getting worse every minute. We need to go to the hospital. Now. You have to sign the consent form for the operation!”
Janet stared at him for a second—then suddenly stepped back and slapped him across the face, hard.
“Get lost!” she screamed.
Christie gasped loudly, frozen in shock. “What the hell are you doing, Janet?! Have you lost your mind?!”
Janet remained silent and awkwardly still.
Christie’s anger kept rising as she snapped furiously, her voice trembling with frustration.
“Your mom is in the hospital fighting for her life, and you disappeared!” Christie shouted.
“You didn’t pick up any of our calls! We tried texting you, calling you nonstop, but you ignored everything.
You never came back to the hospital even once since you left!
What the fuck is wrong with you? That is your mom! ”
Victor’s face was also twisted with anger.
“Janet, we already collected the medical expenses! We told you there’s no need to worry about the money.
Christy and I have been running around the hospital these past few days, signing papers, talking to doctors, taking care of your mom and here you are—standing in front of your old company. Doing what?!”
His voice rose sharply. “What the hell do you want from him? What the fuck are you even trying to do?!”
Christie grabbed Janet’s shoulders roughly, shaking her. “Your mom is about to die and you are still not coming to your senses?! She’s lying in a hospital bed waiting to see you, and you didn’t even come once to check on her!”
But Janet wasn’t listening.
Her mind was spiraling. Her eyes kept darting toward the main road, then back to the company entrance, over and over again, scanning for Alexander’s car, hoping to see him, waiting, as if Alexander could appear any second.
“Why isn’t Alexander coming to save me this time? Just like last time… why isn’t he coming?” Her breath grew shaky as she stared at the building. “Is it because he saw that now I have a boyfriend? Is he angry? Is he avoiding me because I’m engaged to Victor? Is that why he doesn’t want to see me?”
Her eyes finally focused on Victor, and something snapped inside her.
Her face twisted with panic and desperation as she shouted, “I want to break up with you.”
Victor froze, staring at her in disbelief. Christie’s mouth fell open, horrified, as if Janet had completely lost her mind.
But Janet continued, her voice shaking, frantic, not stopping for a second. “I don’t want to be with you. Let’s break this engagement. I don’t want to be your fiancée anymore.”
With shaking fingers, she ripped off the ring Victor had placed on her hand and threw it at his chest.
“This is the ring you gave me when you proposed. I don’t want it. Take it back and get lost.”
She raised her voice, almost screaming now.
“I want to break up! Did you hear me? I do not want to be with you anymore!”
Victor looked at her with pure shock, his eyes wide as if he couldn’t believe the words coming out of Janet’s mouth. For a moment he stayed frozen, then finally he spoke in a disbelieving voice, frustration rising with every second.
“What is wrong with you? Are you still the Janet I fell in love with?” he asked, his voice trembling with anger.
He dragged a hand through his hair, breathing hard, and then a cold look appeared on his face. “Your mother is in the hospital, Janet. And you… you have no sense of responsibility to save her?”
His voice cracked as he continued.
“We already have enough money to treat her, but you’re still waiting for someone else to lend you money? For what?! Why the hell are you still looking for someone else to borrow money from? What do you even need money for when we have already cleared all the damn bills?”
His voice dropped to a low, pained whisper. “If it was just about money, did you really have to break up with me just to borrow money from him?”
Disappointment completely drowned the anger on his face.
“Alright,” he said, stepping back, shoulders slumping. “Since that’s what you want… I agree. Our relationship is over.” He swallowed hard. “You’re not my fiancée anymore.”
His voice was cold. He pointed sharply towards the road.
“But your mother is still in the hospital. Go to her. The medical bills—I already handled them. Just… just go and save your mother.”
Without waiting for her reply, he turned away, fists clenched, and disappeared down the sidewalk.
He turned away, anger written all over him as he walked off, disappearing from her side.
Christie stared at Janet with the same disappointment on her face. She let out a hollow laugh, shaking her head.
“I don’t know what is wrong with you, Janet, but I don’t want to be friends with someone like you anymore. I have never seen someone this irresponsible and out of their mind before.”
Her lips curled with disgust.
“I can’t tolerate this. Not anymore.”
She turned sharply and marched off, her hair swinging behind her as she vanished from Janet’s side.
Janet didn’t move.
She stayed standing in the same spot, her body shaking slightly. Her eyes kept darting toward the road again and again, waiting… looking for a familiar black car.
Hours passed quietly, the evening settling in once more.
Then her phone dinged.
She lifted it with trembling fingers and unlocked the screen. It was the company group chat—the one she still hadn’t been removed from even after quitting.
She opened it.
She opened it… and her eyes widened.
Dozens of photographs filled the screen.
Alexander in the secretary department, pulling Mia away in front of everyone.
His hand wrapped tightly around hers. Dragging her toward his office protectively. Images from different angles—taken by employees who had clearly been watching.
Under the photos, the chat messages were exploding.
‘Yes, I know! I wasn’t the only one who saw that. There’s definitely something going on between them.’
‘Could it be that Mr. Graves has been cheating on his wife?’
Another message popped up instantly.
‘Are you stupid? Haven’t you connected the dots yet? Mia IS his wife.’
Someone else replied:
‘Oh my god… that means it wasn’t my delusion. I saw them getting cozy near the staircase one day. I thought I imagined it because the next second they were gone.’
More messages flooded in:
‘Look at him pulling Mia away like that. That’s definitely not normal employee-boss behavior.’
‘Mr. Graves never gets close to any woman… but he’s holding her hand in front of everyone like that? She is definitely his wife.’
Another person laughed in the chat:
‘I can’t believe the most beautiful girl in our office turned out to be Mr. Graves’ wife.’
Someone else added:
‘Imagine if Mr. Graves saw our old messages—when half the guys in the office were fighting over getting her number.’
More panicked texts followed:
‘Guys, please don’t ever tell Mr. Graves that I tried to switch departments to get closer to her. I don’t want to die young.’
Another chimed in with the same fear. ‘Same here, bro. Mr. Graves cannot know I was asking around about her department to stalk her.’
The chat exploded with laughter.
‘Why am I not even surprised that the girl everyone was crushing on is actually our boss’s wife?’
Janet kept staring at the chat with shock frozen on her face. Her eyes darted between the photographs and the flood of messages. Her hands shook so badly that the phone nearly slipped from her grip. She couldn’t blink. She couldn’t breathe. It felt like her entire world had suddenly tilted.
Just then, a man walking past collided sharply with her shoulder.
Janet’s body wobbled from the impact. She stumbled backward, her heel catching on the pavement before she fell hard onto the ground.
For a moment, everything went blank, a strange buzzing filling her ears. After a few seconds, her eyes fluttered open again.
She blinked, unfocused and dazed.
“How… how is that possible?” she whispered under her breath. “Isn’t he supposed to be with me? I am the one who was special to him… He kept me by his side for five years… How can he abandon me suddenly and marry someone else?”
Her mind raced in circles. Her heart pounded painfully in her chest. Nothing made sense.
Then her gaze shifted—
and she saw a woman walking by with a little girl holding onto her hand.
Something inside Janet jolted.
As if struck by electricity, she forced herself off the ground, scrambling unsteadily to her feet. Her breath was shaking, her limbs weak, but she ran—she ran toward the hospital.
***
Three days later, Janet stumbled along an empty road. The sky was dark, streetlights flickering weakly, and her body seemed just as dim—unkempt hair, dirty clothes, trembling legs.
Her steps were uneven as she staggered backward and hit a cold concrete wall.
She slid down until her back pressed against it, her breath breaking apart.
“Mom is already dead… What reason do I even have now… to get into a contract and borrow money? How can I talk to Alexander?” She whispered, confused and lost.
She muttered to herself, voice cracking in the silence:
“Why did things become like this? My life shouldn’t be like this?This is not what I wanted… I wanted mom… I wanted Victor. A big house… a mansion. I wanted to sit in the VIP private areas…”
“I don’t want that contract to end… I really don’t want it to end…” Her voice dropped to a whisper. “I like Alexander… I’m… in love with him… I shouldn’t have given him to someone else…”
She pressed a trembling hand to her chest as if trying to hold herself together. Then, suddenly, she pushed herself up from the ground, her mind spiraling into chaos.
Her eyes were glassy, unfocused.
“It’s fine,” she muttered, breathing fast. “If someone like Alexander Graves can fall in love with me… then any other man will too. I just need to find another rich man. Yes. Another rich man. Another CEO. A CEO. Yes… a CEO… then I can sign another contract.”
Her breathing grew fast and frantic.
“I just need to find one and sign a contract with him…”
Her hair was messy, her clothes stained, and her entire appearance looked like she had been lost for days. She turned around wildly, eyes darting in every direction.
“Where should I go? Which company should I go to?” she whispered, panic twisting every word.
She spun around again, her body trembling violently as she searched the dark road.