I returned to the Room of Choices once again.
What the hell was that?
It’s not like I loved Naomi enough to kill someone.
This was a dream within a dream.
Inside the dream, I dreamed once again.
Inside the Room of Choices.
This time, I opened the door labeled:
Do Not Marry.
My Beginning Point…
Was the moment I was walking toward The Pink Door to propose to Naomi.
I slipped my hand into my suit pocket.
A small box.
The engagement ring I had prepared.
I took it out.
A luxurious purple ring box.
Inside was a one-carat diamond ring.
As I walked, I slowly turned the box over in my hand.
Then I stopped.
A trash can.
Without hesitation, I threw the ring box into it.
That was the end of it.
I turned around and headed home.
After that…
Naomi never called me even once.
My position as a partner at William Investment remained unchanged.
Every investment project I touched succeeded.
One month after returning from that Room of Choices…
Naomi married that bastard, Ralph.
Hmm.
So she’d been seeing him…
Even before she started dating me.
Then why did she approach me?
Who cares?
She’s not my wife anymore.
But it turned out…
It did matter.
After Chairman Niall died and Naomi became chairwoman, pressure slowly began building around me.
Invisible interference.
False information.
It was Naomi’s plan to weaken my influence.
Hah.
Is this revenge for my decision back then?
Fine.
Then I’ll just quit.
That very day…
I submitted my resignation.
The next morning after leaving the company…
Ding dong.
Ding dong.
“Who is it?”
“This is Andrew from the Prosecutor’s Office.
Is Luke here?”
I opened the front door.
A middle-aged man in a suit stood outside.
Behind him was a line of people.
Each of them carrying empty boxes.
…I’d seen this scene before.
“I’m Luke.
What’s this about?”
“Luke Miller, we are here to inform you that a search warrant has been issued under suspicion that you leaked company secrets and obtained illegal profits.”
Prosecutor Andrew held out the warrant.
It bore the judge’s official seal.
I was taken into custody on the spot and brought straight to the Seattle Federal Prosecutor’s Office.
For two weeks, I was investigated.
I insisted I was innocent.
The prosecutors didn’t care.
“Mr.
Luke, the evidence is overwhelming.
No matter how strongly you insist you’re innocent, you won’t get out of this.
You should confess and reduce your sentence.
I can help you.
Five years.
Five million dollars in fines.
You’ll have to return to society someday.”
“I don’t even know what you’re accusing me of.
How am I supposed to confess?”
“Then read this and sign that you committed everything voluntarily.
The documents the prosecutor handed me…
Were filled with evidence of crimes I had supposedly committed.
My email records.
Illegal profits from major investments made using insider information.
Records claiming I’d laundered those profits…
And shifted my taxes onto the company.
Every single piece of evidence…
Was fabricated.
Only one person could have created something like this.
The only person with the authority to access every employee’s email…
And control the finance department.
Naomi.
Why would Naomi do this?
The prosecutor looked at me with a sympathetic expression.
“By the way, Mr.
Luke…
Did you have some kind of issue with Chairwoman Naomi?
There’s been a rumor going around…
That there was conflict between you and her husband.”
He paused for a moment.
“If something like that exists…
Then you should sign even more quickly.
Chairwoman Naomi seems to be cornered.
Well?
Do you feel like signing now?”
I quietly looked at the prosecutor.
Then I picked up the confession papers.
Riiip.
I tore them in half…
And threw them onto the desk.
The judge delivered the sentence.
“For causing substantial financial harm to William Clair Investment Company, this court sentences you to ten years in prison and imposes a fine of thirty million dollars.”
Bang.
Bang.
Bang.
Ten years.
Thirty million dollars.
This life was over.