They Swapped Me Away, Then Begged Me to Return Chapter 08

They Swapped Me Away, Then Begged Me to Return Chapter 08

I shut down the playback of my old world and sat alone for a long time.

Tessa knocked and stepped inside, holding a box of adhesive bandages. “Have you been picking at your wrist again?”

I glanced down, realizing the red indent from the bracelet was rubbed raw.

She didn’t press me for details about what I’d watched, just smoothed a bandage over the bone of my wrist. “What’s broken can heal over time, slowly but surely.”

I hummed a quiet response.

The next morning, I headed back to the office to keep sorting through data.

Fiona dumped a pile of receipts onto my desk. “Lucy filed dozens of fake collaboration fees using these invoices. Go through them and flag anything suspicious.”

I cross-referenced every receipt one by one until my eyes burned with exhaustion by the afternoon.

Eventually, I traced three large payments flowing into a single account — not Lucy’s, but a shell corporation with no legitimate business records.

Dylan read my findings and stayed silent for a long while.

I thought back to the random app that had popped up on every phone back home, and a chill ran down my spine.

None of Lucy’s success had been some miraculous stroke of luck.

That evening, the whole team held a meeting.

Someone raised their hand. “Should we file a police report?”

Fiona’s gaze landed on me. I braced for suspicion, but instead she slid a printed stack of evidence across the table. “You present the findings.”

I stared at her in shock. “Me?”

“You uncovered all this proof.” Her tone was steady and unwavering. “Credit belongs to whoever did the work.”

Those words made my throat tighten with emotion.

Back in my old life, I’d pull all-nighters drafting complete proposals, only for Dad to praise the other Leah’s minor edits. Evan would take my finished research and claim the alternate me had framed the ideas better.

I’d never once been fully credited for the work I’d poured my heart into.

I stepped up to the projector screen. My voice shook at first, but grew steadier as I walked through every line of evidence.

No one cut me off.

No one called me overly sensitive.

No one snatched my hard work to hand over to someone else.

Once the meeting wrapped up, Dylan handed me a plastic staff ID card. “Temporary consultant position. The pay isn’t much yet.”

I took the card, warmth spreading across my palms.

That night, Tessa brought home a tiny cake. She sent me a photo of the ingredient list beforehand.

“No mango at all. No mango-flavored filling either.”

I stared at the dessert and smiled for the first time since my birthday months ago—the first sweet treat that fully belonged to me.

Tessa stuck a single candle into the frosting. “A belated birthday celebration.”

Fiona showed up too, awkwardly settling a manila folder on the table. “Don’t get the wrong idea. This is your official onboarding paperwork.”

Dylan leaned against the doorframe. “Make a wish.”

I closed my eyes. I didn’t wish to go back to my old family. I only hoped I’d wake up tomorrow still allowed to stay right here.

The second I blew out the candle, the old tablet flickered to life again.

This time it wasn’t a recorded feed—it was an incoming video call request from my original world.

The caller ID read Evan.

My heart gave a faint, sharp twitch at his name.

A prompt flashed across the screen: [Accept Call?]

I hesitated, my finger hovering over the screen.

Tessa glanced over. “Who’s reaching out?”

I flipped the tablet face-down onto the table. “Someone from my old life.”

She shrugged gently. “Hold onto it until you’re ready to listen, if ever.”

I didn’t take the call that night. I tucked the tablet into a desk drawer and fell asleep to the soft sound of wind outside my window.

When I woke the next morning, Tessa was frying eggs in the kitchen.

A text from Fiona popped up: the police report paperwork was finalized, asking if I could arrive at nine.

Dylan only sent four short words: [Don’t skip breakfast.]

Reading those simple, everyday words made my eyes sting.

I glanced down at my new staff ID card. It printed Leah. Not a replacement for anyone.

Just me.