My Girlfriend Made Me Take the Fall

The new intern at the firm was a handsome idiot.
Just as my project hit a critical phase, he swapped high-strength steel for standard grade. The stadium roof collapsed overnight, injuring ten workers.
Before I could investigate, Julian Miles ran to our director—my girlfriend, Seraphina Vance—with red-rimmed eyes and an innocent face.
“Director Vance,” he whimpered, “I was just trying to save money…”
Seraphina shielded him and turned on me coldly. “You’re the project manager! Why blame the intern?”
Furious, I struggled with an asthma flare-up. Julian insisted on “helping” me apologize to the victims’ families.
On the stairs, his grip slipped—or he shoved me. My head hit the concrete, and everything went black.
A week later, I died in the ICU from a brain injury.
I heard Julian sobbing, “If I wasn’t so stupid, Liam wouldn’t have died.”
Seraphina comforted him, “It was an accident. Not your fault.”
My death was ruled a suicide. My parents lost everything and froze to death on the streets.
Then, I opened my eyes—back to the day Julian was about to submit the order.

1
I saw him walking toward the procurement department, list in hand, and my voice was a whip crack across the office.
“Julian Miles! Who gave you permission to modify the materials list?!”
He jumped, a flicker of panic in his eyes before it was replaced by a disarmingly innocent smile. “Oh, Liam! The list had so many different types of steel, it looked really complicated. I just swapped them for the most common one to make purchasing easier! I was just trying to be more efficient!”
I snatched the paper from his hand and jabbed a finger at the altered specifications. “Complicated? This is the key component ensuring the structural integrity of the entire roof! If you use the wrong material and that roof comes down, can you bear that responsibility?”
Julian’s lower lip trembled, his excuse a perfect echo of my past life. “They looked pretty much the same to me… and the standard steel is so much cheaper. I was just thinking about the project’s budget…”
I let out a cold, sharp laugh and turned away from him to face Mr. Evans, the senior engineer who had drafted the original list.
“Evans, if this order goes through and the construction team builds according to this, the roof’s load-bearing capacity will fail. When the accident happens, you, me, and this entire firm will be held responsible. Do you understand?”
The blood drained from Evans’s face as the consequences hit him. A cold sweat broke out on his forehead. “Yes, sir! Understood!” he stammered. “It was my oversight, Liam! I’ll never let an unauthorized person touch these documents again!”
At that, Julian’s eyes welled with tears. “Mr. Evans, I was just trying to help you! How can you side with him to bully me like this?” he cried, his voice rising. “We interns do the hardest work for the least pay, and now we have to deal with workplace bullying too?”
His outburst drew stares from our colleagues. Right on cue, Seraphina stepped out of her office.
Her brow furrowed at the scene. She strode directly to me, her tone sharp with disapproval. “Liam, what could possibly be so important that you feel the need to shout at a new intern in front of the entire office?”
I fought to keep my rage in check, pointing at the list. “He replaced the high-strength steel with a standard grade. This is about architectural safety and people’s lives!”
Seraphina glanced at the paper, then waved a dismissive hand. “Julian just graduated. He’s bound to make mistakes. As his senior, you should guide him, not blow this out of proportion.”
Julian seized the opportunity, bowing a full ninety degrees to me, his voice thick with tears. “I’m so sorry, Liam! It’s my fault, I’m just too stupid! Please don’t be mad. I’ll do anything you ask!”
Whispers erupted around us from those who didn’t know the full story.
“Ugh, another manager picking on the new guy.”
“It’s a simple mistake. Just correct it and move on. Who didn’t mess up at their first job?”
“Yeah, even Director Vance said so. Isn’t Liam overreacting?”
Listening to them, a strange calm washed over me.
“Seraphina, since you admire him so much, you can supervise him from now on. Any future mistakes he makes will be your full responsibility.”
She scoffed. “Fine, I will. But your attitude today was unacceptable, Liam. You will apologize to Julian.”
I was done arguing. I took the correct materials list, turned, and handed it to the procurement manager. “Order according to this original list. No changes.”
I walked back to my desk. But Julian, like a persistent ghost, followed me.
“It’s okay if you don’t apologize, Liam,” he said with false sincerity. “I’m a forgiving person. I don’t hold grudges.” His voice dropped to a conspiratorial whisper, laced with triumph. “But… Director Vance has been taking really good care of me lately. I’d hate for her to be angry with you over this. It might affect your relationship.”
I didn’t even look up. “Are you bored? If you are, go find something to do instead of being an eyesore.”
Julian bit his lip, but for once, he didn’t argue. He turned and walked away.
Less than half an hour later, a crash and a collective gasp echoed from the direction of the archives.

2
My stomach lurched. I shot up and ran.
The archives were a disaster zone. Several filing cabinets were toppled over, their contents—priceless blueprints and documents—scattered across the floor.
Ms. Davis, the archivist, was trembling with rage, pointing a shaking finger at Julian, who was hiding behind Seraphina. “Who told you to touch these blueprints? And you spilled ink on them! These are archival copies, the firm’s treasures! They’re irreplaceable, do you understand that? Irreplaceable!”
Julian’s face was pale. He clutched at Seraphina’s jacket, his eyes wide and tearful. “Director… I saw some dust on the drawings, so I tried to wipe them off… I just accidentally knocked over the ink bottle. I really didn’t mean to…”
Seraphina’s expression was thunderous as she looked at the blackened, ruined blueprints. But when she saw Julian’s pathetic, quivering form, her tone softened impossibly. “It’s alright, it’s alright. It’s not your fault. It was an accident.”
She turned her icy gaze on the heartbroken Ms. Davis. “You’re in charge of the archives. You knew Julian was new. Why didn’t you inform him of the rules beforehand? This incident is your responsibility! The cost of restoring these blueprints will be deducted from your salary!”
Ms. Davis stared, utterly dumbfounded by the injustice.
Julian was still sobbing his apologies. “I’m so sorry, Ms. Davis. It’s all my fault, I’m so stupid… Liam told me to find something to do, and I just wanted to help. I never thought I’d cause you so much trouble. I’ll pay you back as soon as I get my first paycheck, I promise.”
Seraphina sighed and patted Julian’s shoulder. “Don’t be too hard on yourself, Julian. The blueprints… maybe some of them can be salvaged. Don’t let it weigh on you.”
How could it weigh on him? The one taking the fall was the hardworking, diligent Ms. Davis. The value of those original blueprints was immeasurable. Even if some could be restored, the cost would be astronomical.
Seraphina had always prided herself on being fair and strict. When I first started, she publicly berated me and docked three months of my bonus for accidentally tearing a tiny corner off an unimportant draft.
Now, faced with the irreparable damage Julian had caused, she was downplaying it, even shifting the blame to an innocent party.
Emboldened, Julian even tried to pass the buck entirely. “Actually, this is all Liam’s fault. If he hadn’t been bossing me around, I wouldn’t have caused this mess…”
I let out a cold laugh. “Julian, did I tell you to spill ink on archival blueprints? You make a stupid mistake and immediately blame someone else. How did you even get hired here?”
Before the words were fully out of my mouth, a sharp crack echoed through the room.
Seraphina had slapped me. Hard.
It caught me completely off guard. My cheek burned, and my ears rang.
“Liam Carter!” she seethed. “The one shirking responsibility is you! Julian is an intern! He doesn’t know any better! As his supervisor, you should be teaching him with patience, not targeting him with your bitter remarks! Is this what you call professional conduct?”
Behind her, Julian shrank back, his tears falling even faster, as if he were the one who had been wronged. “Director, please don’t fight with Liam because of me… It’s all my fault. I never should have come to this firm…”

3
I clutched my stinging cheek, my gaze sweeping over Seraphina and Julian, as cold as ice.
“Fine. I will cover Ms. Davis’s loss. But Seraphina, we’re done.”
To my surprise, she agreed without a moment’s hesitation. “I was thinking the same thing. Before I met Julian, I thought it didn’t matter who I was with. But when he came along, I finally understood what true love feels like.”
What a joke. We had been together for eight years, from college until now, and she was telling me she had just found “true love”?
Ms. Davis tugged at my sleeve, her eyes pleading with me not to be rash.
I watched Julian pull a tearfully grateful Seraphina into his arms and felt the corner of my lip curl into a small, bitter smile.
“It’s okay. I’ve never been more clear about anything in my life.”
A cheater and a walking disaster. They deserved each other.
In the end, I called in a favor from a friend who specialized in restoring historical documents. He managed to save the blueprints. Neither Ms. Davis nor I had to pay a cent.
After that incident, every project team in the office treated Julian like the plague.
I thought he might have learned his lesson and would lay low for a while.
I was wrong. The very next day, the head of a partner firm stormed into our office, his face purple with rage.
“Liam! What is wrong with your firm? Who submitted this final version of the construction plans? The core data is completely wrong! You almost caused a massive failure in our multi-million dollar equipment installation!”
I took the plans and saw it immediately. Someone had altered key data points before submitting the file to the client.
In the signature block was my own electronic seal.
A quick check of the industry’s online forums confirmed my fears. A post titled “#MajorDesignFirmFumbles, Senior Architect Accused of Malpractice!” was trending. The comments were brutal.
“These so-called experts are a joke! They don’t even have the basics down!”
“This Liam Carter guy is supposed to be a top graduate from Crestwood University’s architecture program? What a disgrace to his school!”
“Everyone, remember this name and face. Avoid him at all costs for future projects!”
It didn’t take a genius to figure out who was behind it. I went straight to Seraphina.
“You let him use my electronic seal to submit faulty plans. That’s a major breach of protocol and has caused severe damage to both the firm’s and my personal reputation!”
Julian stood beside her, pouting innocently. “I just saw how busy Liam was every day, and I wanted to help him out…” he mumbled. “The data didn’t look quite right to me, so I adjusted it a little. I had no idea it would be such a big deal…”
Seraphina rubbed her temples, looking exhausted but still shielding him. “Julian was just trying to be helpful, to lighten your workload. The mistake was caught in time, no actual damage was done. Can’t you be a little more gracious?”
I rolled my eyes, not bothering to argue. I pulled out my phone. “If I don’t receive a public clarification and an apology, I’ll let my lawyer get me one.”
Seeing I was serious, Seraphina’s expression hardened. “Fine! Do you have to make a federal case out of every little thing? I’ll issue a clarification from the firm’s official account.” She paused, her gaze turning cold and menacing. “But your complete lack of team spirit convinces me that you’re no longer fit to be a project manager.”
I slapped the resignation letter I had already prepared onto her desk.
She glanced at it but made no move to sign. “Trying to threaten me with quitting? I wasn’t finished. What I mean is, you should be giving Julian more opportunities to learn and grow.”
I laughed internally but agreed with a pleasant smile. “Of course. I’ll make sure he gets all the opportunities he deserves.”
After Seraphina posted the clarification, she began to systematically strip me of my authority. But she refused to approve my resignation, instead dumping all the most difficult and tedious projects on my desk.
Meanwhile, Julian, with his new "opportunities," was a fountain of failures. He’d take a client’s request for modern minimalism and produce a render that looked like a cheap country nightclub. He’d mess up the page order on important bid documents, sticking Company B’s price list into the proposal for Company A.

4
The complaint calls piled up. The pressure on Seraphina mounted until she suggested transferring Julian to the administrative department to handle basic tasks.
But Julian tearfully refused, his voice choked but firm. “Director, I know I’m stupid and I keep messing things up… but I really want to be a great architect! It’s my dream!”
Defeated, Seraphina agreed. Under her direct and constant supervision, Julian finally managed to stop making mistakes. She let out a huge sigh of relief.
Until the day the firm landed a major government-led project: a landmark cultural center. The project was being personally overseen by Mr. Thornton, a highly respected, retired city official.
Mr. Thornton was known for his exacting standards. He insisted on regular, personal visits to the construction site. Though he was a gentle man, he had an eagle eye for incompetence. The initial phase of the project went smoothly under his watch.
To give Julian more "experience," Seraphina had him tag along, responsible for simple on-site communication and document delivery.
That afternoon, an emergency call came through to the project team. The construction foreman’s voice was shaking, the background filled with frantic, panicked shouts.
“There’s been an accident! At the site! Mr. Thornton was hit by a falling support frame! He’s unconscious, the ambulance is taking him to the hospital now!”
My heart seized. I rushed to the hospital.
In the emergency room, Mr. Thornton lay on a gurney, his head covered in blood, utterly still as doctors and nurses fought to save him.
“What happened?” I demanded.
Julian was just crying, unable to form a coherent sentence.
The foreman explained. “Mr. Thornton was inspecting the main exhibition hall when a support frame overhead suddenly came loose. That section… Julian had submitted an ‘optimized’ plan for it. Said it would cut costs and speed things up. We had no idea… no idea this would…”
I snatched the so-called “optimization” blueprint from his hands.
One glance was all it took. I almost passed out from sheer rage.
It wasn’t an optimization; it was a death trap. He had recklessly simplified the support structure in a critical area, using a flimsy design and cheap materials that were flagrantly in violation of safety codes. He had set a trap over the heads of the workers and Mr. Thornton.
And Mr. Thornton had paid the price.
“Who told him to change the structural plans?!” I roared. “Do you think this is a game?!”
Julian flinched, his eyes swimming in tears. “The Director said the original plan was too complicated… I was just trying to save time and money, so I tried to optimize it. I never thought this would happen…”
“Optimize?!” I was shaking with fury. “This is a criminal disregard for safety! Is that what architecture is to you? A joke?”
But it was too late. Mr. Thornton died on the operating table.
His son, Marcus Thornton, a powerful and influential local entrepreneur, arrived at the hospital in a storm of grief. When he learned his father had died because the design firm had unilaterally changed construction plans, his sorrow turned to a burning rage. He grabbed Seraphina, who had just arrived, by the collar, his eyes bloodshot.
“Director Vance! My father was just checking on the project’s progress. How is he suddenly dead?! Your firm owes me an explanation!”
Seraphina’s first instinct was to pull the stunned Julian behind her. Her sharp gaze then locked onto me, her voice ringing with absolute certainty.
“It was Liam Carter! He approved the faulty blueprint! He failed to conduct a proper review, which led to this tragic accident! We will handle this with the utmost seriousness and give you a satisfactory answer!”
As if finding a lifeline, Julian began to sob his agreement, pointing a trembling finger at me. “Yes… yes, it was Liam who told me to tell the construction team to use the new plan. He said it was the final version… It’s my fault, I was too stupid, I trusted him too much… sniff… it’s all my fault…”
Marcus Thornton’s hateful gaze snapped to me. “Fine! A ‘senior architect’! My father is dead, and it’s your fault! I will make you pay!”
He pulled out his phone and called the police.
Soon, police cars were parked outside the firm. As the officers approached to take me into custody, my gaze remained perfectly calm, fixed on Julian and Seraphina.

5
My voice was steady, repeating Julian’s own words back to him.
“Julian. Are you sure I’m the one who told you to tell the construction team to use the new plan? Are you certain?”

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