“Dad, if I tell everyone that Mom and Mr. Peterson are together, can Aunt Jessica become my mom?” I jolted awake in the middle of the night, hearing those words after getting up to use the restroom. Aunt Jessica, as Leo called her, was our new tutor. A while ago, Leo had whined about wanting a tutor, and David had been surprisingly enthusiastic about finding one for him. The tutor, Jessica Miller, graduated from a prestigious business college, studied abroad, and used to be an executive at a well-known company. Her resume was incredibly impressive. That someone with such a background would agree to take on a simple tutoring job for us was a bit of a surprise, but seeing how well she got along with my son, I didn’t think much of it. Jessica told me, “Stella, I don’t have many friends or family here. I don’t really care about the salary; just providing me a place to live is enough.” Back then, I had no idea she was David’s first love. Before we got married, I knew David had a first love. He said they dated in college, but she dumped him and went abroad because she thought he was poor. He claimed he hated her guts. When we got married, he knelt on one knee in front of me, eyes red. “Stella, you’re the only one who truly cares for me. I, David Miller, will only love you in this life. If I break this vow, may I suffer a terrible fate!” His family was poor, and his relatives and friends barely acknowledged him. I was the one who stood by him, helping him build his career until he became a regional manager for a major Asian company, earning millions a year. “Leo, if you do exactly what Dad tells you, your mom won’t be able to boss you around anymore. Aren’t you excited?” “I am!” Jessica sat in my husband’s lap, gently stroking my son’s head. This whole idea was Jessica’s. David wanted a divorce but was afraid I’d take his money, so he planned to frame me for cheating and make me leave with nothing. After Leo fell asleep. My husband and Jessica sat on Leo’s study desk, kissing passionately. Their clothes were half-undone, their explorations deep. I could hear their heavy breathing through the monitor. I calmly recorded the video and sent it to my lawyer. “Is this enough to make him leave with nothing?” He had no idea that I was just as afraid of him taking my massive fortune. My family was incredibly wealthy. My parents owned properties all across the country; I could just lie around and collect rent, with more money than I could ever spend. When I first met David, he had a deep resentment towards wealth. He said his first love abandoned him for money to go abroad, and he’d hated rich people ever since. So, I never dared to tell him the truth: I was filthy rich! To match his lifestyle, I wore bargain-bin clothes every day and bought cheap produce at the supermarket. He had a fragile ego. He’d lost his job and spent his days at home drinking, complaining that no one recognized his talent. To protect his pride, I secretly approached Mr. Sullivan, offering to lower his rent by thirty percent, on the condition that he give David a chance. Mr. Sullivan immediately called David personally and offered him a job. On his first day of work, he bought a big cake, kissed me like I was the most precious thing, and promised to earn lots of money to support Leo and me. Now, for a few miserable millions, he was conspiring with his mistress to frame me for cheating. He was pathetic. If he’d paid any attention to me, he’d have seen the dozens of keys on my nightstand. The next day. As David was leaving, he leaned in to kiss me. I pretended to look down, avoiding it. He paused, then chuckled. “Honey, I’ll pick you up after work tonight. Dress up nicely.” It was my birthday today. He’d been talking about a big surprise for me for two weeks. If I hadn’t witnessed last night’s scene, I wouldn’t have known that his so-called surprise was actually a trap for me. I gave him a sweet smile. “Okay.” You want to watch a show? You just don’t know whose show it’ll be. “Leo, come here.” Jessica lifted Leo from the dining table and said in an overly sweet voice, “Say goodbye to Mom.”
Leo obediently told me, “Bye, Mom.” Then Leo took Jessica’s hand and left with David. Leo used to hate going to school. He’d refuse to wake up, refuse to eat breakfast, crying and throwing tantrums no matter how patiently I tried to coax him. Jessica told me, “Stella, I have to go out every day anyway. Why don’t I just drop Leo off at school on my way?” Leo listened to her and went to school obediently, which saved me a lot of trouble. Then a few days later, David said, “It’s on my way to work, I’ll drive you both.” From then on, they all left together. I ate my toast, watching Jessica and David holding Leo’s hand, get into the car. Jessica sat in the passenger seat, laughing and talking to my husband, while my son sat quietly in the back, swinging his feet, looking very happy. Soon after, Sam sent me a surveillance video. David didn’t take Leo to school. Instead, he dropped Leo and Jessica off at a large shopping mall. Jessica browsed luxury goods, buying clothes and bags. She took Leo to the children’s play area on the first floor, bought him a pile of fried foods and sodas, and let him sit there and eat by himself. When Leo was little, he was mischievous and had half his spleen removed due to an injury. The doctors said his diet needed to be bland, so I never allowed him to eat these things. He’d thrown tantrums a few times, protesting with hunger strikes, but after a few days of starving, he’d learned his lesson. He saw my firm stance and didn’t dare to act up again. I called Leo’s teacher. “Ms. Davies, did Leo not come to school today?” “Leo’s mom, Leo has been absent for several days. Leo’s dad called to say his grandmother had passed away. We were afraid of upsetting you, so we didn’t call to confirm.” Ha. David even dared to lie about my parents now. My parents looked down on David, that poor guy. They’d objected to our marriage, even saying I dressed like a beggar every day. They never brought David to their home. For holiday dinners, they’d book a restaurant that suited his status. If it weren’t for Leo, they wouldn’t even bother to see David. All these years, I’d asked them to keep a low profile, and it truly hadn’t been exposed. Now David was successful, and he secretly looked down on my parents. “My mother is perfectly fine. He must have misremembered; it was his mother who passed away. Please don’t tell Leo’s dad about my call today.” Ms. Davies hung up, flustered. The luxury items Jessica bought were for a woman. I knew that woman too: Ashley Davies, my next-door neighbor. But the man on her arm wasn’t her husband, Blake, but a young, strong guy. No wonder Jessica wanted to frame me for having an affair with a neighbor. It turned out Ashley was already cheating. Ashley and Jessica instantly clicked, deciding to frame me for an affair with Ashley’s husband, so Ashley could get a divorce and her share of the property legitimately. After they separated, Ashley and the young guy went to a hotel. I immediately sent the room number to Ashley’s husband. Want to watch my show? That’s probably not going to happen. I sipped my tea, leisurely watching Jessica frantically making calls outside. She was probably calling Ashley. The banquet was about to start, and she needed Ashley to bring her husband over to continue her plan. From what I knew, Blake was a boxer, an international boxing champion. By this time, Ashley might be getting a beating.
I put on a beautiful gown, taking the rare effort to do my hair and makeup. “Honey, aren’t we leaving yet? What are we waiting for?” David quickly glanced at Jessica, then smiled and replied, “Okay, let’s go.” Jessica forced a smile. “Stella, I have something to take care of. I’ll come later.” They were so obvious. Was I blind before? I got into the car. The passenger seat was pulled far back. “Honey, has anyone been in the passenger seat?” David’s face paled. “Maybe Leo was playing there earlier.” Leo lied without batting an eye. “I reclined it to sleep earlier.” He didn’t know that I had already removed the memory card from the car. David and Jessica hadn’t been able to resist having a moment in the passenger seat. And my son was in the back seat, playing games. David had booked a fancy ballroom. All the backdrops were adorned with our wedding photos, our family portraits. He pushed a five-tier cake to the center of the stage, looking deeply into my eyes. “Honey, thank you for being with me for the past ten years, building everything from scratch. My achievements today are thanks to your silent dedication all these years. In the future, let’s walk happily together! We’ll have many more decades, growing old together, I love you!” The audience erupted in applause. He really spared no expense. This banquet invited all his company employees to witness our love. The more he pretended to love me, the more impactful it would be when he publicly exposed my supposed affair. Knowing his true colors, everything he did sickened me. Leo brought a glass of juice to me. “Happy birthday, Mom.” He was obedient, well-behaved. To outsiders, I was so happy, with a loving husband and a dutiful son. Only I knew that the juice had been drugged. David and I used to be so in love. When I first met him, it was summer break. I went back to my parents’ old house in the countryside to look after it. He was a tenant there. In that whole building, his electricity bill was always the highest. He’d stay up all night studying, with his lights on. Back then, I thought this young man was hardworking and ambitious. He was also handsome, refined, and looked very honest. I’d run into him several times a day. He’d come downstairs in an ill-fitting suit to throw out the trash. Later, he told me he fell for me at first sight, saying I was cute, and that he did all that to get my attention. He certainly did get my attention. He was good-looking, had excellent grades, and always brought me a sweet treat when he returned. He said my smile was sweeter than any dessert. My family was wealthy, but I hadn’t pursued much education. I had no resistance to a man like him. My parents wanted to send me abroad for study, but I refused. I willingly fell into his gentle trap. But looking back now, after we got together, he stopped paying rent, and I often gave him money to support his graduate studies. He hated rich people, but he spent my money. He held my hand and said, “Stella, when I make money, I’ll build you a big house.” He always thought my family only owned that one old, run-down house in the countryside. Later, he did fulfill his promise, buying a three-bedroom apartment in a big city. This made me happier than when my mom gave me two luxury properties in major cities. I actually thought about telling him how rich my family was, but he started coming home less often, citing work. After Leo was born, my focus shifted entirely to him. He often caught colds or fevers. To take care of Leo, I barely slept four hours a night. Seeing my son, whom I had painstakingly raised, hand me a drugged drink still hurt me deeply.
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