Author: Momo Chan

Before the Wedding, My Fiancee’s Assistant Drunk Drove and Killed Someone. I rushed to the hospital, but my fiancée, Chloe, presented me with a confession. “Leo just turned twenty this year. If he goes to prison, his life will be ruined!” “When you get out, I’ll give you twenty percent of the company’s shares, and the wedding will proceed as planned.” Perhaps afraid I’d refuse, Chloe quickly added. “I’ve already investigated thoroughly. The victim was a homeless man, no family, no one. Dying was the best outcome for him.” “Don’t worry, the company will hire the best lawyers for you. You’ll be out of prison in no more than seven years.” I scoffed. I immediately canceled the wedding and called the police. The night before the wedding, my fiancée, Chloe, wanted to host a bachelorette party. I thought about it and didn’t refuse, only reminding her not to drive if she drank. But Chloe brushed it off, saying Leo had just gotten his driver’s license today, so it was a perfect opportunity for him to practice. No one expected Leo to drink and drive, hitting a homeless man scavenging by the roadside late at night. The victim was still lying in the emergency room, barely deceased, when Chloe impatiently started looking for someone to take the fall. “Five hundred thousand? Or a million? That’s not the point.” “The point is, Leo represents the company’s image; he can’t have anything happen to him!” Chloe didn’t seem to think there was anything wrong with her actions, looking at me with a straight face. Mid-sentence, she suddenly remembered something and slapped her forehead. “Oh, right. If the police ask, just say the car is yours, and it has nothing to do with the company.” I involuntarily clenched my fists. “What if I don’t agree?” At that, the team of lawyers present looked at me in surprise. Chloe hadn’t expected me to refuse either, and her face immediately changed. “If you don’t sign that confession today, then don’t be my husband!” I suppressed my anger, my tone calm. “Do you think I really want to marry you? Something so major happened, and your first thought isn’t how to make amends, but to rush and find someone to take the blame. A woman with a heart like yours, it’s better not to marry!” As soon as I finished speaking, Chloe’s emotions suddenly flared up. “If my dad hadn’t forced me to marry you, a loser like you wouldn’t even be qualified to see me!” Actually, I was also puzzled. Usually, Chloe found me to be a nuisance, not even letting me near the company. Yet today, after the car accident, she called me first thing. Turns out she just wanted me to take the fall for her assistant! Thinking about this, my temper flared too: “In that case, let’s just call off this wedding!” But just as I turned to leave, Chloe immediately blocked my way. “You stop right there! How much do you want? Just say it!” Her sudden words stunned me. Did these rich people really believe a living, breathing life could be measured by money? Seeing my silence, Chloe thought she had swayed me and put on a condescending expression. “If you think the money’s too little, you should’ve said so earlier instead of beating around the bush. Ten million, for seven years of your youth, that should be enough, right?” I turned and met her gaze: “Chloe, you don’t really think money can buy everything, do you?” Three years ago, Peterson Holdings was just a small financial company with a dozen employees. Chloe’s father, Richard Peterson, arrived in Newport from thousands of miles away, holding an engagement agreement. My grandfather had agreed to the alliance between our families. To fulfill my grandfather’s dying wish, I reluctantly agreed to the marriage. My only condition was that my identity not be revealed before the wedding. Richard still didn’t know that the immense fortune he had so painstakingly sought had now been personally ruined by his own daughter. “It’s just a life, isn’t it? Even if Leo had hit and killed ten people today, I could still afford to compensate!” Chloe continued. I took a deep breath: “Since Chloe is so concerned about her assistant, why doesn’t she go take the fall herself?” At this, the legal team beside us immediately erupted. “That’s out of the question! Chloe is the future heir of our group. If she commits a crime, it will definitely affect the company’s stock!” “Exactly! Peterson Holdings is at a crucial stage for its IPO. We can’t afford any mistakes!” “Mr. Harrington, you should just sign it. With our team of professional lawyers, you’ll be released from prison in no time.” My gaze swept coldly across them, my tone unyielding. “A life for a life, that’s justice!”

I have to admit, Chloe was quite cunning. After the accident, she immediately sent the homeless man to a private hospital under Peterson Holdings. The scene was filled with Peterson Holdings’ senior executives. Leo, as Chloe’s assistant, was both an employee of the company and favored by the CEO’s daughter. Though I was nominally the son-in-law they had taken in, the wedding hadn’t taken place. For me to take the fall was the best option at the moment! At that moment, I felt like a lamb to the slaughter, completely at their mercy. “Shareholders, I want to clarify in advance, although I have an engagement with this man, we haven’t actually gotten married.” “As long as he signs the confession, the company’s IPO will not be affected in any way.” Chloe blatantly laid out her plan, not at all worried that I wouldn’t agree. Even I was curious where she got such confidence. “Chloe, I advise you not to be so quick to assume.” “If I don’t sign this confession, what can you do to me?” Chloe glanced at me from the corner of her eye and sneered. “Alex Harrington, you don’t even know whose territory you’re on.” “If you don’t sign, I have a hundred ways to make your life a living hell!” I casually scanned the bodyguards standing around, their eyes fixed on me, and remained composed. “By your tone, Chloe, you’re planning to use force against me, then?” The next second, Chloe waved her hand behind her. “Since you’re refusing the easy way and asking for trouble, don’t blame me.” “Believe it or not, even if I got rid of you here today, no one would ever know.” Facing the threats from Peterson Holdings’ heiress, I didn’t show a hint of panic. “Chloe, aren’t you overestimating yourself a little?” “Let me be clear upfront: if anyone here dares to lay a hand on me, the entire Peterson Holdings will fall with me!” At my words, the faces of the shareholders present instantly changed. “Pfft, who’s talking so big? Turns out it’s just a dog kept by the Peterson family!” “Exactly! A pretty boy who dreams of marrying into a rich family, daring to threaten us? He’s practically asking for it!” “With Peterson Holdings’ influence in Silverport, getting rid of you would be easier than crushing an ant!” Facing their mockery, I didn’t care at all; I even found it somewhat amusing. Though I don’t know how to do business, I at least know how to be a person. From the moment I entered the hospital until now, these so-called company executives weren’t discussing how to handle the aftermath but how to protect the company’s image. With shareholders like them, the group was probably not far from bankruptcy. As time ticked by, Chloe clearly grew impatient. “Alex, I’m asking you one last time, are you signing or not?” I looked up and met her gaze. “No!” “Then you can just die!” Along with Chloe’s angry shout, the surrounding bodyguards instantly surrounded me. “What? Is that all the heiress of Peterson Holdings has?” Facing Chloe’s repeated provocations, I didn’t retaliate, only endured. It wasn’t because I feared her, but merely repaying a favor my grandfather owed years ago. After this, I would have no further ties with the Peterson family. Just as everyone prepared to make their move, a sudden gasp came from behind. “Hold on!”

A young man in a patient gown quickly walked out of the room. “You’re Leo Hayes, Chloe’s assistant?” I sized up the man before me. I had to admit, my fiancée’s taste was pretty good. Over six feet tall, with a pair of gold-rimmed glasses, handsome and composed. “Are you having a change of heart, planning to turn yourself in?” “Hold it!” Before I could finish speaking, Leo impatiently raised a hand to interrupt. “I didn’t hit anyone, so why would I turn myself in?” Before I could react, Leo suddenly pointed at me. “Alex! You murderer!” At that, I was stunned. “It was you! Relying on being Chloe’s fiancé, you disregarded the law, drunk drove, and killed that poor homeless man!” Hearing this, I suddenly understood. This guy had planned it all along, to make me take the blame for him. “Leo, you’re quite good at framing someone, aren’t you?” Then, I suddenly changed my tone, my voice chilling a few degrees. “However, I’m curious to ask, you say I hit the person, do you have any proof?” Leo raised an eyebrow at me, a smirk of schadenfreude on his face. “You want proof, huh?” “There are so many people around, can’t they all testify for me?” As he spoke, he pulled out his phone in front of me. “Hello, Officer Miller? This is Chloe’s personal assistant. I was hoping you could do me a favor. It’s nothing major, just accidentally hit someone after drinking tonight, and I was wondering if you could delete the road surveillance footage.” The other end of the line stammered, not speaking for a long time. “Ten million. I’ve already transferred it to your account.” “Alright… but don’t let it happen again!” Hanging up, Leo grinned at me. “So, Mr. Harrington, can we talk properly now?” I had to admit, Leo’s methods were far more sophisticated than Chloe’s. With his series of actions, I was practically cemented as the killer. “Tell me, how do you want to talk?” Leo pulled up a chair and sat opposite me, looking remarkably confident. “Mr. Harrington, you now have two choices.” “Either you obediently sign the confession and receive compensation from Peterson Holdings afterward.” “Or I call the police right now, and you won’t get a single penny!” I looked at him with interest and retorted: “Aren’t you afraid I’ll recant my testimony in court?” The assistant smiled confidently at me. “You don’t need to worry about that, Mr. Harrington. Since I have a way to delete the surveillance footage, I also have a way to make the judge believe you were the one who hit the person.” Hearing this, I couldn’t help but applaud. “Since you’ve put it that way, it seems I only have one path left: to sign, right?” “However…” I deliberately drew out the sound, changing my tone. “Before that, you’ll have to allow me to make a phone call first.” “No!” Chloe, standing nearby, seemed to detect something amiss in my smile. “Alex, get your facts straight!” “Our offering you a choice is a courtesy, not a negotiation!” I ignored her, pulling out my phone from my pocket in front of all the shareholders present. “Chloe, this call I’m making isn’t to anyone else, but to your father, Richard!”

“Hello, Mr. Peterson, this is Alex.” Hearing my voice, the other end of the phone immediately spoke cheerfully. “Mr. Harrington, isn’t tomorrow your and Chloe’s wedding? Is there anything you need to tell me at this hour?” I gave Chloe a meaningful look and spoke slowly: “Mr. Peterson, I don’t think this wedding is going to happen.” “Your beloved daughter is currently preparing to send me to prison.” I briefly explained the situation, and then I heard the sound of a cup smashing to the floor. “Nonsense! This is utter nonsense!” “Mr. Harrington, please calm down, I’ll be right there!” Just then, Leo snatched the phone away. “Mr. Peterson, I’ve arranged everything perfectly. I guarantee no one will trace anything back to our company!” “As long as this guy signs the confession, all problems will be solved!” Richard probably never expected his assistant’s methods to be so ruthless; he was so angry he couldn’t speak for a long time. Leo, at this moment, had no idea what I truly meant to Peterson Holdings, and he was trying his best to show off in front of his boss. “Mr. Peterson, rest assured, I guarantee no one else will know about this!” “With Peterson Holdings’ influence in Silverport, no one will suspect us.” “As for your son-in-law, I’ve also made arrangements. After he serves his time, the company will give him a substantial hush money payment.” Hanging up the phone, Leo looked at Chloe with an obvious display of pride. “Leo, I really didn’t misjudge you, you’re excellent! Your abilities are a thousand times better than his!” Leo seemed to enjoy the heiress’s praise; his head was practically in the clouds. Then, Chloe turned to me, her expression once again cold. “Alex, you’ve made your call, now it’s time to fulfill your promise, isn’t it?” She handed me a confession. “I’ve already written down the sequence of events for you; you just need to sign it.” Seeing this, the last shred of goodwill I had for the Peterson family vanished. If I hadn’t experienced it myself, I wouldn’t believe everything that happened today. From the initial phone call, to the collective threats from the company shareholders, and finally Leo appearing to coerce me into signing. “Alex, do you have anything else to say?” Chloe eyed me with the gaze of a victor. “Chloe, I must say, you’ve really hired a great assistant! To commit something like murder and trying to frame someone, his guts aren’t just ordinary!” Chloe completely disregarded my warning. “Alex, you have no one but yourself to blame for your current situation.” “Blame yourself, a pathetic loser, for trying to punch above your weight. How can you expect to succeed without paying a price?” I curved my lips into a slight smile and sighed softly. “Since the favor is now repaid, I will grant your wish! After today, your family will have no place left in Silverport!” As soon as my words fell, someone in the crowd shouted. “Look outside!” Over a dozen black Maybachs, all bearing the Peterson Holdings logo, were rapidly approaching the hospital… “Dad, why are you here?”

🌟 Continue the story here 👉🏻 📲 Download the “NovelMaster” app 🔍 search for “355920”, and watch the full series ✨! #NovelMaster #现实主义Realistic #浪漫Romance #重生Reborn

My best friend stole my girlfriend. Five years later, I showed up to remodel their wedding house. Susan clung to Ethan’s arm, glaring at me like I was dirt. “Get out. You’re soiling my new home.” He laughed and threw a stack of cash at my feet. “For the help, loser.” I didn’t bend down. My gaze swept past them and fixed on the massive design rendering in the living room. It was clearly “Homecoming,” the same piece I had spent three sleepless months drawing for Susan five years ago. Now, the signature simply read “Design by Ethan.” I stepped on the bills and sneered. “A thief’s final destination is prison.” Ethan’s smile froze instantly. He had no idea. I’d already prepared a very special wedding gift for them next week. Jason’s POV At two in the morning, I sat in my moldy rental room, holding a package of expired bread. The dim light from my phone screen stung my eyes, but I couldn’t look away. The top trending post felt like a rusty nail, driving straight into my eyeballs. The title read: “I stole my best friend’s girlfriend-do I regret it now?” The anonymous poster’s answer had the most upvotes. “Why would I regret it? It’s been absolutely amazing.” “Five years ago, that guy was a stubborn genius. Handsome, smart, and childhood friends with this rich girl. Everyone thought they were the perfect match.” “So what? I just used a few tricks.” “First, I pretended to be depressed and used that to get close to her through sympathy. Then at a party, I deliberately provoked him until he hit me. I fell onto broken glass on purpose, blood everywhere, then acted magnanimous and forgave him.” “The girl went ballistic. She thought he was violent, unstable, completely unreasonable.” “While they were fighting, I brought her coffee every day, kept her company, played the victim. And him? He was still working multiple jobs like an idiot to buy her gifts, exhausted like a dog, didn’t even get a chance to explain.” “Then came the final move. I tampered with his university application and framed his gambling addict father for it. He fell apart, didn’t get into Oxford, and his life went straight into the gutter.” “Now? That rich girl is my fiancée. We’re not just partners in a publicly traded company-next week we’re having the wedding of the century.” “And that former genius? I heard he’s working construction now. That’s what they mean by choices matter more than effort. What good is a high IQ? Emotional intelligence is king.” The comment section exploded. Some cursed him out. “You’re shameless. Destroying someone’s relationship and being proud of it?” Others sucked up to him. “He’s just smart. If the guy couldn’t keep his girl, whose fault is that?” “Exactly. If a lover can be stolen, they weren’t really yours.” Reading these words, I felt my blood flowing backward, my fingers trembling uncontrollably. Not from anger, but from disgust. Even more so because of a blurry silhouette photo the poster had shared. It was from five years ago, on Susan’s birthday, a picture of me carrying her on my back under the fireworks. Only three people had this photo. Me, Susan, and Ethan, who had been holding the camera with that innocent smile on his face. I set down my phone, my stomach cramping, and rushed to the narrow bathroom to dry heave. So that was it. That inexplicably failed first love of mine, my ruined life caused by someone tampering with my application, these five years of living like a dog-it was all Ethan’s carefully designed trap. And Susan, the woman I’d loved for ten whole years, was about to marry the man who destroyed me. Suddenly, urgent knocking came from outside. “Jason! Open up! I know you’re in there!” It was the landlord. I wiped the cold water off my face and opened the door. The landlord looked fierce, jabbing a finger at my nose. “You’re three days late! When are you paying rent? I bet your vegetative mother is about to get thrown out of the hospital too, right? If you don’t have money, get lost. Stop squatting here!” “Tomorrow.” My voice was hoarse. “I’ll definitely pay tomorrow.” “Tomorrow, tomorrow, always tomorrow! If you don’t pay up, I’m throwing out all those crappy blueprints of yours!” I closed the door and slid down against it, powerless. Ethan was right in that post. He won. He became a winner in life. And me, Jason-I really did end up in the gutter. These five years, I didn’t go to college. To earn medical bills for my mother who became a vegetable after a car accident, I did hard labor, delivered food. Now I was the lowest level construction worker at a renovation company. That high-spirited Jason who vowed to design world landmark buildings-he died long ago. But I never imagined the “cause of death” would be so absurd. I wanted to laugh, but tears came out instead. Just then, my boss called. “Jason, urgent job tomorrow. That wedding house in Cloudcrest Villa-the owners are coming to inspect and want some design changes. The original designer bailed, and you’re capable, so you’re up. Pull this off, and there’s a three-thousand-dollar bonus in it for you.” Cloudcrest Villa. The most expensive rich district in the city. “Okay.” I agreed. For the three thousand dollars. For the ventilator that would keep my mother breathing next week. I had no choice. Even though I knew, deep down, that house was almost certainly Susan and Ethan’s.

Jason’s POV Early the next morning, I rode my beat-up bicycle to Cloudcrest Villa. The villa was incredibly luxurious. Just the entrance garden was several times larger than where I lived. I carried my toolbox, standing in the opulent hall, completely out of place. “Here, and here, the trim needs to be redone.” I was crouching on the floor measuring baseboard data when the sound of high heels clicking against marble came from the entrance. Then came a familiar male voice that made me stop breathing. “Susan, you’re just too much of a perfectionist. I think it’s already great. After all, this is our home-as long as I have you, it’s perfect.” My hand holding the tape measure froze. I looked up and met two pairs of eyes. Susan wore a well-tailored beige trench coat, her long hair pinned up. Her exquisite makeup made her look even more coldly elegant than five years ago. Beside her, Ethan wore a suit, a Patek Philippe worth a fortune on his wrist, his arm wrapped lovingly around her waist. Our eyes met. The air seemed to freeze in that instant. The smile in Susan’s eyes vanished immediately, replaced by shock, then undisguised revulsion. “Jason? What are you doing here?” Ethan paused for a moment, then a playful smile curved his lips. That look was like watching a stray dog begging for food on the roadside. “Isn’t this our genius Jason?” Ethan called out dramatically. “How did you end up like this? The worker renovating our wedding house is actually you?” I slowly stood up and brushed the dust off my pants. “I’m here to work. If you’re not satisfied, I can have someone else take over.” “Don’t!” Ethan stepped forward, blocking my path, looking me up and down. “We’re old classmates. We should catch up when we run into each other. Look at you, filthy all over. These years have been rough, huh?” He turned to Susan with an exaggerated sigh. “Susan, see? I told you Jason wouldn’t go far. If he’d just stayed on the right path back then, he wouldn’t be doing grunt work for us now.” Susan’s gaze cut across my face like a knife. Once, these eyes held only me. She would wipe my sweat when I drew blueprints, would cry from worry when I got injured playing ball. She said. “Jason, you’re my light. We’ll be together forever.” But now she looked at me coldly, as if looking at garbage. “Ethan, don’t waste words on this kind of person.” Susan’s voice was icy. “Make him leave. I don’t want to see him. He’s dirty.” “Dirty”-those words were like two slaps across my face. I clenched my fists, nails digging into flesh. “Miss Susan, I was sent by the company.” I looked straight into Susan’s eyes. “If you want to breach the contract, please contact our manager. I’m just doing my job according to the contract.” Susan frowned. “Jason, do you have no shame?” Susan was getting angry. “Five years ago you injured Ethan in a fit of rage, then gambled away your tuition and drove your father to death. Someone like you, who can’t be helped, appearing in front of me is an insult!” Gambling? Drove my father to death? I snapped my gaze to Ethan. He stood behind Susan, giving me a provocative smile, his lips moving silently. “I’m the one who said it. So what?” So that was it. Behind that post, he’d fabricated so many lies I didn’t even know about. My dad clearly died of a heart attack after being hounded by creditors that year. And those debts came from the so-called “guarantee contract” Ethan had tricked my dad into signing! All the rage surged to my head in that moment, but I forced it down. Right now, I had no right to get angry. My mom was still in the hospital waiting for this money to save her life. “Miss Susan,” I lowered my head, my voice low. “I’m just a renovation worker. After I finish today’s job, I’ll leave. I’m just trying to make a living.” Seeing me lower my head, Ethan looked even more smug. He pulled out a stack of bills from his wallet, about two or three thousand dollars, and tossed them at my feet like throwing change to a beggar. The bills scattered across the dusty floor. “Alright, stop playing pitiful.” Ethan put his arm around Susan. “Since we’re old classmates, I can’t be too heartless. Take this money and get lost. Don’t dirty our new house. As for the work, we’ll just find someone else.” Susan didn’t stop him, just watched coldly. In her view, this was probably the treatment someone like me at the “bottom” deserved. I looked at the money on the ground, then at Ethan’s hypocritical face. The words from that post echoed in my mind: “His life went straight into the gutter.” I bent down. Ethan laughed out loud. “That’s right, Jason. People need to accept their fate…” I picked up that stack of bills and weighed them in my hand. Then, right in front of them, I slapped that wad of cash hard across Ethan’s face! Bills flew everywhere. Ethan was stunned, his face burning with pain. Susan screamed. “Jason! Are you insane!” “Yes, I am insane.” I stared hard at Ethan. “Ethan, you really think you can hide what happened five years ago forever? You really think I deserve to rot in the gutter for you to step on?”

Jason’s POV Ethan stumbled back half a step, but quickly recovered and tried to rush at me. “You bastard, you dare hit me? Security! Where’s security!” Susan grabbed Ethan, blocking him, her eyes full of disappointment and disgust. “Jason, you’ve really disappointed me.” She pulled out a checkbook from her bag, scribbled a string of numbers, and tossed it on the nearby table. “That’s fifty thousand dollars. Take the money, get out of my sight, and never appear again. For the sake of your mother once taking care of me, this is the last time I’ll help you.” Fifty thousand dollars. For me right now, that was a fortune. Enough to pay for Mom’s hospital bills for three months. If it were yesterday’s me, maybe I would have knelt down and picked up that money for Mom’s sake. But not today. I’d read that post. I knew the truth. This fifty thousand wasn’t charity-it was hush money. It was a gag order, dirty money to trample my dignity. “Susan.” I looked at her, suddenly feeling such sadness. “Do you really understand him? Do you really know what happened five years ago?” Susan sneered. “I understand very well. For me, Ethan gave up his chance to study abroad and stayed to start a business with me. And you? You only knew how to drink, fight, and run from responsibility. The facts are right there-what more do you want to argue?” “Facts?” I pointed at Ethan. “Ask him-that architectural design assignment in sophomore year, who actually drew it for you? Ask him-the day your father’s company went bankrupt, who knelt in the pouring rain all night begging creditors for a few more days?” Ethan’s expression changed instantly. Susan froze, then frowned. “That was Ethan! He stayed up three nights straight to draw it until his hands swelled! As for that night… Ethan was with me too.” I laughed. Laughed until my lungs hurt. So he didn’t just steal my life. He stole everything I had ever worked for. That year, to help Susan complete her award winning design, I drew for three days and three nights straight in the dorm room of Ethan, who called himself my good brother. I worked until I passed out. When I woke up, Ethan had already taken the drawings to claim credit. He lied to me, saying my work was too terrible and that he had to fix it before submitting. And that rainy night, Ethan did go. But he stayed in his car the whole time. Only I knelt outside in the pouring rain like a fool. “Jason, you’re truly frightening.” Susan shook her head. “When you’ve accomplished nothing yourself, you steal others’ credit to put on your own face? What’s the point of such lies?” I looked at Susan’s determined eyes. My heart went completely cold. Five years, plus deliberate brainwashing, had completely demonized my image in her heart. Explain? What could I explain with now? With these dirty clothes or with my high school diploma? “You’ll regret this.” I said softly. “The biggest regret of my life was knowing you.” Susan struck back mercilessly. I didn’t glance at that check, picked up my toolbox, and turned to leave. At the door, I stopped, my back to them. “I won’t renovate this house. But there’s a problem with the structural diagram for that load-bearing wall in the living room. If you renovate according to the current plan, it’ll collapse within three years.” With that, I strode out of the villa. Behind me came Ethan’s furious voice. “Don’t listen to his nonsense! What does a construction worker know about structures! I hired a first-class designer for those plans!” Walking out of Cloudcrest Villa District, the sunlight outside was so blinding it made me want to cry. I got on my bicycle. Wind rushed into my collar, cold to the bone. My phone vibrated. It was the hospital calling. My heart tightened. I quickly answered. “Mr. Jason? This is the hospital. Your mother’s condition suddenly deteriorated. She has a serious lung infection and needs to be moved to ICU immediately for emergency treatment. Please come pay the fees and sign right away!” “How much?” My voice trembled. “Pre-payment of fifty thousand dollars.” Fifty thousand dollars. Again, fifty thousand dollars. What Susan had just thrown on the table was exactly fifty thousand dollars. Fate was like a cruel clown, laughing madly at me. I trembled. “Doctor, please save her first… I’ll get the money right away, right away…” “Hurry. We can’t wait much longer.” The call ended. I looked at the bustling streets, at the skyscrapers towering in the distance. That was where I once dreamed of designing. Now, I couldn’t even come up with fifty thousand dollars. I didn’t go back to the construction site. Instead, I turned my bike around and went to a pawn shop. The only valuable thing I had was the necklace I’d kept close to my body. It was a family heirloom, something Mom had saved for me to give to my future wife. But I couldn’t think about that now.

Jason’s POV The owner was a shrewd middle-aged man. He examined it with a magnifying glass for a long time, then held up three fingers. “Thirty thousand dollars.” “This necklace is excellent, worth at least eighty thousand!” I panicked. “That was before. The market’s bad now. Thirty thousand. Take it or leave it.” I gritted my teeth. “I’ll take it.” With thirty thousand dollars, I borrowed another ten thousand from coworkers and maxed out my credit card, finally scraping together fifty thousand. I rushed to the hospital, paid the fees, and watched as Mom was wheeled into the ICU. I collapsed onto the hallway bench. Through the glass, watching Mom covered in tubes, so thin she was just skin and bones, my heart felt like it was being ground in a meat grinder. “Mom, I’m sorry… I’m useless.” I covered my face. Tears poured through my fingers. Just then, the TV at the end of the hallway was broadcasting a news interview. “…Congratulations to Evergreen Group and Ethan Industries on their strategic partnership. Miss Susan and Mr. Ethan’s engagement ceremony will be held next week. Mr. Ethan, I heard you personally designed the wedding house?” On screen, Ethan had his arm around Susan, looking smug. “Yes. Although I’m not a professional designer, for Susan, I’m willing to try anything. I want to give her a one-of-a-kind home.” The reporters were full of praise. “Mr. Ethan is so romantic-not only a business genius but also a design genius.” I stared hard at the screen. Design genius? That person who couldn’t even memorize CAD shortcuts-he qualified as a design genius? Suddenly, the image cut to a design rendering displayed behind them. In that instant, all the blood in my body froze. That image… That villa design called “Homecoming” was clearly from my sophomore year sketch, the dream home I’d planned to give Susan someday! The “suspended corridor” and “light atrium” designs were my original concepts, praised by my professor as extraordinarily inspired. But later, that sketchbook went missing. I thought I’d lost it when moving. Turns out, it was stolen by Ethan too! He didn’t just steal my girl, steal my credit-now he was stealing even my last dream to use as his proposal to Susan! If he didn’t want me to live, then nobody would live! I pulled out my phone and found that post. The post was still trending. Ethan was still smugly replying to comments. “That idiot will never figure out that his most treasured design is about to become my masterpiece. This is what intellectual dominance looks like.” With trembling fingers, I registered a new account. Under that post, I typed a line. “Ethan, does it feel good using stolen things? I’m Jason. At next week’s wedding, I’ll send you a big gift.” After posting, I closed my phone. I was going to fight back. I couldn’t just accept defeat like this. I returned to my rental room, rummaged through everything, and found an old laptop I’d sealed away at the bottom of a box years ago. Though old, the hard drive contained all my original design files with timestamps. And also, those memories I’d buried. Five years ago, to frame me, Ethan had someone photoshop pictures of me in bed with another woman and sent them to Susan. He also drugged my drink, making me miss the most important scholarship interview. Before, I had no evidence for any of this. I could only accept my fate. But now, in that post, to show off, he’d laid out every detail of his schemes. Though anonymous, if I could prove that account was his, he was finished. And proving that wasn’t actually difficult. Because in the post, he’d shared that blurry silhouette photo. Though blurry, I remembered that when he took that photo, I was right beside him. If I could find photos from other angles that day, or surveillance footage… Wait. That day was Susan’s birthday party at “Cloudcrest Club.” Cloudcrest Club… wasn’t that the predecessor of the villa district where I just worked? I suddenly remembered-today at the villa, in the storage room, I’d seen several dust-covered old surveillance hard drive boxes labeled “Cloudcrest Club Archive 2018.” That villa was converted from the old club! My heart raced. If those hard drives weren’t damaged, if they just happened to capture Ethan’s little tricks on the terrace that day…

Jason’s POV For the next week, I worked like a madman. During the day, I worked myself to death at other construction sites earning money. At night, I lurked near Cloudcrest Villa. I had to find a way to get in and retrieve that hard drive. Susan and Ethan’s wedding preparations were in full swing. Their wedding photos were advertised all over the city, stabbing my eyes. I heard that to showcase his “talent,” Ethan had specially invited Professor Harrison, a titan in architecture, to attend the wedding and planned to publicly release that “Homecoming” design at the ceremony, announcing his entry into real estate design. Professor Harrison was once my professor, the one who had no choice but to expel me over the “plagiarism” scandal. Ethan really wanted to destroy me completely. Finally, an opportunity came. The day before the wedding, the villa needed final lighting adjustments and soft furnishing arrangements. The foreman called me. “Jason, they’re short-handed for moving stuff. You going? Even though things ended badly last time, this time it’s cash on completion-five hundred dollars.” “I’ll go.” I put on a mask and cap, changed into inconspicuous work clothes, and mixed into the moving crew. The villa was filled with flowers and balloons everywhere, dreamy like a fairy tale. Susan was in the hall directing workers to arrange champagne towers, her face glowing with happiness. That smile. I’d seen it countless times in my dreams. Ethan was surrounded by people flattering him. “Mr. Ethan is so accomplished for his age. This design is a masterpiece!” “Yes! I heard even Professor Harrison praised it highly.” Ethan waved modestly. “Not at all. Just drew it casually.” I kept my cap low, carried a case of wine, bypassed the crowd, and quietly slipped toward the basement storage room. The storage room door was unlocked. My heart pounded like thunder. I turned on my phone flashlight and searched through mountains of junk. Found it! The box labeled “Cloudcrest Club Archive 2018” was still in the corner! I was so excited my hands shook. Just as I was about to stuff the box inside my jacket- “What are you doing?” A cold voice suddenly rang out at the door. I froze, then slowly turned around. Susan stood in the doorway, arms crossed, looking at me coldly. “Jason, you really never change. Stealing things five years ago, still stealing now?” I removed my mask and took a deep breath. “I’m not stealing. I’m looking for the truth.” “Truth?” Susan walked in, her gaze falling on the hard drive box in my hands. “What is this?” “This is surveillance footage from your birthday five years ago.” I held up the box. “Susan, if you have even a shred of trust left in me, look at what’s in here. See who drugged the drinks that night, who took those photos from behind.” Susan’s expression wavered for an instant. “Give it here.” She extended her hand. I hesitated, then handed it to her. This was my last chance. Susan took the box and was just about to open it when urgent footsteps suddenly came from behind. “Susan! Don’t listen to his nonsense!” Ethan rushed in, snatched the box from Susan’s hands, and smashed it hard on the ground! Crash! The hard drive box shattered into pieces, the disk sliding out. Still not satisfied, Ethan raised his foot and stomped on that disk several times until it was nothing but fragments. “You…” Eyes red, I rushed forward to punch him. Several security guards immediately rushed in and pinned me to the ground. “Jason!” Ethan straightened his tie, grinning viciously. “You think you can slander me with some random broken box? This is my home! You trespassed and attempted theft. I can call the police right now and have you arrested!” Susan looked at the fragments on the ground, her expression complex. “Ethan, why are you so agitated?” She asked. Ethan’s face stiffened, then he put on a wronged expression. “Susan, I’m just too angry. We’re about to get married, and he keeps coming to cause trouble, trying to use this fake stuff to destroy our relationship. I just can’t take it anymore!” He grabbed Susan’s hand. “Darling, don’t pay attention to this lunatic. Just kick him out. Calling the police would be bad luck.” Susan looked at me, then at Ethan. Finally, she sighed. “Throw him out.” The security guards dragged me out like a dead dog and dumped me at the villa gate. Rain poured down. I lay in the mud, looking at that brightly lit villa, listening to the laughter and chatter inside. The hard drive was destroyed. The last piece of evidence was gone. Had I lost? No. I climbed up from the mud and wiped the filth from my face. The moment Ethan crushed that hard drive under his heel, the panic in his eyes had already given him away. But more importantly, he never knew. That hard drive was just a decoy. The real ace had never been the surveillance footage. It was the “Homecoming” design he planned to unveil at tomorrow’s wedding. Since you want to steal my life’s work and flaunt it as your own, I will make that dream the tomb that buries you. I pulled the USB drive, sealed inside a waterproof bag, from inside my jacket. It contained all the original design data I had compiled over the past few days, along with the digital evidence tracking that post back to its source. That’s right. I had spent the last of my savings to hire an expert hacker. Ethan, see you tomorrow. I’ll send you a gift you will never forget.

🌟 Continue the story here 👉🏻 📲 Download the “NovelMaster” app 🔍 search for “355919”, and watch the full series ✨! #NovelMaster #现实主义Realistic #浪漫Romance #重生Reborn

My sister and I are both weightlifting athletes. After our family went bankrupt, my mother made us draw straws. Whoever drew the marked one would marry her friend’s intellectually disabled son. I was the one who drew it. From that day on, I gave up my own future. I became a full-time wife and caretaker, looking after both families while enduring constant criticism and abuse. Meanwhile, my sister climbed all the way to the national team and stood on the podium, bathed in glory. When I finally escaped and tried to start a new life, my sister found me. She cut my Achilles tendons with a knife. “Maya, if you leave, who will take care of the family?” When I opened my eyes again, I was back on the day of the drawing. My sister Melody and I had been training as athletes since we were girls. After Mom gave birth to two daughters in a row, Dad cursed his “bad luck” and left for good. I’d always worked odd jobs to help make ends meet, but then Mom got laid off. “You two are grown up now. It’s time to take responsibility and share the family burden.” Mom’s version of “taking responsibility” was simple: only one daughter could continue her athletic career and education. The other would marry her friend’s intellectually disabled son, securing a large payment for our struggling family. Before I could even speak, Melody clutched my arm and began to plead. “Come on, Maya, you always give in to me. Let me have this one too!” Looking at the seemingly innocent Melody, my body instinctively pulled away before my brain could even react. In my previous life, I was forced to give up my education and spent every day caring for my mentally disabled husband and demanding mother-in-law. Even with my strong physique, I was tortured into exhaustion and developed gray hair prematurely. When I was heavily pregnant and clearing the dinner table, I saw Melody on TV-selected all the way to the national team, standing gloriously on the podium. Later, when I finally had some savings and wanted to restart my training, Melody cut my Achilles tendons with a knife. “Maya, if you leave, who’s going to take care of the family?” Living this life over again, I would never hand over my future again! Seeing Mom and Melody both staring at me, I understood completely. They both wanted me to take on this “responsibility.” “Sure! Good things should always go to Melody, so-” Before Melody could get too excited, I continued. “So, I’ll let Melody have Mrs. Lewis’s son!” Melody’s face looked like she’d swallowed a cockroach. Her mouth twitched. “That’s not what I meant…” I pretended to suddenly understand. “Oh! So you think Mrs. Lewis’s son is mentally disabled and not good enough for you?” “What!? How can you say that about someone…” “Enough!” Mom cut off our conversation. She stared at me with a sinister look. She’d originally wanted me to volunteer to give in to Melody, so she wouldn’t be blamed for it. She hadn’t expected me to dodge it. “In that case, we’ll draw lots!” Mom made two slips of paper and put them in a black box, marking each with either a red or black pen. Whoever drew the red slip would have to end their education and marry Mom’s friend’s mentally disabled son. That single draw had been the starting point of all my suffering in my past life. This time, I must not pick the red slip.

I took a deep breath and slowly reached my hand into the black box. Melody stared at me excitedly, her expression gradually overlapping with her face from my previous life. Just as my hand was about to go all the way in, I suddenly pulled it out. “I thought about it, Melody. You draw first! I should let you go first, right?” Since childhood, Mom had instilled in me that I should always give in to Melody in everything. So much so that in my previous life, I foolishly handed over my bright future! Melody’s smile became somewhat twisted. “No, Maya, you draw first. You don’t need to give in to me this time!” I continued to defer. “No, how can I do that? You draw first. I’ll draw after you.” “No, you draw first…” “Don’t be shy, you draw first…” With a “clatter,” the black box fell during our pushing and shoving. Both slips of paper fell out. Both were red! This meant that whoever drew first, no matter which one they picked, would draw the red slip that meant marrying the mentally disabled husband! Mom’s face darkened. With her scheme exposed, Melody just collapsed on the floor and began to wail. “I told you to draw first! You’re my sister, why won’t you give in to me! I won’t get married, I want to go to school!” Melody, who usually skipped classes all the time, suddenly loved studying. I said in surprise, “Melody, you don’t want to marry him, but I don’t want to either. How could you deliberately try to harm me?” Melody froze for a few seconds, as if she hadn’t expected me to say this. Then she continued slapping the floor. “I don’t care! That idiot drools all the time, it’s disgusting. I’m not marrying him!” I sneered inwardly. So you think it’s disgusting too. Melody made such a fuss that it reached the village committee. After the village chief sorted out the whole story, he pointed at Mom’s nose and scolded, “What era are we living in! Still marrying off daughters for money!” “Your daughters are only in high school, you know that!? Human trafficking is a crime, you know that!?” Mom said weakly, “I’m their mother…” The village chief was so angry he leaned back. “If we catch this kind of thing again, next time the police will come and throw you in jail!” He consoled us. “Girls, don’t worry. Study in peace. If you don’t have enough for tuition, the village committee will provide it!” “I heard you’re both weightlifters? Train hard. If you make it to the Olympics in the future, our village will be honored!” After being lectured by the village chief, Mom reluctantly let us continue our education. And after the plan was completely exposed, Melody stopped pretending and started targeting me everywhere.

Since we needed to train intensively, we started boarding at school this semester. The dorm manager let us choose rooms. “There’s still one on the 2nd floor and one on the 6th floor…” “I want the 2nd floor!” Melody quickly rushed up to grab the key, then looked at me provocatively. I shrugged and took the key to the 6th floor room. In the days that followed, any chore involving stairs, such as delivering materials to the teachers, Melody found a way to push onto me with one excuse after another. I knew exactly what she was doing. We were weightlifters. Our training already placed enormous strain on our knees. Melody wanted to pile on more damage by forcing me to climb stairs constantly. Once they were shot, I’d be eliminated. Problem solved. Melody bragged to her friend. “Maya’s been climbing so many extra stairs these past few days, her knees must be toast!” “Once she gets eliminated from the team, she’ll have to marry that disgusting idiot!” Her friend scratched her head. “But she seems to be training pretty well lately. The coach even praised her!” Melody frowned. “That’s impossible. Even normal people can’t handle climbing that many stairs, let alone us weightlifters!” She thought for a moment, suddenly understanding. “I know! She must be pretending!” “Maya is really good at pretending! Just wait a few more days, the effects will definitely show!” Melody waited. She watched my snatch and clean-and-jerk weights climb, listened to the coach’s growing praise, seethed as my name made the shortlist for the city team. Finally, she cracked. Snatching up her phone, she vented to a friend training in another city. “What is going on? Are Maya’s knees made of iron? How come after all those stairs, there is no effect at all?” Poor Melody. She never learned that with proper form, stair climbing is actually good for your knees. With correct form, climbing stairs not only doesn’t damage your knees, it can even improve cardiovascular function. After climbing stairs for so long, even my long-distance running had become smoother. Even when going down stairs, which does cause some knee strain, I would rest after every few floors to give my muscles time to recover. Melody didn’t like studying theory in her daily life. As an athlete, she knew less than a fitness instructor. She was furiously tapping at her phone, oblivious to the banana peel on the ground. Her foot landed squarely on it, and down she went. “Aaah-!” I saw it all from upstairs and heard the continued screams. I shook my head If you want to ruin your knees, falling while texting is far more effective than just climbing stairs. After Melody’s fall injury, she quieted down for a while. Just a few days after she recovered, she was sneaking around again, up to some new scheme. But I was busy training and had no time to worry about her. I concentrated, gripped the barbell, took a deep breath, and lifted it in one go! “You’re amazing! You broke the record again!” The team members cheered and exclaimed for me, but the coach frowned slightly. “Maya, do that movement again.”

The coach was always serious, and the others didn’t dare make a sound. Though I didn’t understand why, I did it again. After watching, the coach thought for a moment, then asked me to take off my shoe and give it to him. He examined it carefully and pointed to a subtle detail. “What’s wrong with your shoe? The sole is higher on one side than the other. The left sole looks like it cracked and someone just stuffed something in there randomly.” Others crowded around to look, amazed. “It really is! You can’t even tell without looking closely! Coach, how did you know?” The coach said, “When I watched Maya do the snatch just now, something seemed off about her lower limb alignment.” “It’s fine short-term, but long-term misalignment will definitely cause disorder or even wear in all the joints.” The lifespan of joints is the lifespan of an athlete’s career. Fortunately, the coach noticed. Even I would have difficulty detecting such a slight change in alignment. The coach frowned at me again. “Maya, you’re not so afraid of spending money that you won’t throw away broken shoes, are you?” “If you need money, ask me! If I see you wearing these garbage shoes again, I’ll throw them away myself!” The coach was strict, but he treated the team members very well. In my previous life, when I drew the red lot and was forced to quit school, the coach urgently sought out many leaders and personally vouched for me, trying to keep me on the team. Although I was eventually forcibly taken away by Mom, I’ve always been grateful to the coach. My teammates also looked worried. “Maya, if you’re out of money, tell us. Don’t ruin your health. Everyone’s counting on you to get results.” “Mm, don’t worry.” I comforted them. I looked at the shoes, my eyes darkening. I should know who did this. Sure enough, a few days later, when I went to the locker room to change shoes, I heard a strange sound. I picked up the sneaker and turned it upside down. Clink! Clink! Sharp nails fell out one by one. Melody probably thought that just damaging my shoe heel was too slow, so she went big and stuffed nails into my shoes! Looking closely, some of the nails even had rust on them! If I wasn’t careful and stepped on them, at minimum I’d get stabbed, at worst I’d get tetanus! Melody knew that soon, the national team would come to select people. Once you enter the national team, you become a candidate for the Olympics. No matter what, even if she had to use every method possible, Melody didn’t want me to be selected by the national team! I picked up a nail and with a light effort, broke it in half. …… A few days later, a piercing shriek erupted from the locker room. “What happened?” Everyone was startled and rushed over. Inside, my sneakers lay tossed across the floor. And in Melody’s hand was a huge mousetrap!

🌟 Continue the story here 👉🏻 📲 Download the “NovelMaster” app 🔍 search for “355918”, and watch the full series ✨! #NovelMaster #现实主义Realistic #浪漫Romance #重生Reborn

Ten years after my falling out with my mother, she fell ill. My selfish sister Meredith wasted no time dumping her at the hospital. For the last three years of my mother’s life, I kept her alive with my life savings of a million dollars. But then I accidentally found her will. A ten million dollar check for Meredith. A handwritten blessing card from Mom for me. She avoided my eyes. “The inheritance was always meant for Meredith. You chose to come home and care for me.” “You ran away all those years ago because Mom only loved Meredith and ignored you, didn’t you?” “Now I’ve written you a card. Why are you still unhappy?” I laughed. I tore the card to shreds and ground them under my heel. Then I turned and walked out of the hospital room. “Pull the respirator. I’m done paying for her treatment.” “Ma’am, are you sure about removing all support? This will cause the patient significant distress!” “Ma’am, your mother just completed chemotherapy. Her body cannot withstand this shock!” “That’s right. Remove everything. Process her discharge right now.” I walked out, leaving no room for argument. Mom looked at me in disbelief. Meredith shot up from her seat. She was holding the will she’d just signed, filled with righteous indignation. “Miranda, have you lost your mind?! Look at Mom! Do you really want to pull all her support and send her home to die?” “How can you be so heartless?! I won’t allow this!” Mom’s eyes reddened as she looked at Meredith, gripping her hand tightly. I turned around. Looking at Meredith, who had only shown up twice since Mom got sick, I gave a cold laugh. “Do I need your agreement?” “From the first day Mom got sick, I paid the medical bills. I bought the supplements.” “Even the caregiver’s salary of twenty-eight thousand a month came from me. Have you paid a single cent from start to finish?” “Now I don’t want to pay anymore. All the medical services I paid for-I’m withdrawing them. Is there a problem?” “I…!” Meredith choked. Then her eyes reddened. “No! I can’t bear to see her suffer! You can’t remove them!” “Fine, I won’t remove them.” I made a “please” gesture. “This room plus all the medical equipment costs thirty thousand a month. If you pay that, Mom can keep staying here. Go ahead and pay.” “I…” Meredith’s face flushed red. She gripped that will tightly. Mom started coughing. The look she gave me was exactly like when I was a child, overflowing with disapproval. “Meredith just graduated. How can you ask her for money? You’ve been working for years. You have the money but you refuse to use it. What kind of person bullies their own sister?!” “Fine. If you won’t pay for my treatment, then don’t. I raised an ungrateful wretch who thinks I’m a burden. I’ll just leave on my own. Is that what you want?!” With that, she got out of bed herself. Because of her frail body, she collapsed at the doorway after just two steps. Everyone passing by in the corridor saw it all. Meredith rushed forward and knelt beside Mom, tears streaming down. “Miranda, Dad died when we were three. All these years Mom has been both father and mother to us. She literally worked herself to this state for us, and you’re driving Mom away over some medical bills. “You can’t be this heartless!” Everyone immediately gathered around. Mom started crying right away. “It’s all my fault. Miranda, you don’t need to drive me away. I’ll go home and wait to die on my own.” “Oh grandma, please get up!” A young woman rushed forward to help Mom up. Looking at her emaciated body, the girl’s eyes instantly reddened. “You’re going too far! If you treat the elderly like this now, don’t expect anyone to care for you when you’re bedridden later!” “Exactly, exactly! You’ve gone too far!” “Meredith is so good! Her heart and eyes are full of her mother.” “Look how thin your mother has become. Who do you think she did this for!” I let out a bitter, angry laugh. “That’s right. I’m throwing my own mother out. I’m heartless. But you tell me, Mom. Who was all that suffering for? All those years of struggle, was any of it ever for me? Not even one day?”

Mom wiped the corners of her eyes. “You… how can you say that? Who else would Mom work hard for if not you?” “Liar.” I smiled bitterly. “When I was eighteen, Meredith said I hit her. You slapped me ten times without asking why. I threatened to run away from home. What did you say? “You said if I had the guts, I could die out there. You said you only needed Meredith for the rest of your life!” Mom’s face went pale. Meredith panicked. “Miranda…” “What right do you have to speak?” I cut her off. “Meredith, I don’t want to dwell on how many times you’ve framed me. “But right now, you have the least right to call me unfilial! “When Mom got sick, the only thing you did was make one phone call to me. “And then? In these three years, besides coming now to see the will, who’s been taking care of Mom! Did you pay anything? Did you help at all? Did you spend all your savings on Mom?” Meredith avoided my gaze. I laughed coldly. “Three years without visiting, but when it comes to giving you the entire inheritance, suddenly you love Mom so much?” “Shut up!” Mom scolded me. “Meredith hasn’t come to see me because she’s preparing for graduate school entrance exams! Her concern for me hasn’t diminished one bit. She messages me every day! “But you-I knew all along you only came back for my inheritance. Otherwise, after being away from home all those years, how could you suddenly come back! You think I can’t see through you!” Everyone gave me disapproving looks. “Don’t be so heartless. You can’t measure family affection with a price tag.” “That’s right. Besides, a mother knows her daughter best. She left the entire inheritance to Meredith, which shows she knows who you really are. You must have misunderstood them.” Meredith wiped the corners of her reddened eyes. I looked coldly at Mom. “She couldn’t come take care of you because of grad school exams. What about me quitting my job for you?” Everyone froze. The next second, I snatched the will from Meredith’s hands, along with my three years of hospital expense records, and threw the long list of bills into her lap. “I spent the entire million I saved over ten years working on you. You normally wouldn’t even buy yourself a towel. I thought you were so hard up, so I scraped together every penny for your medical bills. “Ha! Turns out you have ten million. You’re not short on money at all-you just wanted to save every cent for Meredith!” “What?!” Even the girl supporting Mom’s eyes widened. I smiled bitterly. “Then what about me? What about me, who spent a million on you all these years? Should I just die? Am I supposed to be Meredith’s stepping stone!” The girl picked up one of the bills, looking at Mom in disbelief. “You have ten million dollars sitting right here, and you’re bleeding your eldest daughter dry instead of spending a single cent of it?” “I’m not…” Mom tried to explain. A family member from the next room couldn’t take it anymore. “Enough! For three years, Miranda has been busy taking care of the old lady, sleeping only three hours a day, working harder than the caregiver. You can be biased, but there has to be a limit!” Everyone’s gaze toward the two of them instantly changed. “Grandma, you’re too biased!” “Anyway, you have ten million. Either pay for your own treatment, or don’t blame your eldest daughter for being heartless!” “Exactly! If not, let your younger daughter pay!” Mom’s eyes reddened. “Meredith is still a child. How can I ask her to pay?” I laughed coldly. I pushed past Meredith and strode away, without looking back.

After leaving the hospital, I planned to return to my rental apartment. The Audi I’d bought with my savings five years ago had been sold these past years to pay for Mom’s treatment. I got on the subway in a daze. My phone buzzed with a message from Mom. “You’re just leaving like this? Leaving your mother alone in the hospital? The hospital is already trying to discharge me.” I replied, exhausted. “Don’t you have money? Just pay them.” “How can I do that! Meredith will need money for so many things in the future! That money is all reserved for her!” “Then go home and wait to die.” It was the first time I realized I could say something so cruel. After I sent it, I couldn’t help but break down sobbing. Everyone stared at me curiously. But I couldn’t care about their looks. Over these years, I’d lost my job, my savings, my car. All because of that tiny thread of mother-daughter affection, fantasizing that I could improve our relationship before Mom died. So she would understand I wasn’t the bad sister who only bullied people, like Meredith claimed. So she would know I was also her daughter. But in the end, she didn’t seem to care about any of that at all. She knew I wouldn’t abandon her. She had no fear. When I got off the subway, my eyes were already red and swollen. As soon as I opened the door, I found the place packed with people. “You guys…” I looked in disbelief at the apartment full of relatives. Right in the center, surrounded by everyone, was my crying mother. She gripped her phone. “I never imagined that after raising her all these years, she’d tell me to go die! “When she ran away from home back then, I worried about her every single day. “When she came back to take care of me, I thought she’d remembered our mother-daughter bond. I never expected that when she heard I was leaving more inheritance to Meredith, she’d turn around and tell me to die. “How much longer do I have to live? She can’t even pretend for that long!” I pulled out my phone. Only then did I discover the family group chat I’d set to “do not disturb” had gone 99+. Scrolling up, the first message was a screenshot Mom had sent of our conversation. The four words “go home and die” were particularly glaring. “Miranda, your father died early. Without your mother, would you have grown up at all!” “Apologize to your mother right now! If we hadn’t rushed over, your mother would have jumped off the building!” “Miranda, you left home for ten years. Meredith spent more time with your mother than you did. You didn’t fulfill your duty as a daughter, but you want more money. People can’t be this heartless!” Mom sobbed. “It’s fine, it’s fine. After all these years, I’ve come to terms with it. “Whether she wants to acknowledge me as her mother is her business. I’ve done my duty to her. If my daughter doesn’t want to support me, I don’t want to be a burden anyway!” With that, she shakily stood and lunged toward the window. Everyone stopped her. “Miranda! Get on your knees! This family has no room for an ungrateful wretch like you!” “If you don’t kneel and apologize, consider yourself disowned! Your father was a good man, so don’t you dare tarnish his name!” “After you apologize, you will take your mother back to the hospital and care for her properly. The entire family will be watching!” Crash! A glass shattered on the floor. I was furious. “Stop making a scene!” Everyone looked at me in surprise. I was breathing heavily. I pointed at my uncle Lucas. “You loaned her a hundred thousand for surgery, right?” He froze. I pointed at my another uncle Jimmy. “You loaned two hundred thousand.” Then I pointed at my aunt. “You loaned her a hundred and fifty thousand you were planning to use to build your son’s house, didn’t you!” Mom’s face went pale. “Miranda! Shut up!” “Do you all know she actually has ten million on hand, but won’t spend it-she’s planning to leave every cent to Meredith!” “What?!” Everyone looked at Mom in shock.

Mom frantically waved her hands. I laughed coldly. “The reason she didn’t say anything is because she’s waiting for this debt to fall on me, isn’t it? “But I’ve long since been drained dry by her. You probably won’t get this money back for the next ten years!” All the relatives’ faces went pale. I continued. “You all felt sorry for her. Knowing she ‘had no money,’ you were still willing to loan her money to save her life. But she never considered you family. “Rebecca! Is what she’s saying true or not!” Lucas stood up. “Right! When Miranda’s dad died on duty all those years ago, the government gave compensation. We never asked how much it was all these years!” “This, this…” Mom gripped the corner of her clothes, unable to say a word. “Since you treat us this way, Miranda did nothing wrong!” “Someone like you should go home and wait to die!” Everyone threw her aside and walked out one by one. “I’m telling you, if you can’t pay back this money, we’ll only ask Meredith for it, not Miranda. Figure it out yourself!” “You people!” Mom looked helplessly as everyone left. Finally, she turned her pleading gaze toward me. I coldly turned away. Before long, I’d packed up my luggage. “I’m going back to Los Angeles for work. Take care of yourself.” “What about your mother if you leave?” “Figure it out yourself.” With that, I closed the door. Over these years, though I’d lost my car and money, At least my fiancé of five years was still there. During these three years when my savings ran out, he’d transferred me five hundred thousand to help out. This time when I returned, he proposed to me. Seeing my haggard appearance, Ethan pulled me into a tight embrace. “It’s okay. From now on, I’m your family. I’ll fulfill my responsibilities as a husband.” At the peak of gold prices, he forcibly expanded the traditional five gold gifts to eleven pieces of gold. As one gesture of his sincerity in proposing. His mother also brought me home and prepared a huge table of delicious food. Things my own mother had never done for me. Moved to tears, I posted my first social media update in three years: “So glad I met you.” After dinner, I discovered my mother had already called countless times. When I answered, she launched into a scolding tirade. “You’re out there wearing gold and silver-did you consider my situation at all! “Your mother is suffering in the hospital while you’re having fun outside. What kind of person are you! Come back now! Meredith is getting married, and you need to come back and help! Stop just thinking about yourself!” I laughed coldly. Hung up. Blocked her. I no longer planned to have anything to do with this family. Since they didn’t consider me one of them, I might as well become a complete outsider. But that day while picking out a wedding dress, Ethan suddenly burst into the bridal shop. He yanked the dress I’d chosen from my hands. “You already have a fiancé at home-why did you hide it from me!” I froze. “What are you talking about?” He handed me his phone. On it was a wedding invitation sent by a familiar number. The bride… Miranda? I was stunned. “Ethan! I’m not engaged! This groom is just my middle school classmate. I have no idea how my name ended up on an invitation with him!” “Stop pretending!” His eyes were red. “Your mother called me.” “What…” I stood frozen in place. “I didn’t believe it at first, but the wedding venue, the officiant, the guest list, even the groom! I saw them all! “Meredith said you two started dating in middle school, and if it weren’t for your mother being sick and needing money, you never would have deceived me for financial support!” “Ethan…” I tried to explain, but he flung my hand away. “What am I to you? “The wedding’s off. We’re breaking up.” He left without looking back. I stood alone on the empty street, watching his taillights vanish into the distance. I gritted my teeth and dialed that familiar number. “Mom, you told him I was engaged?” “That’s right. Since you won’t spend money on your own family, don’t think you get to keep it all for yourself. We just changed the name on Meredith’s old invitation. She isn’t selfish like you.” The call ended. A cold laugh escaped me. I immediately bought a ticket home. So Meredith wants to get married? Fine. If I can’t have my happiness, then neither will she.

🌟 Continue the story here 👉🏻 📲 Download the “NovelMaster” app 🔍 search for “355917”, and watch the full series ✨! #NovelMaster #现实主义Realistic #浪漫Romance #重生Reborn

For all three years my son Liam has been in kindergarten, I haven’t made it to a single school event. It wasn’t that I didn’t try. Every time I mentioned it, he’d burst into tears and cling to my husband’s leg. “I don’t want Mommy to come!” This time, when his essay won a prize and there was an awards ceremony, my husband shut me down as expected. “Liam wrote about ‘My Mom.’ He’d be embarrassed if you were there. I’ll handle it.” I stayed silent and ironed my son’s little suit. But on the day of the ceremony, I slipped quietly into the back of the school auditorium. The spotlight found my son as he read his essay in a clear, proud voice. “My mom loves wearing red dresses. When she kisses me goodnight, she always smells like sweet perfume.” My blood ran cold. I’ve never owned a red dress in my life. And I never wear perfume. So who, exactly, was the “mom” in my son’s essay? The air conditioning in the auditorium was on full blast, but my back was already soaked with sweat. On stage, Liam continued. “It smells like roses!” “Mom loves roses, so Dad buys them for her all the time. She always picks the prettiest one for me and says she loves me even more than her flowers.” I gripped the armrest so tightly my knuckles turned white. My mind was a mess. I don’t have red dresses. I don’t wear perfume. And there’s no way I smell like roses. I’m allergic to them. They make me sneeze and my eyes itch. Both Derek and Liam know this, so roses have never appeared in our home. The mom Liam was talking about… wasn’t me. This horrifying realization was still sinking in when Liam’s winning essay was projected onto the big screen. Beside his childish handwriting was a drawing he’d made The moment I saw it, I couldn’t breathe. It showed a family of three eating ice cream in front of a Ferris wheel-a man in black, a woman in a red dress, and a beaming Liam in the middle. “Mom took me to the Disney castle and bought me a Mickey ice cream bar.” “Mom said she’ll buy me anything I want.” Liam had always dreamed of going to Disney. I’d brought it up with Derek countless times. But each time, he would check his schedule and give a weary sigh. “The company is in a critical growth phase right now. I just can’t get away. Soon, I promise. I’ll take a long vacation, and we’ll spend a whole week at Disney together.” I agreed. But then he turned to Liam. “Your mom won’t let you go to Disney.” Liam cried endlessly, taking all his frustration out on me. I wanted to explain, but Derek stopped me. “He’s still young. He won’t understand it. Just go along with it for now. When he’s older, I’ll explain it to him myself.” I had no choice but to agree. Eventually, Liam stopped bringing up Disney. I thought he’d lost interest, but I never imagined he’d already been there. Derek’s claim that he “didn’t have time” apparently meant he didn’t have time to go with me. The next page appeared, and Liam’s voice rang out again. “Dad and Mom took me to catch crabs. Mom bought me lots of shell toys…” “My mom is the most beautiful, the best mom in the whole world.” “I love my mom.” “Mom, when Liam grows up, Dad and I will protect you together!” The essay ended. Thunderous applause filled the auditorium. Only my hands and feet were ice cold. Liam loves sweets, so I strictly control how often he eats candy, especially ice cream. But he still developed several cavities. I took him to the dentist. He cried his heart out and called me a bad mom. He’s naturally allergic to seawater-it makes him break out in red rashes all over his body. So I never take him to the beach and even gave up my favorite beach camping trips. But he still gets allergic reactions frequently. I thought I was a complete failure as a mother, that somehow I had let him eat something else he was allergic to. I rushed him to the hospital for allergy testing. Again, he was miserable and called me a bad mom. I told Derek how much it hurt. He just frowned and brushed it off. “You’re the adult. He’s just a child. What’s the point in arguing with him? When he’s older, he’ll understand you meant well.” Liam turned six this year. For six years, I’ve been the “bad mom.” For six years, I’ve heard “your mom won’t let you.” And through it all, I kept believing what Derek said. I held onto the hope that someday, Liam would understand. But I was wrong. Derek said “your mom won’t let you,” but out there, that other mom indulged Liam in everything, gave him whatever he wanted. I was the bad mom because he had a good mom on the side. The applause slowly died down. Liam waved happily, and I followed his gaze to the front row. Derek sat right in the middle, wearing the suit I’d prepared for him. And the woman sitting beside him, also clapping, was wearing a red dress. The two of them went on stage together, each taking one of Liam’s hands. The woman’s eyes glistened with tears, and Derek tenderly wiped them away. Everyone stood up, marveling at this happy family of three. Only I remained seated, my nails digging into my fingertips until they bled. I had come here expecting happiness. But now I suddenly realized that happiness was never mine to begin with.

I didn’t stay until the end. I fled home in a panic. The house that once felt warm now seemed like a terrifying abyss. I stood in the entryway, leaning against the console table, feeling for the first time how utterly foreign this place was. But I couldn’t run. If I ran, I would lose completely. While they were still at the auditorium, I searched everywhere. Finally, at the bottom of Derek’s storage box filled with company documents, I found a hard paper bag. Inside was a brand-new red silk dress. The tag was still attached. Twelve thousand eight hundred dollars. Just last month, when my father got sick, I asked Derek for ten thousand dollars for medical expenses. But he showed me his bank balance-only two thousand dollars. “All the money’s been invested in the company’s new project. There’s really nothing left. If your father needs it urgently, I can try to borrow from friends.” I didn’t want him to owe favors, so I maxed out my own credit card and then scrambled to find part-time work to pay it back. And now, this twelve-thousand-eight-hundred-dollar red dress felt like a slap across my face. “My mom loves to wear red dresses.” Liam’s voice echoed in my mind. I swallowed my unease and opened the card hidden beneath the dress. It said: “My Beloved Rachel: Red is the color of home. The mother in Liam’s essay should have been you. Thank you for all you have done for our family. I wrap you in this crimson light, with a wish to walk beside you all my life. Derek.” I clenched the card, recalling that woman’s face. Rachel Sinclair, Derek’s high school classmate. She studied fashion design in college and opened her own studio right after graduation. Before I had Liam, I would occasionally check Derek’s company finances. Back then, half the investment funds went to Rachel Sinclair’s studio. I thought it was odd, but Derek said she was talented and it was a sure bet. Later, he convinced me to be a stay-at-home mom, and I stopped asking about company finances. Looking back now, perhaps even then, he was already with Rachel. In his heart, Rachel was his beloved, the woman meant to be with him for life. She had done “everything for their family.” So what about me? What was I? I put the dress back and opened Derek’s computer to check his transaction records. These past years, dealing with daily household chores, I always had endless housework. He was confident I had no time to look at his computer, so he never set a password. Over the past three months, there were several large purchases. Maldives hotel, three-person suite: thirty-eight thousand dollars. Jewelry counter: eighty thousand dollars. Disney resort: ten thousand dollars. Transaction after transaction-amounts I’d never seen before. Although Derek owned a company, all these years it was always “the company’s growth phase.” His money always had to go into projects, leaving me with only a few thousand dollars for living expenses. I thought if I just held on a bit longer, once the projects paid off, life would get better. But in reality, he’d been living well all along-the person enjoying the good life with him just wasn’t me. Around nine in the evening, Derek finally brought Liam home, his tone tinged with helplessness. “After the ceremony ended, the teacher organized a dinner for all of us. We just finished eating.” “Honey, have you eaten?” I looked at him without responding. At the auditorium, other parents had mentioned there was no dinner planned for tonight-everyone was supposed to celebrate with their own children. So where did you go, and who did you eat with? I clutched the sofa cushion. Beside me, Liam was yawning. “I’m so sleepy. I want to go to bed.” “Liam, want some ice cream?” His eyes immediately lit up. “Can I? Yes!” “Liam!” Derek suddenly snapped at him. “Only one a day!” As soon as he said it, he realized his mistake and quickly changed course. “The teacher gave him one as a reward tonight. You know the rule. He can’t have more.” Liam nodded along. “Right.” Father and son went to wash up. My temples were pounding. My son was only six years old, but he’d already learned to conspire with his father to deceive me-for another woman. What about the career I gave up for laundry and packed lunches? The friendships that quietly faded away? Every hobby that slowly gathered dust? Had every sacrifice I’d made over the years truly meant nothing at all?

The next day, I added the teacher on Snapchat, pretending to be Liam’s aunt. I’d missed all the parent-child activities over the past three years, but in the teacher’s posts, there was always Derek and that woman by Liam’s side. She was always in red, flawlessly put together, her hand tucked in the crook of Derek’s arm. The two of them beaming, cheering Liam on. In one video, Derek leaned down and kissed her on the mouth. Like punishing myself on purpose, I replayed that two-second clip again and again, until the ache in my chest finally faded into a hollow nothingness. That evening, I warmed some milk and brought it to the study. “I haven’t seen Liam’s essay yet. Did you take a photo?” Derek’s fingers froze for a moment before he spoke. “The essays were all kept at the kindergarten. It’s just a kid’s rambling anyway-nothing worth reading.” Silence filled the room. I glanced at the document storage box. The paper bag underneath was gone. He’d given it to her. I dug my nails hard into my thigh and said. “Tomorrow’s Liam’s birthday, and it’s the weekend. How about we take him to Disney?” Derek finally looked up, his face apologetic. “Honey, I forgot to tell you-I have a business trip tomorrow. Liam’s also going to a friend’s house. I’ll drop him off in the morning and then head straight to catch my flight.” “You’ve worked so hard all these years. Just rest at home tomorrow.” My thigh felt like I’d broken the skin. My once-calm heart was pierced again with fine needles-dense, searing pain everywhere. I left the study and went to find Liam. “Liam, it’s your birthday tomorrow. What present do you want?” His little head poked out from under the covers. “Didn’t Dad say all the presents are at the new house?” My heart lurched. “What new house?” He quickly ducked back under the covers. “Nothing, nothing! I didn’t say anything!” My legs grew stiffer. I turned and rushed out of the room. I asked the teacher to add me to the parent group. I immediately spotted the contact labeled “Liam’s Mom.” Rachel posted on Ins almost every other day. “My husband bought me another dress. My closet’s overflowing!” “Congratulations to Liam for winning first prize in the essay contest! Big dinner tonight to celebrate!” One week earlier. “Renovation’s done! Housewarming next week, and it’s also Liam’s birthday party. Everyone’s welcome to come celebrate!” In the photo, Derek had his arm around her in an unfamiliar living room, both their faces radiating happiness. I looked at it over and over in disbelief. Derek had bought her a house. My husband called her his beloved. My son said she was the best mom. My family had a new home-with another woman. Rage surged through me. I stormed toward the study, ready to confront him. But I heard Derek on the phone, his voice low and careful. “Don’t overthink it. Of course I love you. Liam adores you. I’m just waiting for the right moment to tell he…” “Rachel, please don’t cry. You have the fashion career you’ve always wanted. I won’t let you get trapped by chores and lose yourself…” I pressed my back against the wall. Hearing every devastating word. Recording every single one. I knew then that our eight-year marriage was over. Our bond as husband and wife was finished. Even the bond between mother and son had reached its end.

🌟 Continue the story here 👉🏻 📲 Download the “NovelMaster” app 🔍 search for “355916”, and watch the full series ✨! #NovelMaster #现实主义Realistic #浪漫Romance #重生Reborn

When I pushed open the front door, Christmas dinner had just been set on the table. Mom poked her head out from the kitchen: “Is Claire home? Go wash your hands, we’re about to eat!” Dad sat in his usual spot, clutching the TV remote in his hand. Everything was exactly the same as the past twenty-six Christmas Eves. Until I went to the bathroom to wash my hands. Thirty seconds. I was only gone for thirty seconds. When I came back, a strange man was sitting in Dad’s seat. A strange woman walked out of the kitchen carrying a soup bowl, her hair styled in trendy curls. It was still the same elm wood dining table, the same dishes, even the tableware hadn’t moved. But the people eating—they had all changed. Seven strangers, sitting around my family’s dining table, eating my family’s Christmas dinner. “Who are you people? Where are my parents!” My voice was shaking. All seven of them looked up at once. The white-haired old man in the head seat put down his fork: “Miss, who are you looking for?” “This is my house!” The curly-haired woman laughed first: “Miss, you must have the wrong place. This is our home.” “That’s impossible!” I pointed at the table. “This table has a burn mark on the lower left corner. I made it when I was seven.” Everyone looked down. The burn mark was indeed there. “Coincidence.” The curly-haired woman said. I pointed at the ceramic bowl: “This soup bowl has my name carved on the bottom—Claire . I carved it when I was ten.” They didn’t touch the bowl, but their expressions changed. The white-haired old man stood up: “Miss, I don’t know how you know these things, but this really is our home. My name is Robert Williams, this is my son James, his wife Sarah, and their children…” I didn’t answer. I turned and rushed into the inner room. My bedroom door was open, but inside it had become a children’s room. Family photos of strangers hung on the wall—the seven people currently at the dining table. James stood up: “Dad, what’s going on?” I finally broke down: “I should be asking you that! Thirty seconds ago when I came in, this was my parents’ house! Thirty seconds later, it became yours! The food hasn’t changed, the table hasn’t changed—where are the people? Where are my parents?” Sarah’s face turned pale: “Miss, are you… having hallucinations? We’ve been preparing dinner since this afternoon…” “Hallucinations?” I dragged over my suitcase, opened it, and pulled out a photo frame. The frame held a picture of me and my parents, taken last Christmas in this same living room. The photo was passed around among the seven people. James’s voice came out dry: “This photo… it’s photoshopped, right?” “I have videos on my phone too!” I patted my pockets. Strange, where was my phone? “Is that phone on the shoe cabinet by the entrance yours?” Sarah spoke up to remind me. I looked at her suspiciously, then found my phone where she said. I opened my recent files. It was a screen recording of a video call with Mom from ten days ago, the background identical down to the smallest detail. But halfway through the video, Mom’s image suddenly distorted. Amid the buzzing static, Mom’s face shook and warped, then transformed into Sarah’s face. Sarah in the video smiled at the camera: “Claire honey, when are you coming home for the holidays?” The phone clattered to the floor. By the time I picked it up, the video had returned to normal. From beginning to end, it was my mother. “What’s going on!” I jerked my head up. “Did you tamper with the video when I wasn’t paying attention!” Robert sighed: “Miss, if you can’t even tell what’s real in your own phone videos, I suggest you go to the hospital and get your head checked. Stop making a scene.” “I’m not making a scene! You’ve been planning this all along, haven’t you!” James’s face darkened: “If you keep talking nonsense, I’m calling the police.” “Go ahead! Let the police come see whose house this really is!” James really did call the police. During the twenty-minute wait, we remained at an impasse. The Williams family continued eating, though half-heartedly. I sat on my suitcase, staring intently at them, at this house. That door leading to the balcony—the paint had chipped off the lower right corner when I crashed into it with my tricycle as a child. The clock on the wall was the Roman numeral style Dad loved. Even the smell in the air was exactly the same as in my memories. How could this not be my home? The police finally arrived—one older, one younger. The older officer showed his badge. His name was Officer Mitchell. After hearing both our accounts, he frowned deeply. “You say this is your home. Do you have proof?” I pulled out property documents: “The homeowners are David and Linda—my parents.” Officer Mitchell looked them over, then turned to Robert: “And yours?” Robert produced property documents. Officer Mitchell compared the two documents, his frown deepening.

“They’re both real. Same address, same number, but different owner names. Issue date… both July 15, 2005.” “That’s impossible!” James and I said simultaneously. “See for yourself.” It was true. The certificate numbers were identical. The younger officer ran a search. Half a minute later, he looked up with a confused expression: “The system shows the owner is Robert Williams. David … no record found.” “What do you mean no record found!” I grabbed the police tablet. In the search results, both David and Linda ‘s names were followed by red exclamation marks displaying [DATA DOES NOT EXIST]. Officer Mitchell wiped his brow: “Miss, did you get the address wrong?” “I grew up here! I remember every single scratch on these walls!” I rushed to the TV cabinet and yanked open the bottom drawer with force: “Look! There’s a hidden compartment here—it’s where my dad used to hide money!” The drawer opened. The compartment was still there, but it was empty. James’s voice was calm: “This girl’s mental state might not be quite right. It’s Christmas, we don’t want to make things difficult for her, but she’s disrupting our holiday.” Officer Mitchell looked at me: “Miss, why don’t you find somewhere else to stay. After the holidays…” I interrupted: “I’m not leaving. This is my parents’ house. I have to be here tonight! Who knows where they’ll take my parents if I leave!” Sarah screamed: “What are you talking about!” Just then, Officer Mitchell’s phone rang. He answered and walked outside. Through the glass, I could see him nodding continuously, his expression growing more serious. Two minutes later he came back in: “I just received notification that David and Linda are involved in a financial dispute and fled the country this afternoon. This house… was mortgaged to Mr. Williams last month.” I felt like I’d been struck by lightning: “That’s impossible! I talked to them on the phone this morning!” “You can check the immigration records.” Officer Mitchell handed me his phone. On the screen were two familiar photos. Mom and Dad’s passport information. Departure time: 3 PM today. Destination: Cambodia. “This has to be fake!” I shouted. “Why would they run? They’ve always lived honest lives—where would a financial dispute come from?” “That requires further investigation. But right now, the house does belong to the Williams family. If you keep causing trouble, we’ll have to take you in for disturbing the peace.” “The evidence is conclusive.” Officer Mitchell put away his phone. “please leave.” I had no choice but to be forced out of what used to be my home. Late at night, I bought bread at a convenience store and sat on the sidewalk eating it. I called my parents several times. Each call went to [TEMPORARILY UNAVAILABLE]. “Mom, Dad, where did you go! I clearly saw you before I washed my hands for dinner!” Thinking about this, my tears stubbornly fell to the ground. In my phone gallery, I flipped through photos of my parents one by one. Last year’s birthday—Mom making me dinner while Dad snuck bites of cake. Family mountain hike—Dad panting from exhaustion while Mom laughed at his lack of exercise. Our chat messages stopped yesterday afternoon. Mom had written: [Dinner’s ready, just waiting for you to come home and eat.] Dad sent a cash gift: [For my girl to buy snacks.] Dad’s latest Instagram post was from three days ago, sharing a health article. Before that was last week’s photo of a gathering with old colleagues. He looked so happy. A relative had commented below: [Get together in a few days?] Dad replied: [Sure, once my daughter comes home we’ll all meet up.] That reply was timestamped yesterday at 4 PM. But the immigration records showed they’d already left the country at 3 PM today. All their social media accounts were updating normally, as if they were still somewhere living their ordinary lives. Except I couldn’t reach them. Except their home had been taken by strangers.

No, I won’t accept this! I stood up, dragging my suitcase, and knocked on the door next door. Mrs. Harper opened it—the woman who’d watched me grow up since childhood. “Mrs. Harper! It’s me, Claire!” I grabbed onto her like a drowning person clutching a life raft. “Something happened to my family! My parents are missing, and a group of strangers has taken over our house! Did you see my parents today? They…” “Claire? Are you confused? The house next door… that’s the Williams family. They’ve lived there for years.” I froze: “Mrs. Harper, what are you saying? That’s David ‘s house—my house! You came to borrow sugar from us last month, and my mom baked you cookies…” “That never happened!” Mrs. Harper suddenly raised her voice. “Young lady, don’t make things up! I don’t know any David !” With that, she slammed the door shut. I stood in the cold wind, chilled to the bone. I went to knock on other neighbors’ doors. The answers were all variations on the same theme: “Never heard of them.” “Miss, did you get the wrong address?” “That house has always been theirs. We all know them.” Just as I was losing all hope, I saw elderly Mrs. Murphy about to take out her trash. I rushed over and grabbed her hand: “Mrs. Murphy, you know my parents, right? Tell me where they went!” But Mrs. Murphy shook off my hand forcefully, quickly closed her door, and didn’t even take out the trash. I stood on the street, looking at door after door shut tight, and suddenly felt the whole world spinning. Could it be… I really did remember wrong? Could the parents I saw when I first came home just be my hallucination? I stumbled back to the front of the house. Through the glass window, I saw those seven people enjoying their meal harmoniously. The little girl pointed at something on TV and laughed. Sarah brought her fruit. Robert poured wine with a beaming smile. Everything looked so normal, so normal it was as if they’d been living here for twenty years. And I was like an intruder who didn’t belong, like a crazy person. No, wait—why am I starting to doubt myself? I shook my head, quickly pushing that thought away. Over the next two days, I haunted the area like a ghost. I checked into a small hotel and squatted across from the house before dawn every day, watching that door. On the morning of the third day, I blocked Sarah as she went out to buy breakfast. “Give me back my parents!” I stood in front of her, my eyes bloodshot. Sarah jumped, then composed herself: “Miss, why are you still here? Wasn’t what the police said clear enough?” “Those must have been fake police! You’re all definitely working together!” My voice was hoarse. “Tell me right now—where are my parents!” I grabbed her arm to keep her from leaving. Sarah shook me off forcefully and shouted loudly: “Help! A crazy person is attacking me!” Several neighbors out for morning exercise gathered around. Sarah pointed at me and said to everyone: “It’s this girl. On Christmas Eve she broke into our house claiming it was hers, saying I stole her parents! The police already came, and she’s still causing trouble!” The neighbors looked at me with suspicion, pity, but mostly the desire to keep their distance. “Looking at her, her mental state really isn’t right.” “Poor thing.” “Keep your distance, don’t get involved.” I looked at these familiar faces. The way they were looking at me now—like I was a stranger, a lunatic.

🌟 Continue the story here 👉🏻 📲 Download the “NovelMaster” app 🔍 search for “355475”, and watch the full series ✨! #NovelMaster #现实主义Realistic #浪漫Romance #重生Reborn

I just moved in, and the college girl across the hall reported me to the police, claiming I was stalking her out of twisted obsession and peeping on her while she showered. When the police showed up at my door, she was crying her eyes out, pointing her finger right at my nose and screaming: “Pervert! You’ve been using binoculars to spy on me every night! You even posted my photos online!” “I saw you! Those disgusting, leering eyes of yours make me sick!” The neighbors around us started pointing and whispering. Some even shoved me, calling me the scum of society. “This creep should be chemically castrated!” “He looks so normal on the outside, but he’s actually a peeping tom!” Facing their accusations, I removed the sunglasses from my face, revealing two deeply sunken, empty eye sockets. “Officer, tell me—how exactly does a blind man peep on anyone?” My voice wasn’t loud, but it pierced through the chaotic air in that room like an awl. The neighbors who had just been shoving and cursing at me froze mid-motion. The middle-aged woman who’d been leading the charge stood there with her hand still raised in midair, forgetting to lower it. Every pair of eyes in the room locked onto my face. Or more precisely, onto the two hollow, eyeball-less cavities where my eyes should have been. These were the permanent marks left on me three years ago, in a fire. The lead officer was experienced. His name was William. He froze for a moment, then furrowed his brow, his tone thick with impatience. “Don’t lie to us!” “Whether you’re really blind or not, we’ll find out at the hospital!” The girl across the hall—Mia Li—paused her crying for a beat, then burst into even shriller sobs. “He’s lying! He’s just trying to get away with it!” “There’s no way he can’t see! He stands by his window watching me every night! Those eyes… those eyes…” She seemed to want to describe my eyes, but the sight of my empty sockets scared her speechless. She just pointed at me, trembling all over. “Disgusting! This is so disgusting!” Her outburst stirred up the neighbors again. “Right! He must be faking it!” “These days, criminals will do anything! He’d even claim to be blind just to escape punishment!” A young man even stepped forward indignantly, trying to grab me by the collar. “You scum! I’m going to teach you a lesson today!” The police officer blocked him. “What are you doing? Everyone stay back! The police will handle this!” He turned to me, his eyes still full of suspicion and disgust. “You’re coming with us.” I didn’t resist. I calmly held out both hands. Cold metal touched my wrists. Two younger officers flanked me on either side and led me toward the elevator. Behind me, Mia’s crying mixed with the neighbors’ curses into a chaotic din. “Scum of society!” “Get out of our community!” “Hope you rot in prison!” I could “see” the righteous expressions on their faces. I could also “hear” the pleasure in their voices as they trampled me into the mud. I stepped into the elevator. The metal doors slowly closed, cutting off the noise from outside. One of the younger officers, probably new to the job, couldn’t help but ask me quietly. “Are you… are you really blind?” I tugged at the corner of my mouth but didn’t answer. The other officer patted his shoulder, signaling him to keep quiet. But I knew that in their minds, the scales had already tipped completely in favor of that tearful young girl. After all, it was a young, pretty, pitiful college student on one side. And on the other, a suspicious man living alone, wearing sunglasses. In their eyes, it was crystal clear who was the victim and who was the perpetrator. What they didn’t know was this: Sometimes, what the eyes see is the biggest lie of all. And I—a blind man—had “seen” something that none of them had. For instance, when Mia accused me, her heartbeat was steady, without a single ripple of genuine emotion.

The interrogation room at the police station was harshly lit by fluorescent lights, and the air smelled faintly of mildew. I sat on a cold metal chair. Across from me were William and a female officer taking notes. “Name.” “Lucas .” “Age.” “Twenty-eight.” “Occupation.” “Unemployed.” William slammed his pen down on the table with a sharp crack. “Lucas , I suggest you come clean!” “We have witnesses and evidence. How long do you think you can keep lying?” I faced in his direction and asked calmly. “What witnesses? What evidence?” “The witness is the victim, Mia ! As for the evidence…” William paused, seeming to realize this was a bit tricky. “We’re still searching for it! Don’t think you’re off the hook just because you won’t confess!” He raised his voice, trying to intimidate me with sheer force. “Mia has already told us everything! You just moved in a week ago and started peeping. Every night at eight o’clock, when she takes her shower, you stand across from her with binoculars and watch!” “You even took photos of her and posted them on foreign websites to make money!” “Your behavior constitutes a serious crime! If you confess now, we can still request leniency!” I almost laughed out loud. What a well-crafted story. Time, location, tools, motive—everything was there. If I weren’t the person being accused, I might have believed it myself. “William.” I interrupted his long-winded lecture. “First, I don’t own any binoculars.” “Second, I don’t have the tools to commit this crime. My computer and phone were replaced three years ago with devices designed for the blind. They don’t even have cameras.” “Third, and most importantly.” I enunciated each word clearly. “I. Am. Blind.” William’s breathing grew noticeably heavier. “I told you, don’t use that as an excuse! Whether you’re really blind or not, we’ll take you for testing!” “Until the test results come back, you’re our prime suspect!” At that moment, the interrogation room door swung open. A young officer poked his head in. “Captain, the victim is extremely emotional. She won’t stop crying. She’s saying she’ll report us to our superiors for covering for a criminal.” William’s face darkened. “Got it.” He waved the young officer away, then glared at me fiercely. Of course, I couldn’t see his glare, but I could hear his teeth grinding. “Lucas, do you have any idea how much pressure we’re under because of you?” “She’s a student at a top university. This case is getting a lot of public attention. If we don’t handle this properly, the entire station is going to take heat for it!” I understood now. To him, the truth mattered less than keeping the peace. And the easiest way to keep the peace was to get me to confess. “So, to save you from getting criticized, I have to admit to something I didn’t do?” My tone turned cold. William seemed infuriated by my attitude. “What kind of tone is that? Who do you think you are?” “Let me tell you something—once you’re in here, you follow our rules!” “You won’t talk? Fine! We have ways to make you!” He stood up, looming over me from above. “Lock him up! Once we get the search warrant, we’ll tear his place apart!” “I don’t believe we won’t find evidence!” The door opened. Two officers came in and grabbed me by the arms again. I didn’t struggle. I knew that from the moment Mia reported me, I’d already fallen into a carefully designed trap. If they dared to do this, they must have prepared everything perfectly. Next, they would “find” so-called “evidence” in my apartment. And I would be nailed to the pillar of shame forever.

The cold iron door slammed shut behind me with a heavy echo. I’d been locked in a temporary holding cell. The room was small—just a hard bed and a toilet. The air reeked of disinfectant mixed with despair. I felt my way to the bed and sat down, listening quietly to the sounds outside. Footsteps echoed up and down the hallway, mixed with hushed conversations. “That’s the peeping pervert?” “Looks so normal, but he’s actually disgusting.” “I heard he’s blind. Must be faking it, right?” “Who knows? Either way, he’s finished. Of all people to mess with, he picks a college girl.” These voices pierced my ears like countless tiny needles. I’d long since grown used to the darkness, but for the first time, it felt unbearably cold and cutting. About two hours later, the iron door opened again. It was William. He was holding a clear evidence bag, a smug smile on his face. He waved it in front of me. “Lucas, look at this.” He seemed to forget I couldn’t see. He revealed the answer himself, his voice dripping with satisfaction. “We found this under your windowsill!” “Military-grade binoculars!” “And this!” He pulled out another evidence bag containing a digital camera. “We found tons of photos of Mia on this camera! From all kinds of angles! Absolutely disgusting!” “Now, what do you have to say?” I remained silent. But inside, I was reeling. They moved fast. They’d already planted all the “evidence.” Seeing that I didn’t respond, William assumed I was admitting guilt. He pulled over a chair and sat across from me, his tone taking on a lecturing quality, as if he were scolding a clueless kid. “Lucas, oh Lucas. You’re young, you’re not bad-looking—why do something so sleazy?” “Now the evidence is right here. There’s no point denying it.” “Just sign the papers. I’ll even ask the prosecutor to go easy on you. Maybe you’ll get a few years shaved off your sentence.” He pushed a document and an ink pad toward me. “Come on. Press your fingerprint. Let’s end this quickly. It’s better for everyone.” I could “hear” the dismissiveness and impatience in his tone. He didn’t care about the truth. He just wanted to close the case. I slowly lifted my head and faced him. “William, if I press my fingerprint, does that mean I’m admitting to all the charges?” “Of course!” “And I’ll be convicted of indecent assault and distributing obscene materials?” “That’s right. Combined charges, at least three years minimum.” “My name, my life—I’ll be branded as a ‘rapist’ and a ‘pervert’ forever?” William’s patience seemed to run out. “Why are you talking so much? You brought this on yourself! Who else is there to blame?” I laughed. The sound echoed eerily in the empty holding cell. “Yeah. Who else is there to blame?” I murmured to myself. Then I reached out, groping for the transcript. Just as William thought I was about to press my fingerprint, I used every ounce of strength I had and tore that document to shreds. Paper scraps fluttered down like snowflakes. William was stunned. He hadn’t expected me to do that. “You… you’re insane!” He shot to his feet, pointing at my nose and roaring. “This is resisting law enforcement! You’re making it worse for yourself!” I faced his fury and said, slowly and clearly: “I didn’t do it. I won’t admit to a single word.” “You can fabricate evidence. You can beat a confession out of me. But you will never make me bow.” “Want me to confess? You’ll have to kill me first.” My words were like a resounding slap across William’s face. His face turned from red to green, then from green to purple. “Fine! Fine! Fine!” He said “fine” three times, trembling with rage. “You’ve got guts! Let’s see just how tough you really are!” He spun around and stormed out, shouting into the hallway. “Someone get in here! Cuff him! File for formal detention!” “I’m going to make him understand what the law’s authority really means!” Two officers rushed in and roughly dragged me off the bed. Cold handcuffs clamped onto my wrists again—this time tighter than before, biting painfully into my skin. They shoved me forward, making me stumble as I walked. Just then, my phone rang. It was that monotone electronic tone unique to phones designed for the blind. One officer moved to hang up impatiently. But I spoke. “Let me answer it.” My tone carried an undeniable calm. The officers hesitated. William barked: “Answer what? Take him away!” “If this call delays you from learning the ‘truth’ you want, the consequences are on you.” My words made William freeze. He looked at me suspiciously. Finally, he signaled for his subordinate to hand me the phone. I fumbled for the answer button. On the other end, a cold, familiar female voice spoke. “Lucas, this is your landlord. I’m giving you three days to move out of my apartment.” “I don’t want a disgusting peeping tom living in my property.”

🌟 Continue the story here 👉🏻 📲 Download the “NovelMaster” app 🔍 search for “355474”, and watch the full series ✨! #NovelMaster #现实主义Realistic #浪漫Romance #重生Reborn

“Sienna, you’re so tight…” At the graduation party, Archer Brennan—who’d been pursuing me for half a year—got me drunk and tricked me into bed. When I woke up, he gripped my chin and sneered: “Last night, I wasn’t the only one who slept with you.” Opening my phone, I discovered photos of me in bed with a group of married men had gone viral. My mom was so furious she slapped him. He shoved her hard to the ground: “Weren’t you the one who loved being a mistress? Now your daughter’s a mistress to a whole group of men!” My mom had a stroke from the rage. After they revived her, her mental capacity was permanently stuck at age five. To support my mom, I became a pole dancer in the red-light district. Ten years later, as I twisted my body through swirling smoke, I saw those familiar eyes in the VIP section. I spun around the pole, the friction of the metal bar making the inside of my thighs burn. Ten years, and this body still hadn’t gotten used to this kind of friction. But I didn’t dare stop. Every stack of tips from the audience below meant another payment toward my mom’s medical bills. Inverted hold, split, backbend. Just as I was hanging from one hand, preparing to slide down, my gaze crashed into a pair of eyes. My breath caught. My hand slipped. I fell straight down from the three-meter pole. “THUD—” I slammed hard into the floor, searing pain shooting through my ankle. The crowd below instantly erupted in jeers and curses. “What the hell was that? If you can’t dance, don’t hog the stage!” “Wasting my time. Get the hell off!” Manager Diane rushed onto the stage, apologizing in all directions while roughly yanking me up and hissing under her breath: “Sienna! Are you deliberately trying to sabotage us? Do you know who’s here tonight? If you piss off the VIP guests, we could sell you and still not cover the damages!” I clutched my swelling ankle, cold sweat pouring down from the pain. Looking up toward the second floor again—that figure was already gone. Was it a hallucination? “Still standing there? Get backstage!” Diane shoved me hard. I stumbled off stage, every step like walking on knife points. Back in the closet-sized changing room, I’d barely sat down when a server pushed the door open and tossed out: “Diane says since you screwed up the performance tonight, all your pay is docked.” “All of it?” I shot to my feet. “But my mom has rehabilitation therapy tomorrow.” I grabbed his sleeve. “Can you please ask Diane for some mercy? I promise I’ll be more careful next time.” The server shook me off, impatience all over his face: “Beg for what? You’re the one who messed up. Who else is to blame?” The door slammed shut. I collapsed back into the chair, the pain in my ankle and the panic in my heart twisting together. Treatment fees, medicine costs, loan shark interest… a pile of bills circled in my mind, crushing until I couldn’t breathe. If tonight’s pay was gone, Mom’s rehabilitation would have to be postponed. Just as I was drowning in worry, the door suddenly opened. Diane walked in, her expression softer than before: “Sienna, come with me. A guest in the VIP section specifically requested you for a private dance. Triple the normal rate.” My heart sank. I knew exactly what going into a private room meant. Enclosed space, hard liquor, and those hands that wouldn’t take no for an answer. I’d always avoided these situations. But thinking of my mom’s treatment fees, thinking of those life-or-death bills, I hesitated. “Not going?” Diane raised an eyebrow. “Then forget about this month’s base pay too.” “I’ll go.” I bit through my lower lip. Having reached this point, what right did I have to be picky? Diane smiled. “That’s more like it. We all work at Red Hall—what’s with the high-and-mighty act?” “Change into a different dress. Don’t keep the guest waiting.” I pulled out a relatively conservative black slip dress from the bottom of the closet, threw on a jacket, and followed Diane to the top-floor VIP room. Pushing open the door, Diane instantly plastered on a smile: “Mr. Brennan, I’ve brought her. This is our top performer, Sienna.” I followed her gaze, and my smile froze. Sitting in the main seat on the sofa was the very person I’d seen from the stage—Archer. Ten years apart, he was no longer the naive underclassman who used to follow me around. Now he wore a black suit that emphasized his tall frame. His features carried the cold severity of a mafia boss, his entire presence radiating an intimidating aura that warned people to keep away. And I had become a dancer in a red-light district, making a living by selling performances. The humiliation lasted only half a second before I lowered my eyes and put on a professional fake smile. The current me had no right to emotions. I walked to the small round platform in the center of the room and moved my body to the music. Sweat mixed with black eyeliner streamed into my eyes, stinging sharply. When the song ended, sparse applause sounded. Archer finally spoke, his voice laced with bone-chilling mockery: “Sienna, it’s been ten years. You’ve really made something of yourself.”

The room instantly fell silent. Someone immediately chimed in: “Mr. Brennan, you know her?” Archer swirled his glass, his gaze sweeping over me with contempt: “Not really. Just schoolmates. Had the honor of hearing about this senior’s ‘glorious deeds’ back in the day.” He emphasized “glorious deeds” with loaded meaning. Laughter erupted around the room. “Since she’s Mr. Brennan’s schoolmate, shouldn’t we get something more exciting?” A man covered in gold rings jeered: “Strip! Give us something hotter!” My face went pale. “I’m sorry… I… I don’t do that.” “Don’t do that?” Gold Ring laughed out loud. “Coming here and still acting virtuous?” He pulled a thick stack of bills from his wallet and threw it on the glass coffee table. “Take off one piece, get ten thousand.” Others followed suit. Soon, a mountain of money piled on the table. Under the dim lighting, that money gleamed with a dirty but alluring sheen. I seemed to see the hospital payment slip, my mom’s vacant stare, and the nurse’s voice urging payment. Time ticked by. The gazes in the room shifted from mockery to impatience. “Strip or not? If not, get lost!” Archer just sat there, leisurely smoking. He was the judge controlling life and death. I was the lamb awaiting slaughter. My nails dug into my palms. The pain brought clarity. I raised my trembling hand and unbuttoned the first button. My jacket slid to the floor. Then my fingers moved to the zipper on the side of my dress. The sound of metal sliding was faint but piercing. The dress slipped from my shoulders, revealing the thin black lace lingerie underneath. The air conditioning in the room was cold. My skin erupted in fine tremors. I mechanically moved my body, trying to cover myself with my arms, but this only triggered more excited whistles and jeering. Just as my trembling hand reached for the clasp on my bra— “Enough.” Archer crushed out his cigarette. All sound stopped abruptly. I froze in place, dress half-removed. He stood up, looking down at me from above, undisguised disgust in his eyes: “Like mother, like daughter—willing to do anything for money.” With that, he turned and left. The VIP room door slammed with a thunderous crash. Once Archer left, everyone else dispersed. I quickly wrapped my jacket tight, hugging my arms, head down, frozen in place. Just then, a middle-aged man wearing glasses walked over. I recognized him—he was one of Archer’s lieutenants, a hall master named Wesley. He stuffed a business card into my cleavage, his gaze lewd: “Miss Sienna, right? Nice body.” He leaned close, alcohol fumes spraying on my face: “I’ve got an overseas filming project that needs bold actresses for some ‘art films.’” “Contact me if you’re interested. The money—I guarantee you’ll be satisfied.” As Wesley left, his eyes lingered on my chest for several seconds. The VIP room door closed. It was completely empty. 2 I numbly wiped the cold dampness from my face, walked to the table, and picked up the scattered bills one by one, smoothed them, and stacked them. Counted twice. Forty-two thousand. Fifty-two thousand total. I silently calculated in my mind: Mom’s specialized medication for next month costs twelve thousand per dose. I could buy four doses first, with four thousand left over. The weather was getting colder. Last winter Mom kept saying her hands and feet were freezing. This year I could buy her thick snow boots. The heating in the rental apartment was never good. I could also buy a space heater. Calculating this way, tonight… was worth it. It was just being looked at, touched a few times, hearing some unpleasant words. Compared to the cold numbers on hospital bills, what did any of this matter? I braced my weak legs and stood up, carefully tucking the money into my bag. Turning to leave, I saw the business card on the carpet’s edge. I stopped at the door, my hand on the cold doorknob. The doctor had said there was a new treatment abroad for Mom’s condition that could restore seventy to eighty percent of her function. Cost: eight hundred thousand. A number I didn’t dare dream about. What else could Wesley want me to film? Nothing but those things that couldn’t see the light of day, circulating on the dark web. But if filming once could get me eight hundred thousand, what couldn’t I sacrifice? This body had been dirty since ten years ago anyway. A little dirtier—so what? As long as I could get eight hundred thousand. I took a deep breath, turned around, and picked up the business card. Three days later, I arrived at a private villa on the city outskirts following the address. The staff inside were few and far between. Wesley greeted me, smiling as he said they’d first take fitting photos, and had an assistant hand me an almost transparent lingerie set. The fabric covered nothing. Wearing it was like wearing nothing at all. Wesley directed me from the side to pose in various suggestive positions. “Right, kneel down, arch your back…” “Spread your legs a bit, make your eyes seductive…” The lights were blinding. I instinctively wanted to curl up. “Don’t hide. Look at the camera. Imagine you’re craving a man…” I became a puppet, manipulated at will. In my mind I repeated: eight hundred thousand, eight hundred thousand… As long as I got this money, Mom could go abroad for treatment. When the shoot ended, Wesley walked me to the door. Just as I reached the villa entrance, I ran into Archer with a young woman in his arms. Seeing me, his expression froze. Wesley immediately stepped forward: “Mr. Brennan, what a coincidence!” Archer ignored him, his gaze locked dead on me. The girl in his arms spoke softly: “Hello, Mr. Wesley.” “And who’s this?” Wesley looked at the girl. Only then did Archer withdraw his gaze, his tone gentler: “Lily Smith, my fiancée.” Delight flashed in the girl’s eyes, and I saw it. Fiancée… So he was getting married. I felt no ripples in my heart. I forced a smile. Lily wore a white cashmere dress, her demeanor clean and refined. Standing with him, they looked well-matched. Wesley heaped on praise: “Mr. Brennan and Miss Smith are truly a perfect couple!” Then he patted my shoulder: “Sienna’s figure is also top-tier. The art photos we just shot—absolutely stunning.” Archer’s expression instantly darkened. I didn’t want to linger. I said goodbye to Wesley and turned to leave. I hadn’t gone far when Archer caught up and grabbed my wrist: “You came out of Wesley’s house?” “Do you know what he’s having you photograph?” I pulled my hand free: “What’s it to you?” “Wesley’s married, don’t you know?” He growled quietly. “Do you really enjoy being the other woman that much? Are you really that cheap?” Those words stabbed like a knife into my heart. My eyes reddened as I laughed, laughing until tears came: “Yeah, I’m cheap. I love being the other woman. So what?” I stepped closer, deliberately provocative: “Or does Mr. Brennan also want to keep me? For old times’ sake, I’ll give you a discount?” Fury instantly flared in Archer’s eyes. Before I’d finished speaking, Lily rushed up from behind and slapped me hard. “Have you no shame? Seducing someone else’s fiancé!” She trembled with rage, about to strike again. Blood seeped from the corner of my mouth, the metallic taste spreading. Archer stopped her, his voice cold: “Lily, don’t touch her. She’s filthy.”

With that, he glanced at me with disgust, put his arm around Lily, and turned away. I covered my face, watching their backs, and finally crouched down and cried out loud. When I’d cried enough, I wiped away the tears and blood, braced my knees, and stood up. I walked for three hours before reaching a bus stop. Just as I sat down, my phone buzzed. A bank message popped up: [Deposit received: $800,000 USD] My finger traced across those numbers. Ice cold, bone-piercing. Mom’s treatment fund was complete. I leaned against the bus window, watching the neon lights fly backward outside. Memories from ten years ago surged up. Back then, I was a piano prodigy at the music conservatory. My professor said these hands of mine belonged in concert halls. Until Archer appeared. He was an underclassman one year behind me, the most popular guy at school. Wild, flashy, eyes like a wolf when he looked at people. He said he’d fallen for me at first sight. Pursued me for half a year. The night of the graduation party, he said he had a surprise for me and got me blackout drunk. But when I woke up, explicit photos of me with a group of married men had spread across the entire internet. I became a homewrecker everyone wanted to condemn. I went to find him like a madwoman. He just leaned against his motorcycle, smiling cruelly: “Getting close to you was never about liking you.” “Your mom seduced my dad back then and drove my mom to jump into the sea and commit suicide.” “The debt she owes, you’re paying back.” I didn’t believe it. I shook my head desperately. When my mom came looking, she slapped Archer across the face. He backhanded and shoved my mom to the ground. “Weren’t you the one who loved being a mistress? I just helped your daughter carry on the family tradition.” My mom had a stroke on the spot from rage. After they resuscitated her, her mental capacity was permanently frozen at age five. And I was expelled from school, spurned by everyone. With nowhere to turn, I entered Red Hall. I’d been there ten years. Now I finally had eight hundred thousand. Mom could be saved. But what about me? What about the truth that had been buried? Had my mom… really done those things? The bus announcement pulled me back from my thoughts. I put away my phone and got off. Just as I reached the entrance to the old apartment complex where I rented, neighbor Mrs. Liu rushed out in a panic: “Sienna! Something terrible! Your mom’s missing!” My head buzzed. Blood rushed to the top of my skull. “I just wanted to bring your mom some pastries. The door was open and no one was inside!” “I searched the whole area and couldn’t find her. What do we do?” I couldn’t hear the rest. I shook off Mrs. Liu and rushed upstairs like a madwoman. The door to my home stood wide open. Mom wasn’t there. “Mom—!” My hoarse shout echoed through the empty hallway. I rushed downstairs, sprinting wildly through the night streets. “Mom! Where are you?!” Cold wind howled. The streets were empty. Fear wrapped around my heart like vines. What if she got lost? What if she fell? What if… she got hit by a car? What if she ran into bad people? No, that won’t happen— I rushed through an intersection without checking the light. The piercing sound of brakes tore through the night sky. My legs gave out. I collapsed to the ground. My knees screamed with pain. A car door was violently thrown open. A tall figure charged out, wrapped in fury. “Do you have a death wish?! Walking without looking—” The scolding stopped abruptly. I raised my tear-filled eyes and saw who it was. Archer. Seeing it was me, surprise flashed in his eyes. “Sienna?” Hearing his voice, ten years of grievances and terror broke through the dam. I sat on the cold ground, sobbing uncontrollably. Archer’s expression was complex, then quickly replaced by mockery. He sneered: “What? Not enough money selling your body, so now you’ve moved on to insurance fraud? How much do you want? Just say it.” As he spoke, he reached out to pull me up. Just then, a figure suddenly rushed out, forcefully pushing Archer away and spreading her arms in front of me, shouting with vacant urgency: “Don’t bully Sienna! Don’t bully Sienna! Bastard! Go away! Don’t touch my Sienna!” It was Mom. Archer was pushed back a step. When he saw who was blocking me, his entire body froze.

🌟 Continue the story here 👉🏻 📲 Download the “NovelMaster” app 🔍 search for “355473”, and watch the full series ✨! #NovelMaster #现实主义Realistic #浪漫Romance #重生Reborn

“Mrs. Ashford, Bianca needs a heart transplant. We need you to come in for a compatibility test.” “Okay.” “It’s a match. Are you absolutely sure you wish to proceed with the donation?” “I’m sure.” On the day of the surgery, he knocked the last cake I’d ever bake for him to the floor. “Get out. Bianca’s in surgery today. Don’t bother me.” He never knew the heart for his lover was mine. The anesthetic crept cold through my veins. Before the dark pulled me under, I heard his tender voice through the surgical curtain. “Don’t be afraid, Bianca. When you’re well, we’ll marry.” It’s fine. This life. I owed it to his sister anyway. When the heart monitor flatlined, he finally asked where I was. The doctor pointed next door. “The donor. Would you care to see?” He scoffed. “A corpse? Why waste my time?” But, Lucas, when you learned that corpse was me, why did you lose your mind? Raina’s POV Today was my fourth wedding anniversary with Lucas Ashford. Instead of him, I got a call from his law firm, from his lead counsel, Mr. Preston. “Mrs. Ashford, Mr. Ashford is being sued by Miss Bianca White for unlawful restraint. As his legal spouse, your presence is required.” I tightened my grip on the phone. Another one of Bianca’s games. In four years, this had become routine. Another performance to prove who really owned him. But I still went. I was Lucas’s legal wife. This was my duty. In the law firm’s top floor conference room, the air conditioning hummed too cold. Through the glass door, I saw Bianca White before I entered. She was complaining, her tone caught between a boast and a grievance. “Mr. Preston, don’t you think he went too far? He kept me locked on his private island for three days and nights. I couldn’t leave.” The nearby assistants didn’t even blink. One leaned over and murmured to the intern beside her. “This isn’t a lawsuit. It’s a lover’s quarrel. Mr. Ashford indulges her completely. It’s a game. She’s making a scene just to have the wife summoned and forced to watch.” The intern caught on at once. “So that’s why they called Mrs. Ashford? Following protocol?” “Exactly. To rub her face in it.” Those not-quite-whispers pierced me, one after another. I pushed open the door and sat down on a sofa in the corner. Before long, Lucas arrived. He wore a black custom-tailored suit, bringing a frigid chill with him as he entered. The temperature in the entire conference room seemed to drop several degrees. But when he saw Bianca, all that ice instantly melted. He reached up and gently stroked the top of her head, his movements tender. “It’s my fault. I shouldn’t have locked you up. Have you forgiven me?” Bianca pouted. Lucas pulled out a velvet box from his pocket and opened it. A pink diamond brooch lay quietly inside. “I won it for you at an auction a few days ago.” He pinned the brooch to Bianca’s chest. “Don’t be angry anymore, okay?” Bianca looked surprised and delighted, but still wouldn’t look at him. Lucas pulled her into his embrace and tilted his head to kiss her. Throughout the entire process, I was like a transparent spectator, forced to witness my husband’s intimacy with another woman. Lucas, holding Bianca, finally turned around and noticed me in the corner. His gaze swept over me, and he paused briefly. Bianca leaned against him. “Lucas, I had Mr. Preston notify her to come. You’re not upset with me, are you?” “It’s fine.” Lucas said flatly. Those words stabbed into my heart like a sharp blade. Four years ago, it wasn’t like this. Back then, Lucas’s sister, Isabel, was my best friend in the world. I used to be afraid of him too. But later I discovered that while Lucas was cold to everyone else, he showed me a tenderness that others couldn’t imagine. He would remember my period and have hot drinks and heating pads ready in advance. He built an elaborate shelter for the stray cats under my dorm building, just because I’d casually mentioned feeling sorry for them. Whenever I went out, he’d always find excuses to stay by my side, protecting me completely. Little by little, I let my guard down. We were passionately in love for two whole years. During those two years, I was the princess Lucas cherished in the palm of his hand. But a sudden disaster shattered all that beauty. After our wedding, Isabel and I went shopping when we encountered an armed robber. In the chaos, Isabel used all her strength to push me away, screaming at me. “Raina, run! Go get help!” I turned and ran. I hadn’t gotten far when my stomach suddenly erupted in unprecedented pain. The pain made everything go black, and I lost consciousness. When I woke up again, the world had changed. Two pieces of devastating news hit me simultaneously. First, the doctor told me I had stomach cancer. Terminal stage. Second, Isabel had fought back and been stabbed to death by the vicious criminal. I didn’t even have time to process the sudden catastrophe before I was engulfed by Lucas’s overwhelming hatred. His eyes bloodshot, he gripped my shoulders tightly, roaring his questions at me. “Why didn’t you save her? Why were you the only one who ran!” Looking at this man who had just suffered the pain of losing his sister, how could I bear to tell him that his wife wouldn’t live much longer either? I couldn’t let him bear the double blow of losing both his sister and his wife simultaneously. So I chose silence. And my silence, to Lucas, was confirmation. From that moment on, all the love in his eyes transformed into hatred that would consume everything. To punish me, he found Bianca-someone who resembled me slightly. He took all the affection he’d once given me and lavished it on that replacement, multiplied. I placed my hand on my abdomen. It was still flat, but inside, the cancer cells had already spread throughout my body. Three days ago, I received my latest test results. The doctor looked at me and pronounced my final sentence. “Mrs. Ashford, I’m very sorry. You have a month at most.” One month. That’s fine. This endless torment would finally be over. Isabel, wait for me. I’ll come to confess to you very soon.

Raina’s POV A fire-red sports car stopped arrogantly in front of me. The window rolled down, revealing Bianca’s face wearing a victor’s smile. “Get in.” She said sweetly from the driver’s seat, not bothering to hide her gloating. Lucas didn’t look at me, just commanded. “Get in. Don’t make me say it twice.” I got in. In that cramped space, every inch of air made me feel suffocated. The car started, speeding along the riverside road. Suddenly, a ball rolled into the middle of the road, and then a child ran out after it. Bianca panicked and jerked the steering wheel, mistaking the gas pedal for the brake and stomping down hard. The sports car charged straight toward the guardrail along the river. In the instant before impact, I clearly saw Lucas lunge forward. Using his own body to shield Bianca in his arms. From beginning to end, he didn’t spare me a single glance. After the tremendous crash came the cold and darkness of plunging into water. Freezing river water poured madly through the shattered car window, flooding my nose and mouth. My heart went utterly cold in that moment. Before completely losing consciousness, the last scene I witnessed was Lucas smashing open the car window. Holding the unconscious Bianca, swimming desperately toward the surface. When I woke again, I was in the hospital. “Why hasn’t she woken up yet?!” It was Lucas. My heart trembled involuntarily. The doctor tried to explain. “Mr. Ashford, Mrs. Ashford’s unconsciousness may not only be due to drowning. Her physical condition-” Before he could finish, a nurse’s anxious voice interrupted. “Mr. Ashford! Miss White is awake and crying everywhere looking for you!” The hospital room door opened, and Lucas’s tall figure appeared in the doorway. Our eyes met as I’d just opened mine. He turned without hesitation toward Bianca’s room, not sparing me another glance. I slowly closed my eyes. That’s fine. It’s better that he doesn’t know about my illness. Otherwise, he’d probably just sneer “serves you right,” then complain that I was dying too slowly and offending his sight. I handled my own discharge procedures. Returning to that empty villa, my heart was as calm as stagnant water. I began calmly arranging my affairs for after death. I first went to the old photo studio on the corner that had been there for decades and took a portrait for my funeral. In the photo, I wore a clean white shirt and smiled. I went to select the plainest white ceramic urn for myself. Holding that small urn, imagining myself finally curled up inside it, I actually felt incredibly peaceful. Finally, I took a taxi to the cemetery. In front of Isabel Ashford’s grave, I set down the white roses I’d brought. “Isabel, I’m sorry.” “I’ll be coming to join you very soon.” “Raina.” I stiffly turned around. Lucas stood in the distance, also holding a bouquet of white roses. And beside him, intimately holding his arm, was Bianca.

Raina’s POV Lucas stepped forward and kicked away the white roses in front of the grave. “How dare you show your face here?” “Get lost! Don’t defile my sister’s place!” I supported myself against the gravestone and slowly stood up. “I just wanted to visit Isabel.” “Visit her?” Lucas acted as if he’d heard the world’s greatest joke. “What right do you have to visit her?” He suddenly lunged, slamming me back against a nearby tree. His hand closed around my throat. “Why didn’t you save her back then? Why did you let her die alone so miserably!” His roar was raw, his eyes bloodshot. The air vanished at once. My breath was stolen piece by piece. Death’s shadow fell, but I only felt release. I gave up struggling and slowly closed my eyes. Dying by his hand might also be a form of repayment. Just as my consciousness began to fade, the grip on my neck suddenly loosened. Lucas released me, his chest heaving violently. I leaned against the tree trunk, coughing severely. Bianca walked up sweetly and took Lucas’s arm. “Lucas, it’s so hot here in the sun. Let’s go. Don’t waste time on such a vicious person.” Lucas gently placed the white roses before the grave and didn’t look at me again. “Oh, my foot hurts so much.” Bianca suddenly cried out delicately. Lucas immediately crouched down in front of her, naturally lifting her onto his back. He walked down the cemetery steps steadily, one step at a time. Watching that familiar back, my heart felt like it was being cut repeatedly with a knife. Lucas used to carry me like this too. That time they went to pray at the church, and the long stone steps made my legs go weak. I stubbornly refused to walk, so he indulgently crouched down and carried me on his back. He walked very steadily, step by step, whispering promises in my ear. “Raina, I’ll carry you for a lifetime.” At the time, Isabel was teasing us from the side, laughing at our sweetness. The promise still echoed in my ears, yet now another woman rode on his back. I silently followed behind them. Lucas placed Bianca in the car, then turned back to see me, coldly ordering. “Get in.” When I didn’t move, he impatiently added another sentence. “Every second you stay here disgusts me.” I got in the car and sat in the back seat. Inside the car, Bianca deliberately pressed her entire body against Lucas. “Lucas, I want…” Lucas hit the brakes and stopped the car at a deserted riverside viewpoint. He turned to me and said. “Get out.” I couldn’t believe what was happening. “Get out.” His voice was full of violence. I trembled as I pushed open the car door and got out. As soon as I steadied myself, the car door behind me slammed shut and locked. Then that fire-red sports car began to shake violently in a rhythmic pattern. On the silent viewpoint, a woman’s deliberately suppressed yet seductive moans and a man’s heavy breathing clearly penetrated the car window, torturing my eardrums one sound at a time.

Raina’s POV Tears poured from my eyes, immediately dried by the river wind. The first time with Lucas, he was so careful, his movements gentle and restrained, afraid of hurting me. The cherishing and love in his eyes almost melted me. But now, just a few meters away from me, he indulged with another woman, rough and direct. Just to vent the most primitive desire. I don’t know how long passed before the car window finally rolled down. Bianca leaned lazily against the seat back. Her face flushed with post-coital satisfaction, she signaled that I could get in the car. I pulled open the car door. That heavy smell inside the car made my stomach churn with nausea. “Lucas, what if I get pregnant?” Bianca said. Lucas started the car. “Then have the baby. We’ll have a daughter as adorable as you.” Have a daughter. Those words hit like a thunderbolt. We’d once passionately discussed our future children too. He said if we had a daughter, she must be like me. He’d spoil her into the happiest little princess in the world. But he also said that his most beloved would always be me, his big princess. Those promises that once made my heart sweet with joy now sounded as distant as something from a past life. Bianca leaned sweetly against his shoulder, cooing. “Then we’ll have to keep trying hard when we get home.” Back at the villa, Lucas and Bianca threw all caution to the wind. On the living room sofa, in front of the bathroom mirror, on the study carpet-everywhere bore traces of their indulgence. Those lewd sounds continued day and night, tormenting me like a curse. And I could only lock myself in my room, repeatedly tortured by the excruciating pain of cancer. Each time the pain struck, I could only bite down hard on the blanket, spitting out blood tinged with a metallic sweetness. Inside the door was the silence of approaching death. Outside the door was unbridled pleasure. I left my room to get water and saw Bianca wearing an apron, busy in the kitchen. Lucas sat at the dining table reading the newspaper, the scene absurdly peaceful. Bianca saw me. “Eat with us.” Lucas didn’t look up. “Don’t be ungrateful.” A table full of charred, unidentifiable objects. Yet Lucas calmly ate, even indulgently telling Bianca. “It’s delicious.” The first time I cooked for him. It was just as terrible, but he ate every dish clean. Then he gently ruffled my hair and said I was the most amazing girl in the world. I forced myself to take a bite of food. My stomach immediately churned. A metallic sweetness I could no longer suppress, I rushed to the bathroom and vomited violently into the sink. The white ceramic was instantly stained with glaring blood. Bianca followed me in. Seeing this scene, her eyes immediately reddened. “Raina, what do you mean by this? I worked so hard making that food, and you hate it this much? Are you deliberately putting on a show for Lucas and me?” Lucas rushed over hearing the commotion. His expression darkened instantly. He quickly stepped forward, pulled Bianca into his arms, and soothed her gently. “Since you hate eating so much,” He spoke. “Then go hungry for a few days and reflect properly.” “Someone, lock her in the basement.”

Raina’s POV Two bodyguards responded and stepped forward, grabbing my arms and roughly dragging me toward the basement. Cold, damp air rushed at me, mixed with the moldy smell of dust. I didn’t even have the strength to struggle. The excruciating pain in my stomach and the ice in my heart left me nearly unconscious. I was thrown inside without mercy. From beginning to end, Lucas never looked at me once, just held the pitifully crying Bianca in his arms and turned to leave. In the darkness, I curled up on the cold floor. For two full days, not a drop of water or food. Hunger and stomach pain took turns torturing me, wearing away the last bit of my life force. It wasn’t until the third day, the eve of Bianca’s birthday party, that the basement door finally opened. Lucas had someone release me. He looked down at my miserable state from his height. “You’ll personally organize Bianca’s birthday party. If anything goes wrong, you know the consequences.” I nodded. The birthday party was extravagantly arranged. The entire villa was decorated with flowing lights, and guests gathered. Halfway through the party, Bianca walked up to me with a wine glass, looking seductive. “Raina, today’s my birthday. Where’s your gift?” Undisguised provocation glinted in her eyes. “I didn’t prepare anything,” I answered. Bianca noticed the necklace around my neck. It was the only keepsake my mother had left me. “Then give me that,” Bianca’s tone was matter-of-fact. “I really like it.” I immediately protected the necklace at my chest. “Not this.” “Why not?” Bianca’s eyes immediately reddened. She looked grievously at Lucas, who had rushed over. “Lucas, I just wanted a birthday present.” Lucas’s gaze went cold. “Give it to her.” He commanded me. “This is what my mother left me…” My voice trembled uncontrollably as I begged him. When my mother died, I cried until I couldn’t breathe. It was Lucas who held me tightly, promising over and over in my ear that he’d always be with me, that he’d love me well in her mother’s place. But now, this same man was personally taking away my last remembrance of my mother. Lucas lost patience and directly signaled to the bodyguard beside him. “No! Don’t!” Two bodyguards pinned me down firmly. I could only watch helplessly as that thin cord was torn off and fell into Lucas’s hand. He personally put it on Bianca, even praising her gently. “It suits you perfectly.” He took Bianca’s hand and returned to the center of the party. I collapsed to the floor. I had to leave this suffocating place! But as soon as I stood up, I was blocked by several of Bianca’s friends. They dragged me to a deserted corner. Vulgar insults accompanied punches and kicks, raining down on me. “Shameless bitch, occupying the position of Mrs. Ashford and refusing to let go!” “Bianca wanting your things is your blessing, and you dare refuse?” I curled up on the ground, giving up all resistance and calls for help. It hurt. It hurt so much. But how could physical pain compare to even one ten-thousandth of the pain in my heart? When another kick landed hard on my abdomen, I jerked my head to the side and vomited up a large mouthful of blood. That glaring red instantly frightened those women who’d been kicking in a frenzy. Just then, a cold voice sounded above their heads. “What are you doing?!” It was Lucas.

Raina’s POV Bianca’s friends turned pale with fear, hastily explaining. “Mr. Ashford, it has nothing to do with us! She vomited blood on her own!” Bianca rushed over, grabbing Lucas before he could step forward. “Lucas, don’t let her fool you! She did it on purpose, using a blood pack to act, trying to ruin my birthday!” Lucas’s advancing foot paused. He looked at me curled up on the ground. “Since she loves acting so much, let her act to her heart’s content.” He turned to the bodyguards. “Throw her in the pool in the back yard. When dawn comes, fish her back out.” That night was early winter. The nighttime temperature was already close to freezing. A bodyguard couldn’t help but warn. “Mr. Ashford, this could kill someone.” “If she dies, she dies.” Lucas responded indifferently. Two bodyguards roughly dragged me to the back yard and threw me into the freezing pool. Bone-chilling cold instantly enveloped me. Suffocation and excruciating stomach pain struck simultaneously. I struggled in the icy water. While Lucas and Bianca embraced intimately under the lights. After that night, I was fished out. But I had only one breath left, burning with fever. I was thrown back into my room, left to fend for myself. In the following days, my illness grew more frequent. Vomiting blood became routine, and my consciousness often slipped into confusion. During one bout of severe pain, my memory returned to five years ago, to that moment when he would still feel sorry for me. Instinctively, I grabbed my phone and dialed that familiar number. Just like every time I felt terrible before, crying as I spoke. “Lucas… I feel awful…” On the other end, a long silence. Just when I thought he wouldn’t respond, Lucas’s voice came through the receiver. “What’s wrong?” I suddenly realized what a ridiculous thing I’d done. I hung up in a panic, buried my head in the blanket, and cried silently while gritting my teeth. Finally, I swallowed a handful of painkillers and fell into a drowsy sleep. I don’t know how long passed before a basin of cold water was dumped over my head, shocking me awake from unconsciousness. Bianca stood by the bed, looking down at me. “I found a man for you. So you can see what another man feels like. How’s that?” As she spoke, a greasy-looking man walked in from the hall. He leered at me as he approached the bed. I scrambled back in panic. Just as his grimy hand was about to grab me, I shoved him away with all my strength. And I ran. I burst out of the room and slammed straight into a solid chest. It was Lucas. Bianca threw herself against him, sobbing as she began her story “Lucas, I can’t believe it…she had a strange man in her room. How could she do this to you?”

🌟 Continue the story here 👉🏻 📲 Download the “NovelMaster” app 🔍 search for “355472”, and watch the full series ✨! #NovelMaster #现实主义Realistic #浪漫Romance #重生Reborn

I’m a urologist specializing in circumcision procedures. Yet my husband went behind my back to have someone else perform his surgery, and the sutures were even shaped like a heart. I confronted him. “Who did your surgery? What’s with that heart-shaped stitching?” My husband stammered. “I didn’t want you to be too tired from work, so I just found another doctor. She was just joking around…” That night, I hid the pregnancy test results. While my husband was in the shower, I grabbed his phone. An Instagram account with no profile picture had sent him an explicit photo. In the picture, the woman had a heart tattooed on her butt. My heart hammered against my ribs as I slammed the phone face-down. How was this possible? Lincoln and I had been married for six years. Everyone saw us as the perfect couple. When I was trapped in that avalanche, buried under tons of snow, everyone told him to give up. But he searched day and night, refusing to quit no matter the danger. He finally found me in a crack between the rocks, barely alive. He literally gave me my life back. How could a man who loved me that much cheat on me? The bathroom door opened. I quickly put down his phone. At the same time, I quietly followed that woman’s Instagram account. Lincoln pulled me into his arms and said. “Still mad? I only did it to surprise you. I remember you saying the excess foreskin was unsanitary and could make you sick.” “I really don’t want you to suffer even the slightest harm because of me. I can’t bear it…” I pushed him away with disgust. Suddenly, my phone buzzed. It was a notification that the woman had posted a new story. “OMG, my boyfriend is such a possessive puppy. He just had surgery but insisted on making out with me. We went at it so hard his stitches tore.” I couldn’t help glancing at the laundry basket. His white athletic pants really did have bloodstains seeping through. Lincoln noticed my gaze and explained frantically. “Honey… I was in such a rush to find you that my pants rubbed against it… Let me go take care of it.” His evasive eyes darted away as he rushed into the bathroom, giving me no chance to confirm anything. But his abnormal behavior made it clear. My husband really was cheating on me! I completely lost my strength and collapsed onto the bed. But I still wanted to know when they started their affair. With trembling hands, I clicked into the woman’s Instagram profile. The pinned post at the top was particularly glaring. “What do I do when I’m broke? My boyfriend scams money from his wife to support me.” The attached image showed a blue diamond ring. That ring was so familiar my eyes burned. After all, I’d looked at it in stores countless times. But at two hundred thousand dollars, I couldn’t justify the expense. Actually, over these years, I’d worked myself to the bone doing surgeries. My income wasn’t low. But Lincoln and his mother Nancy’s spending left me gasping for air. I really didn’t have the confidence to splurge. I never imagined he’d use my hard-earned money to support another woman! I gripped the phone tightly. My heart ached with a dense, stabbing pain, but I stubbornly kept scrolling. “My little puppy is having puppies! My boyfriend ditched his wife to personally deliver them.” Looking at the date of the post, my tears finally broke free. That day, six months pregnant, I’d felt sudden sharp pains in my abdomen. I panicked, calling his number over and over, but no one answered. Eventually, his phone was turned off completely. Later, Nancy rushed me to the hospital just in time to save my life. But the baby in my belly was gone. Lincoln didn’t appear at my hospital bedside until the next day, his eyes red and swollen. “I’m sorry. I got drunk at a friend’s gathering and didn’t see your calls. I’m so sorry…” I was angry he didn’t answer, but I felt even more heartbroken seeing his tears. In the end, I could only console myself that we’d have more children. But looking back now, that heartache and understanding made me look like a complete fool! Tears streamed down my face, but I still couldn’t let it go. I scrolled to the woman’s earliest Instagram post. “We promised each other we’d go to the same university and be together. I can’t believe he actually came.” The date was September 1st, 2019. The sixth year of our relationship. The first year of our marriage. How tragic-married for six years, and he’d been cheating for five! This marriage had been my one-woman show all along. The so-called love, the so-called forever-all of it was fake! And I’d naively believed he loved me more than his own life! In that moment, my emotions completely shattered. I rushed into the bathroom, holding up my phone accusingly. “Lincoln, how do you explain this?”

Lincoln barely glanced at it before lowering his head. He silently lit a cigarette and took a deep drag before speaking. “I’m sorry. I did cheat.” He paused, then continued. “But do you really think we’re compatible?” “You’re thirty-five years old. When we go out, people always say you’re my aunt.” “When I interviewed for that job last week, everyone called me Gianna Evans’s husband.” “Don’t I have a name?” He spoke calmly, as if he’d rehearsed these words a hundred times in his head. But I felt so devastated I could barely stand, as if I’d never known this person. Yes, I was five years older than him. Thirty-five wasn’t exactly young. But I didn’t just become older than him today! He used to say he liked his girlfriend’s maturity and stability, that he appreciated everything I did to pave his way. Now he’d turned all of that into a knife and stabbed it back into my heart. But what right did he have? What right did he have to enjoy all the benefits I brought while despising me for not withstanding the ravages of time! The intense emotions made my stomach churn with nausea, but I still bit down and spoke. “Lincoln, let’s get divorced.” Perhaps he hadn’t expected me to bring it up first. He froze for a moment. “You’re not in a good state right now. Let’s talk about this when you’ve calmed down.” If this were an ordinary quarrel, I might have thought he was giving me a way out. But now, I only found it laughable. Whether we talked now or later, what would change? If we were divorcing, we should do it thoroughly! I suppressed my reddening eyes and pushed him away firmly. “No need. Let me set you two free sooner.” In that instant, Lincoln’s eyes darkened, then returned to normal. “Gianna, don’t give her any trouble.” “She’s different from you. You’ve fought through society for so many years. You’ve weathered every storm.” “But she’s just an innocent young girl. She’ll be scared. I need to protect her.” In that moment, even though I was prepared for divorce, my heart ached so badly I could barely breathe. What did he mean by “weathered every storm”? I used to be a young woman who’d hide and cry whenever I faced difficulties. But I had no one to rely on. I could only swallow my grievances again and again, forcing myself to become stronger! Back then, Lincoln had held me in his arms and said that after graduation, he’d protect me for life. But now that he’d graduated, he’d given all his tenderness to someone else. At this moment, I really wanted to ask him: Did promises only have a shelf life lasting as long as the moment they were spoken? But before I could speak, his phone rang. “Rachel, don’t worry. I’ll be right there.” He didn’t even glance at me before turning to leave. I instinctively grabbed him. Actually, I just wanted to ask when we’d go file for divorce. But he thought I was trying to stop him from leaving, and he shoved me away violently. “Gianna, aren’t you annoying?! Rachel is hurt. She needs me!” With that, he left without looking back. I collapsed onto the cold floor, a stinging heat building behind my eyes. But I bit down hard, refusing to let them fall. What good would crying do? Would it make this man faithful again? Would it rebuild this shattered marriage? No! If that was the case, not a single tear was worth shedding! I directly called Lincoln’s interviewer. “Director Lee, regarding Lincoln’s matter, just handle it professionally.” Then I called the hospital. “Hello, please schedule an abortion for me tomorrow.” I’d found out the baby in my belly had deformities. Originally, I wanted to keep the child. But thinking about how the baby would never receive a father’s love from birth, perhaps abortion was the better choice.

Leaving the hospital, I dragged my weak body to a print shop to print a divorce agreement. In the agreement, we’d split the assets fifty-fifty. Consider it repaying the debt of him saving my life years ago. From then on, we’d be even. Then I bought some nutritional supplements, planning to visit Nancy one last time. This marriage was a disaster, but Nancy had truly treated me well. Back then, when everyone disapproved of our relationship with its age gap, she stood behind me and told people I was the best daughter-in-law. Even after I lost the baby, she cared for me without disgust until my body recovered. I grew up in a foster home and never experienced a mother’s love. In my heart, she was no different from a real mother. But before I could enter, I saw Nancy holding a young woman’s hand, her face beaming with joy. “Lincoln, Rachel as a daughter-in-law-beautiful and highly educated-I’m completely satisfied.” “You two are the real perfect match, so much more compatible than that old woman Gianna with her advanced age and low education.” Daughter-in-law? Old woman? I covered my mouth in disbelief, unable to believe these words came from the usually kind Nancy. Over these years, I’d had countless opportunities to advance my education. But to maintain this family’s stable income, I gave them all up. Even though I lost promotion opportunities because of it, I never complained. Nancy knew all of this! Yet now she said such things? My hands trembled uncontrollably, but I suppressed the urge to push through the door and kept watching. Seeing Lincoln hesitate, Nancy spoke with displeasure. “Lincoln, you’re not still hung up on that hen who can’t lay eggs, are you?” Lincoln instinctively frowned and pulled Nancy aside. “Gianna’s miscarriage was because you drugged her since you didn’t want her to have the baby.” “The divorce-we’ll talk about it later…” Before he could finish, Nancy sharply interrupted. “Lincoln, don’t forget why you married her!” “If our family hadn’t been struggling and needed her salary to pay your tuition, I never would have agreed to you marrying her.” “These seven years, we’ve been good enough to her. We’ve done our duty.” “Are you really going to let her keep the title of Mrs. Wright forever, making Rachel’s baby a bastard as soon as it’s born?” Lincoln’s mouth moved as if he wanted to say something. But in the end, he nodded. “Fine. I understand.” I covered my mouth tightly to keep from crying out loud. This was the husband I’d sacrificed my future for, year after year. This was Nancy, whom I’d loved and trusted as a second mother. And it turned out that my “accidental” miscarriage was a murder orchestrated by the baby’s own grandmother. This marriage I’d worn like a badge of honor was nothing but an elaborate con, meticulously crafted by the entire Wright family. And I, the biggest fool of all, had given them my whole heart. In that moment, overwhelming hatred nearly consumed me. I bit down hard on my lower lip, letting the taste of blood spread through my mouth. After a long while, I tremblingly called my lawyer. “Help me draft a new divorce agreement and send it over.” “I want Lincoln to leave with nothing.”

🌟 Continue the story here 👉🏻 📲 Download the “NovelMaster” app 🔍 search for “355471”, and watch the full series ✨! #NovelMaster #现实主义Realistic #浪漫Romance #重生Reborn