In my previous life, my wife caused a multi-car pile-up while speeding home from her childhood friend’s wedding. The accident left four dead and one injured. When the police called, I rushed to the scene. It was absolute chaos. Fire trucks were everywhere, the air thick with smoke, and people were screaming and crying. It was a total nightmare. It took a whole day to clear the wreckage. The police delivered the devastating news. They couldn’t find my wife’s body. They suspected the flames had consumed it. To mourn her, all I could do was gather some debris from the scene to place in an urn. Before I could even arrange a funeral, the victims’ families began camping outside my house, demanding justice. Overnight, I found myself responsible for four deaths and tens of millions in compensation. I threw myself into work, desperately trying to earn enough to appease the bereaved families. From the age of thirty to forty-eight, a whole eighteen years, I finally paid off all the compensation and earned the forgiveness of the families. But my body had paid the price. A stroke left me bedridden, condemned to spend the rest of my life in hospitals. On my deathbed, I saw my supposedly dead wife and her childhood friend at the hospital with their child for a checkup. They were laughing together, the picture of happiness. At that moment, I realized everything had been an elaborate deception orchestrated by my wife. The shock made me cough up blood, and I died on the spot. When I opened my eyes again, I had returned to the day of the fatal pile-up!
The police officer’s grave voice crackled through my phone. “Is this Mr. Rylan Langley? It is Highway Patrol. Your wife, Ashley Winthrop, has been in an accident on the interstate. Please come to the scene immediately.” “Sir? Are you there?” the voice pressed when I didn’t respond. The officer repeated my name several times before I snapped back to reality. That was when the memories of my past life flashed through my mind like scenes from a movie. In my previous life, I’d rushed to the crash site in a panic, only to find the scene engulfed in flames. I’d broken down entirely and spent the rest of my life wracked with guilt because we never recovered her body. Little did I know there was nobody to find because she wasn’t dead at all. The whole thing had been an elaborate scheme to transfer my assets so she could run off with her first love! In this life, I would make sure those two backstabbers pay dearly for what they did. After a brief acknowledgment, I hung up and immediately called my lawyer. It was time to lay out every detail of their twisted plot. The key to exposing this scam was threefold. I needed to prove Ashley was alive, find evidence of her affair to protect my assets in the divorce, and finally, reveal her hit-and-run accident that left four dead and one injured. Prison would be waiting for her. Just as I gathered my thoughts and prepared to leave, the front door burst open. Kelly Winthrop, Ashley’s mother, threw herself into my arms, sobbing uncontrollably. “Rylan, did you see the news? Did the police call you too? What am I going to do? She’s my only daughter! I can’t live if something’s happened to her.” This scene was exactly like my previous life. I constantly tried to comfort Kelly after Ashley’s accident. Looking back now, it was almost laughable. What kind of mother wailed about her daughter’s terrible accident without shedding a single absolute tear? If I hadn’t been so emotionally invested, I would’ve noticed it sooner. Kelly already knew Ashley was safe, and she was well aware of the affair. This family of hypocrites made me sick to my stomach, but I had to stomach my disgust. They lived off my money, and that wasn’t enough! They had to set up this elaborate trap to steal everything I own. “Rylan, why are you so calm? Ashley was in a car accident!” “It’s interesting, Kelly. The police don’t even know the full story yet, but you’re acting like Ashley’s already dead.”
“How could your information be faster than the police?” Kelly’s face flickered with guilt after hearing my words, and she quickly explained, “I’m just worried.” Then she shifted all the blame onto me, yelling, “What are you implying, Rylan? Do you wish my daughter was dead? How could you, as her husband, let her drive back home alone!” It reminded me how I had strongly advised against Ashley’s trip home in the first place. I was tied up with a client project and couldn’t get away, though I usually drove her everywhere she needed to go. When her childhood friend was getting married, I suggested we just send a wedding gift first, then visit home together with Kelly when I had time. But no matter what I said, she would disagree and insist on going, even getting into a huge fight with me over it. In the end, she ignored my warnings and secretly took the car onto the highway. Usually, Ashley was gentle and rarely lost her temper with me. How could I have been so blind in my past life to miss these red flags? “Rylan, your silence means I’m right, doesn’t it?” “Kelly, you’ve seen how I’ve treated Ashley all these years. I cherish her more than anything! How could I ever want her dead?” I held Kelly’s hand, my face twisted with grief and sorrow. “I want this situation less than anyone. All I want is for Ashley to return to me safely. I’ve made arrangements. Let’s head to the scene now.” Kelly’s face instantly lit up at my words, seemingly forgetting that her daughter’s fate still hung in the balance. Kelly and I got into the car one after another. Before this, I had hired a private investigator to monitor every movement around my house. The moment Ashley showed up, evidence would be secured. After taking her seat, Kelly kept her hands behind her back, fingers flying across her phone screen. When I asked what she was doing, she claimed she was checking the news, worried about the accident scene. But the crash site had been cordoned off, and all vehicles cleared. Apart from the initial photos that leaked, there was nothing new online. I knew Kelly was lying to me. She was actually updating Ashley about my every move. Meanwhile, outside the villa, Ashley and her first love, Andrew Harris, were fully equipped, lying in wait. Just as she was about to sneak in to grab some valuable jewelry to exchange for cash, the man beside her stopped her. “What’s going on? Who’s that suspicious-looking guy lurking outside my house?” “I’ll check it out.” As Ashley started to move forward, Andrew quickly interjected, “No way! If you show up now, you’ll blow your cover. Everything we’ve planned will go up in smoke.” She froze, her expression darkening. “Then what should we do? All my valuables and jewelry are inside.” When I rushed home from the accident scene in my past life, the house was in complete chaos. Many pieces of jewelry were missing, but I was too overwhelmed by Ashley’s death to process it. Between dealing with the deceased’s family causing a scene, I barely had time to address the theft. The case went cold. This time, I wouldn’t let her get away with it. She was already dead, yet she thought she could steal my money to support her boy toy. Dream on! “No rush, we’ll find our chance. Besides, after you’re gone, he’ll have to support your mother. We can get her to demand higher support payments for us,” Andrew whispered. Ashley and Andrew quietly slipped away from the villa. Those two were still dreaming about living off my money, but little did they know I had deliberately arranged for two people—one operating in plain sight and another in the shadows to gather evidence against them. Even though Ashley had assumed a new identity, her face remained unchanged. Once we had photos of her, this whole scheme of hers was already half defeated!
Kelly rushed to the accident scene just as firefighters finished dousing the flames, pushing past police officers and firefighters despite their protests. Though several vehicles had been burned beyond recognition, she somehow knew precisely which charred wreck was Ashley’s car. As soon as she got close, Kelly collapsed to the ground, sobbing so hard she could barely breathe. I noticed her phone on the ground. She must have dropped it in her rush. When I bent down to pick it up, a message notification popped up on the screen. It was from a contact with a gray profile picture: [We checked the villa but couldn’t get anything. Mom, see if you can squeeze more money out of Rylan.] My fingers tightened around the phone. Ashley and Andrew had played their cards well, knowing I wouldn’t abandon her only living relative. They were using my love for her to extort money from me. Years ago, after Ashley’s death, when the victims’ families were breathing down my neck, I still made sure to send her mother five thousand dollars every month for living expenses. Whenever I had extra money, I’d send even more. Now I realized all of it had been going straight into those two snakes’ pockets. “Mr. Langley, please keep your family calm. We need to focus on the rescue operation. I promise we’ll do everything we can to save your wife.” I quickly slipped the phone back to its original spot before rushing forward to help Kelly up from the ground. “Kelly, let’s not interfere with the rescue team. People might think Ashley’s already dead, seeing you crying like this.” Kelly looked up at me with bloodshot eyes, confusion mixed with anger. “Rylan, what’s your problem today? Why do you keep opposing me? Are you cursing my daughter to death?” “Of course not. I’m just worried about Ashley, too. Every second counts in a rescue operation.” She stood up uncertainly, and when I tried to help, Kelly stumbled and started falling toward the car. “Kelly!” I shouted, grabbing her quickly. “Are you alright?” Though I caught her in time, she showed no gratitude. Instead, she couldn’t even spare me a friendly look. “Don’t touch me!” Kelly shook off my hand, wiped her tears, and strode past the police line. Her anger stemmed from my interference with her plan. She had wanted to secretly plant Ashley’s phone in the car, hoping it would be discovered during the rescue operation. That phone contained countless photos of Ashley and memories that belonged just to us. When I first got the phone back, my desperate longing led me straight to a repair shop to recover all the data. During the restoration, I discovered a voice recording. It was something Ashley had left behind before her death. In my previous life, when I first heard that recording, I collapsed to the ground, sobbing uncontrollably. The phone was filled with evidence of Ashley’s love for me. She knew she was leaving this world and expressed such reluctance, hoping we’d meet again in our next life. Every word she spoke felt like a knife twisting in my heart. That’s why I never doubted her love. I spent my entire life atoning for her, caring for her mother, and never married. But this time, I deliberately stopped Kelly’s attempt to plant the phone in the car, preventing her from taking advantage of the situation. The rescue operation lasted an entire day before the police approached Kelly and me with Ashley’s personal belongings, regretfully informing us they hadn’t found her body. The crash had been catastrophic. Her body was likely either blown to pieces or wholly incinerated in the blast. The officer offered his condolences, telling us to stay strong during this difficult time. The devastating news hit me like a ton of bricks. My hands trembled as I grabbed the officer’s, tears streaming down my face uncontrollably. Kelly promptly fainted on the spot. I knew she was faking it, just like in my previous life, but I still took her to the hospital anyway. In my past life, after getting Kelly settled at the hospital, I’d bought an urn and collected some ashes from the crash site. This time was no different. After collecting the ashes, instead of heading straight to the cemetery like before, I went to the hospital. Just outside the hospital room, I heard Kelly’s cheerful laughter ring out. “Ashley, you were absolutely right! The moment Rylan heard you were dead, he completely lost it. What an idiot! Don’t worry. I’ll squeeze every penny I can out of him. I’ve already sent people to rile up the victims’ families to cause trouble. Rylan won’t know which fire to put out first, so you better hurry home and grab all the valuables you can.” As I listened to their conversation, my fingers twisted together in rage. After five years of marriage, I never would have imagined that even the victims’ families were puppets in their scheming! The truth hit me like a bolt of lightning, shattering everything I thought I knew. But this time, they were miscalculated. Since Ashley’s supposed to be dead anyway, I was going to make sure that became reality! The Winthrop family’s good times were about to come to an end!
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