After divorcing my ex-husband, I dated four boyfriends in a row. But every time we got close to the wedding, they would call it off. The moment we were about to exchange rings, their faces would twist with disgust, and they would point at me and curse me out. “I must have been blind to fall for you! I’m not marrying you!” The people around me would also look at me with disdain and tell me to stop clinging to them. “How dare you beg them to stay? You’re shameless!” “If I’d known you were this disgusting, I wouldn’t have come.” I couldn’t make sense of it no matter how hard I tried, and I begged them to tell me why. Then, at my fifth wedding, I heard my daughter Ford’s inner voice. [Even though I’m the bride’s daughter, I still can’t bear to do this.] [If my stepdad finds out that my mom spent last night in a hotel room with nine men while still wearing her wedding dress, this wedding will definitely be ruined.] I stood on the stage, looking at my eight-year-old daughter, Ford. The officiant was reading the vows. “Groom Wilson, do you take Shakira as your wife…” “Bride Shakira, do you take Wilson as your husband…” Sure enough, her inner voice rang out again. [Even though I’m the bride’s daughter, I still can’t bear to do this.] [If my stepdad finds out that my mom spent last night in a hotel room with nine men while still wearing her wedding dress, this wedding will definitely be ruined.] The guests below exploded at once. “What? Nine men?” “Oh my God, what does that mean?” “A child wouldn’t lie, this…” My future mother-in-law Bella’s face turned livid. She shot to her feet and pointed at me as she roared, “You filthy bitch! I knew you were rushing to get married because you’d been messing around outside!” She rushed onto the stage and raised her hand to slap me. But this time, I didn’t cry, and I didn’t panic. I calmly grabbed her wrist. “Wait.” My voice was very steady, so steady it even surprised me. “What did you hear?” Bella froze for a moment. “What your daughter just said. Are you still trying to deny it?” I turned to look at the guests below the stage. “Did everyone hear that?” “We heard it!” “That kid said her mom spent the night with nine men!” “Disgusting!” I nodded, then looked at Ford. She was looking at me with a completely innocent face, as if she knew nothing. But I knew she knew her inner voice could be heard by other people. She had been using that to ruin every one of my weddings. “Ford.” I crouched down and looked into her eyes. “What did you just say?” Ford blinked. “Mom, I didn’t say anything.” “Then why is everyone saying they heard you?” Ford pretended to be scared. “I don’t know, Mom. I really didn’t say anything.” The guests below started talking. “Was that the child’s inner thoughts?” “Little kids don’t lie.” “Shakira is way too much!” Bella rushed up again. “You’re still acting! Wilson cannot marry a woman like you!” [The baby in her belly isn’t Wilson’s at all. It’s a bastard she had with another man.] The entire room instantly went silent, and everyone stared at me in shock. Bella’s face changed again. “What? The child isn’t even my son’s?” “Are you trying to make my son raise another man’s kid like a fool?” Wilson’s hand froze in midair, and the ring almost slipped to the floor. “Shakira, what is going on?” “What Ford said…” “No!” I hurried to explain. “The child is Wilson’s!” But the whispers below had already started. “The child’s inner voice doesn’t lie.” “She said she saw it, so it must be true.” “This woman is terrifying. She’d actually do something like that.” Bella rushed over and tried to drag me to the hospital. “Come on! We’re doing a paternity test right now!” “If the child isn’t Wilson’s, this wedding absolutely cannot happen!” Wilson was also confused. “Shakira, let’s go to the hospital and check.” I looked at him, tears in my eyes. “Wilson, you don’t believe me?” Wilson hesitated. “I… I just want to confirm it.” “Do you need me to prove it with my death before you’ll believe me?” Everyone’s expressions changed. Right then, Ford started again. [Mom was still on the phone with that man yesterday, saying she’d show him the child after it was born.] [She also said she’d hide it from Wilson for the rest of her life. I heard it clearly.] The crowd below got even angrier. “That’s too much!” “How can a woman like that get married!” “Wilson, run!” I was backed into a corner, trembling all over. “I didn’t!” I shouted. “The child is Wilson’s!” “I can go do a paternity test right now!”
Bella sneered. “And you think we’d believe you?” “Maybe you already bribed the hospital!” Just then, I remembered something. In my past life, I had been too anxious and forgot to take out the evidence. I pulled out my phone and opened an encrypted folder. Because my four weddings had all been mysteriously called off, I had become much more careful. “I have a paternity test report issued by an official institution here.” I held up my phone. “This is a non-invasive DNA paternity test I had done at the hospital.” “The report shows that the father of the child is Wilson.” When the people below saw the report, the noise quieted down a little. But Bella still didn’t believe it. “That report could be fake too!” I said calmly, “There’s an anti-counterfeit code on this report, and you can verify it on the hospital’s official website.” “And I had this test done without telling Wilson, just so no one could question it.” Wilson looked at me in surprise. “Shakira, when did you do this?” I looked at him. “Last month. I was worried someone would question the child’s paternity, so I had it done ahead of time.” “I used the hair you dropped at my place.” Wilson remembered. “That night I stayed at your house, and the next morning you helped me comb my hair.” I nodded. “Yes, I kept a few strands of your hair and took them in for the paternity test.” Bella took my phone and carefully checked the report. The report clearly stated that the probability of paternity between the fetus and the alleged father was 99.99%. It also had the hospital stamp and anti-counterfeit code. Bella entered the code on the hospital’s official website, and the result showed that the report was genuine and valid. Seeing this, the guests below started talking again. “The report is real.” “The child really is Wilson’s.” “Then why would that little girl lie?” When Ford saw her lie had been exposed, her face turned ugly. [My mom’s pretty smart too. She knows to bribe the testing staff in advance, so even if they test it, they won’t find anything!] Ford’s voice rang out again, and everyone turned against me once more. Bella sneered. “You think we’d believe you? Maybe you already bought the hospital off!” I took a document out of my bag. “This is my pre-pregnancy health check report from three months ago.” I held it up high so everyone could see. “The report shows I don’t have any STDs, and there are no signs of any unclean behavior.” The whispering below quieted down a little. “If I really had been messing around like Ford said in her head, this report wouldn’t be this clean.” I took out another document. “This is a record of the first time Wilson and I met, four months ago.” “And the time I got pregnant was exactly three months ago. The timeline matches perfectly.” Wilson nodded beside me. “All of that is true.” Bella’s face began to waver. “But… but the child said…” I looked at Ford. “Ford, think again. Where was I last night?” Ford bit her lip and said nothing. I went on, “Last night, Wilson and I were at home preparing wedding supplies, and Ford was there too.” “The three of us ate together, watched TV together, and Ford didn’t go to sleep until ten at night.” “Wilson can testify to that.” Wilson immediately said, “Yes, Shakira was with me the whole time yesterday.” The guests below started whispering. “Looks like it really was a misunderstanding?” “But the child’s inner voice… could she have gotten it wrong?” I looked at Ford, and her eyes started to dart away. I went on, “I’m going back to the hospital right now for another paternity test. Who wants to come with me and witness it?” Bella hesitated. “I… I will.” Wilson held my hand tightly. “I’ll go with you.” Just then, Ford suddenly burst into tears. “Mom, I’m scared!”
She ran to me and hugged my leg. “Mom, I don’t want you to marry someone else!” Seeing this, the people below began to soften. “The child might just be scared of her mom remarrying.” “Kids are like that. They’re afraid of losing their mother’s love. Maybe that really was a misunderstanding.” I crouched down and hugged Ford. “Ford, even if I get married, I’ll still love you.” So Ford was just too attached to me. I felt relieved. Seeing this, Bella’s expression eased a little too. “Fine, maybe it really was a misunderstanding.” She looked at me. “But we still need to redo the paternity test.” I nodded. “Of course.” Ford suddenly looked up, a sly glint flashing in her eyes. Ford broke free from my arms and stepped back a few paces. [Could it be that Mom can also hear my inner voice now, and that’s why she’s prepared?] [She got married four times before, and every time it was a marriage scam. She took the money and then found a way to make the man call it off.] [Each time she got tens of thousands in breakup money. That’s how she got rich.] The room exploded at once. “What? A marriage scam?” “Four marriages were scams?” “Oh my God, and she abused the child too! This woman is terrifying!” Bella’s face changed again. “What did you say? She’s been married four times before?” My heart sank to the bottom. “No!” I hurried to explain. “I really did date four men before, but it wasn’t a marriage scam!” “They were the ones who suddenly called off the weddings!” The whispers below got even louder. “She admitted it! There really were four times!” “How can you trust a woman like that?” Just then, the back door of the venue was suddenly shoved open. Four men walked in. I recognized them. They were my four former fiancés: Peter, Mario, George, and Stuart. Why were they here? Peter pointed at me and shouted, “Don’t let her fool you! She’s a liar!” Mario followed. “When she was engaged to me, she took two hundred thousand from my family, then deliberately caused a scene at the wedding and forced me to call it off!” George said, “Me too! She took three hundred thousand from my family, then said my mother treated her badly and dumped me!” Stuart said, “She’s always done this. She makes money by getting married!” The guests below were completely furious. “So it really was a marriage scam!” “This woman is disgusting!” “Wilson, run!” Bella rushed over and tried to hit me again. “You liar! Did you scam Wilson’s money too?” I was backed into a corner, trembling all over. In my last life, I had no idea what happened. I just kept getting called off for no reason. I glanced at Ford and saw her giving me a smug smile. Now I finally understood. Someone had been controlling all of this from behind the scenes. But my four weddings had indeed failed before. That was a fact. I really had taken the money, and I had returned it all. “I didn’t scam anyone!” I shouted. “I returned all the money!” Peter sneered. “Returned it? You only returned it because you were forced to, right?” Mario said, “And you always asked for extra breakup money!” George said, “I gave you fifty thousand in breakup money!” Stuart said, “I gave you eighty thousand!” The crowd below got even angrier. “Breakup money too? That’s too much! That’s extortion!” Wilson came over to my side, but his face also looked terrible. “Shakira, what’s going on?” I looked at him, tears in my eyes. “Wilson, do you believe me?” Wilson hesitated. “I… I need to know the truth.”
Bella said loudly, “What other truth do you need? The witnesses and the evidence are all right here!” “You can’t marry a woman like this!” Ford stood nearby and pretended to be scared. “Mom, why are they yelling at you?” But I heard her inner voice, and it was only for me. [Mom, go beg Dad. Only Dad really loves you.] Dad? I suddenly realized that all of this had been planned. But I had proof. I pulled out my phone and opened an audio file. “Everyone, listen to this.” I played a recording. It was Peter’s voice: “Shakira, I can’t marry you. My parents don’t agree.” “But I’ll compensate you. Is fifty thousand enough?” My voice in the recording was crying. “I don’t want money. I just want to know why.” Peter said, “I’m sorry. I really can’t do anything about it.” “Then I’ll return the money to you.” Then came the sound of money arriving. “We’re even.” After the recording ended, the room was completely silent. Each recording proved that they had been the ones to break things off. The guests below started whispering. “So it doesn’t look like she was extorting anyone.” “It was the men who offered breakup money.” “Then why did they lie just now?” The four former fiancés all looked terrible. Peter stammered, “Th-these recordings might be fake!” I sneered. “Fake? Then let’s go to the police and have them forensically verified right now?” “Dare you? You don’t dare, because the transfers in your bank records all went to me, and I returned them all.” “If I really were scamming marriages, why would I give the money back?” The murmurs below grew even louder. “Exactly, if it was a marriage scam, why would she return the money?” “Looks like the problem really was with the men.” Mario got anxious. “Then why were you recording?” I looked at him. “Because I was afraid you’d back out, so I recorded every breakup talk to protect myself.” “I didn’t expect it to actually come in handy today.” George pointed at me. “You set us up!” I said calmly, “Set you up? You were the ones who first smeared me as a marriage scam.” “I’m just clearing my name.” Bella looked at the four men, and her expression changed too. “What’s going on with you all?” “Why did you lie?” Peter stammered, “We… we…” Just then, Ford suddenly spoke up. “Didn’t you say you’d help me?” The moment her words fell, the room erupted again. “What does she mean, help her? What is this kid talking about?” The four men’s faces grew even uglier. I crouched down and looked at Ford. “Ford, what did you just say?” Ford realized she had misspoken and quickly shook her head. “I didn’t say anything.” But everyone below had heard it. Wilson walked over and asked seriously, “Ford, what were they supposed to help you with?” Ford bit her lip and stayed silent. I asked again, “Ford, did someone teach you to say those things?” Ford’s eyes started to dart around. [Dad said I absolutely couldn’t let you know it was arranged by him.] The truth was finally out.
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