I was pulled into an apocalypse game with my entire class. The group chat title was `[Zombie Siege]`. Everyone else picked weapon depots, military bases, or reinforced prisons as their safe houses. I chose the most indefensible spot: the Downtown Hospital. The school’s queen bee scoffed, saying my bleeding heart was acting up, wanting to save lives even in an apocalypse. She bet I wouldn’t survive the first night. When it came to weapons, everyone snatched up guns, knives, or explosives. I picked the only support item: a `Basic Antibiotic Preparation Guide`. The group chat immediately kicked me out. Nobody wanted a deadweight doctor. But after the first zombie wave, everyone saw the group chat title reset: `[Plague Apocalypse]`. *** 01: `[Welcome, hosts, to the Apocalypse Game.]` `[Game Name: Zombie Siege.]` A cold, mechanical voice echoed in every classmate’s mind. The next second, our phones lit up simultaneously. A new 50-person group chat was forcefully created. `[Survive one week in the game, and you’ll receive a one hundred million dollar prize.]` As if predicting our doubt, the system dropped a massive red packet into the chat. “Holy sh*t! A million bucks!” “Seriously? Grab it!” The previously dead-silent chat instantly exploded. Everyone was frantically tapping their screens. “I’m rich! In a week, I’ll be a billionaire!” “Let the game start! I can’t wait!” A wave of greed spread through the group. Only Asher, the class vice-president, remained rational. “What if… we fail?” `[If all hosts are eliminated, the game restarts. If a winner emerges, the game closes. Hosts who quit midway must repay ten times the received reward.]` The chat blew up. A few students who were too slow to grab the red packet started cursing. “Scammers! This is a trap! I’m quitting the group!” One student who’d snagged the money gloated, typing: “Go ahead, quit. Let’s see if you really have to pay back ten million.” Half an hour passed. The group chat still had 50 people. Nobody dared to risk it. The system ignored the uproar and directly popped up the first option. `[Please select your safe house:]` `1. City Prison, with high walls and electric fences.` `2. Underground Military Base, with a sturdy entrance.` `3. Large Weapon Depot, ample ammunition.` `4. Downtown Hospital, no special defenses.` `5. Suburban Villa, comfortable environment.` Brittany, the school’s queen bee, was the first to speak up, her voice sharp and domineering. “Listen up, everyone! Pick the prison! That place is built for the apocalypse! Anyone who follows me, I’ll make sure they survive!” She usually ran the class with an iron fist, and now she naturally took on the role of leader. “Brittany’s right! Prison it is!” “Yeah, the prison’s the safest!” Over a dozen of her cronies immediately followed suit. Most other classmates hesitated for a moment, then also chose the prison or military base. Next to “Downtown Hospital” on the option list, the number remained stubbornly at 0. Until my avatar lit up. `[Chloe, has selected ‘Downtown Hospital’.]` The group went silent for a second, then erupted into massive jeers. Brittany immediately tagged me, her tone overly dramatic. “@Chloe, Class President, is your bleeding heart acting up again?” “It’s the apocalypse, and you still wanna play Florence Nightingale? You’re uniquely stupid!” “Hahahaha, does she think this is some kind of make-believe game?” “Maybe she wants to inspire the zombies with her kindness?” The mockery flooded in like a tide. No one understood my choice, and no one wanted to associate with this “idiot.” Five minutes later, the options closed. `[Safe house selection concluded. Now, choose your initial weapon.]` `M1911 Pistol (includes 20 rounds)` `Machete` `Fire Axe` `Military Crossbow (includes 10 bolts)` `Basic Antibiotic Preparation Guide` “No question! Gotta be a gun!” “A knife’s most practical, bullets run out!” Brittany snatched a machete and posted a photo in the group chat. The blade gleamed wickedly. “Just you wait, this chick’s gonna carve up every single zombie!” I made my choice again. `[Chloe, has selected ‘Basic Antibiotic Preparation Guide’.]` This time, the group completely lost it. “Pfft! A useless book? She’s really lost it!” “I take back what I said, she’s not stupid, she’s crazy!” “She’s such a liability, whoever teams up with her is screwed!” Even Asher, who had been silent, couldn’t resist DMing me. “Chloe, don’t be reckless, your life’s on the line!” I didn’t reply. Brittany started a poll in the group. “See? This woman is completely useless! Raise your hand if you agree to kick this deadweight ‘doctor’ out of the team!” `[Poll Initiator: Brittany.]` `[Poll Topic: Should Chloe be considered a team burden and rejected for any form of cooperation?]` `[Agree: 49 votes.]` `[Disagree: 0 votes.]` The system’s cold notification sealed my fate. I became the class’s lone wolf. Everyone had decided I was the first night’s casualty. *** 02: The game began. A few hoarse growls came from outside the hospital. Zombies. But they moved slowly, joints stiff, their roars weak. Like a bunch of patients who’d just snuck out of a nursing home. Over at the prison, Brittany’s wild laughter echoed in the group chat. “That’s it? *These* pathetic things are zombies?” She posted a photo. In the picture, her foot was on a zombie’s head, the machete completely clean, her face filled with disdain. “@Chloe, see that? That’s what real strength looks like.” “You’re probably cowering in some corner of the hospital right now, right? Beg me, call me Queen B, and when I get tired of killing, maybe I’ll consider saving you.” Her cronies immediately started showering her with praise. “Queen B is awesome! These zombies aren’t even a warm-up for her!” “This game is too easy! A hundred million in the bag!” Other teams also reported “victories.” “Weapon depot’s cleared too, barely used any guns.” “The military base is super safe, zombies can’t even get in.” The group chat was filled with a lively atmosphere, as if the hundred million dollar prize was already in their pockets. The topic quickly shifted to how the money would be divided after they won. Brittany domineeringly declared: “After we clear this, all resources go to me for allocation. Any objections?” A student at the weapon depot scoffed: “Why you? We have the most guns here, *we* should get the credit!” Another at the military base also spoke up: “Exactly, Brittany. You have numbers, but you can’t make all the calls, can you?” Brittany sneered. “Disagree? Fine, when the game ends, go brave the outside world yourselves. Don’t expect a single grain of rice from me!” Asher tried to smooth things over. “Guys, let’s not argue. We’re all classmates. Let’s talk it out.” Brittany immediately turned on him. “Asher, why are you playing the nice guy? Hypocrite! Are you still holding a torch for Chloe?” “Let me tell you, when we clear this, the meds in her hospital might be worth a fortune. They’ll all be mine!” The group chat drama spiraled. I ignored it. The hospital I was in was eerily silent. My first move was to lock all external doors and windows, barricading them tightly with hospital beds and cabinets. Then, I pushed a medical trolley towards the pharmacy. “Amoxicillin, Cefazolin, Penicillin…” I muttered to myself, sweeping box after box of antibiotic raw materials into the trolley. Distilled water, medical alcohol, sterile syringes, petri dishes, centrifuges, microscopes… I emptied out everything from the lab and the sterile storage room, item by item. I found an ICU intensive care unit with its own fresh air system. This would be my temporary lab. I moved all the supplies inside and locked the door again. Outside, the survivors were reveling. But I was calmly preparing the only “ammunition” for an invisible war. I opened the thick `Basic Antibiotic Preparation Guide` and began a pharmacological analysis, cross-referencing my list of supplies. *** 03: Game Day Two. The temperature plummeted. A cold, fine rain began to fall. Someone in the group chat started complaining. “Damn, why’s it suddenly so cold? I think I’m getting a cold.” It was one of Brittany’s goons, his voice thick with congestion. Brittany immediately snapped: “Useless! You’re getting sick after killing a few zombies? Drink some hot water, don’t spread it to us!” The guy didn’t dare to speak again. Another weak voice piped up: “Brittany, I… I feel really bad too, my head’s throbbing.” Brittany’s voice grew even more impatient: “Want hot water? How many zombies did you kill today? If you didn’t contribute, just suck it up!” The voice vanished instantly. But soon, more and more people spoke up, the group chat filled with suppressed coughs. “I feel a little dizzy too, no energy.” “Cough, cough… I’m coughing too, my throat feels like it’s being cut with a knife.” “I have a fever, 102 degrees! Anyone have fever reducers? I’ll trade a can of spam for it!” As soon as the requests for medicine appeared, the group chat went silent for a brief moment, then was quickly swallowed by greed. “One can isn’t enough? At least three!” Everyone blamed it on “getting wet,” “staying up late,” or “a common cold.” “Must be from getting wet yesterday, so unlucky,” someone tried to comfort themselves. No one thought deeper. They continued to hunt the weak, frail zombies outside the prison, arguing endlessly over the resources dropped by them. “I saw this bottle of water first!” “Bullshit! I ripped it off that zombie myself!” Brittany roared, cutting off the argument: “Shut the f*** up, all of you! All supplies go to me! I’ll distribute them! Anyone who dares to hoard, don’t blame my knife for being merciless!” Asher vaguely sensed something was off. He warned everyone in the chat: “Guys, practice good hygiene. It’s best not to directly touch zombie fluids or blood.” A hesitant voice echoed him: “The class vice-president makes sense, better safe than sorry…” His words were cut off by Brittany before he could finish. “Makes sense my ass!” She jumped back in to mock Asher, “The vice-president’s just a coward, these zombies’ blood is cold, what kind of virus could they possibly have?” “I bet you’re just jealous we’re getting more kills and looking for an excuse to make us stop, right?” Brittany’s tone turned vicious: “Asher, if you dare to spread dissent and rattle everyone’s nerves again, watch it, or I’ll be the first one to toss you to the zombies!” Asher fell completely silent. I turned off my phone, blocking out the foolish arguments in the group chat. Inside the ICU ward, where I was, it was warm and dry. I was wearing a full set of protective gear I’d found in the operating room, goggles and double-layered gloves, sitting at the microscope. Under the lens was an air sample I’d collected from the hospital’s ventilation system. In a constant-temperature petri dish, a never-before-seen, strangely shaped superbug was dividing and reproducing at a visible rate. Their edges were oddly serrated, like tiny, deadly gears. It was them, alright. I put down the microscope and glanced at the gloomy sky outside the window. I knew their time was running out. I took a deep breath. The air was filled with a death they couldn’t see. I no longer hesitated. I lit the alcohol lamp, its blue flame dancing quietly. I began the initial separation and purification experiments for the antibiotics, following the guide’s procedures. Glassware clinked softly as I worked. The sound was like Death’s countdown. *** 04: Game Day Three. Panic completely erupted. “Help! I can’t breathe!” “Someone save me… I feel like my lungs are going to explode…” Over half the people in the group chat were sick. High fever, severe coughing, difficulty breathing, full-body aches. The symptoms were a hundred times worse than the most severe flu. Suddenly, a student in the prison let out a terrified scream. “My arm! The cut I got from a zombie yesterday, it healed!” Another person yelled too: “Me too! I got bit, and I’m absolutely fine now!” A girl typed shakily: “What in the world is going on?” Something even more terrifying happened. Someone who hadn’t spoken much suddenly piped up: “Wait… haven’t you guys noticed? The sickest ones… are the ones who killed the most zombies before!” “Brittany! And her cronies! They’re all about to die!” This sentence was like a lightning bolt, waking everyone up. The strongest people, those who killed the most zombies and had the most contact with corpses, were the ones who got the sickest. Brittany, the first to fall ill, was now coughing so hard she couldn’t type a full sentence. Everyone finally realized that the threat wasn’t the zombies at all! “How can this be? What kind of sickness is this?” “Help! Someone save me! I feel like I’m going to die!” “Medicine! The hospital! Chloe must have medicine!” The group chat was filled with wails and pleas for help, despair spreading like a plague. Some began to regret, screaming curses hysterically. “If only… if only I had picked the hospital… Why did I trust that idiot Brittany?!” “@Brittany! You b*tch! This is all your fault! I’ll never forgive you, even in death!” “What’s the point of saying that now! Think of a solution, quick!” Brittany, already on her last breath, used her remaining strength to type in the group chat, every word dripping with venom. “@Asher! Can’t you… cough cough… teleport?!” “Get to the hospital! Grab that b*tch Chloe… drag her over here! Force her to give us the medicine… save us!” “If you don’t go… you’re next to die!” Asher’s voice was filled with despair. “It’s useless… The hospital is surrounded by zombies, thick as a wall… I can’t get in…” “And we don’t even know what this sickness is, or what medicine to use… We’re doomed!” Just as everyone plunged into despair, and the group chat was completely drowned out by cries and curses… A cold system notification appeared at the top of everyone’s phone screen. Unequivocal, like a divine decree. `[Group chat title has been reset from ‘Zombie Siege’ to ‘Plague Apocalypse’.]` The entire group chat fell into a deathly silence. Everyone seemed to have been choked, the uproar instantly ceasing. Immediately after, a second announcement popped up. `[WARNING: Scratches or bites from zombies will not lead to infection.]` `[The true threat is the highly antibiotic-resistant Y-3 Superbug, which has spread through the air in all areas.]` The group chat remained utterly silent. Everyone could hear their own hearts pounding and teeth chattering. A few seconds later, the final announcement, like a crushing blow, completely shattered their last shred of hope. `[Friendly Reminder: The currently known, and only potentially effective, treatment plan is recorded in the ‘Basic Antibiotic Preparation Guide’.]` *** 05: `[Friendly Reminder: The currently known, and only potentially effective, treatment plan is recorded in the ‘Basic Antibiotic Preparation Guide’.]` After the deathly silence, came a collapsing roar of utter breakdown.

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Seven years into my marriage with Julian Thorne, I discovered he had a seven-year-old child. And I wasn’t the mother. “Ma’am, we can’t process this child’s official registration.” I froze. “What do you mean? My husband and I only have this one child, our baby!” The clerk double-checked, her expression turning rather knowing. “You certainly only have this one child. But Mr. Thorne isn’t… single.” “He has another seven-year-old son. His mother’s name is Seraphina Cross. Do you know her?” I was stunned, a faint twitch at the corner of my mouth. Seraphina Cross? Of course, I knew her. Julian and I were practically destined for each other, childhood sweethearts from families that had always approved of our match. And Seraphina Cross? She was the cheap bar hostess Julian had a one-night stand with, that one time we had a huge fight, and he went out to drown his sorrows. The moment I stepped out of the registration office, I called my childhood best friend. “Time for a new dad for my kid. Are you in?”

“Scarlett, what do you mean by this?!” Julian Thorne, my husband, called out from behind me, his voice incredulous. “I told you, I had an important company meeting today, that’s why I couldn’t come with you to register the baby!” “What are you throwing a fit about now?!” I looked at the man in front of me, dressed head-to-toe in athletic wear, and couldn’t help but want to laugh. Wearing a tracksuit to a company meeting? That lie was just pathetic! What’s more, that exact tracksuit Julian was wearing, was identical to the matching family outfit Seraphina Cross had shared on her Ins stories that very morning. “Julian Thorne, let’s get a divorce!” I tossed the freshly printed divorce papers onto the table in front of him. Julian actually laughed. “Divorce again? What number is this?!” He picked up the divorce papers, not hesitating for a second, and dramatically scrawled his name. “The 99th? The 999th? Or the 9,999th? Scarlett, can’t you come up with a new trick? I’m so bored of playing this game with you.” “We’ve been married for seven years, and now we have a baby. You can’t live without me!” Watching the triumphant smile on Julian’s face, a bitter pang twisted in my heart. Yeah, seven years. Everyone knew I loved Julian Thorne. Even he was that confident. But this time, I was truly ready to let go. “No one is indispensable.” “And as for my child’s father, he doesn’t *have* to be you!” My words made Julian’s face instantly darken. He was about to argue, when a little boy’s voice called out from nearby: “Daddy Julian!” Julian Thorne’s expression abruptly changed. It was Seraphina Cross and her son. “Julian, Leo insisted on bringing you the medal from the parent-child sports day himself, and… he said he wants to celebrate with you. If you’re busy, you don’t have to…” Seraphina put on an act of hesitation, as if she was troubled, but her eyes held an unmistakable glimmer of expectation. The little boy tugged on Julian’s sleeve, pouting adorably. “Daddy Julian, please, please come…” Julian didn’t respond, instead, he looked at me with a guilty expression. “Scarlett, you know… Leo doesn’t have a dad, that’s why I…” “I was just worried you’d get the wrong idea, that’s why…” A mocking smile curled my lips. If it had been before, if Julian had lied to me, I would have thrown a huge tantrum, demanded answers, and pursued it to the very end. But now, I was too tired to even bother. “Didn’t he ask you to celebrate? Go on.” I said blandly, turning to leave. But Julian grabbed my arm. “Don’t overthink this, Leo just wants to share his joy with me.” Seraphina also spoke up. “That’s right, Scarlett, please don’t misunderstand. Mr. Thorne just pities me.” On the surface, she looked innocent, but deep in her eyes was a mix of provocation and smugness. Exactly the same as the first time I met her seven years ago.

Seven years ago, during the first time Julian and I had a big fight, I flew all night, crossing the Pacific Ocean to find him. But in the furthest corner of a club booth, I saw him passionately kissing a half-naked, delinquent-looking bar hostess. That bar hostess was Seraphina Cross. After I walked in on them, Julian, in front of hundreds of people in the club, knelt down and slapped himself repeatedly. “I just came here to drink and relax…” “I swear, it was just the alcohol between me and that bar hostess, it meant nothing!” He kept slapping himself, blood oozing from the corner of his mouth, his cheeks red and horribly swollen. My heart softened, and I forgave him. Just when I thought it was an insignificant little incident, three years ago, I saw Seraphina Cross again at Pei Corp’s exclusive club. That bar hostess had become the general manager of the club. I confronted Julian. “Hiring is HR’s responsibility, it has nothing to do with me.” “And besides, I heard she’s a single mom, and it’s not easy for her to make it here in the city with a child…” I looked at his open, seemingly honest eyes, and once again, I chose to forgive him. Until now, looking at the “family of three” in front of me, I just felt like an incurable fool. Seeing my silence, Seraphina’s eyes welled up with tears, looking utterly wronged. “My son and I are all alone, Mr. Thorne was just being kind by helping us.” “You know, the kids at the kindergarten pick on Leo because he doesn’t have a dad, so this parent-child sports event was so important to him.” “Don’t blame Mr. Thorne either, he didn’t mean to not be with you. These past two days, he’s been with Leo practicing all night, he’s really tired.” Practicing all night? I glanced at Julian, who looked visibly flustered, and couldn’t help but laugh out loud. “Julian Thorne, yesterday you didn’t come home, and told me you were working overtime at the company?” “The day before yesterday, you didn’t come home, and told me a colleague was sick?” “The day before that, you didn’t come home, and told me you were on an urgent business trip?” “Does it hurt to be slapped in the face like this?” “So, you’ve been at Seraphina Cross’s house all these days.” “Julian Thorne, how much of what you’ve said is true, and how much is lies?” “Is this your biological son?” Julian Thorne’s face changed instantly. A flicker of guilt crossed his face, but he quickly forced himself to calm down. “Scarlett, I know you’re jealous about today, but you can’t just make things up!” “If you keep this up, I’ll get angry.” Seraphina also looked regretful and helpless. “I’m so sorry, Sister Scarlett. I talked too much. If you want to blame someone, blame me, not Mr. Thorne.” As she spoke, she shed tears of injustice. “Seraphina.” Julian Thorne fumbled for a tissue to wipe her tears. “It’s not your fault, Scarlett just overthinks everything.” His voice was so gentle, I’d never heard him speak to me that way. I felt a chill spread from my feet throughout my entire body, a piercing cold to the bone. Without another word, I turned and left. And as soon as I got home, about to pack my bags, I scrolled past Seraphina’s Ins post: “They say a dad is his child’s superhero. Today was another day where happiness became tangible!” “Thank you, Daddy, for Leo’s championship gift!” The accompanying photo showed Julian Thorne, Seraphina, and their son together. The three of them were huddled close, looking perfectly harmonious. I let out a bitter laugh, about to put my phone away, “Ding—” It was a SnapChat message from Julian Thorne. “Scarlett, don’t be mad. I bought a gift for the baby, I’ll bring it back for you later.” I looked at the baby clothes in the photo. It was the free gift that was in the corner of Seraphina’s picture. I tightly hugged my sleeping child, my vision blurred by tears. I took a photo of the divorce papers Julian had signed, and sent it to my best friend, Blake Miller. The next second, my phone rang. “Julian Thorne, that scumbag, did he bully you?!” “Come back to Seaside City, don’t be scared! I’ve got you and the baby covered, little lady!” Over the years, because Julian was possessive, I had practically cut off contact with all my friends, especially my best friend, Blake Miller. Hearing that familiar voice on the other end of the line, the tears I had held back for so long finally burst forth. “Don’t cry!” “Give me seven days. I’ll get everything ready in Seaside City, then I’ll come pick you up!” I agreed. I also needed some time to sort everything out.

The next two days, I was constantly on the move. One evening, when I came home to grab some documents, as soon as I opened the door, I saw a frantic Julian Thorne. Seeing us return, he immediately rushed over. “Scarlett, where have you been these past two days! Why couldn’t I reach you? Do you know how worried I was?!” He then leaned down to the baby. “Baby, you have to help Daddy scold your mom. Daddy was so worried he almost called the police!” Looking at him, I felt a wave of dizziness. It used to be like this. If I disappeared for more than half an hour, Julian would go crazy with worry. Others used to tease him, called him ‘Mr. Devoted’ because he was so obsessed with me. But back then, I only felt fortunate, grateful that I had found someone who truly cared about me. But now… Thinking of Seraphina and her son, my eyes dimmed. Turns out, the ‘wife-obsessed’ guy who doted on his wife, could also just be putting on an act. Julian Thorne loved me, I believed that, but his love wasn’t exclusive to me. At that thought, my heart felt like it was being squeezed by an invisible hand, a sharp pain. It took a long time to calm down before I spoke. “I just went out for a walk. It was nothing big, so I didn’t tell you.” Julian Thorne finally sighed in relief. “Good that it’s nothing serious. Just don’t make me worry like that again next time.” He skillfully took the baby from my arms. “Baby, did you not eat enough with Mommy outside these past few days? You look so thin.” “Wait here, Daddy’s going to make you some formula.” As he spoke, he expertly started boiling water and preparing the formula. I stood to the side, quietly watching everything unfold. Seven years of trying to conceive, I had imagined this scene countless times, it had sustained me through one breakdown after another. Now, it was truly happening right in front of me, but, how much sincerity was actually in it, even I couldn’t tell anymore. “Ringtone—” A frantic phone ring broke my thoughts. I glanced at the caller ID, Julian Thorne’s expression instantly turned anxious, his hand shook, and the freshly made boiling hot formula splashed onto the baby. The baby immediately burst into tears. But Julian Thorne didn’t immediately check the baby’s injury. He just casually handed the baby back to me, then quickly walked to the balcony with his phone. After a long while, he came out. “I’m sorry, Scarlett, something came up with the company project. I have to go deal with it right away.” Then he perfunctorily kissed the baby’s face. “Baby, let Mommy help you with that. Daddy has to go now.” With that, he hurriedly left. He didn’t notice my livid face, nor did he notice the obvious burn on the baby’s skin. And I had seen the caller ID clearly just now. It was saved as “Seraphina.”

But now, I had no energy to dwell on any of it. Seeing the burn on the baby’s skin, I quickly hailed a cab to the hospital. After getting the wound treated, as I was preparing to go home, a familiar figure caught my attention. It was Julian Thorne. His expression was serious and focused, and the hospital’s medical team was explaining something to him. Passing medical staff whispered to each other: “I heard Mr. Thorne’s son just had a slight cough, and he worriedly brought in all the specialists from the city, and even booked an entire VIP floor.” “Looking at how worried Mr. Thorne is, you can tell he’s a good dad and a good husband at home.” “I’m so envious. If only I could marry such a family-oriented husband in this lifetime.” … I gripped my hands tightly, my nails digging into my palms, drawing faint traces of blood, but I felt no pain whatsoever. Only a bone-deep chill. Family-oriented? Good dad? Good husband? How utterly laughable. They probably didn’t know, Julian Thorne’s ‘family-oriented’ meant the home he built with a bar hostess, and my child’s burn was completely ignored by him, this so-called ‘good dad’ was a good dad to the son he had with someone else! Just then, Seraphina Cross walked out of the ward, her eyes tearful, and she linked her arm through Julian’s. “Mr. Thorne, thank goodness you were here today, otherwise I wouldn’t have known what to do.” “It’s just that, with this delay, you won’t have time to go back and accompany Sister Scarlett again…” “And she has that kind of personality, she’ll definitely throw a tantrum again…” “I’m sorry, it’s all my fault. When I was pregnant, I was so weak, which caused Leo to get sick every other day…” She hadn’t finished speaking when Julian Thorne cut her off. “Don’t blame yourself. I’ll stay with Leo tonight. You should go rest.” He put an arm around Seraphina’s shoulders, patiently comforting her. “What about Sister Scarlett and her baby then…?” A flicker of hesitation crossed Julian Thorne’s eyes, but it quickly vanished. “I’ll explain to her.” “Leo is my biological son, isn’t it only natural for me to take care of him?” The voice wasn’t loud, but every word still reached my ears clearly. It was like a bolt of lightning from a clear sky, shattering what little sanity I had left. Biological son! Julian Thorne, so when I’m not around, you don’t even bother to pretend anymore!

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After my twin sister died of cancer, my family manipulated me onto my brother-in-law’s bed. The next day, I knelt naked before Julian Vance, begging him for a chance at life. His dark eyes lingered on my face, a mirror image of the woman he’d lost. A flicker of something — yearning? — crossed his features, and he took me into the Vance family. For ten years, I tirelessly managed their daily lives, serving both father and son. Then, when I was pregnant again, Julian Vance tore up the lab results. “Get rid of the child.” But his stepson, Leo, who always seemed to despise me, stepped in front of me. “Don’t hurt Mom!” Yet, when I was six months pregnant, after drinking the porridge Leo himself had prepared for me, I bled uncontrollably. A cruel satisfaction spread across Leo Vance’s childish face. “Finally, this day has come. Disappointed, aren’t you?” “I only recognize Dr. Serena Wells as my mother. As for you? Just die!” What he didn’t know was that I married into the Vance family for one reason: to avenge my sister.

As consciousness slowly returned, my eyes met Julian Vance’s grim stare. He carried the distinct scent of Serena Wells’s perfume. Our gazes locked, and a trace of lingering memory still clung to his face. Seeing me instinctively touch my stomach, Julian Vance’s expression immediately hardened. “Awake?” “Leo is still just a child. It was only an embryo, don’t hold it against him.” I lowered my gaze, a sorrowful expression on my face. But inside, I let out a sigh of relief. It was for the best. This child was never meant to stay. “The doctor said you’ve completely lost your fertility after this miscarriage. That’s good, actually.” “Now you’re no longer a threat to Leo, and he’ll be more affectionate towards you.” My face remained indifferent; I had long prepared myself for this. This wasn’t the first child I’d lost. Only after marrying into the Vance family did I realize what a monster Julian Vance was, despite his ruthlessness in the corporate world. Because I bore an uncanny resemblance to my sister, he often, in a haze of twisted obsession, used me to vent his frustrations over the sister he loved but could never truly possess. To satisfy his perverse desires, he forced me to take special medication that induced lactation. But the drug also damaged my body. Every time I became pregnant, I would experience a threatened miscarriage within three months. The fact that this child lasted six months inside me was a miracle. At the loss of this tenacious little life, I wasn’t sure whether to feel relief or regret. Seeing my prolonged silence, Julian Vance grew impatient. He pressed down on my shoulders, one hand ruthlessly clamping my throat. “Clara Davies, don’t try my patience.” “As compensation, I’ll agree to collaborate with the Davies family on the new downtown project.” “You schemed your way into my bed, didn’t you? Just so your family wouldn’t lose out on profits after your sister died?” My knuckles turned white as I gripped the bedsheet. He had no idea. I wished nothing more than for the Davies family to collapse. Years ago, my sister had a first love, a relationship of many years, and they were on the verge of getting married. But Julian Vance, fixated on a minor favor my sister had once done for him, insisted on marrying her once he regained power. For the sake of profit, our father broke them apart, even orchestrating a car accident that sent her fiancé plunging off a cliff. Consumed by despair, my sister finally agreed to marry into the Vance family. I’ll never forget the day of the wedding, seeing my sister in her pure white gown, forcing a smile and still trying to comfort me. “Mr. Vance loves me so much, he’ll surely treat me well after we’re married. Don’t worry.” I was so naive then. I actually believed my sister’s words, thinking she’d still find happiness in the Vance household. But when I saw her again, she was covered in injuries. She barely managed to beg me to look after Leo Vance before she took her last breath. Driven by hatred, I married Julian Vance, and for years, I constantly humbled myself and acted subservient within the Vance family, slowly lulling him into a false sense of security. And finally, I found the compromising evidence: his illegal research into mind-altering drugs. I lowered my head, suppressing the raging hatred in my eyes. When I looked up again, my face had returned to its usual docile expression. “I married you… it was never for profit.” “I just hoped that one day, you would see my feelings for you.” My suffering from unrequited love seemed to amuse him. He sighed regretfully. “If only your sister had been half as obedient as you, I wouldn’t have had to resort to such drastic measures.” “On the day the collaboration is announced, you will attend as Mrs. Vance.” I forced a faint smile. The day that new project launches will be the day of your public downfall, Julian Vance.

The day I was discharged, I handled the paperwork alone. My phone, in my purse, kept buzzing. I opened it to find a barrage of photos from Serena Wells. She and Julian and Leo were all in matching outfits. Lately, they’d gone on an expedition to Antarctica, seen the Northern Lights in Iceland, and watched dolphins leap from the water in Alaska. Serena’s message read: “Julian and I have known each other since childhood. If I hadn’t gone abroad, how would you and that short-lived sister of yours have managed to swoop in?” “Everything that belongs to me, I’ll take back, little by little!” The image of my sister’s emaciated face before she died flashed in my mind, and my heart felt as if it were being torn to shreds by a sharp blade. These were all places my sister had longed to visit in her lifetime, but Julian Vance had held her captive, never allowing her to fulfill those wishes until her dying day. I opened Ins, and the very first post was a photo of Leo Vance and Serena Wells. He was nestled in her embrace, a joyful smile plastered on his face. “Happy Birthday, Serena Mom!” My nose stung. I stared blankly at the photo until my phone screen went dark, then snapped back to reality. They had all forgotten. Today was also my sister’s death anniversary. I suppressed the disappointment festering in my heart and took a cab to the Vance family cemetery. My sister had loved freedom more than anything, but Julian Vance refused to honor her dying wish of having her ashes scattered at sea. “Elara Davies will never escape my grasp, not in this life, nor in any other.” Touching the necklace around my neck, my voice was hoarse. “Sister, I’ll be able to avenge you very soon.” Back at the mansion, I heard cheerful laughter from the living room before I even pushed open the door. But the moment I stepped inside, the sounds abruptly ceased. Julian Vance’s lips thinned. “You’re back just in time. It’s Serena’s birthday today. As Leo’s mother, you should at least show some appreciation to his private doctor.” “Though you’re useless in most regards, your cooking is somewhat presentable. You’ll prepare tonight’s dinner.” But Leo Vance hurled a teacup at me from the table. “This woman isn’t my mom! I only recognize Serena Mom!” Warm blood trickled down my temple, and a sharp, stabbing pain shot through my heart. When I first married into the Vance family, Leo Vance was quite fond of me. But after he fell gravely ill at age seven, he woke up no longer recognizing me. Serena Wells rose and walked towards me. Still wearing her matching outfit, she subtly pulled my hand, a silent boast. “Leo is still young and speaks his mind. I hope you’ll be patient with him, sister.” I pulled my hand away, my voice cold. “I only have one sister, and she’s dead.” “If you want to be my sister, you’ll have to ask her in her grave if she agrees.” A flicker of discomfort crossed Serena’s face. She took two steps back, casting a helpless glance at Julian and Leo. As she turned, I noticed the gemstone necklace around her neck. I lunged, grabbing it. My voice trembled. “My sister’s keepsake! How did you get this?!” Serena cried out in pain. Leo Vance immediately charged, knocking me to the ground like an enraged bull calf. “This is something Mom left for me! Whoever I give it to, that’s my new mom!” “I’ve been wanting to give it to Serena Mom as a birthday gift!” “As for you, you scheming woman, don’t ever think I’ll acknowledge you!” My heart chilled to the bone. I pressed my hand tightly against my chest, trying to relieve the suffocating despair that engulfed me. “You only remember that today is Serena’s birthday.” “But do you remember that today is your mother’s death anniversary?!”

Leo Vance’s small face immediately went pale. But the next second, he roared at me. “Shut your mouth! You’re not worthy of mentioning my mother!” I raised my hand, and with a loud crack, five angry red marks appeared on his face. I looked at him with profound disappointment. “I am your mother’s biological sister. Your aunt.” “The same blood runs through our veins. We were the closest people in the world. How can I not mention her?” My gaze swept over them, one by one. “If I’m not worthy, then neither are you!” “Leo Vance, you are her only son, yet on her death anniversary, you embrace another woman as your mother. Are you worthy of mentioning her?!” I then pointed at Julian Vance, but before I could speak, he cut me off. “Enough!” “My heir is not for you to lecture.” “Someone, bring the discipline.” The barbed iron whip was brought in, and the servants forcibly bound me. Julian Vance put on white gloves, looking at me as if I were already dead. “After all these years, have you still not learned what to say and what not to say?” He raised the whip and lashed it hard across my back. One lash, two lashes. Each strike tore away a piece of raw, bleeding flesh, and my screams echoed through the villa. After ninety-nine lashes, my back was a mangled mess of wounds. I lay in a pool of blood, my breathing barely perceptible. Julian Vance tossed the whip away, his voice cold. “Take the madam downstairs.” Leo Vance let out a cruel, maniacal laugh. “You wretched woman! You deserve this!” Tears streamed uncontrollably down my face. Every inch of my body screamed in agony, but it was nothing compared to the pain in my heart. His words were like sharp blades, each one a cold, gleaming knife, gouging out my heart until it bled. I was dragged into the utility room by a maid. She spat at me and tossed me onto a wooden plank to die. “Gold-digging homewrecker! You couldn’t wait to jump into his bed before the former madam’s grave was even dug! You deserve it!” Not long after she left, a click echoed, and the door opened again. Serena Wells’s hateful face came into view. I turned my head away, unwilling to look at her. But she leaned down, whispering into my ear like a venomous snake flicking its tongue. “I didn’t even care about your sister. As for you, I care even less.” “You don’t know, do you? At first, Julian really was good to her.” “It was I who framed her for still pining over her first love, which made Julian harden his heart and kill her.” I completely lost all reason, struggling to get up and fight her. Serena immediately stumbled and fell. Just then, Leo Vance pushed open the door. He walked in to see Serena on the ground. He yelled furiously. “Evil woman! Serena Mom came here out of kindness to put medicine on you, how could you be so ungrateful!” I screamed, my voice raw. “Serena killed your own mother! Are you still going to protect her like this?!” Serena feigned sorrow. “Clara, I know you don’t like Leo being close to me, and you’re trying every way to get rid of me.” “But Leo’s mother died of cancer, and I was studying abroad at the time. How could I have possibly harmed her?” With that, she covered her face and began to sob. But through her fingers, I saw her cast a defiant smile at me. In an instant, my entire being felt like it was boiling with rage. But just as I gathered every last ounce of strength to make Serena pay, a bucket of saltwater was thrown squarely in my face. The icy water streamed down my back, and instantly, a pain like a thousand ants gnawing at my flesh erupted from my wounds. Leo Vance burst into cruel laughter. “High-concentration saltwater, specially prepared for you! Do you like it?!” Immense agony pierced through my flesh, and my eyes filled with profound disappointment as I looked at Leo Vance. He was my sister’s only child. On her deathbed, my sister had even begged me to be his safety net. His hatred for me was truly chilling.

Leo Vance seemed stung by the disappointment in my eyes, his gaze flickering for a moment. But he quickly recovered, anger spreading across his face. He threw a divorce agreement in front of me, his cold, dark eyes identical to Julian Vance’s. “Sign this divorce agreement and get out of the Vance family. Make way for Serena Mom!” I gritted my teeth. “No, not yet…” Leo Vance thought it was an excuse to buy time. He raged. “Then don’t blame me for being rough!” He ordered someone to bring a bucket of water and mercilessly pushed my head into it. One minute… two minutes… Bubbles gurgled to the surface. In my blurred consciousness, I thought I saw a younger Leo, smiling sweetly at me. “Auntie.” But when my head was pulled out again, his face was utterly ruthless. “Still not agreeing?” I bit my lip hard, enunciating each word. “Never.” Leo Vance’s lips thinned into a straight line, and he pushed me back into the water. After continuous torture, I was barely breathing. Seeing that I wouldn’t yield, he snorted coldly. “I’ll come back another day to take good care of you, until you agree.” He sneered. “Mom.” Before completely falling into unconsciousness, I clutched the necklace concealing the chip, thinking: “Don’t worry. The day I avenge sister is the day I leave.” “I won’t spare Julian Vance, and I don’t want you either.” … On the day the new project launched, as I was leaving the house, I coincidentally ran into Leo Vance, who was heading to school. A malicious glint flashed in his eyes. My heart suddenly lurched. But when I looked again, his small face had already changed to one of docile obedience. “Goodbye, Dad. Goodbye, Mom.” I suppressed the strange feeling in my heart, took a deep breath, and got into the car heading downtown. This project collaboration was incredibly important. The attendees at the ribbon-cutting ceremony were all prominent figures from various industries. I hadn’t found the exact location of the lab, so the evidence I had wouldn’t be a devastating blow to Julian Vance on its own. But with the complex web of powerful figures present today, if I merely hinted at the truth, many rivals would surely launch their own investigations. This was my perfect opportunity to bring Julian Vance down. My entire body trembled with excitement, revenge so close. When it was my turn to speak, the screen behind me changed. A collective gasp swept through the crowd. I picked up the microphone. “Ladies and gentlemen, I am here to report Julian Vance for illegally researching mind-control drugs for unfair competition and personal gain…” But the crowd’s expressions weren’t outrage; instead, they were a gossipy, entertained curiosity, as if watching a show. I sensed something was wrong. I turned around, and when I saw what was on the screen, my blood ran cold. The large screen behind me displayed not the content extracted from my chip, but rather, my sister, covered in wounds.

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My wife’s assistant linked a bizarre system to me. Every time I got angry, his bank account would rake in massive amounts of money, directly proportional to my fury. He’d deliberately flirt with my wife, infuriating me so much I had a heart attack in the middle of the night and ended up in the hospital. Meanwhile, his bank account had three million dollars wired in, and he was so thrilled he posted three SnapChat stories. After I was revived, I confronted my wife, but she just sneered at me with contempt: “Oh, so Kyle’s account gets more money the angrier you get? Why don’t you admit he’s just working hard to achieve all this?” “If you had even half of Kyle’s drive, you wouldn’t still be just a project manager.” Later, when he was short ten million to acquire my wife’s company, he deliberately sent me a hotel room number. He wanted me to walk in on them, trigger another heart attack, and die on the spot. But when I woke up, I was back on the day I first saw Kyle with Charlotte. The familiar ache in my chest was exactly as I remembered. This time, I just made them hold each other even tighter: “You two are made for each other. Seriously, just lock it down.”

When I opened my eyes, Kyle Miller was wrapping an arm around Charlotte Peterson’s waist. The scene was so familiar, so vivid, it made my heart clench with a sudden, sharp pain. Sunlight streamed through the coffee shop window, bathing them in a warm glow. Charlotte was beaming, and Kyle’s hand was unmistakably possessive, a blatant declaration of ownership wrapped around her waist. “Mr. Sterling? Are you alright? You look a little pale.” Emily, my secretary, pulled me back to reality. I touched my chest. The agonizing phantom pain from my last life’s heart attack still lingered there. I had died, then I lived again, returning to this crucial moment… The day I first discovered Charlotte and Kyle’s affair. And just half a month prior, Charlotte had tricked me into signing divorce papers, claiming it was for the company’s IPO and stock division. We were in the cooling-off period. “I’m fine.” I took a deep breath. “Let’s go say hello.” In my previous life, when I saw this, I stormed over, furious, demanding Charlotte explain herself. My explosive rage instantly added half a million to Kyle’s account. Charlotte, meanwhile, looked at me like I was insane, accusing me of being “paranoid,” “making a huge deal out of nothing,” and “overly jealous.” This time, I walked towards them with a steady pace, a polite smile plastered on my face. “Charlotte, what a coincidence.” My voice was so calm, it even surprised me. It seems when you stop loving someone, you gain this strange calm. Charlotte visibly stiffened, quickly retreating half a step from Kyle. “Blake? Why are you here? You didn’t tell me?” “My apologies, I had a client meeting.” After saying it, I found it almost laughable myself. Apologizing had become a habit with Charlotte. If her clothes weren’t ironed perfectly, I’d apologize; if the restaurant I booked wasn’t good, I’d apologize; if I failed to make a name for myself, I’d apologize. I chuckled bitterly, shaking my head, then turned my gaze to Kyle and extended a hand. “Mr. Miller, long time no see.” A flicker of surprise crossed Kyle’s eyes; he clearly hadn’t expected me to be so composed. He hesitated before shaking my hand. “Mr. Sterling, good to see you.” I felt the familiar pang in my chest, but this time, my expression didn’t change. I knew this feeling too well. Even after everything from my previous life, I kept telling myself not to get angry. But with the undeniable betrayal staring me in the face, who could really control it? “Buddy, if you like her so much, hold her tighter.” I suddenly reached out, giving them a slight push, forcing them closer together. My voice was cheerful, as if I were genuinely wishing them well. “You two are perfect for each other. Seriously, just lock it down.” Charlotte’s face instantly went chalk white. “Blake Sterling! What are you talking about!” “Just kidding.” I shrugged. “You two carry on, my client’s waiting.” As I turned to leave, I caught Kyle’s expression in my peripheral vision—he looked like he’d just swallowed something foul. Back in my car, I opened my banking app, logging into an account I hadn’t used in ages. The digits displayed on the screen made Emily, sitting in the front, gasp. A nine-figure balance, with a string of zeros after the first digit. “Mr. Sterling, this is…” Emily was my personal secretary, the only subordinate who followed me to this new company. “Just a little something I’ve been saving. Time to stir things up.” I said casually, then dialed an international number. “Mike, I’m ready to take over the Asia operations again.” “Excellent, Blake. Wall Street is ready for its King to return.”

Hanging up the call, I glanced towards the coffee shop. Charlotte once said she hated rich people and preferred a simple, real life. So, for five years, I had hidden my true identity. I pursued and married her under the guise of being a regular project manager at Zheng Corp, earning just a few thousand a month. At the same time, to revive the nearly collapsed Zheng Corp, I secretly funneled many projects to them. Zheng Corp, from an obscure small company, soared to become the well-known Zheng Group. For Charlotte, I even stopped touching my bank accounts, working diligently, using every penny of my hard-earned salary to please her. But later, her appetite grew, and the luxury items she brought home increased. Yet she seemed to be convinced I was just a poor office worker, not even bothering to tell me the origin of those bags and jewelry. Only later did I discover she was getting hot and heavy with that assistant who profited off my rage. “Emily, look into two things for me.” My voice was eerily calm. “First, the exact relationship between Charlotte Peterson and Kyle Miller; second, Kyle Miller’s financial movements over the past six months.” Three days later, Emily placed the investigation report on my desk. The photos showed Charlotte and Kyle kissing at a hotel entrance. The bank statements showed that every time we argued, a mysterious sum of money would appear in Kyle’s account, its amount directly proportional to my level of anger. “And this.” Emily handed me a USB drive. “Mr. Miller attended a mystic gathering last month. He supposedly sought out some powerful system from a spiritual guru.” I inserted the USB. In the video, Kyle was smugly showing off to a friend: “That fool Sterling gets me rich the angrier he gets! Yesterday, he saw me getting close to Charlotte, and he instantly exploded, giving me half a million!” A sharp pang of pain shot through my chest again, but this time, I smiled. So that’s how it was. This was the thing that killed me in my previous life. An evil system that converted my emotions into money. “Mr. Sterling, what are you planning…?” “Give them enough rope to hang themselves. That’s ancient wisdom, learn it.” I closed my laptop, smiling. The next morning, I stood before my walk-in closet, my fingers tracing the fabric of a long-forgotten custom-tailored suit. Five years. This six-figure power suit was finally going to see the light of day again. As I walked through the company’s revolving doors, the front desk receptionist’s coffee cup *crashed* to the floor. “Mr. S-Sterling?” A new intern in the elevator gaped. “You’re…?” I deliberately tugged at my cuff, revealing the gleaming Patek Philippe watch face. “What? Don’t you recognize me?” The crowded elevator suddenly fell silent. Someone whispered, “That watch alone could buy a house…” “Just a knock-off.” Mr. Hayes, the head of marketing, suddenly sneered. “He even skipped out on splitting the bill at our last team outing. Now he’s trying to act rich?” “Mr. Hayes, perhaps you should focus on explaining that fifty thousand dollars in entertainment expenses from last month.” I smiled, pressing the button for the executive floor, letting their scrutinizing gazes sweep over me. When the elevator stopped on the 38th floor, laughter erupted behind me. “He’s definitely going to get chewed out. Ms. Peterson hates his cheap, struggling appearance!” Pushing open the frosted glass door of the CEO’s office, I saw Charlotte sitting on Kyle’s lap, feeding him strawberries. The moment she saw me, she sprang up as if she’d been electrocuted. “Blake Sterling!” She grabbed a folder and threw it at me. “Who gave you permission to come to the company dressed like that? If clients see us, they’ll think Zheng Corp is so pathetic, our managers can’t even afford decent suits!”

Kyle slowly wiped strawberry juice from the corner of his mouth. “Don’t get upset, Charlotte. Blake’s outfit is probably rented.” He walked over and squeezed my suit fabric hard. “Tsk, tsk, it’s a pretty good replica, actually.” Charlotte suddenly sneered. “I knew it looked familiar! Mr. Mike Sterling, from Sterling Corp, wore that exact style at the finance summit last week, didn’t he?” She reached out and tugged at my tie. “You shameless thing, wearing a knock-off to my company, trying to parade around and con people!” I looked at Charlotte, her face red with fury. “Did it ever occur to you that it might be real?” Charlotte scoffed. “You had to save up for half a year just to buy me a five-thousand-dollar bracelet. Do you even know how much a real one of these costs?” Kyle also stood up and pushed me. “Didn’t Charlotte tell you not to come near her office? Why are you clinging to her like a stray dog? No wonder you’re still just a petty project manager after all these years.” I pulled out a folder. “Wait, you two will be interested in this.” I placed the folder on her desk. “Sterling Corp is very interested in the smart campus project. They’re willing to invest eighty million.” Charlotte’s eyelashes trembled violently. “You know people from Sterling Corp?” “He probably knows a janitor there?” Kyle burst out laughing. “Don’t try to act like a big shot! He couldn’t even afford the seafood buffet at the last team outing!” Charlotte echoed his laughter from beside him, and I suddenly found it incredibly ironic. Five years. Charlotte still didn’t know I was allergic to seafood. The CFO happened to walk in to deliver reports and sneered when he heard the conversation: “Mr. Sterling’s paychecks are still controlled by Ms. Peterson, where would he get money for designer brands?” Charlotte seemed to regain her composure, her heels clicking as she strode towards me. “Listen, take off that cheap fake outfit right now!” She suddenly ripped open my suit jacket. “Don’t embarrass yourself here anymor…!” She stopped abruptly, seeing the Patek Philippe watch on my wrist beneath the suit. “This watch?” she asked, incredulously. Kyle saw it too. He leaned in to examine my watch. “This fake is pretty convincing. Did you steal it from a client?” Charlotte, as if waking from a dream, pushed me out of the office: “Take your fake watch and fake suit, and get out!” I looked at the room full of clueless people. Just wait. Soon enough, you’ll know who’s real and who’s fake. A few days later, it was the company’s annual gala. I stood in a corner, holding a glass of champagne. The rented suit’s sleeve was already fraying, but I had no choice but to wear it. Charlotte had specifically texted me last night, demanding I “don’t wear your cheap junk and embarrass me.” If she knew that the “cheap junk” she disdained was a custom-tailored suit she couldn’t afford with three years of her salary… I wondered what her expression would be then.

“Now, please welcome the best project team of the year to the stage!” The host’s voice boomed. I adjusted my tie. I had pulled four months of all-nighters, averaging three hours of sleep a day, to complete this smart campus project that Sterling Corp was eyeing for investment. I’d finished it just before the deadline. Although it was credited to the team, everyone knew the core solution came from my hands. All to make my grandfather proud. “Let’s welcome the project lead, Kyle Miller! From today, he’s promoted to Director!” Applause thundered. My champagne glass, half-raised, froze in mid-air. On stage, Kyle, dressed in a custom-tailored suit, was bowing gracefully. On the large screen displaying the project summary, my name was listed last, marked as “material compilation.” “And a special thanks to my amazing partner.” Kyle suddenly blew a kiss towards the audience, and the camera promptly cut to the main table, where Charlotte was covering her mouth, giggling coyly. My heart clenched painfully. I fumbled for a pill and swallowed it. Just then, a microphone was thrust in front of me. “Mr. Sterling, as a team member, what are your thoughts?” The host was clearly unaware of the situation. “I hear you pulled several all-nighters?” The entire room fell silent. I saw Kyle’s narrowed eyes and Charlotte’s suddenly changing expression. “It was all thanks to Director Miller and Ms. Peterson’s excellent leadership.” I put on a perfectly timed expression of humility. “I just helped out a bit. Nothing worth everyone’s attention.” Kyle immediately beamed, and Charlotte’s expression shifted from tense to subtly contemptuous. She elegantly stood up, her high heels clicking. “My Blake,” she said, leaning intimately on my shoulder, her voice carried through the microphone to the entire room, “his biggest strength is knowing his place.” Her fingers dug hard into my shoulder blade. “After all, being a kept man is a real skill, right?” Laughter, like a tidal wave, crashed over me. I maintained my smile, the metallic taste of blood filling my mouth. I hadn’t even realized I’d bitten the inside of my cheek. Kyle’s phone buzzed with a notification. He glanced at it, a wild grin spreading across his face. I knew what it was. My rage was being converted in real-time into numbers in his account. “Oh, right,” Charlotte said, turning back as she walked away. “Tomorrow’s our wedding anniversary. I booked a table at a Michelin-starred restaurant.” Her red lips curved into a smirk. “Don’t be late.” Of course, she wouldn’t show up. Last life, I waited four hours that day, only to receive a text from Kyle. It contained a hotel room number. I had gathered evidence of their affair, but my heart couldn’t take any more shocks. I died right outside that hotel room, becoming the laughingstock of the entire city. But this time, I had a surprise prepared. The next evening, I used half a year’s savings to buy Charlotte the Cartier necklace she had admired in a store last week. I waited at the restaurant until closing.

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My Wife Forced Me to Die for Her First Love Scarlett Sterling’s first love, Julian Thorne, was in kidney failure and desperately needed a transplant. She went absolutely frantic searching for a match, and in a twisted turn of fate, she found me. That day, Scarlett, always so haughty and untouchable, dropped to her knees for the first time, her eyes red-rimmed with desperation as she pleaded with me. “Asher, please, I beg you, save Julian. Just say you’ll donate, and I’ll give you anything you want.” Back then, I loved her. I loved her so much I would have died for her. So, without a moment’s hesitation, I nodded and agreed. But later, she threw a divorce agreement and a kidney donation consent form coldly onto the table in front of me. “Sign it. Everything you have now, I gave you. Donating a kidney? Just think of it as paying your dues.” I looked at her cold, determined face and suddenly, a bitter laugh escaped me. I calmly asked her, “Scarlett, if I died, would you be sad?” She scoffed, as if I’d told the biggest joke she’d ever heard. “Asher Hayes, cut your pity games. They don’t work on me.” She had no idea. This time, I wasn’t playing a game. I was genuinely, truly dying.

Scarlett and I had been married for three years, a well-known commercial marriage arranged for business. I loved her with a desperation that crushed my own dignity, but her heart always belonged to a pure, shining image of her true love — Julian Thorne. Three years ago, the Sterling Group was on the verge of bankruptcy. Julian Thorne left the country without a word, vanishing into thin air. It was my father who stepped in, offering a marriage alliance as a condition to save the Sterling family. Scarlett hated me for it, to the core of her being. She believed I used dirty tricks to break her and Julian Thorne apart, stealing his rightful place as husband to the Sterling heiress. So for the past three years, all I received from her was coldness and disgust. She never came back to our marital home. On the rare occasions she did, it was after a night of heavy drinking, and she’d mistake me for someone else, murmuring Julian’s name. I felt like a pathetic thief, clinging to crumbs of warmth that weren’t meant for me. Until three months ago, when Julian Thorne returned. And I, the usurper who had stolen his place, was expected to disappear. The moment Julian Thorne returned, Scarlett asked me for a divorce. I refused. I fantasized that three years of living together, day in and day out, would have melted even a stone heart. But I forgot, Scarlett’s heart wasn’t stone; it was an iceberg. My persistence, to her, was nothing but an irrational entanglement. She started staying out all night, using emotional warfare to push me away and force my hand. Then, Julian Thorne was diagnosed with late-stage kidney failure. It was the final straw that broke the back of our marriage. When the doctor spoke those words, Scarlett felt her entire world crumble. She spent her days and nights, unkempt and exhausted, by Julian’s bedside. The tender affection she’d always been so stingy with me, she showered entirely upon him. She pulled every string, used every connection and resource she had, all to find a suitable kidney donor for Julian. And then, fate played its cruelest joke. The person who was the perfect match? It was me. The atmosphere in the living room was so oppressive, it was suffocating. Scarlett sat across from me, her beautiful face etched with exhaustion and internal struggle. This was the first time she’d come home since Julian had fallen ill. Her voice was hoarse. “Asher Hayes, we need to talk.” I lowered my eyes, silently waiting for her to continue. “You already know about Julian’s illness. The doctor said your kidney is a perfect match for his.” My heart felt like it was being squeezed by an invisible hand, making it impossible to breathe. I looked up at her, asking each word distinctly, “So?” Scarlett’s eyes flickered, avoiding my gaze. “I… I hope you’ll consider donating one of your kidneys to Julian.” She said it so matter-of-factly, as if she were just asking to borrow a pen. I suddenly laughed, a raw, shaking laugh that rattled my chest. “Scarlett Sterling, are you serious?” My laughter irritated her. She knitted her brows and glared at me fiercely. “What are you laughing at?!” She slammed her fist down on the glass coffee table, the crash echoing through the silent room. “I asked you, what are you laughing at?!” she roared, like a furious lioness. I suppressed the sharp pain in my chest and met her murderous gaze. “I’m laughing at you. I’m laughing at what gives you the right? What gives you the right to trade my life for his?” “What right?!” She scoffed, as if I’d said something utterly ridiculous. She sprang to her feet, her tall figure instantly casting a shadow over me. “The right is that everything you possess right now, Asher Hayes, was handed to you by me, Scarlett Sterling!” “You’ve stolen Julian’s rightful place for three whole years!” “Now, asking you to give him a kidney, isn’t that only right?!” I stubbornly lifted my chin, retorting, word by defiant word. “What if… I just don’t donate?”

“You wouldn’t dare!” She grabbed my jaw, her grip so strong I thought my bones would shatter. “Asher Hayes, I’m not asking, I’m telling you!” “If you dare say no, tomorrow I’ll bankrupt your father’s company!” “Believe me, I can make Hayes Inc. disappear from this world within twenty-four hours!” Just then, Scarlett’s assistant burst in, drenched in sweat. “Ms. Sterling! It’s terrible!” The assistant’s voice trembled, a cry catching in his throat. “Mr. Thorne… Mr. Thorne, he… he slit his wrists!” The hand gripping my jaw instantly released me. Scarlett’s face turned ashen. “Julian!” She spun around, like a madwoman, roughly shoving me out of her way. I stumbled, my lower back hitting the sharp corner of the coffee table with a jolt. A sharp intake of breath escaped me, hot with pain. She rushed out like a whirlwind, never once looking back at me. The vast living room was left with only me. I curled up on the sofa, feeling as if all the strength had been drained from my body. My stomach churned, and I ran into the bathroom, throwing up until my vision blurred. Lately, my health had been rapidly declining. I was always sleepy, fatigued, and felt inexplicably nauseous. A bad feeling gnawed at me. The next day, I went to the hospital. When I saw “heart failure” on the diagnostic report, my mind went blank. Suddenly, I felt incredibly weary, and so utterly pathetic. Even then, I was still wondering. Would this, finally, make her show me a shred of pity? With a faint glimmer of hope, I dialed Scarlett’s number. The phone rang for a long time, so long I thought no one would answer. Then, Julian Thorne’s weak, yet subtly provocative voice came through. “Hello? Mr. Hayes? Scarlett’s busy taking care of me right now, she can’t come to the phone.” “If you have something to say, you can tell me, and I’ll pass it on.” My heart instantly plummeted to rock bottom. I hung up the phone and tore the diagnostic report into tiny pieces. After that, to force me into submission, Scarlett froze my cards and pulled all collaborations with my family’s company. My father was so furious, his heart condition flared up, sending him to the emergency room. When I rushed to the hospital, my mother was sitting on a bench outside the ER, her face awash with tears. She grabbed my hand. “Asher, please, go beg Scarlett! Your father… he’s not doing well!” “The doctor said he needs surgery immediately, and it costs a million! All our company funds are frozen, we don’t have that much cash right now!” My mother’s desperate sobs pierced my nerves. If it weren’t for me, things wouldn’t have come to this. I had no choice but to go find Scarlett. She was sitting by Julian Thorne’s bed, carefully spoon-feeding him porridge. That gentle, attentive look was something I had never seen from her in the three years of our marriage. Julian Thorne saw me, a smirk of triumph playing on his lips, before he quickly adopted a weak, pathetic expression. “Scarlett, Mr. Hayes is here.” Scarlett turned, her brows immediately furrowing when she saw me. “What are you doing here?” Her tone was filled with impatience and disgust. I clenched my fists, my nails digging deeply into my palms. “My father… he’s in the hospital. He needs a million for surgery.” “Can you… can you lend it to me? I’ll definitely pay you back later.” Scarlett scoffed, then stood up and walked over to me. “Lend? Asher Hayes, what makes you think I’d lend you anything?” She raised a hand and pinched my chin, forcing me to meet her gaze. “You want the money? Fine.” “Sign that donation agreement, and forget a million, I’ll give you ten million.” “Otherwise, you can prepare to bury your father.”

I looked into her icy eyes, my heart aching with sharp, stinging pain. I used every ounce of strength to force out a few words from my throat, “Scarlett Sterling, you’ll regret this.” “Regret?” She laughed, as if I’d spoken something utterly ridiculous. “The biggest regret of my life, Scarlett Sterling, was marrying you!” With that, she mercilessly shoved me away. I staggered back a few steps, hitting the wall. A sharp, piercing pain shot through my heart. I clutched my chest in agony, cold sweat breaking out. Julian Thorne spoke up from the side, feigning concern. “Scarlett, don’t be like this…” “It’s all my fault. I’ll figure out my illness on my own, even if it means dying…” Scarlett immediately turned, pulling him into a comforting embrace, her face filled with tenderness. “Julian! Don’t talk nonsense! I’ll never let anything happen to you!” She soothed the man in her arms, then looked back at me, her eyes filled with murderous intent. “Asher Hayes, I’m asking you one last time.” “The donation agreement. Are you signing it, or not?” I looked at the sweet scene playing out before me and felt an overwhelming sense of irony. My wife was forcing me to die for another man, even willing to destroy my family in the process. I heard myself say calmly, “I’ll sign.” A flicker of surprise crossed Scarlett’s face, then a cold smirk. “See? Isn’t that better?” She snapped her fingers at her assistant behind her. “Bring the agreement.” I picked up the pen, but my hand trembled violently. What I was signing away was my life. I threw the signed agreement along with the pen onto the table in front of her. “The money?” Scarlett picked up the agreement, nodding in satisfaction, and pulled out her phone to make a call. Less than a minute later, the funds for my father’s surgery were transferred. I didn’t spare her another glance, turning to leave. “Stop.” Her icy voice came from behind me. I halted, my back ramrod straight, but I didn’t turn around. “The surgery is scheduled for next Wednesday.” “These next few days, you’d better behave yourself. Don’t try any more tricks.” I paused, said nothing, and went straight to the doctor’s office. The doctor held my medical record, his brows furrowed in a deep knot. “Young man, you have a severe congenital heart condition, and it’s showing signs of failure. I’ve told you this many times.” “In your condition, forget donating a kidney, even a bad cold needs careful attention!” “If you go through with this surgery, you’ll lose your life!” Before he could finish, the door to the office burst open from the outside. Julian Thorne walked in, dressed in a hospital gown. His face was pale, but a faint smile played on his lips. Dr. Miller’s face instantly turned white when he saw him. “Mr. Thorne…” Julian Thorne glanced at the medical record in Dr. Miller’s hand, his eyes chilling. “Dr. Miller, Scarlett asked me to check if everything is ready for tomorrow’s surgery.” Dr. Miller gripped the medical record, his palms sweating profusely. “Mr. Thorne, Mr. Hayes’s condition… he really isn’t suitable for surgery! The risks are too high!” Julian Thorne’s smile vanished. He came closer to me, lowering his voice, saying each word distinctly: “Asher Hayes, stop with your pathetic little tricks.” “Hiring a doctor to put on an act? Do you really think Scarlett will fall for it?” “I’m telling you, it’s useless. Tomorrow, you will donate that kidney, whether you want to or not!” I looked up at him, my gaze cold. “Julian Thorne, aren’t you afraid of karma?” He scoffed. “Karma? My karma is that Scarlett loves me enough to do anything for me.” “And your karma, Asher, is to be trampled under her foot, nothing but a walking organ donor for me!” He suddenly leaned close to my ear. “Oh, right, I forgot to tell you a secret.” “Three years ago, I didn’t just disappear without a trace.” “Scarlett was afraid the Sterling family’s bankruptcy would drag me down. She cried and begged me to leave, personally sending me onto that plane.” “She said that once she bounced back, the first thing she’d do was marry me.” “If your father hadn’t forced that marriage on her with Hayes Inc. as leverage, I would be standing by her side right now, wearing the Sterling family ring.” “So, Asher Hayes, *you* are the thief. You stole the life that should have been mine.” My mind exploded into a buzzing static. My perceived salvation was nothing but a transactional demand.

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The Inferno Apocalypse was coming. Working as a climate scientist, I’d detected anomalies and urged my family to prepare. My parents, Brenda and Robert Smith, seemed to trust my judgment. They even proposed creating a “Family Survival Fund.” They told me to pour my years of savings into stockpiling supplies, promising they and my younger brother, Leo, would contribute all their money too. We would survive this, together. I smiled. “Alright, I’ll handle the planning.” That very night, I converted every single penny of the fund into gold bullion and locked it in a safe. I also spent a fortune building a state-of-the-art apocalypse shelter. The day the apocalypse struck, they came to demand the money we’d supposedly saved together. “Hand over all the gold. You’re just an outsider anyway, a waste of precious resources.” I smiled, tossing them the safe containing the gold, and sealed them outside the shelter. Their faces lit up with greedy delight as they opened the safe. Then, their smiles froze.

My mother, Brenda Smith, rushed up to me the moment I got home from work, her face etched with worry. “Asher, I heard whispers about a high-temperature apocalypse. You work at the Weather Bureau, right? Is it true?” I pondered for a moment. “I can’t say for certain, but it wouldn’t hurt to prepare.” No sooner had I spoken than my father, Robert Smith, stiffened. He grabbed my arm, his voice strained. “What do we do? You’re the expert, Asher! You have to come up with something!” My mother looked at me, her expression grim. “Asher, how about we set up a Family Survival Fund? We’ll put you in charge of managing everything. If the apocalypse really hits, at least we’ll be ready.” I agreed without a second thought. “Sounds good.” Brenda continued, “You’ve been working for years, you’ve saved up a lot. You’ll be covering the biggest chunk…” Before she could finish, I pulled out my debit card. “Fine. This is all my salary. I’m putting it all in.” Their eyes practically gleamed. But then I shifted gears. “Now, hand over everything valuable you own. That includes any jewelry or accessories you’re wearing.” “What?!” Robert exploded, instinctively shielding his wrist. “Asher, what are you talking about? These are precious heirlooms Dad’s collected his whole life, how can you…” “Dad,” I cut him off, my voice cold, my eyes devoid of emotion. “In an apocalypse, they won’t feed us, and they certainly won’t protect us from this hellish heat.” Leo’s face paled too, as he protectively stroked his designer watch. He forced a strained laugh. “Bro, aren’t you overreacting? Keeping one or two things won’t hurt, right? What if we need them later…” “There are no ‘what ifs’,” I stated, my voice cutting through the air, leaving no room for argument. I turned to my mother. “Mom, you decide. My plan allows for no secret stashes, no hidden personal funds.” “Every single hidden penny, every secret stash, could be the final nail in the coffin of our survival. After all, we’re facing a global catastrophe.” “Listen to Asher!” she roared, her voice echoing, as she made her decision. Robert and Leo’s faces contorted with agony and resentment, but they meekly complied. I scanned their offerings, a flicker of satisfaction in my eyes. “Excellent. Now, write down all your bank card PINs for me.” The next day, I received a bank card holding their entire savings: 2.8 million. Robert clapped my shoulder, his voice earnest. “Asher, this is our family’s last hope. You have to be careful with it.” I took the card, nodding solemnly. “Don’t worry, Dad. I will.” Then, I opened my laptop and logged onto a professional real estate valuation site, inputting the details of the house we lived in. Moments later, a figure popped up. Market value: 4.5 million. A faint smile touched my lips. Their paltry savings wouldn’t even scratch the surface. This house, too, needed to contribute to the “Family Survival Fund.”

“What?! You want to mortgage the house?!” When I brought up the idea, Brenda and Robert’s reactions were even more extreme than I’d anticipated. Brenda’s eyes practically bulged out of her head, her voice cracking. “Are you out of your mind, Asher?! Do you even hear yourself?!” She looked ready to jump up and scream. “Your father and I worked our entire lives for this house!” “Leo needs this house to start his own family someday! No, absolutely not!” Leo panicked too, his eyes red. “Yeah, Bro, if we lose this house, where will we live?!” I looked at them, speaking each word slowly and deliberately. “I know a major player in the financial world. He said he could invest for me, and the returns would at least triple our investment.” “But he has strict requirements for qualifications, demanding substantial cash flow.” “Triple?” Brenda’s Adam’s apple bobbed. “Yes,” I pressed my advantage. “And he promised to build us an apocalypse shelter and give us gold bars equivalent to the amount we invest.” The picture I painted was too tempting. Their resistance began to waver. Robert asked in a small voice, “What… what if the apocalypse doesn’t come?” “If the apocalypse doesn’t come, won’t we still have the gold?” That sentence utterly demolished their last line of defense. I seized the opportunity. “Mom, this is our only chance.” “Either we cling to this house, which will be utterly worthless when the apocalypse hits, and just wait to die together.” “Or we take this one shot, and we’re guaranteed to come out on top. You’re the head of the household, Mom. It’s your call.” I put the ball in her court. After a long pause, Brenda slammed her hand on the table, as if summoning all her remaining strength. “Alright! Let’s do it! Mortgage it!” Over the next few days, I handled all the paperwork with astonishing efficiency. Brenda and Robert’s hands still trembled as they signed the house deed. The 4.5 million loan was quickly deposited into my account. I stared at the long string of numbers in my mobile banking app, my smile widening, a dark satisfaction spreading through me. That afternoon, I returned with a box of “gold.” In front of them, I carefully stacked the bars into the safe. “Asher, this… so much gold, just sitting there?” Brenda’s voice was a dry croak. She couldn’t help but reach out to touch it. I deftly closed the lid, avoiding her outstretched hand. “That’s right. The password is Leo’s birthday, plus Mom and Dad’s wedding anniversary,” I said softly. “That way, you can all rest easy, right?” Hearing that, the three of them exchanged glances, their expressions visibly softening. I let a silent, chilling smile play on my lips.

Days bled into weeks as the onset of the apocalypse drew closer. The oppressive heat in the air became increasingly noticeable. The afternoon sun already carried a searing prickle. A few days later, the central AC unit died. Its cooling power had plummeted. The repairman said the compressor was shot; a full replacement would cost over three thousand. “Replace it! We have to replace it! It’s scorching hot! We’ll die without AC!” Robert frantically fanned himself in the living room. Brenda was sweating profusely. “He’s right, we need a new one. Asher, for this money…” “Mom, I told you before, not a single penny of the fund can be touched,” I calmly repeated. Seeing Brenda’s temper about to flare, I quickly added, “However, since everyone’s struggling, I do have a compromise.” “What is it?” they immediately pressed. “A colleague of mine has a rental property out in the suburbs, with a basement. His family is moving overseas, and he’s looking to unload it quickly.” “The area is nice, and most importantly, it’s cool. We can stay there for a while until our shelter is completed, then move in.” Their eyes lit up. Robert eagerly asked, “Really? How much does it cost? Asher, you’re close with them, can’t you get them to let us stay for free?” I smiled faintly. “It’s free, don’t worry. We’re family, after all.” Robert immediately broke into a delighted grin. Then Brenda looked at me awkwardly. “Asher, this shelter project is huge. Someone needs to supervise it every day, right?” “Your father and I are getting old. And Leo doesn’t know anything…” I sneered inwardly, but feigned confusion. “Mom, what are you suggesting?” Brenda slapped her thigh. “The rental house, the three of us will go stay there.” “You stay here at home. It’ll be convenient for you to keep an eye on the construction site and oversee the progress.” Robert cleared his throat, puffing out his chest, asserting his position as the man of the house. “Your mother makes a good point.” “Alright…” I plastered a look of reluctance and mild grievance on my face. The next day, Brenda called. “Asher Smith! Where the hell are you?!” The moment I answered, Brenda’s hysterical shriek exploded through the line, mixed with Leo and Robert’s high-pitched wails in the background. “What kind of dump did you rent us?! It’s right next to an abandoned pig farm!” “And there’s no AC!!” “Is the shelter finished? Take us there! We’re burning up!!” She screamed, her voice filled with frantic rage and impatience. “Oh, the shelter?” I drew out my words, a hint of malice in my voice. “I’m already inside.” A deathly silence on the other end lasted for about three seconds. Then, an even more violent roar, this time from Robert. “Asher Smith, you goddamn ingrate! You ran off into the shelter to enjoy yourself alone?!” “You left us out here to die? Do you even have a conscience?! We’re your own flesh and blood!” “Yeah, Bro!” Leo’s cries interjected. “How could you be so selfish! That shelter was built with *our* money too!” “What gives you the right to hog it all to yourself?! Come out and get us! Now!” I chuckled softly. “What’s the rush? The safe key and the shelter address are all right here.” “The password, you all know it, don’t you?” On the other end, I heard a frantic scrambling sound, followed by uncontrollable, ecstatic shouts. “Found it! We found it!” I settled back comfortably on the sofa, switching to the security camera feed of the vault. I watched as the three of them gathered around the safe, inputting the password and opening it. A wave of ecstatic relief washed over their faces. Then, their smiles froze. The safe was empty. Utterly empty. “The gold?! Where’s our gold?!” I hung up the phone and opened our family group chat. It was already blowing up, hundreds of unread messages flickering wildly.

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It was the sixth year of my marriage to Seraphina Sterling, and her 88th kept man showed up at our door. I kept my face calm, expertly handling the situation. Then, I got a message: my three-year-old daughter had been kidnapped by her new secretary and boy toy, Damon Thorne. I begged her to save our daughter, but she just wrapped her arms around Damon and glared at me. “Caleb Knight, three years ago, you used every dirty trick in the book to marry me, just to get rid of Damon.” “Now you’re trying to use that mistake of a child to stir up trouble between us, aren’t you? Her birth was a mistake anyway. She’s better off dead!” When our daughter’s legs were severed by the kidnappers and she was fighting for her life, Seraphina rerouted all the doctors to treat Damon, who only had a small scratch. Our six-year-old daughter bled to death. Even my sister, Lily, who was in a coma, had her heart removed and given to Damon. I clutched both urns and went to see Grandpa Sterling. “Grandpa, the Sterling family’s kindness, I’ve repaid it with two lives. From this moment on, we have no ties.”

Grandpa Sterling trembled, his face drained of color as he stared at the two small boxes. His lips quivered, and he tried to reach out to stop me. “Caleb, Seraphina… she was just confused for a moment…” I didn’t respond. I just took a thick folder from my bag and placed it next to the urns. “Inside are 88 agreements, and the information and accounts of 88 men.” “Over the past six years, I personally dealt with each one. Every single one was a struggling student I used to sponsor.” Grandpa Sterling’s gaze slowly shifted from the thick folder back to the two urns, and the last flicker of hope in his eyes finally died. He sighed deeply, then pulled a contract agreement from his drawer. “…Alright, I agree.” The agreement stated in black and white: Once Seraphina Sterling’s legs healed, Caleb Knight would regain his freedom. “I hope you’ll honor your promise.” I looked at the agreement as if it were a joke. Seraphina Sterling’s legs had healed three years ago. Grandpa Sterling nodded, tears streaming down his face. “I’ll handle the divorce. You can leave in three days.” He pulled out a black card, offering it to me. “This is compensation…” I shook my head, refusing it. Just then, my phone screen lit up. It was a taunting message from Damon Thorne. I tapped on it, and a video automatically played. In a dimly lit hotel room, Seraphina Sterling and Damon Thorne were entangled, their vulgar sounds filtering through the speaker. “Seraphina, if Caleb Knight found out about this, would he be furious?” “Who cares about him? He’s just a scheming gold-digger, a manipulative opportunist. He’ll always be your stand-in.” Before the video ended, another image popped up. On the screen, a fresh, still slightly beating heart was tossed into a Mastiff’s food bowl. Damon Thorne laughed triumphantly. “Caleb, look, this is your comatose sister’s heart. Fed to a dog. At least it served some purpose.” Seeing my sister’s heart desecrated like that, my chest tightened, I could barely breathe. I felt like I was about to pass out. So, my sister’s death was all his doing. How dare he! After I calmed myself, I showed the video to Grandpa Sterling. “Grandpa, is there any reason for me to stay with Seraphina Sterling?” “I’ve lost everything. The kindness the Sterling family showed me all these years, I’ve repaid it.” Grandpa Sterling also trembled with rage at the cruel footage. He leaned on me, tears streaming down his face. “My boy, our Sterling family has wronged you so terribly…” “If you hadn’t tirelessly cared for Seraphina for five years, she never would have walked again. Whatever you ask for, I’ll grant it!” “I’ll go catch that scoundrel right now and bring him back to apologize to you!” I gave a faint smile and bowed to him. “Grandpa, there’s no need.” “Please don’t tell Seraphina Sterling that I’m leaving.”

Grandpa Sterling had indeed been kind to me. My sister, Lily Knight, and I grew up together in an orphanage. It was the Sterling family’s sponsorship that allowed us to continue our education. Later, Lily saved me in a car accident, becoming a comatose patient. To pay her exorbitant medical bills, I agreed to Grandpa Sterling’s request. At that time, Seraphina Sterling’s parents were victims of a car accident, both dying. Seraphina herself was left with paralyzed legs from the same crash. And her fiancé at the time, Damon Thorne, disgusted that she was confined to a wheelchair, fled before their wedding. To protect his granddaughter from further trauma, Grandpa Sterling concealed the truth of Damon Thorne’s departure abroad. But he also wanted to find a husband who could care for his granddaughter for the rest of her life. We then made an agreement: I would marry Seraphina Sterling in Damon Thorne’s place. Life after the marriage was unexpectedly peaceful. I discovered that Seraphina Sterling, though she appeared cold, had a genuinely warm heart. My feelings for her evolved from pity to concern, and finally, to love. We fell in love and even had a beautiful daughter, Chloe. I tried to be a good husband, massaging her legs daily, helping her with personal care, and assisting her with rehabilitation. Chloe would always hug her mother’s neck and say in her sweet voice, “Mommy, I love you most! Get better quickly so we can play house together!” However, the day her legs finally healed and she could stand again, everything changed. She slept with one of the male students I sponsored. When I confronted her, she fiercely threw that contract agreement in my face, her eyes filled with scorn. “Caleb Knight, who do you think you are? A scheming gold-digger who’d stop at nothing to get what he wants! You were so conniving, you even dared to chase Damon away just to marry me!” “Don’t forget, your sister’s life is still in my hands. One word from me, and she’ll be gone.” “So, stop with that disgusting act and behave yourself!” After that humiliation, Seraphina Sterling seemed like a different person. She grew more brazen, constantly having affairs with the young men on my sponsorship list, each time feeling like a slow torture to my soul. She tested my limits repeatedly, watching my reactions, seemingly drawing pleasure from my pain. Until Damon Thorne returned. She immediately arranged for him to be by her side, as her personal secretary. Then, my little Chloe was kidnapped right under my nose, her legs severed, and she ultimately bled to death due to lack of medical attention. Grandpa Sterling had promised me that if Seraphina Sterling didn’t repent, he wouldn’t force me to stay. But now, even my last hope, my only sister, had been cruelly killed by them. I slowly wiped away the tears from my eyes, my heart dead inside. Perhaps, this was for the best. Both Seraphina Sterling and I were finally free. Just as I stepped out of the Sterling mansion, Seraphina Sterling called. “Caleb Knight, you’re nothing but a stand-in.” Her voice was laced with irritation. “I’m warning you, Damon has a weak heart. You’d better behave yourself and not play any tricks to provoke him!” In the past, her words would have pierced me to the core. Because of Chloe, my only request of Seraphina Sterling was not to have illegitimate children outside. But now, Chloe was gone. I coldly uttered three words: “Whatever you say.” There was a moment of silence on the other end. Seraphina Sterling seemed surprised by my reaction. Then came a surge of greater anger and a hint of subtle unease. “Heh, so you’ve got Grandpa backing you up now, feeling all confident?” she sneered. “Don’t forget, I can cut off your comatose sister’s medical expenses anytime. If you dare to cause any more trouble, I don’t know what else might happen!” My hand involuntarily clenched into a fist! My sister? She was already dead! Her heart had been dug out by her little lover, Damon Thorne. Now, only a handful of ashes remained! A searing, throbbing pain erupted in my chest, impossible to suppress. I remembered the first time I discovered her cheating. After I slapped that man, her furious retaliation followed. She tied me to the balcony of our bedroom, forcing me to watch them spend the night together. The wind that night was chilling, colder than my heart felt at this moment. It was from that day on that I became numb, learning to calmly deal with every man who showed up at our door. Now, my sister and Chloe were gone. I had no weaknesses left! I coldly hung up the phone and booked a flight for abroad, three days from now.

Back at the marital villa to pack my things, I ran into Seraphina Sterling. She leaned against the doorway, her eyes scanning me with contempt. “So, my daughter’s kidnapping act was exposed, and now you’re dropping the pretense?” “Just as I thought, everything about you, right from how you first approached me, was fake.” “What if I told you I married you because Damon Thorne dumped you for being paralyzed and left the country? Would you believe me?” I looked at her calmly. She scoffed indifferently. “You’re really good at slandering Damon.” “Stop with your pathetic act. I’m sick of it.” She stepped forward and grabbed my wrist. “Since you’re so idle, move back in and serve Damon and me properly.” “And if you’re feeling lonely, I don’t mind if we all share the bed.” She leaned close to my ear, her voice barely a whisper for only us to hear: “Your suffering expression is my best thrill!” I didn’t struggle, just stared at her numbly. She seemed to find it boring, let go of me, and turned to her assistant. “Where’s my daughter? He’s done with his act, it’s time to bring the child back, isn’t it?” The assistant stammered, but I no longer wished to explain. Just then, Seraphina Sterling’s phone rang. The moment she answered, her face changed dramatically. “What? Something happened to Damon?” Seraphina Sterling instinctively looked at me. “Is this another one of your dirty tricks! I knew you were still as malicious as before!” “Do you think playing these little games in front of me will make me change my mind?” “Dream on!” She hung up and furiously kicked me hard in the chest. I cried out, falling to the floor. She wasn’t satisfied, though, and kicked me again from above. “Caleb Knight! You dare to pull the same stunt again! Three years ago, you forced Damon away, and now you want to do it again?” Her eyes were bloodshot, like an enraged lioness. “I’m telling you, if anything happens to Damon, I will never let you go!” With that, she rushed away without a backward glance. The assistant was terrified and quickly helped me, weak as I was, to my feet. “Mr. Knight, why didn’t you explain to Ms. Sterling just now? It was Grandpa Sterling who called the police and launched an investigation into Damon Thorne.” I closed my eyes, tears rolling down my cheeks. “I’m tired. And even if I explained, she wouldn’t believe me.” “Just let it be.”

The night before I left, I don’t know what Damon Thorne said to Seraphina Sterling, but to appease him, she not only transferred the title of our marital home to Damon. She also spent a fortune buying a star, naming it “Damon” and proclaiming it to the world. Damon Thorne ostentatiously flaunted their love on Ins. “Some people schemed to get this position, then made my original partner’s heart condition flare up, forcing me to recuperate abroad for years. Only now do I have the chance to return and find my true love. Fortunately, what’s mine, he can never steal.” Below, the comments were filled with sympathy for him and insults directed at me. I vaguely recalled the earliest days, when Seraphina Sterling’s legs were still immobile. She felt bad for me, carrying her to and from bed every day, always gritting her teeth late at night, repeatedly falling from her wheelchair, then climbing back up, silently practicing how to move on her own. She would ask me to go to the garden every morning to pick the freshest, dew-kissed rose for her, placing it by her bedside. The time I had a fever, she was frantic, trying to pour herself water, but she accidentally fell from her wheelchair, hitting her forehead and drawing blood. But as soon as her legs healed, all that tenderness vanished like smoke. I understood now. In this decaying relationship, dwelling on the past was meaningless. Under his Ins post, I calmly left a comment: “May your unwavering love last until old age.” Minutes later, Seraphina Sterling’s call came through. “Caleb Knight! Why would you do that? You know Damon has a heart condition, and you still provoke him! Is your heart made of stone?” On the other end, Damon Thorne weakly coughed. “Seraphina, don’t blame him. I shouldn’t have made our love public, after all, the position of Mrs. Sterling is still his, I understand…” I said nothing, just hung up and blocked her number. The day I left, Grandpa Sterling insisted on seeing me off. “Chloe is still your child, aren’t you going to see her off tomorrow for the last time?” My heart ached again. “Grandpa, the memories would be too much to bear. Let Chloe rest in peace in her favorite garden.” Grandpa Sterling held my hand, his eyes red, filled with guilt and reluctance. Just then, Seraphina Sterling returned. Seeing my luggage by my feet, a mocking sneer played on her lips. “Caleb Knight, what stunt are you pulling now?” “What, your last act of kidnapping our daughter was exposed, so you’ve got a new trick?” I couldn’t be bothered to argue with her. I picked up my suitcase and turned, intending to walk past her. But my silence seemed to infuriate her. She took a few steps forward, snatched the suitcase from my hand, and snapped: “Did I say you could leave? Where do you think you’re going?” She pulled too hard, and the old suitcase burst open, spilling its contents onto the floor. Seraphina Sterling’s gaze fixed on the scattered letters, her face stiffening. She was all too familiar with the style of those envelopes. “Aren’t these the letters Damon wrote to me!” Seraphina Sterling carefully began picking up the letters. She looked up, her bloodshot eyes glaring at me. “Caleb Knight! What were you trying to do by stealing them? Destroy them to get revenge on Damon and me?” “How can your methods be so despicable!” Seraphina Sterling had always believed that Damon Thorne had secretly written those letters to her while he was abroad. But those letters were anonymous notes I had written to encourage her. Now, I no longer wanted to explain. “You scoundrel!” Grandpa Sterling trembled with rage, pointing at her nose. “Don’t you know, those letters were…” His words were cut off by Seraphina Sterling’s phone ringing. She haphazardly stuffed the letters into her arms, stood up, and impatiently told Grandpa Sterling, “Alright, Damon’s not feeling well and needs me. I’m leaving.” She walked up to me, looking down, and dropped a warning: “Caleb Knight, you’d better watch yourself.” “You stop right there!” Grandpa Sterling was furious, but Seraphina Sterling disappeared out the door without a backward glance. I silently knelt, picking up the scattered items one by one and putting them back into the suitcase, as if I were not the one who had just been humiliated. Grandpa Sterling sighed deeply and handed me a signed divorce agreement. “Caleb, you’re free.” I quietly took off my wedding ring and tossed it into the trash can. Then, holding my sister’s urn, I got into the car headed for the airport. “Lily, it’s all over. Brother will take you to see the world.” After Seraphina Sterling soothed Damon Thorne, she went straight to a club and partied all night.

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The day the cruise ship sank, raging fire and thick smoke billowed. Everyone fought frantically for the last lifeboat spot. I clung to the railing, my knuckles white, but Seraphina, right beside me, acted as if I wasn’t even there. She frantically searched through the crowd for my younger brother, Caleb Stone. Finally, she shielded him in her arms and pushed him onto the lifeboat. When she looked back at me, the tenderness in her eyes vanished. “Caleb isn’t mentally stable; he can’t handle this.” “But I’m your therapist. I know your willpower—it’s incredibly strong.” She promised, “Once he’s settled, I’ll be right back for you.” But even as the ship exploded, and I was dragged into the icy waves, my mind fading, before I completely sank, her figure never appeared. Years later, we met again. Seraphina looked at the child I was holding, her eyes blazing red as she gripped my wrist. “I told you to wait for me! How dare you have a child with another woman?!” Seven years later, I stepped onto the ferry heading for that very ocean again. The sea air tasted salty and raw, whipping up waves that crashed against the hull with a dull thud, an echo of that sinking ship’s final wail seven years ago. I stood on the deck, my son Leo’s hand in mine. This time, it wasn’t for sightseeing, but for a formal farewell to the past. I was back, a new man. “Daddy, the ocean is so big!” Leo looked up, his small face beaming with excitement, pointing at the distant seagulls. I ruffled his hair, smiling, the gloom in my heart lifting a little with his cheerful laughter. But that calm was shattered by a disbelieving female voice. “Liam Stone?” My body froze. The voice seemed to come from a century away, blurry and distant. I hadn’t seen Seraphina in seven years. Instinctively, I pulled Leo closer, turning to duck into the cabin. But Seraphina was faster. She lunged forward, gripping my wrist in an iron vice. I looked up, meeting those familiar eyes. Once, they held so much tenderness. Now, only raw fury burned there. Her gaze dropped to Leo beside me, her pupils instantly shrinking. “A child?” Her voice trembled. “I told you to wait for me. Is this how you waited?” “How dare you have a child with another woman?!” She shrieked, drawing the stares of curious passengers around us. Leo, terrified by her distorted face, went pale. He clung to my leg, whimpering, “Daddy, I’m scared…” My heart ached. I pulled my son protectively into my arms and coldly yanked my wrist free. “Ms. Blackwood, please show some respect. We’re long past having any relationship.” “No relationship?” Her bloodshot eyes were filled with mockery. “Liam Stone, is your heart made of stone? I searched for you for seven years! Seven years! You hid away, had a kid with some other woman, and now you’re telling me we have no relationship?” Before she could finish, a tall, slender figure rushed forward and tightly hooked an arm around hers. It was my dear brother, Caleb Stone. He looked at me, a flicker of venom flashing in his eyes. “Bro, it’s really you! We all thought you…” He choked up mid-sentence, his eyes welling with tears at just the right moment. “It’s so wonderful you’re alive!” “We took this ferry because Sera wanted to come mourn you. We searched for you for seven years, we thought you were already…” He put on a performance of genuine emotion, then his tone shifted. His gaze lingered on me ambiguously, and he spoke with clear insinuation: “Bro, where have you been all these years? When the ship went down, did you get stranded on some deserted island all alone, with some wild woman…?” He didn’t finish, but his scornful look said everything he left unsaid. Seraphina’s face darkened further at his words. She looked at me as if I were something vile. “I kept myself pure for you for seven years, and you debased yourself like this!” She pointed at the ocean, her face contorted in anguish. “I came here every year, hoping to find a trace of you! But where were you? Living it up somewhere else!”

Her twisted version of events made me laugh, a bitter, angry sound. She was the one who pushed me into the abyss, and now she dared to question me, playing the victim. How dare she? Seeing my cold silence, her emotions flared even more. She reached out, ready to grab me. “Tell me, who is that woman?!” I dodged her, wanting nothing more than to get my son away from this toxic scene. Just then, her gaze locked onto the red string on my wrist. Instantly, her expression softened, a triumphant smile touching her lips. She smiled, a smile of absolute certainty. “I knew it,” her voice softened. “You still care for me. You kept this red string.” A wave of pure disgust welled up inside me. She thought I’d spent seven years, wearing her love token, yearning for her return. But she didn’t know the one she gave me had snapped and vanished the moment I plunged into the freezing depths, just like my dying heart. This red string on my wrist was given to me by someone else. A woman who reached out to me when I was lost in the depths of despair. Seeing my silence, Seraphina’s smile widened. She confidently reached out to touch the red string, but I sidestepped, avoiding her hand. Her hand froze in mid-air, her face coloring slightly, but she quickly plastered on that facade of deep affection. “Liam, I know you’re still angry with me. But I had no choice back then.” She glanced at Caleb, who looked somewhat helpless beside her. “Caleb… you know, he can’t be without me.” Caleb immediately lowered his head, trembling slightly, playing his part. “Bro, don’t blame Sera. It’s all my fault… If it wasn’t to save me, you wouldn’t have…” I was too tired to argue with them. I just wanted to leave with my son. “Leo’s feeling a bit seasick. I need to take him to rest.” My voice was ice cold. “Bro, now that we’ve found you, how can you not come home with us? Mom and Dad have missed you for seven years, they’ve cried their eyes out, practically blind from weeping!” Caleb immediately grabbed me, putting on a show of being a dutiful son. “Can you really bear to let them keep grieving?” He brought up our parents, and I couldn’t refuse. After all, they were my parents. Even if they’d caused me endless pain, the ties of blood were still impossible to sever. I hesitated for a moment, then nodded. Seeing this, Seraphina immediately tried to eagerly help with my luggage, but I coldly refused her. Her expression faltered. Caleb seized the moment, hooking his arm through hers, and mouthed silently to me: *See? She’s still mine.* I just found it pathetic. What he wanted, I had long since stopped caring about. The plane landed in Coast City. Back in that familiar yet strange home, my parents were overjoyed to see me, tears streaming down their faces. They hugged me, repeatedly checking if I was truly safe and sound. “It’s good you’re back, so good you’re back, my son…” My mother sobbed, breathless. This long-lost warmth made me waver for a moment, as if all those neglected years were just a nightmare. However, a single sentence from Caleb instantly slammed me back to reality. “Mom, Dad, look, big brother didn’t just come back himself, he brought a kid too.” He pushed Leo forward with a beaming smile, his tone innocent yet utterly venomous: “Big brother is really something, surviving alone overseas, must’ve been tough, huh? I hear things are pretty open over there… easy to accidentally become a dad, with such a big kid at such a young age.” The air instantly froze. The surprise and affection on my parents’ faces froze, replaced by pure disgust in their eyes when they looked at me. They believed him. Just like before. They didn’t hesitate to believe Caleb’s most vicious slander against me. Leo couldn’t understand the adults’ complicated expressions. He only knew these were the grandparents he’d learned about in his books. He looked up with his innocent little face, opening his arms and babbling sweetly, “Grandpa, Grandma, hug.” The child’s pure smile seemed to melt the ice in my parents’ hearts. They hesitated for a moment, then bent down and picked up Leo. Caleb saw this and shot me a venomous glare.

That evening, after I settled Leo to sleep, Caleb pushed open the door and walked in. The facade he wore during the day was gone, replaced by raw, naked jealousy. “Liam Stone, why didn’t you just die out there? Why did you have to come back?!” He hissed, his face twisted in a snarl. “To steal Sera from me, to steal Mom and Dad’s affection?!” I watched him calmly, like he was nothing more than a petulant clown. “I didn’t come back to fight you for anything. This home, too, take it all if you want. I don’t care.” “You don’t care?” He cackled shrilly, “If you don’t care, then why is Sera still obsessed with you? If you don’t care, what’s with that red string on your wrist? Don’t think I don’t know, Sera knitted that for you herself!” I said calmly, “The old me would have fought you. Because I thought those were the only life rafts I had.” “But now I understand. Something that’s already rotten, no matter how tightly you cling to it, will only drag you down with it.” My calmness completely enraged him. “Don’t act so high and mighty! Liam Stone, don’t forget, everything you have today, I gave you! If it weren’t for me, you’d have died in the hands of traffickers!” His words were like a sharp knife, brutally tearing open my already scarred wound. Bleeding profusely. When I was seven, he and I were both kidnapped. On the run, the traffickers caught up to us. I desperately clung to the trafficker’s leg, biting off a chunk of flesh with all my might, screaming for him to run, to go find Mom and Dad to save me. I thought he was going for help. In that dark, foul-smelling cellar, I was tortured beyond recognition, praying day and night for someone to save me. I waited for a long, long time. It wasn’t until the traffickers snatched another little girl in a pretty dress, and her family used immense power to track them down, that I was incidentally rescued. Only when I got home did I realize Caleb hadn’t gone for help at all. He told Mom and Dad that I’d wandered off by myself, being too playful. When I confronted him, he cried, saying he was too scared, too scared to speak. And my parents just held their trembling son, then turned around and blamed me: “Your brother is scared stiff. You’re back safe and sound, isn’t that enough? Why are you still holding this against him? Ultimately, wasn’t it your own fault for running off that you got kidnapped in the first place!” From that day on, nightmares plagued me every night—the traffickers’ gruesome faces, my helpless screams. I developed severe PTSD. Mom and Dad finally felt a flicker of guilt towards me. But just then, Caleb claimed he was also sick, that he had nightmares every night too. And so, all their care and affection were once again poured onto him. While I became the gloomy, paranoid, unlikable son. Until Seraphina appeared. She was my therapist. She patiently listened to all my pain, gently guiding me out of the darkness. I clung to her like a drowning man to a straw, falling in love with her. But that salvation soured the day Caleb started seeing her for therapy too. She started calling me paranoid and suspicious, saying I was jealous of my brother, claiming I was just seeking sympathy. Later, we had a huge fight because Caleb deliberately harmed my pet dog, and we got into a car accident. I instinctively shielded her, but ended up with a leg injury, walking with a slight limp. She embraced me, full of guilt, promising she would treat me well from then on. I believed her. It wasn’t until that burning cruise ship, when she chose Caleb without hesitation, leaving me alone in a despairing inferno, that I truly woke up. A person rotten to the core could never bloom into a flower facing the sun. I looked at the hysterical Caleb before me, my eyes ice cold. “You’re right. Everything I am, everything I’ve become, is thanks to you.” I said, every word dripping with ice, “So, what you owe me? I’ll collect it all back. Every single cent, with interest!” He was stunned by the cold in my eyes, frozen in place. Finally, with a bravado that quickly faded into fear, he spat, “You just wait,” and stormed out.

The next morning, I woke up to an empty bed beside me. Leo was gone. My heart clenched. A wave of immense panic instantly seized me. I burst out of the room, searching frantically through the house. “Leo! Leo, where are you?!” In the living room, Caleb was leisurely sipping coffee. Seeing my distraught appearance, a triumphant, cold smirk played on his lips. “Bro, what are you looking for so early? Did your little bastard son go missing?” I lunged forward, grabbing his collar, my eyes blazing red. “Where did you take Leo?!” “I don’t know.” He blinked innocently, but the defiance in his eyes was crystal clear. “Maybe he missed his wild woman mom and ran off to find her? After all, a bastard child is always starved for love.” “Caleb!” I shrieked hysterically. “I’ll kill you!” Just then, the front door swung open, and Seraphina walked in. What she saw was me, tearing at Caleb like a madman. While Caleb wore a look of utter grievance, his eyes rimmed red. “Liam Stone! What madness are you on about now?!” Seraphina rushed over, shoving me away forcefully, pulling Caleb protectively into her arms, her face filled with concern. “Why do you always have to target Caleb like this? What has he ever done to deserve this from you?!” I stumbled backward from her shove, hitting the wall. A searing pain shot through my leg. But at that moment, I couldn’t care less. My hands shaking, I pulled out my phone and dialed the number I knew by heart. The call was answered almost instantly. A calm female voice came through. “Liam, what’s wrong?” “Anya…” My voice choked, I could barely speak. “Leo… Leo’s gone!” “Don’t be afraid.” The voice on the other end instantly turned utterly calm. “Stay right where you are. I’m on my way. Tell me the address.” I hung up, feeling as if all my strength had drained away, collapsing to the floor. Seraphina looked at me, her eyes filled with contempt and disdain. “Keep acting. Go on, keep it up.” She sneered, “Liam Stone, your tactics are still so pathetic. To provoke me, you not only got a child, but now you’ve got a woman pretending to be your wife?” “What, did you rent that kid? Is the lease up today, so now you’re claiming he’s missing?” Caleb burst into an exaggerated laugh, echoing, “Yeah, bro, your acting is totally fake. Sera, don’t fall for it. He just wants to make you jealous, he wants you back.” Seeing the nauseating faces of the couple before me, pure rage consumed me. “If anything happens to Leo,” I lifted my head, glaring at both of them with burning hatred, “I’ll make your lives a living hell!” Seraphina scoffed, about to launch another taunt, when the front door burst open with a loud bang. A group of bodyguards in black suits streamed in, quickly securing the entire living room. Immediately after, a figure walked in, silhouetted against the light. She walked straight to me, took off her coat and draped it over me, then gently helped me up from the cold floor and pulled me into her embrace. Then, she lifted her eyes, her sharp gaze sweeping over Seraphina and Caleb, who stood frozen. Her thin lips parted, her voice chilling. “When my husband wants to make someone’s life a living hell, does he need to put on an act?” The entire living room fell into a deathly silence. The mockery on Seraphina’s face instantly froze, her whole body rigid with shock.

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In my past life, I took the fall for the Reed family’s foster son and served five years in prison. But the day I was released, I was greeted by his extravagant birthday party. The Reeds stripped me naked and threw me into a snowdrift, leaving me to freeze to death. When I opened my eyes again, I was five years old, on the very day my biological parents, the Reeds, were supposed to take me home. That’s when my sister, Brooke Reed, suddenly burst out. She stood fiercely in the doorway, a desperate barrier, pointing at my tattered clothes. “Dad, Mom, don’t bring him back! He’ll destroy our family!” Seeing her reaction, so utterly different from my past life, I instantly knew she had been reborn too. After my parents left, looking disappointed, she walked up to me and forcefully shoved a piece of candy into my hand, her voice like ice, sharp and cutting. “The Reeds have enough with one son, Tyler.” “You, you menace. This time, you should just rot out here.” I squeezed the candy tightly, my nails almost piercing my palm. She was right. In her eyes, in my past life, my only purpose was to ward off misfortune for the Reed family, to step up and take the blame whenever Tyler got into trouble. Now that she had a second chance, she foresaw that my existence, this stain, would ruin the Reed family’s reputation. So, this useless thing that I was, naturally had no reason to return to the Reed home. I smiled, but my tears betrayed me, streaming down against my will. I fiercely wiped them away, telling myself that Alex Reed was dead. The person alive now was *me*. I turned and walked back to my quiet corner of the orphanage. Not long after, a black sedan pulled up at the entrance. Director Thompson led a distinguished elderly woman, with elegant white hair, inside. All the children in the orphanage erupted in excitement, like a flock of excited birds, chirping and fluttering around her, each desperate to show off. “Hello, Grandma!” “Grandma, I’ll sing for you!” “Grandma, look at my drawing!” Only I remained, quiet in an inconspicuous corner, feeling like an outsider. The old woman noticed me. She gently pushed through the crowd, leaning on a dark wooden cane, and walked step by step toward me. “Little one, why are you sitting here all by yourself? Don’t they like you?” I shook my head, looked up, and held out the candy in my hand, which had grown warm from my tight grip. “Grandma, have some candy.” I tried my best to appear calm and mature, far beyond my years. She paused, clearly surprised. She took the candy, unwrapped it, and put it in her mouth, a relaxed smile spreading across her face. “Hmm, very sweet.” She looked at me deeply, then asked, “What’s your name?” “Director Thompson calls me Alex.” “Alex…” She repeated my name, then nodded. “Do you want to come home with me, little one? Be my grandson.” The room instantly fell silent. All the children’s gazes locked onto me, filled with burning envy. I didn’t hesitate for a second, nodding forcefully. “I do.” She burst into hearty laughter, her voice ringing out. “Good! Excellent! From today on, your name is Alex Vance.” She took my hand, her palm warm and dry. “Knowing the law and understanding speech, discerning right from wrong.” “My child, Grandma hopes you will become a person who upholds justice and fairness.” I understood the weight of her words, her high hopes. She was none other than the retired legal titan, a former Supreme Court Justice – Justice Eleanor Vance. In that moment, I tightly clutched her hand. I became the most cherished grandson of the Vance family. Grandma Vance treasured me like precious jade, personally teaching me legal principles and logic, taking me to observe court trials, and opening up a whole new world for me. My aunts and uncles in the Vance family, though all busy legal elites, always brought me various law books and fascinating case studies whenever they returned home, showing genuine care. The one who doted on me the most was my older sister, Scarlett Vance, ten years my senior. The first time she saw me, she took off her wire-rimmed glasses, a gentle smile gracing her beautiful face. “No one touches our precious little brother, Alex.” That was a phrase she often said. Surrounded by such immense love, I almost forgot the pain of my past life. I studied diligently. From law school to the bar exam, my grades were always top of the class. Debate trophies from various mock trials filled my room. Twenty years later, I became the youngest and most renowned star prosecutor in the country.

My days were calm and fulfilling. I thought the Reed family would vanish from my life forever. Until that day, when my assistant knocked on my office door. “Mr. Vance, there’s a Ms. Brooke Reed outside. She specifically asked to see you.” “She said she wants to hire you as a consultant for a major commercial fraud case her corporation is involved in.” Hearing that name, my heart still gave an uncontrollable lurch. I took a deep breath, suppressing the surge of emotion, my voice calm and steady. “Let her in.” A tall woman, dressed in a sharp business suit, walked in. Her face had shed the awkwardness of youth, becoming even more captivating and refined. Brooke froze the moment she saw me. Her deep-set eyes were wide with shock and disbelief. She never would have imagined that the rising legal star she had gone to such lengths to hire would be me, the boy she had personally abandoned twenty years ago. After a long moment, she finally found her voice, her tone full of doubt. “You… you’re Alex Vance, the prosecutor?” I nodded. “Ms. Reed, please have a seat. However, you might be mistaken. I am a prosecutor; I don’t handle private cases.” She seemed not to hear me, scrutinizing me instead. “Are you really a prosecutor? How confident are you that you can handle our case well?” Her attitude made it sound like I was some kind of charlatan chasing fame. My assistant, Chloe, could barely stand it, blurting out, “Ma’am, Mr. Vance is one of the top prosecutors in our system. His time is extremely valuable…” I looked at Brooke, a faint, almost imperceptible curve on my lips. “It seems Ms. Reed doesn’t have much faith in my professional abilities.” “In that case, this meeting is over.” “Chloe, please show our guest out.” Brooke’s face instantly darkened. She gritted her teeth, but in the end, said nothing, turning and slamming the door behind her as she left. Chloe stomped her foot in frustration. “Mr. Vance, that woman is so rude! Who does she think she is?!” I just smiled nonchalantly. “It’s fine, just a client who doesn’t know what’s what.” For me, it truly was just a trivial little incident. After work, Brooke suddenly appeared at the entrance of the Department of Justice building, blocking my way. Her face held a complex, somber expression. I instantly frowned. “Something wrong?” She stared at me, her gaze unyielding. After a long silence, she squeezed out a sentence through gritted teeth. “Alex Reed, I’m warning you.” “No matter who you are now, don’t even think about using this case to harm Tyler.” I almost laughed in exasperation. Twenty years ago, she had cruelly prevented me from returning to my biological family. Now, she was calling me Alex Reed again. She came to me herself, yet her first impulse was to warn me not to harm Tyler? Why did she think I would waste my time on someone like him? I looked at her as if she were an unreasonable lunatic. “Ms. Reed, my surname is Vance, and my name is Alex Vance. Please don’t get it wrong.” “Furthermore, I don’t know you, and I certainly don’t know your brother.” “As a prosecutor, my duty is to uphold justice, not to frame others.” “So, why would I harm a complete stranger I don’t even know?” Brooke froze, a flicker of bewilderment crossing her face. “You… you don’t remember me?” She seemed unable to accept this fact, her voice unconsciously rising. “Twenty years ago, at the orphanage entrance! I was the one who stopped you…” She stopped mid-sentence, seemingly finding her past actions too shameful to articulate. I watched her embarrassment, feeling only speechlessness and disgust. Of course, I remembered. I remembered every look of revulsion she gave me, every hateful word she uttered. I remembered how she had personally pushed me away, severing all my illusions of family affection. But I chose to pretend I didn’t. I feigned a moment of deep thought, then adopted an expression of dawning realization. “Ohh—” I deliberately drew out the sound. “So it was you.” I looked at her, smiling innocently. “I’m really sorry, but events from twenty years ago are so distant. I’ve long forgotten them.” “After all, I have so many important case files to review every day. Who has time to remember petty little things?”

Brooke’s face instantly turned ugly. Petty little things? In her eyes, that had been a momentous event that determined my destiny. This hurt her more than any direct insult. She bit her lip, unwilling to concede. “Don’t play dumb with me!” “Are you telling me you’re not holding a grudge because I prevented the Reeds from adopting you back then, and now you’re looking for a chance to get revenge on me and my brother?” I finally couldn’t help but scoff. “Ms. Reed, are you perhaps a little too self-important?” I dropped my smile, my eyes turning cold. “Revenge on you? Are you even worth it?” “If anything, I should thank you. If you hadn’t been so determined to stop them back then, how would I have had the chance to become Justice Eleanor Vance’s grandson?” “How would I have achieved what I have now?” “So, I’m too busy being grateful to you. Why would I hate you?” Every word I spoke was light and casual, yet they landed like knives, piercing deeply into Brooke’s heart. She was utterly speechless, her face fluctuating between green and white. “Eleanor Vance? Don’t you dare spout nonsense here!” She seemed to have grasped some leverage, immediately retorting with sarcasm. “You think just because your name is Vance, you’re related to the Justice? Dream on! Someone like you could never get through the Vance family’s front door!” The moment her words fell silent. A black Bentley glided silently to a stop beside us. The car door opened, and a tall, elegant woman stepped out. She quickly walked to my side, naturally draping a trench coat over my shoulders. She didn’t even spare Brooke a glance, simply gently ruffling my hair. “Alex, why are you still here? Grandma’s getting impatient.” Then, her gaze finally fell on Brooke. “Little brother, who is this?” I linked arms with Scarlett Vance, smiling brightly. “Oh, it’s nothing, Sis. Just a client who wanted to consult about a case and chatted with me for a bit.” Brooke was utterly frozen in place. She stared incredulously at Scarlett and me, at our intimate gestures, then at the luxury car that proclaimed their status. She wasn’t foolish. Of course, she recognized Scarlett Vance, the founder of the country’s top law firm, Vance & Co. And of course, she knew that Scarlett Vance had a younger brother, cherished by the entire Vance family. But she never in her wildest dreams imagined that brother would be *me*. Unbidden, the image of the young man in a prison uniform from her past life, his eyes vacant as he looked at her through the glass in the visitation room, flashed in her mind. And now, that same young man was smiling, linking arms with another woman, and sweetly calling her “Sis.” While she was still in a daze, I had already gotten into Scarlett Vance’s car. The next day, my assistant told me that Brooke Reed was trying to use various connections to have her corporation’s case transferred to the Department of Justice where I worked, hoping I would intervene as the prosecutor. Chloe tidied up my documents while complaining. “Mr. Vance, is this Brooke Reed crazy?” “The day before yesterday, she looked like she didn’t trust you at all, and today she’s practically throwing herself at you again.” “I bet she just realized you’re a Vance and wants to climb the social ladder!” I merely smiled, saying nothing. I signed my name on the case transfer request. I wanted to see what kind of act she was planning now.

At three in the afternoon, the entire Reed family, including Tyler, arrived promptly at my office. This time, they were summoned as family members of a suspect in the case. Twenty years hadn’t changed Tyler. He was still meticulously dressed, maintaining that innocent, delicate look that made people instinctively want to protect him. Brooke’s attitude was a hundred times more respectful than last time. “Mr. Vance, I was too impulsive last time. I apologize.” Mr. and Mrs. Reed stood awkwardly beside her, their eyes on me filled with complex emotions. I couldn’t be bothered with them. My gaze fell directly on Tyler. “The suspect stays. Family, please wait outside.” The office door closed, shutting out their sight. Only Tyler and I remained in the room. The innocent, pale look on his face vanished instantly. In its place was an undisguised expression of jealousy and malice. He eyed me up and down, a mocking smile playing on his lips. “Alex Reed. No, I should call you Alex Vance.” “Who would’ve thought, you’re really hard to kill.” “Thrown out by our family, and you still managed to climb up the Vance family’s high branches. What a skill.” I looked at him calmly, as if watching a pathetic clown. “Tyler Reed, this is an interrogation. Please maintain your composure.” My coldness seemed to infuriate him. He leaned back in his chair, continuing to provoke me with a sharp, sarcastic tone. “What? Being a prosecutor makes you special? Don’t you still have to watch enviously as I live a better life than you?” “Let me tell you, what if you’re a Vance now?” “In my sister’s heart, you’ll never compare to even my little finger!” “She only asked for you because she didn’t know you were *the* Mr. Vance. Don’t flatter yourself!”

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The day Eleanor and I got married, the man who had taken my place committed suicide. By our second year of marriage, that event had completely torn us apart. She hated that I, the true heir, had returned and caused Brandon Montgomery’s death. I resented her for still clinging to the man who had usurped my identity for twenty years. For ten years, we attacked each other with the vilest words, cursing each other to hell. Until an earthquake hit. She shielded me with her body, her spine bearing the brunt, creating a path for me to survive. The ceiling beam crashed down, leaving her a bloody mess. As she lay dying, she whispered in my ear, “If I had known he would die, I wish I’d never brought you home.” “If there’s a next life, I only want you as my family.” Ultimately, I died in the aftershocks. When I opened my eyes again, I was back on the day she brought me to meet my birth family. She suddenly pulled back. “Julian, I made a mistake. The Montgomery family’s son, lost twenty years ago, isn’t you.”

Eleanor blocked my path outside the Montgomery family’s mansion, her face a mix of struggle and grim determination. I said nothing, but instantly, a vision flashed before my eyes: steel and concrete crashing down, her bloodied spine, and her words whispered into my ear. “If I had known he would die, I wish I’d never brought you home.” So, this was her choice. In another life, she’d choose to abandon me from the very start. Fine by me. Those ten years of hellish marriage in my previous life—she hated me, I resented her. We tortured each other day and night, finding release only in death. Now, to be able to cut all of it off at the source, I felt a strange sense of relief. I looked at her and calmly nodded. “Okay.” A flicker of surprise crossed Eleanor’s eyes; all her prepared arguments got stuck in her throat. “What did you say?” she almost instinctively blurted out. “I said I understand,” I repeated. “Since it was a mistake, let’s just leave it at that. Thanks for bringing me here; I should head back to school.” With that, I turned to leave. But her hand shot out, grabbing my arm. “Julian!” She sharply called out my name, her voice laced with a hint of panic. “What kind of attitude is that? Didn’t you always want to find your family? Now that I’m saying you’re not, you’re giving up so easily?!” I turned back to her, finding it somewhat amusing. She’d gone to great lengths to lie, precisely because she wanted me to give up, didn’t she? Now that I was doing exactly what she wanted, she wasn’t satisfied. “What else?” I countered. “Eleanor, are you telling me that what you said wasn’t the truth, and I actually *am* the Montgomery family’s real son?” Upon hearing that, the panic in her eyes intensified, and her grip on my arm tightened unconsciously. She lowered her gaze, not letting me see her expression. “Let’s just drop this. Don’t ever bring it up again, and don’t go near the Montgomery family.” “I understand.” I pulled my hand free, rubbing my wrist where her grip had left it red. “I won’t bring it up again, and I won’t go near them. Eleanor, are you satisfied now?” She looked at my empty hand, as if she’d lost something important, her expression momentarily bewildered. She didn’t know I’d been reborn too. In this life, I wouldn’t step through that door again, wouldn’t become a Montgomery, and certainly wouldn’t… become her husband again. She wanted to protect her childhood friend, to complete their world. I’d gladly hand it to her. “I’m leaving.” I didn’t look at her again, turning towards the bus stop. Behind me, Eleanor’s voice chased after me, tinged with irritation. “Stop! I’ll drive you back.” Eleanor didn’t take me back to my school dorm. Instead, she drove straight to a luxury apartment in the city center. I watched the rapidly receding streetlights outside the window, understanding perfectly. In my previous life, after we married, this had been our home. It had held our tenderest moments, and it had also witnessed how we slowly became a resentful couple, eventually consumed by hatred. The car stopped. She unbuckled her seatbelt and turned to face me. In the dim light of the car, her expression was unreadable, but her tone had softened considerably, unlike her harsh voice at the Montgomery mansion gate earlier. “Let’s go inside. We need to talk.”

I followed her into the apartment. The familiar decor, the minimalist design with cool tones – just like her, elegant and aloof. Only this time, I felt not a trace of the fondness I once had. She pulled a bottle of water from the fridge and tossed it to me, then walked to the floor-to-ceiling window and lit a slender cigarette. White smoke curled, forming a hazy mist that seemed to separate us. “Julian, I know you’re upset,” she began, her voice muffled through the smoke. “I didn’t handle the situation with your identity well. But Brandon’s mental state is very unstable right now. He… can’t handle any more stress.” Always Brandon Montgomery. I lowered my eyes, twisted open the cap, and silently took a sip of water. The cold liquid slid down my throat, but it couldn’t quell the bitter surge in my heart. She’d said the same thing in my previous life. She’d said Brandon had a history of self-harm, that he was fragile, and asked me to be more accommodating after I was reunited with my family. I listened. I let him have all of Eleanor’s favoritism. I even chose to back down and stay silent during his countless unreasonable provocations. Yet, he used a suicide attempt to condemn my marriage with Eleanor to a ten-year life sentence. Seeing my silence, Eleanor assumed I was still upset about not being able to join the Montgomery family. She put out her cigarette with a sigh of resignation. She turned, walked over to me, and looked up slightly at me sitting on the couch, a hint of reassurance in her eyes. “Please, don’t be mad at me, okay?” Her voice was soft as she reached out and covered my hand holding the water bottle. “I admit, I messed up today. I gave you false hope.” “Whatever compensation you want, just name it. Anything I can give, I will.” She paused, her voice turning earnest. “But the Montgomery family… let’s just put that out of our minds for now, alright?” Her guard was completely down; the love for me practically poured from her eyes. I saw it clearly: she was truly afraid of my anger, afraid of me leaving her. But this love came at the cost of my identity. I looked up, meeting her gaze, and a sudden urge to laugh overcame me. “I don’t want anything.” I calmly pulled my hand away, a movement that dimmed the light in her eyes for a moment. “Don’t worry. Even if the Montgomery family came begging on their knees, offering their entire fortune, I wouldn’t spare them a glance.” “You don’t need to apologize. You don’t owe me anything. Let’s just end this between us.” Eleanor’s brows furrowed tightly. She suddenly stood up straight, her face instantly turning cold. “End this? Julian, are you playing games with me? Because I didn’t let you go back to the Montgomery family, you’re trying to force my hand like this?” She leaned in close, hands braced on the sofa beside me, trapping me in her presence. “I only told you not to go back to the Montgomery family. I didn’t say I was breaking up with you! We can be like before. No, I’ll be even better to you than before!” I looked at her and suddenly felt incredibly tired. She thought that by stripping me of my “true Montgomery heir” identity, we could return to square one, loving each other safely. But she didn’t know that the root of our tragedy was never about whether I returned to the Montgomery family or not. “Eleanor,” I pushed her away, stood up, and widened the distance between us. “I’m tired. I want to go home.” With that, I walked towards the door, not looking back. This time, she didn’t stop me.

In the days that followed, I threw myself entirely into the final preparations for my overseas application. Soon, I received an acceptance letter from a university abroad, with my departure date set for the following month. The day before I was due to leave, I had just walked out of the library when two men in black suits blocked my path. “Mr. Hayes, Ms. Thorne would like to see you.” I was forced into a car that sped off, eventually stopping at the top floor of a skyscraper overlooking the entire city skyline. “Ms. Thorne is busy. Please wait here.” The bodyguard led me into a glass-walled room, then turned and locked the door. The room had an excellent view, with an entire wall made of huge, floor-to-ceiling glass. And directly opposite the glass was the city’s most exclusive rooftop garden restaurant. At that moment, the restaurant was brightly lit, buzzing with people, and a grand birthday party was underway. The guest of honor was Brandon Montgomery. He was dressed in a lavish suit, surrounded by a crowd. And standing beside him, adjusting his tie, gazing at him tenderly, was Eleanor. I watched as Eleanor took Brandon’s hand and they began the first dance. They spun, drew close, whispered, intimately resembling a perfect couple. The surrounding guests clapped, their faces filled with congratulations. I suddenly wanted to laugh—laugh at my obsession in the previous life. Was it worth sacrificing my entire life for a woman who didn’t love me? I closed my eyes, not wanting to see that dazzling scene anymore. But Eleanor’s bloodied face from the earthquake in the previous life, and her trembling spine as she shielded me, resurfaced in my mind, uncontrollably. She hated me, yet she saved me. This debt felt like a giant net, trapping me, unable to move. I don’t know how much time passed, but the party seemed to be winding down. The door behind me suddenly opened. I turned and saw Brandon Montgomery standing in the doorway. A triumphant smile played on his lips as he walked towards me, step by step. “Julian Hayes,” he stopped in front of me, looking down at me. “How does it feel? Watching the woman you love throw such a grand birthday party for *me*?” It clicked. These bodyguards weren’t sent by Eleanor; they were Brandon’s. He wanted me to give up completely. But he didn’t need to do this; in this life, I had no feelings left for Eleanor. I said nothing, just looked at him coldly. My silence seemed to infuriate him, and the smile on his face twisted. “You think you can pretend to be noble by staying silent? Let me tell you, what’s not yours, you’ll never get!” He leaned in closer, lowering his voice. “Do you know? If you hadn’t suddenly appeared, Eleanor and I would have been engaged by now! You ruined everything for me!” “Are you done?” I asked calmly. “If so, please let me leave.” Brandon Montgomery trembled with rage at my attitude. He suddenly pulled a knife from his suit’s inner pocket, its blade gleaming menacingly in the light. My heart clenched. “What are you going to do?” “What am I going to do?” Brandon sneered, a flicker of madness in his eyes. “I’m going to show Eleanor how you pushed me! I’m going to make her realize that as long as you exist, I’ll never have peace!” Before I could react, he raised the knife and slashed his own wrist. He looked at me, a smile on his face, then shrieked loudly, “Please! I can give you anything! Why do you insist on pushing me to my death?!” Outside, hurried footsteps immediately sounded. Eleanor was the first to rush in, clutching Brandon tightly in her arms, her face grim. Brandon leaned weakly against her, pale, and pointed a trembling finger at me. “Eleanor, he said he’s the real Montgomery son, that I don’t deserve any of this, that I should just die…” Eleanor looked up, her eyes blazing with fury. “Julian Hayes,” she said coldly. “Didn’t I warn you to behave?” “Today is Brandon’s birthday. It was supposed to be the happiest day for him, and you ruined everything!”

I looked at her, my heart sinking deeper and deeper into despair. She’d forgotten that today was actually my birthday too. Brandon and I were born on the same day, same month, same year. Only one was in the clouds, and the other in the mud. She immediately summoned the bodyguards to restrain me and threw a combat knife at my feet. Her words were almost merciless. “However much blood he spilled, you’ll pay back double!” I stared at her in disbelief. “Eleanor, are you insane?!” I began to struggle violently. But she only gave me a glance and ordered the bodyguards to act. Sharp pain instantly shot through my arm, and warm blood immediately welled up. I groaned, cold sweat beaded on my forehead, and I bit down hard, my mouth filled with a metallic taste. The second cut, the third cut… I didn’t know how many times I was cut, only that the pain had turned numb, and everything before my eyes began to blur. I looked at Eleanor’s cold face, at the triumphant smirk on Brandon’s lips as he lay in her arms. My heart truly died. “Enough,” Eleanor finally said, stopping the bodyguards. “After you’re done, take him to the hospital.” With that, she didn’t look at me again, carrying Brandon in her arms as she swept out. I lay in a pool of blood, my consciousness slowly fading. Before I completely lost consciousness, I thought I saw that earthquake again. This time, Eleanor wasn’t shielding me. She simply stood by, coldly watching as I was swallowed by massive rubble, not a ripple in her eyes. Eleanor, this debt for saving my life, I’ve repaid it. When I opened my eyes again, the scent of hospital disinfectant hung in the air. Eleanor sat by my bedside. Seeing me awake, her eyes lit up. “I’m sorry,” she suddenly said. I froze. “Last night, I went too far.” She lowered her eyes, her voice filled with regret. “I was so angry at the time; I couldn’t control my emotions. I…” “So?” I cut her off, asking calmly, “Are you saying you regret it?” She sharply looked up, her lips moved, as if wanting to say something, but in the end, it was just a sigh. “Julian, don’t talk to me like that.” Her voice softened. “I know you hate me, but Brandon really almost died.” “Eleanor,” I looked into her eyes. “You don’t need to apologize. Just consider this me repaying what I owed you.” “Owed me?” She frowned, clearly not understanding what I meant. “Yes.” I managed a bitter smile. “In my previous life, you saved my life during the earthquake. In this life, I’ve repaid you with a life. We’re even now.” As I finished speaking, a crash sounded as the chair was knocked over by her sudden movement. Her lips trembled, and her pupils constricted violently in shock. “You… you were reborn too?”

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