Yue Rujing

My husband, Jerrold, rushed out for an emergency IT call, leaving his phone behind. A bank alert flashed across the screen: a $2,500 mortgage payment to his ex-wife, Jackie Reid. My heart sank. For five years, he' d told me his take-home pay was only $4,000 a month, and I struggled to cover our family' s expenses on the meager $1,200 allowance he gave me. When I confronted him, he stammered excuses, and his parents, who knew all along, defended his 'obligation' to his past. But the lies ran deeper. I soon discovered his real income was over double what he claimed, and our entire five-year marriage was built on a foundation of deceit to pay for his guilt over cheating on his first wife. He had me clipping coupons and telling our son, Leo, 'no' to simple treats, all while he secretly funneled $150,000 of our money to his ex. He wasn't just lying; he was stealing our future. That's when I stopped crying and started collecting evidence. I hired a lawyer and walked into that courtroom ready to take back every penny he stole from me and our son.

My father-in-law was killed in a hit-and-run. But the first thing my husband said in the hospital waiting room wasn't about his grief. It was about money. "Take the seventy-five thousand dollars, Eve. Your father wasn't worth more than that." He thought the man lying in the morgue was my father. He handed me a settlement agreement that framed him as a con artist who' d staged the accident for a payday. I refused. He became a monster, threatening me before cutting me off financially. I soon discovered why: the driver was his pregnant mistress, and this was all a desperate cover-up to protect her. He was willing to destroy my family to save his new one. He called me weak and sentimental, an emotional nuisance he could easily manage. He was so sure he could break me and buy my silence. In court, his lawyer presented the settlement agreement, ready to paint me as a greedy, unstable liar. But then the judge cleared her throat to make the formal announcement. "The deceased is Mr. Gordon Charles." It wasn't my father on that morgue slab. It was his.

The day Michael Miller came back from the dead was a Tuesday. I was in my home office, the one that used to be his, when the doorbell rang, followed by a commotion downstairs. A man' s voice, familiar yet chillingly out of place, echoed through the house. It was Michael Miller, my husband, whose funeral I' d attended three years ago. He stood there, healthy and tanned, not alone. A blonde woman clung to his arm, and beside them, two children with his dark hair and pale blue eyes stared up at me, their faces hostile. "Ava," he said, his voice smooth, as if he' d just returned from a business trip. "I' m home." He introduced the woman as Chloe Davis and the children as Jasper and Ruby, explaining casually that he had faked his death to escape crushing debts. He expected me to accept them, to move into a guest room, to welcome his new family into our home. His mother, Eleanor, and siblings, Sarah and Ben, burst in, not with shock, but relief, claiming amnesia had kept him away. They sided with him, Eleanor even suggesting I move to the guest cottage. The family I had tirelessly saved from ruin, the company I' d rebuilt from scratch after his "death," now saw me as an inconvenience, a lingering ghost in my own life. I thought of the child we were supposed to have, the one I lost due to the stress of saving his company, of dealing with his fake death. The painful memory of my miscarriage, alone in this big, empty house, while he was off starting a new life, a new family. Then, Chloe' s son, Jasper, kicked my shin and called me an "old witch." Chloe giggled. The dam holding back my buried grief and rage shattered. I looked at their arrogant faces, their triumphant sneers. They had no idea who I had become in the fire of his betrayal. They didn' t know the thriving Miller Corp was no longer theirs. It was mine.

The exclusive bar hummed with the city' s elite, and from my secluded booth, I had a perfect view of my brother, Ethan, and my fiancé, Noah, holding court at the bar. They were betting on me, on my future, confident I was a nervous wreck after a minor accident, completely unaware I was meticulously listening to every word. I had been back with the wealthy Smith family for six months, a life everyone envied: a mansion, endless credit, an influential fiancé. But it was all a charade; beneath the surface, I was nothing more than their pawn, their trophy, targeted by my brother' s arrogance and my fiancé' s oppressive control, while the adopted daughter, Chloe, simmered with resentment. I was a victim, a fragile damsel in distress. Everyone saw it but me. I watched them, learned their weaknesses, and then I orchestrated my own engagement to Noah, making him believe he was securing the true heiress, all while pulling his strings. They were consumed by their petty rivalries, completely blind to the game I was playing, a game where their arrogance was my ultimate weapon. Their bet on me was just the beginning; I was playing for a much bigger prize. With chilling precision, I created scenarios, fanned their egos, and subtly moved them into positions where they would self-destruct, all while I appeared to be the struggling, innocent girl. I was merely the quiet, fragile girl they thought they were protecting. They talked about winning, but they had no idea they were already losing. The truth was, I wasn't just in the game; I was the game master, and they were all about to find out exactly what happens when you underestimate a Smith.

My mother, Evelyn, was born deaf-mute, burdened by an ancient prophecy: she would speak three times, and disaster would follow each utterance. I, Sarah, grew up under this constant, quiet dread. The first words came when I was a teenager, a rough whisper to my father, David: "Don't go, David." Hours later, he plunged from our high-rise balcony, an "accident" that shattered our lives. But I saw the grainy security footage: Mom stood in the doorway, simply watching him fall, her face a chilling, unreadable mask. She then vanished to her hometown, Blackwood Creek, leaving me with a growing, terrible suspicion. Five years passed, my fiancé Mark brought a fragile peace, but Mom's cryptic second words to him at a public dinner reignited the whispers. The next night, Mark was climbing his balcony railing, vacant-eyed, just like Dad, saved only by his parents' timely intervention. Then, the staticky, desperate phone call: Mom's third utterance, "Sarah, listen to me. You have to get away... Mama loves you." Her voice was raw with terror, not manipulation. Moments later, the news screamer: Evelyn Hayes found dead, an apparent suicide in Blackwood Creek. Suicide? After that warning, after that desperate love? My heart screamed; the official story felt like a carefully constructed lie designed to hide something monstrous. I refused to believe it. My mother's last terrifying words, her love, and her impossible death demanded answers. Blackwood Creek held those secrets, and I swore to uncover them, no matter the cost.

Five years ago, I drove away from Boston, vowing never to look back at the city that had shattered my world. I had meticulously rebuilt my life in Portland, nurturing a freelance design business, a loving marriage with my supportive husband, David, and a joyful life with our son, Leo. But a mandatory design conference now pulled me back, forcing me to confront the ghosts of a past I had believed were long buried. The first ghost appeared in the form of Jessica Bellwether, a former sorority sister, whose familiar laugh cut through the convention center's buzz. She approached me with that same pitying smile, mentioning "him." "He still talks about you," she whispered conspiratorially, her words a deliberate jab. "If you just admitted your mistake, he' d take you back." Mistake? That singular word plunged me back into the nightmare of my own rehearsal dinner. I was there, in a beautiful white dress, standing before two hundred of Boston' s elite, when Ethan Hayes, my fiancé, produced a sheaf of printed messages. He publicly branded me a deceitful woman, twisting my most intimate expressions of grief for my beloved, deceased brother, Mark, into fabricated evidence of a secret lover. Chloe Vance, his ambitious colleague, had orchestrated the deception, and he, in his blind fury and pride, had cast me aside without a single question. My world disintegrated on that elegant ballroom floor, a public execution orchestrated by the man who had promised me forever. How could he have so easily devoured such a monstrous lie, so readily destroying me and the memory of my brother? The sheer unfairness and the profound pain of his betrayal had lingered for half a decade, a scar hidden beneath my newfound peace. Now, Ethan, hearing whispers of my quiet happiness, has tracked me across the country. He' s invaded my serene Portland life, demanding answers, accusing me of abandoning him. His audacious presence has rekindled a righteous anger I swore I' d never feel again. This time, I won' t just walk away; I will speak my truth, and he will finally hear the brutal reality of what he truly did.

The scent of lavender oil was thick in the air, a constant reminder of my new life as a blind massage therapist. Years ago, while proctoring an SAT exam, my sight inexplicably vanished, leaving me to navigate a world of sound and touch. But my quiet existence shattered when two familiar voices, brimming with arrogance, drifted in: Vic Stone, boasting about cheating, and David Miller, whispering about 'the culprit' who was 'right there in the exam room' when I went blind. My hands froze, my heart hammering as the full, horrifying realization hit me: my tragedy wasn't a freak accident, but a premeditated attack. My entire life, my career, my very existence, had been stolen by someone in that room. Who was this mastermind, hiding in plain sight? Why me? And what did David know that he couldn't openly say? The injustice burned hotter than any anger I'd ever known. Before I could demand answers, a sudden, blinding pain plunged me into a different kind of darkness. Yet, I gasped awake, light flooding my vision, back in that SAT room on the very day it happened. I was Michael Davies, proctor, again – with a terrifying second chance to stop my own undoing, and expose the monster who stole my life.

After her parents died in a car accident, Sheri and her sick sister were not only driven out of their homes but their family business was torn from their grasps. Everyone had already abandoned her for good. She had no hopes until she met Elliot. Although she no longer recognized him, she was actually the woman who he had spent years finding for. Regardless of her helplessness, he offered her a deal—he would give her everything she ever wanted if she would marry him. Now that he had her in his arms, he would do everything he could to make her happy. He would shower her with all the love he had in his heart.

Today is October 14th, my birthday. I returned to New York after months away, dragging my suitcase through the biting wind, but the VIP pickup zone where my husband’s Maybach usually idled was empty. When I finally let myself into our Upper East Side penthouse, I didn’t find a cake or a "welcome home" banner. Instead, I found my husband, Caden, kneeling on the floor, helping our five-year-old daughter wrap a massive gift for my half-sister, Adalynn. Caden didn’t even look up when I walked in; he was too busy laughing with the girl who had already stolen my father’s legacy and was now moving in on my family. "Auntie Addie is a million times better than Mommy," my daughter Elara chirped, clutching a plush toy Caden had once forbidden me from buying for her. "Mommy is mean," she whispered loudly, while Caden just smirked, calling me a "drill sergeant" before whisking her off to Adalynn’s party without a second glance. Later that night, I saw a video Adalynn posted online where my husband and child laughed while mocking my "sensitive" nature, treating me like an inconvenient ghost in my own home. I had spent five years researching nutrition for Elara’s health and managing every detail of Caden’s empire, only to be discarded the moment I wasn't in the room. How could the man who set his safe combination to my birthday completely forget I even existed? The realization didn't break me; it turned me into ice. I didn't scream or beg for an explanation. I simply walked into the study, pulled out the divorce papers I’d drafted months ago, and took a black marker to the terms. I crossed out the alimony, the mansion, and even the custody clause—if they wanted a life without me, I would give them exactly what they asked for. I left my four-carat diamond ring on the console table and walked out into the rain with nothing but a heavily encrypted hard drive. The submissive Mrs. Holloway was gone, and "Ghost," the most lethal architect in the tech world, was finally back online to take back everything they thought I’d forgotten.

For three quiet, patient years, Christina kept house, only to be coldly discarded by the man she once trusted. Instead, he paraded a new lover, making her the punchline of every town joke. Liberated, she honed her long-ignored gifts, astonishing the town with triumph after gleaming triumph. Upon discovering she'd been a treasure all along, her ex-husband's regret drove him to pursue her. "Honey, let's get back together!" With a cold smirk, Christina spat, "Fuck off." A silken-suited mogul slipped an arm around her waist. "She's married to me now. Guards, get him the hell out of here!"

"Stella once savored Marc's devotion, yet his covert cruelty cut deep. She torched their wedding portrait at his feet while he sent flirty messages to his mistress. With her chest tight and eyes blazing, Stella delivered a sharp slap. Then she deleted her identity, signed onto a classified research mission, vanished without a trace, and left him a hidden bombshell. On launch day she vanished; that same dawn Marc's empire crumbled. All he unearthed was her death certificate, and he shattered. When they met again, a gala spotlighted Stella beside a tycoon. Marc begged. With a smirk, she said, ""Out of your league, darling."

Sunlit hours found their affection glimmering, while moonlit nights ignited reckless desire. But when Brandon learned his beloved might last only half a year, he coolly handed Millie divorce papers, murmuring, "This is all for appearances; we'll get married again once she's calmed down." Millie, spine straight and cheeks dry, felt her pulse go hollow. The sham split grew permanent; she quietly ended their unborn child and stepped into a new beginning. Brandon unraveled, his car tearing down the street, unwilling to let go of the woman he'd discarded, pleading for her to look back just once.

Linsey was stood up by her groom to run off with another woman. Furious, she grabbed a random stranger and declared, "Let's get married!" She had acted on impulse, realizing too late that her new husband was the notorious rascal, Collin. The public laughed at her, and even her runaway ex offered to reconcile. But Linsey scoffed at him. "My husband and I are very much in love!" Everyone thought she was delusional. Then Collin was revealed to be the richest man in the world. In front of everyone, he got down on one knee and held up a stunning diamond ring. "I look forward to our forever, honey."

Elliana, the unfavored "ugly duckling" of her family, was humiliated by her stepsister, Paige, who everyone admired. Paige, engaged to the CEO Cole, was the perfect woman-until Cole married Elliana on the day of the wedding. Shocked, everyone wondered why he chose the "ugly" woman. As they waited for her to be cast aside, Elliana stunned everyone by revealing her true identity: a miracle healer, financial mogul, appraisal prodigy, and AI genius. When her mistreatment became known, Cole revealed Elliana's stunning, makeup-free photo, sending shockwaves through the media. "My wife doesn't need anyone's approval."

Maia grew up a pampered heiress-until the real daughter returned and framed her, sending Maia to prison with help from her fiancé and family. Four years later, free and married to Chris, a notorious outcast, everyone assumed Maia was finished. They soon discovered she was secretly a famed jeweler, elite hacker, celebrity chef, and top game designer. As her former family begged for help, Chris smiled calmly. "Honey, let's go home." Only then did Maia realize her "useless" husband was a legendary tycoon who'd adored her from the start.

After five years of playing the perfect daughter, Rylie was exposed as a stand-in. Her fiancé bolted, friends scattered, and her adoptive brothers shoved her out, telling her to grovel back to her real family. Done with humiliation, she swore to claw back what was hers. Shock followed: her birth family ruled the town's wealth. Overnight, she became their precious girl. The boardroom brother canceled meetings, the genius brother ditched his lab, the musician brother postponed a tour. As those who spurned her begged forgiveness, Admiral Brad Morgan calmly declared, "She's already taken."

Sophie stepped in for her sister and married a man known for his disfigured looks and reckless past. On their wedding day, his family turned their backs on him, and the town laughed behind their hands, certain the marriage would collapse. But Sophie's career soared, and their love only deepened. Later, during a high-profile event, the CEO of some conglomerate took off his mask, revealing Sophie's husband to be a global sensation. *** Adrian had no interest in his arranged wife and had disguised himself in hopes she would bail. But when Sophie tried to walk away, Adrian broke down and whispered, "Please, Sophie, don't go. One kiss, and I'll give you the world."

In their previous lives, Gracie married Theo. Outwardly, they were the perfect academic couple, but privately, she became nothing more than a stepping stone for his ambition, and met a tragic end. Her younger sister Ellie wed Brayden, only to be abandoned for his true love, left alone and disgraced. This time, both sisters were reborn. Ellie rushed to marry Theo, chasing the success Gracie once had-unaware she was repeating the same heartbreak. Gracie instead entered a contract marriage with Brayden. But when danger struck, he defended her fiercely. Could fate finally rewrite their tragic endings?