Chapter 1

We were sitting at the dining table. My husband, Martin Short, was looking at me in sorrow as he said, "I'm really sorry, Louise. I've been hiding something from you throughout our marriage. But now, I can no longer bear the weight of my conscience."

My heart skipped a beat as I hastily looked around, only to confirm that I had indeed been reborn. I had gone back in time to the day Martin pretended to be a wanted fugitive!

As I looked at the insincere act he was putting on now, I felt nauseated.

Martin continued to bury his head and sob.

"To be honest with you, Louise, I'm a wanted fugitive. When I was still an 18-year-old teenager, I robbed someone for money, and the man died. He had a wife and a child. I have no idea how they survived without him. I feel the need to pay for my actions now."

Sniffling through his tears, he grabbed my hand and continued, "As my wife, you'll support me, right?"

My son, Daniel Short, and my mother-in-law, Patricia Oswald, were both seated at the dining table too. However, neither one seemed flustered by what was happening.

Honestly, I was tempted to laugh. It turned out that every single one of them knew the truth. I was the only one who was kept in the dark.

In my previous lifetime, to make up for Martin's actions, I would head over to the supposed victim's house and bow in apology to her every holiday.

I even used what little money I had left after feeding my own family to buy the victim's family presents. To do so, I had to subsist on nothing but bread and water.

Just moments before I died, I found out that the woman to which Martin made me atone for his sins on his behalf was none other than Whitney Lewis, his true love.

The so-called widow and child left behind by his victim was in reality his mistress and the child that came from his affair.

The whole time, I felt glad I could do something on Martin's behalf while he was in prison. Thus, the thought of them playing me for a fool the whole time while secretly making fun of how stupid I looked, infuriated me to no end.

Back at the dining table, Patricia began pounding her thighs.

She exclaimed, "You have ruined us all! What did we ever do to deserve this? Our family has always lived an honest, decent life. How did we end up with a rotten son like you? You even took a man's life! Come! I'm taking you to the police station to turn yourself in!"

Patricia pulled Martin out of his chair and started heading for the door.

Martin took my hand and gazed at me affectionately. Then, he said, "I'm sorry, Louise. You'll have to look after Danny on your own now."

When he turned to leave, my heart missed a beat.

Feigning sorrow, I called out to Patricia, "No matter what he did, he's still your son. Why don't I take him to the police station instead? I have a friend who's a lawyer. Maybe we can see if Martin can get a more lenient sentence."

That was a lie, of course. Why would I know a lawyer? I was just trying to scare them.

"No!" Martin and Patricia cried out at the same time.

Patricia sported a rather awkward expression as she said, "Didn't you say you've been suffering from a sore back lately? This won't be an easy trip. I can take Martin myself."

"Why don't you guys want me to go? Could it be that Martin never committed any crime at all, and you're just trying to fool me?" I asked doubtfully.

Upon hearing that, Daniel quickly lowered his head and averted his eyes. He was too afraid to say anything.

On the other hand, Patricia berated me for coming up with an excuse to abandon Martin.

Even Martin sported a hurt expression. He said, "I know it'll be hard for you to raise Danny by yourself, Louise, but why would I lie about something like that?"

Gritting his teeth, he seemed to have come to a major decision.

"Louise, once I'm in prison, feel free to remarry. Mom can raise Danny. I don't want to burden you with this. You're still so young. I'm sure you can find a better guy out there. I've left the divorce agreement on the desk for you."

"I don't want to leave you, Daddy!"

At least, it was Daniel's turn to take the stage. He ran over to Martin and hugged his legs. As for Martin, he stood there with a brave face. He looked like a righteous, heroic man.

If I weren't the victim of their schemes, I would've applauded them for their acting. It was certainly worthy of receiving the top accolades in the entertainment industry.

Nodding along, I took my phone out and said, "I'll call the police then! They can come and pick Martin up right here. That way, Mom won't have to make the trip either."

Once Martin heard that, his expression fell. He kept shooting looks at Patricia to signal her.

Startled, she quickly piped up. "Louise is right. You know what? Why don't you stay here and get some rest first, Louise? I'll visit the victim's family with Martin so that he can apologize to them. After all, we have wronged them."

Clearly, they were trying to distract me and keep me from doing anything that would ruin their plan. I nodded along and pretended to be deeply worried as I headed to the bedroom.

The time wasn't right yet.

I checked the money I had left in my bank account—the 300 thousand dollars I had before I got married remained untouched. To prevent Martin from secretly taking this money away, I transferred it to a different account.

Then, I started searching the bedroom, only to find that one of the bank debit cards had gone missing.

After I got married to Martin, the two of us would transfer our monthly salary into the same bank account to pay for our expenses. And now, the card for that account had gone missing.

It was obvious who took it.

With a sinking feeling in my heart, I searched through my closet. All of my jewelry, branded bags, and luxury items had been replaced with fakes!

My heart was pounding wildly. Martin was truly a vicious man!

He didn't leave a single penny to me, and yet, he made me compensate Whitney for his supposed crime as well as financially support Daniel and Patricia. Meanwhile, he got to wash his hands off everything.

Well, to hell with that! I swiftly hired a private investigation firm and asked them to look into a few things for me.

Still, I couldn't escape from the shadows that haunted me.

Just as I was about to doze off, there was a knock on the door. When I opened it, Patricia started crying out in anguish.

She looked like she was about to faint. "T-That woman handed Martin over to the authorities without even letting him come home and see us one last time."

Daniel came running out of his room and clutched Patricia's legs tightly while crying out, "Daddy! I want Daddy…"

Pretending to be shocked, I slumped to the floor with a look of despair on my face.