LOGINOn the day of my tenth wedding anniversary, my best friend, Jordan Price, shows up at my doorstep with a cancer diagnosis. He informs me he only has a month left to live, and his dying wish is to have my wife, Renee Myers, be his bride for a day to complete a non-binding wedding ceremony. In my previous life, I find the whole idea absurd. I tell him it isn't appropriate and turn him down. That night, he leaves a suicide note and jumps into the ocean. Jordan had been orphaned at a young age, and Mom takes him in and raises him as her own. When my son, Oliver Hall, is five years old, Jordan even risks his life to rescue him from a blazing building. Consequently, my entire family concludes that my sins are unforgivable and that I've driven him to his grave. Mom disowns me, and my younger brother, Philip Hall, cuts off all contact with me. Every year, Renee will wear her wedding gown and go to the beach to mourn him. My wife and son loathe me for a decade. … On the day of Oliver's wedding, he sets Jordan's memorial portrait at the head table and publicly declares that he wants nothing to do with me, his father, who supposedly killed the man who saved his life. Later on, after I suffer a stroke and end up paralyzed, Renee frames me as mentally unstable and has me committed to a mental asylum. On the day I breathe my last, I receive a video. Jordan, who is supposed to have been dead for a decade, has his arm around my wife. He's all smiles as he tells me he doesn't have cancer, and he never actually killed himself. … When I open my eyes again, I'm back on the day Jordan hands me his cancer diagnosis. Renee's eyes are brimming with tears as she takes off her wedding ring. "Jordan only wants me to be his bride for a day. Can't you grant him this one wish?" Everyone expects me to refuse. However, I take the ring from her and casually toss it into the trash. "I can. Sign the divorce agreement today, and I'll walk you down the aisle tomorrow."
View MoreDerrick's rehabilitation center completed its renovation a year later. A plaque was erected in the newly built garden. It didn't bear a single donor's name. There was only a single sentence. "Kindness should never be used as leverage to get something in return." On the day of the unveiling, Oliver bustled around. His face flushed red from the sun. He had grown considerably taller and no longer resembled the boy who had hidden behind Jordan at the wedding and righteously accused me. Derrick had been fitted with a new prosthetic leg that suited him better. He walked up to me and patted his leg. "This time, I know who paid for it." I smiled. "Consider it an investment. Once you're all better, you can help me keep an eye on that kid."Oliver was moving flowerpots a short distance away. When he heard that, he turned around and took one look at me. His eyes lit up for a moment, but he didn't come over to take credit for it. Once the event wrapped up, he returned to my apartment wi
The divorce became final a month later. The court ruled that Renee bore significant responsibility for the breakdown of the marriage. The marital assets she had secretly transferred were recovered. When the remaining assets were divided, her share was substantially reduced, and she was ordered to pay additional compensation. The house we had lived in for a decade was awarded to me. However, I didn't stay. I listed the house for sale and moved into an apartment closer to my company. Oliver came with me. He didn't ask the reason I hadn't kept our old home. He was well aware that every corner of that place held traces of Renee and Jordan. The master bedroom door, the closet where the wedding gown had been kept, and the bed where Jordan had lain pretending to be sick. Some houses could still be lived in. Yet, that home was dead and buried. Mom moved out of the villa as agreed. She rented a modest two-bedroom apartment and moved in with Philip. After losing his position at the
On the day of the trial, the gallery was filled to the brim.Jordan no longer pretended to be sick. He wore a prison uniform as he stood at the defendant's dock with a grim expression. Renee sat several feet away from him. Yet she never looked in his direction. The prosecution presented the evidence one piece at a time—the original recording from ten years ago, the burned remains of the child's smartwatch, Derrick's testimony, and proof that the warehouse lock had been tampered with. Then came the scheme they had devised ten years later, complete with a fake cancer diagnosis, a staged death, and a plan to transfer my assets. Each piece of evidence corresponded to a lie they had once told. Jordan's defense attorney tried to emphasize that the fire had caused no fatalities and that Jordan had ultimately carried Oliver to safety. The prosecution, however, pointed out that he had stolen the credit after Derrick completed the rescue.More importantly, Jordan had known that the war
After learning that Renee had shifted all the blame onto him, Jordan finally broke his silence. He requested to give a supplementary statement. 15 years ago, when he first met Renee, he already knew she was my girlfriend. He deliberately engineered chance encounters, accompanied her as she complained about how busy I was, and gradually portrayed himself as someone who understood her better than I did. He had never loved Renee. He simply wanted to prove that he could take away everything I had. After the fire, he became my family's savior. Mom treated him better than her own son. Philip did whatever he told him to. Because Renee shared a dark secret with him, she could never escape him. Jordan became addicted to the power he held over them all.Three years ago, when he realized that I was planning to expand my company and that the value of my assets was about to skyrocket, he began meeting with Renee frequently again. He came up with the fake cancer scheme, using his supposed d
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