Chapter 2

I opened my eyes again and met my best friend Zoey’s worried gaze.

“My poor baby, you’re finally awake.

“If I hadn’t gotten there in time, you’d be in the underworld right now.

“How did a simple rideshare job turn into this?”

Looking at how frantic she was for me, tears immediately spilled down my face.

I told her everything about Cedric’s fake death.

By the time I finished, she was shaking with rage.

“That b*stard! I’m going to have someone kill him right now.”

I quickly grabbed her before she stormed out.

“Zoey, help me look into someone first.”

Five minutes later, a scream echoed through the hospital room.

“After faking his death, he actually married into the Lane family.”

The Lane family was the wealthiest in Ocean City.

They only had one daughter in this generation, but she had gone missing over twenty years ago.

The current daughter was actually an adopted daughter who got married eight years ago.

I did not expect that their live-in son-in-law would be Cedric.

Zoey stared at me thoughtfully.

“You know, you actually look a bit like Mrs. Lane.”

I jumped at her words. “Don’t say things like that. If the wrong person hears it, I’ll be the one in trouble.”

After I was discharged and returned to my basement rental, I found everything inside had been burned to the ground.

I panicked and called the police.

They told me it was just an electrical fire caused by aging wiring.

I knew it was not that simple, but I had no evidence.

After they left, Cedric called.

His voice was colder and more violent than I had ever heard.

“Elysia, didn’t I tell you? Don’t drag anything from our past in front of Victoria.

“She found out and is threatening to kill herself. Come explain things to her right now!”

When I stayed silent, he seemed to realize he had gone too far. His tone softened slightly, “Elysia, I didn’t mean to yell. I was just panicking.”

I let out a cold laugh. Previously, when I was the one in danger, I had never seen him panic like this.

Perhaps that was the difference between love and not being loved.

“I didn’t do it,” I said flatly.

However, he did not believe me.

“My people are already outside your place. Don’t make this difficult. Get in the car.”

I was dragged out by two bodyguards and taken to a high-end apartment.

Cedric was comforting Victoria, whose eyes were swollen from crying.

A stack of documents was thrown in front of me.

“Explain.”

His voice was so cold it trembled, like the man I once knew had never existed.

The documents showed threatening messages sent to Victoria from my phone number.

Still, I had never done any of it.

It was clearly AI-generated.

I turned to look at Victoria.

Even though her eyes were red, beneath the tears was unmistakable arrogance and satisfaction.

That night, her words flashed back into my mind.

So she had always known it was me.

“I didn’t do something I never did. I won’t admit to it.”

Victoria suddenly broke down again when she noticed I refused to back down.

“Cedric, you clearly told me when we got married that your ex-wife was already dead.

“If you loved her so much, why did you come to me in the first place?”

She stood up abruptly, looking completely devastated.

“It’s all my fault. I shouldn’t have fallen in love with you. I shouldn’t have destroyed your relationship.

“I’ll just die. Then I won’t be in your way anymore.”

She ran out crying.

Cedric was startled for a moment. His eyes turned red instantly as he snapped at me, “Elysia, when did you become so vicious? Is it really that hard to apologize?

“If anything happens to Victoria, I’ll make you pay with your life!”