My high school daughter suddenly sent me a photo of my wife, her hand wrapped around the arm of her male assistant, as they stepped into a hotel.

She was furious. “Dad, Mom cheated!”

“Divorce her! Make her leave with nothing! From now on, it’ll be just the two of us!”

In my previous life, I had been moved by my daughter’s fierce support. I gathered evidence and took my wife to court.

But on the day of the hearing, she refused to admit anything.

Her father was furious, slamming down evidence of his own and accusing me of being the real cheater.

The quarrel grew heated until the judge turned to my daughter and asked who she wanted to live with.

She answered calmly, “Since both Mom and Dad cheated, then they should both leave with nothing.”

Then, to the shock of everyone, she revealed the bruises and scars on her body to the public, tearfully claiming both parents had abused her for years.

Faced with my daughter’s accusations, I had been stunned.

Before I could even grasp what was happening, my wife was seized by furious netizens, stuffed into a sack, and drowned in the river.

As for me, my legs were shattered before I was hurled from a cliff.

Even our families were targeted and bullied online until they became hopeless and died from depression.

When I opened my eyes again, I had returned to the very day my daughter uncovered my wife’s affair.

..…

My phone suddenly vibrated, snapping me out of the terror of plummeting to my death.

It was a photo from my daughter, Bella.

In it, my wife of twenty years, Kinsley Grant, was clinging to the arm of her male assistant as they stepped out of a five-star hotel, their closeness speaking volumes.

Then came Bella’s furious voice message. “Dad! Mom cheated! She booked a room with her male assistant! A woman this morally corrupt doesn’t deserve to be my mom!”

“Divorce her, make her leave with nothing! From now on, it’ll be just the two of us!”

Those words, I had heard them before. In that instant, I understood that I had truly returned to the past.

In my previous life, when I received this very message, I had been blindsided. I had believed my family was happy, whole, untouchable. Panic consumed me, and I wanted to confront Kinsley face-to-face.

But Bella had said we couldn’t alert her, that I should quietly gather evidence and take Kinsley to divorce court.

When the time came, she promised to stand by my side, ensuring Kinsley wouldn’t get a single cent.

Moved by her fierce support, I had felt a deep surge of gratitude.

I never imagined it would become the root of my nightmare.

When I had prepared everything and walked into court ready to unleash my anger, Kinsley denied it all, every accusation, refusing to admit she had ever cheated.

Then my father-in-law, who had once treated me as his own son, turned on me with fury. He produced his own evidence and accused me of being the true cheater.

Even my own father struck me across the face in public, calling me a disgrace and an ungrateful son.

In the chaos, the judge turned to Bella, asking her who she wished to live with.

And in that moment, the daughter who had promised to protect me turned ice-cold and said, “Since both of them cheated, then they should both leave with nothing.”

She had even revealed the bruises and scars on her body in public, sobbing bitterly as she accused us of years of domestic violence.

Those old wounds were horrifying, igniting a storm of heated discussion.

The tidal wave of online abuse that followed hit me before I could even comprehend the truth.

Before I knew it, Kinsley was knocked unconscious by enraged netizens, stuffed into a sack, and drowned in the river.

As for me, my legs were shattered, and I was hurled off a cliff by self-proclaimed warriors of justice.

It wasn’t until my final breath that I understood why my daughter had done it.

Thinking of this, I clenched my fists so tightly I nearly crushed my phone.

Seeing that I hadn’t replied, Bella sent another message. [Dad, don’t worry. With me here, Mom won’t get any benefits!]

Staring at the screen, the last trace of warmth in my eyes faded to ice.

Expressionless, I typed two words in reply. [Not divorcing.]

The moment the message was sent, my phone began to ring.

When I pressed the answer button, Bella’s anxious voice spilled through the receiver.

“Dad, what do you mean?”

“Mom already cheated, and you’re not divorcing her? Are you keeping her for the New Year or something?”

Her agitation mounted.

“Don’t be afraid of going to court! My classmate’s mom is a lawyer….”

Before she could finish, I drew in a deep breath and cut her off, my voice cold.

“No divorce means no divorce. This matter ends here.”

I ended the call with a sharp snap.

In my previous life, the fury of netizens had exploded after my father-in-law accused me of cheating, and a woman, claiming to be my mistress, appeared online, sobbing and declaring she was pregnant with my child.

In this life, I had secretly found out which hospital the woman visited for her prenatal checkup. I asked an acquaintance working there to obtain a sample of her amniotic cells, and I immediately took it for a paternity test.

To my shock, the child in her belly truly was mine.

But I had never even met her. How could I possibly have a child with her?

One unanswered question after another pressed down on me, stealing my breath. My instincts screamed that if I didn’t uncover the truth soon, I would once again meet the same tragic end as before.

And that woman’s accusation had been the very reason I was dragged into the abyss in my previous life.

With that thought, I wasted no time; I paid a high price to hire a private detective to investigate certain matters for me.

I needed to uncover how this child had come to be, and how those so-called pieces of evidence proving my affair were nothing but fabrications.

But before I could get any answers, a divorce summons arrived from the court.

The moment I stepped into the courtroom, my father-in-law, Ashton Grant, suddenly stood up, trembling with fury, pointing at me and shouting, “Austin, you heartless bastard! How has my daughter ever wronged you? When you married her, she didn’t demand a bride price or a house, and she risked half her life to bear your children. And what have you done? Kept a mistress behind her back!”

“You’re a cold-hearted scumbag without a shred of decency, and you deserve to be struck by lightning!”

His teeth clenched so hard his jaw ached, and he lunged forward to strike me, but the bailiffs held him back firmly.

Even as he was forced back into his seat, my father-in-law’s fury hadn’t cooled.

“Your Honor, you must deliver justice!” he demanded.

“My daughter is remarkable, divorced or not, she’ll find someone better!”

“This scoundrel should leave empty-handed, not a penny to his name!”

Then my father, Hunter Mitchell, rose.

His face was drained of color, eyes filled with bitter disappointment and shame as they locked onto me.

“Austin, how could you betray us like this? Kinsley treated you so well, and you couldn’t be satisfied, you had to stray.”

“If you go through with this divorce, consider our father-son bond broken. The Mitchell name can’t bear such disgrace.”

He even raised his hand, as if ready, just like before, to strike me.

The disgust in his eyes carved a sharp ache deep in my chest.

I could bear that others doubted me.

But he was my own father, the one who knew me better than anyone in this world.

I couldn’t understand why he wouldn’t believe me.

Not once had he tried to hear my side before choosing to stand against me.

But at that moment, I no longer had the energy to argue.

With a blank expression, I faced them all and said sharply, “I didn’t cheat. I won’t walk away with nothing.”

“The so-called evidence is forged; someone set me up.”

The judge’s eyes narrowed as he addressed me.

“Defendant, since you deny the evidence presented, do you have any proof to submit in your defense?”

I choked; the private detective’s investigation results had yet to arrive.

At that moment, I truly had no evidence.

Yet in everyone’s eyes, my silence became proof of guilt.

The defendant’s bench erupted with scorn.

“Oh my god, he looks so refined, but I didn’t expect him to be so shameless!”

“Exactly! His wife treats him so well, and he still fools around outside, disgusting! And he still won’t admit it. He won’t cry until he sees the coffin!”

“No wonder his wife is suing him to leave with nothing, serves him right! A man unfaithful to marriage should be hit by a car the moment he steps outside!”

Someone hurled a drink at me, the cold liquid splashing across my clothes.

I was about to lose my composure when a voice I knew all too well cut through the air from the courtroom doorway.

“I have evidence!”

Bella entered quickly, her school uniform slightly rumpled, her face a mix of urgency and anxiety.

A schoolbag was slung over her back, and in her grip was a brown envelope.

Her gaze swept past her enraged maternal grandfather in the gallery, then her stone-faced paternal grandfather, before fixing on me.

“I am the daughter of the plaintiff, Kinsley, and the defendant, Austin, Bella Mitchell!”

“I accuse my mother, Kinsley, of betraying our family and having an affair with her male assistant at work! If they divorce, she should leave with nothing!”

I let out a long sigh; it had arrived, just as I knew it would.

To an outsider, she might have seemed like she was on my side.

But only I understood the truth behind her appearance.

The courtroom fell into a tense silence before bursting back to life with murmurs and gasps.

“Wow, the daughter is accusing her own mother? Putting justice above family loyalty!”

“My goodness, what a twist! Is she here to clear her father’s name from the cheating scandal? That takes guts!”

“I knew there’d be a reversal, look at the plaintiff’s face; it’s drained of color!”

Sure enough, Kinsley’s expression shifted dramatically. Moments ago, she had been confident of victory, but now she stood, trembling with fury.

“Bella, what lies are you spreading? Get out of here this instant!”

Unshaken, Bella swiftly pulled several photos from her file, the very ones she had shown me before.

“I’m not making this up. I have proof.”

“My mother, Kinsley, has been involved in an improper relationship with her male assistant for a long time. This is evidence of her betraying my father.”

Her voice steady, she turned to me with eyes full of fierce determination.

“Dad, a woman like Mom, who betrays her marriage, isn’t worth your loyalty. I stand with you, divorce her and make her leave with nothing!”

“She doesn’t deserve a single cent of this family’s wealth!”

The courtroom erupted into chaos, the tide of hostility turning sharply against Kinsley, whose face drained of color.

“What a loyal daughter! Standing for her father, choosing justice over blood, that’s truly Daddy’s little shield!”

“Exactly, a mother like that doesn’t deserve a second chance, support the daughter!”

“Cheaters should walk away empty-handed!”

Kinsley shook with rage, pointing at Bella and me, her curses raw and fierce.

“Nonsense! You two must have plotted to frame me!”

“Austin, you despicable man, did you twist our daughter’s mind against me?”

“I’ll make you both pay!”

Her eyes were bloodshot as she suddenly lunged across the table, closing the distance to the defendant’s bench in a few hurried steps, her hand rising to strike my face.

The bailiffs reacted instantly, rushing forward to hold her back.

In that chaotic moment, someone shoved me hard, too hard, and my briefcase slipped from my grasp.

The paternity test report I had tucked away carelessly slipped out, landing squarely before everyone’s eyes.

I cursed silently and scrambled to retrieve it, but the damage was done.

The courtroom erupted into an uproar.