My husband chooses to stay with his lover while his parents lie dying in a car wreck.

I let him go. I handle the hospital crisis myself.

In my past life, I forced him to abandon her and rescue his parents instead.

His parents lived, but his mistress died in a car accident rushing to see him.

My husband seemed fine with it at first.

A year later, when I was heavily pregnant, he got his revenge.

He poisoned my anniversary dinner and shoved me down the stairs.

“Madison died because of you! This is all your fault!”

I bled out on the floor, our unborn child dying with me.

This time around, he can choose his lover over his dying parents.

When he finally looks at his muted phone and sees the flood of urgent hospital messages, he crumbles.

He appears to have aged ten years in a single night.

————————

1

My husband’s obsession, Madison Brooks, was lounging in my living room when the emergency call came.

“Mrs. Mitchell, your in-laws have been in a serious car accident on the outskirts of town,” a voice from the hospital said, laced with urgency.

“Their condition is critical. They need to be transferred to a specialty hospital for emergency brain surgery. The cost is two and a half million dollars.”

A memory from a life I’d already lived had me jabbing the speakerphone button, making sure my husband, Ryan Mitchell, heard every single word.

I turned to him. His handsome face was a mask of suspicion.

He scoffed. “Lidia Carter, just last month you were screaming that you wanted me to lose everything. Is this your next move? You’d fake my parents’ death just to get Madison out of the house?”

I didn’t cry or scream. I just laid out the facts, my voice flat.

“This isn’t a joke. They are in trouble, and we need two and a half million dollars to save them. We need to access the family trust fund, now.”

His icy glare cut right through me. “This pathetic act won’t make you any more exciting in bed. And now you’re trying to scam me out of my money?”

We had known each other for ten years. I’d saved his life once, and this marriage of convenience was my reward.

Ryan came from a finance dynasty. I was a middle-class girl who ran a coffee shop. He never saw me as an equal. His infatuation with Madison Brooks, a social media influencer, was an open secret.

When we got married, I told him he could go to Madison whenever he wanted. I wasn’t going to chain myself to his handsome face and endless fortune.

He had just pushed me against a wall and kissed me hard, his voice a low growl. “Shut up, Lidia. Just be a good Mrs. Mitchell. That’s all you need to do.”

After the wedding, his coldness only grew worse.

It wasn’t until Madison returned to the country that I saw the fire in his eyes when he looked at her. That’s when I finally understood. There was no room for me in his heart, not even a tiny, pitiful corner.

My own gaze went cold, my disappointment absolute. “I’m not lying, and I’m not playing games.”

I looked him straight in the eye.

“Believe me or don’t. Your parents are really hurt. If you have a conscience, you’ll help me get the money. If you don’t, then get out of my way while I save them.”

He froze, probably because he’d never seen me this forceful.

I turned to leave, pushing past Madison, who was blocking my path. She let out a shriek and tumbled down the stairs with all the grace of a sack of potatoes.

“Oh, it hurts!” she wailed from the floor, tears springing to her eyes on cue. She looked so innocent, so pitiful.

“Ryan, don’t blame Lidia,” she sobbed. “She didn’t mean to do it.”

Ryan’s face darkened instantly. He rushed over and scooped her into his arms.

She winced, clutching her wrist. It was only then I noticed a fresh scratch on the back of my own hand.

He roared at me, his voice shaking with rage. “Don’t you dare touch a hair on her head! If anything happens to Madison, I’ll kill you!”

He stormed out the door, carrying Madison with him.

I was left alone in the vast, empty mansion, my heart a pile of cold ash.

The hospital hadn’t said I couldn’t raise the money myself. I called my family lawyer first, then bolted for the bank.

Before I even got there, my phone rang. It was Ryan’s cousin, Jake Mitchell, an FBI agent.

“Well, well,” Jake’s voice oozed smugness. “Pulling another stunt, Lidia? Whose attention are you after this time? Ryan’s?”

None of Ryan’s family ever respected me.

Only his parents had been genuinely kind. I had to save them.

I swallowed my anger. “Jake, did Ryan tell you I was putting on a show?”

The silence on the other end of the line was all the confirmation I needed.

A bitter laugh escaped my lips.

“Jake, you’re an FBI agent, and your only response to my call for help is mockery. If you don’t use your position to help, I will be filing a complaint with Internal Affairs.”

Jake’s playful tone vanished.

His voice exploded through the phone. “You think marrying a Mitchell makes you one of us? Let me be clear. You’re nothing but a gold-digging nobody from the sticks! If Madison hadn’t gone abroad, Ryan would have never given you a second look.”

I hung up without a word and immediately sent an email to the FBI’s Office of Professional Responsibility.

When I arrived at the bank, I tried to access our joint account.

“I’m sorry, Mrs. Mitchell,” the bank manager said, looking pained. “Your credit cards have been canceled, and the joint account has been frozen by Mr. Ryan Mitchell.”

To make matters worse, my lawyer called to inform me that the family trust fund was also temporarily frozen by a court order, thanks to an internal family dispute.

I took a deep breath and dialed my secretary.

“Mortgage all my coffee shops and liquidate my entire investment portfolio. I need one and a half million dollars in cash within the hour.”

“Right away, Lidia.”

That left a million to go. I dialed Ryan’s uncle, Thomas Mitchell.

“Uncle Thomas, Ryan’s parents were in a car crash. They need an urgent transfer, and I’m short one million dollars. Can you lend it to me? I’ll pay you back as soon as the fund is unfrozen.”

Thomas sounded shocked. “My brother was in an accident? Does Ryan know?”

I sighed. “I told him, but he doesn’t believe me. He’s at a private hospital with Madison right now. You’re the only one who can help.”

“You wait right there. I’ll transfer it from my personal account immediately!”

The moment Thomas hung up, the specialty hospital called back.

“Have you arranged for the funds? We’re running out of time.”

My heart sank, but my voice was steady. “Almost. Just give me a little more time. You’ll get every penny.”

The doctor’s voice was grim. “Mrs. Mitchell, I need to be clear: the window for this experimental treatment is closing fast.”

I tried to keep my voice from shaking. “Give me one more hour! As long as my in-laws are still breathing, I swear I’ll get the money!”

Just as I said it, I heard the faint sound of a monitor alarm in the background.

The doctor’s voice was cold, final. “If the fee isn’t paid within four hours, we can’t proceed with the life-saving experimental treatment. We’ll be forced to switch to basic life support only.”

The bank’s mortgage approval process was painfully slow.

I turned and saw Jake standing a few feet away, his face pale. He had clearly overheard my call.

“Lidia, Ryan’s parents… are they really hurt? But Ryan said you were just getting back at him…”

I didn’t have the energy to deal with him. I told him to call Ryan himself.

I glanced at my watch, my anxiety mounting. A million-dollar transfer shouldn’t take this long for someone like Thomas. I called him again.

“Uncle Thomas?”

He let out a heavy sigh. “Lidia, just stop the act, will you?” he said, his voice weary. “Listen, besides his parents, no one in the Mitchell family ever truly accepted you.”

“I felt sorry for you. I wanted to help. But I get it now. You’re just playing the victim. Who are you even trying to fool? If you weren’t so dramatic all the time, maybe Ryan wouldn’t be so sick of you.”

My heart plunged into an icy abyss. I knew then that the last million dollars was never coming.

“Uncle Thomas, did Ryan tell you to say that?” My voice trembled. “You don’t have to believe me, but the hospital records can prove everything—”

Thomas cut me off. “You don’t need to forge medical records to trick me. Even if you fool me today, what about tomorrow?”

“Lidia, I know you’re obsessed with Ryan. You love that pretty-boy face and the body that gets you hot, I get it. But he’s got someone else, and she’s back. If you’re in so much pain, why not just get a divorce?”

His foul words were the last straw. I hung up, my face a mask of stone.

Ryan’s parents were dying, and his family was using it as an opportunity to humiliate me.

Across the room, Jake finally got through to Ryan.

“Ryan, listen to me! Your parents are really in trouble! They’re at the hospital—”

He was cut off by Madison’s syrupy voice. “Oh, Jake, don’t tell me you’re playing Lidia’s pathetic games too. How much is she paying you? Whatever it is, I’ll double it.”

Jake’s voice was frantic. “I’m not lying!”

Madison passed the phone back to Ryan without a shred of interest. “Honey, it looks like your cousin’s been bought by that bitch, too.”

Then came Ryan’s cold voice. “Jake, that’s enough.”

Jake was practically sobbing now. “Ryan, your parents are in real danger! Just transfer a million dollars to Lidia’s account!”

Ryan scoffed. “So it really is about the money. Tell Lidia to stop the theatrics. She’s lost her mind. What did Madison ever do to deserve being targeted like this?”

The line went dead.

I had no other choice. I forced a bitter smile and turned to my lawyer. “Let’s go. We’ll have to talk to the hospital even if the money’s not all there.”

“That’s too risky,” my lawyer protested.

I lowered my eyes. “I’m family. They have to see me.”

I raced to the general hospital. The moment I stepped onto the ICU floor, the heavy smell of antiseptic and despair hit me like a wall.

My heart pounded against my ribs.

I burst into the ICU room. The piercing wail of the monitors drilled into my head.

Two flat lines, stark and straight as gravestones.

Ryan’s parents—Robert and Patricia Mitchell—were brain dead. They had missed their window.

I rushed to their bedsides, wanting to shake them awake, but Patricia’s hand was already ice-cold.

“It’s too late, Lidia,” a doctor murmured, his voice heavy with pity.

Tears blurred my vision. I squeezed her hand. “I called 911! I was raising the money! Please don’t die… I’m so sorry, it’s my fault, I didn’t get the money in time—I wasted too much time…”

My hands shook as I pulled out my phone, trying to call Ryan. “Hold on, please, just hold on a little longer. I’ll get Ryan to come see you one last time—”

But every call went straight to voicemail. Ryan had blocked me.

I sent him texts, telling him his parents were fading, begging him to come immediately. There was no response.

My in-laws, the only two Mitchells who had ever shown me kindness, were gone.

I collapsed, sobbing.

The doctors and nurses stood by, watching the two bodies grow colder, their faces grim.

The room started to spin.

A doctor steadied me, his expression complicated.

“Miss Carter, the driver who caused the accident has been arrested by the police. We’re so sorry. We did everything we could. Please, accept our condolences.”