I won eight million overnight.

The first thing I did was rush to the hospital to pay for my son's surgery and treatment.

That was when my phone rang. Ian, a coworker from the company, called, "Something urgent came up! You need to get back here right this instant!"

My wife, Mara, took the bank card from my hand, and said with an gentle and understanding voice, "You can give me the PIN. I'll take care of our son's hospital bills. Go. Work is important. Don't worry about us."

In my previous life, I didn't hesitate one bit. I trusted her completely and hurried back to the office.

My son never made it into surgery.

Instead, the police came for me. It turned out that Mara and Ian had conspired together to frame me, pinning the crime of embezzling company funds on me. The very money Ian had stolen.

With no money for treatment, my son died in the hospital.

My parents, shattered by grief, suffered fatal heart attacks one after the other.

And I, rotting in prison, ended my life in despair.

After my death, my soul drifted to the holiday villas of Moldeves, where Mara was on vacation. I heard her laughing as she spoke to Ian, "That idiot won a fortune and wasted it on that useless sick kid. He dragged me into a miserable life."

Laughing even harder, she added, "Now, their whole family is dead, and we get to enjoy wealth for the rest of our lives. Consider it compensation from that idiot! Haha!"

Then, I opened my eyes.

I was back in the hospital corridor, at the exact moment my wife reached out and took the bank card from me.

This time, I still told her the PIN.

"Honey, let me handle the medical bills. Go. Work is important. Don't worry about us."

My wife, Mara Miller, held the bank card with eight million dollars inside tightly. She might have sounded gentle and understanding, but her eyes were gleaming with triumph and excitement.

In my previous life, I had trusted her completely. I did not expect her to take the money needed to save our son, Jayden Lowe, to conspire with my colleague, Ian Staffer, and frame me for embezzling company funds.

I was then sentenced to ten years in jail, and Jayden died in the hospital, receiving no treatment.

Even my parents died of heart attacks one after the other. Their bodies were left on the streets with no one to help.

When I was given another chance at life, hatred was raging in me. I wanted to tear that vicious woman into pieces with my bare hands.

However, that would only land me in jail once more. It was not worth it. I was going to use a different way to make Mara and Ian pay the price.

I gripped her wrist tightly and said with a strong hint, "Thank you for dealing with the hospital. This is the money needed to save Jayden. Don't wire it to the wrong account."

After all, in the previous life, Mara did not wire the money to the hospital’s bank account, but instead to Ian's other account.

Mara's eyes had a pang of uneasiness in them. She said shiftily, "Don't worry. I won't be that careless."

I replied with a smile, "Alright, then."

I turned around, and my smile instantly vanished. Exiting the hospital, I sneered and called the police.

"Hi, I would like to report a financial crime. Two minutes ago, I was scammed out of eight million dollars. Please help me find the people who took my money!"

"What? Eight million dollars?"

The police officer became serious and immediately opened a case when they heard the amount of money.

They added, "Since the money has just been transferred, you're lucky you called the police in time. We'll surely help you get your money back. If you have any clues, please come to us again."

I said anxiously, "Alright, thank you. That money is needed for my son's surgery. Please help me!"

After hanging up, I smiled.

I was not worried that they would not be able to get to the bottom of it, because the money would soon be returned to my account.

That was what Mara and Ian did to frame me in the previous life. However, in my new life, I was going to let them have a taste of their own medicine.

My phone buzzed violently in my pocket.

It was Ian.

I deliberately did not answer. I did not need to. I knew it was Ian trying to get me to rush back to the office, waiting for me to step into the trap.

I sniggered.

I hailed a taxi, but instead of heading to the office, I headed to the lottery center.

"Hello, I'm the one who won eight million dollars this morning. I need an official notarized certificate confirming my identity as the winner, right now."

In my previous life, I was so desperate to pay for my son's surgery that I had skipped the notarization completely.

That mistake cost me everything.

After I was framed, I thought about getting my winning notarized, but Mara and Ian had already bought off the staff at the lottery center.

They changed the personal details of the winner to a different person, so I could not prove that I had won the eight million dollars legally.

Once I had been notarized as the legal winner of the lottery, I even got the staff to print me the receipt of the transaction details of the money to my account.

I was not going to give Mara or Ian any opportunities to set me up in this life.

My phone rang once more. Still from Ian.

With a swipe, I answered the call.

"Jack! Why haven't you returned to the office yet? Don't you know something urgent has happened? This has to do with you. Mr. Madison has asked you to return right away!"

Ian sounded anxious, yet he would not explain what on earth was going on. Classic manipulation.

I knew he was trying to confuse me and make me feel worried, so that when I arrived at the office, I would be caught off guard by his plans.

I said calmly, "Sure, I'll be there."

I arrived at the office at my own pace. Ian looked at me with disappointment and furrowed brows, saying, "Jack, how could you do such a thing? You've really lost your mind."

I replied, "Stop speaking in riddles. Say what you mean."

Ian tried to suppress the smugness in his eyes and raised his voice on purpose, "Jack, you can stop the act. The company has found out about you secretly embezzling millions of their money!"

At that moment, the colleagues who were all working suddenly looked up at me in shock.

"Jack has always looked so honest and serious at work. How bold of him!"

"The company had found out someone was embezzling funds last week. Who would have thought that it was Jack!"

"You really can't judge a book by its cover. He looks honest, yet he was secretly such a greedy man!"

"Why does he need so much money? Is he having multiple lovers besides his wife?"

"It's hard to say. I heard that his son is sick and needs to undergo surgery. Maybe he's doing this for his son!"

"No matter what, embezzling company funds is illegal! A person with wrong morals like him will just end up in prison! Just watch!"

Everyone looked at me with condescension while murmuring among themselves.

Ian smiled smugly.

I remained calm, saying, "I didn't embezzle the funds. It wasn't me."

Richard Madison, the general manager, bellowed as he threw a stack of documents at me.

"Jack, there's cold, hard proof! You can stop lying! I trusted you! I was even going to recommend you for promotion last week. This is how you repay the company?"

I looked at them page by page.

They were financial audit reports, records of abnormal fund transfers from the company’s internal system. Every operation was logged under my name and employee ID.

Then, I saw the last page.

The most recent transaction was ten minutes ago.

Eight million dollars had been transferred from the company’s financial system into a bank account registered under my name.

I took my phone out and logged into my bank application.

Sure enough, I noticed a deposit of eight million dollars into my account ten minutes prior.

Richard barked, "Jack, what do you have to say for yourself?"

My colleagues looked at me with even more condescension.

"The evidence is right in front of him! See how he gets out of this! Just call the police to arrest him!"

"We worked so hard for the company just to earn a living. What right does he get to take the company's money?"

Anger spread quickly throughout the entire office.

Everyone was an employee doing more or less the same work. Of course, none of them were happy to see a colleague cheat the system and get rich overnight.

Ian watched it all unfold, his eyes gleaming with triumphant satisfaction.

I looked at Ian, but said to Richard, "Mr. Madison, don't you think this is all a little too convenient? I arrived at the office ten minutes ago, and eight million dollars just suddenly appeared in my account. I'm guessing that it was Ian who gave you all this evidence?"

Ian looked furious. "So, what if I did? Although we're colleagues, I can't just sit and let you hurt the company like this, which was why I reported you to Mr. Madison!"

I snickered. "I'm not the only one who can log into the financial system. Besides, the last time I logged in, you deliberately came over to have a look. You must've seen my password. How do I know you didn't do this just to frame me?"

Richard also thought things were too much of a coincidence. They looked into the embezzled company funds the week before. It had nothing to do with me, yet all evidence suddenly pointed to me.

Richard looked at Ian with furrowed brows.

A pang of panic flashed across Ian's face, but he immediately regained his composure.

"Mr. Madison, don't listen to Jack. The only reason I suspected him, besides the records, is because I also have a witness!"

"Yes, I'm the witness!"

The entire office was suddenly in an uproar, looking at Mara standing at the entrance of the office in bewilderment.

"Isn't she Jack's wife? Gosh!"

"If his wife says so, it must really be true!"

Ian said smugly, "Jack, even your wife reported you. What do you have to say about that?"

I was not surprised by Mara's appearance. In my previous life, Mara appeared right in the nick of time, just when the entire office was suspecting me of crimes I did not commit, to give the final fatal blow.

Mara was a great actor. Her eyes instantly reddened as she exclaimed, "Jack, I really didn't want to come forward, but I feel terrible!"

I sneered. "Mara, if you really had a heart, you'd be at the hospital with our son. Not here with Ian trying to frame me!"

Mara had a gleam of shiftiness in her eyes, but she immediately calmed down and yelled, "I'm doing this for our son! I don't want you to continue making this mistake until the point of no return!"

Mara continued with conviction, "If our son has a father who is a criminal, he will be bullied at school! He won't be able to live with his head held high! Your mistake will destroy our son's future!"

"Jack, it's not too late to admit to your crimes. You'll just end up in prison. This is just the punishment you deserve for committing such crimes!"

Ian chimed in, "Mara's right. Jack, you should turn yourself in. If you cooperate, maybe your sentence will be lighter."

"Yeah, your crimes have been exposed. Doesn't help being stubborn. You should just confess."

"You took something that wasn't supposed to be yours, so you should prepare to pay the price! Jack, turn yourself in!"

In that moment, everyone in the room had already decided my guilt. The chorus of asking me to turn myself in echoed endlessly around me.