Chapter 1

I took a solo trip to a small town and saw a man who looked exactly like my husband, Ryan Brooks.

Five years of longing turned into breathless excitement. I was about to step out of my car.

At the moment, I heard someone calling out, "Ryan."

I froze. My eyes darted toward the voice, and my blood ran cold.

It was Ryan's mother, Linda Brooks. She had told me she was visiting friends back in her hometown. What was she doing here?

Beside her stood a pretty woman holding a child.

The woman called him "honey." The child said, "Daddy."

A bolt of lightning seemed to split me in two.

He really was my husband, the one who had died five years ago.

He hadn't died at all. He had faked his death, started a new family, and hidden in this quiet town.

The cruelty of it crushed me. My heart didn't just break; it turned to ash. Everything in front of me faded into gray.

I watched their happy little circle, my vision blurred with tears. I turned, got back in the car, slammed it into reverse, and stomped on the gas.

Headlights rushed toward me in the dark. With a loud bang, then, all was silent.

*****

When I finally came to, I realized I was back on the day after Ryan's accident.

I was lying in bed, and Linda was sitting beside me, her eyes all puffy from crying.

Ha, I really fell for her Oscar-worthy act.

When Linda saw me wake up, she quickly wiped away her tears and said with motherly affection, "Are you hungry, sweetheart? Let me make you something to eat."

"I'm not hungry," I replied, my voice cold as I turned my head away.

She didn't notice my change at all and just kept saying, "Ryan's gone, but you have to stay strong and keep living. From now on, you're my daughter. The three of us will stick together, rely on each other, and be a real family."

Back then, those words completely won me over. I handed every last cent of the insurance payout to her.

I busted my ass working, tried to be the perfect daughter-in-law, and even sent Ryan's brother, Jason Brooks, abroad for school.

It was all just a lie.

No wonder Linda was always blowing through money. She was just funneling it all to her precious son.

Shameless. Sickening. Every last one of them was a damn bastard.

I bit back my fury and said coolly, "Mom, I just want to be alone for a while."

"Alright, alright. I won't bother you. Just get some rest," she replied.

As soon as she left, I quickly locked the door, my heart thundering in my chest.

Heaven had handed me a do-over; no way was I just going to sit here and do nothing.

Ryan, you and your whole bloodsucking family weren't getting a damn thing from me ever again.

With my mind made up, I grabbed my phone and called my bestie, Beatrice Smith.

"Beatrice, I need you to find me a private investigator," I said.

"Emily, are you alright?" Beatrice asked. She was a star reporter, with connections everywhere. If anyone could track down a solid PI, it was her.

"This means a lot to me. I'll fill you in later," I said.

"Alright," Beatrice replied, not pressing for more. She knew I wasn't the impulsive type.

Honestly, the one truly reckless thing I ever did was fall for Ryan's smooth talk and end up marrying him.

Beatrice hooked me up with a top-notch PI. I got the dirt on Ryan fast and finally pieced together the whole story.

On the day of the accident, Ryan had already boarded his business flight when his mistress, Lily Carter, called. She had fallen while hiking and was hospitalized. Panicked, he rushed off the plane before takeoff.

That was how he dodged the crash.

Linda was praying to every god she could think of, and at the same time, telling him to hurry back home.

But Ryan just wasn't interested. He complained his job sucked, the pay was crap, he was drowning in mortgage debt, and he couldn't stand the idea of being stuck with a workaholic wife forever.

If everyone thought he died in the crash, the insurance would cough up a fat payout, and his company would throw in a nice chunk of condolence money.

Ryan told Linda to keep me sweet and make sure all the money ended up in their hands.

Lily's brother would hook him up with a fake ID. As long as he avoided trains and planes, he'd be safe from getting caught.

He planned to settle down with Lily in some small town, live the good life, and have a bunch of kids with her.

Seeing those messages, I just couldn't stop the tears from falling.

Growing up in an orphanage, I saw the best and worst of people. With no family to rely on, I learned early, only by being strong could I keep from getting pushed around.

When Ryan came into my life, I finally felt like I belonged somewhere. Linda would always gush about how pretty and capable I was, and for a while, I really thought I had found my safe haven.

He was the one who chased after me, the one who insisted we hold off on kids until his career took off. And now? He thought being with me was just dull.

I wiped my tears, let out a bitter laugh. The truth was that five years of marriage was nothing but a bad joke. How ironic.

He was a deadbeat to begin with, but now he was so shameless he actually planned to live off the insurance money.

Now that I knew the truth, there was no way I'd knowingly go along with his scheme and give him exactly what he wanted.

Back then, we barely had any savings. A two-bedroom would've been perfect for us, and the mortgage would've been easy. But Ryan was all about appearances and insisted on a three-bedroom. In the end, I ended up shouldering all the payments myself.

Now I caught a break. The agent said property values in my neighborhood had jumped twenty percent. Once I sold the place and paid off the mortgage, I'd walk away with some cash.

While the agent was listing my house, Linda was getting restless because I still hadn't gone to claim the insurance money.