My Husband’s Secret Baby Was Never Mine , So I Took Everything Back

My husband was in the ICU after a car accident. I was ready to sell the house to cover his medical bills, but the clerk at the property office stopped me cold:

"This property has already been transferred to a Miss Maya Henson."

When I got home, my mother-in-law shoved me and my suitcase out the front door:

"Get out. There's no place for you here!"

My seven-year-old son stood holding Maya's hand, looking at me like I was garbage:

"Your real baby died a long time ago. I'm actually Auntie Maya's son!"

I dragged my suitcase to my parents' house. My mother slammed the door in my face:

"Your brother's getting married. There's no room for you here!"

Homeless and desperate, I pawned the gold jewelry my husband had given me every birthday for the past decade.

"Sorry, ma'am. These are all fake."

That was when it finally hit me. Ten years of marriage, and my husband had never once been sincere.

I wandered the streets in a daze until a vagrant dragged me into a back alley. To save myself from something worse, I slammed my head against the wall and died.

When I opened my eyes again, I was back in the first year of my marriage.

……

"Leila Simmons, I found this cute little two-bedroom over in Riverside. Could I maybe borrow some money from you?"

It was after dinner. I was sitting on the couch, flipping through channels with the remote.

Maya Henson, with an encouraging glance from my mother-in-law, settled onto the cushion beside me and tested the waters.

My head snapped toward her. I locked my gaze on that perfectly made-up face.

This was exactly how it had started in my last life.

Joel Henson and I had barely been married a month before Maya came asking for money.

Back then, her excuse had been a $60,000 car she wanted for her commute.

"I can probably scrape together $45,000 at most!"

That was what I'd told her in my previous life.

She never paid back a cent. Not in ten years.

Something in my stare must have been too sharp, because Maya flinched. She twisted her fingers together and inched back on the couch.

"I know it's a lot to ask, but when you married my brother, it pretty much wiped out the family's savings.

I just graduated, and I want a place closer to work. I don't know anyone else I could turn to, so you're kind of my only option."

My mother-in-law swooped in with a warm smile to back her up:

"It's our fault, really. Your father and I just didn't have enough. Between the $150,000 for the house, the $27,000 bride price, and the $30,000 wedding banquet, we're tapped out.

Maya needs a place of her own. You're her sister-in-law. Surely you can help a little!"

So marrying into this family had somehow turned them into charity cases?

I'd put up $75,000 of that house money myself, and I was the one living with them, not the other way around.

The $27,000 bride price? I'd matched it with a $30,000 car as my dowry.

The $30,000 banquet? He would've had to throw a wedding no matter who he married.

And yet somehow every last dollar of it had been pinned on me.

"Leila!"

Maya tugged at my sleeve, giving it a little shake, trying to act cute.

I turned off the TV. My voice was flat.

"Sure, I can lend you money. But this is my premarital asset. You'll need to sign a formal IOU with a repayment date and interest rate. I'll also need a guarantor and collateral."

The color drained from Maya's face. She looked to my mother-in-law like a drowning woman reaching for a life raft.

Laurel Henson shot to her feet, bristling:

"What do you mean, your premarital asset? You married into this family. That makes us one family. Why are you talking like we're strangers?"

"Making your own sister-in-law sign an IOU? If word got out, we'd be the laughingstock of every relative we have!"

I picked up an apple from the coffee table and began peeling it, slow and deliberate.

"I've been married for all of five minutes and I'm already dipping into my personal savings for my sister-in-law.

People who don't know better might think I was so desperate to marry your son that I'm buying my way in. Now THAT would be embarrassing."

"You..." Laurel's jaw clenched so hard the muscles in her cheeks twitched.

Maya grabbed her mother's arm just in time: