I spent ten years running this household, holding it together with bloody knuckles and sleepless nights. And now, on my deathbed, straining to breathe through an oxygen mask, my husband was right beside me—moaning and gasping with another woman.
Not just any woman.
His childhood sweetheart.
“Oh, Glen,” she purred in a voice dripping with false innocence. “If you hadn’t tricked her into nine abortions and slowly poisoned her, we’d never get to enjoy this much wealth so soon.”
That voice—Emily Cox—was unmistakable. And Glen Rivera, my husband of a decade, held her like she was something precious. He spat on the floor, eyes narrowing at me with pure disdain.
“I never thought she’d be this damn hard to kill,” he sneered. “Compared to her parents, this idiot woman is a cockroach. She still doesn’t even know that her mom and dad didn’t die in a plane crash. We kidnapped them, tied them up and dumped them into the lake. Drowned 'em like dogs.”
He chuckled, like it was a fond memory.
Glen smirked. “Good thing I had the foresight to transfer all their assets to your name early on. Once she’s dead, we’ll finally get full control of Snow Enterprises. It’ll be just you and me, baby—living large and free.”
Mom… Dad…
Tears rolled silently from the corners of my eyes. My heart shattered all over again as I lay helpless in that sterile hospital room, suffocating on betrayal. Their laughter—cruel, loud and unashamed—echoed around me like a death knell.
I tried to scream, but the oxygen mask muffled it into a broken, muffled sob.
Then came the beeping. Sharp, high-pitched. Alarms blaring.
And that’s when the door burst open.
A man I barely recognized—tall, broad, wild-eyed and soaked in blood—burst through the door. Without missing a beat, he raised a machete and lunged at the two devils standing beside me.
In the final moments of my life, he dropped the blade and rushed to my side, hands trembling as he cradled me like I was something sacred.
“Lana,” he whispered, his voice cracking with raw grief. “I came too late…”
But I could no longer answer him.
As the last thread of consciousness slipped from me, I heard a guttural, heart-wrenching scream echo in my ears.
And then… I opened my eyes again—only to find myself back on the day I married Glen Rivera.
——
I stood outside the bridal suite, bouquet clutched tight in my trembling hands. Inside, unmistakable sounds made my face flush hot with humiliation. Moans. Gasps. Skin on skin.
“You know you feel so good. Thousand times better than that Lana ever did,” Glen murmured, brushing Emily’s hair behind her ear with a lover’s tenderness. “That woman’s like a corpse. Always playing the pure and innocent card, won’t even let me touch her. And when she finally does, she just lies there like a slab of meat. Brings down my whole mood.”
“If it weren’t for her family’s money, do you really think I’d waste my time sweet-talking her every day? Just be patient. Once we’ve dealt with her family, all that money is ours and I’ll marry you. It won’t take long I could taste those money at the tip of my tongue.”
“Sure, I have all the time in the world,” Emily giggled and snuggling closer. “But I don’t think the baby would.”
She rubbed her belly with a sultry smile.
“What?” Glen jolted upright. “Wait, are you saying you’re pregnant? With my baby?”
She nodded, her eyes gleaming.
“Emily! That’s amazing!” he breathed. “You have to keep it. You know what I’m thinking?” His voice dropped to a conspiratorial whisper. “I say we let you have the baby and after I marry Lana, we give it to her. Make her raise it like some unpaid nanny while you and I have all the fun.”
“This is why I love you, Glen,” she purred. “You always know just what to do. Always coming up with the best ideas. But…” Her voice faltered. “What if… what if she ends up getting pregnant too?”
Glen burst out laughing. “Not gonna happen. I’ve made sure of that,” he said proudly. “Had a doctor whip up something special. Slow-acting poison. Tasteless, colorless, completely undetectable. Just a drop in her drink every day and she’s gone. She won’t even know. Neither the police. Saves us whole lot of trouble.”
So that was it…
Everything—the betrayal, the manipulation, the tragedy—it had all started from this moment. Long before I realized the truth, they were already plotting my end.
And even though I knew how the story played out, my heart still twisted painfully in my chest.
I thought of all the miscarriages I had in my past life. Every night I held Glen while sobbing into his shirt, thinking we were broken together—
It was all a lie.
I remembered how he used to hold me after every loss, whispering, “Lana, I’m the last male in my family. I love you, but if you can’t give me a child, the Rivera bloodline ends with me.”
