The scholarship student I had been sponsoring for years stormed into my birthday party, waving a pregnancy test like a weapon. "Ava is pregnant with my child! You better be smart about this and divorce her right now!" I stared at him, bewildered, pointing a trembling finger at the test result. "Are you sure... Ava Rhodes is pregnant with your child?" Caleb Hunt smirked, proudly twirling the paper in his hand. "Of course. We conceived this baby on our cruise last month!" Caleb's words sent shockwaves through the room. My guests gasped in unison. Because my ex-wife, Ava Rhodes, died three years ago. 1 I looked at Caleb blankly, needing to confirm what I just heard. "Do you really know who Ava Rhodes is?" Caleb gripped the pregnancy test, his expression arrogant. "Julian Thorne, cut the crap. Divorce Ava immediately and vacate the position of her husband." "Otherwise, you're just going to embarrass yourself further." The Caleb standing before me now wore an expensive Italian suit, his hair styled perfectly. He was unrecognizable from the scrawny, timid boy I met eight years ago—the boy wearing clothes scavenged from a dumpster. Although I was annoyed by his provocative tone, I still held onto a sliver of hope for him. "Caleb, stop joking. It's my birthday. Have a piece of cake." Caleb shoved the slice I offered him away, slamming his hand onto the table. "To hell with your cake! Are you divorcing her or not?" "If you don't, don't blame me for taking other measures." His long finger nearly poked my eye. My girlfriend, Sophia, immediately pulled me back, her voice sharp. "Don't touch Julian!" Seeing everyone staring and whispering, I felt the humiliation burn. As the host of this party, this was a disaster. "Caleb, if you keep making a scene, I'm cutting off the funding for you and your family tomorrow." When I decided to sponsor Caleb years ago, he was in rags, dirt under his nails, and I swear I saw a roach crawl out of his hair. Hearing that both his parents were paralyzed and he was raising his little brother while scavenging for scraps and studying, I was moved. "Caleb, I will pay for your college tuition. I'll also help your family improve their living conditions." From then on, I transferred $3,000 to him every month like clockwork. On holidays, I sent extra bonuses and gifts. But this boy, who had received my immense kindness, now looked at me with a sneer. "You think I care about your little sponsorship?" He leaned in, patting my cheek condescendingly. "Get this straight. I got my sister pregnant." He showed off his designer loafers and flashed the diamond watch on his wrist. "Ava said once she gives birth to our son, she'll not only buy me a mansion but also bring my whole family to live in luxury." "You keep your stingy three grand a month. Save it to buy yourself a grave!" He scoffed, then grabbed a bottle of wine and smashed it onto my four-tier birthday cake. The masterpiece my friends had custom-ordered was ruined in an instant. 2 Caleb's outrageous behavior caused an uproar. "You ungrateful brat! You're trying to steal your benefactor's wife? Have you no shame?" "Biting the hand that feeds you... I despise people like you!" But my friends' accusations only earned an eye-roll from him. "You all think Julian Thorne is some saint? You've all been duped." Caleb looked righteous, as if he were exposing a massive conspiracy. "Julian is just using Ava's money to build his own reputation. He hasn't spent a dime of his own money, but he takes all the credit!" "He wants to package himself as a good guy to morally blackmail Ava so she can't divorce him." Caleb's voice rose with emotion. He looked indignant, as if seeking justice for Ava. "Ava has to pay to support him, pay for his charity work, and in the end, he won't even give her a child." "He is the most vicious, immoral person here. Everything I'm doing is to rescue Ava!" Caleb had successfully painted himself as a hero in his own mind. But the crowd wasn't buying it. "Are you insane? Spouting nonsense and wrecking a marriage... being a homewrecker..." Caleb was visibly triggered. He grabbed a bowl and hurled it at the person who spoke. "Homewrecker? I am repaying a debt of gratitude!" "Once I found out Ava was my true benefactor, I used my young, strong body to repay her." Everyone was stunned by his shamelessness. Before I could explain, Caleb noticed Sophia, who was still holding onto me. His eyes lit up, as if he'd found the smoking gun. "Well, well, Julian. Not only do you use Ava's money to look good, you use it to keep a mistress." Sophia frowned, displeased. "Show some respect. I am Julian's official girlfriend." Caleb scoffed. He pointed at Sophia mockingly. "Julian is an impotent old man. How could he land a young, pretty girl like you?" "Stop pretending. You're just his sugar baby!" Caleb gleefully pulled out his phone and started snapping photos of us. "If you don't divorce her willingly, I'll blow up your affair. You'll leave the marriage with nothing and owe Ava money!" I looked at my ruined birthday party and sighed. Maybe the academic pressure had finally cracked Caleb's mind. I didn't argue. Instead, I patted his shoulder calmly. "Caleb, calm down and listen to me." "You're mistaken. I have always been your sponsor. Every cent you received came from me." I exchanged a wry smile with Sophia. "Because the Ava Rhodes you're talking about... died in an avalanche three years ago. I was there..." 3 Caleb didn't let me finish. He jumped up, screaming. "Julian, are you crazy?! Spreading rumors that your wife is dead? Do you have no conscience?" I had hesitated to get physical because I watched this kid grow up. But he was trashing my party, screaming and dancing around. Even Sophia couldn't take it anymore. She gripped my arm, warning Caleb. "Get out, or I'm calling security." Caleb turned his sneer on Sophia. "Julian, you're so brazen with your mistress. You're done!" "I'll have the Rhodes family kick you out tomorrow!" At this point, I felt a mix of certainty that he was insane and a sliver of pity. Whoever's pregnancy test he was holding, I felt obligated to show him reality. "Since you insist, why don't you come with me to see Ava? Then you'll know I'm not lying." Caleb followed me, still bragging. "Hmph, wait until you see Ava. You'll see how much she loves me!" I looked at him with pity and asked Sophia to arrange the cars. Soon, two luxury sedans pulled up to the hotel entrance. Many guests, driven by curiosity, followed us in their own cars. When we stopped, the driver opened the door for Caleb. Caleb took off his sunglasses and started yelling. "Julian! Why did you bring me to a cemetery? What are you trying to do?" "Don't panic. Just follow me." I guided Caleb forward a few steps and stopped in front of a headstone. "Take a good look. Whose grave is this?" Caleb glanced at the name on the stone and laughed loudly. "Julian, I admit you're committed to the bit. Faking a grave to avoid divorce?" "But let me tell you, it's useless." "No matter how much you lie about Ava being dead, you can't deny she's the mother of my child." Caleb seemed to lose patience, issuing his final ultimatum. "If you initiate the divorce now, I can ask Ava to leave you a few grand." "Keep this up, and you'll end up miserable." Even my typically calm girlfriend laughed in disbelief. She pulled out her phone, turned on the flashlight, and shone it on the tombstone. "Caleb, look closely at the photo. Is this the woman you spent Valentine's Day with?" Caleb stared at the photo on the granite. After a few seconds of silence, he pointed an accusing finger at me. "Julian Thorne, you are heartless." "To put on a show, you even printed your wife's photo on a tombstone!" He refused to give up, continuing his tantrum in the quiet cemetery. 4 My friends couldn't take it anymore. "Kid, are you psychotic? Julian's wife really died three years ago." "Look up the avalanche accident at the ski resort three years ago. One fatality." Seeing Caleb's mix of shock and anger, I started to suspect he was being scammed. "Does the Ava you know love skiing?" Caleb nodded suspiciously. "Of course. She taught me everything I know about skiing." I told him seriously: "Three years ago, she went skiing abroad. There was extreme weather and an avalanche." "She was buried. Rescue teams searched for a week but never found her body. They concluded she was swept off a cliff. No survivors." I pulled out my phone and showed him photos of the funeral. Ava's parents were prominent in the pictures. "Her parents accepted it. They chose this plot and headstone themselves." "Her legal status is deceased. So I think you've been scammed. The Ava having your baby cannot be her." Caleb's expression shifted from confusion to shock, then to anger as people started snickering. "Julian, stop lying! I just texted Ava in the car. She's coming right now to divorce you!" Sophia had lost all patience. She pulled my hand. "He's a lunatic. Let's go back and finish your birthday." Caleb was filming us, threatening to expose my "affair." Just as we turned to leave, Caleb jumped up and waved frantically toward the cemetery entrance. "Ava! You came! I knew you'd come help me!" Everyone turned to look. A woman was running toward us. But when she saw me, she froze. After a pause, she rushed forward and hugged me tight. "Hubby! It's not what Caleb says! Let me explain!"
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