Sixteen minutes after being abducted by aliens, I returned to Earth. I knocked on my front door. My husband, Ethan, stood there holding a little boy, with a strange woman wearing an apron beside him. When he saw me, Ethan’s eyes widened in disbelief. “Clara, you’ve been missing for six years. You’re actually still alive?” Before I could process what he meant by six years, Ethan was already losing patience. “I don’t care where you’ve been these six years, but I have a new family now. Don’t come around disrupting my life anymore.” “My daughter is in there.” I instinctively asked about the person I cared about most. “Your daughter?” Ethan sneered as he pulled the woman beside him closer. “Her mother is this woman now. She’s the mistress of this house. If you know what’s good for you, get lost.” Gripping the black crystal stone the aliens had given me as compensation—one that could grant wishes—I silently recited: “In three hours, make those who wronged me suffer a hundred times worse.”
Three hours. Enough time for me to figure out what had happened during the sixteen minutes I was gone. The disgust hadn’t yet faded from Ethan’s face when I voiced the question burning in my mind. “I was only gone for sixteen minutes. How could you have a new family?” “Sixteen minutes?” Ethan grabbed my arm and threw me in front of the calendar. “Look carefully. It’s 2032 now. You weren’t gone for sixteen minutes—you were gone for six years.” My head buzzed. Only now did I understand what the aliens meant when they said everything would change. But Ethan didn’t give me a chance to explain. He pushed me down at Melissa’s feet. “This is my wife now, Melissa.” He pointed at the child in her arms. “My son is already seven years old.” “During the six years you were gone, I married the woman I truly love and had an adorable son. This is the life I wanted.” His cold gaze twisted my heart into knots. This man who had once sworn to the heavens he’d never leave me didn’t have a single word of concern. Instead, he told me that in the short six years I’d been gone, he’d married the woman he truly loved. What was even more absurd was that the child was almost seven years old. I took a deep breath, swallowing the bitterness in my chest, and said, “Since you already have a new family, then give me back mine.” Ethan froze for a moment, then laughed mockingly. “Family? What family do you have?” His contemptuous gaze infuriated me. “I gave birth to our daughter. My father bought this house for me. How do I not have a family?” Ethan pulled a death certificate from the drawer and threw it in my face. “Look clearly, Clara. You died six years ago. These past six years, Melissa has been taking care of the child every day. In our daughter’s heart, Melissa is the only mother...” “Impossible!” I angrily cut him off. “Our daughter was already eight when I left. I read her bedtime stories for eight years, fed her with my own hands for eight years, and when she had pneumonia, I stayed sleepless in the hospital room for three days taking care of her. I’m her mother.” “I don’t have a promiscuous mother like you!” A small figure rushed over and shoved me hard to the ground. “You abandoned me for some man and made Grandpa so angry he died. You should’ve stayed dead out there. How dare you come back?” Looking at the girl before me who resembled me by at least seventy percent, I trembled as I reached for her hand. “Sweetheart, I didn’t abandon you. I was taken by aliens.” My daughter, Lily, viciously shook off my hand. “Aliens? Do you think I’m three years old?” She affectionately took Melissa’s arm. “Melissa already told me the whole truth.” “You’re nothing but a serial cheater. The house is full of photos of you with different men. Someone like you thinks she deserves to be my mother?” “Photos? What photos?”
I looked at my daughter in disbelief. Ethan held up a stack of photos in front of me with utter contempt on his face. “Here’s a photo of you singing with men at a nightclub. Dressed so scantily—wasn’t it just to let men take advantage of you?” “And this one’s even more explosive. Wearing a lace miniskirt, sprawled on a bed like a bitch in heat. If that’s not shameless, what is?” I didn’t hold back as I struck Ethan twice across the face. “The AI traces are so obvious, and you dare show these photos to our daughter to slander me?” Ethan clearly hadn’t expected me to hit him. He stood frozen, eyes wide. Lily rushed over, hitting and kicking me. “You evil woman! Don’t you dare hit Dad!” I used all my strength to pull the child into my arms. “Lily, I’m telling the truth. I was taken by aliens for sixteen minutes. I didn’t expect six years to have passed in reality. I didn’t leave you behind.” I glanced at the time and quickly pulled out the black crystal stone. “Look, the aliens gave me this. In two more hours, everyone who hurt me will face consequences.” Lily disgustedly knocked the stone from my hand. “Melissa was right. You’re not just a shameless vixen, you’re mentally ill too.” She looked at Melissa. “You’re the best doctor. Get some poison and kill her right now.” Hearing my daughter’s words made every part of my body ache. This child I’d spent half a year bedridden to carry safely, the child I’d given birth to—she actually wanted me dead. I closed my eyes and swallowed the surging pain. “Lily, I loved you for eight years. You’d rather believe a woman you’ve known for six years than believe me?” “Yes.” My daughter’s answer was resolute. “I not only believe her, I’ve decided she’s the only mother I’ll ever have in this lifetime.” Cold tears slid from the corners of my eyes. Lily just looked at me with disgust, then took Melissa’s hand. “Mom, let’s go write a disownment letter for this woman.” Melissa smiled triumphantly. “You go upstairs first. I’ll say a few words to her and then come up. Make sure she never bothers our lives again.” I stared at my daughter’s retreating back. Melissa had already walked up to me. Before I could react, she jabbed a needle into my shoulder. Dense, sharp pain instantly spread through my entire body. The smugness on Melissa’s face intensified. “Clara, does it hurt? This injection is just to let you taste what it’s like to hit my man and try to steal my daughter.” She grabbed my hair and forcibly pressed my head against the table. “Clara, you actually lost long ago. I was already pregnant with Ethan’s child before you even disappeared.” “As for your daughter, she’s only alive because she has a rich grandfather.” Melissa sneered coldly. “Since I couldn’t kill her, I could only be her good mother. I cook her delicious food every day just to make her forget how good you were. I also tell her bedtime stories, except in the stories, the female leads are all you.” “In her heart now, you’re worse than a cheap prostitute.” The immense pain was driving me insane. I gathered all my strength, straightened my body, and grabbed Melissa’s throat with my other hand. “You bitch! I’ll make you wish you were dead!”
Melissa only coughed a few times before Ethan rushed over. He kicked me in the leg. “Clara, you vicious woman! I was being merciful, thinking about the eight years we spent together. I was going to ask Melissa to let you be my mistress, and you dare hurt her?” He pounced and pinned me to the ground. “Apologize to Melissa. Beg her to let you stay as a maid. That way you can be close to me and see your daughter.” His words made me sick. I gritted my teeth. “In your dreams! I won’t serve you people. I’m going to kick you out of my house.” “Your house?” A sinister glint flashed in Ethan’s eyes. He grabbed my throat and pinned me against the wall. “These compromising photos of you are all photoshopped. I not only showed these photos to our daughter but also to your father.” The corner of his lips curled into a cold smile. “Do you know how your father reacted when he saw these photos?” Without waiting for my answer, he continued: “Your father said he didn’t have such a shameless daughter. He also said Melissa and I worked so hard to take care of our daughter, so he left all his assets to us.” “Impossible! My father would never believe your lies.” I roared. “Of course your father wouldn’t believe it easily, but I have a virtuous wife to help me.” Ethan looked at Melissa. “After you disappeared, your father was paralyzed. Melissa applied to be your father’s home nurse. She took care of his every need for two years before earning that old man’s trust.” He smiled. “Of course, I didn’t fall behind either. At night, Melissa and I would do it in your bedroom. During the day, I was still your father’s most filial son-in-law.” “With Melissa’s and my tireless efforts, your father finally believed you were a woman who abandoned her husband and child. He tearfully handed the company over to me, including this house.” I glared at him with hatred. “Ethan, you’ll get what’s coming to you.” Ethan was one of the first college students my father sponsored. Before my father gave him financial aid, Ethan could only attend school during the day and work at my family’s restaurant at night, usually eating customers’ leftovers. Once he fainted from malnutrition at the restaurant. My father happened to witness it and started sponsoring him. After graduation, Ethan knelt before my father to apply for a job, saying he didn’t need a salary and just wanted to repay the kindness. My father thought he was a grateful, good kid. He not only trained him carefully but also arranged for me to marry him. How could he do this? Melissa grabbed my chin and forced me to look into her eyes. “Clara, You have to look out for yourself, or the world will crush you. Ethan and I come from the countryside. We know how terrifying poverty is, so we started planning ten years ago, all to become rich.” “Ten years?!” I exclaimed in shock. “Ethan working at my father’s restaurant, not asking for salary when applying for the job, including... including marrying me—it was all part of your plan?” “Of course!” Melissa lifted her chin proudly. “Your father was our prey. Not asking for salary was just a tactic, and marrying you was our stepping stone to becoming rich.” She viciously pinched my arm. “Watching Ethan get down on one knee to propose to you made me so jealous. But Ethan compensated me by giving me your wedding rings.” “He also had me drug you while you were pregnant.” “So that’s why I kept bleeding and almost died during childbirth?” I stared at her with wide eyes. Melissa laughed coldly. “What a shame you were tough to kill. We couldn’t finish you off!” A flash of guilt crossed Ethan’s eyes. “I did have some feelings for you and your father. But you two were ungrateful, always on guard against me, not handing over the company sooner. I had no choice but to drug you both!” Watching the hour hand on my watch move forward another hour, I glared at them with hatred. Go ahead and spill all your secrets. I want to see just how painful a hundredfold suffering will be. “Clara, now you know everything. But what can you do about it? We have your father’s will for the inheritance we received. Your daughter only recognizes me now.” She forcibly grabbed my wrist. “Being born into privilege still doesn’t mean you won... huh?” Before she could finish, she suddenly stared at me with terrified eyes. “Clara, you’re... pregnant!”
After carefully checking my pulse, a gleam of delight flashed in Melissa’s eyes. “Ethan, Clara is so shameless—coming here pregnant, trying to get back together with you.” Melissa’s words made Ethan explode with rage. His eyes turned bloodshot as he grabbed my hair. “You bitch! Pregnant with some bastard’s child and you dare say you didn’t do anything to betray me?” Ethan raised his hand. Slaps rained down on my face like a storm. “I actually felt guilty and wanted to make it up to you, and you dare humiliate me like this?” I endured the pain and shouted, “The child is yours! I was only gone for sixteen minutes. There’s no way I could be pregnant with someone else’s child.” I told the truth not to win Ethan back, but to prove my innocence. Mine?!” Ethan laughed maniacally. “You’ve been pregnant for six years—what kind of monster is that?” He lifted his foot to kick my stomach when Melissa rushed forward to stop him. “Ethan, Clara says she was abducted by aliens for sixteen minutes and the baby is yours. Let’s go to the hospital and expose her lies, then send her to a mental institution.” Ethan directly grabbed my arm and hauled me up from the ground. “Clara, you say the child is mine, that you were abducted by aliens for sixteen minutes? Fine, I’ll give you a chance to prove it.” I stumbled as he shoved me into the car. Soon we arrived at the hospital where Melissa worked. Ethan threw me onto a pre-arranged operating table. The next second, a thin needle pierced through my skin. The dull, aching pain spread, pulling at every nerve in my abdomen until they trembled. I could hear Melissa’s excited voice in my ear. “Ethan, I already talked to my colleague in the lab. Results will be ready in half an hour. The people from the mental institution will be here soon too.” The pain made me close my eyes. Ethan dragged me down from the bed. He turned on his phone camera and pointed it at me. “You bitch, tell everyone where you went to fool around with men after you left me. How did you come back pregnant with a bastard?” His eyes seemed poisoned with venom. “Do you know how worried I was when you disappeared?” “I even neglected Melissa for several days looking for you...” Melissa’s sobbing interrupted Ethan. “That’s when I lost our second child.” Ethan comforted her gently. “Don’t be sad, Melissa. We’ll make Clara give you back a child.” His cold hand slid across my face. “You’re my woman for life. The bastard you’re carrying must die immediately, or I’ll be disgusted.” “Ethan, the child really is yours. You can’t hurt her.” I looked at him through my tears. No matter what, the child was innocent. But Ethan just sneered. “Feeling guilty? Or can’t bear to part with it?” “The bastard has to die eventually. Rather than wait for the test results and have a doctor kill it, I might as well do it myself.” He suddenly grabbed my chin and forced a pill down my throat. I knelt on the ground, clutching my body and dry heaving. Nothing came up, but my abdomen was already cramping with waves of pain. Melissa laughed. “Clara, This is my family's homemade abortifacient It’s very painful, but very effective.” I curled up on the ground. The black crystal stone slipped from my pocket. I stared at it intently. “They must suffer a hundred times the pain I’m suffering.” Just then, a young nurse hurried over. “Melissa, the test results are back. The child really is Ethan’s.” “What... what did you say?” Ethan’s hands trembled as he took the test report from the nurse. “Could it be... was everything Clara said true?” Melissa’s pupils dilated. “The aliens are real, the wishing stone is real too. We’re...” An urgent phone ring interrupted Melissa’s words. Ethan quickly answered. His assistant’s terrified shout came through the phone. “Ethan... something terrible has happened at the company.”
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