1 My wife’s nephew was kidnapped. The ransom was half a million dollars. But when I tried to pay it, I found that my wife, Arabella, had frozen all of my bank accounts. I must have called her a thousand times to ask why, but not a single call went through. The boy, Jill, was tortured for three days and three nights. By the time he was rescued, his small body broken and bruised, he had already stopped breathing. I pulled every string I had to find my wife, only to track her to a hotel room, in bed with her own brother. “I’m sad our daughter died too, Caleb,” she said, her voice devoid of emotion. “But we can’t bring her back. As it happens, my brother needs a heart transplant, and she’s a perfect match. You should bring the body to the hospital.” So that was it. She thought it was our daughter, Maya, who had been kidnapped. A laugh, sharp and bitter, escaped my lips. I turned and had the body delivered to the surgical wing as she’d asked. “Ugh, did Maya really die looking this… messy?” Her brother, Julian, glanced at the small form on the gurney with disgust before turning his glare on me. “And you, what kind of husband are you? Just leaving a corpse here like this? What if you scared Arabella? You’re completely incompetent.” I sneered. Me? Incompetent? Jill, my wife’s nephew, wasn’t my blood. But when he was taken, I was the one frantic with worry. I was the one who called the police, the one who spent three sleepless nights negotiating with the kidnappers. When I found my accounts frozen, I was the one who begged and knelt before friends and strangers, trying to scrape together the ransom. And where were his actual aunt and his biological father? They’d turned off their phones, ignoring every message, every desperate plea, until the kidnappers finally made good on their threat. My voice was cold as steel. “If either of you had answered a single one of my calls, if you’d helped me raise that money, that child would still be alive.” My in-laws rushed in just then. My mother-in-law shoved me aside, shielding Julian with her body. “Don’t you dare blame them! This is all your fault. If you hadn’t taken Maya to the amusement park, she never would have been kidnapped in the first place.” “Our Maya is dead because of you,” she spat. My father-in-law cleared his throat, a look of casual indifference on his face. “She was just a girl, anyway. What’s done is done. At least her heart can be of use to her uncle. She’s not a complete waste.” “She would have just been a drain on the family later on anyway,” Julian added, fanning the flames. “You know, brother-in-law, if you weren’t always spoiling Maya, she wouldn’t have been so willful. Look where it got her. Cost her her life.” Arabella’s expression hardened, her tone leaving no room for argument. “I’ve already signed the organ donation consent forms. Your objection is meaningless.” Julian sighed, a flicker of triumph in his eyes. “Well, since poor Maya is already gone, I suppose I have no choice but to accept her… gift. Don’t you worry, brother-in-law. I’ll take very good care of her heart. I won’t let your good intentions go to waste.” A cruel smile twisted my lips. “As the girl’s family, how could I possibly object to a plan that allows her heart to beat again?” Leaving them all stunned into silence, I turned and walked away without a backward glance. But I didn't leave the hospital. I went straight to the labs in the west wing. Three minutes later, I held a DNA report in my hand. It confirmed what I had long suspected: Jill was not Arabella’s nephew. He was her son. And Julian was his father. The truth had been hiding in plain sight. After our wedding, Arabella, her brother Julian, and her parents had all moved into my villa. I always found it strange, the way she and Julian behaved. They were far too intimate for siblings. I’d walked in on her in his room more than once, dressed in flimsy lingerie. When I confronted her, she’d just called me insecure. They’re brother and sister, what could possibly happen? This time, in my desperate search for them, I’d hired a private investigator. He sent me a photo. It was of them in a hotel hallway, locked in a passionate, unrestrained kiss. I couldn’t lie to myself anymore. Arabella was already eagerly prepping Julian for the transplant. Jill’s body, his heart now removed, was tossed onto the floor of the morgue like a discarded doll. I saw my in-laws from a distance, kicking the small form out of their way with looks of revulsion. A cold chuckle escaped me as I walked away. This had nothing to do with me. Ever since Maya was a baby, Jill had been cruel to her, pinching and hitting her when no one was looking. When Maya started learning to talk, every time she called Arabella “Mama,” Jill would shove her to the ground and beat her. And Arabella? She always took his side. I was busy with my career. By the time I realized the extent of the abuse, the damage was done. My daughter was five years old and still couldn't speak, all thanks to him. To see him treated this way by his own parents… it was still a shock. A pathetic, tragic end. It was Maya’s birthday. I was taking her to the amusement park to celebrate. But as we were leaving, Jill blocked our path, throwing a tantrum and demanding I take him too. He despised Maya, and she was terrified of him. I knew a day out with him would only end in tears and trauma for her. So I made a split-second decision. I dropped Maya off at my parents’ house instead. I never imagined something like this would happen. For two full weeks after the funeral, Arabella didn’t come home. But Julian’s social media was active. [Surgery was a success! Someone is so worried about me, she won’t leave my side no matter what I say. She really cares about me!] [This soup my darling made for me is the best!] The comments were a stream of envy and congratulations. [Congrats, Julian! You found a keeper!] [Your girlfriend is such a good cook!] I saw the fresh love bite on Julian’s neck in one of the photos and laughed out loud. The kidnapping case had stalled completely, but they didn’t seem to be in any hurry. The medical examiner needed to perform an autopsy on Jill’s body and called the family to sign the consent forms. I was the only one they could reach. When I arrived at the hospital, the body was gone. I assumed the examiner had already taken it, but as I turned to leave, I overheard two nurses talking. “How did a body end up in the dumpster? If a stray dog hadn’t dragged it out, we never would have found it. It’s been… mauled. How are we supposed to explain this to the family?” I froze as they wheeled a gurney past, carrying a mangled, half-eaten corpse. As much as I disliked Jill, a wave of pity washed over me. One of the nurses noticed my horrified stare. “We are so sorry, sir,” she said, her face pale with guilt. “This is a result of the hospital’s negligence.” “Can you check the security cameras to see what happened?” I asked. Before she could answer, a sharp voice cut in. “Let’s not waste the hospital’s resources. The body has been found, that’s all that matters.” Arabella strode toward us, a group of police officers trailing behind her. She pointed an accusing finger at me. “This is your fault, too! You can’t even look after your own daughter’s body. What good are you? No wonder you got her killed!” Julian sighed dramatically. “Such a shame. The body is so damaged, they’ll probably never find any clues now.” He reached out to put a consoling arm around my shoulder. I stepped away. He stumbled, lost his balance, and crashed to the floor with a cry of pain. “Julian!” Arabella shrieked, her eyes flashing with fury at me. I just laughed and threw a stack of papers in her face. “We’re getting a divorce.” I had put up with all of it for Maya. But since the day my daughter was born, Arabella hadn’t cared for her once. I was the one working to provide for everyone, and the one coming home to take care of our child. I told myself she had postpartum depression, I made excuses for her. But she was a doting mother to Jill. When he was sick, she stayed up all night with him. When he bullied Maya, she forced our daughter to apologize. And when she thought Maya had been kidnapped and killed, she didn’t shed a single tear. My heart had finally turned to stone. Rage contorted Arabella’s face. She lunged, her hand raised to strike me. “You dare ask for a divorce?” I caught her wrist and flung her hand away. “Is this because I froze your accounts?” she screamed. “I was just worried! You know what they say about men with too much money. It’s your fault for not making me feel secure!” Seeing the cold indifference in my eyes, her tone suddenly softened. “What happened to Maya… it was a tragedy. Let’s just put it behind us. The living have to go on living. We can have other children.” She tried to sound seductive. “I’ll even give you a son this time. How about that?” “You and I will never have another child,” I said, pushing her away with a look of utter contempt. She was about to explode again when Julian whispered something in her ear. Her expression changed in an instant. She snatched the divorce papers, signed them with a flourish, and threw them back at me. “Fine! I don’t need you anyway,” she sneered. “But you’ll regret this.” I soon found out what she meant. The moment I got home, I received a call from my company’s secretary. Unbeknownst to me, Arabella had been using my name to systematically transfer the majority of my company’s assets into a shell corporation. The divorce would leave me not just penniless, but saddled with massive debt. I stared at the evidence on my phone, a cold smile forming on my lips. When I looked up, Arabella was standing in the doorway, arm in arm with Julian, a triumphant smirk on her face. “It’s not too late to take it all back,” she purred. “Or I will leave you with nothing.” I laughed and had my staff throw all of their belongings out onto the street. “Get out.” I tore our wedding photo in half and threw the pieces in her face, looking at her as if she were a complete stranger. Julian took a deep breath, a cruel smile playing on his lips. “Here are Maya’s ashes. My sister and I have decided to scatter them at sea. What do you think?” They were that desperate to destroy the evidence, that afraid the police would connect the death to them. “Maya always loved the ocean,” Arabella added, nodding in agreement. She shot me a disapproving look. “See how much he cares about her? And then there’s you. You have no idea how to be a father.” Watching their little performance, I started to laugh. “Have you forgotten, Arabella? When I called you for the ransom money, I just said ‘our child’ was kidnapped. I never said it was Maya.” I bit down hard on the next words. “And Maya was never the only child in this house. There was also your precious, darling nephew…” Arabella just sneered. “Do you think everyone is as spoiled and reckless as Maya? Jill is a good boy. He wouldn’t just run off and get himself kidnapped.” She glanced at her watch, impatient. “We’re throwing a birthday party for him tonight at a five-star hotel. We have to go.” A question began to form in my mind. Why were they so certain the body was Maya’s? The answer came a second later. As Julian turned to leave, he shot me a smug grin and tugged at the collar of his shirt. Hanging from a simple red cord around his neck was a jade pendant. A priceless, emperor-grade jade pendant. I froze. That was the protective charm my parents had given Maya. What was he doing with it? Maya had been frail since birth. My father had spent a fortune on that piece of jade, even having it blessed at a temple. She had worn it every single day of her life. I lunged forward and ripped it from his neck. “What the hell are you doing with this?” I demanded. “I gave it to him. You have a problem with that?” Arabella said, annoyed. “I told you from the start, Maya is just a girl. Her fate is too weak for such a valuable gift. It would only bring her bad luck. If you had just listened to me, she wouldn’t be dead! Now, my brother has to wear it, to use his strong life force to suppress the bad energy from the dead.” I was shaking with rage. I couldn’t hold back any longer. I swung my hand and slapped her, hard, across the face. Julian rushed to her side, full of fake concern. “She’s not wrong,” he said, looking down his nose at me. “Sons carry on the family name. Daughters are nothing.” He smirked. “Don’t worry. Even without Maya, you’ll still have Jill to take care of you in your old age. He can inherit your vast fortune. You should be grateful. Jill is the golden boy of our family. You’re lucky to have him as an heir.” His voice turned venomous. “As for Maya’s ashes, we should just dump them somewhere filthy, to make sure a money-pit like her never dares to be born into our family again.” At his words, a wicked gleam appeared in Arabella’s eyes. “You’re right, brother.” She walked over to the small urn, and before I could react, she opened it and poured the ashes into the dog’s food bowl. The dog wagged its tail and began to eat. “Are you insane?” I stared at her, horrified. She just laughed, a wild, manic look in her eyes. “This way, that little bitch won’t dare be reborn in my womb again!” Seeing the pure madness in her eyes, a horrifying thought hit me. She was jealous of my daughter. Jealous of Maya. Just then, my housekeeper led two police officers into the room. “Julian Vance,” one of them said, holding up his badge. “We have credible evidence linking you to the kidnappers of Jill Collins. You need to come with us.” The color drained from their faces. “What are you talking about?” Arabella shrieked. “How could the victim be Jill? It was Maya! Maya Reed!” The officer looked confused. “You’re the parents and you don’t know which of your children is missing?” “I know what this is,” Julian suddenly declared, shooting me a triumphant look. “You hired these actors to try and trick us, didn’t you? Nice try, but we’re not falling for it. Jill is waiting for us at the hotel right now. I’ll call my parents and prove it!” His hand trembled as he dialed. When his father answered, he blurted out, “Dad, where’s Jill? Put him on the phone!” He shot me a cocky, challenging look. But the voice on the other end was confused. “What are you talking about? Jill’s been with you two this whole time. You’re supposed to be bringing him over!” “He’s not with you?” Julian’s voice cracked. “No. He left us a note a few days ago saying he was going to find you.” The words hung in the air. Julian slowly turned to look at the police officers. One of them stepped forward and handed him a folded piece of paper. “The child who was tortured to death by the kidnappers was your son, Jill Collins. This is his death certificate.”
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