They Thought I Was Duped, Unaware I Had Truly Been Reborn Chapter 08

They Thought I Was Duped, Unaware I Had Truly Been Reborn Chapter 08

After Brynn admitted she was the one who killed my mother, I immediately contacted the officer who had handled the original case.

The recording of her confession helped.

But it wasn’t enough to prove first-degree murder.

Back then, Wade had signed the settlement agreement on my behalf.

Other than the six hundred thousand dollars paid by insurance, Brynn hadn’t paid a single cent.

There had been no surveillance cameras at the scene.

Since the family didn’t press charges, the case was closed as an ordinary traffic accident.

Now more than a year had passed.

Reopening the investigation and finding new evidence would be extremely difficult.

Brynn knew that. That’s why she’d been so smug when she confessed.

At this point, all I could do was pray—pray that a good samaritan witness would come forward.

Or that a nearby parked car’s dashcam had captured the evidence of her crime.

While waiting for the investigation, I found a house through a realtor.

A resale property. Total price—$4.5 million.

—

But just as I was about to pay, the transaction kept failing—insufficient funds.

A chill ran down my spine.

I opened my account.

The second I saw the transaction history, rage exploded inside me.

It was Wade—again. He knew me too well.

He’d guessed that my new password would be my mother’s birthday.

Before the wedding had even happened, he’d transferred every cent of my five million dollars to Brynn. Not a dollar missing.

I trembled nonstop. It took several minutes before I could think clearly.

Then I gripped my phone and called the police.

Brynn stormed in, furious, and started screaming abuse.

She called me a psycho, said I kept calling the police over some petty jealousy because I couldn’t handle losing Wade.

Wade pulled me aside. His voice dropped into that familiar patronizing tone.

“Simone. That five million was Brynn’s money in the first place.”

“If you hadn’t driven the price up, Rudy never would’ve ended up carrying $3.5 million in debt.”

“The remaining $1.5 million can count as compensation.”

—

“You know, for sending her brother to prison.”

He sighed, as if I were the one being unreasonable.

“Why do you have to blow everything out of proportion? You’re wasting public resources.”

“Just stop this, okay? We can still have a good life together.”

I shook him off.

Then slapped him across the face. Hard.

“Wade, you keep sinking to new lows of shamelessness!”

“You stole my bracelet, stole my money, bought her a house with it—and now you want me to cover her mortgage too? Have you no shame?!”

He pressed a hand to his burning cheek. Still trying to reason with me.

“Simone, I told you—Brynn only has her brother. She has no one else to rely on.”

“But you have me. You have someone to lean on. We can always earn more money. You—”

I cut him off. “Rely on you? For what? Your empty wallet? Your cheating? Your theft?”

“Or relying on you to spend my money on your mistress and your bastard child?”

His eyes widened in disbelief.

—

“Simone, since when did money become so important to you? You were never like this.”

I let out a cold laugh.

No, I hadn’t always been like this.

Back when we’d started saving for a house together, I’d believed in us.

Every month, I scrimped and saved to deposit ten thousand dollars.

He earned more than I did, but always had excuses—he was a man, he needed to network, to socialize, to wine and dine.

So he could only chip in two or three thousand a month.

Five years. I saved six hundred thousand dollars. He saved barely two hundred thousand.

I paid the rent, bought the groceries, covered all the household expenses.

I gave everything. And all I got in return was betrayal.

I turned toward Brynn.

“Fine. I’m the greedy one, and she’s the saint.”

“So go ahead, Wade—ask her to give my money back.”

“Let’s see how little she really cares about money.”