My Second Chance at Revenge

The powerful Will Hudson, Bardou City's untouchable kingmaker, was set to marry my sister.

Everyone said he was a monster, a man broken in body and mind, that marrying him was no different from stepping into hell itself.

My sister, Carrie Wheaton, wept as if her heart would break.

I pulled her aside and said, "I'll marry him for you. But in return, you'll stay in the countryside and guard the safe buried beneath Mom's grave. For three years, you mustn't open it."

She thought it held a fortune—billions, perhaps—and joy lit up her face. She agreed without hesitation.

I watched her greedy expression twist with excitement and couldn't help the cold smile that rose within me.

'Carrie, guard it well. Let's see if you can handle the kind of fortune that can destroy you.'

"Jessica, we've wronged you," my stepmother said, dabbing at the corners of her eyes in mock sorrow. "But there's nothing we can do. We can't afford to offend the Hudsons."

Her false tears made my stomach turn.

Everyone in Bardou City's upper circles knew about Will Hudson, the heir of the Hudson family.

Half a year ago, a car accident left him crippled from the waist down. His once-gentle temperament had twisted into something dark and violent. They called him a living demon.

The bride he had named was Carrie Wheaton, the Wheaton family's eldest daughter—beautiful, talented, and perfect in every way.

But now, I—the "fake daughter" they had adopted by mistake—was being shoved forward to take her place.

A substitute bride. A sacrificial offering.

Carrie stood off to the side, her lips curving into a barely hidden smirk of schadenfreude.

A lawyer spoke up, "Jessica, once you sign this agreement, you'll become Will's legal wife. As compensation, the Wheaton family will provide you with a sum of money."

I looked up, my gaze sweeping calmly across the three faces before me.

It was a scene I knew all too well.

In my previous life, I had begged and wept, falling to my knees before them. My only answer had been my father's cold, hard slap.

"An imposter like you should be grateful to marry the Hudson heir. Don't overstep your bounds!"

That night, they drugged me and sent me straight to Will's bed. I became his plaything and punching bag, his living vent for rage and hatred.

Later, I learned the truth. The reason Will had insisted on marrying Carrie was because he suspected the Wheaton family's involvement in the car crash that crippled him.

He wanted to keep his enemy's daughter by his side—to torture her slowly, to lure the snake from its hole.

But the Wheaton family, unwilling to sacrifice their real daughter, sent me instead.

When his plan collapsed, Will's fury turned on me with full force.

I still remembered his cold fingers gripping my jaw in that dark basement, the hatred in his eyes so deep it almost devoured me.

"Nick Wheaton sent me this useless thing? Is he mocking