Once and Never Again

However, my relief did not last long. A juicy story was all over the internet. Julia, the fancy lady, was actually the other woman, and Charles was married to someone else.

They even showed a photo of Charles and me during our wedding and sneaky photos of him being cozy with Julia.

In no time, Charles came home fuming. "Look what you did! You told the press about me and Julia. Have you seen what's happening to our shares?"

"I didn't do it, I swear."

"Who else would? You want to make me dump Julia with all this bad press. You're always plotting. You're just a nasty piece of work!"

I fought back the tears and tried to think clearly. "It wasn't me, I swear. It has to be Julia. She's doing this to make you divorce me."

Charles turned away with a look of disgust as if I was something gross. "You think every woman is as cunning as you? Julia's a sweet and innocent heiress. She's not like you, always struggling to get by."

There it was, that comparison again. However, I was done taking it. "A sweet and innocent heiress wouldn't be someone's secret girlfriend. A sweet and innocent boss wouldn't cheat on the day his mother-in-law was buried. That's your sad idea of right and wrong!

"You think I want to hang out with society's elite like you? I wish I could divorce you right now."

Charles sneered, his face twisting with spite. He looked down at me, and his words were like ice. "I told you, I won't let you off easy. I'm going to call a press conference. You'll have to say sorry in front of everyone, admit you're the one who tricked me into marrying you, and that Julia and I are the victims.

"If you don't, I'll ruin the lives of your family and friends. I can make them go broke, or maybe they'll have an 'accident'—like a car crash or a nasty fall."

I had no choice but to say I was sorry, and everyone there called me names.

"Sophia has no shame, doing anything to marry rich."

"Poor Julia and Charles. They love each other but can't be together."

"Money-chaser!"

Charles and Julia finally cracked smiles of satisfaction.

Charles leaned in close and hissed, "Words aren't enough. Bow and say you're sorry. Show you mean it."

"What?" I was dazed for a second, hardly believing what I was hearing.

Charles did not say anything more. Instead, he snuck up behind me and gave me a little shove. I tripped forward, and the camera flashes were so bright that I could not open my eyes.

A sharp pain zipped through my belly, and I felt something warm spreading underneath me.

When I looked down, I saw my pants were all wet with blood.

Everything around me started to fade to black. Right before I passed out, I heard Charles say with a sneer, "Not this again. Always playing the same old fainting game."

While I was half-conscious, I could hear people arguing.

"How could you push her when she just had a big operation? She could've died today!"

"It was just a little push... What do you mean her operation was to take out her uterus? You did that without asking me? Why?"

"She lost a lot of blood the last time she had a baby. We had to do the operation to save her life."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"Charles, you need to take better care of your wife."

I slowly opened my eyes and saw Charles looking worried. He tried to smile and asked, "How are you feeling? I'm sorry. I didn't know about your operation."

I did not want to talk to him, so I turned my head away.

"I thought you just had a miscarriage and could still get pregnant again. If I had known you had to have your uterus removed, I would never have made you bend down to apologize."

"Go away," I said quietly.

Charles' smile disappeared, and he said in a low, stern voice, "Just because I caused this doesn't mean you can do whatever you want. No one else will want you now that you can't have kids. You're going to stay with me and behave."

I pulled my hand away slowly, each move hurting so much that I had to catch my breath.

"We're done talking about this. I won't blame you anymore."

After Charles had gone, I called the secret agency. "Are you all set?"

"We're all set."

I spent a few days resting up in the hospital, and then it was time. I snuck out and got a cab back home.

Everything went just as we planned. The cab crashed into a big tree and burst into flames, and it looked like the passenger did not make it out.

By the time the cops found the wreck, I was already chilling at a café down the street, drinking coffee and watching the whole thing go down.

The agency really thought of everything. They had people pretending to be just random folks on the street, filming and making sure everyone would buy that I was gone for good.

It was not long before Charles showed up, rushing over to the fire. When he saw the flames, he actually started laughing.

"Sophia, you've really outdone yourself with this stunt. You had me worried for a second there. Come on out, Sophia! Let's head home and talk this out."

The cops, not sure what to do, spoke up tentatively. "This isn't one of your wife's pranks. She's really gone. Please try to calm down."

"You're telling me my wife is dead? No way! She's too tough for that. You've got it all wrong."

"But it's true. We've confirmed it. Those are Sophia's remains."

The agency's people filmed in that direction, and I saw the fake body they had made to look like me. It was charred so badly that one could not see the face, but the size and shape matched mine. It was eerily convincing.

Charles' face was all scrunched up for a few seconds, but then he relaxed. "How much did Sophia pay you to go along with this? Even getting a fake body? Sophia, I bet you're hiding out close by. This has gone too far!"