Chapter 1My husband thought the girl from his dreams was his true love. But he refused to divorce me.
Instead, he asked me to trade lives with her for one month.
She got my name, my home, and my place as Mrs. Richmond.
I got her poverty, her debts, and her enemies.
When I begged him to let me go, he said, "The only way out of this marriage is death."
So I gave him exactly that.
A burned van. A funeral.
And a dead wife he could finally regret.
---
Everyone in Atlanta knew that Brent Richmond was unconditionally and irrevocably in love with Loretta Hayes.
Loretta loved painting, so he walked away from the business empire he had built through blood, sweat, and sleepless nights and buried himself in art lessons, all just to make her happy.
When his enemies kidnapped Loretta and forced him to stab himself seven times in exchange for her release, he complied without hesitation, never once flinching.
Each strike hit a vital point, and he remained in the ICU for a month before he finally came to.
When Loretta fell seriously ill, he prayed for her recovery for six months straight. On the day of her surgery, he remained in church all day, kneeling until his knees went numb, swearing he would do anything to see her healthy again.
Yet on their wedding night, the same man who had been so devoted calmly placed an absurd agreement in her hands.
Loretta stared at it in stunned disbelief. It was neither a deed transfer nor a share transfer agreement.
Instead, it was an agreement to voluntarily trade lives with someone for a month.
The other person involved was actually Candice Tompkins, an underprivileged student Loretta had recently sponsored but never even met.
Excited, Brent said, "Lori, I've finally found the girl from my dreams.
"She doesn't care about wealth or luxury. She only wants me. And her only wish is to marry me once, so we just let her pretend to be my wife for a month. Once this is over, you and I will have our fresh start."
Loretta thought he had lost his mind and was talking nonsense.
But the moment she saw Candice, she went rigid with shock.
Candice looked exactly like the woman from Brent's dreams.
When he was learning to paint for Loretta, every canvas was filled with her face. But once, he painted a pure-looking stranger instead.
He shrugged it off with a smile, saying he always dreamed about her and only drew her for inspiration.
Only now did Loretta realize that he had been longing for that woman all along. Now that she had appeared in real life, he was ready to abandon Loretta.
"Why?" Loretta asked, her voice shaking violently. "Didn't you promise you would love only me for the rest of your life?"
Brent's eyes, which used to be so full of love, held nothing but impatience now.
"I do love you, but men are biologically wired to cheat," he said.
"I loved her when she existed only in my dreams; I never thought she would one day stand in front of me.
"You're the woman I risked my life to be with. I won't divorce you, but you can't stop me from having some fun for once."
Loretta fell apart. She tried to hold on to the last bit of dignity she had left.
She did not attack Candice in private, and she did not play dirty. She only told the truth to the media—that Brent was still legally married, and Candice had no right to call herself Mrs. Richmond.
But Brent called that "ruining Candice's life."
As punishment, he forced Loretta to record a public confession, making her say she was jealous, vicious, and had lied about everything.
Later, when Loretta found out Brent was using marital money to support Candice's luxury life, she froze the card under her own name. She thought that was the only way to protect what little power she still had.
Brent saw it as another attack.
He froze every card Loretta had, cut off her company's funding, and drove the business she had built with her own hands into bankruptcy.
Then Candice staged her own kidnapping.
Before Loretta could defend herself, Brent locked her—three months pregnant—inside a tempered-glass tank and had a venomous snake dropped into it every minute, trying to force her to reveal where Candice was.
Loretta screamed in terror, desperately shaking her head.
"Brent! Let me out! I didn't kidnap her. This time, it really wasn't me!"
Brent stood not far away, his eyes full of disgust.
"I know exactly how you operate. Tell me where Candi is, or they'll keep releasing snakes. Ten milligrams of venom would be enough to kill you."
"It wasn't me, I swear! Check it yourself! Everything I did was out in the open. I never touched her!"
But Brent only gave a cold laugh.
"Keep releasing them."
On her knees, Loretta watched the snakes slither closer, their tongues flicking in and out. Her face turned deathly pale.
In that moment, the last bit of love she had for him finally died. She had been bitten by a snake in the mountains and had nearly died. He knew that better than anyone.
Now, he was using the very thing she feared most to threaten her!
"Brent, you bastard! My biggest regret in this life is falling in love with you!" she bellowed, her voice hoarse.
Brent's expression didn't shift at all—until he answered the call. Then his eyes suddenly lit up.
"You found Candi? Good. I'll be there right away!"
He turned and left. In horror, Loretta was bitten several times by the snakes and passed out in despair.
When she regained consciousness, she saw on the news that Brent was clutching Candice in his arms like a precious treasure he'd lost and finally found again.
Loretta felt exhausted. It had been six months since she discovered Brent's affair, and the relentless torment had completely drained her.
So she decided to walk away and let them have each other.
But when she took the divorce papers to Brent, he glanced at them once and tore them to shreds.
"Divorce isn't in my vocabulary. The only way out of this marriage is for one of us to die.
"If you don't want to be my wife, then sign the agreement and trade lives with Candice. She'd love to take your place."
"Fine," Loretta hesitated and replied, her voice devoid of emotion.
Brent had no idea she'd signed a staged-death agreement a long time ago.
A month from now, she'd be gone for good, using this life-swapping scheme to fake her death and secure her escape.
---
Chapter 2
Seeing how easily she agreed without even begging him once, Brent's brows drew together slightly.
"Are you still angry? I locked you in with the snakes only to teach you a lesson for what you did this time. Besides, the snakes I used weren't venomous. I was only trying to scare you a little."
Scare her?
Loretta touched her flat lower abdomen. The lingering pain after the dilation and curettage still came in waves.
He didn't know that after she had been bitten by the snakes, her excessive heart palpitations had caused a miscarriage. The baby was already gone.
"Mr. Richmond, stop being such a hypocrite," Loretta said, her voice as still as a pool of dead water. "When does the game start? I'll move out as soon as possible."
A trace of barely perceptible irritation colored Brent's eyes.
"I originally planned to keep you at the estate in the western suburbs while Candice was Mrs. Richmond, where you could live comfortably with everything provided.
"Since you insist on acting so high and mighty, then go ahead and experience her life as a poor student. When the time comes, you'll be begging to come back and be my wife."
Pulling herself out of the memory, Loretta had already dragged her luggage out of the estate.
The servants looked at her sympathetically.
"They only just got married, and Mr. Richmond has already fallen in love with another woman. Mrs. Richmond is too pitiful!
"Let's hurry up and clean the room. Mr. Richmond just rushed us, saying everything has to be arranged according to the new Mrs. Richmond's preferences."
Loretta dragged two heavy suitcases to the roadside to hail a cab. Her heart, long since numb, didn't ripple in the slightest.
The next second, a Maybach slammed to a stop in front of her, knocking over one of her suitcases.
Candice got out of the car and spoke with feigned concern. "Lori, are you okay? Do you want us to give you a ride?"
"No need," Brent said, wrapping an arm around her waist, his voice low. "You usually scrimped and saved so much that you couldn't even bring yourself to take the bus. Now that it's her turn to play your role, she has to live the same way."
Loretta said nothing. She righted her suitcase and walked farther down the road.
Candice still sounded worried. "Bren, can I really switch identities with her?"
"Of course. From now on, you're my wife."
"But you spoiled her so much before. Everyone knows she's the real Mrs. Richmond. If we're going to switch, we need a proper, legitimate reason, don't we?"
Brent called out to Loretta.
"In a little while, I'll have my assistant send you a script. Read it and post it online."
Loretta said nothing and nodded mechanically.
She didn't have much money on her, so she could only rent the most rundown apartment she could find.
Half an hour later, the assistant delivered a written statement.
"Mrs. Richmond…no, Ms. Hayes. Mr. Richmond wants you to read this script on camera."
With trembling hands, Loretta read the venom-laced words aloud in a hoarse voice.
"My name is Loretta Hayes. I've cheated on Brent Richmond, CEO of the Richmond Group, been consumed by jealousy, and shown disgraceful morals. I now publicly clarify that I have divorced Brent. All previous accusations I made against Ms. Candice Tompkins were completely fabricated. I sincerely apologize and promise to return the position of Mrs. Richmond to Ms. Tompkins."
After she finished reading, a dull ache spread through her chest, her throat tightening.
How laughable. Back when Brent had proposed to her, he had knelt on one knee and set off fireworks for an entire month.
He had said, "Lori, you're my muse. Every painting I create is inspired by you. In the entire world, only you can be my true love, my wife. Nothing can destroy what you and I have."
And now? He had forced her to read this humiliating statement in public, destroying her reputation completely.
Less than a minute after it was posted, the video became a trending topic.
The entire internet was tearing Loretta apart, calling her shameless and a homewrecker who had come between someone else's relationship. The rising genius female artist fell from grace in an instant.
Before she could even process the pain, Brent appeared at the door of the rental apartment a few minutes later.
His expensive, handmade leather shoes stepped onto the filthy floor, and he frowned in disgust. But when he saw that her face was as pale as paper, his tone softened.
"Are you angry? This is only temporary. After one month, I'll send Candi overseas, and I'll help you suppress all this public opinion.
"But remember, for this month, you're Candice Tompkins, a poor student of low status who survives on monthly financial aid. You're not allowed to do anything out of line."
Loretta avoided his outstretched hand. Her eyes were a silent, lifeless gray.
"I'll remember."
A satisfied smile curved Brent's lips. "Good. To celebrate Candi becoming my wife, I'm taking you out to dinner."
Loretta had no way to refuse and was forcibly dragged by him to a hotel.
The dishes had already been served in the private dining room. Candice stood up gently, wearing Loretta's custom couture gown.
"Lori, this is soup I prepared especially for you. Hurry and drink it to warm yourself up."
She moved closer to Loretta, her face wearing an innocent, guileless smile.
"I specifically asked Bren about your preferences. It's your favorite chicken soup. I simmered it for three hours, so I guarantee it's the taste you're most familiar with."
A scalding-hot soup tureen was pushed in front of her.
But when Loretta opened it, what churned inside was unmistakably a fetus that hadn't yet fully formed.
---
Chapter 3
Loretta's heart seemed to stop. She suddenly raised her hand and knocked over the soup tureen.
The broth splashed onto Candice's arm, and she screamed as she fell to the floor.
"Lori, if you hated my soup, you could have just refused to drink it. Why did you have to burn me?"
The next second, Loretta was shoved against the wall by a brutal force.
"Loretta, you're truly disappointing!"
Brent helped Candice up, biting out Loretta's name, his eyes filled with disappointment too deep to dissolve.
"I thought you had finally changed. I didn't expect you to still be scheming for ways to bully Candi! How can your heart be so vicious?"
Loretta knelt on the floor. Ignoring her scalded hands, she trembled as she picked up the fetus.
There was no mistake. On the day of her miscarriage, she had seen it with her own eyes. This was her child!
"Brent! That was a fetus. It was your child! I was pregnant before!"
Brent froze in shock and was about to look over, but Candice suddenly spoke in a weak voice.
"Bren, that was clearly chicken soup. I chose the most tender young chicken, and I even cut my hand trying to stew this soup properly. Did she misunderstand me?"
"No need to explain. I believe you."
Brent protected Candice as he helped her stand, then said coldly to Loretta.
"Loretta, do you have no common sense? We haven't slept together in three months. How could you possibly have been pregnant?"
He seemed to have forgotten that three months ago, he had gotten drunk and mistaken her for Candice, and that accidental night had left her pregnant.
Facts spoke louder than words. With trembling hands, she held it out, wanting him to see the miscarried child with his own eyes.
But Brent coldly knocked her hand away. "Enough. I don't care what that lump of flesh is. Candi is innocent and pure. For all I know, you deliberately made this to frame her!
"If you make a mistake, you should be punished. Since you like wasting food so much, go to the kitchen and eat every last bit of slop."
Loretta swayed. "Brent, what did you say?"
But the next second, Loretta was seized by the arms by bodyguards and dragged to the back kitchen.
Two people forced her down in front of a huge bucket of slop, giving off a sour, rotten stench.
"Let me go! I won't eat this!"
Brent held Candice in his arms and watched calmly from the side, as if he were watching a show.
"After this lesson, you won't dare waste food again or trample on someone else's kindness."
Candice nestled in his arms and spoke softly. "Actually, Lori is already very lucky. When I was at my hungriest, I used to dig through the trash for food secretly. What Lori is eating now is still warm leftovers. That's much better than what I had."
Brent's eyes were full of shock as he looked at her, along with aching tenderness for his unforgettable love.
"You never told me any of this. But from now on, as long as I'm here, I absolutely won't let you suffer even the slightest grievance again."
"You two, keep an eye on her. She has to finish all of it. Not a single bit can be left!"
With that, he turned and left with Candice in his arms.
Loretta was forced by the bodyguards to swallow the slop. The taste of rotten food was almost suffocating. She ate and vomited at the same time until she could no longer eat or throw anything up. Then her eyes rolled back, and she passed out.
When she woke again, she was already lying in that narrow rental apartment.
On the nightstand sat a mug of light, soothing soup. Brent had made it with his own hands.
"You're awake?" Brent walked in, concern in his brow and eyes. "You threw up so much. Your stomach must be sore. Drink some soup to take care of it. In a couple of days, I'll take you for a checkup."
Loretta stared blankly for a moment, but all she felt was acid churning in her stomach.
In the past, her stomach had been weak, so he had turned down contracts worth hundreds of millions and spent three months learning how to cook. Every day, he made nutritious meals to nurse her stomach back to health.
The laughable part was that he was the one who had personally forced slop down her throat. What was the point of pretending to care afterward?
Seeing that she remained unmoved, he frowned.
"This time, you were the one at fault. Once you're feeling better, apologize to Candice. Don't forget, she's Mrs. Richmond now. She's your sponsor. You should be grateful to her."
She tugged the corner of her mouth into a mocking smile. "Since my status is so low, I'm not worthy of drinking soup made by Mr. Richmond either. Please leave, Mr. Richmond."
Hearing the sarcasm in her words, Brent's face instantly darkened, and he stormed out, slamming the door behind him.
A few hours later, Candice sent over a video.
Her body was covered in suggestive red marks, and anyone could tell at a glance how rough Brent had been.
"Lori, sleeping alone must feel pretty lonely, huh?
"But don't rush off to sleep just yet. In a little while, the debt collectors will be at your door."
Before Loretta could react, a deafening pounding sounded at the door.
"You bitch, don't play dead! If you don't pay up today, I'll skin you alive!"
Loretta's heart lurched.
Before she had time to call the police, the flimsy door was kicked open by the debt collector.
Loretta's face turned deathly pale. Ignoring her frail body, she struggled to climb out of bed.
"You have the wrong person. I never owed any debt. The person who owes you money is Candice…"
The debt collector, with several lackeys behind him, viciously threw the debt contract in front of her.
"Candice? Her debt has already been transferred to you! The CEO of the Richmond Group personally had someone handle the paperwork!
"I don't care what your relationship is. If you don't pay off this 500,000 dollars today, I'll sell you overseas to cover the debt!"
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