Page 3 of My husband wants me to take the fall for his first love

Early the next morning, Aiden dragged Zoey to the school.

Fallen sycamore leaves carpeted the ground at the school entrance. Aiden strode ahead with determined steps, looking like he was ready to collect a debt.

"Is this the place?" Aiden stopped in front of the academic building and turned to ask Zoey.

Zoey's eyes darted away as she nodded. "It should be."

Without hesitation, Aiden stormed into the office.

Teacher Elena Evans was grading papers when Aiden's fist slamming on the desk startled her.

"Where's Stella? Get her out here! I'm her guardian and I need to speak with her," Aiden demanded.

Elena adjusted her glasses and studied Aiden carefully.

"You're looking for Stella?" she asked.

"Yes. Hurry up and get her over here," Aiden pressed.

"You might be mistaken. Stella dropped out five years ago, right before Christmas," Elena said.

As soon as Elena finished speaking, Aiden burst out laughing.

"I transferred $5,000 in tuition to her account just last semester. And you're telling me she dropped out? Are you trying to brush me off?

Did you take Liliana's money and conspire with her to deceive me? I'm telling you, that's impossible!"

Aiden slammed his phone down on the desk. Elena's expression darkened.

"Sir, please show some respect when you speak. The school would never do such a thing," she said.

"Respect?" Aiden scoffed. "What respect does a worthless woman who can't even get her education straight deserve?

She's just like Liliananothing but lies. For all I know, she ran off with some thug from outside school and is living it up with my money."

Elena shot back, "How can you say that about her?

Stella was our most outstanding student back then. She ranked first in her grade on every exam. If it weren't for..."

"Aiden!" Elena's defense of Stella was cut short by Zoey's anxious interruption.

Zoey tugged at Aiden's arm.

"Aiden, forget it. She probably doesn't know the situation either. Let's go. The case is more important. If this doesn't work out, I'll think of another way."

Aiden stumbled as she pulled him, then turned to glare at her.

"Why are you in such a rush to leave?" he asked.

"Let's not waste time here." Zoey lowered her voice, her eyes filled with panic. "Can't we go look for other leads?"

Before Elena could say anything more, Zoey had already pulled Aiden outside.

When they reached the school gate, Aiden finally couldn't take it anymore and shook off Zoey's hand.

"What's wrong with you today? You've been acting strange since yesterday," he demanded.

Zoey froze for a moment, realizing her reaction had been too obvious.

She clenched her hands and smiled. "Nothing. I just didn't want you to get too worked up."

Watching Zoey's flustered state, Aiden's suspicions grew stronger.

However, he didn't press further, just snorted coldly. "Fine. I'll listen to you. Let's handle the case first."

Zoey visibly relaxed and quickly nodded.

"Good, let's go find a lawyer first," she said.

The two of them walked side by side toward the exit. Sunlight filtered through the leaves, casting dappled shadows on the ground.

I floated behind them, watching Zoey secretly wipe away sweat, and my heart ached like it was being pierced by needles.

On the drive home, Zoey kept rambling about the case.

This time, however, it was Aiden who seemed distracted.

Throughout the ride, Aiden listened to Zoey absentmindedly, giving halfhearted responses. The moment the car came to a stop, he urged Zoey to hurry upstairs.

As soon as Zoey disappeared from sight, Aiden immediately called Parker.

"I need you to investigate two people," he told Parker. "First is Liliana's sister Stella. Starting from when she dropped out of school five years ago, I want every detail of her whereabouts thoroughly investigated.

"Second is Liliana. Re-examine her whereabouts. I don't care what anyone says about whether she's dead or aliveI don't trust any of the previous information about her. Look into it again, carefully."

He paused, then added, "And don't let Zoey know about this."

After hanging up, Aiden sat at his computer to handle some documents. But he couldn't focus on the words on the screen.

Zoey's panicked expression at school today kept flashing before his eyes. The more Aiden thought about it, the more suspicious it seemed.

Aiden worked until dark. Rain suddenly began falling outside, droplets tapping against the glass.

He got up to look for an umbrella and pulled open the bottom drawer of his desk, when his fingers touched a hard box.

Aiden froze. This drawer usually only held old fileswhen had a ring box appeared here?

I floated beside Aiden, my heart suddenly clenching with pain.

That box contained the gift I had prepared for our third wedding anniversary.

Seeing that velvet ring box, Aiden also froze, his brow furrowing deeper and deeper.

But remarkably, I didn't see that familiar look of disgust and revulsion in his eyes.

Actually, my relationship with Aiden hadn't been strained from the beginning.

When we first got together, our relationship could even be described as sweet.

We met through a blind date and unexpectedly hit it off, finding plenty of common ground.

On our first date, we talked about everything from work to hobbies, and discovered we even liked the same perfume scents.

While we were dating, Aiden would always say, "Who would have thought a blind date could lead to finding the right person."

On our wedding day, Aiden held my hand tightly and said he wanted to stay this happy with me for the rest of our lives.

But after Zoey returned to America, everything changed.

The Aiden who used to come home on time for dinner with me, rain or shine, started coming home late. He put a password on his phone and never drank the soup I made anymore.

I had spent half a month selecting that ring, even having mine and Aiden's initials engraved on it.

I had planned to give him the ring on our third anniversary, to surprise him. I also hoped to humbly use that ring to earn just one more glance from him.

But before our third anniversary arrived, I had taken the blame for Zoey and gone to prison.

Aiden opened the box, and the platinum ring inside gleamed faintly. Beneath the ring was a card I had written by hand.

The card read: [Happy Third Anniversary. I hope you'll be by my side for every anniversary to come.]

Aiden's fingers tightened around the card, his expression somewhat dazed.

Perhaps he too was remembering those early days when we were most in love.

Back then, our smiles were genuine, and the light in our eyes was real too.

Just as Aiden stared at the ring in a daze, his phone chimed.

It was a message from Parker: [Mr. Smith, I've found Liliana's records and sent them to your email.]

Aiden snapped back to reality. He shoved the ring box into the drawer and frantically opened his email.

The moment he opened the email attachment, his movements froze.

On the first page of the document was a death certificate.

The death certificate was mine, with the date of death clearly written as five years agothe day I was released from prison.

Aiden's voice began to tremble. His finger scrolled across the phone screen for a long time, as if he couldn't believe what he was seeing.

After a long while, Aiden finally spoke in a hoarse voice.

He said, "Is Liliana really dead?"