The Woman Who Came Back After Dying in the Deep Water

I am Jody Holt. The day my husband, Nate Holt, froze all my bank accounts, my mother was in the ICU waiting for surgery.

He said only one thing. "Jody, either you sign the divorce papers, or your mother can figure it out herself."

I thought he was only trying to pressure me, until his lawyer slid a second document in front of me.

It was the prenuptial agreement between him and Sharon Jones, the woman who had come between us. The date they signed it was three months before this divorce agreement between us.

I asked him, "Since when have you two been together?"

He glanced at his watch as casually as if he were checking the time for an unimportant meeting. "We have been together since the day I married you."

I signed my name on the divorce agreement.

Then I died.

At least, that was what all the newspapers in the city said.

...

The moment Nate saw me sign it, he stood up without the slightest hesitation and was about to leave.

I still could not let it go. I pressed a hand over the prenuptial agreement. "You married me for the voting rights of my family's Wells Group?"

Nate stopped in his tracks and said, not denying it, "Holt Group needed the Wellses' support back then, and you needed to marry someone your parents could trust. We both got what we needed. This marriage was not as shameful as you think."

He could always make a betrayal sound like cooperation.

Eight years ago, I had entrusted him with the shares my grandfather left me. I had also persuaded my father to give Wells Group's orders to Holt Group, the company owned by Nate's family.

When his uncles conspired to oust him, I visited fourteen banks for him.

When he was hospitalized with a high fever, I waited outside his room with stacks of documents in my arms, calling the directors one by one.

In the early hours of that morning, he walked out of his hospital room and draped his coat over my shoulders. "Jody, when this is over, I will take you to see the Northern Lights."

I waited for him to fulfill his promise for seven years.

But what I finally got from him instead was a divorce agreement delivered by his lawyer less than two hours after Nate's press conference announcing that he had taken over as chairman of Holt Group.

I let go of the pages of the prenup. "What about my mother's surgery fees?"

Nate said, "Once you sign, your accounts will be unfrozen."

I said, "The hospital wants me to pay them by three this afternoon."

Nate glanced at his phone. "My lawyer will handle it."

I said, "Unfreeze my medical account first."

"Jody, do not fight me over this right now." He leaned down and straightened the water glass in front of me, his tone still patient. "Your mother will still get her treatment. Once you cooperate with me to finish the divorce, I will arrange for foreign specialists to come and consult on her case. As for the shares and the properties, I won't shortchange you."

He used the same trick to placate me before.

If he forgot my birthday, he would make it up with a necklace. If he canceled a trip at the last minute, he would have his assistant send me an open-ended plane ticket.

But every ticket eventually expired unused.

I looked at him, whom I had hopelessly loved for years, and I finally understood that he had never loved me.

I had desperately and secretly loved him since I was a student, but in the end, it had all been a joke.

I gave a bitter laugh, did not look at Nate again, and walked out of the hospital.

When I returned to Holt Manor, I prepared to pack my things.

Then I discovered that my fingerprint had already been deleted from the manor's security system.

Just then, bursts of cheers suddenly came from the main hall of the manor.

I froze where I stood with a sharp pain in my heart. So he had not only signed a prenup with her. He had brought her home long ago.

I was the only fool who had been kept in the dark.

I wanted to turn around and leave, but things my dead father left me were still inside the manor, so I had no choice but to press the doorbell.

Ten minutes later, a servant finally came to open the door at a leisurely pace.

I knew they were doing it on purpose, but I no longer had the energy to argue with them.

There were so many champagne and flowers in the main hall. Dozens of Holt Group executives and socialites surrounded Sharon, congratulating her.

Someone fawningly called her "Mr. Holt's fiancee," and she responded with a smile, raising her glass.

"Jody, why did you not tell me you were coming back?" Sharon turned to me and lifted a hand to adjust her hair.

The moment she raised her hand, I noticed the blue diamond necklace around her neck, and the scene gave me a painful twist in my heart.

It was the necklace my father had personally made for me before he died. He had told me it was a gift for when I got married.

I had always treasured it. I kept it in the safe and had never worn it.

Now it was around Sharon's neck.

I clenched my fists and tried my best to speak calmly. "Give me back my necklace. My father left it to me."

Sharon raised an eyebrow and said innocently, "Jody, Nate gave it to me."

I clenched my fists until my nails dug into my palms, forcing down the dull ache in my chest. Without another word, I pulled out my phone and called the police.

Blocking the door, I said, "Since you refuse to return the necklace, Ms. Jones, we will let the police settle this when they arrive."

The entire hall fell silent.

Sharon's face turned pale, but she wasn't taking off the necklace.

She picked up her phone, dialed a number, and said aggrievedly and piteously to the person on the other end. "Nate, Jody accused me of stealing her things."

Less than twenty minutes later, Nate came rushing back.

He protectively stepped in front of Sharon, shielding her behind him, and stared coldly at me. "Did we not already sign the agreement? Why are you making a scene now? It is just a necklace. Name your price, and I will transfer the money to you."

He thought I was still the same person who he could easily dismiss with a little money I had been before.

But he was wrong.

I stared straight into his eyes without backing down. "You know that was what my father left me."

Nate froze for a moment, as if he had remembered it.

But in the next second, he put on that same arrogant attitude again. "Sharon will hold a jewelry exhibition next month. She needs a centerpiece for the event. We will return it to you once the exhibition is over."

I argued, "No. It is mine. I do not agree..."

Before I could finish, Nate impatiently cut me off. "Jody, stop making a scene. Having the police here will do no good to anyone. Call again and tell them not to come, and I will have Sharon return it to you right now."

Suddenly, a sharp police siren sounded outside the door.

I clenched my hands and gave a cold laugh. "It's too late."