“My husband reported you for having an affair,” the firm’s partner said, sliding a piece of paper across his desk. “You’re fired, effective immediately. ”
I stared at him, my hands trembling. Serafina stood behind him, arms crossed, a triumphant smirk on her face.
The man who claimed to be my husband stood beside her, looking anywhere but at me. Except he wasn’t my husband. I had never even met my husband. Three years ago, I was left at the altar by a stranger named Caden Wilson.
Our families had arranged the marriage, and I had agreed, hoping that with effort, we could build something real together. But when the wedding day came, Caden ran away to Europe without a single word. I had spent the last three years building my career as a lawyer, telling myself it didn’t matter. I had never even seen his face.
It wasn’t until I started handling a divorce case for a new client—the CEO of Glory Group, a man named Caden Wilson—that everything began to unravel. He was going to divorce his wife. His lawyer had been dodging him. And when I walked into that law firm to assist, I found myself staring at a case that mirrored my own life too closely to be coincidence.
Same name. Same arranged marriage. Same wife who hadn’t seen her husband in three years. But then my phone rang.
My friend Grace was calling to tell me that my own husband—that Caden Wilson—had returned. So I put the thought aside. If I had a real case to handle, that could not possibly be the same man. I didn’t know I had walked right into a decade’s worth of coincidences that were about to collide.
The client, Mr. Wilson, turned out to be the CEO of Glory Group—a company that rivaled even my own husband’s Wilson Group in wealth. He wanted a divorce. I was assigned his lawyer.
We met constantly, and something about him felt familiar. But my husband’s name was Caden Wilson. And this man was also named Caden Wilson. No, it couldn’t be the same.
While I juggled my confusing marriage and this new client, my supposed best friend Serafina had been living in my apartment without permission. She had claimed she couldn’t find a place and I, being kind, let her stay for a while. The day that changed everything, I came home to find her with a man. A strange man.
And when I saw the look on his face, something snapped. “Serafina, get out,” I said. “You have five minutes to leave with your man. ”
She sneered.
“What’s the big deal? She’s been married for three years and she still hasn’t met her husband. She’s envious of me. ”
I was tired of it all.
I had no desire to endure another minute in a marriage to a man who had abandoned me. The next day, I received a call from a man claiming to be my husband. He said he wanted to meet to discuss a divorce. Finally.
It was time to end this charade. The man I met at a café looked nothing like what I had imagined. He was handsome, well-dressed, and confident. “I’m offering you 20 million,” he said flatly.
“That’s not enough,” I replied, testing him. “Name your price,” he said. “I haven’t figured it out yet. ”
Then he stood up, angry.
“You think way too highly of yourself. There’s no point continuing this conversation. My lawyer will be in touch. ”
And that was it.
The man I had been married to for three years walked out of the café without a second glance. I should have known then that something was wrong. Because I had been talking to the wrong person. Days passed.
Serafina began to act strange. She kept pushing me to meet with my client, Mr. Wilson. She even showed up at the law firm claiming she wanted a divorce from her husband—a man I had never met.
She pleaded with me to help her. “You’re my lawyer,” she said. “Tell Caden to talk to me himself if he wants a divorce. ”
I did.
I went to Mr. Wilson, still believing he was representing my own husband, and told him his wife wasn’t agreeing to the divorce. But then Mr. Wilson looked at me strangely.
“My wife’s name is Sarah,” he said. “Not Serafina. ”
Sarah. His wife was named Sarah.
The room spun around me. Sarah is my name. His wife was named Sarah. And his name was Caden Wilson.
“Mr. Wilson,” I whispered, “you said you wanted a divorce from your wife. Her name is Sarah? ”
“Yes,” he said.
“I never met her. I abandoned her at our wedding. ”
I looked at him. The pieces were falling into place so fast I couldn’t catch my breath.
“Did you live in Emerald Hills? ” I asked. “Before you left for Europe? ”
He stared at me, his face pale.
“Yes. How did you know? ”
“My mother made me move there after our wedding,” I said. “Before that, I lived in Moonlight Apartments.
Room 606. ”
His eyes widened in shock. “Sarah. You’re Sarah.
You’re my wife. ”
I stumbled backward. “This can’t be. You’re the CEO of Glory Group.
I thought my husband was part of Wilson Group. ”
“Wilson Group was my grandfather’s company,” he said slowly. “I left to build my own. ” There was a sudden, awful understanding in his voice.
“When I came back and your friend Grace told me you wanted a divorce, I thought—I thought you were cheating on me. That’s why I wanted to divorce you. I thought you had a lover. ”
A lover.
Serafina had been impersonating me. She had posed as my lawyer and pretended to be Mr. Wilson’s wife. That man I met in the café claiming to be my husband—that wasn’t him.
Serafina had hired a fake to seduce me and ruin my marriage. All this time, Caden had been trying to divorce me because he believed I had been unfaithful. And I had been trying to divorce someone I mistakenly thought was him. When the truth finally broke open, it wasn’t just a misunderstanding.
Serafina stood in my law firm, arms crossed, the same defiant expression on her face. The partner, who was in on her scheme, was trying to fire me. But then Caden’s grandmother—the woman I had always called Grace—walked in. “My grandson hasn’t married you,” Grace said coldly to Serafina.
“His wife is Sarah. ”
Serafina paled. The fake husband was still standing there, trying to hide behind her. Grace turned to look at me.
“Sarah, this woman and her accomplice have been trying to ruin you. She posed as you, convinced Caden you had cheated, and tried to take over your marriage. ”
I felt sick. “I thought he was your husband,” I said to Serafina.
“When you came to me for a divorce and said you wanted half of Caden’s assets, I believed you. ”
“How could you be so foolish? ” Grace said. “I told you that you and Caden had a month to get to know each other.
But Serafina saw an opportunity. She pretended to be you. ”
It was true. Serafina knew I had never met my husband.
She had used that against me. The police later arrested the fake husband for fraud. Serafina was eventually charged as well for her role in the scheme. But as I stood there, watching her being led away, Caden approached me.
His face was softer than when I had first met him. “I’m sorry,” he said quietly. “I pushed you away because I thought I couldn’t trust you. I thought you were unfaithful to me—that man was supposed to be your lover.
But it was all a lie. I never knew my own wife. ”
I looked at him. For so long, I had felt nothing but anger and abandonment.
But now, standing in front of the man who had left me at the altar, I felt something else—a strange familiarity, the echo of a bond I had only just uncovered. “I bought this ring the moment I realized I couldn’t live without you,” he said, reaching into his pocket. He held out a small box. “Will you marry me again, Sarah?
For real this time? ”
I didn’t know how to feel. The last three years had been nothing but pain and confusion. But then I remembered the way he had rushed to help me when I was hurt, before I even knew he was my husband.
I remembered the way he had cooked me breakfast, the way he had protected me when the fake claims were still circling. And I realized I had been searching for something I didn’t know I already had. “You big jerk,” I whispered, tears filling my eyes. “After everything you put me through, I still love you.
”
“Is that a yes? ” he asked. I smiled. “Yes.
A thousand times yes. ”
