Chapter 8: A New Life, Free at Last

Three months later, everything had changed.

The investigation officially concluded.

Mandy was charged with forging medical records, issuing a false death certificate, and assisting in financial fraud.

She lost her medical license forever.

Phineas and Tiffany were declared jointly responsible for part of Dylan's outstanding debts after investigators uncovered their involvement in helping him fake his death.

Their savings disappeared almost overnight.

The Lovell family, once so proud, had become the laughingstock of the entire city.

As for me, no one knew that I had quietly claimed the billion-dollar lottery months earlier.

I invested most of the money anonymously and donated a large sum to cancer research.

Ironically, the disease Dylan had pretended to suffer from was now helping real patients survive.

One afternoon, I received a letter from prison.

The sender was Mandy.

Curious, I opened it.

"Celeste," the letter began.

"I know apologizing won't change anything, but I still want you to know the truth. Dylan never loved me either. He only wanted your lottery money. Once we escaped overseas, he planned to abandon me as well. I was just another pawn."

I finished reading without the slightest emotion.

Then I folded the letter and tossed it into the shredder.

Whether Dylan had loved Mandy or not no longer mattered.

Neither of them deserved another second of my attention.

That evening, I stood beside the quiet river where everything had begun.

The water flowed peacefully beneath the sunset.

In my previous life, this river had become my grave.

In this life, it had become the place where fate gave me another chance.

"It's over," I whispered.

A warm breeze brushed across my face, carrying away the last trace of hatred buried deep inside my heart.

I smiled genuinely for the first time in two lifetimes.

Tomorrow would be the first day of a brand-new life.

One that belonged entirely to me.