1

My wife, Sarah, a seasoned pilot, had just told me she was pregnant when her plane went down in a catastrophic crash. In her final, desperate moments, she somehow managed an emergency landing. I scoured the wreckage, searching for any sign of her, only to be told there was nothing left—no body, no trace. Besides me, only Sarah’s twin sister, Emily, and her husband, Jake Thompson, had survived the tragedy.

I became obsessed, chasing every phantom lead, desperate to find my wife. Then, eight months later, I overheard something that ripped my world apart. My sister-in-law, Emily, drunk and arguing with a friend, her voice slurring, "Jake suddenly lost his wife, and his arm is broken. How could I abandon him?"

"Alex's mother drugged me all those years ago, forced me into marrying him. I've harbored resentment for so long. Maybe this is my chance to finally make things right, to fix what was broken, until Jake recovers."

The words hit me like a physical blow. Emily? No. It was Sarah. The woman I’d been searching for, the one I thought was gone forever, stood before me, playing the part of her own dead twin.

My heart turned to ash. I walked over to the framed photo of Sarah I’d kept on my bedside table, the one I’d believed was her memorial. I tossed it into the trash, the glass cracking with a sickening snap. Then I called my parents.

"Don't look for Sarah anymore. Just... declare her legally deceased. Erase her from the records. I'm remarrying."

"Even if Sarah really died, there should have been a body, a trace. There's nothing. Are you truly giving up the search?" my mother's voice, thick with concern, asked through the phone. I clutched the device, my knuckles white, unable to speak for a long moment. Despair was a lead weight in my gut.

From the next room, I could hear Sarah's friend, Chloe, her voice hot with righteous anger. "You faked your death, fine! But at least you could have left your sister’s body! At least then Alex could have found closure! He’s been out of his mind, searching everywhere, a pitiful sight…"

Sarah, lounging on the plush sofa with infuriating nonchalance, her expression a complex mix of emotions, finally spoke. "I was worried Jake would be too upset, so I had Emily’s body cremated immediately. If Alex wants to keep searching, let him. Why should I care? Their family used such disgusting tactics to force me into that marriage. This is just… payback." As she finished, a fierce, burning resentment blazed in her eyes.

She blamed my mother, who, in a desperate attempt to ease my agonizing, unrequited love, had impulsively drugged Sarah on the night of our arranged engagement. It had shackled Sarah to me for five miserable years. Who could have imagined that the wife who had always shown me such warmth and care could harbor such deep-seated hatred for so long, all for that single night? A bitter laugh escaped my lips. Then, against my will, tears welled in my eyes, tracing cold, unforgiving paths down my cheeks.

On the day of the crash, all of Sarah’s colleagues from AeroWing Airlines had come to offer their condolences, urging me to find peace. But the suddenness of it all, the brutal finality, had been impossible to accept. I had knelt outside the airline’s headquarters for three days and three nights, begging for a rational explanation. Why was there no trace of my wife’s body? Why was there no clear conclusion to the crash investigation? I’d clung to the desperate belief that she was still alive. Yet, with every fruitless lead, every unanswered prayer, countless nights had found me teetering on the edge, wanting nothing more than to end it all, to follow her into death.

Now, I knew the sickening truth. It had all been Sarah’s elaborate, absurd, and cruel charade. She had orchestrated her own disappearance, a grotesque play she’d directed herself. Living under my roof, under my very nose, flaunting her affection with Jake day after day – had she never felt a flicker of remorse? Welcoming me into the Peterson family home as her sister, offering me calculated gestures of sympathy and concern – did she truly believe that could somehow atone for the profound pain she’d inflicted?

I slumped against the wall, sliding slowly to the floor, the world suddenly too heavy to bear. It took me a full minute to find my voice. "Mom," I rasped, "from now on, I'll focus solely on the Stone family business. If I'm remarrying, then let it be to Chloe Sterling, the Sterling Group heiress." The Sterling Group and the Stone family were perfectly matched, a strategic alliance. She was the ideal candidate.

My mother, despite her reluctance to see me marry a woman rumored to be confined to a wheelchair, quietly agreed after hearing the brutal truth. "But… aren't you going to tell Sarah about your kidney injury? What if it makes her feel something? After all, you loved her so much back then…"

2

I shook my head, a bitter, self-deprecating laugh escaping me. "I'll just... secretly have it removed." If she was so willing to assume a new identity to care for Jake, then I would grant her that twisted devotion. Let the identity of Sarah Peterson, my wife, vanish completely.

I had just settled into my car, ready to leave, when I saw Sarah rushing towards the hospital. Moments later, a text message from her lit up my phone:

"Alex! Big news for the family! I'm about to give birth!"

My wife of five years, the woman who had shared my life and love, was now calling me "brother-in-law" and attributing our child to another man. The sheer absurdity of it all, the cold indifference, washed over me. It felt utterly pointless.

I didn't bother to reply. Instead, I drove directly to the hospital, walking straight to the registration desk to request kidney surgery. A young nurse, her voice kind and gentle, asked, "Is your partner here? We usually need to consult family, you don't have to face this alone."

My gaze drifted towards the delivery ward, where I saw Sarah, her face alight with tender adoration as she cradled a newborn. A bitter, self-mocking laugh escaped me. "My partner passed away," I told the nurse, "so I'll make my own decisions." The nurse, suddenly awkward, simply mumbled an "Oh," and quickly registered me.

I tried to hide in a quiet corner, waiting for my surgery, but Sarah spotted me anyway. She came bouncing over, her face radiant. "Alex! I had a little boy! Our Peterson family finally has a legacy!"

Her smile, so blindingly bright, faltered as she saw the numb expression on my face, a fleeting flicker of guilt crossing her features. "I know you always wanted a child. Actually, I—oh, I mean, Emily, your sister, she really wanted a child too. If only she were still here…"

I stared at her now-flat stomach, my heart clenching as if a cruel hand were twisting it. For years, I had yearned for a child. And now, the child was right there, before me, yet I was utterly stripped of the right to claim him.

As she spoke, two doctors, standing some distance away, called out to both of us simultaneously.

"Ms. Peterson, your partner is looking for you!"

"Mr. Stone, it's time for your surgery!"

Perhaps she was too ecstatic, too wrapped up in her new role, to hear my name. I brushed past her, an invisible phantom. She was cooing with delight, tickling the tiny infant in her arms, while I was walking into an operating room to have a kidney removed. Thankfully, the surgery was swift.

Fresh out of surgery, Sarah insisted I come into the recovery room to see the newborn. Jake Thompson was there too. He’d sustained injuries in the crash, and even with his arm in a cast, he looked remarkably handsome, clearly well-cared for. I glanced at my reflection in the mirror: my chin was shadowed with stubble, and I looked years older than my actual age.

Suddenly, Sarah announced she was hungry and instinctively reached for a mango someone had left on the table. Jake shot her a look, and she immediately, fondly, tossed the fruit into the trash. I used to warn her countless times that I was allergic to mangoes, but she'd always eaten them without a second thought.

Jake looked at me, a triumphant smirk playing on his lips. "Alex, my wife listens to my every word. She knows I can't stand the smell of mangoes, so she never buys them anymore. I guess I really married the right woman."

Jake’s words dripped with possessiveness, a smug challenge in his tone. Did he know? Did he realize this woman, pretending to be his wife, was actually Sarah? I didn’t have time to dwell on it. My parents-in-law, Mr. and Mrs. Peterson, rushed in, squeezing past me, eager to see their new grandson. That perfect little family of three, with the grandparents beaming over them, truly looked like a harmonious unit. And me? What was I? Not even a grieving widower to my own wife…

Back home, a package from the Sterling family had already arrived for me: several photos of Chloe Sterling, along with samples of wedding attire and diamond rings. I hadn't expected Sarah, who had returned to retrieve Jake's jacket, to catch sight of Chloe’s face on my phone screen. Her voice, suddenly tight with nerves, cut through the quiet.

"Who is this? Alex, what are you doing?"

3

I ignored her slip, the casual use of my first name that broke her careful facade. My voice was calm, almost bored. "Your sister is gone. My family has arranged for me to meet someone. It's only reasonable for a widower to remarry, isn't it?"

Sarah's face darkened instantly. "No! You can't!"

Perhaps she realized her reaction was too strong, too revealing. After a beat, she forced herself to lower her voice, her words strained. "I mean… my sister has been gone for less than a year. You can't possibly remarry so soon. I’m her twin sister, and you're my brother-in-law. You two were so devoted when she was alive. How could you change your heart so quickly? I can't just stand by and watch you leave the Peterson family."

"What if—I mean, what if—she came back someday? We never found her body, after all. She might not truly be gone…"

Her frantic, almost desperate demeanor left me bewildered. She clearly hated me, despised me even. So why was she fighting so hard to stop me from remarrying?

When I stubbornly returned to scrolling through the photos, Sarah’s frustration boiled over. She snatched my phone, her movements sharp, and furiously deleted the images. "You need to stay here, with the Petersons! Stop thinking about remarrying!" She was so flustered, she even forgot to call me "brother-in-law."

Sarah opened her mouth, about to continue her protests, but her phone suddenly chimed with an incoming call.

"Babe," Jake's voice, laced with pain, filtered through the speaker. "My arm still hurts so bad after the surgery. Can you please come over? I keep having nightmares about losing it if you're not here."

Ever since Jake had broken his arm in the crash, it seemed he was constantly battling post-op infections or suffering night terrors. Sarah always rushed to his side at top speed. This time was no exception.

Before Jake could even finish, Sarah hastily grabbed a few of his shirts, then bolted out the door, leaving her own jacket behind. It was then that I truly understood. Her pleas for me not to remarry? They were just empty pleasantries, a performance in her role as the grieving sister.

A bitter laugh escaped me. I called the Sterling family, asking them to resend the photos. I chose the wedding attire and the diamond ring. Beyond that, I threw out every last photograph, every last memento of Sarah Peterson. It was as if she had never existed.

That evening, halfway through my ruthless purge, Sarah returned with Jake, holding the baby.

"Alex," she began, her tone carefully earnest. "After Emily passed, Jake invited you to stay with us, to help you through your grief. Since the crash, he's been having terrible nightmares. From now on, you can take care of Jake. Think of it as taking care of your brother-in-law for Emily's sake."

I clenched the trash bag in my hand, unable to utter a single word.

Sarah peered through the cracked door of my bedroom, seeing the stark emptiness. She was about to question me when her phone rang, pulling her away. As I went downstairs to dump the trash, I overheard Sarah's voice, ringing with smug certainty.

"They're just trying to set him up with someone. You don't know Alex? He's still completely obsessed with finding me. Even if he can't, he'd probably try to follow me into death! He's definitely going to reject any family arrangements!"

A cynical laugh escaped me. I returned to my room, continuing to pack. Tomorrow, I was leaving. Unexpectedly, Jake followed me in. He proudly stroked the baby in his arms, a chilling, insidious smirk twisting his lips – a look I’d never seen from him before.

"Alex, do you really think your wife died in that crash?" he sneered. "Let me do you a favor. Your 'sister-in-law' is the real Sarah Peterson. She’s here, willingly by my side, while you’re just a pathetic, cuckolded widower!"

"All those days you were wailing, tearing your hair out, practically ready to kill yourself to be with Sarah? You were such a fool!"

He was right. I had been an utter fool. My love for Sarah had been so absolute, it had never once wavered in suspicion. I had believed she would never abandon me in a plane crash. I had believed she would never feel anything for any man but me.

But those days were long, long gone.

4

When I remained silent, Jake, as if overcome by a sudden, furious shame, lashed out and slapped me hard across the face. "My wife is dead, so I'm keeping Sarah by my side forever! You'll never take her from me!"

Just then, Sarah rushed in. Seeing Jake’s hand raised to strike my face, she instinctively darted forward, throwing herself between us.

Sarah’s eyes landed on the angry red mark blooming on my cheek, and a flicker of anger crossed her brows. "Jake! He's our brother-in-law! How could you—"

Before she could finish, Jake pulled the baby tighter, his voice a quick, panicked defense. "I didn't mean to! It's just... Alex hates us for having this baby, and he tried to snatch him and throw him down! I only hit him out of a father's instinct to protect!"

In an instant, Sarah’s allegiance shifted. The supposed "family hierarchy" was forgotten, replaced by a furious glare. "Emily's death isn't our fault! Why would you try to hurt my baby? You are utterly heartless!"

"A cruel man like you doesn't deserve our pity! Maybe Emily just didn't want to see you anymore, that's why she secretly hid herself away!"

My hands fell limply to my sides. This, I realized, was likely the truth she had harbored in her heart for years. Sarah, her eyes blazing red, glared at me, her chest heaving with uncontrolled fury. When I still didn’t speak, her tone softened, a veneer of pity in her voice.

"Don't worry, Emily will come back someday. They haven't declared her legally dead yet, right? Then, you two can just have another child together."

I numbly shook my head. "I'm not looking for her anymore."

In an instant, Sarah’s face darkened, a look of utter disbelief twisting her features. "How can you just suddenly stop looking? You always said you loved Emily! Are you just giving up so easily? You…"

Jake grabbed Sarah’s arm, pulling the agitated woman closer, then roughly tilted her chin up. "Let 'brother-in-law' rest. Let's go back to our room and work on baby number two, my good wife."

Sarah’s eyes lingered on me for a few more seconds, a fleeting, unreadable expression in their depths, before she finally let Jake lead her out of the room.

The next morning, as I carried my luggage downstairs, I heard a tremor of panic in Sarah’s voice. "Last night, Alex suddenly said he wasn't looking for me anymore. I… never mind. Just hurry up and help me. Help me get my old identity back."

Sarah Peterson, I thought, a grim satisfaction settling in. There's truly no need for that anymore. I walked out of the Peterson home without a backward glance, driving straight to the Sterling Estate to finalize the wedding arrangements.

After hanging up the phone, Sarah rushed to my room, flinging the door open, only to find it empty. "Al—" Her heart seizing with a jolt of panic, she started to call my name but stopped short as her mother, Mrs. Peterson, cheerfully bustled in.

"Oh, what a wonderful double blessing for our family!" Mrs. Peterson chirped.

Sarah paused, a bewildered frown creasing her brow. "Double blessing? Besides me giving the Peterson family a new addition, what else has happened recently?"

Mrs. Peterson puffed out her chest proudly. "Hmph! Your brother-in-law is getting remarried, of course! He basically cursed your sister to her death, and now he’s finally willing to get out of our family’s hair!"

The words hit Sarah like a punch. Her pupils constricted sharply, and she blurted out, "What? But I haven't divorced him yet! How could he possibly—"

Just then, her phone buzzed again. It was Chloe, her friend from the earlier conversation.

"Sarah, someone… someone seems to have voided your identity. If you want to get your original identity back, I don't think it's going to happen…"