After They Destroyed My Family, I Came Back from the Dead Chapter 1

In my previous life, just before the wedding, I found my fiancée, Phoebe, naked in our marital bed with my best friend.

In a blind rage, I hurled the heavy steel thermos I was holding at the two of them.

Phoebe, bleeding from the head, called the cops immediately.

I was facing assault charges. It was either jail time or a fifty-thousand-dollar settlement.

To keep me out of trouble, my mom paid it without a second thought.

Things had gone too far. The wedding was off.

But when it came time to return the engagement gifts, Phoebe claimed the one hundred thousand dollars’ worth of solid gold jewelry I’d given her was all fake.

With the price of gold having skyrocketed, she sued me for two hundred and twenty thousand dollars in cash.

It wiped out my mother's life savings and every penny I had.

The stress caused my mom to have a stroke, landing her in the ICU.

Crushed by the weight of it all, I was a ghost walking. I stumbled, tumbled down a flight of stairs, and the impact to my head killed me.

When I opened my eyes, I was back.

Back on that same, cursed day.

* * *

My friends and I stood frozen, staring at my fiancée, Phoebe, and my best friend, Lewis, tangled together naked in what was supposed to be our marital bed. Clothes were strewn across the floor, and the air was thick with a sour, repulsive smell.

For a moment, the world went silent.

My friends were stunned into disbelief by the shameless scene before them.

As for me, I was just reeling from being reborn.

In my last life, just before I died, I received the court notice. A lien on my future, ordering me to pay Phoebe that two hundred and twenty thousand dollars.

Even as I closed my eyes for the last time, I knew that debt would follow me into the grave, a final victory for that venomous woman.

“You shameless bastards! What the hell are you doing?!”

“Phoebe, you’re getting married! How could you do something like this?”

“Wait, isn’t that guy Kevin’s best friend? You’re sleeping with your best friend’s fiancée? Haven’t you ever heard of bro code?”

My friends finally found their voices, their shock turning to outrage.

But Phoebe and Lewis didn’t react like people caught in the act. There was no scrambling for clothes, no panic. Instead, they both turned to look at me, their eyes filled with a chilling mix of defiance and contempt.

Phoebe leisurely pulled the duvet over her chest.

“What are you doing here?” she asked, her voice impossibly calm. “I thought you were arranging the wedding cars.”

There was no begging, no tears, just a breathtaking display of shamelessness.

Then it hit me. Before coming to see the new apartment, I had texted Phoebe, telling her I was bringing a few friends over to check it out.

She knew we were coming. She had set this up.

Last time, I was too consumed by rage to think clearly. The sight of their brazenness made me snap. I grabbed the thermos and threw it.

I remembered how Phoebe, a supposedly delicate woman, had calmly wiped the blood from her forehead and dialed 911.

She wanted me to lose control.

I understood now.

I couldn’t let her provoke me again. But my friends were already at their breaking point.

“It’s a damn good thing we came to see Kevin’s new place,” one of them seethed. “Otherwise, how would we have caught you screwing around with another man?”

“Quick, get it on video! Let’s show everyone what kind of disgusting people these two are.”

Phones were already out, cameras pointed at the half-dressed pair.

“Don’t!” I shouted, stepping in front of my friends, blocking their view.

They stared at me, confused.

“Are you crazy, Kevin?” Ryan, my closest friend, demanded. “If we don’t record this, they’ll just deny everything!”

I gave a bitter smile.

What difference would it make? In court last time, I submitted a video of their affair. But the law stated that since we weren’t married yet, she hadn’t committed a crime, only a moral transgression.

Phoebe had even threatened to countersue me for invasion of privacy.

“Spreading this stuff online is illegal,” I explained, my voice tight. “She’ll sue us.”

My words made them lower their phones.

“So we just let them get away with it?” Ryan fumed. “What if they twist the story and blame you?”

“Oh, we’re definitely getting proof,” I said, pulling out my own phone. “But I’ll be the one to do it.”