Chapter 1

My Judge Husband Favored His First Love, Only to Learn the Shocking Truth After My Death

After my husband lost his memory, he fell for another woman.

He saw me as nothing but a nuisance. As a judge, he even sentenced me to death with his own lips when his mistress framed me.

"Avery Shaw, don't blame me for being heartless. You refused to divorce me, insisted on clinging to me, and stood in the way of me and Serena being together."

Then, I really died.

But my husband, his memory restored, went insane.

I died in a cold prison cell, brutally tortured to death by the other inmates.

My body was a wreck of broken bones and fractures, covered in so many bruises and bloodstains that there wasn't an inch of unmarked skin left.

Someone was trying to reach my husband, Gaylen Hayes, to inform him to collect my body.

Over the phone, I heard his voice – mocking, filled with disgust:

"Avery Shaw probably put you up to this, trying to trick me. That woman never changes, always scheming, even in prison."

"I sentenced her to death, yes, but it was suspended for two years. As long as she behaves well in prison, there's still hope for a reduced sentence, maybe even life imprisonment, or getting out!"

"I already gave her a chance, what more does she want from me?"

"Tell Avery Shaw to stop bothering me!"

Gaylen impatiently hung up.

A bitter, humorless laugh escaped me.

Why, even after I'd died, after I’d become a mere soul, did I still have to hear such cruel, heartless words?

Gaylen himself had put me in here. Did he truly believe I’d ever see the light of day again?

Didn't he know I was specifically placed in a cell with a group of hardened, vicious inmates?

It was as if they were acting on someone's orders, subjecting me to unspeakable abuse every single day.

For me, death wasn't a punishment; it was a release.

I found Gaylen in a high-end French restaurant.

I had just died, yet he was enjoying a candlelit dinner with a charming, graceful woman.

Lost in a haze of sweet affection, they were sharing intimate sips of red wine, their eyes locked in adoration.

"This restaurant is excellent. You truly have good taste," Gaylen praised softly, his face alight with tenderness.

That scene made me recall the last time I took Gaylen out.

He would always complain that my chosen restaurants weren't elegant or stylish enough.

Even when I meticulously picked places that perfectly matched his aesthetic and preferences, he’d still nitpick and find fault.

"Avery Shaw, what kind of dump is this? The food is awful, and the service is terrible!"

"Just like you – terrible!"

Our meals always ended in arguments and resentment.

Now, thinking back, it probably wasn't the restaurant's fault at all.

The real issue was *who* he was dining with.

The woman sitting opposite him was Serena Thorne, Gaylen's new mistress.

Serena thoughtfully cut Gaylen's steak for him and even raised a silver fork to his lips.

Gaylen happily opened his mouth and ate.

"Gaylen," Serena glanced at the watch on her wrist, then looked up, her gaze full of suggestive meaning, "Want to come over to my place tonight?"

"Oh, I don't think that's appropriate."

Serena cajoled, "It doesn't matter, she's already… gone."

Gaylen's face immediately darkened, and he scowled in disgust. "Don't mention that nauseating name."

"You wouldn't believe it, she even bribed the prison staff to lie and tell me to collect her body. All she wants is an excuse to see me."

"Hmph, don't I know her? I have no idea where she gets the nerve to keep pestering me. She's like a persistent leech, absolutely sickening."

Hearing that, my chest ached with a bitter pang, yet I still tried to console myself. *It's okay.*

Gaylen was just suffering from amnesia.

He once loved me dearly.