Picked Up My Wife’s Secret Family in My Rideshare

On my way home, I picked up my last rideshare order.

A man with a six-year-old child was on the phone with his wife. Honey, I'm in the car now. I'll drop off our son and come right back to spend our anniversary with you.

His wife's voice came through. Don't we have a car at home? Stop taking rideshares. Those cars are filthy.

My grip on the steering wheel suddenly tightened.

Not because of the insult in her words, but because the woman's voice sounded exactly like my wife, Serena Moore.

After the man hung up, he said apologetically, "Sorry about that. My wife is a bit of a germaphobe."

I nodded and probed cautiously, "What does your wife do for work?"

The child answered proudly, "My mom's a professor at Harvard! Her name is Serena Moore! She's amazing!"

The man stroked the boy's hair affectionately. "My family would only let me marry a professor. She used to be a designer, but she became a professor for me."

It felt like someone had dumped a bucket of ice water over me. My whole body went cold.

It really was her!

Seven years of marriage, and her illegitimate child from her affair was already six years old!

I suppressed my heartache and went home, only to overhear Serena on the phone.

"Mom, find a way to make Holden have a car accident. Once he loses his memory, I'll bring Preston and the kid home."

"I'll arrange the best medical care for him, but he's occupied Preston's place for so long. It's time he gave it back."

I stood frozen in place, my heart finally turning cold. Then I pressed send.

[Dad, I agree to the arranged marriage, but the company has to go to me too.]

After finishing her shower, Serena placed a bowl of broth on the table.

"You're home so late today. Were you busy?"

She was still playing the role of devoted wife, as if she wasn't the one who had been cheating for six years.

Serena rarely had time to cook. Usually it was me rushing home to make dinner for her.

The old me would have been moved to tears by this bowl of soup.

But I didn't touch it. I just sat down and looked at her quietly.

She sensed something was off, but still asked patiently, "What's wrong? Bad day? Didn't get any orders?"

"You don't need to put so much pressure on yourself. The kid thing---we don't need to rush it."

I smiled bitterly to myself. Yeah, your kid is already that old. What's the rush?

Throughout our marriage, Serena had used her career advancement as an excuse to avoid having children.

I thought she felt our life wasn't stable enough, and I felt bad about how hard she worked as a professor, so I desperately took on orders to earn money, driving from 4 AM until midnight.

Now it was clear. She just didn't want to have children with me.

Thinking of our seven years together, I held onto one last shred of hope.

"Serena, is there anything you're hiding from me?"

"If you tell me now, I can pretend nothing happened."

Serena's body stiffened. Clearly I'd struck a nerve.

"What do you mean?"

I didn't bother explaining further. "I mean, who are you cheating on me with?"

Suddenly, a slap landed hard across my face. Serena flew into a rage and knocked the broth to the floor.

"Holden Hayes, you sit around doing nothing all day and come up with this nonsense?"

"Imagining your own wife sleeping around---how disgusting are you?"

I wiped the blood from the corner of my mouth. The last trace of affection disappeared.

"I'm disgusting?"

"When you told your mom to hurt your own husband, didn't you think you were disgusting?"

Serena froze for a moment, then frowned in disgust. "You eavesdropped on my phone call?"

After a few seconds, she calmed herself and looked at me coldly.

"Since you heard it, I'll just say it straight."

"Preston and I have been together for many years. If he hadn't gone abroad that year, and if you hadn't saved me---"

"How could I possibly have married someone as useless as you?"

Her phone screen lit up. Serena glanced at something and her face filled with happiness.

I laughed bitterly inside. So that man was still her true love.

A belated pain started in my chest, followed by a dull ache from my ribs.

That was a lingering injury from when I'd saved her.

My breathing grew labored. "Serena, help me get my medicine... My rib injury is flaring up..."

But Serena didn't even glance at me. She grabbed her keys and walked out the door.

"Holden, holding a favor over someone's head works once. It won't work a second time."

"You owe Preston so much. Apologize to him properly, and we can go back to how things were."

"I'm going to spend our anniversary with Preston. Think it over, then come find me."

My heart went completely numb. In her eyes, everything I'd done for her was just me holding a favor over her head.

The pain in my ribs intensified. I struggled to move and find my medicine.

Just as I took it, Lynn, my butler, called me.

"Mr. Hayes, the arranged marriage with Miss Jones is set for three days from now. Please prepare yourself."

I packed my things to go home. A colleague sent me a text message.

"Holden, why is the platform full of bad reviews about you?"

"The company fired you and locked your car access."

I felt no emotion. I knew without asking this was Serena's doing.

She wanted to use this method to force me to apologize, to force me to endure.

But that was fine. I was going to resign anyway. This saved me the trouble.

But the next sentence truly stopped me in my tracks.

"Oh right, Miss Moore is actually the daughter of Mr. Moore, our chairman!"

Serena was the daughter of Steven Moore, the owner of the rideshare company?

My heart sank to rock bottom.

No wonder management always gave me trouble and assigned me barely any orders.

No wonder she could get her mother to sabotage me.

But from our marriage until now, she'd lied to me, saying her parents were farmers in the countryside who couldn't conveniently come to the city.

I'd never met her parents. They hadn't even attended our wedding.

I didn't care about her background, but I couldn't accept that she'd deceived me for five years.

From the very beginning, she never planned to accept me, and after all these years, she still hadn't.

I was about to block Serena's contact information when an unknown number called.

"Is this Holden Hayes? I'm Serena's mother. Do you have time to come over for dinner?"

I thought about it and agreed. Our seven years together deserved some kind of closure.

I arrived at the Moore family mansion. Inside was lavishly decorated, filled with their relatives.

After dinner, out of respect, I volunteered to wash dishes and clean up.

That's when I heard people around me gossiping.

"So this is the man Serena never brought home? He's quite handsome, but he looks so shabby."

"Oh honey, he's just a rideshare driver who saved her once. How can he compare to Preston?"

"Exactly. Preston may not have a job, but his family background is so much better."

I kept my expression unchanged, but my heart ached again.

Back then, for Serena's sake, I'd refused the family's arranged marriage. I'd fought bitterly with my father and been kicked out of the house.

I'd worked hard to give Serena the best life possible. She complained I was useless, yet the man she was devoted to was a freeloader who did nothing.

The difference between love and lack of love was indeed obvious.

Mrs. Moore sneered. "What husband? The marriage certificate is fake."

"My daughter said he's just a male housekeeper Serena hired."

All the blood in my body seemed to freeze. I stood there rigid.

The marriage certificate was fake?

I thought of yesterday, when I'd taken out the marriage certificate to file for divorce, never imagining it was a fake document.

The year we got married, Serena and I walked out of the courthouse together.

She held that red booklet and smiled at me for the first time.

"Holden, I'll treat you well."

I'd been so excited I couldn't sleep all night.

How moved I'd been then was how ironic it felt now.

Mrs. Moore even pulled out photos of their family of three and introduced them to everyone. "This is my real son-in-law. The child looks so much like his father, doesn't he?"

Just then, a news segment played on the TV.

"The Moore family heiress has publicly revealed her longtime partner, Mr. Preston."

"According to the couple, they will hold a wedding of the century at the end of this month."

Looking at the TV screen showing the two of them smiling and snuggling sweetly together, I finally understood Mrs. Moore's intentions.

She'd called me here just to make me leave on my own, to establish in front of everyone that I was the homewrecker destroying their family.

After gathering my things, I pushed open the door to leave, only to run straight into Serena, who'd just returned.

Behind her stood the child and Preston.

When she saw me, she slapped me without a word.

"Holden Hayes, how dare you make a scene at my house?"

"In front of all these people---what exactly are you trying to do?"

After all these years, she still jumped to conclusions without asking, never caring about my feelings.

My face stung painfully. I pulled at the corner of my mouth. Might as well make everything clear in front of everyone.

"Serena Moore, I came to tell you that not everyone is like your freeloader mistress."

"I, Holden Hayes, never used a cent of your money or asked you for a single favor."

"From now on, you and I have nothing to do with each other. Understand?"

Serena's usually proud face showed a trace of disbelief and panic.

"What do you mean? You want a divorce?"

I laughed coldly.

"Divorce? The marriage certificate is fake. There's no divorce to speak of, is there?"

"All these years with you, wasn't I just a free housekeeper?"

The Moore family relatives started chiming in.

"Serena, this man just claimed to be your husband. What's your relationship with him?"

Serena's earlier panic vanished in a flash. She gripped Preston's hand tightly behind her.

"How is that possible? Preston has always been my husband."

"Would I, Serena Moore, ever like a rideshare driver?"

Then Preston smiled and put his arm around her shoulder, sizing me up.

"Oh, it's you. That driver from the other day. I guess it's true---dirty car, dirty person."

I clenched my fists, holding back again and again.

Forget it. Arguing with these people was a waste of life.

But just as I passed by him, Preston lowered his voice and leaned close to my ear.

"She hasn't let you touch her in a long time, right? Want to know why?"

"Because her body is covered with my marks. And you---you're dirty and weak, can't even hold onto your own woman."

Hearing that, my anger finally exploded.

Though I no longer cared about Serena's affair, I couldn't stand the mistress's constant provocations.

But before I could move, Preston suddenly let go and fell backward down the steps.

He slammed hard onto the ground in front of the mansion entrance, blood seeping from the back of his head.

The Moore family members screamed. Serena shoved me aside hard and ran down to hold Preston.

"Preston, Preston, are you okay... Does it hurt..."

Seeing her face full of concern, I found it laughable.

Years ago, when I'd saved her, I'd broken two ribs and used my body to pry open the crushed car door.

I'd been in so much pain that tears streamed involuntarily down my face, yet she'd said coldly, "You're a grown man. Can't handle a little pain? Do you need to cry about it?"

Serena turned her head and shouted at me with red eyes.

"Holden Hayes, have you lost your mind? To get me, you want to kill Preston?"

This was the first time I'd seen her this angry.

I said coldly, "He fell on his own. Are you blind?"

Before I finished speaking, a sharp pain shot through my hand.

It was Serena's illegitimate son. He was hitting my arm with a scalding kettle of hot water.

"Bad man! Don't bully my daddy!"

I frowned and pushed the child away.

But Serena suddenly rushed over and slapped me several times.

She held the child tightly behind her.

"You bastard, you even want to hurt my son?"

"Holden Hayes, do you really enjoy using these dirty tactics?"

Mrs. Moore pulled out her phone and pointed it at me. She was livestreaming.

"Everyone come see! The homewrecker is making trouble at the real wife's house, trying to kill her husband and harm the child!"

I looked at this absurd scene and suddenly felt exhausted.

No matter how I explained, no one would believe me.

They didn't care about the truth. They wanted to ruin my reputation.

Serena kept pounding on me, her eyes full of hatred.

"Holden Hayes, I must have been blind to show you any mercy!"

"You've occupied Preston's place for so many years---how dare you lay a hand on him!"

"Get on your knees and apologize to him right now!"

I almost laughed in anger.

"Why should I apologize for something I didn't do?"

"You chose to marry me. You chose to cheat. What do I owe Preston?"

I looked at them one last time, coldly.

"Serena Moore, you've lied to me for seven years. You're the one who owes me."

"I hope you never regret this for the rest of your life."

With that, I ignored everyone's curses and walked straight out.

After instructing Lynn to pick me up, I stood by the road waiting for the car.

But the next second, a black car suddenly came barreling toward me.

I couldn't dodge in time and slammed directly into the hood.

When I woke again, I was lying in the Hayes family's private hospital.

My head was dizzy, and my right leg hurt terribly.

But compared to when I'd saved Serena, this injury was nothing.

My father's hoarse voice sounded. "You're awake?"

I turned my head to see him sitting by the bed, his eyes red.

"Dad."

Seven years. I'd finally seen my father again.

He touched my head, as if only then daring to confirm I was really awake.

"How long was I out?"

"Five days."

Five days.

That's when I learned that to get revenge on me, Serena had deliberately called a car to run me over.

Fortunately, Lynn had arrived in time and rushed me to the best hospital for emergency treatment, which was why I'd woken up.

Luckily there was no major injury---just a mild concussion and external wounds.

I tried to sit up, propping myself on my arms. A dull pain shot through my ribs.

Dad said he'd already sent people to deal with the hit-and-run driver, but as for those two people, he'd leave them to me.

I nodded without asking more. Of course I wouldn't let them off easily, but not now.

Then I remembered something else.

"What about the arranged marriage with the Jones family?"

Lynn hesitated. "Miss Moore said we could wait a bit longer."

I frowned and immediately threw off the covers to get out of bed.

"No waiting. Today."

"Making a young lady wait so long---what kind of behavior is that?"

Dad came over and patted my shoulder gently, saying nothing.

Finally, I changed into a suit and got in the car heading to the Jones residence.

On the way, I opened my phone.

There was a message Serena had just sent.

I didn't open it. I just deleted it.

When I arrived at the Jones residence, Amelia Jones was already waiting for me.

She wore a white dress.

Seeing me get out of the car, she paused slightly.

I walked over and extended my hand.

"Sorry to keep you waiting, Miss Jones."

She smiled and placed her hand in my palm.

"Just call me Amelia."

At the Moore mansion, Serena adjusted Preston's collar.

"Preston, the Jones family's young lady is getting married today. I'm going over to discuss a project."

"Many elites will be there. It's a perfect chance to introduce you around."

She took Preston's arm and got in the car heading to the Jones residence.

She opened her chat with Holden Hayes, still feeling uneasy.

"Have you finished throwing your tantrum? When you've thought it through, come apologize to Preston."

"As long as you sincerely apologize, I can let it go. We can go back to how things were."

But he hadn't replied to a single message these past few days.

After thinking, she sent another one.

"I was wrong about the marriage certificate. Whatever compensation you want, I'll give it to you."

After sending it, she took Preston's arm and entered the Jones family reception hall.

Inside, business elites packed the space.

Once everyone had arrived, the Jones family announced they would present the newlyweds.

Preston said enviously, "I heard the man marrying Miss Jones has an even better background. I wonder which Mr. Hayes it is."

As soon as he finished speaking, I walked into the hall with a smile, holding Amelia Jones's hand.

The guests below applauded to congratulate us.

After Serena saw my face clearly, she froze in place.

Her purse dropped to the floor with a thud.