Burned for Her, Replaced by Him

To save my fiance Angela from a raging fire, seventy percent of my skin was burned.

Angela spared no expense, hiring Europe's top plastic surgery specialists to treat me.

She flew to Europe countless times each month to stay with me.

Until I recovered and returned to America, wanting to surprise her, I overheard a man outside her office saying:

"You've done more than enough. You don't owe him anything anymore."

Angela said nothing. The next moment, a little girl pushed past me and rushed into the office:

"Mom, are you going to leave me and Dad? Who is this homewrecker trying to steal you away?"

My heart jolted. When did Angela have a child?

That brief moment felt like an entire century.

Just then, someone came to report to Angela. They gave me a strange look before pushing open the office door.

The instant our eyes met, I caught a flash of panic in Angela's gaze.

"Fernandez, you're back." Angela quickly composed herself and came forward to take my hand.

She gripped too hard. A burning pain shot through the back of my hand, and bright red blood stained her pale fingers.

Before I could react, something struck my shin.

Then came a tearing pain.

"You bad person, stay away from my mom!" The little girl's shrill voice rang in my ears.

Before she finished speaking, the man beside her immediately scooped her up.

The girl's features looked remarkably like Angela's.

When I looked at the man's face, I froze.

He looked seventy to eighty percent similar to me.

The excruciating pain in my body made it impossible to think. I could only stare dumbly at everything before me.

Who were these two people?

A massive unease engulfed me.

I slowly withdrew my hand from Angela's grip and looked at her helplessly, hoping she would explain.

But she had no time for me. Her brow furrowed tightly, her voice tinged with anger: "Bridges George, take Ellis away."

What a coincidencehe shared my surname too?

Bridges looked aggrieved. The little girl called Ellis was startled into silence, looking completely dazed.

But I knew very clearly that Angela felt guilty. The fiercer her words, the more panicked her heart.

Bridges pressed his lips together, his eyes full of stubbornness. He held out for a while before finally carrying Ellis away.

But he wasn't watching where he was going, and the father and daughter crashed hard into the wall.

The pain from her forehead made Ellis burst into tears, releasing all her pent-up grievances.

Angela hesitated at first, but when she saw Bridges's reddened forehead, she immediately stepped past me.

She tenderly rubbed Bridges's forehead, no longer sparing even half a thought for me.

I stood there stupidly. When I looked up, I saw Bridges watching me with mockery.

The corner of his mouth curved slightly in a provocative and contemptuous smile.

Looking at that face so similar to mine, my heart felt heavy, as if something inside had died completely.

I left the office in a daze and returned home alone, only to be locked out.

Hearing the "incorrect password" message, my heart felt sour and swollen, an indescribable feeling.

With a click, my father opened the door from inside. A flash of panic and guilt crossed his eyes, as if I'd come at the wrong time.

The house was brightly lit.

The table was laden with sumptuous dishes. Six chairs were arranged around the dining table, with a baby high chair placed beside one of them.

Three elderly people were chatting and laughing, bustling about inside.

They were my mother and Angela's parents.

When they saw me with my suitcase, the smiles on their faces instantly froze.

After an awkward silence, my mother was the first to speak: "Fernandez is back? You should have told us you were coming."

Her voice carried both complaint and reproach, but no warmth.

Looking at her, I suddenly remembered these past five years, enduring pain alone in a European hospital.

And my parents seemed to have rarely cared about me.

So much so that they hadn't even noticed the doctor had already informed them of my discharge.

I stared hard at the six chairs around the dining table, my heart dark and confused.

"Fernandez?" Angela's voice came from behind me.

I turned to see the intimate figures of their family of three.

Bridges held Ellis with one hand while his other arm wrapped intimately around Angela's waist.

The instant I turned around, Angela hastily broke free from Bridges's embrace.

My parents shot me a reproachful look the moment they saw them.

Then their eyes filled with immense joy and affection.

"You're back." My father stepped forward and familiarly took the child from Bridges's arms.

At that moment, I had to admit it.

After five years away, my place had been completely taken by Bridges.

Only after everyone had entered the house did Angela realize I was still standing outside.

Looking somewhat embarrassed, she pulled me inside:

"Wait a moment, I'll get you a chair."

"Angela, I'll do it." As soon as the words left his mouth, Bridges stopped Angela's movement. He shot me a triumphant look.

I lowered my eyes. From the earlier pulling, my grotesque skin showed spots of blood.

"Fernandez is back." Only Angela's father offered an awkward smile and small talk.

I forced the corners of my mouth up with difficulty but said nothing.

At that moment, Bridges came over with a stool.

"Sorry, Fernandez, I really couldn't find a chair. It's all my fault. Why don't you take my chair?"

Though he said this, his eyes held no trace of apology.

"Enough. He has hands and feet. You even brought him a stoolwhat face does he have to blame you?"

My dad interrupted impatiently.

I hadn't said a word since entering, yet I seemed to have done everything wrong.

"Let's eat."

I sat awkwardly on that stool in the corner.

Looking at the seafood feast on the table, I didn't know what to eat.

"Can you please eat properly? Who are you putting on that pitiful act for?" My dad sounded impatient.

Angela cut a piece of fish for me: "Try this. The housekeeper's cooking is excellent."

Looking at that bright, colorful piece of fish in my bowl, I only felt my mouth growing more bitter:

"I'm allergic to seafood."

At the dining table, Angela's face stiffened, her eyes filled with guilt and panic.

Five years was simply too long. She had forgotten.

"I'm full. I'm going to rest now."

In the end, I was the one who broke the oppressive silence.

Only to discover that everyone looked even more embarrassed.

"My roomis it gone too?"

Angela was silent for a moment: "Your room has the best lighting. Bridges's health isn't good..."

So he'd occupied my room.

"And you came back too suddenly. We haven't had time to clean the guest room. How about you stay in the living room tonight?"

A massive dizziness swept through my mind.

"So my roomyou and he are living in it?"

I suppressed the anger inside me and asked word by word.

Angela froze.

All these years, she'd told herself that Bridges was just a substitute, but she didn't realize that everything she'd done for Bridges had broken her own principles.

At this moment, faced with my questioning, she suddenly didn't know how to defend herself.

Angela's silence dealt me a heavy blow.

"Are you two married?" I asked an irrelevant question.

Angela instinctively shook her head.

I laughed bitterly. Not married, yet they could sleep together and even had a child.

It turned out Angela's conservatism was only directed at me.

An inexplicable rage surged from my heart. The immense anger made me extraordinarily strong. I flipped the dining table with one motion: "Get out."

Everyone was startled by my sudden fury, frozen in place.

"Fernandez George!" My father roared. "You..."

He was about to curse at me, but when he saw my bleeding arms, he swallowed all those harsh words.

He looked at me with complex emotions and let out a long sigh.

For a moment, in that huge house, only Ellis's wailing could be heard.

"Fernandez, I know you can't stand me, but Angela just got pregnant. She can't handle being frightened!"

Bridges tenderly stroked Angela's abdomen and shot me a provocative look before continuing:

"And Ellisshe's still so young. What if she gets traumatized?"

"If you have any grievances, take them out on me!"

My mother came forward, somewhat at a loss: "Fernandez, let me bandage you first. Tonight... just make do for now."

"Tomorrow I'll prepare a welcome party for you. Everyone will be so happy to know you're back."

After all that, in my own house, I was still the one who had to "make do."

At that moment, I suddenly felt tired. I sat back down on the sofa without another word.

But Bridges still wouldn't let me go.

In the middle of the night, I sat blankly on the sofa when I suddenly heard a soft laugh.

I looked up to see Bridges.

He was holding a glass of hot water, leaning against the doorframe, his eyes full of mockery:

"I hope Angela's carrying a son. That way we'll have both a son and a daughter."

Seeing my lack of reaction, Bridges intensified his efforts.

"You don't know this, do you? Angela and I got together while you were still unconscious."

"Oh, and this." He displayed the watch on his wrist.

My pupils contracted. My heart throbbed with pain.

That was the heirloom my grandfather left me on his deathbed.

Five years ago, to save Angela, the strap had broken.

Seeing my reaction, the malice in Bridges's eyes became even more obvious:

"Fernandez George, do you know how disgusting you are right now?"

"She said just looking at you once makes her lose her appetite for three days."

"You're already like thatwhy can't you be more self-aware and break off the engagement yourself?"

He started rambling about his efforts over the years.

He was my uncle's son, but my uncle was incompetent. Though he was the eldest, he lost to my father. He squandered the family fortune, dying young and full of regrets.

When he was young, what he heard most was his father cursing mine.

He said it was lucky I got burned, giving him the chance to return to the George family.

In the future, not just the George family, but even the Angela family would be his.

"Then what are you so worried about?" I interrupted him. "Since the George family and Angela's family no longer have a place for me, what are you so worried about?"

Bridges's triumphant expression froze. Then his gaze turned cold as he looked at me:

"I'll show you exactly what your position is in this family now."

With that, he walked to my side, released his hand, and deliberately fell to the ground.

"Crash!" Along with the sound of the glass hitting the floor, Bridges let out a scream.

Soon, everyone came out.

Seeing the blood from glass cuts on Bridges's foot, everyone's faces changed drastically. "To the hospital!"

My father's brow furrowed tightly, his eyes showing an urgency and ferocity I'd never seen before.

"If you have grievances, take them out on me! Why do you have to turn this house into chaos?"

My breathing caught. My heart was squeezed tight by an invisible hand.

Grievance, pain, anger, despair.

Angela slapped me across the face, then helped Bridges out the door.

My mother kept pounding on my chest, completely oblivious that the spot she was hitting had already begun to seep with traces of blood.

"Why didn't you just die five years ago? Are you alive just to torture us?"

"If you have grievances, take them out on me! Bridges is innocent!"

I stood there numbly. The pain in my heart had long since overwhelmed my physical wounds.

Where no one could see, Bridges flashed me a provocative smile.

I felt cold all over.

The huge house returned to silence.

In this place where only I remained, I quietly took out my phone, which was still recording.

The next day, my parents acted as if nothing had happened, discussing details of the welcome party with me.

But my heart felt no ripples whatsoever.

The party was held in the George family garden, where there was a large swimming pool.

At the banquet, I watched Bridges skillfully conversing with friends I used to be close with.

The whole event felt absurd and laughable.

Now in everyone's eyes, Bridges was the George family's favored son, the company's legitimate heir.

My heart ached numbly, especially when my father publicly announced he would divide the company shares between Bridges and me.

Me: 1%. Bridges: 10%.

In that instant, I became the biggest joke.

"How pathetic."

"A homeless dog."

"He's aperson. What use are shares to him?"

"If you ask me, he shouldn't have saved Angela back then. Who knows how much the George family could have developed by now."

Mockery, schadenfreude, mixed with a few words of pity and regret.

The next second, Bridges walked toward me with a wine glass, looking triumphant.

Everyone around watched with anticipation for the show.

"Fernandez, congratulations." A mocking smile played on his lips.

I pressed my lips together and said nothing.

Bridges's eyes flashed darkly. The next second, he slipped, and the wine in his hand spilled all over me without missing a drop.

Even more onlookers photographed my disheveled state, pointing and commenting.

Angela tried to come forward to help me out of the situation, but I pushed her away.

She looked somewhat confused, standing in place.

Seeing I wanted to leave, Bridges wasn't willing to let me go so easily.

He followed close behind me to the poolside.

"Did you enjoy the welcome ceremony I prepared for you?"

Then he revealed a malicious smile.

"Guess who they'll save?" With that, he pulled me into the pool with him.

The water in the pool was so cold.

The pungent smell of chlorine constantly irritated my nose and skin.

The stiffness in my limbs made even struggling difficult.

On the other side, Bridges pretended his foot had slipped, putting on an act of drowning.

He kept struggling, kept shouting.

My consciousness gradually blurred as I slowly sank to the bottom.

Meanwhile, Bridges continued struggling with all his might.

Everyone rushed over.

Angela jumped into the water without hesitation and swam straight to Bridges, rescuing him.

My parents only gathered around Bridges, concerned about him.

Completely forgetting that their own biological son was still in the water.

Before I completely lost consciousness, I seemed to see a figure swimming toward me.