Chapter 0
Today was the last day of the cooling-off period for my ninth divorce from Olivia Reed, and it became my death anniversary.
My soul floated above the hospital room, watching Olivia bring her childhood sweetheart, Ethan Brooks, to stand by my hospital bed.
“Adam Carter, stop pretending. The auction is about to start,” she said, standing at a distance and slamming a document on the bedside table.
Pretending?
I wish I could pretend, but how could a brain-dead person pretend?
Olivia continued, “Ethan has been preparing for this comeback exhibition for five years. I can’t let his hard work go to waste.”
“Your company shares are the only assets that can be quickly liquidated.”
“Sign this debt transfer document, transfer the shares to me, and we’re done.”
Done?
I looked at her cold profile, feeling absurd.
Our marriage, our daughter, the countless nights we spent together - in her eyes, was it just a debt relationship that could be easily settled?
Of course, I couldn’t answer her.
My “silence” in her eyes was a silent protest.
She lost patience, taking off the sunglasses that covered half her face, her beautiful almond eyes full of disgust.
“Adam Carter, my patience has limits! You think lying here will leave me with no options?”
Just then, the attending physician walked in with a nurse.
He glanced at the weakly fluctuating line on the ECG and sighed, “Ms. Reed, prepare yourself.”
“What?” Olivia’s body suddenly stiffened.
But immediately, she let out a cold laugh. “Prepare? He’s just using this method to force me. I’ve seen this trick many times.”
The doctor frowned, “Ms. Reed, Mr. Carter suffered severe brain damage from a car accident a week ago. He’s… brain dead.”
“Do you know what you’re saying…”
“Is that so?” Ethan stepped forward, interrupting the flustered Olivia.
Gently holding Olivia’s shoulders, he said, “Olivia, don’t get upset.”
Ethan’s voice was gentle, like a spring breeze in April.
“Olivia, he must still resent you and doesn’t want to see me succeed.”
“Now he’s pretending to be dead, determined not to help me, wanting to see us fail.”
Olivia’s momentary hesitation was pulled back to reality by Ethan’s light words.
The guilt in her eyes turned to anger.
“What right does he have to resent us? Everything he has now, I gave him! Helping you is his duty!”
Ethan held Olivia’s hand, feigning magnanimity, “Olivia, let it go.”
“If Adam is unwilling, don’t force him.”
“I’ll just cancel the exhibition, I’m just afraid… there might not be another chance.”
Olivia gripped his hand tightly, her voice trembling, “No! I won’t let you say such things!”
“I won’t let your hard work go to waste!”
“Adam Carter must sign!”
I wanted to rush down and tear apart their hypocritical faces.
But I was just an empty soul, unable to do anything.
After comforting Ethan, Olivia let go of his hand, rushed to my hospital bed in a few steps, and stared intently at my lifeless face.
My face was colorless, eyes tightly closed, lips a deathly blue-purple.
Anyone could see this was a body that would never wake up.
But Olivia didn’t believe it.
She leaned down, speaking into my ear word by word.
“Adam Carter, stop pretending. Your acting has really improved.”
“I’ll count to three. If you don’t get up, I’ll immediately cut off all of Emily’s expenses!”
Emily!
My daughter, Emily Carter!
That was our daughter, the child she carried for ten months!
How could she, how dare she, use our daughter’s survival to threaten me!
“One.”
“Two.”
“Three!”
Seeing no reaction from me, Olivia’s last patience disappeared.
She straightened up, a cruel smile appearing on her face. “Good, very good. Adam Carter, you forced me to do this.”
She took out her phone, issuing a final ultimatum to my body.
“That burden won’t survive a day without my money. Do you want her to die with you?!”
Just then, Ethan stepped forward again, grabbing Olivia’s hand, saying, “Olivia, don’t rush. I’ve already taken care of Emily.”
Olivia was stunned, “Taken care of?”
Ethan nodded, “Yes, I was worried you’d be distracted, so I took the liberty of finding a better environment for her.”
“I found someone trustworthy and settled her in a very safe place, absolutely no one will disturb her.”
“So, you don’t need to worry about Adam using the child to blackmail us.”
Olivia looked at Ethan gratefully, then took his arm and left without looking back.
“Adam Carter, I’ll give you one day to think it over. Either sign, or wait to bury that burden!”
That was her last words to me.
The door of the hospital room closed with a “click”, shutting out everything outside.
Only my cold body remained, and my soul trembling with anger.
Car accident?
What a ridiculous cause of death.
I didn’t die by accident…
Just a week ago, when Ethan first forced me to sign that debt transfer document, I tore it to pieces in front of him.
I told him that even if I burned my possessions, I would never use them for someone like him.
So that night, as I was driving home, the brakes failed.
In the last moment of consciousness, I saw a familiar black car flash by in the rearview mirror, with Ethan at the wheel.
I didn’t die in an accident at all, I was murdered by my wife’s childhood sweetheart!
Looking at my own tragically dead body, the past six years flashed before my eyes.
Six years ago, I was a poor boy who had just graduated from a music college, making a living by performing in various bars.
Except for a decent-looking face and a passionate heart, I had nothing.
It was then that Olivia Reed found me.
At that time, she was the only daughter of the top wealthy Reed family in the city.
After listening to me play an entire original piece, she handed me a business card.
“You’re very talented, but your style is too sad,” she said, her voice pleasant like a mountain spring.
“I know someone, his name is Ethan Brooks, he’s a painter.”
“An accident injured his hand, and he can no longer paint.”
“He once said that if he were to make music, his style would definitely be warm, like the afternoon sun on a spring day.”
She paused, pushing a check in front of me.
“I want you to write songs for him, to be his musical substitute.”
“You need to change your style, play the warmth he imagines.”
“After it’s done, another zero will be added to the end of the number on this check.”
I looked at the astronomical figure on the check, then at my worn-out sneakers, and my heart wavered.
I needed money; my sister was seriously ill in the hospital, urgently needing a large sum for surgery.
So I became Ethan Brooks’ musical substitute.
I forced myself to write those warm, sunny tunes.
I studied Ethan’s paintings, imagining what kind of person he was, trying to depict his painted world with musical notes.
At first, Olivia was very picky with me.
“Wrong! The emotion here is too shallow!”
“You don’t understand him at all! This is just a poor imitation!”
“You’ll never be him!”