Chapter 1 Everyone who knew Emmaline Walsh and Zachary Hinchcliffe agreed on one thing: a girl could do no better than to marry a man like Zachary. Zachary was a marvel. Strikingly handsome and fiercely capable, he'd risen to the rank of major at a young age. But what truly set him apart was his unwavering devotion to his wife, Emmaline. On snowy evenings, he'd trudge across the city to fetch her favorite pastries. When thugs harassed her, he'd dive into the fray, heedless of the bruises he'd earn. After joining the army, he sent most of his pay back home to her, and his letters were always filled with longing and tenderness. Their marriage spanned sixty years, unmarred by a single quarrel. To all who knew them, Zachary was the gold stan- dard of a doting husband. Then, Zachary fell ill and passed away. Eighty-year-old Emmaline, struggling against an overwhelming tide of grief, shakily walked into City Hall alone, clutching the necessary documents, ready to obtain the death certificate for Zachary. The young clerk behind the counter reviewed her papers, then looked up with an odd mix of pity and unease. "I'm sor- ry, ma'am," he said softly, "but you... can't file a death certificate for Mr. Hinchcliffe." Emmaline froze, her wrinkled hands gripping the counter's edge. "Why not? I'm his wife." The clerk hesitated, pointing to his screen with reluctance. "The system shows Mr. Hinchcliffe's marriage record lists his spouse as... Juanita Clayton. Only she can handle this." The name hit Emmaline like a bolt of lightning. Her face drained of color, and it felt as if the blood in her veins had turned to ice. Juanita Clayton-she remembered her. A young intern she'd once mentored at the hospital, bright and kind but from a difficult background. Emmaline had taken her under her wing and treated her almost like a daughter. She couldn't make sense of it. How could Juanita be Zachary's legal wife? Her hands shook as she dialed a number she hadn't called in years. During the agonizing, drawn-out minutes of waiting for the call to connect, she conjured up countless possibilities. A system error? A mix-up in the records? Or... Juanita arrived quickly, her face aged far beyond her years, though the traces of her former delicacy still lingered in her features. The moment she saw Emmaline, tears spilled down her cheeks. "Dr. Walsh... I'm so sorry... Zack and I... we betrayed you." Emmaline stumbled back, steadying herself against the wall. Her voice quivered, barely a whisper. "Betrayed me... how?" Juanita's tear-streaked face lifted, her words shattering Emmaline's world. "It wasn't right... But Zack and I fell in love the moment you introduced us, sixty years ago. The timing was all wrong-he was already set to marry you. "He couldn't bring himself to break your engagement. It would've ruined you, he said. But he couldn't deny his heart either. So he... he deceived you. He gave you his companionship, but he gave me his name. The marriage you thought you had? It was never real. Mine was." 0.0 % 10:00 Chapter 1 Each word was a dagger, twisting deeper into Emmaline's heart. She shook her head, refusing to believe it. "No, you're lying! This is some cruel joke! Zack and I grew up together. He loved me since we were kids-everyone knew how much he loved me!" Juanita's sobs shook her, but her voice held a brutal certainty. "Dr. Walsh, he did care for you... once. Before he met me. He told me himself-meeting me showed him what true love felt like. If his affection for you was a hundred, his love for me was a thousandfold." Emmaline's world crumbled as Juanita pressed on, her examples relentless. "Think back, Dr. Walsh. Didn't he go on business trips every month? Those weren't work trips. He was visiting me. And those cloyingly sweet cakes he brought home, the ones you didn't even like... You told him time and again, but he never stopped, did he? That's be- cause they were my favorite. He bought them for me and gave you the leftovers. "And when you were forty, so sick you nearly died, he stayed by your bedside for three days straight, didn't he? You thought it was devotion. But the truth was... We'd fought the day before, and he stayed with you to make me jealous." Every act of love Emmaline'd held dear was a carefully crafted lie, a betrayal woven into the fabric of their sixty years together. Her heart bled, the pain so raw she could barely breathe. Wiping tears, Juanita pulled out her ID. "Zack did his duty by you. Now let me take care of the rest. I'll handle his death certificate, his funeral... and when the time comes, I'll be the one buried beside him." She completed the procedures effortlessly and left with the death certificate. Emmaline stared blankly at the photo of the man she had shared a bed with for sixty years. She never imagined that, legally, he had been another woman's husband all along. He could've told her if he loved another. She would've let him go. Instead, he'd chosen the cruelest path, trapping her in a hollow marriage, and her life reduced to a mockery. The weight of the betrayal crushed her. Unable to bear it, Emmaline staggered out of City Hall, her soul adrift. She wandered the streets, lost in a haze of grief, until a screeching brake shattered the silence. The truck struck, but she felt no pain-only a fleeting lightness as her consciousness slipped into endless darkness. When her eyes fluttered open, harsh sunlight streamed through an old-fashioned window. Emmaline blinked, disori- ented, and found herself seated in a familiar office. It was the dean's office at Riverfront Health System-exactly as it had looked sixty years ago. 10:00 53.8%