They Framed Me and Locked Me Away

The day I found out my husband, Julian, was responsible for my mother's death, I lost my mind and grabbed a knife, lunging straight at him. At the critical moment, my younger sister, Chloe, threw herself in front of him. Blood poured from her abdomen, but she still choked out an explanation. "Natalie, calm down... you can't... you can't become a murderer." I sobbed uncontrollably as I rushed Chloe to the ER, but she died anyway. Because of that, I was sent to prison, locked away for three whole years. So after I died, my lingering soul stared in absolute shock at the "resurrected" Chloe, my perfectly alive mother, and Julian holding a baby in his arms. My mind went completely blank. Julian glanced at the wall calendar. "Natalie gets released tomorrow. I wonder if she'll be able to handle the truth." My mom let out a heavy sigh. "Three years behind bars will have taught her to behave. Besides, once she's out, she has no one to rely on except us." "We didn't have a choice back then. Chloe was pregnant with your baby. We were terrified of what Natalie might do if she snapped, so we set up that scheme to get her locked away." I started laughing, but the laughter quickly turned into silent, bitter tears. It was all a lie. Every single bit of it. I was the only fool trapped in a cage for three years. Guilt had eaten away at me until my very last breath. Chloe spoke up from the couch. "I talked it over with Julian. As long as she doesn't hurt me or the baby, I'm fine letting her raise the child under her name." "After she's out, if she doesn't want to see my face, I can just stay far away." Mom shook her head. "You don't get it. Back then, Natalie suspected Julian was cheating. She checked his phone every single day and even hired a private investigator to follow him. If I hadn't come up with the plan to put her in prison, she would've found out about you two three years ago." Julian recalled that period, his brows furrowing in disgust. "She was acting like a total lunatic back then. She suffocated me." Chloe pursed her lips. "Then what should we do?" A chilling cold settled over my heart. Never in my wildest nightmares did I imagine the three people I loved most in the world would sit in a circle, calmly plotting how to keep playing me. After a long silence, Julian began to analyze the situation. "Even when she suspected me of cheating, Natalie never asked for a divorce. She loves me too much. Now that she's getting out with nowhere else to go, all I have to do is apologize, and she'll definitely forgive me." "Besides, Natalie can't get pregnant anyway. Raising this baby under her name will fulfill her dream of becoming a mother." Julian said it so casually. He seemed to have completely forgotten that I became infertile because I had searched for him in freezing, sub-zero snow for two straight days after an avalanche. Mom was still hesitant. "But if you come clean, won't she figure out Chloe got pregnant on your wedding anniversary? That day, you lied and told her you had an urgent meeting, but in reality..." "If we don't come clean now, we'll just have to tell bigger lies later. The day she walks out of prison is our best shot at dropping the news." Julian answered without hesitation. I just stood there, completely numb. I remembered that third anniversary vividly. I had been racking my brain trying to find an excuse to send Julian out of the house so I could set up a romantic surprise for him. Before I could even speak, Julian had grabbed his coat. "An emergency meeting just popped up at the office. I'll be back as soon as it's done." I had smiled and told him okay, then spent hours baking a cake from scratch. I cooked a massive dinner for him. Even when hot oil splattered all over my hands, raising painful blisters, I didn't care. I was happy. When Julian finally came home, he couldn't wipe the grin off his face. Back then, I naively thought he looked that happy because of the surprise I had prepared. It wasn't that at all. He was grinning because Chloe was carrying his child. While I was sweating over the stove preparing his surprise, he was holding Chloe's positive pregnancy test. The realization hit me like a physical blow. My throat tightened painfully. I gagged uncontrollably, cold tears streaming down my face. I forced a broken, twisted smile. "Julian, you don't have to hide it anymore. You don't have to keep patching up your lies." "Because I'm already dead." Of course, none of them could hear me. Right then, Julian's phone rang. It was an unknown number, but he picked it up anyway. The voice on the other end was familiar to me—it was a prison guard. "Hello, is this Natalie's husband?" "She passed away from severe depression while serving her time. We checked her records and found you listed as her emergency contact. Do you have time to come down to the facility and sign the paperwork for her body?"Julian let out a cold, mocking laugh. "Are you and Natalie seriously pulling this crap on me?" "She's scheduled for release tomorrow. Is she trying to rattle me? Trying to get revenge?" The guard was clearly caught off guard. "Sir, I think there might be a misunderstanding here..." Julian hung up before the officer could finish. Mom, having heard the whole exchange, looked uneasy. "Maybe... maybe we should drive down to the prison and check?" Julian waved his hand dismissively. "Don't waste your time." "Back when she suspected me and you faked your death, didn't Natalie still eat, sleep, and function just fine? When news of your 'death' broke, I didn't even have to stay by her side. I just gave her a few half-assed words of comfort and spent my days taking care of Chloe during her early pregnancy. How could someone like that die of depression after just three years?" Chloe pressed her lips together and stayed quiet. In reality, she knew Natalie hadn't been fine at all back then. She had once asked Natalie why she never blew up at Julian if she suspected him of cheating. Natalie had forced a tired smile and said, "I don't have hard proof yet, and I don't want to destroy our marriage before I know the absolute truth. Mom just died, and I don't want to burden Julian with more stress, so I'm pretending everything is okay." Natalie had worried about everyone else, swallowing all the pain alone. And in doing so, Julian had completely lost any desire to protect her. But Chloe would never, ever tell Julian that. Seeing Mom still wavering, Chloe called out softly, "Mom, the baby food is ready. Bring the baby over." As Chloe fastened the bib around the little girl's neck, a silver cross necklace slipped into view. Mom noticed it and immediately warned her. "The cross necklace the baby is wearing—Julian and Natalie bought that together years ago. Natalie bought it thinking she'd give it to an adopted child one day." "She treated it like a priceless treasure, polishing it every single day. Make sure you take it off before we go pick her up tomorrow. I'm afraid it'll push her over the edge." Chloe pouted slightly, looking hurt, but she nodded anyway. Julian saw the look on Chloe's face and instantly frowned. "The baby's already wearing it, so leave it on. It's just a necklace. Worst case, I'll just take Natalie shopping and buy her another one later." Seeing that Chloe was struggling to hold the baby while holding the spoon, Julian stepped in. He took the bowl and began feeding the baby himself. He looked like the picture-perfect, doting father. Taking advantage of the mood, Chloe voiced another nagging fear. "Once she gets out and learns the truth, she won't start digging into the past, will she?" "What if she finds out that during those two years when she was desperately trying to get pregnant, every 'vitamin' you gave her was actually birth control?" Julian answered flatly, though a flicker of guilt crossed his face. "She won't. You said you didn't want her carrying my child, so to keep her in the dark, I had someone custom-make those pills to look identical to her daily vitamins. With her resources, she'll never trace it back." "I just... I never expected that later on, she'd lose the ability to have kids permanently just to save my life in that snowstorm." Standing right beside them, hearing every single word, my soul shattered into pieces. No wonder. No wonder my body never conceived, no matter how many fertility treatments I endured, no matter how many health supplements I took. I had spent years blaming myself, believing my broken body was the problem. Turns out, my own husband had poisoned my chances from day one. I collapsed into breathless, silent sobs. Before I could scream my accusations, the doorbell rang. Julian pulled the door open and frowned when he saw a FedEx courier standing there. He asked almost instinctively, "We haven't ordered anything lately. Did you get the wrong address?" The courier checked the scanner. "No mistake, sir. It's for Julian Foster, shipped directly from the state correctional facility." Remembering the weird call from earlier, Julian scowled, but he scribbled his signature anyway. He walked back inside and ripped the envelope open. The words stamped across the top hit him immediately: Official Notice of Inmate Death.Chloe watched Julian as he froze on the spot. "Julian, what is it?" Snapping out of his daze, Julian slammed the paper onto the glass table. "What the hell is Natalie trying to pull now?" "A week ago she faked a critical illness report. I actually drove over there to see her, and she looked completely fine! Now she goes through the trouble of forging an official death certificate? Does she really think that'll make me pick her up early?" A week ago, I really was on the brink of death. Years of severe clinical depression had destroyed my immune system, triggering multiple organ failures. The energy I showed that day was just the terminal lucidity—the brief, cruel rally of the dying before the final fade. That was why I had color in my cheeks when Julian visited. Mom remembered that visit too. Her brow furrowed in concern. "Natalie never used to lie about things like this. Could she have found out about everything, and she's just testing us?" Julian went quiet for a moment. "Doesn't matter if she knows or not. Tomorrow she'll get the whole truth anyway." Chloe stood up, but she clumsily bumped against the console table. A loud smash echoed as a ceramic vase shattered across the floor. Chloe instantly put on a panicked expression. "I'm so sorry, Julian! I didn't mean to break the vase Natalie made for you by hand." The day Julian received that homemade ceramic vase, he beamed and swore, "I'll protect this with my life. I won't let it break as long as I live!" Turns out, his "as long as I live" only lasted five short years. Right now, he didn't even care. He swept the broken shards into a pile. "It's just a vase. If it's broken, we can just buy another one. Are you hurt?" Chloe bit her lip and shook her head timidly. Mom suddenly remembered something and spoke up in a low voice. "Whatever happened to the cat Natalie adopted when she turned eighteen?" "She treated Cola like her own child. Why haven't I seen it around the house lately?" Chloe lowered her head, looking like a guilty schoolgirl. "Cola... almost scratched the baby the other day. I told Julian as soon as he got home from work. Julian originally just wanted to lock the cat in the spare room for a couple of days to discipline it, but Cola suddenly went wild and lashed out. Julian lost his temper... and beat it to death." Hearing that, Julian finally seemed to remember how much that rescue cat had meant to me. A flicker of panic flashed in his eyes. "The baby is allergic to cats anyway, and getting a replacement won't work. When Natalie comes home tomorrow, we'll just tell her it caught an illness and died." Right at that moment, Julian's phone buzzed again. It was the same prison administration number. He had completely lost his patience. The second he swiped to answer, he snapped into the mic, "Ask Natalie if she's done acting yet!" "Using the exact same excuse over and over—isn't she scared of actually dying a miserable death one day?!" Static hissed through the speaker, followed by background chatter. Then a muffled, confused voice came through: "Sorry, someone forgot to log the call. I didn't realize another officer had already dialed this number." Click. The line went dead. Julian had been acting completely unbothered, but that sudden click left his mind in utter turmoil. He tossed and turned all night, unable to sleep a wink. Early the next morning, Julian drove Mom and Chloe to the state facility. The waiting area outside the release gate was crowded with families. Julian waited for over an hour, watching people come and go, tearful reunions unfolding everywhere. His mind suddenly flashed back to those two phone calls. And that official certificate on his table. A cold, sickening dread crept into his chest, whispering that something had gone terribly wrong. When the final group of discharged inmates walked through the heavy gates, Julian's eyes scanned every single face. Not one of them was me. He lunged forward and grabbed the guard's arm, his voice shaking uncontrollably. "Excuse me, Natalie Foster was supposed to be released today! Why haven't I seen her?" Having an inmate die with no family stepping up to claim the body was rare, even in a prison like this. The guard recognized the name instantly. "Natalie Foster? You're her family?" "She passed away in the infirmary yesterday. Didn't anyone notify you?"