The scholarship student I’d sponsored for years crashed my birthday party and shoved a pregnancy test in my face. “Audrey is pregnant with my child,” he announced, his voice ringing with arrogance. “You better know your place and divorce her now!” I stared at the test, completely thrown. “Are you sure… you mean Audrey is pregnant with your child?” Wayne brandished the test strip like a trophy. “Of course, it is! We conceived on our cruise last month!” His words sent a ripple of shock through me and every guest at the party. Because my ex-wife, Audrey… died three years ago. 1. I stared at Wayne, my mind reeling. I had to ask again. “Do you even know who Audrey is?” He clutched the pregnancy test, his expression defiant. “Cut the crap, Connor. Just divorce Audrey and get out of the way. Stop making a fool of yourself.” This was a new Wayne. Dressed in an expensive, tailored suit, with a sharp, styled haircut, he was a world away from the scrawny, timid boy I’d met eight years ago. Despite his aggressive tone, a part of me still held out hope. “Wayne, stop joking around. It’s my birthday. Have some cake.” He shoved the plate I offered aside, slamming his hand on the table. “Screw the cake! Are you divorcing her or not? If you don’t, I have other ways to make you.” He jabbed a finger so close to my eye that my girlfriend, Anna, instinctively pulled me back. “Don’t you touch him!” she snapped. The room was buzzing with whispers, all eyes on us. As the host of the party, I could feel the heat of embarrassment crawling up my neck. “Wayne, if you don’t stop this nonsense, I’m cutting off all funding to you and your family tomorrow.” When I first decided to sponsor him, Wayne was wearing rags he’d pulled from a dumpster, his fingernails black with grime. A cockroach had crawled out of his matted hair. I learned that both his parents were paralyzed, and he was supporting them and his younger brother by scavenging while trying to study. His story moved me deeply. “Wayne,” I had told him that day, “I’ll pay for you to finish university. I’ll also support your family and help improve their living situation.” From that day on, I wired him two thousand dollars every month, without fail. On holidays, I’d send extra money and gifts. And this was how the boy I had poured so much into repaid me. He sneered. “You think I care about your charity?” He stepped closer, patting my cheek with a condescending rhythm. “Get it through your head. I’m the one who got your wife pregnant.” He pointed to his designer shoes, then flashed a diamond-encrusted watch on his wrist. “Audrey told me everything. Once she gives birth to our son, she’s buying me a mansion and moving my whole family in to live a life of luxury. Your pathetic two grand a month? Save that for your own tombstone.” He let out a sharp, cruel laugh, then snatched a bottle of wine and hurled it at my birthday cake. The four-tiered masterpiece, a custom gift from my friends, was instantly destroyed. A wave of outrage swept through the guests. “You’re a scholarship student! How dare you try to steal from the man who saved you? You have no shame!” “He’s worse than a leech. Selling himself for money and then biting the hand that feeds him. People like you make me sick!” But their condemnation only earned them a contemptuous eye-roll from Wayne. “You all think Connor is some kind of saint? You’ve all been fooled,” he declared, his voice ringing with self-righteous fury, as if he were about to reveal a grand conspiracy. “Connor’s just using Audrey’s money to build a reputation! He doesn’t spend a dime of his own, but he takes all the credit!” “He’s just trying to paint himself as a good person to morally blackmail Audrey so she can’t divorce him!” Wayne’s voice grew louder, his indignation mounting. He looked as if he were fighting for Audrey’s honor. “She has to support him, pay for his fake charity, and on top of it all, he won’t even let her have a child!” “He’s the toxic one, the one with no morals! Everything I’m doing is to save Audrey from him!” He portrayed himself as a white knight, a hero. But the crowd wasn't buying it. “Are you insane? You’re spouting nonsense and knowingly wrecking a marriage…” The accusation clearly struck a nerve. Wayne grabbed a bowl and threw it at the speaker. “I’m not wrecking anything! I’m repaying a debt of gratitude!” he screamed. “When I found out Audrey was my true benefactor, I repaid her with my young, strong body!” The sheer shamelessness of it all left everyone speechless. Before I could respond, Wayne’s eyes landed on Anna, who was still holding my arm. A flash of discovery lit up his face. “Well, well, Connor. Not only are you using Audrey’s money to build your image, you’re using it to keep a mistress on the side.” Anna’s brow furrowed in disgust. “Show some respect. I am Connor’s girlfriend.” Wayne snorted. He pointed a finger at her, his voice dripping with sarcasm. “Connor is an old man who can’t even have kids. How could he land a beautiful young girlfriend like you? Don’t lie. You’re just his sugar baby!” He grinned and pulled out his phone, snapping pictures of us. “If you don’t divorce her willingly, I’ll make sure this cheating scandal goes public. You’ll be left with nothing, and you’ll have to pay Audrey damages!” I looked at the wreckage of my birthday party, a profound sense of weariness washing over me. Maybe the stress of his studies had finally broken him. Maybe he was having some kind of psychotic break. I decided not to fight back. Instead, I calmly placed a hand on his shoulder. “Wayne, just calm down and listen to me. You’ve made a mistake. I have always been your sole sponsor. All the money you received came from me.” I glanced at Anna, a helpless, almost amused look passing between us. “And the Audrey you’re talking about… she died in an avalanche three years ago. I saw it with my own…” Wayne didn’t let me finish. He leaped back, shouting, “Are you crazy, Connor? Spreading rumors that your own wife is dead? Do you have a conscience?!” I had been trying to be patient, remembering the boy I had watched grow up. But he was putting on a full-blown circus act at my birthday party, and even if I could tolerate it, Anna couldn’t. She held me tight and glared at Wayne. “Get out. Now. Or I’ll have security throw you out.” Wayne turned his smug grin on her. “So you’re going to flaunt this affair so openly, Connor? You’re finished! I’ll have Audrey’s family kick you to the curb by tomorrow!” At this point, besides thinking Wayne was truly insane, I started to feel a flicker of pity for him. Whoever’s pregnancy test he was holding, he deserved to know the truth. “Since you’re so insistent,” I said, “why don’t you come with me to see Audrey? Then you’ll know I’m not lying.” Wayne followed me, still boasting. “Hmph. Just wait until you see my Audrey. You’ll see how much she loves me!” I gave him a sympathetic look and asked Anna to arrange for a car. Soon, two luxury sedans were waiting for us. Many of the guests, eager to see the drama unfold, got in their own cars and followed our small convoy. When the car stopped, I had the driver let Wayne out. He took off his sunglasses, looked around, and exploded. “You brought me to a cemetery?! What the hell is your problem, Connor?” “Just calm down and follow me.” I guided him a few steps forward and stopped in front of a gravestone. “Take a good look. Whose name is on it?” Wayne glanced at the inscription and then threw his head back and laughed. “I admit, you’re willing to go to great lengths, Connor. Faking a tombstone to get out of a divorce. But it’s useless. No matter how many times you claim Audrey is dead, you can’t deny the fact that she is the mother of my child.” His patience seemed to wear thin. He gave me an ultimatum. “Divorce her now, and I’ll have Audrey leave you with a few thousand dollars. Keep this up, and your life is going to get very miserable.” Even Anna, who was usually so composed, was starting to lose her temper. She took out her phone, turned on the flashlight, and shone it directly on the tombstone. “Wayne, take a good, hard look at the photo on this stone. Is that the Audrey you’ve been sleeping with?” Wayne stared at the photograph. After a few seconds of silence, he pointed an accusing finger at me. “You’re a cruel bastard, Connor,” he seethed. “You actually put your wife’s picture on a tombstone just to sell this lie!” Seeing that he was still in denial, my friends finally stepped in. “Kid, are you having a breakdown? Connor’s wife really did die three years ago.” “There was a huge news story about a fatal avalanche at a ski resort three years back. Look it up.” Watching Wayne’s shocked and furious expression, a suspicion began to form in my mind. “The Audrey you know… does she like to ski?” He nodded, a flicker of doubt in his eyes. “Of course. She’s the one who taught me how.” “Three years ago,” I said, my voice heavy, “she went skiing at a resort overseas. There was a freak blizzard and an avalanche. She was buried under the snow. The rescue team searched for a week but never found her body. They concluded her body was swept off a cliff. No chance of survival.” I pulled out my phone and showed him photos from her funeral. Her parents were in the front row, their faces etched with grief. “Her parents accepted it. They chose this plot, this gravestone. Her legal status is deceased. I think you’ve been scammed, Wayne. The woman you’re with cannot be her.” Wayne’s expression shifted from confusion to shock, then to rage as he felt the weight of everyone’s pitying stares. “You’re lying, Connor! I just texted her on the way here. She said she’s coming to demand a divorce from you personally!” Anna had completely lost her patience. She took my hand. “He’s a psychopath, Connor. Let’s not waste any more time on him. Let’s go back and salvage your birthday.” Wayne started snapping pictures of us again, vowing to expose my “affair.” Just as I turned to leave with Anna, Wayne suddenly jumped up and down, waving frantically towards the cemetery entrance. “Audrey, you’re here! I knew you’d come for me!”
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