I was ready. Ready to marry the love of my life. I walked into city hall, my heart pounding with excitement, only to have it crash in an instant.
“Sir,” the clerk said, her eyes flicking up from the computer screen. “According to our records, you’re already married.”
I froze. My mind went blank. “What?” I croaked. “That’s impossible. I’ve never… ever… been married.”
Her expression softened, but her words didn’t change. “I’m just telling you what the system says, sir. There’s a certificate here. You were legally married two years ago.”
Two years ago. Right before Clara and I met. Right before my life finally started making sense.
“No,” I said, shaking my head. “This has to be a mistake. I—”
“I’m sorry, sir,” the clerk interrupted, her tone firmer now. “You’ll need to resolve this first. I can’t process a marriage license if you’re already married to someone else.”
I turned to Clara. Her eyes, usually so full of warmth and mischief, were wide with fear. Her voice was barely a whisper. “What… what does this mean?”
I had no answer. Nothing made sense. How could I be married to someone I’d never met? How could this be real?
“Was there… someone else before me?” she asked, hanging her head. “You can tell me if there was…”
“No,” I said quickly. “I swear I have no idea what’s going on here, but I’m going to get to the bottom of it!”
I went to bed that night clutching the copy of the certificate like it was a piece of some nightmare puzzle I needed to solve. Clara stayed with me, but we barely spoke. There was nothing to say. I held her while she cried. Then she held me while I tried to figure out what had just happened to my life.
The next morning, I went to work, hoping the routine would calm me. My boss, Tom, was my father’s old friend. He’d found me in college, shown up at my dorm, told me stories about my parents, and offered me a job. I’d been grateful for it my whole life. He’d been steady when nothing else was.
But lately… something had been off. A new car, a bigger house, a vacation to Italy last month—while the company was barely breaking even. I’d noticed, but hadn’t said anything. Not my business, I told myself.
I found him in his office and spilled everything. He listened in silence, his face growing serious with every word.
“Let me call my lawyer,” he said when I finished. “See what can be done.”
I nodded and returned to my desk, but I couldn’t work. Every thought spun back to city hall. Later that afternoon, Tom called me in again.
“Come in,” he said, sliding some paperwork across the desk. I reached for it, but then his phone buzzed. The caller ID made my stomach drop: Marla—the woman I was supposedly married to.
“That’s the woman… why is she calling you?” I asked, voice shaking.
Tom’s jaw tightened. His face hardened. “That explains everything.”
He answered the call and put it on speaker. A woman’s voice rang through the office, cold and triumphant.
“After all these years, I finally got my revenge!” she laughed. It was a laugh that made my skin crawl.
“You tried so hard to protect that boy from me, Tom. But you failed,” she said.
“What are you talking about, Marla?” Tom asked.
“I paid someone to steal all the information I needed from your employee files and stole his name. Then I went after the money.”
My hands shook. “What are you talking about?”
“You tried so hard to protect that boy from me, Tom. But you failed,” she repeated.
“Oh!” Her voice brightened. “The boy is there with you? Even better! Listen here, Andrew. I have ruined you.”
“You forged the marriage certificate! But why?”
“Payback. Your parents made sure I lost everything, so I’ve done the same to you. I might not touch the money directly, but I can take out loans in your name. Credit cards. Personal loans. A second mortgage on a house you don’t even own. Beautiful, really.”
I turned to Tom, my whole body shaking.
“I’ll be coming for you next, Tom. See you soon.” The line went dead.
Tom sank into his chair. “What’s going on?”
I took a deep breath and listened as he explained. Years ago, my parents and Marla had been business partners. Marla had embezzled money, gotten caught, and blamed them. She swore revenge. And now, she had chosen me as her target, waiting until I inherited their money.
I felt sick to my stomach. “So… she waited all these years just to ruin me?”
“Looks like it,” Tom said quietly.
“How do we stop her?”
He pointed to the paperwork on his desk. Petitions, copies of the certificate, notes about forged signatures, lack of consent. His lawyer had already started challenging it, forcing a review, buying us time.
“But the loans—”
Tom picked up his phone. He called the lawyer, explained everything, and ensured the banks and authorities were on alert.
“Now,” he said after hanging up, “we wait for the wheels of justice to turn.”
The next week felt like a year. Clara stayed by my side, silent but steady, holding my hand when I felt like I was going to crumble. Finally, the case was resolved. The fraudulent marriage was nullified, the loans were voided, my credit would repair over time, and Marla was arrested.
The day after it was officially over, Clara and I stood outside the same city hall where everything had started. I squeezed her hand, trying not to shake.
“We’d like to get married,” I said.
“Congratulations,” the clerk smiled. “Names?”
This time, everything went perfectly. No surprises, no lies, no fake marriages. Just us. Hand in hand, heart to heart, ready to finally start the life we’d dreamed of for so long.
And this time, I knew it was real.