Chapter 2

Perhaps it was the coldness in my eyes that unnerved her.

She froze for a second, then quickly hopped off the sofa, wrapping her arms around my waist in her usual sweet, manipulative way.

"Where else could I be? I told you, playing cards with the girls."

"Look, if you hate me going out, I just won't do it anymore, okay?"

Seeing her act so innocent and sincere, a familiar pang of weakness hit my chest.

Whenever she pulled this act in the past, I had melted instantly.

But not this time. I peeled her arms off me and stepped back, my voice flat.

"Do you really have nothing else to tell me?"

She opened her mouth to speak, but her phone suddenly lit up and chimed.

She glanced at the screen, and her expression flickered before she set it facedown.

I knew who it was. Playing dumb, I asked, "Who is it? Why aren't you answering?"

Her eyes darted away, and she quickly hit decline.

"Are you picking a fight with me, Sean? You finally get a job after months of sitting around, and now you’re acting all paranoid!"

"I didn't want to bring you down when you landed that gig, but let's be real—on a security guard's pathetic paycheck, what right do you have to pressure me about having a baby?”

“If I hadn't had the foresight to stay on the pill, I'd already be stuck as an exhausted housewife with a crying brat!"

I didn't argue. I simply walked over to the kitchen and tossed the artisan pastry I had waited two hours in line for straight into the trash can.

Chloe watched me, frowning, before softening her tone slightly.

"Fine. I won't go out to play cards anymore. Happy?"

My heart gave a bitter thud. "You mean that?"

"Yeah. Actually, I took a night shift job. Starting next week, I'll be working out of the house from ten at night until eight in the morning."

A cold laugh echoed in my head. What was I even hoping for?

She was just setting up an even more convenient lie so she could keep sleeping with her rich lover.

I turned my back to her, unable to look at her face for another second.

Chloe completely lost her temper. She shoved me hard from behind.

"Did you hear me talking to you, you ungrateful jerk?"

"You're a nobody with zero ambition, and you dare give me attitude?"

"Why did I ever marry a pathetic cripple like you? Useless, with a terrible temper!"

The shove sent me stumbling. My injured knee slammed violently into the hard edge of the coffee table, reopening an old wound. Blood began to seep through my pant leg.

"Yeah, I'm useless," I said quietly, clenching my teeth through the pain. "But would I even have this limp if I hadn't taken a pipe to the knee saving you from those muggers ten years ago?"

"I’ve worked three jobs every single day just to give you the lifestyle you wanted, despite my bad leg."

"The only reason I took that security job is because my knee flared up so badly I couldn't do heavy labor anymore!"

Chloe didn't even blink. She grabbed her designer bag, stormed out, and slammed the front door shut.

Later that afternoon, while she was out, I quietly set up a hidden camera in the living room.

Deep down, even though the truth was already staring me in the face, a tiny, foolish part of me still clung to a shred of denial.

Until I left for work.

Less than ten minutes after I walked out, Chloe and Brock appeared on the live feed on my phone.

The moment the door clicked shut, they were all over each other.

I watched, like a masochist, recording every second to my device.

Their muffled giggles and heavy breathing trailed from the entryway to our master bedroom.

Right under the massive wedding portrait hanging above our bed, they threw themselves onto the mattress.

My pillow was tossed onto the floor, stepped on and kicked aside.

It felt like a serrated knife twisting in my chest, a pain so sharp I couldn't catch my breath.

If this was how she wanted to treat me, then I was going to give her a send-off she would never forget.