Chapter 3

"Whoa, careful. See? I didn't get arrested. What are you so nervous about?"

Though my mind was screaming, I kept my voice completely calm.

I even forced a small chuckle to test her. "But seriously, that kid looks so much like Leo, which means he looks exactly like you. If you took him out, people would definitely think you gave birth to him."

"Don't make stupid jokes like that."

A flash of pure panic crossed Lily’s eyes. Her expression was incredibly strained.

She clearly didn't want to talk about it.

After a curt response, she practically shoved me out of the kitchen. "Go, go wash up. Dinner's almost ready. Tell Leo to wash his hands."

I stepped back into the living room.

On the outside, I was perfectly calm. On the inside, a hurricane was ripping me apart.

It felt as if an invisible dagger had been plunged deep into my chest.

Ryan’s reaction at noon was guilty enough.

Now, Lily was acting the exact same way.

Even a fool would know something was deeply wrong here.

No wonder her father’s family never visited us after we got married.

They weren't being distant.

They were terrified of me finding out their sick secret!

I had always given Lily my full respect and trust.

I never asked about her past, and I worked myself to the bone to provide for this family.

Only now did I realize that our "happy, peaceful marriage" was nothing but a joke I played on myself.

Did she seriously have a child with her stepmother's son before she married me?

The thought made me physically sick.

On one hand, their step-sibling relationship made this boundary-crossing affair feel incredibly taboo and disgusting.

On the other hand, the existence of that child meant I could never look at my marriage the same way again.

During dinner, I kept my head down, eating in silence. My unusual quietness quickly drew Lily's attention.

"Ethan, what's wrong?"

She put down her fork and looked at me suspiciously. "Are you feeling sick?"

"No, I was just thinking about your dad."

I seized the opportunity to dig deeper.

"And your stepbrother, Ryan. He's in his mid-thirties now, right? I realized we never got invited to a wedding or anything. Did he ever get married and have kids?"

Lily froze, her grip on her glass tightening.

She tried to play it cool, picking up some food. "You know how controlling my stepmother, Helen, is."

"My dad didn't keep in touch with us much because of her. He just wanted some peace in his old age."

"As for Ryan, he found someone the year we got married. They just never had a big wedding reception."

"Anyway, let's not talk about him. We aren't even blood-related. He clearly doesn't want anything to do with us."

"Once my dad passes away, we probably won't even consider him family anymore..."

She sounded so indifferent.

But her actions betrayed her.

She kept playing with her food, swirling it around her plate without taking a single bite.

She was terrified.

My heart grew colder. I casually asked, "Oh, I see. Did Ryan have a boy or a girl?"

"What?"

Lily’s hand shook, almost dropping her fork.

She looked up at me with guilty, shifting eyes. "Why are you asking about that? What does it have to do with us? He... he had a daughter."