Chapter 1

On the day my wife gave birth to the child of her imprisoned high school sweetheart, her entire family was on high alert.

They treated me like public enemy number one, terrified I would show up and ruin their perfect moment.

But I never showed up, not even when she went into difficult labor.

When Chloe was finally wheeled out of the delivery room, her eyes instinctively searched the crowded hallway, looking for me.

"Chloe, don’t worry," Eleanor, her mother, said, patting her own chest reassurringly. "We’ve made sure of it. That loser Liam won’t be coming."

"Yeah, I was so worried his bad vibes would ruin my nephew’s luck," Jordan, Chloe's brother, chimed in.

Chloe nodded. She turned her head to look at the newborn sleeping beside her, a triumphant smile spreading across her pale face.

She never understood why I couldn't just accept this. In her mind, she was just trying to make sure Tyler didn't have any regrets before he went to prison.

She had even convinced herself that if I treated the baby well, she would graciously allow me to stay in her life and help raise him.

She had no idea that I was already packing. I was leaving for the Interpol General Secretariat in Lyon, France, to lead a massive international joint task force.

Once I stepped onto that plane, there was no turning back.

Chloe suffered a severe hemorrhage during delivery.

Yet, less than a week after being admitted to the hospital, Tyler’s mother, Brenda, was already nagging her to pack up and finish her postpartum recovery at home to save money.

Meanwhile, I had been locked in a high-security tactical briefing at headquarters for a month, working on a major transnational case. Today was my first day off.

I dragged my exhausted body back to our suburban home. The moment I stepped through the front door, the atmosphere turned freezing cold.

In the living room, Eleanor and Richard were huddled around Chloe and the baby, their faces filled with warmth and affection.

Brenda was sitting right next to them. The five of them looked like a perfect, happy family.

I was the only outsider.

"Oh, look at my sweet little angel! Yes, you are! Call me Grandma, sweetheart!"

Eleanor cooed, her eyes practically sparkling with joy.

When they finally noticed me standing in the entryway, the smiles froze on their faces, replaced by awkward tension.

Chloe was pale and completely drained of color. She gave me a cold, indifferent glance before looking back down to play with the baby.

"Unbelievable. Of all the times to show up, he shows up now. What a buzzkill," Richard sneered. He lit a cigarette, leaning back on the sofa, and eyed me up and down with pure disgust.

Looking at them, I could hardly believe these were the same people who had begged me to marry Chloe. Before our wedding, they had called me the perfect son-in-law.

Once, Chloe and I actually had something pure.

I went to the police academy right out of high school, and she was studying education at the college next door. That was where our lives aligned. We met, fell in love, and got married without any drama.

I was always the quiet, stoic type. Chloe, on the other hand, was like a vibrant, cheerful songbird. After my parents died in the line of duty, I rarely let myself feel strong emotions.

Chloe had been the single beam of light in my dark, quiet world.

Our wedding was perfect. Her parents used to boast about my respectable career as a federal agent, praising my stability.

We were happy. But when it came to intimacy, Chloe had always been incredibly reserved and resistant. Because I loved and respected her, I never pushed. We lived in a sexless marriage for years.

I never suspected a thing. I thought we were just deeply, spiritually connected. Besides, my job kept me in the field for long stretches. I assumed our marriage was just built on a different kind of bond.

Then, I was selected for an elite, closed-off federal training program in preparation for a major international joint operation. It required me to go completely off the grid for six months.

Before I left, Chloe had tears in her eyes. She held my hand tightly.

"You have to come back to me safely," she sobbed. "I'll be waiting for you."

I gently wiped her tears, my heart aching.

Eleanor had also wept, grabbing my sleeve and begging me to stay safe.

At that moment, I had already decided that after this training, I would apply for a desk job. I wanted to give up the dangerous field operations and just protect my family.

During those six months of grueling training, not a single day went by without me thinking of Chloe. Sometimes, I was so distracted it was dangerous.

On the final day of training, I drove home as fast as the speed limit allowed, my heart racing with excitement. But when I unlocked the front door, the scene before me made my blood run cold.

In the dining room, Chloe was sitting at the table eating dinner with a strange man. The man had his arm draped intimately over her shoulder.

When they saw me, both of them froze. Chloe frantically pushed his hand away, her face turning a ghostly white.

"Who is he?"

My voice was dead silent. I didn't even put down my duffel bag. My eyes were locked onto the man.

Chloe looked away, stammering, "This... this is Tyler. He’s just an old friend from college. He’s... staying with us for a few days."

The smiles on Eleanor and Richard's faces vanished instantly. Richard frowned, looking at me with pure annoyance.

"Why are you back so early?" Richard snapped.

Eleanor muttered under her breath, "Useless cop. Couldn't you have just stayed out in the field? What a buzzkill."

Tyler stood up, giving me a smug, arrogant smirk.

I didn't ask any more questions. But as my eyes swept over Chloe, I noticed her hand was instinctively resting on her stomach. Her belly was slightly rounded. She was clearly showing.

My heart sank into a dark, bottomless abyss. A sickening realization washed over me.

That night, Chloe brought a glass of warm milk to my study. She forced a sweet smile.

"You've been training so hard, Liam. You must be exhausted. Drink some milk and get some sleep."

I took the glass, but I didn't miss the flicker of anxiety in her eyes.

I set the glass aside, pretending to take a few sips when she wasn't looking.

Sure enough, around midnight, Chloe slipped out of bed and crept out of the room.

I followed her silently in the shadows. She walked into the guest room down the hall. Through the cracked door, I heard Tyler's muffled voice.

"Babe, what took you so long?"

Rage flared in my chest. I drew closer, only to hear Chloe’s playful, breathless giggle.

"Gentle... be careful of the baby."

It felt like a sledgehammer to my chest. The truth was laid bare.

All this time, she had refused to let me touch her. Yet the moment I was gone, she had crawled into another man's bed and gotten pregnant.