Chapter 2

When Chloe returned from her business trip, I was in the kitchen cooking dinner for her.

Seeing how relaxed she was, I knew my "new son-in-law" hadn't told her about our phone call.

Perfect. I wasn't going to ruin the surprise. I knew she was cheating, and now, I had her lover's direct contact info.

Chloe threw herself onto the sofa, looking absolutely exhausted.

I poured a warm glass of milk, set it in front of her, and gently massaged her temples.

"Honey, a woman at my office was caught having an affair. Her husband made such a huge scene that now the whole company knows."

Chloe pushed my hands away impatiently. "Then her husband should look in the mirror and figure out what’s wrong with him instead of blaming others."

I wondered if she was talking about me. I nodded submissively. "But still, cheating is wrong."

Chloe opened her eyes and slapped my hand away. "Wrong? Who cares about right or wrong? Are you trying to imply something to me, Mark?"

"No, of course not," I quickly denied.

Chloe nodded in satisfaction, looking down at me.

"If you have this much free time, think about how to make more money and improve my quality of life. Stop gossiping about other people. What does someone else's affair have to do with you?"

I nodded meekly. "You're right."

I had already anticipated her reaction, but a small, foolish part of me had still hoped to test her.

Now, I realized there was absolutely no need to spare her any dignity. In her eyes, I was nothing but a cowardly, useless dog.

After dinner, while she was in the shower, I opened my Snapchat and looked at Ethan’s profile.

My "new son-in-law" had just sent me a photo.

It was a picture of workers renovating a house. It looked like the cozy home Ethan had promised to build for my "daughter." It looked quite warm and inviting.

I acted like a stern, distant father-in-law and replied with a single word: "Okay." I wanted him to think he was still under my strict evaluation.

Sure enough, Ethan took the bait. He immediately sent a long paragraph.

He promised he would give Chloe the best life possible and begged me to trust him.

I sneered. Trust him? Oh, I trusted him. But whether he would trust Chloe in the end was a different story.

That night, I posted a Snapchat story hidden from everyone except Ethan. The caption read: "The wine rack is empty. Time to fill it up."

The photo was a picture of an empty wine cellar I found on Google.

My dad’s 60th birthday bash was coming up in two days, and I was stressing over what gift to buy. Now, a perfect sponsor had delivered himself right to my door. It would be a waste not to use him.

After all, I was letting him lease my wife. Charging a little "rental fee" was only fair.