Chapter 1

My best friend passed away when his wife Laura was eight months pregnant.

Laura said she didn't want her child to grow up without a father.

To repay my friend's life-saving grace, I became the child's father.

Laura loved her work, so I quit my job to become a full-time stay-at-home dad, caring for them for seven years straight.

But she remained cold and distant. Only during sex at night would she occasionally show a trace of tenderness.

Yet after each time, she would carefully check whether the condom had broken.

One night, the condom accidentally broke.

Laura flew into a rage and locked me out on the balcony as punishment, leaving me in the pouring rain.

Her son came hurrying over with an umbrella.

But he coldly walked right past me and handed the umbrella to the nanny who was heading out.

In that moment, I decided to leave.

Fighting through the weakness of a high fever, I handed her the divorce papers.

She frowned in displeasure and asked, "Is this just because of what happened last night?"

"Mark, if you hadn't crossed the line, I wouldn't have punished you. You should look for the cause in yourself."

I suppressed the urge to defend myself, my voice hoarse as I said, "Just sign it."

"What about our son?"

"He was never my biological child anyway. Of course I won't fight for custody."

"And you don't need to split any assets with me either. Consider that portion my child support for him."

Laura looked up in surprise. No wonder—after all, I normally cared most about this child.

She threatened me with a stern face, "I advise you to quit while you're ahead. If you keep this up, there'll be no turning back."

Apparently she was convinced my divorce request was just a tantrum.

But what she didn't know was that from the moment I decided on divorce, I never planned to turn back.

I didn't bother explaining further. Taking the signed divorce agreement, I returned to my room.

Seeing me pack my luggage, Laura said, "Mark, the paperwork will still take some time. You don't need to rush to move out."

I calmly threw her own words back at her.

"No thanks. When doing things, it's better to make a clean break."

She said nothing more.

I had a lot of belongings, but I only took the essentials.

As I came out dragging my suitcase, John was in the living room reading a science magazine.

So disciplined at such a young age, just like his mother. And just like his mother, utterly cold toward me.

He put down his book, walked up to me with an impatient expression:

"Are you really divorcing Mom?"

I nodded.

Though his face was expressionless, I still caught the joy flickering in his eyes.

Then he spoke to me in a tone of granting a favor:

"From now on, I'll allow you to visit me, but only once a month. More than that might make Ivan unhappy."

He was talking about Laura's first love, Ivan.

If Ivan hadn't had that incident that forced his whole family to immigrate, Laura probably never would have married my brother.

Recently Ivan returned to the country, and the two reconnected.

She often took John to see Ivan too.

Ivan was a race car driver. John thought he was cool and impressive.

But he didn't know I had won multiple consecutive CRC and CTCC annual driver championships.

He hated me so much he wouldn't even give me a chance to take him to race cars.

Before, I would feel hurt and sad that he liked Ivan but not me. But now my heart was still as water.

Last night's incident had completely opened my eyes.

You can't domesticate an ungrateful wolf.

I didn't even give him a glance, just opened the door and left.

As I neared the main gate, Laura came out.

"Why the rush? You haven't even found a place to stay yet."

I said nothing, opening the front door.

"Where are you planning to go? I'll have the driver take you."

"No need."

After being drenched in last night's rainstorm all night, my whole body was burning hot now, my head splitting with pain.

Dragging a body that could collapse at any moment, I used my last bit of strength to walk out the door.

But I'd barely taken a few steps outside before my vision went black and I collapsed.