Chapter 2

Just a meaningless fling? Cut ties completely?

Thinking back to the oaths he swore, I found it utterly laughable.

With a three-year-old child between them, how could he possibly just cut her off?

It was all just a stalling tactic to play me for a fool!

All this time, he was nothing but a parasite, greedily sucking my blood to maintain the hypocritical facade of a perfect marriage, while comfortably raising his mistress and bastard son on the side!

I met Kyle in college.

Back then, he was just a broke student who could barely scrape together his tuition using my parents' financial aid.

Even though he was dirt-poor, he always appeared brilliant and driven. Back then, when he looked at me, his eyes were always filled with an intoxicating, deep devotion, fulfilling my every whim.

After we got married, to ensure no one looked down on him, I didn't hesitate to exhaust my parents' connections and resources. I stayed up with him through countless sleepless nights building his startup, pulled every string for him, and step by step, elevated him to the lofty position of CEO.

But I never imagined that the boy who once got red-eyed with shame because he couldn't afford to give me a good life, would now be so calmly juggling two women.

When I finally pieced together the entire ugly truth, I drove straight to his company.

Catching sight of me, Kyle froze for a second before his tone turned soft and warm. "Selena, what brings you here so suddenly?"

I slammed my phone down in front of him.

In the photo, he was holding that three-year-old boy, his face radiating fatherly love.

I sneered. "Kyle, you two already have a three-year-old son! When exactly were you planning to tell me?!"

"Selena, listen to me, it's not what you think..."

He came around the desk and forcefully pulled me into his arms.

All the humiliation and hatred I had accumulated since discovering the truth violently poured out in that instant.

I struggled desperately, my fists hammering relentlessly against his chest.

Pinned forcefully against him, I opened my mouth and clamped my teeth brutally down on his neck and shoulder. I bit down with every ounce of strength I had, until the thick, metallic taste of blood filled my mouth, pushing me to the verge of vomiting.

He let out a muffled groan of pain, instinctively flinching and pulling back.

In that exact split second, a glaring, fresh purple hickey lay exposed on his collarbone.

And it wasn't just that. Because we were so close, the sickeningly sweet perfume—a scent unique to Madeleine—wafted from deep within his collar and pierced my nose.

He had sworn up and down that he would never see her again, begging me not to tear our family apart.

Yet right now, this hickey and this scent were brutally screaming the truth: practically the second he finished pacifying me, he had crawled right back into Madeleine's bed to sleep with her!

Uncontrollable shivers wracked my body, my stomach churning violently.

Before I could even push him away, the office door was violently thrown open.

My mother-in-law, Dorothy, barged in, her arms wrapped around a hysterically sobbing Madeleine. Madeleine lunged at Kyle, yanking him away from me.

"Kyle! Our baby is missing!" she shrieked. "He's so little! Who would be cruel enough to take him?"

Dorothy's glare locked onto me.

"You vicious bitch! What, just because you gave birth to a defective cripple with a bad heart, you're so insane with jealousy that you want to destroy someone else's child?! Tell us now, where did you hide our precious, healthy grandson?!"

I stared at her in absolute disbelief.

So she knew all along! My mother-in-law didn't just know about Kyle cheating with my best friend; she had already accepted that bastard child as her true, golden grandson!

I was the only one kept utterly in the dark!

Before I could even recover from the crushing humiliation, Kyle suddenly spun around.

The apologetic husband from a second ago vanished instantly.

He clamped his hand around my wrist, his grip so vicious it nearly crushed my bones, his eyes radiating a chilling, ruthless glare.

"Selena, I told you I would handle it. How could you be sick enough to lay a hand on a child?"

A miserable, hollow laugh escaped my lips. "So you think I did it, too?"

Beside him, Madeleine dropped to her knees, weeping and slamming her head against the floor like a madwoman. "I beg you, please let him go! Someone saw you take him! We know it was you!"

Kyle's jaw clenched tight. With a violent thrust of his arm, he hurled me forcefully onto the floor.

Then, he pulled out his phone, dialed a number, and spoke without a single trace of emotion. "Go to the ward. Pull the plug on all of Noah's life support machines."

I froze where I sat, my blood instantly turning to ice. "Kyle, are you insane?! Noah has a heart condition—he'll die!"

He stared down at me coldly. "Striking what you care about most is the only way to squeeze the truth out of you."

"It wasn't me! I swear I don't know!" I broke down completely, crawling desperately to his feet. "Please tell the doctors to stop! He's your biological son too!"

Kyle glanced at his watch, completely unmoved. "That's one minute."

The next second, from the speaker of his phone, came a weak, agonizing gasp:

"Mommy... Noah hurts so much... my heart hurts..."

That little voice was a blunt blade, violently mincing my heart.

With every passing second, the sheer terror of Noah's life slipping away was butchering me alive. This suffocating agony completely broke my will.

To buy my son a sliver of hope, I was forced to fabricate a lie. "He's in the abandoned warehouse on the outskirts of town! Just make the doctors save Noah!"

I desperately believed that this lie would buy my son another breath of life.

But the very next second.

From the other end of the line came the bodyguard's terrified, stammering voice.

"The young master... his heart has stopped beating!"

Every ounce of strength was instantly drained from my body. I collapsed face-first onto the floor as my entire world instantly caved into a bottomless, endless darkness.