Chapter 1

I was working late when my smart home app pinged me.

Someone had opened the front door. Only Emily and I had registered fingerprints.

Emily was three months pregnant. Worried something had happened to her, I opened the live feed. I was about to call the police.

But what I saw stopped me cold.

She was naked from the waist up, her pregnant belly showing. She was on top of her childhood friend, moving up and down.

"Tristan, be gentle. I'm carrying your child."

My heart sank.

She had told me the baby was mine.

I pulled up every security video from the past few months. They had been having sex all over the house while I worked overtime.

I downloaded everything.

Tomorrow was our wedding anniversary. At the party, I would give them a gift they'd never forget.

Ethan's POV

Emily was three months pregnant. We were supposed to announce the baby at our first anniversary party.

The party was at our house.

She had picked the house herself. The day she got the keys, she told me this would be our home. Just the two of us. No one would ever take my place.

But before the party even started, Emily invited another man to sit at the head table.

Years ago, Tristan took a blow meant for Emily. His right hand was permanently injured. His arranged engagement fell apart because of it.

The Hayes family felt they owed him. They'd been carrying that debt for years. All the way to today.

Now Emily's unborn child already had someone trying to claim a place for him.

Emily's mother, Linda, spoke first.

"Ethan, Tristan isn't a stranger. If it weren't for him back then, Emily would be dead. When the child has birthdays in the future, surely he can at least sit at the family table?"

Another person piled on.

"You're about to be a father. Be more generous. Tristan doesn't want any title. He just wants to feel included."

I sat beside Emily, my fingers slowly tightening.

Tristan kept his head down, his voice soft.

"Forget it. Don't make things difficult for Ethan. The child is his and Emily's. What right do I have to interfere?"

The moment he said that, the table went even quieter.

Linda's eyes reddened.

"You're too understanding. That's why people keep taking advantage of you."

"Ethan wouldn't be that petty, would he?"

"Tristan's hand is ruined. What's wrong with letting him be close to the child?"

Every sentence was a blow to my face.

I'd been afraid of scenes like this since I was a child.

Even when something was clearly mine, as long as someone else cried harder, I had to give it up.

But Emily stood up.

She was wearing a formal dress, her belly not yet prominent, her voice steady.

"The child is Ethan's and mine. This house is Ethan's and mine. The Hayes family owes Tristan, and I'll repay that debt. If his right hand needs treatment, I'll pay for it. If he has no one to take care of him, I'll arrange for someone. But his name won't be written into the child's trust, and he won't have access to our house."

Everyone at the table froze.

Linda's face darkened.

"Emily, don't forget who he became like this for."

"I haven't forgotten."

Emily looked at Tristan.

"That's why I'll compensate him. But I won't use my husband to do it."

I looked up at her.

In that moment, I truly believed Emily still remembered what she had said.

The day our house was completed, she placed the keys in my palm.

"From now on," she said, "no outsiders. No relatives staying over. No one rearranging your things."

I had said, "Not even your savior?"

Emily had smiled and answered, "No one."

I believed her.

Before the party, Linda called Emily away to change her dress.

I went to the study alone.

In the study drawer was an anniversary ring with the date of our house's completion engraved on the inside.

I had planned to put the ring back on Emily's finger after we announced the baby.

But the computer was on.

A security footage backup file sat alone on the desktop, labeled with the date of the night I had been on a business trip.

The home security system had been installed after Emily got pregnant. It only recorded the door access and hallway.

I had never checked it before.

Now that backup file sat right in the center of the screen.

I clicked it open.

At one in the morning, Tristan used the access code to open our front door, as naturally as if he were coming home.

He walked straight toward the master bedroom.

A few minutes later, Emily appeared in the hallway.

She didn't call the housekeeper. She didn't stop him.

The master bedroom door opened, then closed.

The camera couldn't capture inside the room, but Tristan didn't come out all night.

Just before dawn, the master bedroom door finally opened.

Tristan came out first, with Emily following behind.

They stood at the end of the hallway talking.

Tristan laughed softly.

"After the child is born, surely he can't be the only one the kid calls 'Dad,' right?"

Emily's voice was tight.

"Don't make a scene tonight. Don't provoke Ethan at the party."

"You know better than anyone how this child came to be."

Emily didn't argue.

She only said, "Remember what you promised me."

Applause suddenly erupted from downstairs. The host was calling for us.

"Please welcome Mr. Hayes and Miss Emily to the stage. There's good news to announce tonight!"

I stared at the master bedroom door on the screen.

The anniversary ring in my hand dropped onto the desk with a soft clink.