Chapter 1

After my wife and I decided to be child-free, she had been away on a business trip for a year. One day, I received an anonymous package containing intimate photos of her and her assistant.

She was sitting on her assistant's lap, holding a baby as she breastfed and smiling with such tenderness in the photo.

My mother and I were thunderstruck, standing frozen for a long time. Once we regained our senses, we followed the address written on the back of the photo to confront my wife. To our astonishment, when we found her, she was celebrating the assistant's child's one-month birthday party.

My mother, filled with rage and heartbreak, rushed forward. "Yvonne, why did you hide this from Mark and me? How could you have a child with another man in a different city? You are my daughter-in-law!"

Before my mother could reach her, the assistant stepped forward and slapped my mother to the ground. "Where did this crazy woman come from? How dare you slander my wife by claiming she's your daughter-in-law?"

I quickly helped my mother up and glared at my wife with fury. "Alright, Yvonne, why don't you tell everyone that I'm just some 'other man'?"

Unexpectedly, to protect her assistant, she splashed wine straight onto my face.

"Yes," she sneered. "If you wanted to hit on me, you should have looked in a mirror first to see what kind of pathetic loser you are."

——

In her desperation to prove we were strangers, Yvonne went as far as throwing a wine glass at my head, but it unexpectedly struck my face instead.

The glass shards cut my cheek and bright red blood trailed down, staining my clothes. In that moment, my heart felt as if it were being cruelly squeezed, making it hard even to breathe.

Yvonne also froze for a second, a flicker of heartache flashing through her pupils. I said nothing, just looked at her with pained eyes.

Her hands clenched tightly, then loosened, only to clench again.

Finally, she made her decision. Turning coldly, she embraced Corey Levinson and kissed him. "Darling, don't waste your anger on a bumpkin. Today is our son's first-month celebration. We should be happy, understand?"

Corey shot me a challenging look, then deepened the kiss, not releasing Yvonne until she was nearly breathless.

My mother looked at her daughter-in-law in disbelief, tears welling in her eyes. Before she could say anything, the guests attending the one-month banquet began pointing at us, mother and son, hurling insults, ridicule and even curses.

"Tsk! Look at this loser trying to aim for the stars. Why don't you check yourself and your pathetic reputation before you have the nerve to barge in here and start trouble?"

"He probably wanted to be a boy toy, thinking that if he hooked up with Mrs. Stanfield, he could lie flat for the rest of his life."

"The most shameless one is his mother. Tck! Her son is ignorant and instead of stopping him, she joins in saying Mrs. Stanfield is her daughter-in-law."

Hearing this, my mother roared, "My son isn't a boy toy! They're a legally married couple! Yvonne, today I demand an explanation from you and my son … "

Yvonne turned around, glaring at my mother. "An explanation? I only let your son work at my company because I felt sorry for him since he came from the countryside. I didn't expect you bunch of country bumpkins to be so blind to your place, thinking I'm interested in your son and trying to cling to me."

As soon as these words were spoken, the entire room gasped. Someone, sympathizing with Yvonne, kicked my mother to the ground. I was already heartbroken by what I saw, but I never imagined my mother would be dragged into this and suffer.

I quickly went over and blocked the second foot that was about to kick my mother, staring angrily as I flung the person away.

My mother lay on the ground, overwhelmed with grief. "Mark, I'm sorry. This is all my fault. I was the one who introduced you to her and brought you together. I never thought Yvonne would be this kind of woman. I'm so sorry. It was your mother who ruined your entire life."