Chapter 2

She replaced him with a male secretary she liked.

Over the years, men came and went by her side, one after another.

Those same girlfriends who used to call me a control freak now held her hand and laughed, saying, “This is how a woman should live!”

In the living room, the woman’s voice was a little too loud.

I had never known that Tyson was the kind of boy who would show off and provoke others.

I put on my headphones and said nothing.

After everything ended, Tyson knocked on my door, lipstick marks still on him.

“Davis, I want to… explain.”

“Oh, no need.”

I was about to leave when he hurriedly stopped me.

“I really did hate her before! But…”

He paused.

I stared at him.

As if he had made up his mind, he took a deep breath and said, “But one day, I realized that what I had risked half my life to get… I could get it just by sleeping with her. And that was exactly what you could not give me. I did say I wanted to be a strong, upright man, but my body was also my own resource. Why could I not use it?”

After saying that, he looked at me as if waiting for my reply.

But I did not answer. I only looked at him for a moment, nodded, walked past him and left.

“Davis!” His voice came from behind me. “Is it because you look down on me that you would not talk to me more?”

“You are overthinking it.” My tone was calm, without any emotion, just like the first time I saw Esme bring another man home.

I turned around quietly.

I chopped up the small wooden carving she made for me and burned it as firewood.

Then, when she was under anesthesia for a gastroscopy and colonoscopy, I told my people to damage her fallopian tubes as well.

Since I could not stop people from changing,

I at least had to protect the things that would not change.

Such as power.

Such as wealth.

Such as my son’s inheritance.

But this time, Esme went too far. She came to me and spoke seriously, “I’ve thought about it. Let’s give your acting CEO authority to Tyson.”

My hand paused while I was handling documents. “Him? A college graduate who just finished school not long ago?”

“I know he lacks experience,” she said. “That’s why you’ll stay by his side and guide him. If he doesn’t know something, teach him more. If he does something wrong, you’ll be there, so nothing will go wrong.”

I closed the folder. Only then did I understand what Tyson meant by “risking half his life” to get something.

Indeed, sleeping with Esme might really be enough to obtain the power in my hands.

That method might work Tyson.

But it did not work for me. Esme and I have been husband and wife for too many years.

That kind of transaction no longer held any weight.

The only card I still held was our shared past. So I began to use a man’s tears.

After all, many of those kept men had moved her this way.

But I could not cry at first. So I began to remember.

I remembered when I was fifteen, when my stepmother threw me out of the house and Esme held an umbrella over me.

I remembered the day my mother died, when my depression returned and she took care of me, washing me and helping me change clothes.

I remembered the nights when my stepmother refused to give me food, she hid hot roasted sweet potatoes against her chest and gave them to me.

Her skin blistered from the heat, all so I could eat something warm.

My tears suddenly dropped onto the table.

She froze.

I quickly wiped the corner of my eyes.

“Esme,” I said, “How did we end up like this?”

“Davis?” Esme stood up in surprise.

I wiped my eyes even more often.

“I thought we still had our past. As long as I did not make trouble, I thought I could at least stay with you until old age. But now that I see it, I overestimated myself after all.”