Chapter 1

When my wife, Stephany Jones, cries into her pillow again in the middle of the night, I pretend to be sound asleep.

Six months ago, the man she has never been able to forget, Chase Barker, gets divorced and returns from overseas. From that moment on, her eyes and her emotions are once again consumed by the love she can never quite let go of.

She is a good wife and a good mother. Every asset we own is under my name, and she insists on handing over her entire paycheck for me to manage.

All this time, she suppresses her feelings for Chase and never crosses the line that would betray our marriage.

But this fragile restraint is shattered the day she secretly sells one of her kidneys behind my back to buy Chase a property.

I hand over a divorce agreement, as well as half of our marital assets, to her and say, "There's no need to sell organs just to finance your true love. Half of our assets should be enough to cover your dating expenses."

Chapter 1

Stephany Jones panicked instantly.

Instead of taking the divorce agreement, she nervously raised her hand and swore, "Honey, I swear on my mom and my whole family. Chase and I never slept together. We never held hands, and we never kissed."

She looked like a child who had done something wrong. My calmness frightened her, and tears began pooling in her eyes immediately.

We had been married for ten years and had an eight-year-old son named Ricky Gallagher together. This was the first time I had ever brought up divorce.

It was also the first time I had seen her panic to the point of tears. She looked nothing like her usual composed self.

"What about hugging?" I asked.

A flash of guilt crossed her eyes, and she honestly admitted with remorse, "We only hugged twice, and neither hug lasted more than a minute. Honey, I've realized my mistake. I won't be so careless about boundaries anymore. I don't want our family to fall apart. Please don't leave me, okay?"

My nose stung as emotions churned inside me.

Pretending to stay composed, I said, "I don't hate you. Even if we get divorced, you'll still be Ricky's mother. If our marriage was destined to fall apart and just needed one last push, I'd rather we have a clean break than drag it out to everyone's detriment."

Stephany panicked even more. It seemed she had countless things she wanted to say, yet no explanation seemed to be sufficient to clear her name.

I gave her all the time and space she needed to calm down and deal with the issue.

…

Unexpectedly, Chase Barker came to see me on his own.

He brought a basket of fruit and the probiotic yogurt drink Ricky loved. That brand wasn't readily available in average stores, and most people wouldn't even know about it.

It seemed Stephany had told him about it in advance.

"Hello, I'm Chase. May I come in?"

He was more polite than I had imagined. In fact, he was more handsome and cultured than I'd initially assumed.

Ten years had passed, but he looked exactly the same as the photo Stephany had secretly kept in her password-protected diary.

"Please, come in," I said.

I did my best to suppress the storm of emotions inside me and poured him a glass of water.

He swept a casual, discreet gaze around my house.

Calmly, I said, "If you like this house, Stephany can have it in the divorce settlement."

I meant what I said. It wasn't because I was being generous. Over the past ten years of marriage, Stephany had earned plenty of money for our family too.

Chase immediately panicked and hurried to explain, "You've misunderstood. That's not what I'm after. I heard from Stephany that you wanted to divorce her. I came here to talk you out of it. I never wanted to ruin your family.

"To be honest, I never expected that the happy time I once shared with Stephany would stay with her for all these years. I heard from her that you guys got married after going on a blind date. Even if there wasn't really any love between you, you're still family. You shouldn't act on impulse."

A surge of bitterness filled my heart as I asked, "Did she tell you there wasn't any love between us?"

Chase said nothing in response, like he was implicitly giving an affirmation through his silence.

I had thought more highly of him. However, it turned out he was no different from the usual homewreckers who knowingly got involved with married people while hiding their ulterior motives beneath a polite facade.

Chase got up to leave but accidentally caught his foot on the coffee table. With a pained cry, he fell to the floor.

Just then, Stephany came home.

Chase lowered his head and let out a pained groan. He deliberately dragged it out and pretended that he couldn't get back up.

The intense worry in Stephany's eyes threatened to spill over. But the moment she noticed that I was looking at her, she quickly hid her anxiety and forced herself to appear calm.

The change in her expression stabbed into my heart like a knife.

I, too, pretended to remain composed while speaking up evenly. "Don't just stand around. Come help him up."

Chase said to Stephany, "Don't blame Mason for this. I'm fine."

He deliberately made an ambiguous remark that would make Stephany think I had hit him.

I responded with a faint, dismissive smile.

Stephany looked flustered. She had always listened to me. So, she slowly shuffled over, her eyes clearly showing that she wanted to help him but didn't quite dare to.

She was being considerate of my feelings, but she didn't realize that a person's eyes could easily betray them.

Chapter 2

I pretended to be unruffled. "I'm going to the bathroom."

I tactfully gave them some space.

When I came back out, Chase was already gone. He had taken the gifts and the yogurt he brought with him.

Stephany explained nervously, "I didn't ask him to come. He came to speak up for me. He doesn't want us to get divorced either."

I forced a faint smile. She was usually so smart, so how could she not see that Chase wanted her to get divorced?

"Actually, I think he loves you more than I do. The two of you are more—"

"I bought your favorite sea bass. I'll start making dinner. You go watch some TV."

Before I could finish saying that they were better suited for each other, Stephany cut me off and carried the groceries she had just bought into the kitchen. Over the years, she had taken such good care of me that I still didn't know how to cook.

I used to think that kind of devotion was love.

Whether it was love or not, it no longer mattered to me. As family, I was willing to be generous one last time and let her go.

When Ricky came home from school, we ate dinner and chatted as usual.

The first bite of food Stephany picked up with her spoon always went into my plate. It had once made me believe I had found the best wife in the world.

In the middle of the meal, Ricky suddenly said, "Dad, can we go visit Grandma this weekend?"

Considering that Stephany and I were discussing divorce, I gently turned him down. "Maybe another time."

Ricky pouted in displeasure.

Seeing that I was starting to look unhappy, Stephany immediately scolded him. "Listen to your father. In this family, your father is the boss. I listen to everything he says. You have to as well. You're not allowed to make your father angry. Do you understand?"

As usual, Ricky argued with a pout, "Mom, you always side with him unconditionally. All you ever do is flatter him."

He was already used to Stephany always putting me first.

Stephany looked at me and gave me a cautious smile.

That night, as we lay in bed, she wrapped her arms around me from behind.

Guilt-ridden, she buried her head against my neck and murmured in a solemn tone, "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have let my mind wander during our marriage. I'll change."

How?

She had already lost a kidney!

I said nothing while my heart ached slightly.

In the middle of the night, Chase's call finally came, even if it was already very late.

Thinking I was asleep, Stephany sneakily took her phone into the bathroom to answer it. Two minutes later, I heard the front door close quietly.

She said she would change, but Chase still managed to draw her away.

The next morning, I stood awkwardly in the kitchen, learning how to make breakfast by mimicking a video tutorial.

The moment Stephany came home, she rushed into the bedroom. When she didn't see me there, she realized I was in the kitchen.

Like an adult shooing a child away, she untied the apron around my waist. "I'll do it. Go back to bed and get some more rest."

As she spoke, she handed me a video recording. "Chase had acute appendicitis in the middle of the night yesterday. He doesn't have any family in the country, so I was the only one who could take him to the hospital. I was afraid you'd misunderstand, so I recorded the whole thing."

Afraid that I would be angry, she looked at me with utter sincerity.

I handed her phone back to her. I wasn't really interested in knowing whether it was true.

I simply said, "You haven't been out of surgery for that long. Stop overworking yourself. You can't handle that much strain with just one kidney."

Stephany looked even guiltier and more ashamed. "I'm sorry. I wasn't thinking."

"If you really feel sorry for me, then don't interfere with what I'm doing," I responded.

I pushed her out of the kitchen and locked the door from the inside. After fumbling around by myself for a long time, I finally managed to make a breakfast that was both burnt and overly salty.

I also cut my index finger. When Stephany saw it, she was so heartbroken that tears streamed down her face as she disinfected the cut with iodine and bandaged it.

Seeing the scene, Ricky joked as he always did, "Dad, you really are the luckiest man in the world. Mom treats you like you're a king."

It wasn't just him who thought I was lucky. Everyone around us said I was fortunate to have found such a wonderful wife.

If she had only been emotionally unfaithful, I could have turned a blind eye.

However, I had personally witnessed her painful struggle under the weight of guilt and morality. Behind my back, she took all kinds of medication to suppress her feelings. She even underwent electroshock therapy.

Ever since Chase came back, she hadn't had a single good night's sleep. She often called out his name in her dreams and cried through the night behind my back. This happened night after night.

Stephany had developed severe depression.

I knew she had already done everything she possibly could to keep this family together.

Chapter 3

That was the reason why I believed that a short period of pain was better than prolonged suffering. It was better to end things with dignity.

The next day, Stephany came home carrying a bag filled with cash.

She said, "Chase paid us back. Honey, can you please forgive me this one time?"

What she didn't know was that 15 minutes earlier, Chase had sent me a message.

He wrote, "Thanks for bringing us together. Here's what we'll do—the money Stephany spent buying me a house can just be deducted from your marital assets. That way, you won't be at a loss."

Attached was a photo of a wardrobe. Inside it, the fashionable ladies' outfits he had bought for Stephany were neatly arranged. On the wardrobe door was a photo of him affectionately holding her arm.

Taking a glance at the crisp new bills, I said, "Take the money back. You know I don't care about it."

I had no idea where she got that money.

I went into the bedroom. Then, I took out a bank card and handed it to her.

"We've saved six million dollars over the years. There is three million on this card. I'll keep the other three million to raise Ricky. Even if you've been unfaithful, you're still legally entitled to half of our assets."

I tried to have another calm and honest conversation with her about the divorce, but once again she nervously cut me off and shoved the card back into my hand.

"I'm not getting divorced. Just give me some time. We'll go back to how things used to be," Stephany said.

She held my hand so tightly that it trembled, and tears welled up in her eyes once again. The next moment, she hugged me tightly.

Her tears soaked my neck as she repeated, "I want this family. I don't want a divorce."

There was no reasoning with her.

Hence, I went to see Chase instead. He couldn't figure me out, but he was pleased that I was sensible enough to step aside.

I said to him, "Stephany has a very strong sense of responsibility toward our family. Even if our marriage never had love, she'll stay for Ricky's sake. If you really want to be her husband, you'd better work harder. It's not that I refuse to let go. She's the one who doesn't want a divorce."

Chase looked at me suspiciously, searching my eyes for an answer. "Are you seeing someone else? Is that why you're so eager to get divorced?"

I let out a faint scoff and shot back, "I don't have a habit of cheating."

It didn't take long before Chase used his own methods to sleep with Stephany.

He sent me a photo of them in bed, followed by a message that read, "Come catch us in the act. It'll make the divorce happen faster."

But I no longer had the strength to catch anyone. I had already collapsed and was lying in the ICU.

As I lay on the cold operating table, drifting in and out of consciousness during the emergency treatment, I vaguely heard the doctor calling Stephany.

Over the phone, Stephany spoke anxiously. "Money isn't an issue for us. Please, you have to save my husband."

She rushed to the hospital, and Chase came with her.

The doctor informed her, "The patient is having a heart attack. The chances of saving him are slim. Even if we manage to revive him, he'll most likely end up in a vegetative state."

Without the slightest hesitation, Stephany replied, "Save him. Even if he ends up that way, save him."

The doctor reminded her, "It's not just a simple heart attack. He has heart disease, so it has triggered other complications. Based on our estimation, the medical expenses will exceed millions, and there may be no limit to it.

"I have to tell you very frankly that there's a high probability you'll lose both your money and the patient."

Panicked and at a loss, Stephany still answered firmly, "Save him!"

"Alright. A nurse will bring you the consent form immediately. Just sign it."

As soon as the doctor finished speaking, she immediately took out her phone and called a real estate agent. "I have five houses. Please help me sell all of them as quickly as possible."

Chase was displeased. He earnestly tried to dissuade Stephany.

He said seriously, "Stephany, I know you're a kind woman, and you can't bear to watch Mason die. But we have to face reality. The doctor was already telling you, in a roundabout way, that there's no point in saving him. Bankrupting yourself over this is far too impulsive.

"Have you thought about me at all? You're ovulating today, and we just slept together. You're highly fertile. There's a very high chance you'll be pregnant with my child. You're not going to just throw away our future, are you?

"Stephany, please listen to me. Stop the treatment. We've already done everything we could. I'm analyzing this rationally and for your own good. If you refuse to listen and insist on bankrupting yourself to save Mason, then that means he's more important to you than I am.

"If that's how it is, then we shouldn't see each other anymore."

He deliberately said that to manipulate Stephany because he was confident that she would give in to him. As his words fell, he pretended to leave.

Just then, the nurse hurried over and handed the consent form to Stephany. "Have you made up your mind? Do you want us to continue the emergency treatment?"