Chapter 2

I hung up on him without a second thought.

When I checked the family group chat, it had been deleted, but all the old messages were still there.

Looking at the things James said, I couldn't help but want to slap myself for trusting him.

Back then, I got into a huge fight with my adoptive parents, who raised me for twenty years, to be with him. Even now, we're still distant and hardly speak.

When I got home with Lucas, I was already exhausted. Seeing Evelyn lounging on the couch watching TV made my blood boil.

She played a major role in ruining things between James and me.

She reached out to take Lucas, but I didn't let her.

I took Lucas and went straight to the bedroom.

Evelyn started yelling at me, "That's my grandson. Why won't you let me hold him? Just you wait. I'm telling James you're bullying me."

I knew she'd make a scene. It wasn't the first time she'd pulled something like this.

Sure enough, as soon as James got home, she started ratting me out.

"What kind of wife do you marry? I wanted to hold my grandson, and she wouldn't let me. Does she respect me as her mother-in-law?" Evelyn shouted.

Just like always, James would storm in and start grilling me the moment he got home.

If I didn't play along, he'd launch into his usual speech about how tough Evelyn's life was and try to guilt-trip me into feeling sorry for her.

I was already in the bedroom, mentally preparing for a showdown with James, not only about tonight but also about all the crap he'd said about me in the family group chat.

I waited, but there was no sign of him coming into the bedroom.

I walked out holding Lucas, and there was James, sprawled out on the couch, remote in hand, flipping through channels as if he didn't have a care in the world.

As soon as he saw me, he glared at me.

It was obvious that he was barely keeping his anger in check.

We stood there, locked in a standoff. Neither of us said a word.

Evelyn was the first to break the silence. She said, "James told me Lucas might not be his. If you won't let me hold him, do you think I care?"

I couldn't believe James would stoop so low as to call our kid a bastard. That was beyond cruel.

When disappointment ran that deep, getting angry at the person only made the whole thing feel pointless.

That was how I felt now.

So I didn't waste my energy getting mad at James.

I looked at James coolly and asked, "First, you accused me of giving our son syphilis, and now you're calling him a bastard. What proof do you have? Who gave you the right to make up this crap?"

James crossed his arms and sneered, "Proof? Isn't it clear as day?"

Evelyn chimed in, stirring the pot.

"Three months ago, I saw you get into some old guy's fancy car. I didn't know whose car it was, but I could tell it was expensive. I kept quiet so I wouldn't mess things up between you and James. I've been holding onto this ever since," she added.

My mind was spinning.

The old man she was talking about was my adoptive father. He'd come to pick me up.

James blew up as soon as he heard Evelyn. He scoffed, "Vivian, what now? No wonder you disappeared that day. You were sneaking off to see some old man, huh?"

"That was my father," I snapped.

"Cut the crap. Your father doesn't have a license or a car. Whenever he came over, I was the one driving him back," James shot back.

I'd never told James about my adoptive parents, and I wasn't about to start now. They were some of the top business owners in Riverside, but that was my secret. Now, there was no way I was telling him.

Instead of wasting my breath arguing with him, I figured it was better to take some real action.

"Why don't we get a paternity test and settle this?" I shot back.

James replied excitedly, "Perfect, I was thinking the same thing. While we're at it, you should get yourself checked as well. Let's get one thing straight. If the results show he's not my son, you're out of this house for good."

I had no idea where James got the guts to try to kick me out of this house.

When we got married, we didn't have a place to live. He had only about sixty thousand dollars and couldn't afford a proper wedding.

After thinking it over for ages, I ended up taking three hundred thousand dollars from the account my adoptive parents set up for me and gave it to him.

I told him my parents gave me that money, but he'd have to pay it back someday.

He swore he'd pay it back, but he'd never brought it up again.

My test results came back before Lucas's DNA test did.

When I slapped those negative results down in front of James, he looked like he might say sorry for once.

But Evelyn sneered, "Who knows, maybe she had it before and got rid of it."

James puffed up with confidence as soon as he heard that. "Yeah, Evelyn has got a point. That could be it," he said.