Chapter 1

When I was three months pregnant, a video of James Carter cheating on me was accidentally sent to our family group chat.

After seeing the video, my mom tried her best to hold back her emotions as she asked me, "Emily, what are you going to do? Are you going to divorce him?"

My dad, who had also seen the video, stood by the window, smoking in silence.

I could see the pain in him.

After all, he was the one who trusted James with his daughter.

He cried as he told James to take care of me forever.

But now, only three years later, James had cheated on me.

And to make it worse, the other woman had even used James's phone to send a video showing off their affair to our family group chat.

I held back my tears, gripping the pregnancy file I had just received for a long time.

Finally, I said, "I'm not getting a divorce."

My dad's business failed this year, and he still owed 10 million dollars in bank loans. If it weren't for James covering our loan interest, we would've gone bankrupt by now.

At least my dad wasn't having his passport revoked, his assets frozen, or facing jail time.

If I got a divorce, my dad would be finished.

So James cheated, big deal.

I could endure it.

*****

After that, I went back to the home I shared with James, acting as if nothing had happened.

Even when James came home that night, I didn't say a word about the video of his affair that had been sent to our family group chat by mistake.

I just calmly handed him my pregnancy file.

"This is our baby's record, the very first thing that belongs to him," I said.

James just stared at me, totally unreadable, not a hint of emotion or guilt.

Finally, when my fingers started to go numb from holding up the pregnancy file, James finally took it from me.

Then, like he was just chatting about the weather, he replied, "Don't worry. That girl was acting up, but I've already taught her a lesson."

That simple sentence made my empty palms tremble.

Because James didn't say he was going to dump that girl, or even draw a line with her. Instead, he used "taught her a lesson" with this mix of pampering and total indifference.

How did he "teach her a lesson"? What did he actually do?

Was it like in the video? James looked like a wild animal consumed by lust, yanking the laughing girl as they rolled around on the bed.

"Oh, you've got some nerve now, huh? You actually dare to say no to me?" he said.

"You want me to teach you a lesson, don't you?"

Then he flipped her over and pinned her down, his hand smacking her body with a playful, flirty touch.

The images from the video kept replaying in my mind, making my heart ache and my throat feel tight with nausea.

Not wanting to break down in front of him, I forced myself to pull it together and said, "I'm tired today, so I'm going to my room. Mary can fix you something if you're hungry."

I rushed upstairs, trying to get away as fast as I could.

James didn't call after me. He just muttered a quiet "yeah" and sat down on the couch.

Just as I stepped onto the stairs, James called out to me. "Emily, thank you."

Without thinking, my hands clenched into tight fists.

Over the years, James had thanked me so many times.

When we got married, he said, "Thank you for agreeing to marry me."

When I got pregnant, he said, "Thank you for giving me a baby."

But I never imagined that one day, his "thank you" would be for something like this.

My chest ached with suffocating pain. I bit down hard on my lower lip, forcing out a steady, "You're welcome."