The Contract Wife Ran Away With His Baby

Synopsis

My husband, James Carter, was the top lawyer in the Capitavia, young, successful, and handsome enough to make every socialite in town swoon. Yet, he married me, an orphan with an ordinary background and average looks. Everyone said I, Emily Bennett, must have hit the jackpot in a previous life to land such a catch. But only I knew the truth: we had been married for three years, and for three years, we had slept in separate rooms. His heart belonged to a woman who went abroad, his first love. He married me to please his parents and fend off his relentless admirers. We signed a contract. He'd give me a comfortable life. I'd play the obedient wife until the day his true love returned. I thought we'd stay like this forever, polite strangers sharing a home. Until that night, a rival drugged him. He stumbled through the door, eyes bloodshot, and collapsed in front of me. He grabbed my wrist, his voice hoarse. "Emily, help me." The next morning, James stared at me, at the marks covering my body, in silence. For the first time, he lit a cigarette in my presence. Through the haze of smoke, he finally spoke. "I'll take responsibility for what happened." I thought that might be the turning point in our marriage. But weeks later, tightly clutching a positive pregnancy test in my hand, I spotted him on a street corner. He was holding an umbrella over another woman, shielding her from the rain. The tender look in his eyes was a side of him I had never seen before. I knew then. His first love had come home.