Chapter 1

My husband, Ryan Carter, cheated on me with my stepsister, Chloe Grant, while I was pregnant.

My five-year-old daughter, Lily Carter, was the one who told me. It happened at Eileen Carter's birthday party, right in front of all our relatives.

Lily held onto my leg and said in a low voice, "Mommy, I don't want Daddy anymore. I want a new daddy."

The relatives chuckled, and Eileen, my mother-in-law, beamed, rubbing Lily's nose. "Sweetie, your daddy loves you so much."

But Lily shook her head firmly. "Daddy's not good. He never comes home to be with me. He says he wants to sleep with Aunt Chloe."

She paused and then spoke even louder. "Daddy even bought Aunt Chloe black stockings. He says he likes her best when she wears them."

The room fell silent.

Just then, a soft ding sounded in my mind, and a mechanical voice started to speak.

[The host has experienced a double betrayal. The Reality Check System is now activated.]

[First quest: Bust the cheater's lies. Reward: 30 thousand dollars.]

The sudden appearance of the system shocked me.

"Emily, what are you waiting for?" Eileen barked, her voice growing even sharper. "Explain to everyone. Kids know nothing."

Ryan finally snapped out of it. He scooped up Lily and patted her as she squirmed, and then he forced a nervous laugh for the crowd. "Kids make stuff up. Don't take it seriously."

He was desperately trying to play it down.

Watching his lame performance, I swallowed my pain and let logic take the wheel.

I said, "Eileen, Ryan, why are you both so jumpy? Lily's just a kid. If you really want to know if she's telling the truth, why not ask her?"

I turned to Chloe, who looked pale as a sheet, and shot her a smile. "Chloe, what do you think?"

As soon as I said that, the atmosphere got tense again.

Chloe's eyes reddened instantly, and tears welled up before spilling down her cheeks.

"Emily, how could you accuse me of something like that? I would never betray you. Lily must have misunderstood," she said.

She looked so helpless and miserable, and everyone's sympathy went straight to her.

Eileen was quick to stand up for her. "That's right. Chloe's such a sweet girl. Lily must be slandering her. Emily, you failed to control your kid, and now you're acting crazy too. What are you trying to pull?"

"What could I possibly pull?" I let out a cold laugh, staring straight at Ryan. "All I want is the truth. What about you, Ryan?"

Ryan was sweating bullets, unable to look me in the eye. All he could do was keep fussing over Lily, who was still wriggling in his arms.

"That's enough. Stop making a scene. We'll talk about this at home." His tone was full of warning.

At home? So he and Eileen, along with Chloe, can try to brainwash me into swallowing their betrayal for the sake of family harmony and Lily's future? Not a chance.

"Ryan, you just said Lily was making things up. So why don't we find out for ourselves right now?" I said.

I opened my call history and found the call from him after ten last night.

"Last night, you told me you were working late at the office with your boss, Philip Watkins, finishing up a project proposal, right?" I asked.

Ryan swallowed hard and nodded. "Yeah, that's right."

I flashed a small smile, put my phone on speaker, and called Philip.

The call went through after two rings, and Philip's upbeat voice filled the room. "Mrs. Carter? I never expected you'd call. Is there something I can do for you? Did Ryan get drunk again?"

"Hi, Mr. Watkins, sorry to bother you," I said politely. "I just wanted to check. Was Ryan working late with you last night?"

Philip hesitated for a moment and then laughed. "Working late? No. We finished the project the day before yesterday.

"Last night was just a company dinner, and he left before nine, saying he had something to deal with at home. What's up? Didn't he make it back?"

Ryan's face went pale in an instant.

The guests around us gasped, their eyes full of gossip and mischief as they looked at Ryan.

I kept my gaze fixed on Ryan, refusing to let him off the hook.

"Philip said you left at nine, Ryan, but you called me at ten-thirty, saying you were still working. So where were you for that hour and a half in between?" I asked.

"I..." Ryan stammered, sweat running down his head. "I-I went back to the office to take care of some things."

"Oh, really?" I opened my photo album, swiped to a photo, and turned the screen toward him.

His car was right there in the photo, parked in the lot of Chloe's apartment complex. The timestamp was 9:45 PM last night.

"So you had to deal with your business at Chloe's apartment complex?" I asked.

Ryan stared at the photo, frozen in shock.

Never in his wildest dreams did he imagine I'd put a tracker on his car.

I did it not long after Lily was born, when he started coming home later and later. I felt uneasy, so I secretly installed it.

But I kept lying to myself, never having the courage to check until today.

[Congratulations, host. You've completed the first quest: Expose the cheater's lies. 30 thousand has been deposited into your account.] The system's voice echoed in my mind.

I looked at the man in front of me, the one I'd loved for eight years and given everything for, the one I had a child with. For the first time, he felt like a stranger.

And for the first time, I felt free.

"Ryan, Chloe," I said, putting my phone away, my gaze shifting between them. "Do you have anything else to say?"