Chapter 5

Joseph walked into the bar and found the owner, Anne Wells. One look at her long, dark curls made him start to doubt that what the hotel front desk had told him was fake.

Sure enough, when he said he wanted to repay the room fee and deposit, Anne immediately refused. She denied ever driving him to the hotel in the first place, then started flirting with him instead.

She said that if she wanted to sleep with him, she could've just done it in the bar's back lounge and wouldn't have bothered with a hotel at all. She even added that she was into younger, prettier boys, not greasy, middle-aged men like him.

That completely threw Joseph off. He asked to see the bar's surveillance footage, but Anne told him all the cameras were for show and refused to go along with his unreasonable request.

Depressed and frustrated, Joseph went back to his car. He stared at the message on his phone again and wondered whether he really had sent it to Cora on autopilot mode.

He got another hotel room, pulled out another copy of the paternity test report, and slapped himself across the face. The sting made it clear to him that everything he was experiencing now was real.

He texted the inpatient department director to request leave. In his current mental state, seeing patients could easily lead to a medical dispute.

Thinking about his ordinary, low-level role at the hospital filled Joseph with bitter regret. Back in the day, he'd graduated with almost perfect scores from his medical program before joining the hospital.

Within two years, he'd earned prescribing rights, gotten his master's degree, and been promoted to attending physician. His future had been bright.

Then, he'd met Cora. He'd fallen hopelessly in love, married her, and started a family with her. Because the Lowells were rich and powerful, Cora had decided his job didn't matter. She'd pushed him to focus on the family and care for Natalie.

So, he'd taken a leave of absence after completing only one year of his PhD and stopped pursuing promotions. If not for his lingering sense of duty as a doctor, he probably would've just quit altogether to be a full-time stay-at-home dad and househusband.

And for what?

Cora had cheated on him, and none of their daughters were his. He'd been scammed. More than ten years of effort and sacrifice had turned into nothing.

Joseph's chest ached. He felt small and humiliated and didn't want to see anyone.

He holed up at the hotel for a few days. One night, the door suddenly beeped and swung open. Cora walked in.

"Joseph, you refuse to go home, and you haven't gone to work, either. What are you hiding out here for?" she demanded.

She took one look around the room. There was no trace of another woman, and the place was fairly tidy. There was just a half-finished takeout meal on the coffee table, and the smell of food still hung in the air.

Joseph was sprawled on the bed watching an old drama. Seeing him so down and in such a slump just made her angry for no reason.

Joseph wasn't any happier to see her. "I'll do whatever I damn well please. What's it to you? I already told you that we're getting a divorce—that means we have nothing to do with each other anymore. Since you're here, sign the papers. We'll go to the courthouse tomorrow and get things over and done with."

He got out of bed, pulled two copies of a divorce agreement from his briefcase, and handed them to her.

"You… You even drew up divorce papers? Are you serious about divorcing me?"

This was the last thing Cora expected him to bring up. She hadn't come to talk about divorce—she'd come to drag him back home and patch things up.

Joseph stood his ground. "Didn't I already show you the paternity test? Natalie isn't my daughter. She's the child you had with someone else. You cheated on me and betrayed me, so this marriage has to end. All the terms are in the agreement. Read it carefully."

Cora shot back, "Natalie is your daughter. I didn't betray you, nor did I cheat. I don't care what you put into your mouth, Joseph, but you'd better watch what comes out of—"

"I'll say whatever the hell I want! You cheated, and Natalie is a bastard child you had with your secret lover! I'll take full responsibility for whatever comes of my words, but can you bear the consequences of the things you've done?" Joseph spat.

He didn't back down at all. He didn't owe Cora a thing. If anything, she owed him more than he could ever count.

Cora's brows knitted together. "Bear the consequences of what? I didn't cheat, and I didn't betray you. What exactly do you want me to own up to?"

"Look, there's no point arguing like this. Just read the agreement. If you don't have any objections, sign it."

Cora flipped through the agreement. She was too furious to care about the clauses and fine print, but she was sensitive to numbers. She froze when she saw them and stared at Joseph in disbelief. "You want me to pay you 1.6 billion dollars?"