Chapter 1

As the grunts and soft moans slowly died down, the scandalous farce happening in the top-floor office finally came to an end.

The fully naked Tamara Wheeler hugged Benjamin Hartman, who was just as naked. Her voice was husky with desire as she said, "This is the last time, Benny. I don't want this to happen again. What if my sister-in-law finds out about it?"

Her sister-in-law was, in fact, Sophia Reed, Benjamin's wife. Meanwhile, she had been married to Benjamin's late brother, Bryan Hartman.

Benjamin wrapped an arm around her back and closed his eyes, his voice still heavy with lingering lust as he replied, "She won't find out about it."

"Are you going to hide it from her forever?" Tamara bit her lip. "We can't be together. It's only been a month since Bryan's death, and he was your younger brother! We both married other people. I'm still your brother's widow. There's no way we can let anyone find out about this relationship. If Sophia ever finds out—"

"She won't, Tammy." Benjamin kissed her forehead. "Sophia is a docile and sensible woman. She won't cause any trouble."

"That's impossible." Tamara laughed and shook her head. "No woman can tolerate something like this."

"I never wanted to marry her in the first place."

Sophia, who was standing outside the office, froze, her hand stiffening around the doorknob. She heard Benjamin say, "If it hadn't been for you, I would never have made her my wife."

"What do you mean?" Tamara didn't understand. "You two dated for a year and have been married for two years now. I thought your relationship was going well."

Benjamin lit a cigarette. The smoke curled around him, making him seem even harder to read. "Sophia has no family, and she's a gentle, docile woman. I knew it would make things a lot easier for me if I married her."

Sophia's body turned cold. What things? Easier how?

After getting dressed, Tamara walked over to Benjamin, who pulled her into his arms immediately. Her body pressed against his, all soft and pliant.

"Throughout the three years I've been with her, not once have I ever touched her." Benjamin extinguished the cigarette and started to caress Tamara's lips.

Tamara froze for a moment before laughing. "What, were you saving yourself for me? Did Sophia never suspect a thing?"

"I told her I couldn't do it, so she's been very accommodating with me the past three years."

His words made Tamara's eyes light up with joy. She cupped his face and kissed him. With the bashful look of a woman whose carnal desires had been very well sated, she said coyly, "Who said you couldn't do it? I thought you were going to break me just now. I could barely take it!

"You're insatiable, you know that? I bet Sophia would skin you alive if she found out you've been getting some action outside instead of keeping her satisfied in bed."

"She won't," Benjamin said calmly. "She's very well-behaved. She loves me, and she trusts me."

"But what if she does find out?" Tamara wanted to hear what Benjamin would do in that situation. "Would you divorce her?"

"Until I've given you and Danny a secure future, I won't let her find out." Benjamin's gaze sharpened.

Daniel Hartman was Bryan and Tamara's son. He was three years old this year.

"Alright, I believe you. But what happened today shouldn't happen again. Bryan just died. If your parents found out…"

Tamara had much to be wary of. Benjamin and Bryan's parents, the Hartmans, blamed her for Bryan's death. Who knew what they would think of her if they found out she'd been intimate with Benjamin?

"Bryan's death has nothing to do with you," Benjamin comforted her. "I'll handle things with my parents. Sophia will put in a good word for you, too."

"Okay. Sophia's a good person. Don't treat her badly," Tamara said.

"I wouldn't even have looked at her if you hadn't married Bryan out of spite back then," Benjamin said in a reproachful manner, but clearly, he was just making a playful complaint.

"Oh, stop. Why are you still hung up on that?" Tamara retorted with a pout. "I'm with you now, aren't I?"

Counting on the fact that no one would dare to interrupt them on the top floor, the two showed no restraint at all. Even though the door was slightly ajar, they had no qualms discussing their affair and acting out their passionate desires.

They had no clue Sophia had stood outside the door and heard everything.

She didn't know how to react to what she'd just found out. Never did it ever occur to her that she would end up overhearing this when she'd only stopped by to bring some food for Benjamin, her husband.

Sophia stood frozen, completely forgetting why she'd even come to the office.

She couldn't even remember how she managed to leave the office after that, but she soon found herself roaming dazedly through the streets and almost got hit by a speeding car.

When she finally got home, she slowly recalled the memories from the past three years.

Sophia met Benjamin three years ago, and he had pursued her relentlessly. Over time, she was moved by his attentiveness toward her and agreed to marry him.

When he proposed to her, he explained that even though his younger brother Bryan was already a husband and a father, he was still thoughtless and immature. That was why they had to provide more help and support to Bryan's wife, Tamara.

Sophia gladly agreed to do it. She said that since they would be a family from now on, as Tamara's sister-in-law, it was only right for her to help Tamara.

And on their wedding night, Benjamin remorsefully informed Sophia that he was impotent, so he couldn't give her a normal married life.

Despite being upset that he'd deceived her, she chose to forgive him after considering how well he'd treated her and understanding that it was a matter of a man's pride.

But after marriage, it was as if Benjamin became a completely different person. He rarely came home, and his attitude toward her turned frosty.

Whenever she suggested that he meet with an andrologist, his tone would get very annoyed. "Sophia, what if word got out about my condition because I went to see an andrologist about it?

"How am I supposed to hold my head up in public if people found out that I, the CEO of Hartman Corporation, can't get it up? What's going to happen to the Hartman family's reputation?"

All along, Sophia thought that pushing Benjamin would only hurt him more, so she chose to compromise and not say a word about his condition again.

Thinking about it now, she couldn't believe how big a fool she'd been.

Impotence wasn't the reason why Benjamin didn't touch her throughout their three-year relationship. It was because his heart was with another woman.

The woman he loved was his sister-in-law, the wife of his own younger brother.

And now, less than a month after Bryan's death, the two of them were openly engaging in an affair, right in the office.

Worse still, to hide their secret, Benjamin had executed an elaborate plan. He'd pursued Sophia and married her all because he thought that since she was a docile and sensible woman with no family, she'd be an obedient wife who couldn't bear to leave him.

This whole time, Sophia had thought that Benjamin loved her. She assumed that the coldness he showed her after they got married was only due to the emotional burdens he was carrying.

Therefore, for the past two years, no matter how cold and indifferent he was to her, she did her best to maintain their marriage. She'd truly believed that if she persisted, he would one day come around, and they could have a blissful marriage.

But in the end, this was nothing more than an elaborate lie Benjamin had woven. All of her efforts and compromises had gone toward helping him hide his affair with another woman.

The thought of this made Sophia's stomach churn. She started to gag involuntarily. Once that was over, she let out a self-mocking laugh. Just what kind of life had she been living the last few years?

It was truly pathetic.

Her laughter soon turned into tears. Eventually, she couldn't hold it back anymore. She buried her face in her hands, her choked sobs escaping through her fingers. Her tears soaked through her palms, but that did nothing to ease the pain in her heart.