Chapter 1

"Soph, let's get a divorce."

It was meant to be a candlelit dinner to celebrate the fourth wedding anniversary of Sophia Layton and Phillip Springer.

However, not only did Phillip arrive late, but he even dropped a bomb the moment he sat down.

Sophia looked completely thunderstruck. Staring at Phillip in disbelief, she questioned, "Why?"

He remained silent for a while before saying, "Roxy's back, and she needs me."

"Roxy? Roxanne Hough?" Sophia had a ton of questions. "Didn't she get married ages ago? She even has two kids now. Why would she…"

Roxanne was Phillip's first love, but she had abruptly broken up with him five years ago. Soon after that, she married a rich Cangerian scion, and the two settled down abroad in Asboria.

It'd left a wound in him that could never be healed.

They had all attended college together. According to their mutual friends, Roxanne had already given birth twice, to a son and a daughter. Since her husband was rich, she enjoyed a lavish lifestyle. Nothing could be better for her.

So why had she abruptly returned to Cangeria? Why was she reaching out to Phillip, the ex-boyfriend she'd unceremoniously dumped years ago?

Phillip was surprisingly honest about the situation. "Roxy's ex-husband was not only abusive, but he also did drugs. They got a divorce six months ago.

"Their son is with him, and she got custody of their daughter. The two of them have returned to the country, and they're all alone with no one they can rely on…"

"Six months ago?" Sophia repeated, sounding quite taken aback, but she soon caught on. "So you two have been sneaking around behind my back for six months now?"

"Of course not! We've simply been in touch. I didn't cheat on you. You know full well that… I couldn't even if I wanted to," Phillip said, his expression awkward.

His inability to perform in bed like a real man was the biggest humiliation of his life.

Sophia pressed her lips together. She couldn't put into words how she felt right now.

For the past few years, her friend, Christa Hudson, had been urging her to get a divorce as well.

Not long after marrying Phillip, Sophia found out that he was impotent. It took a great deal of coaxing from her before he finally agreed to get a full medical examination at the hospital. However, things turned out to be worse than she'd expected.

Phillip wasn't just impotent. He suffered from azoospermia, which meant that his sperm count was zero.

At the time, Phillip's mother had been gravely ill. Her only wish was to meet her grandchild before she died.

For her sake, Phillip begged Sophia to conceive a child through IVF, using donor sperm from a sperm bank. The pain she endured throughout the process was something she couldn't even bear to recall.

In the blink of an eye, years had passed, and their son, Joshua Springer, was almost three years old now. Even so, Phillip's condition showed no sign of improvement.

Being a doctor, Christa knew there was no cure for Phillip's condition. Therefore, she kept advising Sophia to reconsider the marriage.

After all, it was going to be tough to live like a widow from such a young age—and torturous to continue living like one for the rest of her life.

However, Phillip was devoted to the family. Since he did his best to be a dutiful husband and father to Sophia and Joshua, Sophia couldn't bring herself to divorce him.

Who would've thought that he'd be the one to bring it up first?

As she recalled all the suffering and grievances she'd had to endure the past few years, Sophia scoffed mockingly. "Do you think emotional cheating doesn't count as cheating?"

Phillip didn't try to defend himself. His expression remained firm as he declared, "You can tell me what you want in the divorce. I'm willing to give you the house, the car, cash, or even some of the company shares."

"Is there no room for discussion at all?" Sophia calmly asked.

Staring at her, he could tell that she didn't want a divorce. He hesitated for a while before shamelessly suggesting, "If you don't mind letting me bring Roxy and her daughter home to live with us, we can still—"

He didn't get to finish his sentence before Sophia shot to her feet and threw a glass of red wine at him.

"Divorce it is. I want our marital assets to be split evenly, and I want custody of Josh."

At first, Phillip had his head lowered, looking completely disheveled. But the moment he heard her last words, he whipped his head up and refused, "I'm fine with splitting our assets evenly, but Josh must stay with me."

"How can you be so shameless, Phillip?" Sophia fumed. "I was the one who had to endure unimaginable pain just so I could give birth to Josh!"

The pain of conceiving through IVF was something she could never forget.

However, Phillip became cold and indifferent, his tone flat as he declared, "I've consulted with a lawyer already. You're just a housewife with no source of income. You don't have the means to raise a child.

"Besides, he was conceived with the help of a sperm donor. Since I'm infertile, even if we take this matter to court, the court will most likely award me with Josh's custody."

Frowning, Sophia stared at him as though he were a complete stranger to her now.

"So you've been preparing for this for ages, huh? You're simply informing me about it today," she stated, a chill gripping her heart.

She couldn't believe that her own husband would plot against her like that.

"You're still young, Sophia. You can always remarry after the divorce and have as many children as you want. But I can't. Josh will be my only child," Phillip said.

He made himself sound pitiful in the hopes of appealing to her sympathy.

Sophia couldn't resist retorting mockingly, "That's true. You can't have a child. You're both impotent and infertile. Even now, you still don't know what it's like to be intimate with a woman. I sure wonder what Roxanne sees in you."

Her words drew the attention of the people dining nearby. Quite a few of them turned over with varying expressions.

"She probably sees you as an ATM, huh? I bet she likes that you can't have a child of your own, so you'll have no choice but to treat her daughter well," Sophia added sarcastically.

"Roxy doesn't know about my condition," Phillip said coolly.

That made Sophia laugh even harder. "Oh! So you weren't satisfied with tricking just me. You're even going to trick your first love. Well, that makes me feel a lot better."

Phillip couldn't keep his face straight anymore. Reining in his fury, he snapped, "That's enough, Sophia! Throughout our marriage, I have never treated you poorly. Why can't we just part on good terms? There's no reason for you to react like this now!"

"There are plenty of reasons for me to react like this!" Sophia fired back, her anger reaching its limit as well.

Ignoring the spectating crowd, she continued, "I got pregnant with Josh using donor sperm. That means he's not biologically related to you at all. If you want a child, get Roxy to find a way to give you one. Don't even think about trying to claim the son that I went through hell to bring into this world."

"If you're going to be this stubborn, Sophia, then I guess I'll just have to hire a lawyer to take you to court for the divorce," Phillip threatened.

"Go right ahead! You—"

Sophia was cut off by the sound of her phone ringing in her handbag. When she pulled it out, she saw that Helen Mosley, the family's nanny, was calling.

"What is it, Helen?" Sophia asked.

"Mrs. Springer! Joshua got a nosebleed out of nowhere, and it just wouldn't stop, so I had to get Doyle to take him to the hospital. We're on the way there now. You and Mr. Springer should come over right away!"

Since it was their anniversary, Sophia wanted to spend some alone time with Phillip, so she left Joshua at home with Helen.

She didn't expect something like this to happen. Panicked, she immediately started heading for the door as she said to Helen, "Got it. I'm coming over right now. Keep me updated!"

Upon hearing that Joshua was sick, Phillip jumped up from the chair and went after Sophia, grabbing her arm to stop her.

"What's going on with Josh? What happened?"

Sophia's eyes were red, and she could no longer hold back her emotions. Turning around, she started swinging her handbag at him as she growled, "Go and be with your precious Roxy instead. My son's health is none of your concern!"

Phillip couldn't even keep his eyes open amid her relentless barrage, but he kept screaming, "You're mad! You've lost your mind!"

Worried about Joshua, Sophia swiftly left after venting some of her anger.

When she got to the hospital, Helen immediately rushed over and gave her a quick summary of Joshua's situation. Her heart pounded. For some reason, she got a bad feeling.

Soon, the doctor, Maxwell Decker, came over.

"Your son's nosebleed has stopped for the time being, Mrs. Springer. The preliminary blood test report indicates that his blood might not be clotting properly. Just to be safe, it's best to admit him to the hospital for further observation. We'll also run more thorough tests tomorrow," Maxwell advised.

Joshua's blood wasn't clotting properly?

Sophia paled. Fervently nodding, she said, "Alright. We'll admit him to the hospital then."

When she walked into the emergency room and saw Joshua, her heart twisted in pain. Joshua, who was soon turning three, was lying on the hospital bed with his clothes covered in blood, the sight of which horrified her.

"Mommy…" Joshua called out as he opened his arms.

Sophia immediately pulled herself together. She rushed forward and hugged him. Rubbing his little head, she asked, "Were you scared, Joshie? It's my fault. I shouldn't have left you at home."

Joshua's eyes were wide and bright as he responded thoughtfully, "You spend all your time with me, Mommy. You need to spend some time with Daddy, too. If not, he'll get jealous."

In the past, Sophia would've felt joy and gladness when she heard such words, but now it only made her bitter and scornful.

All along, Phillip seemed like a dutiful and responsible gentleman devoted to his family, but that all turned out to be a facade.

Deep down inside, he continued to love Roxanne, the woman who'd abandoned him. Even though she expected him to take her in now and raise her child for her, he was more than happy to do it—and eager to get started, too.

But when Sophia saw Joshua grinning at her, she couldn't help but kiss his cheek and smile as she praised him.

Although Joshua's features were still delicate and hadn't filled out yet, he already had rather deep-set eyes and a high nose bridge. He also had a thick head of hair. Sophia didn't mean to brag, but she could already imagine how handsome he'd be when he was all grown up.

More than once, she'd thought that if Phillip could have children, the child she had with him would never be as handsome as Joshua. In a sense, she was lucky that the donor she'd gotten from the sperm bank was an attractive man.

After completing the paperwork to admit Joshua, Sophia accompanied him to his hospital room. Just then, she got a call from Phillip.

After seeing his name, she rejected the call, but he kept calling anyway.

Even Joshua noticed that something was amiss and asked if Phillip was calling. Sophia had no choice but to put him to sleep before leaving the hospital room to take the call.

"What do you want?" she asked curtly.

"How's Josh?" Phillip asked frantically. "Is it the flu? Does he have a fever?"

"If you're so concerned about him, why aren't you here at the hospital to check on him?" Sophia retorted.

To think that Joshua was nothing but thoughtful toward his father.

Phillip hemmed and hawed for a while. He was just about to reply when a voice rang out from his end. The childish voice of a young girl called out sweetly, "Mr. Springer."

Sussing out the situation, Sophia said, "Don't tell me you went looking for Roxanne."

"Well… Roxy isn't feeling well, and there's no one here to look after her daughter. Once I settle things with them, I'll come to the hospital and check on—"

He didn't get to finish his sentence before Sophia ended the call.

She was having a hard time breathing, the anger that welled up inside her somehow making her chest stuffy.

Sophia still couldn't believe that Phillip, whom everyone considered the ideal husband, would suddenly reveal his true colors and become completely unrecognizable to her.

There was no doubt about it now. She had to get a divorce. She didn't want to remain in this rotten marriage for even a moment longer.

However, while she was happy to be rid of that scumbag, she had to keep Joshua with her. If Phillip insisted on snatching her son from her, she was going to expose the embarrassing secret of his impotency to the world!

…

Sophia stayed the night at the hospital with Joshua, while Phillip remained a complete no-show. Who knew what kind of trick Roxanne pulled to make him stay with her?

Alas, Sophia was in no mood to dwell on that. She accompanied Joshua as Maxwell ran a series of thorough tests on him.

Soon, the test results came back.

"Mrs. Springer, the results show a massive increase and accumulation of white blood cells in your son's bloodstream. Under the microscope, we spotted a number of immature cells. This is a very dangerous sign," Maxwell said gravely.

Sophia didn't know what immature cells meant, but when she heard about the increase in white blood cells, her mind immediately went to leukemia.

Nodding, Maxwell said, "I suspect that your son has some form of blood cancer. But if you're not convinced with the results we found, you should transfer him to Central Women & Children's Hospital to get a bone marrow biopsy done."