Chapter 1

"I can't believe Dr. Carter seduced a male student. How utterly shameless! To think I used to view her as some untouchable ice queen, a respected giant in the medical field. Turns out she's just a total slut!"

The moment the news broke, headlines about Vivian's affair and illegitimate child completely dominated the front pages. Netizens flooded into Noah Myers's livestream, hurling insults at him.

"You're just a boy toy who slept his way to the top and seduced his own professor. Disgusting!"

"He's a gold digger. Everyone, let's report him for academic misconduct!"

Swirling the coffee in my mug, I watched coldly as Noah's face drained of color before scrambling to shut down his livestream in utter humiliation.

The very next second, my mother-in-law, Emily Harrington, called me. Before I could even breathe a word, she launched into a tirade.

"Sebastian Kingsley, what the hell is wrong with you? Go online right now and issue a statement saying that child is yours and Vivian's! Her career's taking off right now; she can't have a single smudge on her record. I'm giving you three minutes, or else—"

Before she could finish, I cut her off with a sneer. "What exactly am I supposed to issue, Emily? Vivian's the one who betrayed me and cuckolded me. I'm already wearing the horns, and now you want me to crown her a saint?"

Emily was so furious that she stomped her foot on the other side of the line. She took several deep breaths before she regained her composure and warned me through gritted teeth, "Sebastian, if I don't see your statement in half an hour, you'll regret it!" With that, she hung up on me.

Having witnessed the entire exchange, my mentor, Avery Sanders, hesitated before cautioning me, "Sebastian, the Carters are the biggest pharmaceutical company in the world. If you cross them, you might not be able to survive in this industry."

My gaze drifted to the framed photo of my late mother, Sarah Long, on the desk. "Don't worry, as long as I'm here, nothing will happen." Since Vivian had the nerve to fool around with a male student on the day Mom died, she was going to have to face my wrath.

Half an hour, and I did absolutely nothing to salvage the situation. I simply watched as public opinion spiraled further out of control.

When the door to my office was kicked open, I had just finished typing a text and sent it. "I'm on board, Dad. Let's bankrupt the Carters."

He replied almost instantaneously, "That's my boy. You've finally come to your senses."

A smirk tugged at the corner of my mouth as I leisurely raised my head to look at Vivian, whose eyes were bloodshot. She had always been calm and composed, and she rarely cracked a smile. However, her face was flushed with anger at the moment.

"Sebastian Kingsley, have you lost your mind? Do you have any idea what you've done?"

Slowly, I set my phone down before looking up with a smile to meet her panicked gaze.

"Noah's girlfriend cheated on him. I was just there to comfort him! How can you be so narrow-minded? Besides, that child has absolutely nothing to do with me. Noah is just a kind soul who adopted him. In any case, you can't just be jealous of other people just because you can't have children yourself!"

Vivian sure sounded affectionate when she called out Noah's name.

Vivian and I had been married for a decade, but we had never had children. I had always thought it was my fault, and I had often felt as though I had let her down. I only learned the truth yesterday; we didn't have kids because Vivian already had an illegitimate son.

I looked up at her calmly and said apathetically, "That's news to me. Since when is 'comforting' someone done in a king-size bed at a luxury hotel? Since when does 'comforting' someone require giving birth to his child?"