Chapter 1

My hand trembled like a leaf as I clutched my phone, and a wave of violent cramps twisted through my stomach.

I shoved my chair back and bolted into the master bathroom, where I braced myself against the sink and doubled over, dry heaving.

That one line kept replaying in my head.

[His wife has somehow managed to balance the two of us perfectly.]

My best friend was Keith Jowett.

We had shared a dorm room throughout college.

After graduation, he struggled to find steady work, so I got him a job at a friend’s company.

When he went through a breakup and had nowhere to live, I let him stay in my guest room rent-free for more than six months.

I had always believed that, aside from Vera Skudder, my wife, Keith and I were each other’s strongest support in this concrete jungle.

But the man I had trusted with all my heart was recounting online how he had “felt sorry” for me and how he had been sneaking around with my wife right under my nose.

I had endured so much just to have a child.

I had severe male infertility caused by azoospermia and a varicocele, leaving me with almost no chance of fathering a child naturally.

For three long years, I tried countless herbal remedies, and my body was covered in rows of needle marks from the hormone injections.

During the microscopic sperm retrieval surgery, the intense pain left me shaking on the operating table.

After my third failed round of IVF, I suffered a severe postoperative infection and massive bleeding that nearly took my life. When I finally pulled through, Vera knelt beside my hospital bed and cried her heart out.

With tears filling her red-rimmed eyes, she gripped my hand tightly and said, “Honey, let’s stop trying. I can’t risk losing you. We can always adopt. Any child you raise will be our own.”

Back then, Keith stood outside my hospital room, his eyes red with emotion as he patted my shoulder.

“Vera’s right, Tate. Your health matters most. Don’t put yourself through this anymore.”

Later, Vera told me that her company had sent her overseas for a year of advanced training. After that, she came home with a newborn baby girl and told me she had adopted the child through an orphanage.

We named her Maya, and I poured every ounce of fatherly love and effort into raising her.

On the day Maya turned one month old, Vera returned home after completing her training.

With a smile, she suggested, “Honey, Keith is your best friend. Why don’t we make him Maya’s godfather? It’ll bring us even closer.”

I happily agreed.

For five years, I believed everything was real, only to learn that it had all been a carefully planned deception.

The so-called orphanage adoption was a complete lie. They had been carrying on behind my back and shamelessly brought their illegitimate child into my home.

They made me, the actual husband, look like a fool as I raised another man’s daughter for five years!