Chapter 2

However, I had never seen these men’s products and children’s toys. Besides, she handed her entire $5,000 salary to me every month. How would she still have more than 100 thousand dollars in her account?

I scrolled through her account and found that she transferred $20,000. She had been transferring the same amount every month for over nine years.

My breath hitched. I could not believe my eyes. Gritting my teeth, I tapped on her income records.

She gave birth to our son the year after we got married. After her maternity leave, she returned to work. She begged me to resign and take care of our child. She told me she could be the bread-winner of the household.

Very soon, she claimed that her company was not doing well, so her salary had been reduced to only $5,000 a month.

She told me to watch every penny and not to spend it on new clothes. Instead of physical books for our son, I could only get e-books. She would even nag me when I bought a little extra meat at the market.

I could no longer stand it, so I decided to find work too.

However, someone had to take care of our son, Jack Reid, when I was at work.

Grace’s parents did not like the city. My parents offered to help, but she said our house was too small for two more people.

After that, she suggested we hire a nanny. I felt that we were already tight on money, and we would not have the extra cash to hire a nanny.

She shrugged and said that in that case, I might as well stay home and take care of our son full-time.

I gritted my teeth. Then, I found Ken.

Because we were paying him very little, his only tasks were to take care of Jack and make lunch and dinner. I would still be in charge of breakfast and other house chores.

Out of my $6,000 salary, $4,000 went to Ken, and the remaining $2,000 went toward Jack’s education. Her $5,000 covered all our living expenses. Even though we were not rich, we could manage fine.

[Income: $50,000.]

I was dumbfounded when I saw that.

She was earning $50,000 every month, but she only handed me $5,000.

A notification appeared on the tablet. There was a transfer of $15,000.

She had been transferring money to her mother every month for nine years.

Every month, she transferred $15,000 to her mother, $20,000 to Ken, and kept $10,000 for herself. She gave me $5,000 our entire household expenses.

Jack and I were last on her priority list.

I bit my lower lip and tried to exit the app to find other records. However, I saw a few new text messages.

[Mom, same as usual. Save money and buy some gifts for Ken and his daughter.

My hand trembled, and the tablet fell onto the bed.

I looked at the bathroom door and heard her still showering. Through the foggy glass door, I saw Grace texting.

The last bit of hope I had quietly died.

I clenched my fists tightly.

It seemed that I needed to pay a visit to his mansion.

The next day, Grace left for work at six in the morning as usual.

After she left, I asked a friend to babysit Jack and went to Cloud Mansion.

The mansion looked like a castle. There were a garden and a balcony, even a sunroom on the third floor. There was a basement too.

It was the kind of home I had never even dared to dream of.

Soon, the door opened.

Ken stepped out, dressed casually, holding the hand of a young girl in a private school uniform.

Grace was holding the little girl’s other hand as she gestured to someone behind her.

“Say goodbye to Grandma and Grandpa!”

My parents-in-law walked over and lovingly stuffed the little girl’s arms with snacks.

I felt a lump in my throat.

Jack would turn nine years old this year, but he had only met his grandparents twice.

They kept saying that they were busy in the countryside and were unwilling to come to the city to help out with Jack. They also did not want us to visit them.

I had nearly broken down in exhaustion and had brought it up to Grace before. But she urged, “I don’t have a good relationship with my parents. If they come over, we’ll definitely get into a fight.”

However, her so-called “estranged” parents were staying in a mansion and playing the role of loving grandparents to someone else’s child.