Chapter 1

My presence at the sip-and-see event sucked the life out of the party.

My indifferent gaze fell on Krystal Markham. “Krystal, care to explain about today?”

Krystal and I were a success story, the high school sweethearts who made it all the way to the altar. However, over the last two years, I felt her slipping further and further away.

I brushed it off as the spark simply fading over time. Never in a million years did I expect her to cheat on me and have children with another man through surrogacy

A trace of panic flickered across Krystal’s face. She averted her gaze and held her tongue.

Dale Abbot, on the other hand, approached me with two glasses of red wine in hand. He said, “Don’t get upset, sir. Since you can’t give Ms. Markham kids, she borrowed my sperm to produce heirs. No one is taking your place as her husband.”

While downing the glass of wine, Dale handed me the other drink and uttered, “I’m counting on you to take good care of my children.”

Not one to take his blatant disrespect lying down, I snatched the glass of wine and splashed the liquid right in his face.

“Who do you think you are? This is between Krystal and me. Why are you poking your nose in?”

Krystal was quick to come to Dale’s rescue. She met my gaze and criticized me, “Dale was just being nice, and you assaulted him? You’re too wicked to be a father.

“I’m moving Dale into the estate tomorrow to care for the children.”

A flash of smugness fleeted across Dale’s eyes as he leaned in to pull Krystal into his voice. He murmured, his voice sounding hurt, “Ms. Markham, my feelings don’t matter. Just clear the air with your husband. Don’t let me and the children come between you two.”

Krystal looked at me in disdain and said, “What’s there to explain? He’s a man, but he’s firing blanks. He should be grateful I didn’t dump his sorry bottom.”

The crowd chimed in.

“Ms. Markham needs a successor to take over her empire. Since her husband couldn’t give her that, Ms. Markham has to seek elsewhere.”

“Ms. Markham is nice enough not to kick him to the curb. I can’t believe he’d come here and make a scene.”

“If I were Ms. Markham, I would’ve gotten rid of this moocher a long time ago.”

The flattery stroked Krystal’s ego. “Ray, apologize to Dale right now. If you do, I’ll keep you around for old time’s sake.”

During our seven-year marriage, we had no children. The problem wasn’t me, but Krystal—her underdeveloped ovaries made it impossible for her to conceive.

I kept the truth from Krystal to protect her pride, taking the fall for our childlessness. Alas, my commitment to her was thrown back in my face.

Locking my gaze onto her, I hissed through gritted teeth, “Krystal, the problem lies with you. You’re infertile from defective follicle development.”