Chapter 3

After leaving the nursing home, Mia blocked my number.

For the next few days, there was total silence.

Now that all the cards were on the table, Cynthia didn't bother coming home either. Since Bradley's apartment was directly below mine, she moved all her belongings down there.

Almost every single night, I could hear the noise from downstairs.

They were always together, coming and going as a family. Even the neighbors who knew me started giving me strange looks.

A week later, while I was at work, Cynthia finally called. Mia had fainted.

The moment I rushed into the hospital, Cynthia slapped me across the face with everything she had.

A sharp ringing filled my ears as my vision swam. The loud crack of the slap made the people nearby stop and stare.

Cynthia's chest heaved with rage. She looked at me like she wanted to tear me to pieces.

In all the years we had been together, she had never once laid a hand on me.

"Daniel, I didn't realize you could be this disgusting! How could you go around telling everyone Theo is a bastard? Do you have any idea how cruel that is to a child? Today was his first day of preschool, and he came home crying his eyes out!"

"Mom was so upset over this that she had a heart attack! She's in the ER right now! If anything happens to her, I will make you pay."

She practically spat the words through gritted teeth. But her words left me utterly bewildered.

What did she mean I was spreading rumors about Theo?

Noticing my silence, Bradley, who was standing right next to Cynthia, put on a victimized expression. He pulled up Theo's sleeve, his face twisted with anger. "Because of what you did, my son was ostracized at school today, and I'm getting dirty looks too."

Cynthia poked her finger hard into my chest, emphasizing every single word. "Daniel, don't forget that we weren't even married back then. If anyone is the homewrecker here, it's you."

Her words stabbed like a knife to my heart.

But she was the one who had cheated.

A profound wave of exhaustion washed over me. I said quietly, "I don't know how that rumor started. It had nothing to do with me."

Just as the words left my mouth, my phone vibrated violently in my pocket.

It was a call from the cemetery where my parents were buried.

The staff member's frantic voice came through the speaker. "Mr. Houghton! Your parents' graves have been vandalized! We're trying to handle the situation right now…"

My brain short-circuited.

I snapped my head up, glaring at Cynthia and Bradley. "Did you do this?"

Bradley looked away with a smug smirk on his face. "You deserved it. That's what you get for targeting my son. I just hired some guys to teach you a lesson. Cynthia agreed with it too—"

Any shred of sanity I had left snapped. I raised my fist and slammed it hard into him.

Bradley crashed to the floor. I pinned him down and clamped my hands around his throat. My eyes were completely bloodshot.

"How dare you? Those are my parents! How dare you desecrate their graves?"

Bradley's face flushed red, and he couldn't say a word.

The next second, a blinding pain exploded at the back of my head. Everything went black as I collapsed onto the floor.

Cynthia had smashed the glass in her hand over my skull. The jagged shards sliced into my neck, and blood began to trickle down.

Her hand kept trembling, and the surrounding crowd erupted into screams.

My vision began to blur and fade.

The last thing I saw was Cynthia cupping Bradley's face tenderly while shouting for a doctor.