Chapter 1

The debit card was meant for the family's shared expenses.

Last month, there was still over a million dollars left on it. The spending records had clearly been tampered with, so I went to the bank myself to pull the statements.

The largest charge was billed at Hill Hotel, the same place I had been earlier, at 88 thousand dollars. The itemized bill said it was a birthday party package.

My daughter, Nancy Davidson, said excitedly, "Mom must be planning a surprise for us, right? Dad, let's go and give Mom a surprise too!"

Looking into her innocent eyes, I couldn't bring myself to think the worst of her mother and my wife, Claire Gibson.

By the time we arrived at the party hall, I saw Claire immediately. She stood at the entrance in a red dress, chatting and laughing with the guests.

A man in a custom suit was holding her arm affectionately, looking like they were the perfect couple. He was Logan Stone, a director at Claire's company and one of the original senior members.

"Your son really takes after Mr. Stone. He's so young, but he's already such a handsome little gentleman."

"Who in our company doesn't envy their relationship? Their child's already seven, yet they're still inseparable."

As I listened to the guests' compliments, I noticed a little boy standing between them. He looked strikingly like Claire.

"Mom, you got the name wrong!" Nancy suddenly piped up. "It's Nancy, not Caleb!"

She pulled free from my grasp and ran toward Claire. That was when I saw the sign next to them. In bold letters, it read, "Happy 7th Birthday to Our Beloved Caleb!"

Before I could process it, I heard a thud. Logan had shoved Nancy to the ground. "Where on earth did this wild kid come from? Have some basic manners."

I rushed forward to lift Nancy up. When I saw the blood seeping from her knee, fury instantly drowned out all reason.

"Wow, Claire. You used our family's money to keep a man on the side and raise an illegitimate child—and now you're allowing him to hurt Nancy too?"

My voice shook with rage as I held the crying Nancy.

Logan muttered under his breath, "What family money? I earned every penny with Ms. Gibson through hard work. Some people get used to leeching off others and actually think they're in charge."

The guests murmured among themselves, their eyes flicking between us.

"Don't tell me this is the other man. And he brought his illegitimate daughter along to crash the party!"

"Don't you know? Homewreckers have no shame nowadays. They waltz right in front of the wife or husband and think they're in the right."

"I know, right? And he even has a daughter. She might follow his father's example one day."

Their curious, scornful, mocking gazes fell on me and Nancy like bullets.