Chapter 1

My dad, Edward Jones, was extremely efficient. It didn't take long for him to send evidence of Maverick Gibson's infidelity to me.

Overwhelming pain suffocated me as I looked at the photo of the boy who was the spitting image of my husband, Maverick.

Jeremy Gibson was the same age as my daughter, Layla Gibson. His existence proved that Maverick had already been cheating on me while I was pregnant. I had blindly believed that he was deeply in love with me.

If not for this incident, I would never have known that Maverick was lying to me.

I looked at the other name on the document—Rosalia Jones. I grabbed my phone and looked through her social media, which was full of photos of her, Maverick, and Jeremy. They looked so happy together.

On Valentine's Day, Rosalia had posted a photo of Maverick kissing her, their bodies pressed close together. The caption read, "Even though we've been married for so long, he's still as romantic as ever."

That day, Maverick apologetically informed me that he needed to leave for an urgent business trip, standing me up for the candlelight dinner that I had planned for a long time.

On the coldest day of the year, Rosalia posted a video of Maverick anxiously and meticulously taking care of Jeremy while they were in the hospital. Although only his back was visible in the video, I could tell it was Maverick.

I was also at the hospital that day, taking care of Layla, who had a fever.

The night before, Layla accidentally dirtied one of Maverick's contracts. He lost his temper and locked her in the storage shed.

Layla was so scared that she ended up with a fever of 104 degrees Fahrenheit, causing her face and the rest of her body to turn a sickly red.

I kept vigil by Layla's side, tears streaming down my face endlessly. However, Maverick abandoned us, claiming that he needed to work overtime at the office.

Apparently, his so-called overtime work was accompanying his illegitimate son at the hospital.

Maverick had always been strict with Layla ever since she was born. Sometimes, his sternness even bordered on cruelty.

Every time Layla made a mistake while counting, he would hit her palm with a ruler until it became swollen. He would also ruthlessly punish her by making her kneel on the ground for the slightest mistake. His tone was always cold when he spoke to her.

I suspected more than once that Maverick treated Layla like that because he preferred sons over daughters.

When I asked him about it, he frowned and explained, "Layla will inherit the family business in the future. I'm only strict with her because she's my successor. You wouldn't want me to spoil her to the point that she can't fend for herself in the future, right?"

I let myself be convinced by Maverick's words, truly believing that he was being strict with Layla because he had her best interests at heart.

I finally understood that he had lied to my face when I saw how he doted on Jeremy in the video. It became blatantly clear that he preferred sons over daughters.

Just then, Maverick called me. "I found another kindergarten for Layla, darling. Let's get her enrolled the day after tomorrow."

I agreed with his suggestion, pretending that nothing was amiss. After I ended the call, I scrolled through Rosalia's social media again and watched the latest video she had uploaded.

It turned out Maverick, Rosalia, and Jeremy would be going to Morningstar Kindergarten the next day to secure Jeremy's spot.

A cold glint flickered in my eyes. I wasn't going to allow anyone to steal away what rightfully belonged to Layla. As for Maverick, since he decided to betray me, I was going to make him lose everything.

The next morning, I took Layla to Morningstar Kindergarten to process her enrollment. With Dad's assistant helping me, I successfully reclaimed Layla's spot at the kindergarten.