Chapter 3

The family photo was supposed to have our family of three, but Janine had disappeared from it. It flustered her, and she was about to lose her temper when she noticed the wound on my face. A guilty look flashed in her eye, and when she tried to touch my wound, I stood up to avoid it.

Janine's hand froze midair with a strange look in her eye. I did not show concern for her as I usually did. Instead, I pointed at the guest room. "You can sleep there tonight, or go back to your house."

With that, I returned to my room, but Janine squeezed through the door right before I could shut it tight. Janine pressed her sexy body against me right away. "It's been a long time since you touched me, honey."

She did not notice me flinching when she touched me, and continued treating me as the old Joe who would give in to her every whim. I pushed her away and slapped her hard.

Janine went blank as she had not been expecting this. She was about to lose her temper when she suddenly grabbed my hand instead with a stunned look and asked, "Why did you take off your ring?"

Our rings were ordinary silver rings that were bought when our condition was poor, and we did not have extra money to spend, but we still wore them happily. When our lives started getting comfortable, Janine bought me many luxury rings, but I never wore any of them, and she knew how important our original rings were to me.

We have been married for more than a decade, and I never once took my ring off, no matter what happened, but now, I had quietly removed the ring from my finger. Janine's heart beat wildly from an unknown fear, and she said, "Let's get remarried tomorrow."

I pulled my hand away coldly. My mother was no longer with us, and I had custody of Jesse. Janine could no longer threaten me. "You should leave."

Janine was stunned, unable to believe her ears. "What do you mean?"

I put some distance between her and replied calmly, "Exactly what I said."

We were silent for several seconds, and the look in Janine's eyes dimmed when she finally understood what was happening. Her voice trembled as she said, "You did all of this on purpose, didn't you. You're using our marriage to force me to sever ties with Charlie!"

I almost laughed. Janine was still convinced that I cared about her. My silence seemed to confirm her thoughts as she kept saying 'fine' repeatedly. She pointed at my nose and said, "Don't come begging me when you start regretting this!"

Janine slammed the door behind her, and the noise woke Jesse up. He walked out of his room groggily, and I quickly carried him in my arms while gently coaxing him back to sleep. My heart was filled with contentment as I looked at his peaceful little face.

…

The next morning, I woke up early for Jesse's parent-teacher meeting at school. When we entered his classroom, we saw Janine with Charlie and Simon, sitting in the class. They stayed close to each other, looking like a real family of three.

For the past seven years, Jesse had grown up without Janine ever attending any of his parent-teacher meetings. He had never mentioned anything about being bullied when others badmouthed him behind his back, calling him a bastard without a mother.

However, now, when he saw all three of them together, Jesse was forced to face the hard truth. He ran off with his head lowered and tears in his eyes.

Janine was filled with guilt, and she stood up to run after him, but Charlie stopped her. I was taken aback to see this, and my heart pounded with fluster as I turned around to run after Jesse. When I turned the corner, Charlie and his friends caught up to me.

Charlie punched me in the face and said with disdain, "Have some decency, Joe Langdon. Now that you've gotten a divorce, stop using your kid to blackmail Janine!"

His friends chimed in, "Yeah! Have some decency! Even your son is following your footsteps by being shameless. Look at him faking that cry."

"What's this called? An apple doesn't fall far from the tree! Hahahaha!"

"Shut up!" I was trembling with anger, but did not argue with them as I was worried about Jesse. I wanted to run after him, but Charlie grabbed me by the collar.