Chapter 1

Everyone in the newsroom went dead quiet at those two short sentences and stared at each other in shock.

For years, they'd only ever known Mason Lakeworth as a single dad. He worked late every night to pay for his kid's medical bills and lived so frugally it felt like he could stretch a penny into two.

Who would've imagined that a guy that ordinary and that unfortunate had anything to do with Lindsay Statham, much less that the two of them were actually married?

After a silence that lasted for what felt like forever, someone said in a low voice, "So, you're the guy from five years ago who—"

Before he could finish, another coworker yanked on his sleeve, shooting him a warning look to shut up.

Mason didn't say anything else. He slid the overseas assignment form he'd just gotten that afternoon into his bag. Then, for the first time, he clocked out early.

As soon as he got downstairs, he saw Lindsay across the street, leaning against her car as she watched him with those clear, distant eyes. Under the streetlamp, her shadow stretched long across the sidewalk.

In the hazy glow of moonlight, Mason's mind drifted back to that spring night five years ago.

He'd been a journalism major about to graduate when he unexpectedly received an invitation to a high-profile gala. He'd thought it was his big break—a chance to interview some important people and maybe get his foot in the door.

But he'd only had one drink before passing out and waking up in Lindsay's bed. She'd been asleep by his side, her body covered in bite marks.

After that, a rumor had quietly spread through the city's media circles—a social-climbing nobody had allegedly drugged Lindsay the night before her wedding. The next day, her fiance had walked in on them in bed together, and the whole thing had blown up into a massive scandal.

The story went that this nobody had then used Lindsay's ruined reputation to force her into marrying him.

But the truth was the total opposite.

Back then, Mason had known that he could never go up against the Statham family, much less covet Lindsay and set her up like that. He'd fled in disgrace and planned to leave Heronvale after graduation so he could start over somewhere far away.

He never imagined that Lindsay would find out three months down the road that she was pregnant with his child.

Somehow, word of that got to Lindsay's grandfather, George Statham. Wanting to keep an heir in the Statham family and protect their spotless reputation, George had used every bit of his influence to strong-arm Mason and Lindsay into getting married.

In the face of that sort of power, Mason hadn't even had the right to fight back. He'd tried explaining, tried pushing back, and insisted over and over that he had no idea what had happened that night. All he'd ever gotten in return was Lindsay's disgust and icy indifference.

She'd refused to have a wedding with him or even make their marriage public. After giving birth, she'd dumped their son, Landon, into Mason's arms like he was trash. From then on, she hadn't spared either of them so much as a second glance.

The day Landon was diagnosed with bone marrow cancer, Lindsay had only looked at Mason and said flatly, "This is karma."

At the time, George was gravely ill and no longer involved in family affairs. Lindsay had downright refused to offer Landon any help at all.

With nowhere else to turn, Mason had gritted his teeth and somehow fought his way through the hardest five years of his life.

Then, two weeks ago, Landon's condition had suddenly taken a turn for the worse.

Mason had spent an entire night on his knees in a torrential downpour, begging Lindsay, as Landon's biological mother, to donate her bone marrow.

But Lindsay hadn't even bothered to listen. She'd just sent people to stop him from getting past the gates. In the end, all he'd gotten was a call from the hospital telling him Landon hadn't pulled through.

That was the moment Mason had finally broken. He'd coughed up a mouthful of blood and collapsed right there in the rain.

Delirious and drifting in and out of consciousness, Mason had vaguely seen members of the Gardner family—specifically, the parents of Lindsay's fiance, Harry Gardner—enter his hospital room.

Harry's mother, Helen Brown, had clearly been crying. Choking back tears, she'd said to her husband, Stuart Gardner, "If we'd known things would turn out like this, we should've brought Mason home from the very beginning. At least he could've come to us for help when Landon was so gravely ill!"

From their conversation, Mason had finally learned the truth. It turned out the invitation to the gala and that absurd night had been orchestrated by the Gardners.

He was actually the Gardner family's long-lost son. After he went missing, his parents had adopted Harry, who was his age.

Helen and Stuart had actually tracked Mason down in his senior year of college, but they hadn't dared to claim him. It turned out Harry had a serious congenital heart disease. When he was younger, someone had once said that he didn't look like his parents. That had sent him into a full-blown episode that nearly killed him.

By then, Helen and Stuart had long since come to see Harry as their own son. They could risk doing anything that might endanger him.

After much deliberation, they'd decided to arrange for Lindsay to marry Mason. The Gardners and Stathams had been close for generations, and the marriage had been agreed upon even before Lindsay and Mason were born.

If the plan worked, Mason would be close enough for the Gardners to watch over him, while also gaining a stable and privileged life instead of continuing to wander with no home of his own.

Helen and Stuart hadn't been oblivious to how much Mason had suffered in his marriage to Lindsay, but they'd been terrified that stepping in would expose what they'd done back then.

They'd never imagined… that things would end with one person dead and another lying in a hospital bed.

Lindsay had been in the hospital room when the truth had come out. Her nails had dug into her palms as she'd listened, and her eyes had widened with disbelief.

But once the shock faded, she hadn't lashed out or exploded. Instead, she'd forced herself to stay calm and said hoarsely to Helen and Stuart, "If you've decided to keep this from Harry, then make sure you take this secret to the grave.

"He's already in poor health. He can't take another hit. I'm sorry about what happened to Landon. From now on… I'll treat Mason the way he deserves. You don't have to visit him again, and you absolutely cannot let him know he's your son. Let this secret die with us."

Her love and concern for Harry had been unmistakable. In a shadowed corner of the room where no one noticed him, Mason had closed his eyes with a bitter smile, allowing a single tear to slip from the corner of his eye.

When he opened his eyes again, Lindsay had been sitting beside his hospital bed. Her eyes had been bloodshot from keeping watch over him all night.

"You're awake?" For the first time, she'd really looked at him. And for the first time, she'd spoken to him with complete seriousness. "I know I haven't been good to you all these years. But starting today, I'll learn how to be the kind of wife you deserve."