Chapter 1

I arrived at the stables at exactly 3:00 pm.

After parking my car, I caught sight of a man and a woman riding horses not too far away. It was my wife, Hazel Mosley, and her male assistant, Cecil Wilcox.

Hazel's clothes rode up to her chest so much that I could see the marks on her waist even from a distance, and those were fingerprints that a man would have left on her while doing some "exciting" activities. Anyone who wasn't blind would have immediately caught on to what they'd been doing earlier.

I took a photo and sent it to Hazel. She abruptly turned around and looked back when she saw her phone, frowning when she caught sight of me.

Cecil then helped her off the horse after coming to a halt, whispering in her ear in a low voice. At once, Hazel's expression lightened up again as she grinned and replied to him.

She was still smiling even while coming over to me.

I saw how intimate they were with each other and felt that I was the unnecessary third wheel after all. It wasn't until then that I realized I had just been lying to myself all along.

The person she'd been meaning to surprise hadn't been me at all.

I then recalled how I'd prepared so eagerly for her so-called surprise since morning, postponing all my meetings and cancelling all prior appointments just for her.

I'd even gotten the maids to clean the entire villa and bought all of the luxury handbags that Hazel had been eyeing. After all, it wasn't just my birthday today, but also our dating anniversary.

Yet, she seemed to have forgotten all about it.

She didn't just forget about it. She even let another man ride my prized and most beloved horse without telling me.

Could it be that even she didn't belong to me anymore as well?

I clenched my fists tightly and suppressed the violent urge in my chest.

Cecil strode over and moved in front of Hazel to apologize to me.

"Mr. Blanchard, one of the company's potential clients is a huge fan of horseback riding, and Hazel only brought me here to train my riding skills. You won't get mad at me for that, will you?"

He pretended as though everything he did was for the good of the company, and if I didn't agree to whatever he said, I would be made to look like the asshole instead.

I just found it amusing. I hadn't met anyone who dared to talk to me like this for a long time, after all.

"Of course not. But if you can't secure that contract, then you'll just have to resign from your position."

Cecil was stunned. "But Mr. Blanchard, it takes both parties to agree to the contract before the client can be secured. I'm not the only one affecting the decision."

I sneered. "So, what's the point of you coming here after all?"

"I—"

I swept my cold gaze past him and said, "You looked like you knew a thing or two about riding earlier. Have you taken lessons before?"

Cecil didn't know what I was playing at and replied, "I've ridden a few times when I was younger."

Since he was so skilled at riding, that meant he knew more about horses than he let on. He would most probably be able to tell that my horse was a thoroughbred racehorse, one that I'd bought at an auction years ago for 20 million dollars.

I was just about to question him further when Hazel couldn't bear to watch anymore. She came up to me and put her hands around my arm, tugging me to the parking lot.

"That's enough, Dylan Blanchard. I was the one who brought him here to train. Stop making a mountain out of a molehill.

"Also, you've only been taking care of these horses without ever riding them. We only rode them for an afternoon. I know you'd never mind."

I stopped in my tracks and withdrew my arm from her hold.

"I mind," I said. "I bought the horse when it was still a young foal, and I'd been painstakingly taking great care of it since then. I couldn't even bring myself to ride it, which meant Cecil doesn't even have the right to touch it at all!

"You didn't even ask me for permission before bringing someone else to my stable. Do you even know what respect is?

"And what's that on the horse's body? Should I collect it and send it to a lab for testing?"