Chapter 2

After a brief inner struggle, I couldn't help but remind him. "You do remember you have to pay me double the alimony as stated in the agreement, right?"

He gazed at me, his expression dark.

I waited for several seconds. Feeling the weird tension in the air, I turned on my heels and fled upstairs.

Closing the door, I leaned against it and looked up at the ceiling light.

After we got married, Shane was so frequently on business trips that he wasn't home most of the time.

I thought our marriage was as pure as a blank page. It turned out he had already found his true love and even had a son with her.

I scrolled through my phone and opened my banking app. In the transaction history, there was a ten-million-dollar transfer from before the wedding. Doubled, that came to 20 million.

I'd only found out about his son now that the boy was 17. That clearly counted as a scam, no?

It wasn't too much for me to demand another five million dollars, was it?

It was 1:00 am, and I tossed and turned in bed, unable to sleep.

After giving it much thought, I scrolled through my contacts and found Larry Barnes' number.

He was a lawyer whose number I saved three years ago when we signed the prenup. His profile picture was a photo of a golden retriever.

I opened the chat and typed and retyped my message several times. When I eventually made up my mind, I sent, "Mr. Barnes, I have a question. If it's inconvenient for you to answer me, you can pretend this conversation never happened."

Larry replied almost immediately, "Please, go ahead."

What a dedicated lawyer.

I chose my words carefully before typing, "Suppose my friend's husband had a child before they got married and kept her in the dark…"

"Okay."

"Wouldn't that count as withholding important information? Say their prenup included a clause where the husband would owe her double the alimony if he had another lover. Would that clause be enforceable?"

"Could you tell me what exactly your friend's agreement stipulates?"

I stared at the screen. I couldn't tell him I was the party involved, and I couldn't give him any more details either. If the legal community of Javensburg were to hear of this situation involving a certain "Mrs. Zimmer", I'd die of embarrassment.

I typed, "My friend didn't sign a written agreement. Her husband just promised he'd accept a divorce without a penny to his name if he had an affair."

That sounded fake, even to me.

Larry took a long time to reply. "Your friend is… quite trusting."

I had no comeback for that.

"Mr. Barnes, that's not the point. I want to know what kind of compensation she could get in this situation."

My fingers hovered above the screen. 20 million dollars… or maybe 25 million dollars would do.

However gorgeous Shane was, his looks paled in comparison to money.

I continued, "It'd be great if she could get twice the amount of the alimony."

"Is there evidence that the husband has admitted that the child is his?"

I remembered Chris' face and what Shane said previously. He'd said he would take care of it. He didn't deny that Chris was his son.

Did that count as a confession?

I typed, "She said her husband didn't deny it. Does that count?"

"A verbal confession can be taken into account, but it's much better if there's a recording, chat history, or a witness."

"A witness… Do I count as a witness?"

I pressed my phone heavily onto the bed.

Five seconds later, the screen lit up.

Larry replied, "Mrs. Zimmer, I'm not in a position to take up a case involving the Zimmer family, but I can refer you to a colleague who specializes in family law."

I was so mortified by my own stupidity that I laughed.

I busied myself contacting several lawyers for the next two days, asking about the divorce. Just then, Chris showed up again.

I was sitting at the dining table, swirling a glass of wine, when I heard the front door open.

Shane walked in first, with Chris behind him.

Shane pulled out a chair. "Chris has transferred to a school nearby. He'll be staying with us while the paperwork is being processed."

I gasped inwardly. Shane just brought his illegitimate son home, right out in the open. It wouldn't be long before his true love came knocking on the door and demanded to be acknowledged, would it?

I must proceed with the divorce!