Chapter 3

I never imagined Luke would cheat.

The day I discovered his betrayal marked exactly 5,200 days since we first met.

Childhood sweethearts. High school lovers. Married young. Over a decade of shared history.

All of it shattered by the tears of a massage girl.

In those days, Luke was always working late.

Friends would joke, asking if I ever worried he was having an affair.

I'd just smile serenely and say. "Why worry? If a man is tainted, you simply throw him away."

But I had overestimated Luke's loyalty, and underestimated the depth of my own love.

To love anyone more than you love yourself comes with a price.

And my punishment arrived on schedule.

Luke had spent half a million dollars at that massage parlor.

The truth slipped out from his friend over dinner.

A sudden silence swallowed the table.

That was the day I most wished I could forget.

Because it was the same day I discovered I was pregnant.

I had planned to share our happy news with everyone at that table.

Instead, I shattered. I demanded to know which parlor, which woman.

When I confronted Tiffany, the man who usually walked on eggshells around me, suddenly stood in front of her and yelled at me.

"Are you done making a scene?!"

"I'm so sorry, Claire. I'm the one who seduced Luke. If you want to hit or scold anyone, just direct it at me."

Losing all reason, I pushed Luke aside and slapped Tiffany's pitiful face.

Luke held the sobbing woman, glaring at me with furious hatred.

"Claire, don't you dare go too far!"

"You're always so bossy with me, forcing me to do this and that, so what if I just want to spend some money on her?!"

His words felt like an ice-cold punch to the gut, making me tremble with rage.

From that day on, Luke and I fell into a continuous cold war.

Everyone thought he would be the first to back down.

After all, it was clearly his fault, and for so many years, he had always been compliant with my every wish.

But in the end, it was me who had to use the pregnancy to get him back.