[This month’s property management fee is $1,500. Please make the payment on time.]

My wife, Grace Anderson’s phone screen lit up. I glanced at it and then took the phone.

“Did the management office miscalculate this? Our management fee should only total up to $28 a month.”

Grace stood up abruptly and tried to snatch her phone back.

“He must’ve miscalculated! Let me talk to him.”

However, I had already clicked on the link and read the page.

[Cloud Mansion, property owner: Ken Smith.]

The young male nanny cooking in our kitchen had the same name.

Something snapped in my brain.

The three of us were living in a very small house, but Grace had bought a mansion for our manny!

Grace Anderson snatched her phone back and immediately locked it.

I watched her reaction and said coldly, “Cloud Mansion’s under Ken Smith’s name, but the property management office sent the text message to you instead.

“Do you want to explain that?”

She slammed her phone against the table with the screen down and took a sip of water before saying, “I’m purchasing a property for my relative, and I wanted to use a discount that’s only available for the lower-income group, so I borrowed Ken’s ID for that. My relative left the country a while back, so he asked me to take care of it on his behalf.”

“Which relative?”

“You don’t know him. It’s a distant uncle.”

She was lying.

Over our decade-long marriage, I had met all of her relatives. No one fit the profile of a distant relative.

I wanted to pry further, but she looked upset.

“Are you assuming that I bought the mansion for Ken?

“You know how much I earn! If I really had that much money, we would’ve moved to the city center already.”

She looked calm when she said that. She even served our son a bowl of soup as she did.

The noise from the kitchen stopped. Ken walked out with a plate of grilled ribs.

“Sam, here are all the dishes. Enjoy your meal! I’m going to head home to take care of my daughter.

“Just leave the plates and utensils in the kitchen. I’ll wash them tomorrow morning.”

He was unaware of what had happened a while ago. He took off his apron and put on his shoes before leaving.

He did not even look at Grace.

The only interaction they had was when he walked past me and placed the plate of grilled ribs in front of Grace.

It was his best dish.

Back then, we interviewed a dozen nannies of various ages and genders.

Not only did he know how to make Grace’s favorite grilled ribs, but he also knew how to make my son’s and my favorite pasta dish.

He claimed to be from the countryside with little education. He was four years younger than me and was a single father with a daughter.

I felt sorry for him. Besides, he was asking only half the going rate for a nanny, so I hired him without any hesitation.

Over the years, I treated him like my own younger brother. I always saved up some extra things for him. Whenever I bought my son something, I would buy something similar for his daughter.

But his name had appeared on the property deed of a 3,000-square-foot mansion.

As his employer, I myself was staying in a very small house.

“Sam, you should eat. The food is getting cold.”

Grace nudged me as she ate the grilled ribs.

However, when I took a good look, I realized all the food prepared were her favorites.

As for the pasta my son and I loved, it had not appeared on our dining table for over a year.

I finished the meal listlessly.

At night, Grace showered as I tutored our son.

I secretly found her tablet that was synced with her phone. I located her text messages and bills.

The latest bill was the $1,500 property management fee.

As for the past few expenses, they were mostly on men’s products and children’s toys.

However, I had never seen these men’s products and children’s toys. Besides, she handed her entire $5,000 salary to me every month. How would she still have more than 100 thousand dollars in her account?

I scrolled through her account and found that she transferred $20,000. She had been transferring the same amount every month for over nine years.

My breath hitched. I could not believe my eyes. Gritting my teeth, I tapped on her income records.

She gave birth to our son the year after we got married. After her maternity leave, she returned to work. She begged me to resign and take care of our child. She told me she could be the bread-winner of the household.

Very soon, she claimed that her company was not doing well, so her salary had been reduced to only $5,000 a month.

She told me to watch every penny and not to spend it on new clothes. Instead of physical books for our son, I could only get e-books. She would even nag me when I bought a little extra meat at the market.

I could no longer stand it, so I decided to find work too.

However, someone had to take care of our son, Jack Reid, when I was at work.

Grace’s parents did not like the city. My parents offered to help, but she said our house was too small for two more people.

After that, she suggested we hire a nanny. I felt that we were already tight on money, and we would not have the extra cash to hire a nanny.

She shrugged and said that in that case, I might as well stay home and take care of our son full-time.

I gritted my teeth. Then, I found Ken.

Because we were paying him very little, his only tasks were to take care of Jack and make lunch and dinner. I would still be in charge of breakfast and other house chores.

Out of my $6,000 salary, $4,000 went to Ken, and the remaining $2,000 went toward Jack’s education. Her $5,000 covered all our living expenses. Even though we were not rich, we could manage fine.

[Income: $50,000.]

I was dumbfounded when I saw that.

She was earning $50,000 every month, but she only handed me $5,000.

A notification appeared on the tablet. There was a transfer of $15,000.

She had been transferring money to her mother every month for nine years.

Every month, she transferred $15,000 to her mother, $20,000 to Ken, and kept $10,000 for herself. She gave me $5,000 our entire household expenses.

Jack and I were last on her priority list.

I bit my lower lip and tried to exit the app to find other records. However, I saw a few new text messages.

[Mom, same as usual. Save money and buy some gifts for Ken and his daughter.

My hand trembled, and the tablet fell onto the bed.

I looked at the bathroom door and heard her still showering. Through the foggy glass door, I saw Grace texting.

The last bit of hope I had quietly died.

I clenched my fists tightly.

It seemed that I needed to pay a visit to his mansion.

The next day, Grace left for work at six in the morning as usual.

After she left, I asked a friend to babysit Jack and went to Cloud Mansion.

The mansion looked like a castle. There were a garden and a balcony, even a sunroom on the third floor. There was a basement too.

It was the kind of home I had never even dared to dream of.

Soon, the door opened.

Ken stepped out, dressed casually, holding the hand of a young girl in a private school uniform.

Grace was holding the little girl’s other hand as she gestured to someone behind her.

“Say goodbye to Grandma and Grandpa!”

My parents-in-law walked over and lovingly stuffed the little girl’s arms with snacks.

I felt a lump in my throat.

Jack would turn nine years old this year, but he had only met his grandparents twice.

They kept saying that they were busy in the countryside and were unwilling to come to the city to help out with Jack. They also did not want us to visit them.

I had nearly broken down in exhaustion and had brought it up to Grace before. But she urged, “I don’t have a good relationship with my parents. If they come over, we’ll definitely get into a fight.”

However, her so-called “estranged” parents were staying in a mansion and playing the role of loving grandparents to someone else’s child.

Everyone was lying to me.

I saw Grace gently fasten the seat belt for the young girl before she drove off.

I stood there stiffly until she slammed on the brakes and met my eyes in terror.

“Sam, why are you here?!”

Ken and her parents were also stunned. They all stared at her helplessly.

Grace got out of the car and ran toward me in a panic.

“Is this what you mean when you say you’re busy at work? Is this what you do when you don’t have time to drop Jack at school?”

“No, hear me out! It wasn’t very convenient for Ken to raise his daughter alone as a man. He asked me for help—”

“Aren’t your parents here? How is it inconvenient for him?”

Grace could not answer.

The little girl in the passenger seat called out to her, “Mom, I’m going to be late for school!”

It fell dead silent after that.

Ken quickly covered her mouth. Grace’s parents stomped their feet in frustration.

Grace’s face turned pale.

I clenched my fists as my palms turned sweaty.

“Grace, you said your working hours are from six in the morning to eight at night, so I’ve been the one tasked with fetching our son, even though I have work too!

“I do that because I understand you’re busy at work and I want to be considerate to you.

“I didn’t expect your ‘business’ was taking care of an outsider’s child!”

She shook her head.

“No, you’ve misunderstood this!”

“No. I understand it just fine. Your attention is focused on your other family.”

I said coldly, “I overestimated my importance in your life. It seems Jack and I are the outsiders in this situation.”

Grace froze as blood drained from her face.

“You’re my husband! That child isn’t—”

“How dare you say she’s not your daughter?! Grace, if you wanted to lie to me, why weren’t you cautious enough to hide her birth certificate in a more secret place?”

I showed her the photo on my phone, and her breath caught in her throat.

On the birth certificate, it was clearly outlined that Ken and Grace were Hailey Smith’s parents.

When she was asleep last night, I went through her phone and tablet.

When I saw the birth certificate, I bit down on my lip until it bled so I would not act rashly and hurt her instead.

When Ken heard the commotion, he told Grace’s parents to take Hailey into the house and walked over to us.

He hung his head and whispered, “Sam, please don’t be angry at Grace…”

Grace immediately shielded him because she was afraid that I would hurt him.

“You should head in first. I’ll explain everything to him.”

“No, I can’t let you face this on your own.”

I watched silently as they supported each other, and I suddenly felt like a clown.

Last night, before I saw the text message from the property management, I thought we were a happy family.

Instead, everything had changed. I was witnessing their love.

The pain in my heart slowly turned numb, and I was only left with anger.

“Head in? Where to? To the mansion you pay a property management fee of $1,500?

“Ken, you’re staying in such a big mansion, so why are you still working for us in our small house? You must be itching to curse me every time you see me.”

Ken hung his head even lower. “I didn’t…”

Grace frowned.

“Sam, stop it! Attack me all you want, but don’t say that to him.

“Let’s head home first. I’ll explain everything properly.”

I was furious. I slapped her.

“Which home? You spent all your salary here! This is your home!”

Grace was dumbfounded by the slap. Ken was so shocked that he touched her face soothingly.