I cooked up a storm for our seventh wedding anniversary.

However, my CEO wife took a couple of bites before leaving in haste for some work emergency.

I trailed behind her, only to find her entering an upscale event space where she held a sip-and-see event for the twins she had through surrogacy.

Pulling out a centurion card, she handed it to her male secretary and uttered solemnly, “You’ve done well, Dale. Everything I own will go to the children.”

Dale, his eyes sparkling, pressed his lips against hers. “Ms. Markham, it’s my honor to have children with you.”

With a scoff, I pushed open the door to the hall.

I’d like to see how the guy managed to have children with a woman who was born with underdeveloped ovarian follicles.

My presence at the sip-and-see event sucked the life out of the party.

My indifferent gaze fell on Krystal Markham. “Krystal, care to explain about today?”

Krystal and I were a success story, the high school sweethearts who made it all the way to the altar. However, over the last two years, I felt her slipping further and further away.

I brushed it off as the spark simply fading over time. Never in a million years did I expect her to cheat on me and have children with another man through surrogacy

A trace of panic flickered across Krystal’s face. She averted her gaze and held her tongue.

Dale Abbot, on the other hand, approached me with two glasses of red wine in hand. He said, “Don’t get upset, sir. Since you can’t give Ms. Markham kids, she borrowed my sperm to produce heirs. No one is taking your place as her husband.”

While downing the glass of wine, Dale handed me the other drink and uttered, “I’m counting on you to take good care of my children.”

Not one to take his blatant disrespect lying down, I snatched the glass of wine and splashed the liquid right in his face.

“Who do you think you are? This is between Krystal and me. Why are you poking your nose in?”

Krystal was quick to come to Dale’s rescue. She met my gaze and criticized me, “Dale was just being nice, and you assaulted him? You’re too wicked to be a father.

“I’m moving Dale into the estate tomorrow to care for the children.”

A flash of smugness fleeted across Dale’s eyes as he leaned in to pull Krystal into his voice. He murmured, his voice sounding hurt, “Ms. Markham, my feelings don’t matter. Just clear the air with your husband. Don’t let me and the children come between you two.”

Krystal looked at me in disdain and said, “What’s there to explain? He’s a man, but he’s firing blanks. He should be grateful I didn’t dump his sorry bottom.”

The crowd chimed in.

“Ms. Markham needs a successor to take over her empire. Since her husband couldn’t give her that, Ms. Markham has to seek elsewhere.”

“Ms. Markham is nice enough not to kick him to the curb. I can’t believe he’d come here and make a scene.”

“If I were Ms. Markham, I would’ve gotten rid of this moocher a long time ago.”

The flattery stroked Krystal’s ego. “Ray, apologize to Dale right now. If you do, I’ll keep you around for old time’s sake.”

During our seven-year marriage, we had no children. The problem wasn’t me, but Krystal—her underdeveloped ovaries made it impossible for her to conceive.

I kept the truth from Krystal to protect her pride, taking the fall for our childlessness. Alas, my commitment to her was thrown back in my face.

Locking my gaze onto her, I hissed through gritted teeth, “Krystal, the problem lies with you. You’re infertile from defective follicle development.”

Dennis Markham, my father-in-law, took a swing at me.

“You’re clearly the one with a problem, jerk! You have some nerve to frame my daughter for your failure. I’ll show you!”

The punch to my gut made me see stars.

In all my twenty-seven years, no one had ever laid a hand on me.

Throwing my fist in retaliation, I said curtly, “If you think I’m lying, a simple DNA test between Krystal and the kids should settle this once and for all.”

The certainty in my tone stopped Krystal short, but that was Dale’s cue to put on a sad face.

“Sir, it’s one thing to insult me, but you have no right to slander Ms. Markham. I can assure you that she has a clean bill of health.”

Krystal stood firm on her ground. “Don’t put your jealousy on me. I know my body. There’s nothing wrong with it!”

After taking the hit from me, Dennis yelled to the crowd, “Seize the disrespectful jerk now!”

Outnumbered and overwhelmed, I was quickly held down by the Markham extended family. Dennis smacked me across the face several times and grabbed a handful of my hair, snarling, “My family basically took you in when you married my daughter. It’s bad enough that you have no respect for us, but you even attacked me. You don’t deserve to be part of my family!”

A sharp pain shot through my scalp. Pinned down, I could only raise my head to lock eyes with Krystal as blood trailed along my lips.

“Krystal, you promised to love and protect me for so long as we shall live. Is this what your word is worth?”

Keeping her face deadpan, Krystal said callously, “You got it coming for attacking your father-in-law and talking smack about your wife.”

With Krystal speaking up, the Markham extended family echoed her sentiment.

“It’s about time. He needs to be kept on a tight leash, so he knows his place. Who does he think he is?”

“Krystal wears the pants in the house. She built the business from scratch and grew the empire to what it is today. What’s wrong with having a couple of flings on the side? Instead of keeping the issue behind closed doors, he rocked up here and confronted her over the issue.”

Amid the scuffle, I was kicked to the ground. Then came a bottle of wine, emptied onto me.

“It’s only right to chill him out a bit.”

Bottle after bottle of red wine was poured over my head, and I was utterly drenched and humiliated.

Dale couldn’t hide his conceit. “Sir, why do you have to take things the hard way? You ruined a celebration over what?

Lowering her gaze, Krystal sneered at me and said, “I thought about keeping you around since you were with me for seven years. That should count for something, but since you don’t know when to stop, don’t blame me for what’s coming next.”

She had the divorce papers drafted and brought out immediately. “Sign the papers, and we can part amicably.”

I smirked at the clause stating I would walk away from the marriage with nothing. “Part amicably? So the last seven years of my life mean nothing?”

Lifting her chin, Krystal said shamelessly, “Ray, you had nothing when you met me. I built my wealth from the ground up.

“You enjoyed a life of luxury for seven years, and that’s more than enough. I can’t believe you’d eye my fortune. You make me sick with your greed!”

Dennis threw a stack of cold, hard cash, amounting to 20k, at me. “It’s my grandkids’ big day today. I consider this a charitable donation on their behalf. Take the money, sign the papers, and get lost!”

Dale simpered at me. “Oh, how the tables have turned, sir. Remember the time you threw me out of the office? Who’s the one being kicked out now?”

I looked up at the crowd, making a mental note of their ugly faces before putting my signature on the divorce papers.

After signing the document, I took out my phone and dialed a number.

“Hey, Sis. Krystal cheated on me. I want you to cut off all funding to her company now.”

Krystal paused for a second before bursting into laughter. “Ray, if you’re going to lie, at least make it believable. We all know you’re an orphan. Where did this sister come from?”

Dale said with a smile, “I think you finally lost the plot. The Markham Group’s funding comes from Greene Apex, the city’s biggest financial player. Do you honestly think that by changing your last name, you can associate yourself with the family?”

It was true that I was an orphan, but two years into my relationship with Krystal, my biological sister, Lynne Greene, tracked me down. She told me that I had been abandoned at an orphanage, a casualty of an intense power struggle within the family.

Our parents’ dying wish was for her to find me. Given the dangers lurking in every corner of the elite world, I had no intention of inheriting the family business. By going back to the family, I would likely become Lynne’s vulnerability. In the end, I chose to take the family name without going public about who I really was.

As a way of looking out for me, Lynne secretly supported Krystal’s business, allocating her the best resources and funding.

How else could Krystal build a multi-billion-dollar empire all on her own in mere years?

Propping myself from the ground, I looked everybody in the eye and uttered, “You’ll soon find out whether I’ve gone nuts.

“Krystal, when the truth’s out, I sure hope you’ll still yourself their mother.”

I walked away, covered in humiliation.

Not a single person in the room was getting away. I would see to it, for sure.

Dale raised his voice, “Stop him! Don’t let him leave!”

Someone came in my way with an outstretched arm.

Dale whispered to Krystal, “Krystal, Ray is privy to the business’ confidential information. It’s too much of a risk to the group to let him go. We should probably…”

Krystal nodded in agreement. “Good thinking.”

At Dale’s command, I was brought before Krystal. Several individuals then reached to pull my shirt off.

As my eyes widened, I put up a fight and uttered, “What are you doing?”

Letting out a sinister smile, Dale approached me and said, “I’m getting your nudes. If you ever speak about the children, those images would be released across the internet.”

“No!”

Despite my violent struggle to keep my clothes on, I was defenseless against the group.

Cornered and desperate, I sank my teeth into Dale’s arm. Try as he may, he couldn’t get me off him.

In the end, a bottle of wine was smashed on my head. My mind blanked out, and I slumped to the ground, drained of strength.

Dale, mounting on me, smacked me in the face left and right in a fit of rage.

“How dare you bite me! I’ll show you!”

After slapping me repeatedly, he roughly tore at my clothes.

Chatter erupted all around.

“Where has he been hiding that body? Look at his massive package.”

“I can see why Ms. Markham kept him around even though he’s shooting blanks. He must be pretty good in the bedroom.”

One individual thought it was appropriate to pose a question to Krystal. “Since you’re done with him, we’d love to have a turn with him. It beats paying an escort.”

Krystal sneered, “I’ve had him for seven years. He’s all show and no substance. If you don’t mind, take him.”

With Krystal giving the green light, dozens of hands felt around my body.

Humiliation and despair overwhelmed me.

Then came Lynne’s angry voice from the doorway. “Get your hands off him!”