I was so furious I almost laughed.

Whether he went out stealing or robbing was none of my damn business. I hadn't forced him into anything.

When I said nothing, Leah let out a sigh.

"You've been working too much overtime lately, you're in a bad mood, so I'll let all that anger talk slide."

"I'm going to take Roland out for a nice meal first, to settle his nerves."

"You stay home and calm down. And stop tossing the word divorce around every five minutes."

"Our daughter is only three. If she loses her mother this young, the other kids at daycare will make fun of her!"

With that she took Roland by the hand and headed for the door.

On his way out, Roland glanced back at me.

There was no mistaking the smugness in that look, or the challenge behind it.

Not long after, my phone buzzed.

A message from Leah.

"Since you don't want Roland staying at the house, I'll take him to a hotel nearby for now."

"I'll spend the next few days showing him around, clearing my head."

"You just stay home and think about what you've done."

I stared at the screen and laughed out loud, cold and short.

Reflect?

I did have something to reflect on.

How blind I'd been, marrying a woman who'd sell out her own family for a piece of trash like that.

Leah's heart had turned completely rotten.

If that was how it was, there was nothing left to say.

I called my lawyer straightaway.

"Wyatt Finch, draw up a divorce agreement for me. The faster the better."

Then I called a private investigator I knew.

"I need you to look into two people for me. My wife, Leah Swanson, and a college student named Roland Fox."

For the next few days Leah didn't contact me, and I was glad for the quiet.

But every time I looked at my daughter, I couldn't shake the worry.

This house wasn't safe anymore.

Who knew what low, filthy trick Roland would pull next.

So I quickly packed a few of Nina's clothes and her everyday things.

I drove her straight to my parents' place.

I'd barely arrived when two photos came through from Roland.

The first showed a luxury king bed in a five-star hotel, an Apple set laid out neatly across it. Scattered beside them were several designer watches and a few pieces of high-end menswear, tags still uncut.

The second was two hands laid one over the other, a pair of matching Cartier rings on the ring fingers.

No guessing needed. The hands belonged to Leah and Roland.

I looked at the two photos and let out a cold laugh.

Roland probably really thought he'd landed himself a rich woman.

He had no idea.

The reason my family lived in a nice house and drove nice cars was that I'd worked myself to the bone over the years to make vice president.

Leah, meanwhile, had never pushed herself. After all these years on the job she was still stuck in that easy little admin position, going nowhere.

Every month, after taxes and benefits came out, her take-home pay was a pitiful six thousand.

And all of it went straight to that family of hers, who'd only ever valued their sons over their daughter.

I hadn't wanted her to feel small shopping with her friends, so I'd gotten her a supplementary card on my account.

I never imagined she'd take the money I'd broken my back to earn and use it to play rich woman in front of some other pretty boy.

I called the bank and had that card frozen on the spot.

My mother heard the commotion and came out of the back room. Seeing the look on my face, she hurried over.

"What's the matter? You look terrible. Did you and Leah have a fight?"

I didn't want the two of them worrying, so I took a deep breath and pushed the feeling back down.

"It's nothing, Mom. Just a little trouble at work."

"I'll probably be busy the next few days, so I need you and Dad to look after Nina for me."

My father came out of the study and took his granddaughter from me.

"Go on, take care of what you need to. We've got Nina."

"But listen to me, son. If anyone's treating you badly, don't you dare bottle it up."

"Your mother and I will always be on your side. Worst case, you come home, and we'll take care of you."

Hearing my father say that, my eyes stung.

In my last life, after I died.

My parents couldn't bear the grief of burying their own child, and before long they both passed away, one after the other.

In this life, I would never let that tragedy happen again.

After leaving my parents' place, I drove back to our complex.

I'd just parked and was about to head inside when I ran straight into Leah and Roland.

Leah's face was livid. The moment she saw me, she charged over.

"Clark Gilbert, what the hell is this supposed to mean?!"

"What gives you the right to freeze my card?!"

I looked at her coldly.

"Get one thing straight. That's my card."

"If I freeze my own card, do I need to file a report with you?"

Leah flushed red with rage, and for a long moment she had no idea how to fire back.

Roland saw it and stepped forward at once, sliding an arm around her shoulders.

"What do you mean, your card?"

"Clark Gilbert, don't think I don't know. Leah told me everything. The life you've been living all these years, you owe it all to her, out there working herself to the bone."

"I never imagined you'd be this ungrateful, using the marriage to get your hands on Leah's money!"

He turned to her, his face full of tenderness.

"Leah, a man like this doesn't deserve you."

"All he'll ever do is drag you down. You should just hurry up and divorce him!"

I laughed to myself. A few days ago he was calling her ma'am, and now it was Leah this, Leah that.

It was rush hour, and neighbors were streaming in and out of the complex.

Hearing the argument over here, they stopped one by one and gathered around.

The second Roland saw the crowd, his eyes went red and his finger jabbed at me.

"Everyone, please, be the judge of this."

"He promised he'd support me all the way through college."

"But right before the term started, he suddenly said if I wanted the money to keep coming, I had to do whatever he told me."

"To go... to go and keep company with those rich women he set me up with!"

"If Leah hadn't stepped in and offered to sponsor me for free, I might've..."

Roland clapped a hand over his mouth, the very picture of a man who'd suffered some terrible wrong.

The neighbors' eyes on me changed in an instant.

"Oh my. He always looks so respectable, and behind closed doors he's running a scheme like this!"

"You really can't judge a book by its cover. Looks like such a fine young man, and his heart's this rotten."

"Exactly. He's got a kid of his own, how can he be so cruel to somebody else's child!"

Listening to the muttering around us, Leah stepped closer and said in a low voice, a note of smugness in it,

"Clark Gilbert, you hear that? The people always see the truth."

"I'm warning you. Unfreeze that card right now and I can still smooth things over for you. Don't let this blow up into something you can't clean up."

"And stop giving Roland a hard time, or I really will think about divorcing you!"

I looked at Leah and laughed out loud.

"Fine."

"Let's divorce. But you walk away with nothing."

Leah froze.

Roland suddenly shrieked.

"Clark Gilbert, in your dreams!"

"You're nothing but an idle, kept-man parasite. Every cent of it is Leah's!"

"If anyone's walking away with nothing, it should be you!"

I looked at him and gave a soft sneer.

"Roland, I know you want to land yourself a rich woman."

"But before you moved in on my wife, didn't you ever run a background check?"

"Take a good look at who's actually earning the money in this house!"