Chapter 1Cruel Wife Discards Her Real Heir

The day I was released from the correctional facility, my wife, Serena, was there to meet me.

She stood by her sleek black Porsche, lighting a cigarette. Through the swirling grey smoke, her expression was a mask of cold indifference.

"Miles," she said, her voice devoid of any warmth. "While you were away, I started sponsoring an underprivileged student."

She paused, watching a hawk circle the perimeter of the prison. "He’s an orphan. All his life, all he ever wanted was a family. In the three years you were gone, we... we had a child together."

The world seemed to tilt on its axis. I stood there, my duffel bag heavy in my hand, my heart hammering against my ribs. "And what about me? I’m your husband, Serena. What am I supposed to be in this little fantasy?"

She flicked her ash onto the pavement, her eyes never meeting mine. "It doesn’t matter if you agree or not. Everyone in our circle—the investors, the board, the press—thinks he’s my husband."

She stepped closer, the scent of her expensive perfume clashing with the sterile smell of the prison gates. "You have nowhere to go. Your family’s name is mud, and your bank accounts are frozen. You can stay at the house as a live-in helper—a housekeeper. But if you try to make a scene, if you breathe a word of the truth, I’ll have you back behind bars before sunset. Don't think for a second I won't."

I looked at her and felt a slow, jagged smile spread across my face. Serena didn't realize one simple thing.

If I was capable of throwing away three years of my life in a cell for her, I was just as capable of burning her entire world to the ground.

* * *

Seeing me tremble, Serena stepped forward and pulled me into a hollow embrace.

"There, there. I know your 'golden boy' pride can't take this right now," she whispered against my ear. "But you’ll get used to it once we’re home. My son, Milo... he’s beautiful. You’ll learn to love him."

The drive to our estate was silent and fast. The rolling hills of the Westchester suburbs hadn't changed, but the man waiting at the front door of our mansion certainly had.

A man in his early twenties stood there, cradling a toddler. He watched me with the guarded suspicion of a stray dog protecting its territory.

Serena climbed out of the car and naturally took the child from him, kissing his forehead. "This is the new help," she told him, her voice casual. "He’ll be taking over the heavy lifting around the house. You need to focus on your health, Theo. Just rest."

Theo scanned me from head to toe, a smirk playing on his lips. "He looks a bit rough, Serena. Like he crawled out of a refugee camp. Where on earth did you find him?"

I stood in the grand foyer, watching their domestic intimacy with a cold, detached gaze. Serena glanced at me, a sharp warning in her eyes. She remembered the old Miles—the hot-headed heir to a real estate empire who never took an insult lying down.

But I didn't snap. I simply bent down and straightened her discarded heels by the door.

"Where is my room, Ms. Victor?" I asked quietly.

Serena blinked, clearly caught off guard by my sudden docility. An flicker of annoyance crossed her face. She pointed toward a small, cramped door near the back of the kitchen.

"Theo likes his privacy. You’ll stay in the utility room. It’s closer to the kitchen anyway; you’ll need to be up early to start breakfast."

Theo stepped forward, wrapping an arm around Serena’s waist. "Make sure you scrub your hands, old man. The baby has a sensitive stomach. We can't have any... prison germs near him."

Suddenly, the little boy threw a heavy wooden block directly at my face. "Bad man! Get out of my house!"

The sharp edge of the block caught me right above the eye. I felt the hot sting of blood beginning to trickle down my forehead.

Theo gasped, but not for me. "Oh, Milo! Did you hurt your hand? Don't throw your toys, baby. If you break them, Mommy has to work even harder to buy new ones."

Serena looked at the cut on my head and then pushed me toward the utility room. "Miles, don't look at me like that. We never even had a formal wedding before you went away. As far as the world is concerned, Theo is the father of my child. My grandfather adores Milo; he's already planning to name me the sole heir of the Victor Group. Do you have any idea how hard I’ve worked to outshine the other illegitimate cousins?"

Hard? If I hadn't taken the fall for her embezzlement three years ago, she would have been the one in a jumpsuit, cast out of the family long ago. That would have been hard.

But as I opened my mouth to demand a divorce, Serena reached out and touched the wound on my forehead. Her voice softened, manipulative as ever.

"Theo has been through a lot to be with me. Just... stay out of his way. He and Milo are everything to me now." She patted my shoulder, and when I flinched, her voice turned to ice. "The house of your father is bankrupt, Miles. Everyone you know has turned their back on you. Without me, you're a vagrant. Stay in your place, and you’ll at least have a roof over your head."

I looked at my shoes and said nothing. She turned and walked away, her heels clicking against the marble.

I slid down the wall of the utility room until I hit the floor. Serena thought I was broken. She thought I was a stray she could keep on a leash.

She was wrong. Three years in a cage teaches you one thing: when you finally strike, you make sure it's fatal.