Chapter 1My Husband Tried to Leave Me with Nothing But Our Son Had Other Plans

During the divorce, my soon-to-be ex-husband decided to fight me for custody of our son.

He said it with the kind of smug confidence that made my teeth ache.

"Why don't we just ask him what he wants?"

Alex, clutching his phone, gave me a calm, appraising look from across the living room. "You guys are really doing this?"

"Yes," I nodded, my throat tight.

"Fine," he said, his eyes dropping back to the game on his screen. "I'll go with Mom. And you should probably give her a bigger settlement. Otherwise, I'm not sure she can afford me."

* * *

A moment later, Alex was dragged into the study by his father.

My heart hammered against my ribs. I started to follow, but the door slammed shut in my face with a deafening crack.

Mark's furious voice seeped through the wood. "Alex, I'm going to ask you one more time. You're sure you want to go with your mother? Don't say I didn't warn you. She's a housewife. Do you honestly think she knows how to take care of you?"

Alex's voice, in contrast, was infuriatingly casual. "Dad, it doesn't really matter to me who I live with. The thing is, Nicole is pregnant with my new little brother. If I stick around, I'm just worried I'll stress her out."

The mention of his own ugly secret, laid bare by his son, seemed to silence even a man as shameless as Mark.

The voices inside dropped to a low murmur.

I couldn't make out the words anymore. All I could feel was a damp heat spreading across my cheeks. I swiped at my face, but the tears just came faster, blurring the expensive, sterile living room I had decorated. I sank onto the sofa, the plush cushions offering no comfort, and finally buried my face in my hands.

I don’t know how long I sat there, but eventually, the study door opened again.

Mark walked over and stood before me. Seeing me hunched over, sobbing, a flicker of something—maybe pity, maybe guilt—crossed his face. He offered me a tissue from the box on the coffee table.

"Alex can stay with you," he said softly.

I lifted my tear-streaked face to look at him.

"You can have the house, the car, and I'll give you five hundred thousand. If you agree to that, we can go to the courthouse and file the papers tomorrow."

I stared at him, numb. I was the one who had screamed for a divorce, but now that it was here, I had no idea how to navigate it. I felt utterly lost.

"She probably shouldn't get the car," Alex said suddenly, emerging from the study.

A bitter smile touched my lips. Of course. Blood is thicker than water. In the end, he would always side with his father.

"Mom's driving?" Alex continued, a smirk in his voice. "Let's be real. It's a waste if she doesn't drive it, and a public menace if she does. Better to just cash it out. That SUV is worth at least seventy, eighty grand. Let’s call it an even million for the house and assets. I think that's more than fair."

Mark’s gaze on his son was heavy, intense.

Alex just shrugged, completely unbothered.

Mark looked away. "Fine. We'll do it that way. I'll see you at the courthouse at nine tomorrow morning."