Chapter 2

2.

"Franklin, what kind of fit are you throwing now? What couple talks about divorce every single day like you do? I'm letting you run the Brooks family business, so what else could you possibly want?"

Janelle frowned deeply, looking at me with pure annoyance.

In the past, I had offered to leave my hospital job to help her at Brooks Corp, hoping to shoulder some of her burdens.

To her, though, it was just a pathetic attempt to seize control of her family's wealth.

She had refused back then.

Now, she was only tossing the company to me because she wanted to play caretaker for Felix and didn't have the time.

Janelle sneered, continuing her rant.

"Are you really throwing a tantrum just because I asked Milo to hang out at Felix's house for a while?"

She let out a mocking chuckle.

"Don't forget, Franklin, Milo came out of my body. I have far more right to tell him what to do than you ever will!"

I let out a hollow laugh.

"Yes, you gave birth to him. But have you ever fulfilled a single duty as his mother since the day he was born?"

"Do you have any idea that because of you, our son is―"

"Shut up!" Janelle snapped, cutting me off sharply.

"Stop guilt-tripping me! Without me, could he live in a luxury estate like this? Without me, he'd probably be rotting in some rundown public school!"

"Save your moral preaching, Franklin. My conscience is completely clear when it comes to him!"

A clear conscience.

Hearing her say that with such righteous conviction made me laugh bitterly.

I stood up, walked into the study, and brought out the divorce agreement, dropping it on the table in front of her.

"Sign it."

I was done arguing.

She could do whatever she pleased with her life; all I wanted was to take my boy's ashes and leave.

Janelle glanced at the papers with disgust.

"Are you ever going to stop this drama?"

"Acting like this only makes me despise you more, Franklin!"

Before I could reply, her phone started ringing.

It was Felix.

"Janelle... please take good care of yourself and Franklin from now on..."

His voice sounded weak, like a man delivering his final words.

Janelle's face instantly paled with panic.

Her voice softened into a gentle, desperate tone.

"Felix, hold on! I'm coming right now, just wait for me!"

She spun on her heels and rushed out the door without sparing me a single backward glance.

I sank onto the sofa, trying to remember how many times this had happened.

How many times had Felix faked an emergency to pull Janelle away from our home?

Yet Janelle was totally blind to it.

She couldn't see that Felix's depression was completely fabricated.

Even his medical evaluation forms were forged.

As a doctor with ten years of clinical experience, I saw through the fraud immediately.

I had tried to tell Janelle the truth countless times.

Every time, she either cut me off impatiently or completely tuned me out.

They say love makes people blind and deaf.

She truly loved Felix.

And to her, I was just a thorn in her side, an embarrassing stain on her pristine life.