Chapter 1

The day my mother brought her childhood sweetheart back to our luxury villa, my father stood on the balcony and smoked through the night. He had quit smoking years ago.

In the past, his colleagues at the research institute always envied him for having a powerful CEO as a wife.

They told him he should stay home, enjoy the luxury, and take control of the family finances instead of grinding in a lab.

My father had only smiled gently. "Money and status are just fleeting things. As long as our love is real, we will be fine whether we are rich or poor. If the day comes when she no longer loves me, I will walk away with nothing."

I never expected his words to become a curse. My mother truly stopped loving him.

Later, when she appeared in front of the media arm-in-arm with that man, my father boarded a flight abroad without looking back.

As I stared at the photo on social media of my fiancée's fingers intertwined with another man's, I realized it was time for me to leave too.

1

The morning after Harrison Burke moved into our home, my mother called a family meeting.

She placed a divorce agreement on the coffee table in front of my father.

"Calvin, Harrison is going through a rough patch right now. You know our history, so I have to help him."

She looked at him with an unapologetic calm.

"The three of us living under one roof will create awful rumors in our social circle. I promise you this divorce is just a formality to silence the public. We will live together as usual, so do not overthink it."

I stared at her in sheer disbelief.

"Why should Dad agree to this? If Harrison needs help, you can easily buy or rent him a luxury condo. Why does he have to move into our house?"

My father reached out, gripped my arm, and quietly shook his head at me.

Without a single word of protest, he picked up the pen and signed the papers.

A brilliant smile instantly lit up my mother's face.

"Thank you, honey. Trust me, you are the only man I truly love in this lifetime. As soon as Harrison gets back on his feet, we will remarry right away."

With that, she happily grabbed the document and rushed out the door.

Within an hour, major entertainment and business outlets blasted the breaking news.

【Prominent Tech Mogul Valerie Montgomery Officially Announces Divorce.】

My father and I sat in the silent living room, staring at the headline with heavy hearts.

"Dad, why did you sign it? Who is Harrison Burke anyway?"

He took a deep drag of his cigarette and exhaled slowly.

"He was your mother's first love. The one buried deepest in her heart."

"What kind of trouble is he in that requires Mom to go this far?"

My father gave a bitter smile.

"They have a son who is a year older than you. Do you really think she could turn him away?"

Every word shattered the world I had known for twenty-four years.

Everyone used to praise my parents as the ultimate power couple, yet beneath the surface lay such a messy past.

"Dad, do you think Mom still loves him?"

He lit another cigarette in silence.

"I do not know. But I know for certain that she no longer loves me."

I nodded slowly as a wave of grief washed over me.

"Caleb, I am leaving soon. If you can, you should move out too. This house will not belong to us for much longer."

I wrapped my arms around his shoulders, my eyes burning with unshed tears.

The next morning, I went to the biotech research institute with my father as usual.

In the hallway, Mrs. Wells from Human Resources greeted us warmly. She was the mother of my fiancée, Sadie Wells.

"Mrs. Wells, I asked Sadie out for dinner last night, but she said she was feeling sick. How is she doing today?"

Her smile instantly froze, and her eyes darted away.

"Oh, you know how young people are. She is fine, just needed a good night's sleep."

I did not press further and headed straight to my workstation.

A fellow intern came over, holding his phone with a gossiping grin.

"Damn, Caleb! I knew your family was well-off, but I did not know you were dropping serious cash like this. That designer bracelet you bought Sadie easily costs thirty grand, right?"

I froze.

I looked at the screen, which showed Sadie's latest social media post. Two hands were tightly clasped together, showing off matching limited-edition couple bracelets.

She had been acting distant lately, turning down nine out of ten dates with vague excuses.

Now, the truth was staring me in the face.

I could not see her posts because she had hidden them from me. I took my colleague's phone and scrolled through her feed.

Amusement parks, three-star Michelin dinners, midnight drives in luxury sports cars…

And in every picture stood a young man whose facial features bore an uncanny resemblance to my mother.

These were the "important errands" she had been busy with.

Sadie and I were college sweethearts. I fell for her at first sight, and by coincidence, our parents worked at the same institute.

My father had even hosted an intimate dinner to officially introduce us.

After that dinner, my father encouraged me to walk her home, and under the streetlights, she took my hand.

"Caleb, I have liked you since the very first moment I saw you."

We shared a warm embrace in the evening breeze.

Looking back now, my father and I were equally blind when it came to choosing the women we loved.

This engagement was officially over.