Chapter 3

3.

"Chase?" a voice called out from down the hall.

Darren limped toward us with an exaggerated grimace.

Roxanne immediately rushed forward, wrapping his arm around her shoulders with frantic concern.

Darren leaned heavily against her slender frame, completely limp, acting as though he had no spine of his own.

A faint scent of baby powder and sweet milk drifted from his shirt.

"Did you come to visit me too, Chase?" Darren asked with a sickly sweet smile. "Honestly, I am fine. Roxanne is just making a fuss. I will be discharged in a couple of days."

"Don't worry about the project. I will take over your duties seamlessly."

Hearing his shameless, manipulative tone made bile rise in the back of my throat.

Looking at the man who was actively destroying my family, I could no longer hold back. I stepped forward and slapped him hard across the face.

"Darren!" Roxanne shrieked, cupping his rapidly reddening cheek with sheer heartbreak.

Enraged, she raised her hand to strike me, but I caught her wrist mid-air and shoved her aside.

Roxanne's eyes widened in sheer shock. "You dare lay a hand on me?"

I could understand her disbelief. In the past, if she wanted to hit me, I would have offered my other cheek.

Bitterness flooded my mouth.

For thirty years, I had never disobeyed her once. Our mutual friends used to mock me behind my back, calling me a pathetic lapdog.

I never cared back then. To me, Roxanne was my entire world, and her happiness was all that mattered.

Did she ever truly respect me as a man?

I turned around and yanked open the mini-fridge in the private room.

The freezer compartment was stacked high with sealed breast milk storage bags.

Every single bag was filled with white liquid, glaring back at me like a mockery of my fatherhood.

Seeing the evidence exposed, Roxanne visibly panicked, and her arrogant tone cracked. "Chase, let me explain."

I let out a harsh laugh. "Our son was starving at home, and you refused to nurse him. You saved every single drop for this grown-ass baby, didn't you?"

"Do either of you have any shame left?"

The next second, Roxanne's panic morphed into venomous rage.

"What is that supposed to mean?" she yelled. "Breast milk is full of nutrients! Darren is injured and needs to recover. I only gave him some extra milk to boost his immune system. Why are you making it sound so disgusting?"

"Leo is completely healthy and can drink formula just fine! How can you be so utterly heartless?"

I laughed out loud at the absurdity. Caught red-handed, she still managed to twist the narrative to make me the villain.

Darren whimpered from the bed, putting on his best puppy-dog eyes. "Roxanne, please don't fight with Chase because of me. I didn't know Leo was missing out. It is all my fault."

Roxanne gently helped him lie down and tucked the blanket around him, speaking in a hushed, soothing voice as if terrified of startling him.

"You did nothing wrong, Darren. Chase is just being completely unreasonable."

She turned back to me, her eyes freezing over. "You assaulted Darren and humiliated both of us. Apologize to him right now!"