The first time I found out that Jessica Blake was cheating on me was in our own bedroom.

I was young and hot-headed, and I wanted a divorce on the spot. She cried and said she'd gotten drunk and mistaken the guy for me. She fell to her knees, begging me to forgive her.

"If you divorce me, I'll jump from this window right now."

That one line softened my heart for the next five years.

During those years, she was gentle and caring, as if that night had never happened. Everyone could see it—Jessica loved me so much she was willing to die for me.

But then came her mother's 60th birthday party.

Out of nowhere, my mother-in-law, Linda, asked her, "Jess, where's my grandson? Why didn't he come?"

I was confused. I thought she was just having a moment, so I smiled and said, "Mom, you forgot—Jess's due date is still two months away."

Linda glanced at me calmly and murmured, "Oh… so you still don't know."

My heart sank. I looked over at Jessica instinctively.

She quietly put down her fork, as if she were talking about something as ordinary as the weather. "Actually, I have a son. He's five years old."

My hand froze mid-cut as I was slicing her steak.

My brain went numb. My vision blurred.

"What?"

My lips trembled as I forced the word out.

"That night with Ryan five years ago. I got pregnant."

Jessica didn't hold anything back. She even let out a small sigh of relief as she said it. "It's better that you know. I've been tired of hiding it for five years."

I didn't know what to do with myself. I turned to my mother-in-law.

"Mom… come on, don't joke around with Jess like this. It's your birthday. You're messing with me, right?"

But Linda just took a calm sip of her tea. She didn't say a word in response to my question.

My heart sank lower.

Jessica kept talking. "I'm not joking. When I found out, the doctor said terminating the pregnancy would be bad for my health. There was a good chance I'd never get pregnant again."

She rested her hand on her swollen belly. My child was in there—eight months along, almost due.

"Be grateful, Michael. I didn't get rid of it. Otherwise, we'd never have a child of our own."

Even though I didn't want to believe any of it, the way Jessica and her mother were acting made it clear. They weren't lying.

No wonder she had gone on that six‑month business trip back then. She video‑called me every day, but really, she was off having someone else's baby. And for the next five years, she took a weeklong business trip every single month—to go be with Ryan and their son. And I actually bought it.

I forced a smile, but my eyes burned.

"You hid it pretty well. So why tell me today?"

Before Jessica could answer, Linda slammed her spoon down on the table. Her voice shook with emotion. "Because I want to see my grandson!"

She took a deep breath and lowered her voice, as if trying to reason with me. "Michael, I've been good to you, haven't I? I know you're a good kid. But my grandson has been in hiding for five years, and it breaks my heart."

My fingers curled tight beneath the table. My pupils trembled.

So everyone knew. Everyone except me.

Linda pulled a document out of a safe. The contract listed total assets adding up to nearly a million dollars.

"Michael, the Blake family isn't going to shortchange you. All you have to do is accept this child. You don't have to worry about anything else. Jessica promised me she wouldn't have any more contact with Ryan than necessary…"

Linda didn't get to finish. Jessica cut her off.

"If you can't handle it, we can get a divorce."

She pulled a divorce agreement out of her bag. Her name was already signed at the bottom.

I stared at that piece of paper, trying to burn a hole through it with my eyes.

Five years ago, I was the one who wanted a divorce. Jessica begged me not to. She even threatened to kill herself.

And now, after I'd finally started to let go of what happened, she was the one telling me she wanted out.

The room went silent except for the ticking of the clock.

Then the front door opened.

A bright voice rang out. "Mom, I brought Noah to celebrate your birthday…"

Ryan walked in, holding the hand of a five‑year‑old boy. The moment he saw me, the smile on his face froze.

He hesitated. "Michael…"

The moment Linda saw her grandson, her face lit up. She scooped the little boy into her arms.

"Noah's here! Come here and let Grandma give you kisses."

I sat there without moving a muscle.

I'd never really looked at Ryan's face before. Jessica had done a damn good job keeping him hidden.

They were all playing happy family. And the sickest part? Jessica was still carrying my child.

"Jessica, is this your idea of 'making things right'? The way you explained it to me before? Was it fun lying to me for five years?"

Everyone in the room went pale.

Ryan pulled the boy close, his face tight with tension. "I can take the hit, but my son can't. He's Jessica's biological child. He's also Linda's grandson. If you won't let him through that door, then as far as Noah's concerned, he doesn't have a mother anymore!"

He said it like he was the one being wronged. Like I was the bully.

Ryan stormed out with the boy without another word.

Jessica scrambled to her feet, ignoring the discomfort of her pregnant belly, and chased after him.

Linda shot me a vicious glare. Then she picked up the contract and slapped it right in my face.

"Michael, a million dollars ought to buy the rest of your life, don't you think? That boy is coming into this family. You stay out of it."

I watched the two of them walk away, feeling dazed. I bent down and picked up the torn pieces of the agreement.

All it asked for, on top of the money, was for me to play dumb. Keep my mouth shut. Stay out of whatever was going on between Jessica and Ryan.

My chest tightened. I shredded the papers.

I never imagined Jessica had been hiding this from me for five agonizing years.

It happened three months after we got married. I'd just come home from a business trip.

I walked in and the place was destroyed. Clothes torn to shreds. Underwear everywhere. Strange stains on the carpet.

And there, in our bed, lay Jessica and some naked guy I'd never seen before.

I couldn't process it. I couldn't accept it.

Jessica grabbed a blanket, stumbled to her knees, and wrapped her arms around my legs. Her voice shook as she begged.

"Michael, please believe me—I was drunk, I thought he was you. I didn't mean to. I really didn't."

She was rambling, her hands pressed together like she was praying. She kept explaining over and over.

"I'll never drink again. Just don't divorce me. I'll do anything. Anything you want."

It got back to her mother, too. That day, Linda slapped her own daughter across the face more than a dozen times. The old woman bent at the waist, head lowered, apologizing to me.

"Michael, she made one mistake. But she still loves you."

I didn't want to hear any of it. I just wanted out.

When Jessica saw that I wasn't changing my mind, she climbed up to the window ledge and threatened to jump.

"If you divorce me, I'll throw myself off this ledge right now. Because without you, I don't want to live."

That sentence broke me. That sentence made me cave.

I couldn't watch her do something like that. So I pulled her down from that ledge.

"Fine. No divorce. But there won't be a second time."

Even after that, I couldn't just shake what happened. The wound was still there. But she tried so hard to make it up to me. She put everything she had at my feet. The house. The cars. Company shares. Everything.

Even my friends were jealous.

"Michael, what did you do in a past life to land a wife like that?"

As the years went by, people around us got married and divorced one after another. They started betting on us. How many more years would Michael and Jessica last?

Then she told me she had to spend a year overseas for work. We video-called every day. She knew I had trust issues, so sometimes she'd fly back just to see me. She always said, "Don't put your career on hold because of me."

I really believed we were going to grow old together.

But I didn't know that all her busyness, all her "business trips," were just so she could have someone else's baby.

And I was the only fool who believed her for five years.

Tears blurred my vision. I wiped the corner of my eye.

I looked down at the divorce papers on the table—already signed by Jessica.

Silently, I picked them up.

Fine. If that's what she wanted, I'd give them what they asked for.

Jessica and Linda went ahead and brought Ryan and the boy back to the house.

Linda hovered protectively over her precious grandson. "As long as I'm alive, Noah is my grandson. I won't let anyone bully him."

Her eyes kept darting toward me, guarded and suspicious.

Ryan caught her meaning. A flicker of smugness crossed his face. Gone was the uncertainty from before. He puffed out his chest.

"Don't worry, Michael. I'm not trying to take your place. I just want my son to be able to stay close to his mother. I don't want Noah to grow up with the stigma of being labeled a bastard."

I curled my lip, unable to hide the sarcasm. "That label wouldn't be undeserved. No matter what you do, that fact isn't going to change."

Ryan's face went pale. He turned to Jessica with a wounded look.

Jessica frowned. "Michael, where are your manners?"

Her cold words made my heart clench. My hands hung limp at my sides, uselessly gripping and releasing. My voice came out dry and cracked. "Five years ago, I said there wouldn't be a second time…"

Jessica rubbed her son's palm absently and answered in a careless tone. "I already signed the divorce papers. I'm not stopping you from leaving. But have you forgotten? I'm still carrying your child."

She rested her hand on her swollen belly.

"Michael, I just want to bring Noah home. He's only five years old. He can't grow up without his mother. Can you please stop being so petty? Besides, wouldn't it be nice for our child to have an older brother?"

She didn't seem to think she'd done anything wrong. Her casual, breezy words snuffed out the last shred of hope I had left.

Before I could respond, she added, "Mom and I already talked it over. We're throwing a party next week. We're going to have Noah officially recognize you as his godfather. That way, people will stop talking."

I swallowed the ache rising in my chest. I couldn't believe she'd already thought that far ahead.

"I won't agree to that."

Jessica let out a short, mocking laugh. "Fine. Then I'll go to the hospital right now and get an abortion."

My head snapped up. I shouted, "Are you out of your mind?! The baby's not even eight months yet!"

Jessica's face stayed perfectly calm, but her words were brutal. "I'm the mother. I have that right. If it's born, it's a child. If it's not born yet, it's just a clump of cells. So you think it over. Either Noah becomes your godson, or I go to the hospital."

She turned and left with Ryan and Noah without another word.

For a long time after that, we didn't speak at all. She didn't come home.

Maybe because everything was finally out in the open, Jessica started posting on social media constantly—something she never used to do. Most of the posts were pictures of her with Ryan and Noah.

Even the captions were suggestive, making it look like the three of them were the real family.

Friends who saw her posts started calling me, trying to figure out what was going on.

[Michael, who's that guy in Jessica's photos? And that kid—he looks just like her. Please tell me that's not…]

[And who's the man?]

I didn't have the energy to answer any of their questions.

Only the friends who knew what had happened five years ago tried to warn me. "Are you and Jessica having problems? I told you back then—you never should have forgiven her. Once a cheater, always a cheater."

I gave a bitter smile. Everyone else could see it so clearly.

Only I had been stupid enough not to.