Just before the end of my shift, the last patient I see is my wife, Tracy Montgomery.

Her prenatal test report clearly states that she is three weeks pregnant. She is the mother, and the father is her lover of five years, Max Lockwood.

Calmly, I slide the report across the desk and say softly, "Congratulations. You finally got what you wanted."

Tracy pauses for a moment before frowning hard. "That's it? Are you just congratulating me? Don't you have anything else to say?"

I stare at the piece of paper and at the child who isn't mine.

I initially think I would react the way I always do, which entails throwing away my pride and causing a huge scene in front of her.

But in the end, I don't even have the strength for that anymore.

Her fingertips brush gently across her stomach as she says, "I've had my fun over the years. Once the baby is born, I'll settle down."

Hearing those words, I lift my head and meet her eyes.

I say evenly, "Tracy, our contract has expired."

Ethan's POV

My words, neither harsh nor gentle, shattered the silence in the office.

Tracy Montgomery was still basking in the joy of her pregnancy with her lover's child when she looked up and frowned. "What contract? Ethan, are you trying to start something again?"

She had clearly forgotten. The moment that realization hit me, my fingers slowly tightened around the edge of the desk. Even breathing hurt.

"I'm not starting anything," I said. "But you're right. I won't have a say in your life anymore. Whether you come back to this family or not doesn't matter to me."

As soon as I finished speaking, Tracy rubbed her temples. She spread her hands and leaned back in her chair, impatience written all over her face.

"This is literally how our circle works. Keeping a lover on the side is the norm. I don't see Ms. Lawson or Ms. Stone's husbands acting as jealous and petty as you do.

"It's not like I needed your money to support myself, anyway. If you had even a fraction of Max's sensibility, you wouldn't be acting so petulant."

I had heard those words more than a thousand times over the past five years.

Five years ago, Tracy had pursued me so openly that everyone in town knew about it. Because of my mother's illness, I turned her down again and again.

Then, when Mom was on her deathbed, Tracy offered me 700 thousand dollars in exchange for signing a prenuptial agreement. The first supply of a life-saving specialty drug on the market went straight to Mom.

Even so, less than a year after Tracy and I got married, Mom passed away. Then, Tracy cheated on me with Max. I caught them in our own home.

The wedding decorations hadn't even been fully taken down. There were fresh handprints smeared across our wedding photo, along with countless other traces they hadn't bothered to hide.

That day, I smashed everything in the house that could be smashed. She thought I was boring and immature. After all the fighting, all I got from her was a stab to the heart.

"Know your place, Ethan. Don't forget who saved your mother's life," she had said.

I let out a sigh. Just as I opened my mouth to explain myself, my office door was pushed open. My son, Harry Lowe, came running in, holding Max Lockwood's hand.

"Mommy!" he exclaimed. When he saw me, the excitement on his face faded. "Oh. Daddy's here, too."

I reached out, wanting to pat his head, but he avoided my touch with obvious disdain. My hand froze in midair before I slowly pulled it back.

"Hey, Tracy. How did the checkup go?" Max asked, gently resting a hand over Tracy's belly.

A smile bloomed across her face, easing the irritation I had caused her earlier. "Good. The baby's healthy."

I said nothing, my gaze fixed on her face. Now that I thought about it, she had never smiled at me like that during all these years of our marriage.

Ironically, she had been the one who relentlessly pursued me, only to cast me aside as though she had never loved me.

"Dr. Lowe, you're Tracy's OB-GYN, huh? What a coincidence. That instantly puts my mind at ease," Max said.

He finally noticed me standing there. A knowing smile tugged at his lips. When he spoke, he hooked a finger around Tracy's hand, making one intimate gesture after another.

Harry cheered, "Mommy and Mr. Lockwood are having a baby? Does that mean I'm finally getting a little sister?"

Max pinched Harry's cheek affectionately. "Well, it could be a little brother, too."

The scene before me was so painfully bright that it seared my eyes. I quickly looked away.

Ever since Max came into our lives, my relationship with Harry had soured. I had asked him why, but he had only looked at me with disgust.

"All my friends have more than one daddy. What's wrong with me having another one? Besides, Mr. Lockwood buys me everything I want. All you ever do is nag me and scold me. You're so annoying!"

I took a deep breath and forced myself back to the present.

By then, Tracy had already moved past our unpleasant conversation earlier. Before leaving, she even spoke to me in a cheerful tone. "Come home early."

Then, the door closed behind them.

I stared at the black-and-white photo of Mom sitting on my desk. Tears welled up, blurring my vision. Little did I know, I had lost my last chance at a real family five years ago.

Ethan's POV

By the time I got home from work, it was dark outside. The front door hadn't been fully closed. The entryway and living room were in disarray.

Our family portrait had been thrown on the floor. Harry was crouched over it with a marker, doodling all over the picture. With a pair of scissors, he cut out the part where I was.

As he worked, he muttered to himself, "I wish this were Mr. Lockood instead."

In the past, I would've tried to teach him right from wrong. Now, I simply ignored him and walked past.

Tracy was sitting on the couch. When she heard me come in, she looked up, displeasure evident on her face. "What took you so long? Dinner still isn't ready. Harry's starving."

My steps slowed as I looked at them. For five years, no matter how late I worked or how exhausted I was, I had to come home and cook for them, clean the house, and do the laundry.

"There are leftovers in the fridge from yesterday. Just put it in the microwave for three minutes," I said, then smiled sarcastically. "Don't tell me you can't even manage that."

Tracy's eyes widened in disbelief. She parted her lips and shot to her feet. "Hey—"

"Cook for me, Daddy!" Harry ordered loudly, barking instructions as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

Exhaustion engulfed me. I didn't want to look at either of them.

The moment I pushed open the master bedroom door, my face turned pale. The documents I had stored inside had been cut into pieces. The vase, the lamp, and the picture frames had all been smashed.

My steps turned frantic as I rushed to the bedside. The box that always sat on my nightstand had been knocked to the floor. Fragments of a vintage pocket watch lay scattered everywhere.

It was the last thing Mom had left behind in this world. I had always kept it safely tucked away in that box, protecting it like a treasure.

I spun around abruptly, and sure enough, Harry was leaning against the doorway, looking contemptuous.

"Did you do all this?" I questioned him.

He curled his lips. "Serves you right. You're always picking on Mr. Lockwood, and you wouldn't even cook dinner for me."

A loud buzzing filled my head as I stared at Harry with bloodshot eyes. Without hesitation, I raised my hand and slapped him hard, snapping his head to the side.

My palm stung, but it was nothing compared to the pain in my heart. This was the child I had held in my arms from the day he was born, the child whose first word had been "Dada". Now, he felt like a stranger.

Harry clutched his cheek, staring at me in shock and fear. The next second, his cries brought Tracy rushing over. Her expression darkened as she pulled him into her arms.

"How could you lay a hand on him, Ethan? You've really got some nerve."

I ignored her shouting. Like someone who had lost his soul, I crouched on the floor and picked up the fragments of the pocket watch one by one.

"It's just a watch," Tracy said impatiently. "Do you really have to make such a big deal out of it? If you want, I'll just buy you a better one later."

A sharp edge sliced my finger, splattering drops of blood onto the floor.

I remembered Mom pressing that pocket watch into my hand while she was still alive. "Tracy is a good woman, Ethan… After I'm gone, give this to her. It's a valuable antique, and it's been with me ever since I got married…"

I closed my eyes for a moment before standing up and looking at Tracy. "Is money your answer to everything?"

She seemed startled by the look in my eyes and froze in place. The words of condemnation she had been about to unleash got stuck in her throat. Her lips quivered, yet not a word slipped out.

Harry cried even harder, flailing and hitting me with his fists and feet. "I don't want you as my daddy anymore! I want Mr. Lockwood! Mommy, bring me to Mr. Lockwood!"

His sobbing made my temples throb.

At last, Tracy pulled herself together and scooped Harry into her arms, her face grim. "Ethan, I don't care what kind of tantrum you're throwing. We'll settle this later. And when you finally come to your senses and apologize, that's when I'll bring our son back."

Ethan's POV

I sat alone in the living room the entire night. Only when dawn broke did I finally get up and open the drawer. Inside was the prenuptial agreement, its pages yellowed with age.

Tracy's signature was still there, bold and unmistakable. My fingers brushed over the bottom corner of the document. The date on it was set for next month.

In the days that followed, neither Tracy nor Harry came home. I had more than ten surgeries lined up back to back. I didn't want to return to that barren house anyway, so I rented a place and stayed there.

I contacted a divorce attorney and asked him to draw up the papers. Honestly, I should've done this right after Mom passed away. Alas, I had been too attached to the idea of a family, to Tracy.

Letting go, it turned out, wasn't nearly as hard as I'd once thought it would be. I believed everything would proceed smoothly from there.

Then, a month later, things took a turn.

I was the speaker at an academic lecture. The hall was so quiet one could hear a pin drop. Suddenly, the doors were violently shoved open.

Max stormed in with red-rimmed eyes, shoving past the security guards trying to stop him. He rushed onto the stage and grabbed me by the collar. "If you're angry, take it out on me like a man! Why did you go after Tracy's baby?"

His furious voice boomed through my microphone and spread across the hall. Whispers broke out among the audience. Cameras flashed as television crews kept snapping photos of me.

My face drained of color.

I had barely made sense of the situation when Max grabbed my throat and roared, "You inserted yourself into our relationship, and I let it slide. But that was my baby! How could you do this? Because of you, Tracy lost our baby!"

He broke down crying, then suddenly dropped to his knees before me. "Please, I'm begging you, let Tracy go. Stop holding on to her and destroying our family!"

My mind went blank as I stared at his theatrics, confused.

"Wait… so Dr. Lowe is a homewrecker?" someone in the crowd muttered, and the hall erupted.

I instantly snapped my head up to deny it. "No. I'm Tracy Montgomery's legal husb—"

Unfortunately, the chaos in the room swallowed my voice. People surged forward. One hurled a spare microphone at me. Others pointed and shouted obscenities. Even my colleagues looked at me with disgust.

Amid the chaos, Tracy finally arrived. She walked over and pulled Max to his feet, soothing him. "Hey, pull yourself together. It's just a misunderstanding…"

Someone in the crowd recognized her and immediately started seeking confirmation. "Is that Ms. Montgomery? The CEO of Montgomery Group?"

"No way. Dr. Lowe got himself involved with a billionaire CEO?"

"Ms. Montgomery, Ethan Lowe just claimed he's your legal husband. Is that true?"

Tracy, who had been out of the loop, finally understood what was happening. She snapped her head up at me. I clenched my fists and stared at her, but she avoided my gaze almost immediately.

"I have a baby with Max," she said evenly. "Dr. Lowe is just my OB-GYN"

Something inside me snapped. Tracy wouldn't look at me. She grabbed Max's hand and dragged him out of the hall, abandoning me to weather the full storm of hostility and humiliation on my own.

Naturally, the lecture was ruined. The dean said I had brought shame to the hospital and suspended me from my position. Even my training slot abroad was reassigned to someone else.

In five years, I had lost my mother, my family, and now, my career. Because of Tracy, I was left with nothing.