After my birthday party, I got far too drunk and made a mistake I could never take back. I slept with my friend's daughter and got her pregnant.

To make things right, I handed over more than half of my company shares as compensation. I promised him I would marry his daughter, Nancy Cooper, and give her the grandest wedding possible.

After the wedding, I willingly stepped into the role of a househusband. I cooked, cleaned, and kept the home running. However, Nancy spent less and less time at home. Her business trips grew more frequent, and even our son began to look down on me, as if I were nothing more than a man circling the kitchen all day.

At my mother's funeral, I noticed Nancy was nowhere to be seen, not even greeting the guests. I went looking for her around the venue. Just as I was about to return to the lounge to call her, a familiar voice drifted out from inside.

"Easy… Don't let him find out. I won't be able to explain it when I get back."

"Relax. He's an idiot, so easy to fool. Your dad set him up on purpose and drugged him because he wanted his family's assets. And you…" The man chuckled softly. "You made him play the role of our kid’s father. The whole trap was so obvious, yet he still didn't see it. What makes you think he'd notice us sneaking around at his own mother's funeral?"

"He's just that stupid," Nancy said lightly. "He believes everything I tell him. Gilbert, just wait a little longer. Once I deal with those stubborn old shareholders, I'll rename Lawson Group to Shaw Group. Then, you can finally enjoy being the one in charge."

I stood in place, frozen. It felt like the blood in my veins had turned to ice.

This was the ugly truth.

Every bit of it, every promise, every sacrifice, had been nothing but a carefully staged lie.

Something inside me went cold and quiet. Whatever hope I had been holding onto was shattered completely.

I decided then that I would disappear. Not just leave, but vanish. I would stage my death and make a clean break. I would erase myself from Nancy’s world forever.

However, after I left for good, she lost her mind, telling the world she loved me and begging me to come back.

I stood pressed against the hallway wall. The sounds coming from the room where Nancy Cooper and her assistant were kept getting louder.

The low, mournful music of the memorial still lingered at the far end of the corridor, but behind this door, the atmosphere felt completely different. It was heavy, intimate, and undeniably wrong.

"Oh, right. Those board members still won't sign the contract?"

"Don't even get me started," Nancy said, lowering her voice, irritation seeping through her every word. "Joshua may have stepped back, but those old fossils only listen to him, not me. Once I get that contract, I'm getting rid of every last one of them."

Her assistant, Gilbert Shaw, let out a quiet laugh, his tone light and suggestive.

"Hey, don't be mad, babe. How about letting your 'husband' help you relax a little?"

Soft laughter followed, the kind that did not belong anywhere near a funeral.

A gust of wind slipped through the hallway, nudging the half-closed door open just a crack more.

Inside, the two of them were completely lost in each other, unaware of anything else. Nancy's black mourning dress had long since been tossed aside. Her bare body pressed against the dark fabric, the contrast so sharp it felt almost mocking.

My fists clenched as I stared at the scene, my eyes burning. For a moment, I thought I might explode.

However, in the end, I gritted my teeth and turned away.

When I returned to the memorial hall, everything I had been holding in spilled out all at once.

At the front, my mother lay quietly in her coffin, as if she were only asleep.

My throat tightened, and my vision blurred. It felt like my heart was being torn apart, piece by piece.

Not far away, my son, Calvin Lawson, sat with his phone, yelling into his headset, "Go! Hurry up, you idiot!"

I strode over and snatched the phone right out of his hands.

"Who said you could play games right now? Your grandmother just passed away. Do you understand that? She's never coming back!"

Calvin froze for a second. Then, his expression twisted, and he snapped back at me, full of annoyance, "So what if she's dead? That old lady was always nagging me. It's better this way!"

I went completely still.

I could not believe those words had come out of my own son’s mouth. My hands shook as I grabbed him and brought my hand down hard on him.

His cries exploded through the entire hall.

The next second, someone rushed in and slammed into me, knocking me aside as they pulled Calvin into their arms.

"Calvin, are you okay? Let me see if you're hurt!" Gilbert's face was full of concern as he checked him over.

Nancy came running out right after, pointing at me as she shouted, "Joshua! He's just a child. Do you really have to be this harsh?"

"Ms. Cooper is right," Gilbert said calmly, looking straight at me. "Mr. Lawson, what you just did is considered child abuse. I could call the police right now."

I watched as Calvin clung tightly to Gilbert, crying as if his world had just fallen apart and he had been wronged in the worst possible way.

At that moment, it struck me that the two of them and Nancy looked more like a real family together, while I was nothing more than an outsider.

An icy laugh slipped out of me as I raised the phone I had just taken from Calvin.

"Who gave him this phone?"

Gilbert lifted his chin, his face full of contempt. "I did. Got a problem with that?"

I shoved the phone hard back into his hands. "He's a kid. He doesn't know better. But what about you? You're an adult, so what's your excuse?"

Gilbert let out a mocking laugh. "It's just a game. Why are you making such a big deal out of it? I get that you're in a bad mood, but he's still young. He needs some space."

That was it. I could not hold it in anymore. I stepped toward him, anger boiling over.

However, before I could get close, Nancy blocked my path.

"Joshua, are you done making a scene? If you're not, you can keep going, but we're leaving."

She yanked off her black mourning dress and tossed it carelessly onto the floor. As Gilbert walked past, he deliberately stepped on it, then glanced back at me, his eyes full of open provocation.

My whole body trembled.

The next second, I lunged forward and drove my fist straight into his face.

"To hell with you!"

The room exploded into chaos.

Nancy screamed and threw herself onto Gilbert. Calvin, terrified, ran over and wrapped his arms around him, crying as he shouted, "Dad!"

That single word hit me like a lightning strike. I froze where I was standing, unable to move.

Even my own son had been part of this carefully built lie.

Around us, relatives began whispering in shock.

"What did he just call him?"

Nancy's expression shifted for a split second, then she snapped back to her senses immediately. "Gilbert is Calvin's godfather. What's the problem?"

Then, she walked straight up to me. Right in front of everyone, she slapped me hard across the face.

"Joshua, I will not let you humiliate my assistant like this! So what if you're the CEO? Does having power give you the right to treat people this way?"

Her words twisted the entire situation.

In an instant, all the accusing looks turned toward me.

She stood there, putting on a perfect act of innocence. "Gilbert, I'm taking you to the hospital."

My wife left my mother's funeral with her lover.

My son stayed behind, curled up in another man's arms.

Everyone thought I was about to lose it again.

However, I simply bent down, brushed the dust off my suit, and picked up Nancy’s black mourning dress from the floor.

"Sorry for the scene. It was just a small lovers’ tiff.”

At that moment, my old friend Luis Cooper rushed in.

After hearing what happened, his face filled with anger. "Joshua, don't be upset. I'll go back and teach her a lesson."

I did not respond.

He patted my shoulder. "Your mother's passing was so sudden. It's such a shame. My condolences."

Expressionless, I removed his hand from my shoulder. "I have things to take care of. Do as you like."

There was a time when I felt nothing but guilt toward this man.

Now, all I felt was disgust.

Back then, at my mother's birthday party, Luis had come as her old friend and brought his daughter, Nancy, with him.

My mother had taken a special liking to Nancy. She would always give her expensive jewelry and tease me from time to time.

"Look at her. She’s so young yet already so accomplished. When are you finally getting married?"

Nancy was seventeen years younger than me.

She used to joke with me in a playful, teasing way in private, but I had always seen her as nothing more than a friend's daughter, never once crossing the line. However, that night, one drink followed another, and when I woke up, Nancy was lying naked beside me, tears still clinging to the corners of her eyes.

Nancy went missing for several days and did not reappear until the day my mother's body was scheduled for cremation. Luis showed up with her at his side, not so much bringing her as escorting her.

She looked completely unwilling, nothing like before, as if she could not even be bothered to pretend to care about me anymore.

I had stepped away to the restroom when I happened to run into them, father and daughter, talking in a quiet corner.

"Dad, how much longer do I have to put up with this?" Nancy complained.

"What's the rush?" Luis shot back. "Did you forget how you used to beg me, skipping meals and everything, just so I'd help you marry Joshua?"

Nancy let out an icy laugh. "I did love him, once. But I loved the version of him who controlled everything and stood at the top. Not this man who spends all day circling the kitchen."

She gave him a dismissive glance. "Just look at him now. Does he even look like a man anymore? All he does is cook and eat. He's driving me insane."

"Even if you're going insane, you're going to endure it," Luis said sharply. "The contract isn't in your hands yet. If you let even a hint of this slip out, don't expect me to still recognize you as my daughter."

Luis left first.

I did not miss the bitterness written all over Nancy's face.

By the time I returned, Luis had already gone off to handle something. Nancy was left standing there alone, distracted while waiting for me.

I had no energy to focus on her.

I held my mother's urn in my arms, while Nancy silently opened an umbrella over us.

The weight in my hands felt like a thousand pounds, but the weight on my chest felt even heavier.

I broke down, crying uncontrollably.

This time, Nancy did not mock me like before. Instead, she suddenly reached out and wiped the tears from my face.

"Joshua, you still have me."

If I did not know the truth, I might have believed her right then.

After all, I had truly loved her once.

If I had not loved her, how could I have personally taught her how to run a company, how to read financial statements, and how to understand people?

I knew Luis had never been satisfied with her as his daughter and that he had plenty of other illegitimate children, which meant he had no real need for her, so I wanted Nancy to have the ability to protect herself.

I handed over the entire company to her, not because I wanted to slack off, but because I knew how badly she wanted to prove herself to Luis.

I planned everything for her.

However, I never imagined that the sharpest blade I forged for her would be the one she used to stab me in the back.

After finishing all of my mother's funeral arrangements, I turned and went straight to the company.

The receptionist was new and did not recognize me, so I introduced myself.

"I'm Mr. Lawson, Vice President here… and Nancy's husband."

She looked me up and down, suspicion written all over her face. She was just about to say something when someone called out to her.

"What are you doing? How could you stop Mr. Lawson like that?"

My former executive assistant stepped forward, shooting the receptionist a glare. I waved it off, not wanting to make a big deal out of it.

As I turned to leave, I heard her mutter under her breath, "I thought Mr. Shaw was the only VP here. Where did this Lawson guy come from?"

That was when it hit me.

Nancy had promoted Gilbert to Vice President.

My hand clenched into a fist as I headed toward Nancy's office. Just as I was about to walk in, her assistant stepped in front of me.

"Sir, Ms. Cooper is in a remote meeting right now. It's not a good time."

The assistant's eyes flickered nervously.

Faint laughter drifted out from behind the door. I heard a male and female voice.

Without another word, I shoved the assistant aside and kicked the door open.

Nancy sat behind her desk and looked up at me, her brows knitting slightly. "What are you doing here?" Her face was flushed, and her breathing was uneven. Just as I was about to step forward, she suddenly stopped me.

"I'm in a meeting. Go wait outside for a bit."

I glanced around the office. Nothing seemed out of place.

For a moment, I thought I might be overthinking things, so I turned and closed the door.

I had not come here for her, anyway.

Once I stepped outside, I pulled out my phone and made a call.

"I'm waiting for you on the thirteenth floor."