I didn't want to return to a so-called home that only made my stomach churn, so I took Daisy to the break room at my gym. She'd cried herself to sleep, but her body was still shaking with involuntary sobs.

My chest ached as I looked at her. My resolve to divorce Ava only hardened. I immediately contacted a lawyer, had a divorce agreement drafted, and sent it to Ava.

To my surprise, I only saw one gray tick after the message was sent, when there usually were two. It seemed she'd blocked me. With no other options, I printed the divorce papers, signed them, and hired a courier to deliver them to her.

One minute after the delivery was marked complete, I got a text message full of insults from Ava.

"I can't believe you're serious about this nonsense, Jordan. Are you really abandoning me and Daisy for that homewrecker? Fine. Just you wait!"

I ignored her. No matter how she slandered me, this marriage was over for me.

…

I was still asleep when a frantic pounding on the door jolted me awake. Thinking that a gym member had come early to work out, I rushed to open the door.

Unexpectedly, the person standing outside was my mother-in-law, Yvette Moore. She glared at me furiously.

I called out in confusion, "Mom?"

She spat on the floor and shot back, "Don't you dare call me that! You cheat on my daughter and then have the nerve to cause trouble for her? You want a divorce? Fine, but you walk away with nothing, and Daisy stays with Ava!"

I rejected her without hesitation, "No way."

I could accept leaving with nothing, but I would never give up custody of Daisy.

Yvette shot me a vicious glare and barked, "What do you mean, no way? You'll turn into a horrible father once you get a new wife. Do you want Daisy to grow up suffering with you?"

I frowned and tried to reassure her. "I won't ever get married again."

She rolled her eyes. "Talk is cheap. You think your mistress will just agree to that?"

By now, several gym members had already gathered at the entrance, but Yvette stood in their way, blocking them from coming in.

"Jordan Statham cheated on my daughter, but he's using her yoga classes as an excuse to divorce her. Are you sure you have the guts to work out in a place with such a heartless owner? Who knows when he'll just take the money and run?" she announced loudly. "Or is one of you his little side piece?"

Her accusing gaze swept over the crowd, as if she were determined to drag some imaginary mistress into the light.

The members' expressions shifted. The woman, especially, looked disgusted.

"I didn't do anything! Give me a refund right now. I'm not supporting some cheating jerk's business!" one woman cried.

That set off a tidal wave. Everyone started chiming in, demanding refunds.

Yvette fanned the flames. "Exactly. Get your money back. Let's see how he buys luxury goods for his mistress when he's broke!"

I stared at her incredulously. I hadn't even cheated, so how was I buying another woman luxury goods?

But the gym members only got more worked up when they heard that.

"Oh, my God! So, he's been using my money to keep his mistress? That's disgusting."

"Hurry up and give me my money back, or I'm hauling your equipment out!"

Once someone said that, everyone suddenly seemed eager to act. Yvette seized the moment and egged them on. "Do it. Take it all! Move everything out!"

With her backing them up, they ignored me completely, brushing past my attempts to stop them as they carried my gym equipment away piece by piece.

Yvette watched my confusion and helplessness with obvious satisfaction, a smug smile tugging at her lips. "Serves you right. This is what you get for breaking my daughter's heart!"

I glared at her, vision going red at the edges. My voice trembled as I demanded, "You keep saying I betrayed Ava. What proof do you have?"

She refused to answer me, turning instead to every passerby she saw, repeating the story that I'd cheated. Only after the gym had been stripped almost bare did she finally look pleased enough to leave.

I was on the verge of a breakdown when I suddenly saw Ava posting in my gym members' group, asking if anyone wanted to do yoga with her.

"Working out is so boring. All you ever see are those cold machines. Anyone wanna do yoga with me instead? The poses feel so much better."

Neal replied almost instantly, "I'm in!"

I just felt sick to my stomach, reading the subtext in Ava's messages. I was about to disband the group chat when another message from her popped up.

"Spots are full for today. If you still want to do yoga, we'll do it next time. Don't worry. Everyone will get a turn!"

I couldn't stand it anymore. Without hesitation, I disbanded the group chat. The next second, my phone rang.

"Who do you think you are, disbanding the group chat like that? You're so eager to be my ex-husband, yet you still get jealous? Listen up—if you want me back, you'll have to kneel and kiss my feet thrice before I'll consider forgiving you!" Ava spat.

I let out a cold laugh. "Only gods deserve to have their feet kissed. Meanwhile, you're about as divine as a worm."

I hung up on her, ignoring her screaming. Then, looking at the wrecked, empty gym, I called the police without a shadow of a doubt.

The officers took notes of everything and finally arrested Yvette. The moment Ava heard, she rushed over to the gym. She showed up in sweat-soaked yoga attire, her cheeks flushed as she breathed hard.

"What the hell is wrong with you, Jordan? Why did you call the cops on my mom? You're the one sneaking around doing shameless things. Can't she, as my parent, say a word about it?" she screeched.

Daisy poked her head out and timidly said, "Mommy…"

But Ava snapped, "I don't have a traitor for a daughter!"

I pulled Daisy behind me and shielded her, staring coldly at Ava. "If you're mad, take it out on me. Don't scare Daisy."

At some point, Neal had arrived, too. He stepped in front of Ava protectively, putting himself between us. He was drenched in sweat as well, like he'd just finished an intense workout.

He said, "Jordan, you can't treat Ava like this. She's been a stay-at-home mom for five years for your sake. Now that she's finally found something she likes, you're trying to crush it before it really blossoms."

I didn't want to waste any more time on them, so I turned around and walked back into the gym. Unexpectedly, Ava pulled up her yoga social media account and started a live stream, shoving the camera right in my face.

She cried, "Take a good look at this heartless jerk, everyone! He cheated on me with some shameless homewrecker, then called the cops on my mom when she tried to stand up for me.

"Is there any justice in this world? If you ever see him out with another woman, you have to tell me. I'll catch them in the act myself!"

Neal pretended to look conflicted as he glanced over at me. Then, he chimed in, "Jordan, we may be buddies, but you're genuinely in the wrong this time. At least tone it down with your mistress. Don't let the online community run into you two."

At first, the people in the live stream were only there to ogle Ava's body and weren't even listening to what she was saying. But after what Neal said, they took it as fact that I'd cheated.

Comments started flooding in, attacking me nonstop.

"Play with someone's feelings, and it'll come back to bite you one day!"

"He looks like a decent guy, but he's trash on the inside."

"Cheaters deserve to have their whole family wiped out. They don't deserve to live!"

My gaze landed on that last comment. I let out a mocking laugh as I looked straight at Ava. "See that comment, Ava? According to them, your whole family's going to drop dead."

The viewers heard what I said and immediately pushed back.

"What's that scumbag talking about? We're telling him to go to hell!"

"Exactly! And how dare he talk back to Ava like that? He's shameless!"

What they couldn't see off-camera was that Ava's face had turned ashen.

Watching her expression change so drastically only made me find the whole thing hilarious. So, she did know what exactly she'd done.

"Darlings, something just came up. I've got to end the live stream for now!" Panicking, Ava hurried to say goodbye to the viewers in her live stream and instinctively reached to end it.

I didn't give her the chance. I grabbed the phone right out of her hand and asked coolly, "What's the rush? I'm not done talking yet."

Ignoring the panic on her face, I glanced at the viewer count in the live stream. There were already over ten thousand people watching.

I couldn't help taking a look at her profile page, too. She already had more than 200 thousand followers. All her posts were close-up shots of her in yoga outfits, every one of them suggestive as hell.

"Jordan, give me back my phone!" Ava lunged for it.

Off to the side, Neal also realized something was very wrong and stepped in to help her snatch the phone back. "Jordan, don't go too far. You're a strong, well-built man. How can you bully a woman who risked her life to give you a child?"

Ava burst into tears the moment she heard that. "I hemorrhaged and almost died on the operating table when giving birth to Daisy, Jordan. After they pulled me back from the brink, you swore you'd treat me well for the rest of your life! But look at you now. You're trying to smear me in front of the whole live stream and ruin my reputation!"

She was right about one thing. She'd had a difficult labor, and she really had almost lost her life. Because of that, I'd practically worshiped her after, treating her like a precious treasure and not letting her suffer even the slightest grievance.

And what had she done in return? Not only had she taken things so far, but she'd also tried to frame me. The worst part was how she insisted on fighting for custody of Daisy when she clearly didn't love her at all.

I pulled myself out of my reverie and saw both Ava and Neal rushing at me, trying to snatch the phone back. However, two yoga enthusiasts were never going to be a match for me, a professional trainer.

I easily slipped past their attempts and locked them both out of the gym. Ava panicked and slapped her hands against the glass door, yelling threats at me nonstop.

"Jordan Statham, we're seriously done if you dare slander me!" she screamed.

I shot her an icy look. "Slander?"

I ignored her after that and spoke directly to the live stream, "What I'm about to say is 100% true, everyone. Not a word is fake. If you don't believe me, you're welcome to verify the truth yourself."

The chat exploded with comments, everyone demanding to know what I was going to say.

"If you've got nothing real to say, then hurry up and give the phone back to Ava! We're here to look at a hot woman, not some cheating scumbag like you!"

I nodded. "I'll show you what an adulterous hot woman looks like once I'm done."

I pulled out my own phone and scrolled through my WhatsApp contacts until I found one with a blank profile picture. I opened our chat history and turned Ava's phone's camera to the screen.

The second the viewers saw the messages, the entire chat went crazy. "So, this is the 'yoga' Ava has been practicing all this time?"