Chapter 1 - The House Where My Marriage Ended
“Julian…”
The word barely left my lips.
The anniversary cake slipped in my hands but I caught the box before it hit the marble floor.
Julian stood inside the luxury mansion wearing nothing but a wrinkled white dress shirt.
His hair was messy.
His face drained of color the second he saw me.
Behind him, a beautiful blonde woman slowly appeared from the hallway.
She wore a cream silk robe.
One hand rested gently on her very pregnant belly.
She wasn't embarrassed.
She looked... comfortable.
Like she belonged there.
For three years I believed this mansion was only our weekend home.
Now another woman was living inside it.
Julian immediately stepped forward, blocking my view.
“Surprised?” he said with a nervous laugh. “You were never meant to keep him anyway.”
My heart stopped.
Him?
Before I could ask, Evelyn entered from the kitchen carrying a bowl of homemade soup.
My mother-in-law smiled warmly.
Not at me.
At the pregnant woman.
She gently handed Chloe the soup before turning toward me with complete disgust.
“A worthless piece of trash like you never deserved this family.”
The words should have broken me.
Instead...
Something inside me became strangely calm.
I slowly looked at Chloe's stomach.
Seven months.
Maybe eight.
That meant Julian had been sleeping with her while pretending to cry beside me after every failed pregnancy treatment.
He had held my hand inside fertility clinics.
He had promised we would become parents together.
Every promise had been a lie.
Chloe smiled proudly.
“You're just a pathetic loser he used and threw away like trash.”
Silence filled the entrance hall.
I carefully placed the untouched anniversary cake on a small table beside the door.
Then I reached into my purse.
Not for tissues.
Not for my car keys.
For my phone.
One unread message waited on the screen.
UNKNOWN:
THE DNA REPORT IS FINALLY READY.
Julian accidentally saw the notification.
Every drop of blood disappeared from his face.
His breathing stopped.
I smiled for the first time that afternoon.
“Take a good look,” I whispered.
May you like
“My final parting gift.”
👉 Clara's unread DNA report terrified Julian more than discovering she knew about Chloe, proving his biggest secret had nothing to do with the affair.
