Chapter 2

The next morning, I still woke up early and made breakfast like I always did.

I poured a glass of warm milk and walked toward Liam’s room. Just as I reached the door, it swung open, and I bumped right into someone.

The milk splashed across his designer shirt. Instinctively, I reached out with a napkin to wipe it off, but my hand was slapped away.

I froze. When had Julian arrived last night?

Before my brain could piece it together, Gwen bolted out of nowhere, shoved me violently out of the way, and rushed to Julian's side. Her voice trembled with panic. "Did it burn you? Are you okay?!"

Liam rushed over from down the hall, his little fists pounding randomly against my chest and stomach. "You're so evil, Tyler! Uncle Julian is already hurt, and you tried to burn him on purpose!"

Watching the raw, desperate concern on both their faces for this other man, a bitter agony seized my chest. "I didn't do it on purp—"

"Save your pathetic lies!" Liam screamed.

Julian gently smoothed Liam's hair, putting on a saintly smile. "It's okay, buddy. It doesn't hurt at all."

Gwen turned on me, her eyes arctic. "Don't bother defending him, Julian. I know exactly what kind of monster he is!"

I snapped.

I raised the half-empty glass in my hand and hurled the rest of the milk onto the hardwood floor. I stared coldly at my wife and the child I had raised. They treated me like an enemy, ready to tear my throat out just to comfort an outsider.

"Gwen, when I suggested getting married so I could step up and take care of Liam, you didn't say no," I said, my voice shaking with years of suppressed rage.

"For seven years, I gave up everything to serve you and Liam. My conscience is clear before God. Why do you constantly humiliate me for another man?"

I dropped my gaze to Liam, whose jaw was slack with shock. "I raised you because you are my brother's flesh and blood. You carry my family's legacy.”

“I bathed you, I fed you, I wiped your tears, all to make sure you never felt the emptiness of growing up without a father. And how do you repay me? How do both of you treat me?!"

By the time the words left my mouth, hot, humiliating tears were streaming down my face.

I thought my breakdown would provoke at least a flicker of emotion from them, but Gwen’s face remained stone-cold. She curled her lip in disgust.

"Tyler, you're a grown man. Don't humiliate yourself in front of Julian."

Julian shifted awkwardly, hesitating for a moment before chiming in with fake gentleness, "Tyler, Ms. Vance and I have a strictly professional relationship. Please don't misunderstand."

The moment Liam heard that, he instantly stepped in front of Julian like a protective shield, glaring at me with blazing fury.

"You have some nerve! Do you have any idea how much I get bullied at school because of you? Everyone laughs at me because my dad is just an unemployed househusband!”

“They call you a coward who leeches off a woman, and they tell me I'll grow up to be a useless gold-digger just like you!"

Liam... I had held him in my arms from the very hour he was born. Yet in all these years, he had never once called me Dad.

Just like his mother, he always addressed me by my first name.

The day before yesterday, I was standing in the freezing mountain rain at the cemetery. Yesterday, I burned with a fever all day long.

And this morning, dragging my sick, aching body out of bed, I still cooked breakfast for them. Right now, exhaustion pulled at every muscle in my body. Yet their eyes were glued to Julian's ankle, and not a single soul bothered to ask how I was feeling.

Watching this sickening display, every last ember of warmth in my heart died out.

After seeing Julian off, I watched the two of them sit down at the dining table, enjoying their meal. I thought to myself: This is the last time I will ever cook for them.

I stood in the doorway for a long time, quietly gathering what little courage I had left. Finally, I spoke up. "Gwen, I'm leaving."

She looked up, her gaze frosty. "Leaving? Where would you go? What about your mom? How are you going to explain this to the family? Tyler, why are you so damn selfish? If you wanted to run, why did you beg to marry me seven years ago?”

“Now that your brother is gone, you're just going to abandon me too? Do you have any idea what people will say about me?"

Thud.

My knees hit the hardwood floor.

I bowed my head low before her. "I'm sorry. This first apology is for my brother. He gave me everything, and I promised him on his deathbed that I would protect his family. Today, I am breaking that vow."

"This second apology is for failing as a husband. I couldn't provide the life you wanted, and instead, I brought you shame and made Liam a target for bullies at school. That was my failure."

"And for this final bow... I truly wish you both the best. From now on, our paths diverge, and we walk our own ways."

With that, I pushed myself up from the floor, turned, and headed for the door.

"Stop right there!" Gwen's voice cracked with rage behind me. "Tyler, you're thirty years old, not a toddler throwing a tantrum! What is this, some dramatic runway act?"

"Stop making a scene! Let me make one thing crystal clear: if you take one single step out that door today, don't you dare come back crawling on your knees, because I will never let you in!"

Gwen stood there, her chin tilted up, smug and completely in control. She was utterly convinced that I couldn't bear to leave, that I couldn't abandon Liam.

And even more, she believed there was no way in hell I would ever walk away from this lavish mansion and a life of luxury.