Chapter 2

After burying my cat, I stopped by a copy shop on the way back and printed two copies of a divorce agreement.

As soon as I got home, the housekeeper came up to me. “Sir, the madam has been busy in the kitchen all morning. She’s probably trying to apologize to you. She really cares about you.”

I could only force a hollow smile. Clutching the divorce papers, I walked towards the kitchen.

Valerie was packing up the food she’d just made. The kitchen was a disaster zone.

When she saw me, she immediately stopped, pulling off her apron as she headed for the door.

“I’m going to change. Help me pack this up. Eat whatever else is on the table, and then come with me to bring food to Dylan.”

So, all that effort was just to make a meal for Dylan.

Of course. Knowing Valerie, she would never cook personally just to apologize to me.

I reached out and stopped her hurried exit, handing her the divorce agreement. “Sign this.”

She frowned, staring at me. Her hand already flipped to the last page, where she scribbled her name.

She casually stuffed the papers back into my chest, then rushed off, saying, “Hurry up. I’ll be down in two minutes.”

I scoffed. She had signed the divorce papers, so I was free to leave.

As I was about to head out, Valerie, already changed, ran down the stairs.

She saw me by the front door, without the lunchbox she’d prepared, and immediately blew up.

“Caleb Reed! I’m stressed out of my mind, and all I asked you to do was put the lunchbox in a bag! Why are you just standing there like an idiot?!”

“Dylan works hard overseeing the site. He only gets a short break to eat. Are you going to take responsibility if he misses his meal?”

She stormed into the kitchen, packed the lunchbox in two swift movements, then grabbed it and strode back to me, shoving it into my arms.

The steaming hot container made me flinch, but before I could react, she dragged me out the door.

After tossing me into the car, she stomped on the gas, and the car sped off.

When we arrived at the construction site, Valerie was wiping Dylan’s sweat and fanning him.

They looked so intimate, truly like an affectionate couple.

Even I, her actual husband, was green with envy.

Valerie insisted on dragging me along, no doubt just to mess with me.

I was almost gone anyway, so I didn't care anymore.

“Look out!”

A startled cry rang out. Valerie, beside me, reacted first, but she shoved me aside.

As I fell, I saw Dylan embracing Valerie, leaping away.

A steel beam crashed down exactly where we had been standing, sending up a cloud of dust.

I scrambled to my feet and rushed over.

Valerie pushed Dylan off her, her hands flying to her lower abdomen in a panic. “My baby!”

Dylan scrambled back to Valerie’s side, carefully helping her up, his eyes overflowing with urgency.

I stood there, stunned, staring at Valerie’s belly.

“You… you’re having a baby?”

Valerie was pregnant?

But the last time we were intimate was a year ago.

So… she loved Dylan enough to have his child?