Chapter 1 PROLOGUE

Charles Thompson was convinced his wife was out to ruin him!

Charles met his wife, Eleanor, in Dallas right after she graduated from law school. She was everything a man like him could desire, beautiful and graceful.

From the moment he saw her, he knew he wanted her in his life and he was ready to do all it takes.

He proposed to her not long after, but there was one issue that doesn't sit right with him.

Eleanor's aspirations as a lawyer didn't sit well with him.

"I strongly believe in traditional roles. A wife's place is at home," Charles had explained to Elena. "The man provides; the woman nurtures."

As a billionaire physician, the CEO of VossBio hospital and Pharmaceuticals, a leading pharmaceutical company in the country.

Providing could never be a struggle for him or his generations to come.

Not to talk of him being the heir of the prestigious billionaire Thompson family

However, Eleanor was the eldest of two daughters and came from a struggling family with no sons.

Her parents sold their small property to send her to college.

During their courtship, Charles had assured her he'd support not only her but also her family. He even promised to pay for her younger sister Margaret's college education.

Her parents won't have to take loans to send Margaret to school anymore. His only condition was that Eleanor should give up her career and accept a traditional role of being a billionaire's housewife.

Eleanor, who was deeply in love with Charles and, against her better judgment, agreed.

She walked down the aisle blinded by love and affection, convinced she'd found her happily-ever-after.

For the first few months, everything was perfect...almost.

Eleanor was the picture of a devoted wife, and Charles, well, by his own standards, tried to be a good husband.

But Loyalty?

That was never part of his plan.

He'd told himself it wasn't his fault-it was just how men like him were wired. Biologically men are not meant to be monogamous.

Therefore mentally justifying his infidelities.

A year into their marriage, Eleanor became pregnant.

Charles wasn't ready for children, so he pressured her to terminate the pregnancy.

Eleanor was heartbroken and devastated , she had always wanted to be a mother as soon as possible but she eventually gave in.

To honor her husband's request.

When it happened a second and third time and Charles kept suggesting abortions, the strain on her body became irreparable.

By the fourth termination, Eleanor lost her ability to conceive.

Charles consoled her with promises of advanced medical solutions and told her they'd figure it out.

But deep inside, he felt no guilt.

She was his wife; it was her role to obey him.

Then came the affair just a week after the loss of Eleanor's ability to conceive.

She found him in bed with another woman.

A younger woman whom Eleanor recognized as a neighbor in their estate.

To Charles' shock, Eleanor didn't scream,cry of betrayal and hurt regarding her medical condition nor demand a divorce like most women of today would.

She didn't even put up a fight.

Instead, she calmly packed an overnight bag and stayed at a friend's house.

When she returned the next day, she went to Charles and simply informed him that as long as he takes care of her family and remains the provider, she'll stay.

Men will be men, after all.

This woman was a law graduate, even an attorney by qualification.

So of course her words shocked Charles to the bones.

In Fact he was stunned!

"Eleanor, a learned woman, yet she understands her place as a woman? She's rare," he thought. "In this era, who finds a woman like that,I am damn lucky!"

He knew he made the right choice by selecting his victim and marrying who he sees as a rare gem.

Eleanor wasn't going anywhere.

Charles ofcourse showered her family with gifts but never apologized for his promiscuous behavior.

To him he did nothing wrong.

Unknown to him, Eleanor had other plans.

Three years passed.

They remained childless, and Eleanor's younger sister Margaret moved in with them after graduating high school.

Margaret was the spitting image of Eleanor but many years younger, fairer, and more radiant.

Charles had a weakness for young girls and couldn't resist her.

It wasn't long before he started noticing Margaret in ways other than just his wife's younger sister. He charmed her with gifts and sweet words, and eventually, the young girl eventually gave in.

He found out that Margaret was a virgin, which only deepened his thrill and desire for her innocence.

He had become the first man in both sisters' lives.

It was a double-win for him!

The affair continued in secret until one day, Margaret called Charles, saying she was pregnant and insisted they tell Eleanor about it.

Charles strongly refused.

He threatened her instead, warning her to get rid of it and never breathe a word of it to her sister.

However, Margaret replied to him with cold words.

"You deceived me, but I'll never forgive myself for betraying my sister."

Then she hung up.

Charles was angry that she chose to disobey him. As a medical doctor, he had the right pills for an easy termination, but she was stubborn.

However, those words of hers made him a bit uncomfortable.

He knew something was going to happen.

So he decided to rush home, fearing that Margaret might reveal everything to her sister, Eleanor.

When Charles got home that day, he found his wife, Eleanor, sitting by Margaret's lifeless body.

The police were present too.

They informed Charles that they found a bottle of pills and a suicide note on the table.

Margaret had taken her own life.

Charles pretended to know nothing, but the note incriminated him.

"Your husband is the father of my child," it read.

He instantly denied everything, and to his biggest shock and disbelief, Eleanor defended him.

It was a shock because she chose to believe him rather than her own previous sister, knowing there's a possibility that his perverted mind could think of sleeping with the young girl.

Moreover, he is a man who has no control over his sexual urges.

Yet she chose to believe him? Why?

"There's no evidence my husband did anything wrong," Eleanor told the police. "If my sister died, it was by her own hand. My husband is completely innocent."

Charles couldn't deny the fact that he had a mixed feeling about this, he felt like he should be happy for her defense, but not when she said that with a small grin on her face and no single tears in her eyes.

He knew something's not right.

Charles knows his wife well enough, she could have a mental breakdown from an emotional movie and cry herself to death.

Now, that's her beloved sister lying there, in the cold hands of death.

Why isn't she crying? Why is she smiling instead?

Should he be worried?