My Wife, Her Son, His Lie
img img My Wife, Her Son, His Lie img Chapter 1
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Chapter 6 img
Chapter 7 img
Chapter 8 img
Chapter 9 img
Chapter 10 img
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Chapter 1

The silence in our living room was heavy, broken only by the sound of my ragged breathing.

On the coffee table, between us, lay the photograph that had shattered my world. It was a candid shot, a woman who looked so much like my wife, Chloe Davis, holding a small child. They were on a park bench, bathed in sunlight, a perfect little family. Beside them, a man I' d never seen before, Alex Reed, had his arm wrapped protectively around them.

The picture had been sent to me anonymously, a simple email with the subject line: "Everything you believe is a lie."

I looked at Chloe, my wife of five years, the celebrity I had helped build, the woman I loved with every part of my being. She sat perfectly still on the white leather couch, her expression unreadable, almost calm.

"Chloe, who is this?" I finally managed to ask, my voice cracking.

Her mother, Eleanor, who had rushed over at Chloe's frantic call, stepped forward. She wrung her hands, a practiced look of concern on her face.

"Ethan, darling, let's not jump to conclusions. There could be a simple explanation for this."

"A simple explanation for a secret child?" I laughed, but the sound was harsh and empty. "I want to hear it from her."

I pointed a trembling finger at Chloe. "Tell me."

Chloe finally met my gaze. There were no tears, no panic. Just a chilling sort of resignation.

"His name is Alex Reed," she said, her voice even. "And that's our son, Noah."

The words hit me harder than a physical blow. Our son. The son we were never supposed to have, because according to every doctor she had dragged me to, I was the problem. I was infertile. A diagnosis I had accepted, a pain I had carried for her, for us.

Eleanor rushed to my side, placing a hand on my arm. "Ethan, please. Chloe has been through so much. She owes a great debt to this man, Alex. He helped her when she was young and desperate. This is... complicated."

"A debt?" I pulled my arm away from her touch. "What kind of debt results in a secret family? A family you hid from your husband?"

Eleanor sighed, her tone shifting from concerned to condescending. "Look, Ethan, you know you can't have children. This has happened. What' s the point of making a scene? You're a successful man. You can make the best of it. Be a father to the boy. It's a blessing in disguise, really."

I stared at her, speechless. The sheer audacity of her words, the cold, calculated way she dismissed my pain, my betrayal, was breathtaking. She wasn't smoothing things over, she was trying to sell me on a lifetime of lies.

I turned back to Chloe, my last hope dwindling. "Is this what you want? For me to just... accept this?"

Chloe looked down at her hands, then back up at me. Her calmness was the most terrifying part of it all.

"It's the most practical solution, Ethan," she said, as if discussing a business proposal. "We can keep Alex and Noah hidden. Nothing has to change for the public. I need you, our careers are tied together. We can continue our life. This can just be our secret."

A secret. My entire marriage, a lie. My love, a tool. My supposed infertility, a convenient cover story. In that moment, the woman I thought I knew vanished, replaced by a stranger. A manipulative, self-serving stranger who saw me not as a husband, but as a resource.

The devastation I felt was so profound it became a strange kind of clarity. The hurt was so deep it burned away all the confusion. I saw the truth of my situation, of her, of her family.

I stood up, my legs feeling steadier than they had all day.

"No," I said, the word quiet but final.

"No?" Chloe blinked, as if the concept was foreign to her.

"I want a divorce."

The words hung in the air, heavy and irreversible. The calm on Chloe's face finally broke, replaced by a flicker of disbelief, of annoyance.

"A divorce? Ethan, don't be ridiculous," she said, her voice rising slightly. "You can't be serious. Think about our brand, our finances, everything we've built."

"I am thinking about it," I said, my voice cold. "I'm thinking about how it was all built on a foundation of lies. And I'm done."

Chloe stood up, her composure finally cracking. "You would throw everything away? For what? Your pride?"

I looked from her panicked face to her mother's greedy, calculating one. I saw the trap I had been living in for five years.

"For myself," I said. "I'm finally choosing myself."

            
            

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