Chapter 1
I stared at the dozen or so accusatory calls, all from my wife, Victoria Sterling.
All I did was snap back at Julian, her first love, and she immediately jumped to his defense, practically demanding I kneel and apologize to him.
Anyone who didn’t know better would think Julian was her actual husband.
The screen went dark again. Perhaps his patience had run out, as the frantic ringtone didn’t sound a second time. Instead, a few messages popped up on Snapchat.
They were from Victoria:
“Alex, apologize to Julian right away. I promise, I’ll take you on a vacation when I get back.”
“Haven’t you always wanted to see the Northern Lights? We’ll go to Fairbanks to see them.”
The thought that she was going to Fairbanks this time too instantly hit me. I couldn’t help but sneer. Did she have to take Julian to every place I wanted to go first?
I didn’t want to deal with it and was about to turn off my phone when another message from Julian popped up.
It was a family photo. I didn’t even need to zoom in to recognize the slender figure in it as my wife.
“Alex, I genuinely can’t believe it. You know your wife has another family out there, yet you’ve endured it for years. How do you do it? You must have been a spineless turtle in your past life.”
“Given how much you’ve put up with all these years, I’ll tell you one more thing: about Victoria’s hospitalization abroad three years ago.”
“She told you she had uterine fibroids and needed to go abroad for treatment, but that was a lie. It was the excuse I came up with for her. I just never expected you to believe it so easily, even giving her your life savings so thoughtfully. In reality, she went abroad that year to have my children. I wanted her to give birth in a local hospital, but she considered you and insisted on flying abroad to deliver…”
The long, rambling text that followed, I didn’t read. I had no desire to read any further.
Three years after we got married, all my friends had families that felt complete, and I was so envious. I went back and told Victoria I wanted a child, but she said her career was on the rise and a child would only be a burden right now.
Two more years passed, and just when I finally got her to agree, she cried and told me she had uterine fibroids and had already contacted a doctor abroad, claiming a small surgery would cure her.
She was gone for three years.
When she finally returned home, she tearfully told me the surgery had gone wrong, and she could never have children.
I still remember her tears streaming down her face that day as she said, “Alex, I’m so sorry. I made you wait all these years, and I still couldn’t fulfill your dream of becoming a father.”
Looking at her red-rimmed eyes, I said with a pang of sadness, “Vicki, it’s okay. As long as you’re healthy, just being with you like this for a lifetime is enough.”
I thought Victoria and I would adopt a child and live out the rest of our lives.
But then, Julian, her first love, suddenly sent me an ultrasound report with my wife, Victoria Sterling’s name, clearly written on it.
I thought it was a prank, one of Julian’s tricks to fool me, and I dismissed it several times.
Deep down, I still believed Victoria’s heart belonged only to me.
It wasn’t until I received another photo from Julian, showing a child strikingly similar to Victoria, that I had no choice but to believe that the ultrasound report was real. She had truly given birth to Julian’s children behind my back—twin children, at that.
She’d even gone as far as to use her health as a cruel excuse to deceive me, just to prevent me from suspecting anything.
A sharp pain tore through my heart at the thought.
The stinging pain in my palm brought me back to reality. I quickly blocked and deleted Julian from Snapchat.
A moment later, Mr. Davies, the butler, came over with a gift box.
“Mr. Alex, this is a birthday gift from Miss Victoria.”
With that, Mr. Davies opened the box directly. Inside was an exquisite watch, clearly custom-made.
My heart froze when I heard what the butler said.
Looking at the expensive watch, I suddenly remembered Victoria’s promise years ago: she would spend every one of my birthdays with me. Since Julian appeared, her earlier promises had become empty words.
Whether she spent it with me or not, she still prepared a gift for me every year.
Except, this watch, she had already given it to me three times. With this one, it was the fourth.
Yet, the things she gave Julian were never repeated, and each gift was clearly more thoughtful than this watch.
I snapped a few photos of the watch with my phone and casually posted them on an online auction site, setting the starting bid at $10.
Mr. Davies, seeing me smile, thought I was chatting with Victoria and said, “Seeing you two so in sync makes me feel at ease.”
I didn’t reply. After a couple more words of concern, Mr. Davies left.
Just as I was about to go upstairs, my phone buzzed with an update on my divorce application. The paperwork would be finalized in three days.
I gripped my phone, my eyes hardening. This marriage, full of lies, was finally coming to an end.