Four years ago, I put three men in the hospital and five in the ground. All to protect my wife.The court called it excessive force and threw me in prison for four years.

After my release, the house felt off. Everything looked normal, but the air was wrong.

Then one day, helping my son with his homework, he looked up at me. "Why didn't you just die in prison? Now that you're back, Daddy Blake never comes to play games with me anymore."

Daddy Blake. That was my best friend. Blake.

Maybe it was just proximity. Blake had been around a lot those four years. A kid gets attached to a friendly face.

I tried to convince myself, but that very night, I caught my wife and Blake making out.


My wife, Seraphina, hated germs. She saved her real kisses for rare, joyful occasions. With me, it was usually just a quick touch of the lips.

But the way she was devouring Blake's mouth was nothing short of carnal.

"My wife. Enjoying that kiss?"

The rage was a live wire under my skin, urging me to lunge and break his face. I held myself back by a thread.

I waited for the shock, the panic, the scramble to explain.

It didn't come.

Instead, their faces relaxed into sheer relief.

"I've been meaning to tell you," Seraphina said, her voice calm. "But how do you even start a conversation like that? I suppose it's better you found out this way."

She leaned back into Blake's hold. Then, she ran her tongue over her bottom lip, catching a last, glistening trace of him. .

A cold clarity washed over me. Every time I'd reached for her, it was a new pill, a fresh ache, a mysterious flare-up she couldn't explain.

There was no illness. There was just him.

In prison, many inmates had broken down, lamenting how their wives or girlfriends had abandoned them.

But I was so sure. I was certain I wouldn't be betrayed.

Because I went to prison for Seraphina. Otherwise, she would have been violated that night, maybe even lost her life.

"You two should talk. I'll go first."

Right in front of me, Blake leaned in and kissed Seraphina again, a deep, lingering kiss. As their lips parted, he gave a soft, teasing bite that drew a low, playful gasp from her.

Then, with a smile playing on his lips, he glanced at me, turned, and got into a car.

He was provoking me.

And the car he got into was my black Maybach, the one I had before prison. He even rolled down the window, flashed me a smug grin, and though he said nothing, his eyes screamed, "See, Asher? I'm driving your car, just like I'm sleeping with your wife."

I clenched my fists, my breathing growing heavy. I was on the edge of losing it.

"Are you thinking of hitting someone again?"

Seraphina's icy voice snapped me out of it. "Don't forget, you're a convicted felon. If you lay a hand on him, I'll make sure you go back to prison myself!"

"Why?"

I asked, confused, unable to understand why I was being betrayed.

"How can you even ask that?"

"As a husband, as a father, you spent four years behind bars!"

"Do you have any idea how hard these past four years have been for me?"

"If it weren't for Blake holding everything together, this company, this family, everything would have fallen apart long ago!" Seraphina screamed at me hysterically.

"Why was I in prison?"

"I never agreed to that shady deal, but you backed Blake's plan, which got us trapped in the shipping container district!"

"With all those people surrounding us, if I hadn't fought back, what do you think would have happened to you?"

"Do I really need to spell out what those thugs would've done?"

"I went to prison to protect you all, and this is how you repay me?" I couldn't help but roar.

"If I hadn't felt obligated, I would've filed for divorce while you were still rotting in there!"

Seraphina left me with a chilling sentence. "You're still the man of this house, but please don't interfere with Blake's and my relationship."

With that, she brushed past me. I stood frozen. The love I once had, the person I'd risked my life for... it was all gone, just like that.

"Asher, don't make a scene. This kind of arrangement is pretty common."

But Seraphina turned back, took my hand, and started walking towards the mansion. "At least Blake and I are still just at the kissing stage. I can even promise you that before we're officially together, I'll 'be with' you one more time."

I walked forward numbly, her words completely shattering my understanding of the world.

"And don't worry, I'll still be your wife and fulfill my wifely duties."

"I'll try to make time for you. I won't spend all my time on Blake."

Seraphina sounded like she was scheduling work tasks.




"There's ten million dollars on this card. Do whatever you want with it."

"But remember, if you're going to fool around, keep it clean. Don't bring back any diseases."

Seraphina led me to the study and handed me a card.

I looked at the card, then at the woman who had become a complete stranger. I said nothing, just took the card.

"Where are you going?"

As I turned to leave, Seraphina suddenly grabbed my arm.

"To sleep." I replied numbly.

"No, you're not!"

"Tonight, you can 'have' me in the study. Didn't you always want to try something... different? Tonight, anything you want."

Seraphina actually initiated it.

But I felt utterly disgusted. Psychologically sick to my stomach, physically wanting to gag.

Yet I suppressed the revulsion and didn't refuse.

That night, I barely slept. It was like she was trying to physically exhaust me to death, using sex as a weapon.

It wasn't until dawn, when she finally fell asleep in a chair, that I managed to shower.

I thought of those movie scenes where someone feels violated and scrubs themselves endlessly, desperate to wash away the filth but never feeling clean.

That was exactly how I felt right then. I even wanted to find sandpaper and scrub off my own skin.

After my shower, all that was left was sorrow and exhaustion.

I fell asleep in that haze, waking up sometime in the afternoon.

When I went to the living room, I saw Seraphina's parents sitting on the sofa, their faces grim.

"What time is it already? Still sleeping?"

"Did you sleep like this when you were in prison?"

"What rotten luck to have married our daughter to a man like you"

My mother-in-law, Mrs. Thorne, hadn't changed. She remained a walking jewelry display, every possible surface glittering with stones.

But I remembered the truth. She had once sobbed on my doorstep, threatening to kill herself if I didn't marry Seraphina.

And now, it was rotten luck?

"We heard you saw everything yesterday?"

"Well," she sighed, as if relieved of a burden. "Now?let's skip to business. We're here for two things."

"First, we're taking Leo to Blake's place. We all live there now."

"Second, we're here to warn you. Don't you dare ruin Seraphina and Blake's relationship, or we'll send you straight back to prison!"

"A morally bankrupt ex-con like you doesn't deserve my daughter!" Mr. Thorne finished, his face stern, then stood to leave.