Nathan piped up in his tiny voice. "Daddy, I want you and Mommy to stay together!"

Under the weight of my family's pressure, I fell silent for a long moment.

Then I looked at Marina.

"Fine. No divorce. But you have to agree to three things."

"Get rid of the baby."

"Fire Tristan Lawrence. Cut all contact."

"Give me the fifty percent stake in the company that's rightfully mine."

Back when I'd poured millions into her family's business, she'd promised to convert my investment into half the company's shares.

But because we were together, and I still had dividends from the company, I never asked for it back.

"Godfrey, do you really have to be this cruel to me?"

"Every single one of those three conditions is cruel to me."

"So what if it's Tristan's child? You could still raise it as your own!"

"And you can't fire Tristan. He's been bringing in contracts left and right lately. You're not even half the asset he is!"

I wasn't half the asset he was?

I laughed until tears streamed down my face. "Then what's left to say?"

I turned and walked out.

Behind me, my son's crying echoed through the room, tangled with my family's voices calling me ungrateful and unfilial.

I went home, packed my bags, and left.

I headed to a hotel to get a room.

When I finished checking in, the woman at the front desk gave me an apologetic look. "I'm sorry, sir. Your card was declined."

I tried Apple Pay, every payment app I had. Nothing went through.

That was when a text from Marina came in.

"Honey, having trouble paying for things?"

"As long as you drop the divorce and stop trying to get Tristan fired, you can buy whatever you want."

She'd insisted early in our marriage that I hand over my paycheck. I'd used her supplementary card and her linked payment accounts ever since. At the time, I hadn't thought twice about it. I figured it was just something couples did to build trust.

Turned out it was a leash.

With no way to pay, I walked out of the hotel.

The streets were packed with people, but there wasn't a single place in the world for me.

I dragged my suitcase to the park.

"Hey, Godfrey. Ms. Pruitt sent me to bring you home."

I'd barely sat down when Tristan pulled up to the park entrance in the brand-new Rolls-Royce coupe Marina had just bought. He strolled in with his hands in his pockets.

I gave him one cold look and said nothing.

Tristan glanced around, confirmed no one else was nearby, and grinned.