The Heir He Needed, the Wife He Betrayed Chapter 01
To marry me, Cole Hawthorne knelt in the Hawthorne family chapel for three days and nights and endured eighty-one lashes under the family’s old disciplinary code.
But on our fifth anniversary, I received a video of him in bed with another woman.
It looked like it had been filmed from a hidden camera angle.
In the video, the young woman lay on the bed with a pillow under her hips. The frame shook for a few seconds before it finally steadied.
Then I heard a voice I knew too well.
“Keep your legs up for ten minutes. It’ll help you conceive.”
That night, I handed him a divorce agreement.
Cole’s eyes were red as he tried to explain.
“The family can’t be without an heir. It’s been five years, Evelyn, and you still haven’t gotten pregnant. I really had no other choice.”
“Can we not get divorced? I promise I’ll end it with her right away.”
Looking at the scars that covered his back, I softened.
For the next three years, he constantly checked in with me about his whereabouts, just to reassure me.
Then I went to the city where he was supposedly on a business trip, hoping to surprise him.
Instead, I found him embracing a woman while a little boy nestled in his arms, the three of them looking like a picture-perfect little family.
“Daddy, can you stay with me longer this time?”
From Miami to New York—nearly 1,300 miles apart.
His monthly business trip had been a visit to another home.
…
The child looked about two years old, right at that soft, adorable age.
Cole crouched down and pulled him tightly into his arms.
“Okay. Daddy promises.”
As soon as he said that, Madison Wells quickly crouched down too and tugged the child out of his arms.
“Sweetheart, don’t make a fuss.”
“That would put Daddy in a difficult position.”
A deep flash of guilt crossed Cole’s eyes.
The next second, he covered the child’s eyes.
Then he leaned in and kissed her on the lips.
When he pulled away, a thin, intimate strand of saliva stretched between their lips.
“Madison, you’re always so understanding.”
“Don’t worry. As long as you behave, stay hidden, and don’t show up in front of my wife, I’ll make sure you’re taken care of.”
Cole’s voice was hoarse as he affectionately nuzzled Madison’s nose.
My heart clenched hard.
I clenched the pregnancy report so hard that its edges bit into my palm.
Cole and I had once shared that kind of passion too.
So of course I could tell that desire had stirred in him.
I should have pushed the door open right then.
I should have confronted him to his face.
“Didn’t you say you ended things with her?”
“Why did you lie to me?”
“Do you know that I’m pregnant too?”
But I did not.
I turned around in silence.
Then I went back to our home in Miami as if I had never been there at all.
One day passed. Then two. Then three.
Cole did not come home on time the way he usually did.
It was not until seven days later that he finally appeared in front of me, looking worn out from the trip.
“Babe, did you miss me?”
I stared at him blankly.
I wanted to find even the smallest crack in his expression.
But his dark eyes reflected only me, as if I was still the only person he saw and loved.
Then my gaze stopped on his neck.
On his pale skin, there were two vivid, unmistakable red hickeys.
I lifted my hand, lightly touched one of the marks, and asked softly, “Cole, what is this?”
His whole body stiffened, and his eyes flickered. “Maybe bug bites…”
I slowly cut him off. “It’s barely spring.”
“I had an allergic reaction.”
His voice gradually steadied. “I went to the construction site. The wind kicked up dust everywhere.”
“You know how my skin is. I can’t touch anything dirty without getting red marks.”
He held my hand. His tone was calm, and his eyes were clear.
But I did not believe him.
I looked straight into his eyes. “Do you have anything else you want to tell me?”
Cole had always loved children.
He was the Hawthorne family’s only legitimate son, the heir to Hawthorne Group.
His father’s illegitimate children—his half siblings—were circling on the sidelines, waiting for him to slip up.
He had to have a child.
Even so, he had still married me despite all the pressure, knowing I might have trouble getting pregnant.
Because he had seemed so loyal and devoted, I offered up my own body like a sacrifice.
To get pregnant, I tried every fertility remedy I could find.
I endured one cold injection after another.
The medicine was bitter, and the shots hurt.
But while I was dreaming desperately of becoming pregnant, he already had a child.
At this point, all I wanted was the truth.
“Evelyn, I love you.”
Cole lowered his head and kissed me gently. “I love you so much. It’s in my bones.”
