Chapter 6
715words
His silent treatment was a calculated move to break me.
Vivian Woods, meanwhile, hadn't retreated after her public humiliation.
She started poisoning the parents' group chat with rumors about me.
She painted me as a cold, calculating woman who'd trapped Nathan in a loveless marriage.
She claimed my health was fragile, that after Andy's birth I couldn't bear more children—while the Miller family desperately needed a "healthy" heir.
She cast herself as the selfless martyr, suffering for love, while I became the jealous, vindictive shrew.
Parents who didn't know better began whispering behind my back.
Even Andy found himself ostracized at school.
"Mom, they say you're a bad person," Andy told me, his voice small. "They won't let me play with them."
I held him close, a knife twisting in my heart.
It was time to go on the offensive.
I called Susan.
Susan wasn't just my best friend—she was the city's most notorious private investigator, with connections in both legal and shadowy circles.
"Susan, I need you to investigate someone for me."
"Let me guess—cheating husband or home-wrecking mistress?" Her voice was sharp as always.
"Both," I said coldly. "Nathan Miller, Vivian Woods, and the boy, Leo Miller. I want everything—from birth certificates to what they had for breakfast this morning."
After hanging up, I opened my laptop and accessed an encrypted email account.
Inside was an email my father had sent years ago.
The attachment was simple: a share transfer agreement.
On paper, Nathan owned 40% of Cosmos Technology, making him the largest shareholder.
The remaining 60% had been quietly held by my father's proxy all these years.
Once signed, those shares would transfer directly to me.
I traced my father's signature on the screen.
Dad, you were right. A Harrington doesn't wait meekly for the slaughter.
Nathan Miller, Vivian Woods—you'll pay double for every tear my son has shed.
Susan worked with terrifying efficiency.
Three days later, she dropped a thick folder on my desk.
"Your homework, as requested." She sipped her coffee, eyebrows raised. "Your husband is a special kind of bastard."
I opened the folder. The first page displayed hotel records for Nathan and Vivian.
Seven years of trysts, right up to last month—the evidence damning and meticulous.
The "drunken mistake." The "I ended it years ago." All lies.
Their affair had never stopped.
Nathan had bought them a penthouse downtown and a garage full of luxury cars.
His monthly "child support" exceeded my entire quarterly allowance.
With me, he pinched pennies, claiming cash flow problems and budget constraints.
With her, he spent like a drunken lottery winner.
I flipped through the pages, my heart sinking before hardening into something cold and unbreakable.
On the final page lay the paternity test I'd been most anxious to see.
I took a deep breath and read the conclusion.
**DNA analysis excludes Nathan Miller as Leo Miller's biological father.**
Leo Miller wasn't even Nathan's son.
Shock gave way to a sense of cosmic absurdity.
Nathan had destroyed our decade-long marriage for Vivian Woods and her son—only to spend seven years raising another man's child?
"I dug deeper," Susan tapped another document. "While Vivian was sleeping with Nathan, she was also involved with a man named Ryan Thompson—her college sweetheart. Before graduation, he disappeared to Myanmar chasing some get-rich-quick scheme. No one's heard from him since."
"Interestingly, this Ryan Thompson looked remarkably similar to your husband."
Everything clicked into place.
Vivian Woods had been running a long con from the start.
She'd exploited Leo's resemblance to Nathan, convincing him the boy was his, turning him into her personal ATM for seven years.
Looking at the DNA results, I felt my lips curve into a smile.
Nathan Miller—the world's most expensive fool.
"Iris, what's your next move?" Susan watched me carefully.
"What am I going to do?" A cold fire lit behind my eyes. "I'm going to set a trap and watch them fall in—every last one of them."
I pulled out my phone and called my father.
"Dad, I'm ready to sign the transfer agreement."
A moment of silence on the line, then his deep voice: "Okay."
"Iris, do what you must. If the sky falls, I'll be there to hold it up."
