44 Affairs Later

My father was hit by a car. When I found the perpetrator, my wife, Jessie Ford, stepped out of the passenger seat with her clothes in disarray.

I stayed at the hospital to care for my father, yet Jessie stayed with the perpetrator at the police station while he was being questioned.

I refused to settle the case, and she picked up a thermos and struck my head. “He’s a lawyer. Do you want to ruin his career? What are you trying to do?”

I calmly wiped the blood from my forehead and looked at Jessie, who stood there flustered and slow to understand the situation.

This was not Jessie’s first affair, but it was the most serious one.

I suddenly remembered the fifth year of our marriage when she grinned at me and said, “Don’t you get tired of sleeping with only one person for the rest of your life? To be fair, I won’t interfere with how you fool around. What I give them is sex; what I give you is love.”

Later, I did exactly what she suggested and got involved with the girl she sent to me, yet she begged me to come back.

Blood kept flowing nonstop. Jessie Ford hurriedly pulled out a pack of tissues and rushed toward me. She wiped the blood while frowning and said, “Why didn’t you avoid it? Does it hurt? I didn’t do it on purpose. I panicked. Shane Harvey is young and talented. I hate to see talent wasted. Be good, just let it go.”

I pushed her hand away with a firm expression. “That is my dad we are talking about.”

“Alright, your dad loves money. If you really care about him, just accept the money and end this.”

My expression darkened. I was about to speak when her phone rang.

“Ms. Ford, where are you? They have been questioning me for so long and will not let me eat. I am so hungry that I feel dizzy. I cannot even stand.”

Jessie accidentally pressed the speaker button, and Shane’s aggrieved voice filled the air.

She tightened her grip on her phone, looking worried. “Wait for me. I will go back right now.”

After hanging up, she looked at me again with a serious expression. “Liam Charleton, I am giving you one last chance. Are you going to sign this settlement agreement or not?”

When I refused, Jessie turned and left without looking back.

I had watched her walk away countless times over the years.

It had not always been like this.

After graduation, I worked at the Ford family’s company, and Jessie was my first apprentice.

Back then, no one in the company knew her true identity, including me.

She was inexperienced yet energetic, passionate, and driven, but she often made mistakes. I always had to clean up after her. At a party, she had a few drinks and kissed me without warning. “Liam, I like you. I do not want to be only your apprentice. I want to be your girlfriend, and even your wife.”

The smell of alcohol on her breath made my head spin. I agreed in a daze.

By the time I learned who she really was, it was too late to walk away.

Jessie loved me, and everyone could see it. She replaced all the employees on her floor with women for my sake. She remembered every date related to me, including my family’s birthdays. She noticed anything I liked and secretly bought it for me, even if I only glanced at it once.

People mocked her for being a powerful CEO who let a man control her, but she never cared.

Unexpectedly, in the fifth year of our marriage, Jessie told me she wanted an open marriage.

She was not asking. She was announcing it.

Shane, the man who hit my father, was her 44th lover during our marriage.