My Wife Lied About Infertility,Until Her Secret Son Appeared

She walked over and pulled me into her arms with a sigh.

"Adrian, I'm sorry. Has someone been running their mouth again? If it's too much for you, we can get a divorce."

She looked so heartbroken, so devoted.

I eased out of her embrace without letting anything show, staring hard into her eyes, searching for even a trace of genuine sorrow, searching for some sign that everything I'd given over the years had been worth something.

"Vivienne, I haven't done anything wrong. Why would you do this to me?"

She froze for a moment, then her eyes rimmed red with what looked like hurt.

"Adrian, I'm not a woman. I understand if you resent me for that. But I really don't want to leave you." Her voice cracked, and she buried her face against me, sobbing.

In that moment, I seemed to see the Vivienne from ten years ago.

Back then, she followed me everywhere, calling me her big brother, pressing the best pastries into my hands.

She even carried me on her back when we went hiking, all the way to the summit.

Under a sky blazing with stars, the girl's eyes shone brighter than any of them. She gripped my hand tight. "Big brother, I never want to leave you. Not in this lifetime. Can we stay together forever?"

Back then, I believed we would.

That changed the day Vivienne and I took a trip to the mountains and came across a fourteen-year-old boy named Caleb Fox.

Several men had him pinned to the ground, trying to haul him onto a flatbed truck. He was on his knees, thrashing, begging.

"Dad, please don't sell me. I can chop firewood. I can work the fields. I can earn money."

Tears cut streaks through the dirt caked on his dark face. His hair was a matted, brittle mess.

From the murmurs of the people gathered around, I pieced together the story: his own father was selling him to a sixty-year-old man to work as a cattle herder.

Pity seized me on the spot. I barked at the men until they backed off and pulled the boy behind me.

After a heated argument, Vivienne handed over all the money we'd budgeted for the trip to Caleb's father, freeing the boy. She promised to sponsor his education going forward.

I never expected that the day he graduated college, Caleb would show up in Riverport looking for Vivienne and plant himself at her side as her assistant.

He played the victim at every turn, acting meek and timid around me, as if I were the one bullying him.

More than once, Vivienne told me Caleb was easily frightened, that I shouldn't be so forceful when I spoke to him, that I needed to be gentler.

I assumed he was just someone who couldn't handle himself in polished company. It never occurred to me that every stumble, every flinch, was a carefully laid trap.

Then came my birthday. I offered him a glass of fruit wine, trying to be kind.

"Caleb, let me introduce you to some friends. You should hang out with them more."

He took two sips and immediately went whimpering to Vivienne, claiming he felt dizzy, claiming I'd forced him to drink.

Then he collapsed into her arms.

The look Vivienne gave me that night could have drawn blood. She said nothing. She just gathered Caleb up and carried him to the second floor.

When I found them, they were lying on the bed together, leaving nothing to the imagination.

I lost my mind. I screamed at Vivienne, demanded we call off the engagement.

In the end, after her desperate pleas and both sets of parents stepping in to mediate, I was naive enough to believe it was over.

What I didn't realize was that a seed of hatred had already taken root.

Vivienne decided I had humiliated her on purpose. And she set out to punish me for the rest of my life.

I lifted my hand and rested it on her head, a cold smirk pulling at my lips.

"Vivienne, if you had to choose between me and Caleb, which one of us would you not be able to let go?"

Panic flashed through her eyes.

"Adrian, why would you bring him up out of nowhere? Did someone say something to you?"

"I cut contact with him a long time ago. Don't overthink this."

I lowered my gaze, wiped the tears from my face, and stood up without a word.