The Rise of Betrayed Husband
Copyright© 2026 by Laxu
Chapter 10: Career and Family
Ethan knew how close Dean Lang was to Richard Lowell, and part of the reason he had told the dean about the divorce was in the hope that he would act as a go-between.
“The money came later,” he said. “Once I found out Claire had someone else, all I wanted was to end the marriage as quickly as possible. I didn’t say a word about money at first. But she wouldn’t agree, and she denied the test results, so I brought money into it. If she can’t stand to part with the cash, she should have agreed to my original terms. Instead, she still refuses to divorce me. I have no idea what she’s thinking. Money or no money, it doesn’t matter. I just want out!”
“So you’ve already found someone else? You’re going to divorce Claire and marry the new woman right away?”
“Dean Lang, how can you say that?”
“I’m just asking. Be honest with me—do you have another woman lined up?”
“No! All these years, I put my whole heart into my marriage and my family with Claire. My life revolved around her and the kids. I cherished her. I never looked twice at another woman. And this is how it ended ... I don’t even know what to say.”
“I can’t comfort you there. You’ll have to find your own way through it. All I can give you is one piece of advice: a man should put his career first.”
Lang stood and walked over to him. “Years ago, when I first saw you in a lecture hall at Easton University, I thought you had real potential. After you graduated, I recruited you, and I had high hopes for you. But you got married before you’d accomplished anything. If the bride hadn’t been Richard’s daughter, I would have cursed your luck and mine.”
Ethan couldn’t help lowering his head. Meeting Claire had been chance, but falling hard for her had been inevitable. If he could do it all over again, in that same time and place, he probably would have fallen for her all the same. “Look where I’ve ended up. I deserve to be cursed.”
Lang sighed. “From now on, stand up straight and put your energy into your career. I still have a lot of faith in your abilities as a doctor.”
He told Ethan to go let the kids know, then wait for him outside Hand Surgery. As soon as Ethan left, Lang called Claire and told her to come pick up the children.
Claire hung up, resigned, and went to change so she could head out. She grumbled to herself about Ethan the whole time. Instead of taking the kids to an amusement park on the weekend, he had to drag them to the hospital, where of course Lang had roped him into working. And her plan to use the kids to tie Ethan down and bring him home had obviously gone nowhere.
She had just finished changing when her eldest daughter walked in, looking worn out from the trip. “How do you have the nerve to come back by yourself? What did I tell you? No matter what, you weren’t supposed to leave your dad. If he doesn’t come back, you don’t either.”
Natalie went to the fridge, grabbed a soda, and gulped some down to settle the excitement churning in her chest. Then she started trashing Ethan. “The place the old man’s staying at is a total dump. There’s nothing there. It’s a few bucks a night. Is that even fit for human beings? Honestly, who’d want to hang around with him?”
“What’s with all this ‘old man’ business? He’s your father. Don’t be so disrespectful. So you didn’t like the place, and you ditched your dad and your little sisters and came home alone?”
“The old man is the old man. That’s what he is. Mom, I know now—the old man isn’t my dad. And he wants to divorce you.”
Natalie looked a little scornful. She pulled the paternity report out of her pocket and handed it to her mother with a smile. “Mom, you can stop pretending. Just tell me—who’s my real dad?”
Claire had been in a fairly good mood, but the moment she saw the paternity report, her face turned grave. She stared at her daughter. “Where did you get this?”
“The old man gave it to me. No wonder he gets on my nerves more and more. I already had a feeling I wasn’t really his, and it turns out I was right. He isn’t my biological father. Hey—why are you tearing that up? That’s evidence!”
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