2025-04-17 19:08:18CHAPTER ONE: The Dinner That Ended It All
The sizzle of garlic in the pan filled the kitchen, but it didn’t mask the bitterness in Rowan’s throat.
It's been five years since he has been a house husband. 5 years since the cruel nature of his inlaws manifested themselves. 5 years of being called names no human being deserves to be called.
He stirred the pot gently, his jaw clenched. Lasagna tonight , Aurora’s favorite. Or so she’d claimed 7 years ago when they got married. Back when she used to smile at him like he meant something.
Now, it was just routine. She just changed.
He wiped his hands on a towel, adjusted the flame, and heard the familiar sound of the front door creaking open, followed by the sharp clack of heels on tile.
“Smells burnt,” Mrs. Cooper said without even stepping into the kitchen. Her voice carried venom, laced with disapproval, always loud enough for him and everyone in the house who has ears to hear.
Rowan bit his tongue and turned the heat down.
Mr. Cooper’s gruff voice followed. “We leave you in the house all day and you can’t even get a simple meal right. What exactly do you do here again? You are just useless”
Rowan gripped the counter, his knuckles white.
Breathe. Just breathe.
Normally, Aurora would step in, shunning her mother to mind the way she is talking to her husband. She used to be the fresh air he used to breathe.
Aurora used to defend him. Used to tell them to back off. Lately, she’d been silent. Distant. Busy with work. Too busy to talk. Too busy to touch.
The door swung open. “I’m home!” Aurora called cheerfully.
Rowan’s face lit up, he wiped his hands, straightened his shirt, and stepped out of the kitchen, ready to offer her a grand smile. But his feet froze.
Carson Donovan, her ex boyfriend from when they were in school was with her.
He had his hand around her waist, and she was laughing at something he whispered. Her lipstick was smeared. Her blouse, half-buttoned. And they didn’t even notice Rowan standing in the living room.
“Aurora?” His voice cracked.
She blinked. “Oh.”
“Oh?” Rowan echoed.
Carson chuckled and let go of her waist. “This is awkward.”
Rowan’s chest tightened. “Wh..What the hell is going on?”
Aurora stepped forward, fixing her blouse like she wasn’t just wrapped around another man.
“What does it look like?”
Rowan closed his eyes for a moment, knowing he was going to regret the next question that left his mouth.
“Why were his hands wrapped around your waist?”
Aurora just walked to the liquor cabinet, poured herself a glass of whiskey, took a sip and then turned to answer Rowan.
“Don’t make this harder than it needs to be.”
“Make it harder?I'm your husband.”
“Not anymore. This marriage ended a long time ago” She threw a thick envelope onto the glass table. The sound echoed through the room like a slap.
Rowan stared at her for a moment in disbelief and picked it up slowly, eyes scanning the first page.
Divorce papers.
“You’re serious?”
“You were never really my husband Rowan,” she muttered. “Our marriage was never meant to happen.”
Mr. Cooper stepped in with a scoff. “Finally, someone said it.”
“You used me?,” Rowan muttered, shocked. His voice was low but sharp. “You and your entire family.”
Mrs. Cooper folded her arms. “Oh shut up, you bastard, You were a stray we picked off the street and accepted to raise as our own. Show some gratitude.”
Rowan’s fists trembled.
“I gave you 7 years of my life, Aurora,” he growled. “We have a daughter together.”
“Oh, about that, dude”. Carson began, “She’s not yours,” he said with a smirk.
The words hit harder than any punch. Rowan stumbled back a step, disbelief flooding his face.
“What?”
Aurora crossed her arms. “Her father is Carson. Always has been.”
Rowan’s heart plummeted.
No. No, that couldn’t be true.
“You're lying”
“Nope I'm not”.
Mr and Mrs Copper, watched with an amused look on their faces.
“You lied to me…”
“You were convenient,” Aurora snapped. “You were meant to take over your family’s fortune. That didn’t happen, so…”
“So, you threw me away?”
Mr. Cooper stepped forward and slapped Rowan hard across the face.
The sting didn’t matter. The betrayal burned deeper.
“You’re a burden,” Mr. Cooper hissed. “Just sign the papers and disappear. Go join your dead parents. Worthless like them.”
Something inside Rowan snapped. His eyes darkened. He was fed up. And to insult his dead parents?That was the height of it.
“I’ll sign it,” he said hoarsely. “But I’m taking Sofia.”
Aurora laughed. “Oh no, You’re not taking my daughter.”
“She’s my daughter too!”
“No,” Carson said, stepping in front of Aurora. “She’s mine. And she’ll never call you father again.”
“I’ll fight for her in court,” Rowan barked.
“You don’t even exist in the system, Rowan,” Mr. Cooper spat. “You’re not legally adopted. You have no real family. No job. No money. No case. Just some dead parents .”
Rowan’s throat dried.
Mrs. Cooper tilted her head. “Still think you’re the heir to anything?You're worthless, Utterly Useless”
Suddenly, Carson’s bodyguard stepped in and grabbed Rowan by the collar.
“You touch me, and I swear..”
Rowan didn’t get to finish.
A brutal punch landed in his gut, knocking the air out of him. Another slammed into his jaw. Then a third. He fell to the ground, groaning.
“Teach him a lesson,” Mr. Cooper ordered.
The blows didn’t stop. His ribs screamed. His vision blurred.
His blood pooled on the marble floor as his consciousness began to slip.
“You were a mistake, Rowan,” Aurora said coldly, her heels clicking away. “You were never meant to exist.”
Everything blurred into blackness.
Until…
[SYSTEM ACTIVATED]
A white interface blinked before him. Glitchy text floated above his vision.
‘Welcome, ROWAN STORMONT. Sync: 0.01% Status: Critical Mission: Survive. Reclaim. Rise.’
“What the hell?”
He blinked. Was he hallucinating?
A black limousine screeched to a halt in front of him.
A tall man in a black suit stepped out and looked down at him.
“Time to go, Mr. Stormont. Your real life is just beginning.”
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