A Man with Nerves of Steel (Joseph Hart) novel Chapter 1

Joseph Hart stared blankly at the three paternity test reports in front of him. The confirmation that he and his children shared no biological relationship stabbed at his eyes.

All three of his daughters were confirmed to have no blood relation to him. His eldest, Natalie Hart, was 15 years old. The second, Selena Hart, was 11, and the youngest, Kimberly Hart, was only 6. He'd raised them for so many years, and not one of them was his.

It was insane!

A chill ran through him. His fingers trembled even as he clenched them around the steering wheel, his heart twisted with pain and torment.

He and his wife, Cora Lowell, were the same age. They'd met when they were 24 years old, fallen in love, and gotten married. They'd shared 16 wonderful years together.

In that time, Cora had given birth to three daughters and had sacrificed a lot. Most women's figures went downhill after childbirth, but not hers. After three pregnancies, her body had somehow become even more mature and perfect.

She had curves in all the right places. She didn't have a single wrinkle on her face, and her skin was smooth and flawless. It was like she'd stayed frozen at 28 years old.

She came from a powerful family and was an only child. Five years ago, she'd inherited the family business and taken over as chairwoman of Lowell Group, instantly becoming the richest woman in Jenton.

Cora was the very definition of rich and beautiful, and with their three angelic daughters as the cherries on top, Joseph had once been convinced he was the luckiest man in all of Jenton. But now…

He thought of his own background. He'd been born into a family of fishermen, so ordinary that he was nondescript. Five years ago, both his parents had passed away after battling illness, leaving him with no family to fall back on.

He was just a regular doctor in the inpatient department at Jenton University Hospital. He'd worked there for 18 years, yet he was still a nobody—just another attending physician.

All these years, maybe Cora had only ever seen him as a fool. Maybe she thought he was just a loyal, obedient dog she could order around however she wanted, while secretly betraying and humiliating him. Every bit of kindness and tolerance she'd shown might've just been condescension from on high.

Even if he went home now and tore off her mask, what would happen? A wealthy, powerful woman like her could just toss him some money as hush money and breakup compensation, and that would be the end of it. He might not even get to know who the other man was.

And in the extreme case where she actually did tell him who her lover was, what could he possibly do about it? The more he thought about it, the more suffocated he felt.

So, instead of going home, Joseph chose to run from the situation. He went straight into a bar that he passed by. From the moment he slid into a booth, his hand never stopped filling up his glass.

He was a handsome man with a clean-cut face, looking especially refined in his crisp dress shirt. But the way he was knocking back his drinks practically screamed that he had a story, and it didn't take long for the bar's predatory women to pick up on that.

The first one to try her luck was a sultry, mature-looking woman in a tight pencil skirt and heavy smoky eye makeup. Unfortunately, she got cursed out the moment she opened her mouth.

After that spectacular crash-and-burn, the rest of the women in the bar decided to sit tight and bide their time instead. They all had the same idea—wait until he was fully wasted, then swoop in to take advantage of his state.

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