The Transactional Marriage That Imploded novel Chapter 1

Mathis Jagger had a two-year-old love child.

On Bianca Baldwin’s phone was a video sent by his first love, Cynthia Quinn. In it, Mathis was playing with a little boy while Cynthia sat beside them, watching with a radiant smile. The three of them looked just like a perfect family, their faces beaming with a happiness that practically spilled through the screen.

Mathis’s flawlessly sculpted face held a look of pure, absolute adoration—a smile Bianca had never once seen from him at home.

The little boy in the video had a face strikingly similar to Mathis’s.

Bianca’s hand trembled violently as she gripped her phone. Just as she went to save the video, it was instantly unsent.

Her lips twitched.

Before she could even process what happened, an image popped up—a DNA paternity test between the boy and Mathis. The results read crystal clear: Biological relationship established between Lamont Jagger and Mathis Jagger.

They really were father and son!

Bianca was currently standing vigil in the somber funeral parlor for her mother's wake. Even in the dead of summer, she felt as if she had been plunged into an ice vat, a freezing chill soaking her to the bone.

She and Mathis had been married for three years, yet he had only started touching her this past month. The cruel irony was that his son with another woman was already this old.

As Bianca stood there in a daze, Cynthia unsent the message again.

Bianca couldn't fathom what sick game she was playing. A sharp ache pierced her chest.

No wonder Mathis had refused to attend her mother's funeral—she had never mattered to him. Even after a month of passionate nights together, nothing about their relationship had fundamentally changed.

Her heart had already gone numb. Perhaps it was for the best. With her mother gone, it was time for this marriage to end.

When she tried to step forward, she stumbled, nearly collapsing before a strong, muscular arm caught her.

"Careful!"

Jax was the son her mother's second husband had brought into their blended family. He had always been fiercely protective of Bianca and had confessed his feelings more than once, but she had only ever seen him as a brother.

Bianca nodded. "Okay. Have someone draft a divorce agreement. If he agrees, we split amicably. If he refuses, we'll see him in court."

Jax stayed by her side through the wake, supporting her until her mother was finally laid to rest.

On the day of the burial, her maternal grandmother, Mabel, arrived.

She urged Bianca to call her husband. "You're a married woman now; it isn't right for your husband not to be here. Please, I’m begging you."

Mabel was already in tears as she spoke. Her health was failing, and she desperately wanted to know that her granddaughter would have someone to take care of her when she was gone.

She had never met Bianca's husband and just wanted to see if he was a good man Bianca could rely on.