Love and Devotion No Longer His to Claim by Dream Fish

Chapter 1

It was actually very obvious whether a man loved a woman or not. Angela Graham knew it very well.

For example, Dexter Bamford could spend a fortune buying out all the billboards in the central business district to celebrate the birthday of his first love, Elena Carrey. He did so that the whole city would be able to tell his sincerity toward her.

But for Angela's birthday, all she got was just a small, six-inch cake. In fact, it was the very same cake the nanny had gotten on her birthday.

Angela chuckled when she saw the cake. It made sense, after all. Although she was Dexter's legally wedded wife, the actual Mrs. Bamford, her job scope wasn't much different from the nanny's anyway.

The only extra task she had was sleeping with Dexter.

Angela felt tears well in her eyes when she thought about this. The loneliness in her eyes stood out like a sore thumb amid the noisy surroundings of the party.

Dexter had been late to the party as always. Actually, he had planned on staying at the banquet hall for a while longer, but he had received a message just then.

He opened up the message, not bothering to hide anything from Angela. It was as if her feelings weren't even worth considering at any point.

"It kinda hurts... Can you come over?"

Along with the message was a photo of a woman's bare back, decorated all over with red hickeys and love bites, as if she had just finished rolling in the sheets with her lover a few minutes ago. It was very suggestive.

Angela couldn't even describe what she was feeling anymore. She just felt the discomfort in her stomach start to intensify.

She knew the person who had sent Dexter the messages. It was his secretary, Erica Carrey, Elena's younger sister. She had just never imagined that Erica was also one of Dexter's sex partners.

Angela stared at Dexter's phone for a long time. It wasn't until Dexter addressed her that she finally snapped back to her senses.

"Done staring?"

her head, her

the shadows under the dim light. He exuded a cold and aloof air

didn't seem the least bit hurried or anxious at all, and he certainly wasn't remorseful that his wife had found

her head like a guilty child who had just done something

her father, Bill Graham, had remarried, and Angela didn't have any support from her maternal family. They no longer wanted to have anything to do

Bill had completely taken over the company. He had also long forgotten his promise to Marie and abandoned Angela for the sake of his new wife, Judy Miller, and

Mrs. Bamford. She was just Dexter's trophy wife. She knew that she had no right to question Dexter, the head of the household who provided for her. It didn't matter that she used to

was about to leave, Angela tugged on the corner of his shirt

with a half-smile and suddenly came close to her. He chuckled in

never gone easy

the people around them couldn't help teasing them watching their interaction. They joked that Dexter and Angela kept behaving like newlyweds in their honeymoon phase with

knew that this so-called intimacy was only a show. Dexter had never viewed

forced to marry her, so she was a liability to him. He also thought this was

to answer, Dexter nodded at the

night, Dexter got home even later than usual. Angela glanced at the clock

room as she waited for him. When

like peaches. Obviously, this scent

"Dexter-"

as she started to speak, she was immediately interrupted. However, it was obvious that

said it nonchalantly, as if reminding Angela

nanny who should always turn a blind eye to Dexter's tomfoolery, serve him food, and satisfy him in bed whenever he wanted. She was not to bother about anything else that didn't concern

have to say, you can wait until I've

later, Dexter emerged from the bathroom with a head of messy hair. His

stood up from the couch and didn't dare to look up at him. It had been so many years, and Dexter still managed to

into his table, knocking his textbook off to the ground. From the moment he had

she then recalled the phone call she had received from Judy that afternoon, saying that Zack had racked up a huge debt from his gambling addiction. Apparently, they had no

nothing to do with them! How