Chapter 1

"Dad, don't push me. Do I really have to spell it out for you?

"All you do is watch the kids and cook. You can't even buy groceries without asking us for money. We're the ones keeping you afloat. Meanwhile, Patrick's a CEO, and he's about to close a partnership with the Chambers Group. You don't even come close.

"Patrick told me if I get you to agree to a divorce and remarry, he'll make me a manager at his company right away. So, quit dragging me down. Keep this up, and you're dead to me."

My son, Connor Hayes, had a cigarette pinched between his fingers, jabbing it toward my face as he shouted. The lit end hovered so close it looked like it could burn my eye at any second.

My daughter, Brooke Hayes, was a little more careful with her words, but the resentment came through just the same.

"Connor and I did know about Mom and Patrick from the start. It's not like we were trying to hide it from you. What kid doesn't want their parents to stay together? If you want to blame someone, blame yourself for not being enough to keep her.

"And Dad, you can't be that selfish. You have to think about your kids too.

"I want to send Mia to a private academy. Tuition alone runs over 100,000 dollars a year, and then there are piano lessons on top of that. My husband and I want a new car too. Patrick said he'd cover all of it.

"As for your new wife... If you can't find anyone, that old widow back home with the bad leg would work just fine."

Just a few days earlier, a neighbor had told me how lucky I was. Both my kids were married off, and the grandkids were growing up. All I had to do now was sit back and enjoy the rest of my life.

And then, almost right after, my wife Christine Fare brought her nouveau-riche lover Patrick Merritt home.

My own children took their side, demanding I divorce and remarry, threatening to disown me if I didn't. Every word out of their mouths dripped with contempt, like I was worthless to them. The way they turned on me left me stunned.

I had spent decades working myself to the bone for this family, and Christine had been seeing someone else the entire time. But what gutted me was that both my children knew all along.

They helped her hide it, and now they had the nerve to say I couldn't measure up to her lover, that I should step aside. Did they have any conscience at all?

Christine had a government job. It was stable, but the pay wasn't much. My salary was what kept this family going.

When Brooke was seven, I was offered a promotion to vice president, but it meant relocating to a branch office in another city. I was thrilled and had everything packed.

But Christine claimed she was too busy with work to handle the kids alone, and both of them cried and begged me not to leave, saying they didn't want to lose their dad. I couldn't bear it, so I turned the promotion down.

They were overjoyed. They told me I was the best dad in the world, that they loved me the most.

Years later, Brooke married young and had a baby early. Her mother-in-law refused to help with the child, so Brooke wanted me to quit my job and take care of my granddaughter, Mia Olson.

I offered to pay for a nanny, but she didn't trust a stranger with her daughter. I suggested Christine step in instead, but Brooke said her mother was too clumsy. When I pushed back, Brooke stopped talking to me.

Around the same time, Connor got engaged. His fiancee said that putting down a deposit on a place and expecting her to split the mortgage was a raw deal, and she refused to go through with the wedding unless the apartment was paid off in full.

Connor got on his knees and begged me. My company happened to be doing layoffs, and he wanted me to talk to my friend in HR, get myself laid off on purpose, and collect the severance of over 500,000 dollars to clear the rest of his mortgage.

So, I did. I arranged my own layoff, handed the money to Connor, and went to take care of Brooke and Mia.

The two of them were ecstatic. They hugged me and called me the greatest dad, swearing that even without a job or retirement savings, they'd take care of me when I got old.

And now, just a few years later, this was what I got.