My Wife Betrayed Me. The System Chose Me

CHAPTER 1

Caelan Ashborne learned early how to live quietly.

It was not a skill he had been born with, but one he had mastered out of necessity, like holding his breath underwater, like walking through fire without flinching. A man who had once belonged to a great clan could not afford to be noticed after being erased. Silence, anonymity, and endurance had kept him alive for years.

On this particular morning, silence filled their small apartment.

 Lyra sat cross-legged on the floor, carefully lining up her colored pencils by shade. She was thin for her age, her movements deliberate and precise, as though conserving energy she did not fully possess. Sunlight spilled through the window and caught in her dark hair, turning it almost silver at the edges.

“You mixed them up again,” she said mildly, nudging a pencil back into place.

Caelan smiled. “You noticed.”

She always did.

“I like things where they belong,” Lyra said. “It feels… safer.”

Something tightened in his chest.

Caelan crouched beside her, resting an elbow on his knee. “Then we’ll keep them that way.”

Lyra nodded, satisfied. She leaned against him briefly, her head resting against his side, small and warm. For a moment, everything felt almost normal.

From the kitchen came the sharp clink of porcelain.

Selene stood at the counter, already dressed for the day. Her blouse was crisp, her hair styled neatly, every detail controlled. She scrolled through her phone while sipping coffee, her attention divided between messages and the mirror across from her.

“I’ll be late tonight,” she said without turning around.

Caelan rose. “Another dinner?”

“A meeting,” Selene corrected. “You wouldn’t understand.”

He didn’t respond. He had learned which silences were safer than words.

Selene glanced at Lyra, her gaze flickering over the child like a formality. “Make sure she eats properly today.”

“I always do,” Caelan said.

Selene hummed noncommittally and picked up her purse. “I’m leaving.”

The door closed behind her with a soft, final click.

Lyra looked up. “Mom’s busy again?”

“Yes,” Caelan said. “But that’s okay.”

She hesitated, then nodded, though her fingers curled slightly around a blue pencil.

Caelan stood there longer than necessary, listening to the quiet. He had once believed silence meant peace. Now, it felt like something waiting to break.

The collapse happened an hour later.

Lyra was sitting at the table, slowly chewing a piece of toast, when her hand trembled. The pencil slipped from her fingers and rolled onto the floor.

“Daddy,” she said, confusion entering her voice.

Caelan turned just in time to see her sway.

Then she fell.

He caught her before she hit the ground, her body suddenly frighteningly light in his arms. Her skin felt clammy. Her eyes fluttered, unfocused.

“Lyra?” he said sharply. “Look at me.”

She tried. Failed.

Fear surged through him—hot, unrestrained.

Caelan grabbed his keys and carried her out the door, ignoring the curious stares as he hailed a cab. His hands shook as he gave the hospital address. Lyra lay against his chest, her breathing shallow, uneven.

“Stay with me,” he whispered. “Please.”

The cab felt too slow. The streets are too long.

By the time they reached the hospital, Lyra was barely conscious.

Hospitals had a particular smell—sterile, metallic, unforgiving.

Doctors and nurses moved with brisk efficiency, taking Lyra from his arms almost immediately. Caelan followed, answering questions mechanically, his mind lagging behind the words coming out of his mouth.

Age. Symptoms. Duration.

Had she complained of pain?

“Yes,” he said. “Sometimes. She said she was tired.”

Blood was drawn. Scans were ordered. Machines hummed and beeped with quiet authority.

Caelan sat alone in a plastic chair, his hands clasped so tightly his knuckles had gone white. He stared at the floor, tracing the faint cracks in the tile, counting them, anything to keep his thoughts from spiraling.

Time passed strangely—stretching, compressing.

Finally, a doctor approached.

Middle-aged. Calm. Careful.

“Mr. Ashborne,” the doctor said. “We need to talk.”

They spoke in a small consultation room that smelled faintly of antiseptic.

The doctor did not rush. That was the first warning.

“We’ve run preliminary tests,” he said. “Your daughter’s condition is… serious.”

Caelan waited.

“She has a rare degenerative illness,” the doctor continued. “It affects multiple organs. It’s been progressing for some time.”

“How long?” Caelan asked.

The doctor hesitated. “It’s difficult to say. Without intervention—weeks, perhaps months at most.”

The words struck with numbing force.

“There must be treatment,” Caelan said immediately. “Medicine. Surgery. Something.”

“There is,” the doctor admitted. “But it’s not standard. The procedure is experimental. It’s only available through specialized facilities.”

“And?” Caelan pressed.

The doctor met his eyes. “The cost is extremely high. And access is… restricted.”

Caelan understood.

Restricted meant selective. Selective meant money, influence, names that opened doors.

“How much?” he asked.

The number that followed was unreal. Detached from reality. A sum meant for a different class of people.

“I can work,” Caelan said. “I’ll take loans. I’ll sell—”

The doctor shook his head gently. “I’m sorry. Even if you could raise the funds, approval alone would be a challenge. These institutions don’t accept just anyone.”

Caelan said nothing.

The doctor sighed. “We’ll do what we can to keep her stable. But you should prepare yourself.”

Prepare.

Caelan left the room feeling hollow.

Lyra was awake when he returned.

She smiled faintly when she saw him. “Did I scare you?”

He sat beside her and took her hand, holding it carefully. It felt colder than it should have.

“Just a little,” he said.

“I’m okay,” she whispered, though her voice trembled. “I’ll be better soon, right?”

Caelan swallowed.

“Yes,” he said. “I promise.”

He had never made a promise he intended to break.

Night fell.

The city lights flickered outside the hospital window, distant and indifferent. Lyra slept, sedated, her chest rising and falling steadily.

Waiting for more tests to be carried out. 

Caelan sat alone.

His phone buzzed.

A message from Selene.

How is she?

Relief flared briefly. He typed back immediately,

explaining everything—the diagnosis, the treatment, the cost. He asked her to come.

The reply took longer this time.

I’ll come tomorrow.

Caelan stared at the words. Tomorrow felt too far away.

He looked at Lyra again, at the quiet rise and fall of her chest, and a thought he had been avoiding settled heavily in his mind.

For the first time, he allowed himself to consider it:

As he was now, there was nothing he could do.

Outside, the city continued on—unaware, unmoved.

And somewhere deep within Caelan Ashborne, something fragile began to fracture.