Five years of marriage, and Alaina never let me turn on the lights in the bedroom. Whenever I asked her why, she always gave me the same cold excuse: she hated feeling exposed, and she didn’t like anyone staring at her body. I believed her. Until today. She was taking a shower in her office bathroom and realized she’d forgotten her clothes. Instead of calling me, she called her assistant, Tristan Cole, and told him to bring them inside. Through the heavy wooden door, I heard Tristan slip. The next thing I knew, his entire weight was pressed against Alaina on the wet tile floor. There was no scream. There was no outrage from my wife. Instead, all I heard was Alaina’s soft, breathless giggle and a shower of compliments aimed at Tristan. “Alaina, you’re just as breathtaking as you were three years ago. If anything, your body has only gotten sweeter.” I stood right outside the door, freezing as the ugly truth washed over me. I hoped I was hallucinating. But Alaina didn’t push Tristan off. Instead, she pulled him down for a deep, passionate kiss. At that exact second, my blood boiled. I lost all control, threw the door open, and stepped inside. “Should I leave so you two can finish putting on a live show on the floor?”
The two of them froze, their lips still practically glued together, panic flashing instantly across their faces. “Marcus? Aren’t you supposed to be on a business trip?” “Why didn’t you tell me you were coming back?” Alaina stared at me in shock, but she didn’t even bother to push Tristan off her. They were still tangled up in a ridiculously intimate position. I knew right then—if I hadn’t walked in, she would have officially made me a cuckold today. But more importantly, my mind was spinning over what I’d just heard. Three years ago. Tristan was too terrified to move. He stammered, trying to find his tongue, but made no effort to get up. I let out a harsh, dry laugh and kicked him right in the ribs, sending him flying across the floor. “What’s the matter, Tristan? Still addicted to whatever she gave you three years ago?” As Tristan crashed into the wall, Alaina gasped in worry. Then, she turned her head and glared at me with pure venom. “Marcus Pierce, have you lost your freaking mind?” “Why did you kick Tristan? And what the hell are you talking about, three years ago?” Without even grabbing a towel to cover herself, she ran over in her underwear to help Tristan up. “Tristan, are you okay?” Tristan looked at me, trembling like a wet dog, and quickly scrambled to his feet to apologize. “I’m so sorry, Mr. Pierce!” “It’s not what you think! Alaina forgot her bathrobe, and since I was the only one in the office, I was just trying to help. I slipped, I swear!” I didn’t even look at him. My face was dead cold, my voice dropping to a dangerous whisper. “I thought you hated people looking at your body, Alaina.” “So why are you standing basically naked in front of another man right now?” Faced with my sharp question, Alaina finally realized she was barely wearing anything. She bent down, grabbed a coat from the floor, and wrapped it around herself. But there was no shame in her eyes. No real panic. My heart wrenched. This wasn’t her first time being naked around him. Not by a long shot. The devastating truth finally hit me: she didn’t hate being seen. She just hated being seen by me. At that moment, the love I had carried for her for five years began to die. The silence in the room was suffocating. Tristan quickly bowed, trying to play the martyr. “Mr. Pierce, blame me if you have to! Please don’t be mad at Alaina!” “I’ll be more careful next time…” “Did I ask you to speak, you parasite? Shut up!” I snapped. Tristan winced, looking incredibly victimized. Seeing that I was genuinely furious, Alaina finally reached out and grabbed my arm. “Okay, Marcus, stop making a scene!” “This was just an accident. I swear, nothing like this has ever happened before!” I turned my head slowly and stared at the face of the woman I had loved for half a decade. For the first time in my life, I felt nothing but utter disgust.
“Don’t treat me like an idiot.” “He literally just said your body is as breathtaking as it was three years ago!” “If he hadn’t seen it before, how would he know?” “If you don’t give me a real explanation right now, we are done.” Before she could answer, the sound of something dropping echoed from the doorway. The three of us turned our heads. A crowd of gossiping employees was standing in the hallway, staring wide-eyed. Alaina glared at them, and they immediately scattered like rats. But their whispered words carried perfectly back into the room. “Oh my god, Mr. Pierce finally caught them.” “Right? What kind of assistant carries clothes into his female boss’s bathroom anyway? I’ve seen him giving her shoulder rubs in there before…” With every word, Alaina’s face grew darker and more hostile. If they hadn’t done it, people wouldn’t be describing it in such vivid detail. She had been caught red-handed, and there was no lying her way out of this. I looked at Alaina, giving her a straight choice. “I don’t care what trash you two pulled in the past. I won’t dig into it.” “But as of today, Tristan is fired. You need to clear the rumors. The Smith Group’s stock price is tied to our public image, and I won’t let you ruin it.” I expected Alaina to be reasonable and weigh the business risks. Instead, she just clenched her fists and remained stubbornly silent. Seeing this, Tristan’s eyes welled with tears, and he literally fell to his knees in front of me. “Mr. Pierce, Alaina and I are innocent.” “Please don’t believe those lies and ruin our lives.” “I can’t lose this job. My family took out massive loans from relatives just to send me to college. I swore to my parents that once I graduated and got a real job, I’d pay off their debts and give them a good retirement. Please…” Tristan sobbed dramatically, playing the role of the poor, struggling college grad being crushed by a heartless boss. And Alaina bought every second of it. Her heart practically melted for him. She bent down to pull him up. “Tristan, get up. Don’t kneel to him.” “I am not firing you. Get up.” “No, Alaina!” Tristan cried, staying on his knees. “Let me kneel. If Mr. Pierce doesn’t forgive me, I won’t get up. Everyone in this company knows he’s the one who actually runs things around here anyway.” I narrowed my eyes at Tristan. I had underestimated this little rat. His words were a calculated poison, designed to spark Alaina’s pride. Sure enough, Alaina snapped, her head whipping up to glare at me. “The Smith Group is my family’s company, Marcus! Since when do you run things?” She let out a mocking laugh. “Marcus Pierce, you seem to have forgotten your place.” I stared at her coldly, waiting for the rest of her speech. She sneered, “Aren’t you from a poor family, too? What right do you have to look down on Tristan?” “I still don’t know why my grandfather forced me to marry you. You were just a charity case who married into my family. A trophy husband.” “I only gave you some respect because you managed the company well. But make no mistake—the Smith Group belongs to me. Understood?” Beside her, Tristan secretly smirked. Alaina had just completely humiliated me in front of her assistant, tearing down my dignity to protect her little pet. “Alaina Smith… so in your heart, I’m just a worthless gold-digger?” Alaina met my gaze, her eyes cold as ice. “Yes!” She had no idea how deeply her words had pierced my heart. But then again, she didn’t care.
Tristan kept playing the terrified victim. “Alaina, please don’t speak to Mr. Pierce like that.” “He’s still your husband, and he’s the COO of the company.” “Even if you don’t fire me, I’m afraid Mr. Pierce will make my life a living hell…” He trailed off, letting Alaina’s imagination fill in the blanks. “Let him try,” Alaina spat, giving me a warning glare. “If he tries to abuse his power to get back at you, I’ll show him who really holds the cards.” Looking at them, I suddenly laughed. It was a hollow, empty sound. I had wasted five years of my life protecting and building up a woman who wasn’t worth a single second of my time. How pathetic was I? I turned my back on her and walked toward the door. Before leaving, I said coldly, “You’re wrong, Alaina. If things go sideways between us, I’ll be the one replacing you. Not the other way around.” Alaina didn’t take my warning seriously. To her, I was just a penniless nobody who got lucky by marrying her. In her eyes, getting into the Smith family was like hitting the jackpot for me. “Marcus, let me tell you something!” she yelled after me. “Just to make sure you don’t bully Tristan, I’m giving him 5% of the Smith Group’s shares!” “Tomorrow is his birthday. This will be my gift to him.” Tristan looked up at her, utterly ecstatic. “Alaina… is this real? You’re giving me 5% of the company?” Alaina smiled warmly at him and nodded. “You’ve been with me for three years. You’ve worked hard, and you’ve taken so much abuse. Once you have those shares, nobody in this company will ever look down on you again.” Standing in the hallway, my heart turned to stone. Three years of hard work. What about my five years? I had poured my blood, sweat, and tears into turning her family’s struggling regional business into a multi-billion-dollar empire. Where was my reward? Who was going to give me justice? I didn’t say another word. I walked out of the building. I went straight to a high-end lounge downtown and started drinking. Halfway through my third glass of whiskey, my phone rang. “Marcus, you lied to me.” “Five years ago, the day I left for my master’s in London, you promised you’d wait for me.” “I’m finally back… but I hear you married some mediocre woman in this city.” I sobered up instantly, looking at the caller ID. It was Melanie Vance. She was my childhood friend. Five years ago, her father had sent her abroad to prepare her to take over the Vance conglomerate. Before she left, to comfort her, I had indeed promised her I’d wait. I shook my head and smiled bitterly. Destiny really loved playing jokes. “Melanie, I’m actually getting a divorce…” “Wait, really?!” her voice lit up instantly. “I mean… as long as you’re single, that’s all that matters! But what happened?” I laughed softly, chatted with her for a few more minutes, and hung up. By the time I left the lounge, it was past midnight. I obviously wasn’t going back to the apartment I shared with Alaina. Instead, I drove to the oceanfront mansion I had recently purchased. But when I reached the front door and entered the passcode, the lock beeped red. Incorrect password. I frowned and tried again. Incorrect. A sudden, sickening realization hit me. Alaina had changed the passcode. Rage flared in my chest. I forced myself to calm down and typed in her birthday. Incorrect.
I typed in our wedding anniversary. Incorrect. Just as I was about to lose my temper and kick the door down, a disgusting thought crossed my mind. I typed in Tristan’s birthday. Click. The door unlocked. My fists clenched so hard my knuckles popped. I threw the door open and stormed inside. Tristan was loungeing on my custom sofa, wearing my silk pajamas, drinking a vintage Bordeaux from my private cellar, and hum-singing to a song on his phone. My sudden entrance didn’t even startle him. He just smiled, looking at me like he was the king of the castle. “Oh, hey, Marcus! Glad you could make it.” “Come on in. You want some of this XO, or…” “Who gave you permission to be in my house?” I roared. This was my house. I bought it. Who the hell did this little parasite think he was, flaunting himself in my face? He had already finished half of a $50,000 bottle of wine. My face turned dangerously dark. But Tristan didn’t care about my anger. Now that there were no employees around, he dropped his innocent act completely. “Your wife told me I could stay here… oh, actually, scratch that.” “She said she’s gifting this mansion to me.” I knew it. It was Alaina’s doing. But this mansion’s deed was solely under my name. I bought it with my own money. “She gave it to you? Who the hell does she think she is?” “Get the fuck out of my house before I call the cops and have you arrested for trespassing!” Tristan laughed, completely unfazed. He stood up, walked over, and splashed the red wine right into my face. He tapped a finger hard against my chest. “Marcus, who the fuck do you think you are?” “You’re just a kept man. A dog the Smith family decided to feed.” “Every penny you spend on food, clothes, and housing comes from the Smiths. And you have the nerve to claim this house is yours?” “You’re the one who needs to get out!” The wet, sticky wine dripped down my face. The last of my patience snapped. I reached out, grabbed his finger, and twisted it backward until the bone cracked. Tristan screamed, dropping to his knees. “You piece of trash, let go!” “Oh, I’ll let go,” I whispered. I grabbed his arm, pivoted, and slammed his body onto the marble floor. I had been trained by elite private security instructors since I was five years old to be the heir of the Pierce family. A fragile, pampered kid like Tristan stood absolutely zero chance against me. The loud crash drew Alaina running down the stairs. She was wearing a silk nightgown, her neck covered in fresh hickeys. I froze for a second. I hadn’t expected her to be here. They must have had a wild night before I arrived. Even though I was completely done with her, seeing the physical proof of her betrayal still stung a little. I had resisted my family’s arranged marriage for years, until I saw Alaina’s picture. I remembered her from years ago—the brave girl who had risked her life to save my pet dog. I thought she was pure, kind, and different. But people change. Time rots everything. “Marcus!!” Alaina screamed, rushing down. She grabbed a heavy wooden chair and swung it directly at my head. I easily stepped aside, dodging the blow. Missing me made her even more furious. Since the gloves were off, I didn’t hold back. “Alaina Smith, you ignored my warning.” “You’re going to pay a heavy price for your arrogance.” “Make me pay? Fine! Let’s see who dies first!” Alaina shrieked. “I’m divorcing you. I’m going to ruin you until you have absolutely nothing left!” She moved fast. Within twenty minutes, she had summoned a team of her family’s private bodyguards and lawyers to the mansion. She slapped a pre-drafted divorce agreement onto my chest. “Sign it. You leave with nothing.”
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