My Wife Hates Me Until I Become A Billionaire

A glass tumbler whooshed through the air into Gabe Wolken’s face. He quickly evaded the flying projectile with a sidestep and the glass item smashed into crystalline smithereens pelting everywhere. “Golly, how you can duck like an agile rabbit!” The shrill sharp voice cut with the rage and indignation of a saber. That was none other than Lisa Eisenhardt, Gabe Wolken’s own wife and the second daughter of the rich and powerful Eisenhardt Family that owned Dawnherald Group, and a true socialite of the province’s high society. She was clad in an azure blue blouse and a short leather skirt, and her apparel spared no expense in showing off her curvaceous figure and her long legs – the natural hallmarks of her unmatched beauty. No man could take their eyes off her. When Gabe first met her, he could have sworn that he had clapped eyes on a woman that could make him swoon so much. Their marriage was pre-arranged by their grandparents. But he lost his parents not long after the demise of his grandfather in an accident and that left Gabe lonely, defeated, and destitute. Then came another blow: The Eisenhardt Family requested an annulment of the engagement or he could just marry into the family as a matrilocal husband. With no other choice, Gabe could only choose the latter option and agree to marry into the Eisenhardt Family and forsake his family legacy. If it were any other woman, he would never have agreed to such an unreasonable condition. But he fell in love with Lisa Eisenhardt the moment he saw her and he wished to devote both time and patience to change her, even at the expense of his own masculine pride to marry into her family. Only, things did not turn out as he hoped for. Lisa Eisenhardt not only failed to love him but she loathed him. What resulted in the little couples’ tiff was but only a very trivial matter. Lisa’s last meeting had ended early but she did not inform Gabe about it and that caused him to delay her for about ten minutes and that did enough to light up her fuse. “Do you know how much that glass cost?” Lisa propped a leg over another, lounging on the couch with a demanding glare at Gabe. “Nope,” Gabe answered glumly as he hurried to rid the floor of the glass shards. “Of course you don’t, you oaf! That is a limited-edition twelve-pieces crystal tea set made by the glassmakers that produced utensils for the French royalty! They cost more than a hundred and eighty thousand! Guess how much you just cost me because of that glass just now!?” Gabe shuddered when he realized the value that the glass shards once cost, feeling a chill running up all over him as if he had been plunged into an icy cavern. “Is this what I am? Something cheaper than a crystal glass tumbler?”  Gabe lowered his head quietly as he bit his teeth, quietly enduring the heavy beratement. If only he could hurl the shards into her face in return for all the humiliation that he had suffered so many years. His hands rose up impulsively… before they lowered slowly. No. He couldn't. He couldn’t do it to the woman he loved. The next litany of cruel words was just about to spew out of Lisa’s lips when she noticed the moist and reddened eyes and she stopped herself. “All right, that’s enough! Now get rid of the trash, or do you need me to do it for you?!” Lisa barked at Gabe with not a shred of respect or love. Gabe stormed out of the office with the dustpan and the broom. As he headed towards the pantry, he could spy no shortage of people pointing and whispering about him. He knew what they were talking about. He had known it for so long that he could confess that he had grown numb. He reached the door leading into the pantry when he overheard something. “Did you hear? Ms. Eisenhardt is throwing another tantrum at that man again!” It was Rita Skeeter, Lisa’s sharp-tongued secretary. “That man? Who are you referring to?” That would be Samantha from HR. She had always been nice to Gabe, addressing him as “sir” whenever they met. “Who else? Him. That good-for-nothing brute Gabe Wolken.” “But isn’t he Ms. Eisenhardt’s husband?” Gabe heard a disdainful snort. “Husband? I’d rather call him the servant or the chauffeur. Anything that riles her enough and Ms. Eisenhardt would start throwing her tantrum at him like a missile barrage. That a man could live with such degradation… Hmph! He’s not even one now.” Gabe’s fingers dug into the hard surface of the dustpan he was holding, leaving a visible mark. “Golly, even Old Watchman Bill seems to fare better than him I guess.” “Hahahahaha! He’s worse than the labrador that the Eisenhardts rear.” “Bah! Worse than a dog, hahahaha!” Gabe could hold back his anger no longer. He kicked the door to the pantry open with a loud bang, shocking the two gossiping women inside that they nearly bit on their own tongues. Stunned to find Gabe at the doorway, the pair of ladies hung their heads in deep embarrassment, greeting him with a nervous and stammering "Hello, Mr. Wolken". And then they were gone. Gabe did not take his piercing glare off them until they were out of eyeshot – a glare so scathing that both ladies could feel their hairs standing. They scooted out the pantry and only after some distance away did they finally breathe easily. “Golly, did you see that?! That glare from him! That was so ghastly!” whispered Samantha fearfully. Rita waved her off, muttering with exasperation, “Forget it. He’s only venting his frustration by baring his big-bad-wolf teeth in front of us. He should try speaking to Ms. Eisenha—” Rita’s voice grew challengingly louder and louder like she wanted Gabe to hear her. But before she could finish, Samantha clasped a hand to Rita’s mouth to stop her. In anyhow, Gabe Wolken was still very much Ms. Eisenhardt’s wedded husband and he deserved some bit of respect. It was not his first time listening to the office staff gossiping about him in the pantry, but he had allowed them their fancies. But this time, Rita had crossed the line by calling him “a dog”, which he could not tolerate at all. Gabe once had a beautiful family. His grandfather retired from a leadership position after almost a lifetime of serving as a soldier. His parents owned a business that guaranteed the family a life of comfort and plenty. He joined the army right after graduating from university, but everything began falling apart when his grandfather’s sickness took a turn for the worst and he discharged himself early to accompany his grandfather. Still, a half year later, the old soldier breathed his last. That took a toll on the family. His parents couldn’t overcome the grief and their business began to suffer before they too died in a terrible mishap. Word of the string of misfortunes reached the ears of the Eisenhardts who immediately announced their wish to annul the engagement. Then came their final overture: The engagement would be annulled unless Gabe agreed to marry into the Eisenhardts as a matrilocal husband and forsake his roots. That was five years ago and not one day passed by comfortably or pleasantly for Gabe. So for what did he receive after giving up almost five years’ worth of happiness? That he had no more dignity than a dog? “I HAVE HAD ENOUGH!” With a loud bellow, Gabe slammed a fist onto the countertop, leaving cracks opening on the sturdy timber of the minibar counter. He needed to change. He needed to surprise Lisa and make her look at him differently. It was time that he taught the Eisenhardts that he was not the “good-for-nothing brute” they believed him to be! A shot of anguish pained him. The anguish that no physical pain could compare. Five years of unrequited love and care and yet nothing he did melted the ice that encased Lisa Eisenhardt’s heart. Gabe was at a complete loss at what he could do to regain Lisa’s affections. But wait. He could hardly call it “regain” when she had never loved him at all, could he? Gabe understood at last. Nothing he did would matter. Lisa had never loved him before and no amount of patience and hard work would change that. Perhaps it was time he took his leave. That was it, Gabe decided. This would be his final day of putting up with the Eisenhardts. He would leave tomorrow morning. He could go anywhere and wherever it was; it would trump staying here, enduring the insults and cold shoulders that Eisenhardt seemed only to enjoy giving him. On that note, Gabe went back to Lisa’s office. As it turned out, she was still seething with annoyance from the episode earlier and was only too happy to hurl barbed words at him when he came back. “WHERE WERE YOU OFF TO? I ASKED YOU TO DUMP THE TRASH, NOT TAKE A WALK UP THE NILE!” If Gabe had heard her, he certainly made no sign of it. After all, he was going to leave the next morning and he could care less about what Lisa would be saying until he left. Her phone rang suddenly. “Hello, Mum? What is it?” “Ah, so even Linda and Lyanna are coming back for dinner? All right then. I’ll come back too. I’ll arrive soon.” Conrad Eisenhardt, the patriarch of House Eisenhardt of Dawnherald Group, had four daughters: Linda, Lisa, Lyanna, and his youngest Lindsey. The Eisenhardt sisters were among, if not the most beautiful ladies in the city. Linda was married to Francis Connor, the heir of Splendorforge Real Estate. Lyanna’s husband was Phillip Yale, an associate professor of Economics at Federnstadt University. Being the youngest, Lindsey was still studying, although she had been repeatedly hailed as Federnstadt University’s prettiest student. While it might still be some time before she would be married, no one could argue that both Linda and Lyanna had husbands that well matched the Eisenhardt’s position and wealth. Only the same could not be said for Lisa. To that end, rumors swirled everywhere that Gabe only won her over because he and Lisa had accidentally slept night together while being drunk. For this reason, Lisa absolutely loathed Gabe, especially when she compared her husband to the spouses of her own sisters. The difference was just too great to ignore. Lisa tossed her car keys at Gabe and ordered him to get the car and wait for her downstairs. He went down to the car park with the keys and drove the car to the entrance of the main foyer downstairs. He reached there just in time when Lisa was just stepping out. She got in and Gabe steered the vehicle towards the direction that would lead to the Eisenhardt Manor. The husband and wife barely spoke all the way. Gabe was silent at the wheel. Lisa kept her gaze pasted to the window of the car, watching the scenery outside passing by in a messy blur in silence. The journey took barely fifteen minutes; the Eisenhardt Manor was located not far away from the office. When they arrived, Lisa got out of the car without a word and Gabe drove the car away to park it at the garage. There he saw Lyanna and Philip, who had just parked their car too. When he got off too, he greeted them with a quiet but acknowledging nod. Phillip Yale looked rather pleased to see his brother-in-law. He was about to join Gabe when his wife pulled him by the arm and shot him a knowing look. Philip could only withdraw the hand that was about to beckon at Gabe. He shrugged and went inside with his wife. Gabe smirked weakly. What a pitiful life he’s led, that he was being regarded with such contempt and disdain both in and outside the family. He went inside to find everyone present in the living hall. Linda and Francis Connor had already arrived and the sisters were having a hearty chat. Feeling like an alien, Gabe told his mother-in-law, Regina Eisenhardt née O’Brien, that he was not feeling well, deciding that he should take his leave and just have a lie-down upstairs. Regina was a classic snob and the mother of her daughters, who clearly took after her in every way. Since Gabe's marriage to Lisa, she had never been pleasant to him before. Regina pulled a long face, hardly disguising her annoyance at all. “Well look at that. Some husband you have there, Lisa. As if there’s anything that he could be so busy about that he needs a rest now…” Lisa turned sour almost immediately. Gabe marched past them, heading towards the stairs. He had made up his mind to leave and he felt that he no longer had any need to put up a good face. That left Regina boiling with indignation. The usually good-for-nothing son-in-law of hers now giving her a cold shoulder so openly in front of the family, was enough for her to have her nostrils flaring with flames. The mood in the living hall went quiet and tense. Philip got up at once. He went to Gabe and gave him quick looks, quietly urging him to make his peace. “I'm sure he’s tired after driving here. Come have a seat here, Gabe.” He led Gabe to the couch and sat him down to ease the tension. Philip was one of the few people in the family who had ever said anything remotely pleasant to him. Hence, he quietly acceded to Philip’s tacit urging and sat down glumly. Lindsey sidled up to her mother, coyly persuading her not to lose her temper during dinner. Then she gave Gabe a wink, telling him that everything would be all right. Gabe could never be angry at her. Since he married Lisa, Lindsey had always been friendly to him. Lisa never looked so bitter. That her husband had to depend on his sister- and brother-in-law to help dispel the anxious pall looming over the living hall was hardly reassuring at all.