THE BILLIONAIRE'S REJECTED WIFE

I never got tired of waking up in this house. Floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking all of New York city, marble floors that were warm under my feet, a walk-in closet bigger than the orphanage room I grew up in. For two years, this penthouse on the 80th floor was not just Maxwell Reed's billion-dollar home. It was “ours”. I was pouring coffee when I heard him come out of our home gym, sweaty, shirtless, still that boyish smile that made billionaire Maxwell Reed look 25 again. "My wife is up before me again?" He came behind me, wrapped his arms around my waist, kissed my neck. "You know we have ten staff, You don't have to make coffee." He said leaning towards. "I like making coffee for my husband," I said, leaning into him also. "It makes me feel like I'm still needed." He turned me around. "Needed? Emily, I need you like air. Don't ever doubt that." He demonstrated the air with his nose and I laughed hard. That was Maxwell. For two years, he loved me loudly. He would fly me to Paris just because I said I missed croissants. He held my hand in board meetings when his rich mother rolled her eyes at me. We were married, no kids yet because we said we wanted two years just us. And it was good. It was so good. Until last month. Until Charis Laurent. We met her at the Reed Foundation Gala. I should have known from the way she looked that night - red dress that was more skin than fabric, every man staring, every woman hating her. She was hot, sexy in a dangerous way, not innocent sexy. The kind of sexy that knows its power. And influential. Her parents own Laurent Hotels worldwide. Old money, even older than the Reeds. She walked up to the VIP table where I and my husband were sitting and said.. "Maxwell Reed, finally," she had purred that night, placing her manicured hand on his chest, right in front of me. "My father talks about you all the time. He says you're the only man in New York who is actually worth competing with." Maxwell, to his credit, had removed her hand gently and held my hand tighter. "And this is my wife, Emily." Charis barely glanced at me. Her eyes were fixed on him. "Wife? Oh. Cute. It was nice meeting you Mr Reed". As she turned to leave, she gave him a lustful stare and I glared at her slowly. That was how it started. Then it became business dinners. "Charis's father wants to invest, Em, I have to go." Then late nights. "Charis is handling the merger, she understands these things." Then he stopped touching me. Stopped looking at me. Tonight was our third anniversary. I wore the diamond necklace he bought me in Paris. I had the chef prepare his favorite - lobster, because he hated that I always cooked small-town food. I waited happily, in our formal dining room, the one with the chandelier worth more than my entire childhood. He came home at 11 PM. Smelling like a woman's perfume. Not mine. I ignored it. I doubted if he even remembered it was third year marriage anniversary today. "Maxwell?" I stood up, trying to smile. "You missed dinner." He didn't even sit. He loosened his tie and looked at me like I was a stranger. "Emily, we need to talk." My heart started beating fast. Behind him, I saw a second shadow at the elevator. Charis. In my house. In a dress that barely covered her, smirking at me. "Charis's family is merging with us," he said, voice cold, business-like. "It's a $20 billion deal. But her father has one condition. He wants his daughter married into the Reed family. A real Reed wife." I felt my knees go weak. "What... what are you saying?" "I'm saying I have to divorce you, Emily." He said it like he was firing an employee. "Don't make it emotional. You knew from the start you didn't belong in this world. Charis does. She is influential, she is powerful, she can give me an heir that actually matters." Charis walked in fully now, her heels clicking on my marble floor. She ran her hand down his arm possessively. "Sorry, sweetie," she said to me, but her eyes were lustful, triumphant. "Men like Maxwell don't stay with charity projects forever. He needs a real woman. A woman who can keep him satisfied in every way." She was right in front of me, hot and cruel, and my husband - my Maxwell who kissed my neck this morning - just watched and let her. I looked at the man I loved. "You said you needed me like air." He looked away. "I was wrong." That was the moment my two good years died. " Max we can talk about this, have I been a bad wife?”. He didn't look at me, he just clinged to Charis tighter. He hesitated for a while before speaking up. " Emily, you have always dreamt of being a model, I can give you some money to start up your own company, we can't be together don't you get it?”. Tears rolled down my cheeks slowly, I looked at the chandeliers which by now look dim, and then back to Charis and Max, I wanted to speak but my heart was too heavy. Charis chuckled like a demon who finally got hold of his victim, she placed her hands on Max's back and patted his shoulder and smiled. When Max finally turned to face me, he said” The divorce papers will be ready by tomorrow, I will have my lawyer bring it to the house,once it's signed, pack your bags and leave before I arrive". I stood there as I watched both of them leave, heavy thoughts running through my mind, my legs where too heavy to move. _