The Arranged Wife He Never Wanted - Until She left

Chapter Four: The Truth

Maya POV

'Just look at how shameless this man is! This is absolutely ridiculous!'

The thought ran through my head as I stared at Adrian. I'd always believed he was someone with strong morals, someone who would never cheat or betray his partner.

But in the end, the very same man I'd thought so highly of had just dropped a nuclear bomb on me. Not only was he planning to marry his mistress, but they were already expecting a baby together.

This was the final push I needed to let go completely. Whatever sadness had been lingering in my heart vanished in an instant, replaced by cold, clear anger.

"So this means you were cheating on me the entire time, right?"

Before Adrian could even open his mouth to respond, Briar rushed forward and dramatically placed herself between us. Tears filled her eyes as she said, "Ms. Chen, it's all my fault! If it makes you feel better, you can punish me however you want..."

'Does this woman think this is some kind of soap opera? She'd make a great actress, honestly.'

"Really now?" I raised my hand up high, like I was about to slap her across the face.

As soon as Briar realized what was about to happen, she let out a little squeal and darted behind Adrian for protection.

"Didn't you just say I could punish you however I wanted? So why are you hiding now?" I put on a fake sweet smile and ran my fingers through my hair, casually brushing it over my ear like I had all the time in the world.

"Don't be so dramatic. I'm not some violent person. I'm not going to beat you up like they do in the movies."

"If you two are truly in love with each other, then I'd be more than happy to step aside and walk away from this relationship!"

"W-what?" Briar stammered, clearly not expecting that response.

She looked completely dumbfounded. She'd obviously prepared herself to play the pitiful victim, but it turned out she didn't need to use that card at all.

'So the rumors were actually true. Adrian and Maya really were just in a contractual marriage with no real feelings involved. Why else would she be so calm and generous about her husband's mistress?'

I kept talking, my voice steady and businesslike. "Since you cheated on me, it's only fair that we make a few adjustments to our divorce settlement."

When Briar heard that I wanted to change the financial compensation, she got so worked up that her carefully crafted sad expression completely fell apart.

"Adrian had already said he'd give you fifty million dollars, plus an entire penthouse! He's being more than generous! Besides, the Blake family put in tons of effort to clean up the mess YOUR family made when they went bankrupt. How shameless can you be...?"

I nearly burst out laughing watching Briar break character so quickly.

"Aww, we're not even legally divorced yet, and little Miss Mistress already has opinions about his finances? Are you worried your man is going to lose all his money in this divorce? Who's actually the greedy one here, hmm?"

Briar's face turned bright red with rage and embarrassment. She looked like she wanted to say something back but couldn't find the words.

I turned my attention to Adrian, ignoring Briar completely now. "I'm not asking for more money. Actually, I want less."

Adrian's eyebrows drew together in confusion. He clearly hadn't expected me to say that.

"I'll take twenty-five million instead of fifty. And you can keep the penthouse. I don't want it." I paused, letting that sink in. "But in exchange, I want you to publicly announce our divorce and clarify that it was because you cheated on me with your pregnant mistress. I want everyone to know the truth about why our marriage ended."

The courthouse hallway went completely silent. Even Briar stopped her dramatic sniffling.

Adrian's jaw tightened. "You want me to damage the Blake family's reputation?"

"I want people to know the truth," I said calmly. "I spent four years being treated like a gold-digger who trapped you in marriage. Four years of people whispering about me, judging me, treating me like I was some kind of scheming opportunist. I'm done being the villain in your story, Adrian."

"You can have a happy ending with Briar and your baby. Build whatever life you want together. But I'm not walking away in silence while everyone continues thinking I'm the bad guy. That's my price."

Adrian stared at me like he'd never seen me before. Maybe he hadn't. Maybe he'd never actually looked at me long enough to see who I really was.

"That's ridiculous," he finally said. "I'm not going to…"

"Then I guess we'll see each other in court," I interrupted. "And trust me, once my lawyers start digging into the timeline of your relationship with Briar, things are going to get very messy for both of you. Especially when they found out she was already pregnant before our divorce was even filed."

Briar's face went pale. She grabbed Adrian's arm. "Adrian, she's threatening us!"

"No," I said sweetly. "I'm negotiating. There's a difference. So what's it going to be? A clean break with a little honesty? Or a long, expensive court battle that drags all your dirty laundry into public view?"

I crossed my arms and waited for his answer, feeling more powerful than I had in years.

All the color drained from Briar's face when she heard what I was asking for.

"T-that's not what I meant..." she stammered weakly.

Adrian remained completely calm and collected throughout this whole interaction. He stared at me with this intimidating, unreadable expression and said simply, "Continue."

I met his intense gaze head-on and laid out my new terms clearly. "I don't want your money or the penthouse. Just hand over your law firm to me."

"By law firm, you're referring to Blake & Associates?" Adrian's eyes narrowed slightly as he tried to recall the details.

Being one of the top eight most powerful families in Harbor City, the Blake family had their hands in all kinds of businesses. A single law firm wasn't exactly significant enough to stand out in Adrian's memory.

However, he did vaguely remember its existence, since it was the firm that handled all the Blake family's legal affairs. He'd always viewed it as basically a charity project though, since the employees were earning hefty salaries without actually having much work to do.

The firm simply had no real economic value to the Blake family.

'This woman is turning down fifty million dollars and asking for some worthless law firm instead? What is she thinking?'

Suddenly, Adrian found himself seeing me in a completely new light. Even though it had only been a few days since our separation, I seemed like an entirely different person from the quiet, submissive wife he'd known.

"Well, that's my only condition. I'll send you an amended copy of the settlement documents soon... It's getting late, so if you'll, excuse me!"

"Oh, and I wish you both a very fruitful life together with your little love child."

I lifted my chin with this satisfied grin on my face, like I'd just closed the most phenomenal business deal of my life. Unfortunately, my moment of cool confidence only lasted for about a second.

My head started spinning violently, and everything went dark.

The last thing I remembered was the ground rushing up to meet me, and then nothing.