Chapter 2
1571 Words
No one knew that 7 years ago, I had given up my place as the heiress to the richest family in the country and cut ties with my family to marry Ethan.
Back then, I had spoken with absolute certainty to my mother Margaret Reed when she tried to stop me from being with him.
"I won't regret this. Time will prove that everything you said was wrong. Ethan isn't some poor man who will never amount to anything. He will love me for the rest of his life."
Back then, Ethan really had been worth loving.
On rainy days, he would give me his only coat and let himself be drenched.
After working late into the night, he would still bring me roasted chestnuts from a street vendor because I had once said I liked them.
When we ran into thugs trying to rob us on the street, he rushed forward to block them and told me to run. He was stabbed and lost a kidney because of it.
When he proposed, his eyes were red as he said, "Sophie, I may not be able to give you the best life, but I will spend the rest of my life proving that I love you."
As I looked back now, the good had been real.
So had the betrayal.
The person on the other end of the phone was silent for 2 seconds. Then his voice shot up.
"Ethan betrayed you? I'm going to find him right now and beat him until nobody recognizes him."
As I listened to Julian Reed grow more and more furious, the tears I had been holding back finally spilled over.
"Julian, don't be impulsive. I will handle him. I just need to divorce him. I want you to help me talk to Mom. I am afraid she is still angry with me."
Julian clicked his tongue softly. "There's no need to talk her into anything. Mom regretted making you leave the family a long time ago. As long as you're willing to come back, Mom will be too busy worrying about you to stay mad."
The weight on my heart finally eased a little.
I had just hung up when Grace called.
"I have found everything. Come to my firm. We will talk in person."
I drove to Sterling & Vale LLP.
When Grace saw me, her gaze swept over me before settling on my slightly swollen eyes. Her tone turned complicated.
"You cried? Over a scumbag? He isn't worth it."
I didn't explain that I had cried because of my family.
"The documents?" I asked.
"Here."
Seeing that I didn't want to say more, Grace pushed all the materials she had found toward me. Before I opened them, she said, "Brace yourself."
I could more or less guess that Ethan had reached a new level of shamelessness.
But when I saw the first file, my eyes still widened. My fingers tightened around the property deed until my knuckles turned white.
This was the deed to the marital home Ethan and I lived in.
In the third year of our marriage, Ethan's company had begun bringing in decent revenue. Even so, he had bought Riverside Estate with no down payment.
At the time, he had looked at me with deep affection and said, "The mortgage may have to stay under your name for now, but don't worry. I will put this estate under your name. You will be its only owner."
And now?
The name on the deed was Chloe Davis.
Even more ridiculous were the transfer records from Ethan's personal account.
The first transfer was 20,000 dollars.
At the time, Ethan had been preparing to start his business, but he had no money.
On the day we got our marriage certificate, the ring he gave me was a soda can pull tab he had fished out of a trash can. He told me, "I will never let you down in this life."
He didn't have money to buy me a ring, but he had 20,000 dollars to transfer to Chloe.
The second transfer was 100,000 dollars.
2 months after Ethan started his business, he earned his first real profit, 300,000 dollars in net income.
He transferred 100,000 dollars to Chloe.
All he gave me was 2,000 dollars for living expenses.
And that contract had only been won because I swallowed my pride and reached out to my own contacts.
To make the client give him a chance, I went with him to the business dinners and drank until my stomach bled and I ended up in the hospital. Only then was the deal signed.
Then came the third transfer, the fourth, and on and on until there were 333 transfers over 10 years.
Later, the payments even became fixed recurring transfers of 120,000 dollars each.
Every transfer Ethan made to Chloe was dated down to the day, as regular as a salary.
And me?
When I sold a rare painting from my collection and gave him five million dollars to start his business, he promised he would build a future for us.
Now he had given that future to someone else, leaving me with only 2,000 dollars a month.
"Ethan transferred 500 million dollars in fixed assets to Chloe, plus 100 million dollars for her living expenses. I checked every asset under Chloe's name. Four fully paid estate homes, three Rolls-Royce Cullinans worth over 10 million dollars each, and more than 50 million dollars in gold kept in a safe-deposit box."
Grace's voice was icy.
"He was intentionally and systematically hiding marital assets."
I laughed in anger.
I had worked like Ethan's housekeeper for 7 years, and I didn't even have 300,000 dollars to my name.
The house he had promised to put under my name belonged to Chloe as well.
"There is more. In one expense from 4 years ago, I found something else."
Grace pointed at one of the transfers.
"This was hush money paid to a doctor to cover up the fact that Ethan had low sperm motility."
My head snapped up.
My gaze locked onto that payment.
In the third year of our marriage, I still hadn't gotten pregnant. Ethan's mother, Linda Marsh, had called me barren, so I discussed going to the hospital for tests with Ethan.
If there was a problem, we could treat it.
After the test results came out, the doctor said my fallopian tubes were blocked. He said I needed surgery to clear them, medication afterward, and then IVF once my body improved.
To have a child, I took medicine for 4 whole years and went through three rounds of IVF.
In the end, the root of the problem had never been with me.
Grace watched me tremble and sighed softly. "Given the situation, not having a child with him may actually be a good thing. Try not to be too upset."
Upset?
Strangely, no.
At that moment, I suddenly understood everything. I saw the ugly truth hidden beneath the polished surface.
I was Ethan's wife, but that was all I was to him.
In his mind, the five million dollars I had given him wasn't a lifeline that had pulled him out of poverty and set him on the path to success.
That five million dollars was the price I had paid to buy the title of Mrs. Carter.
That was why he could cheat without guilt and stay entangled with Chloe for 10 years.
Once I understood that completely, my mind became calmer and clearer than it had ever been. My voice was quiet but ruthless.
"I have changed my mind."
I looked at Grace. "From this point on, I need you to collect all the evidence, including Carter Group's entire equity structure and all of Ethan's hidden accounts. I don't just want a divorce. I want him to lose everything."
Grace was surprised for a moment. Then she smiled.
"Decisive, calm, and very clear about what you want. That is the Sophia Reed I know."
I gave a faint laugh.
If I could choose, I would have remained the sheltered Sophia Reed I used to be.
But reality was always cruel.
Fortunately, I had the upper hand now. I also had enough power to make the person who betrayed me pay a terrible price.
After leaving Sterling & Vale LLP, I went to a private hospital known for its discretion and had a full physical examination.
While I waited for the results, I saw Ethan, who had supposedly gone on a business trip.
He was accompanying Chloe to a prenatal appointment.
Chloe's abdomen was already clearly rounded. She looked a little farther along than 5 months pregnant.
There was a tenderness on Ethan's face that I had never seen before.
Chloe let out a soft "ow" and frowned.
He leaned down and pressed his ear to her belly. When he straightened, he looked at her belly with a serious expression, as if scolding the child.
"Baby, be good. Don't make Mommy uncomfortable. If you make Mommy feel bad again, Daddy will s***k you when you are born."
What a loving couple.
What a warm and peaceful family of three.
If one of them hadn't been my husband and the other hadn't been the mistress who destroyed my home, the scene would have been almost beautiful.
Just as I stopped recording and put away my phone, Ethan suddenly looked in my direction.
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