Chapter 1

“Sophie Lane is back. What are you going to do about your wife?”

At the doorway, the front door stood slightly ajar. Justin Scott’s voice drifted out along with that of his close friends.

Alyssa Jones paused, her hand freezing on the door as she returned from work.

Sophie Lane?

The external expert who had joined their project out of nowhere two weeks ago had the same name.

What a coincidence.

Inside, Justin did not respond.

“Justin, don’t take this the wrong way, but all these years you’ve never forgotten Sophie, your one true love.

“You’ve lived frugally yourself yet secretly wired her six hundred thousand dollars every month to fund her research, and now she’s landed a role on a classified national project.

“If you go to her and get her to share a little about the bidding details, your position as CEO of StellarTech will be completely secure. No one will be able to shake you.”

Alyssa’s eyes snapped up, shock flashing across her face.

She suspected she had misheard.

Six hundred thousand dollars?

Justin gave her only six hundred dollars a month. How could he possibly be giving another woman six hundred thousand dollars every month?

But the conversation inside was so clear, every word landing in her ears, and Justin did not refute a single line.

For a moment, Alyssa could barely breathe.

Justin suddenly stood up and glanced at his watch.

“I don’t want to put her in a difficult position. Alright, I need to go pick up Sophie from work. You don’t have to worry about the things on the table. Alyssa will clean up when she gets back.”

“I’m telling you, Justin, look at how virtuous your wife is. She keeps your home in perfect order and takes such good care of your parents and sister. Doesn’t that move you at all?”

Alyssa pricked up her ears, holding her breath.

Justin said coolly, “I’ve never been into women like Alyssa who hover around the kitchen, revolve their whole lives around their husbands, and play the perfect housewife and mother.

“I’ve always liked women like Sophie, the kind who pour themselves into their careers and shine on their own.”

His words pierced her heart like knives.

Alyssa’s eyes reddened instantly, the hand hanging at her side trembling.

“Then why did you chase after Alyssa back then? Why did you marry her?”

“Back then, Sophie insisted on leaving me to go abroad.”

“So you married Alyssa just to spite her?”

Justin said nothing; his silence was an admission.

“So now that Sophie is back, you’re going to divorce Alyssa?”

Even his friends stopped acknowledging her as his wife.

Justin fell silent again.

After a long while, he spoke. “You’re right. Alyssa has taken good care of me. My stomach hasn’t flared up these past two years.

“She’s handled everything with my mom and sister. I’ve never had to worry about a single thing at home.”

Justin had not been born into privilege at StellarTech.

Half of the ladder to his presidency was built with wine glasses clinking at business dinners. In the early years, he had nearly destroyed his stomach from all the drinking.

Alyssa had felt sorry for him.

She woke an hour earlier every day to prepare a breakfast gentle on his stomach, went home promptly at five in the evening to simmer soup and wait for him to return.

If he worked late, she would bring it down to the StellarTech building and only then head back to the research institute herself.

They had been married for four years, and this had been her routine the entire time.

All of it continued until today, when the confidential chip project she had spent four years developing in secret finally succeeded.

The institute would soon open it up for public bidding. Once launched, it would benefit both the country and its people.

As the core lead of the project, Alyssa would receive a substantial bonus and a national-level honor.

She had been eager to hurry home and share the good news with her husband.

On the way back, she had even thought about what gift to buy with her bonus—something expensive, worthy of Justin’s status as CEO of StellarTech.

Yet she heard him continue, “A woman as outstanding and radiant as Sophie shouldn’t be confined by the trivialities of marriage. I can’t bear that.”

The difference between being loved and being ignored was revealed in the most humiliating way.

Tears slipped uncontrollably from the corners of her eyes, the bitter, salty taste spreading across her lips.

Footsteps approached inside the house. Alyssa turned and hid in the corner.

When the sound faded, she slowly walked in. The coffee table was a mess.

Justin had not treated her as a wife, but as a housekeeper.

Alyssa couldn’t bring herself to tidy up.

Exhaustion swept through her, and she only wanted to lie down.

But she could not close her eyes as she lay on the bed. Scene after scene from the past rose before her.

The first time she met Justin, he had been caught in the rain, and she happened to have an umbrella.

The next time, she had been rushing to catch a ride, and he just happened to drive past.

After that, they kept running into each other again and again.

When her mentor passed away, Justin stayed by her side.

When she went back to the orphanage to visit, Justin went with her.

When her project was suspended and she lost her job, Justin held her and said it didn’t matter, then proposed.

When she became a junior staffer earning only one thousand a month, Justin smiled and ruffled her hair, saying that was impressive too.

…

It was not until two or three in the morning that Alyssa finally drifted into a hazy sleep.

At six, her body clock—trained to make breakfast for her husband—went off on time again.

She opened her eyes, utterly exhausted.

The other side of the bed was cold. The blanket in the guest room had not been touched either.

Last night, Justin had not come home.

Just as she was thinking about it, the sound of the keypad lock came from the door.

Alyssa turned her head.

Her husband walked in and, as naturally as ever, handed her his coat. He bent down as if to hug her, then seemed to remember something and stopped himself.

“I reek of smoke and alcohol from dinner with old friends last night. I won’t hug you.”

In the past, whenever Justin came home from business dinners, he would hold her tightly, saying that was when he truly felt at home.

Alyssa suddenly realized the last time he had hugged her was half a month ago.

For the past two weeks, even when they shared the same bed, they slept separately. She had thought he was simply exhausted from work, too tired even for a simple embrace.

Sophie had happened to return half a month ago as well.

So, the signs had been there all along.

Alyssa lowered her eyes, her long lashes hiding the sting in them.

Justin sat down on the sofa and pointed at the messy coffee table. “Why hasn’t this been cleaned up?”

“I wasn’t feeling well yesterday. I came back and went straight to sleep.”

Alyssa caught a faint sour smell.

She had always been particular about cleanliness, so she bent down to tidy the table as she spoke.

“Once I finish, there won’t be time to make breakfast for you. Just order something to get by.”

Justin suddenly sensed something was off about her.

In the four years of their marriage, as long as he wasn’t traveling for work, Alyssa always cooked for him—stews, pastries, soups—and never repeated the same menu week after week.

What was wrong this morning?

“Are you upset because I didn’t come home last night?”

The man suddenly called out seriously, “Honey.”

At the sound of that word, Alyssa felt even more suffocated.

Justin had always been gentle and good with words.

When they had just started dating, he suddenly leaned close to her ear and called her “babe,” making her ears burn red and her heart race.

“Alright, honey, don’t be mad. Look, I listened to you. Even at a gathering with close friends, I didn’t drink.”

Justin reached out and rubbed the back of Alyssa’s head.

“If you don’t want to cook, then don’t. I’ll go take a shower first.”

Alyssa gave a soft “Mm,” not looking at him.

Justin frowned, unable to suppress the doubt in his heart. “Honey, you’re a little strange this morning.”

“I didn’t sleep well.” Alyssa forced a faint smile and urged him to shower.

Justin suddenly took out a silk scarf, the logo alone making it clear it was expensive.

“I came across it last night and figured you’d like it.”

After saying that, he went into the bathroom.

Alyssa held the soft scarf in her hand, lost in thought for a moment, then placed it into her blue tie-dye canvas bag and carried it to work.

The in-house chip project had once been suspended because of her mentor’s passing.

When it restarted, she became the core lead.

Due to confidentiality regulations, her mentor’s widow had pulled some strings to place her in a nominal administrative position at Wells Group.

Her husband had always believed she was a junior staffer earning one thousand a month.

In reality, every day she left home for Wells Group, entered through the east gate, walked across the vast tech park, then exited through the west gate, where the institute’s assigned driver waited for her.

In the lab, Alyssa was distracted all day. Near evening, Jordan Reed could not help asking her, “Are you unhappy because we’re having dinner tonight with Miss Lane?”

“Sophie Lane?” Alyssa looked up.

Jordan was surprised.

“You actually remembered her name! I thought besides your husband, you didn’t keep anyone else in mind.

“Everyone’s met her already. You are the only one who hasn’t. If you still don’t meet her, people might start talking.”

Alyssa frowned.

When she first met Justin, she sensed he’d been hurt in love, but she never found out who it was.

She could not bear to reopen his wounds, so she never asked.

In the four years since, Justin never mentioned about it either, as if that person had never existed.

She thought it was all in the past.

Who didn’t have a past?

Only yesterday did she learn that Justin had not only failed to forget but had secretly been giving money and support all along.

Alyssa said nothing.

Jordan pressed his lips together helplessly.

He knew Alyssa wasn’t happy about Sophie’s involvement.

This project had been her mentor’s life’s work, and now it was hers too.

How could she allow someone to step in so casually and claim a share?

Giving Sophie a share of the recognition had already been a concession. Now they were asking Alyssa to have dinner with her?

It was indeed asking too much.

Still, Jordan could not help reminding her, “Don’t refuse this time. Otherwise Mr. Caldwell won’t be happy.”

Brenton Caldwell was the institute’s top leader and Sophie’s grandfather.

Alyssa had only learned of that connection from her assistant’s private gossip.

No one on the team had been pleased about Sophie’s sudden arrival. Her résumé was impressive, but who in the institute lacked credentials?

They had worked painstakingly for four years. In another month or two, the results would be announced publicly.

Then Sophie suddenly came in as an external expert—having played no part in the research, yet ready to claim a share of the credit.

It was more infuriating than being told to add a last-minute co-author to a paper.

For that very reason, Alyssa had never allowed the external expert into the core area.

Once she finished her work at the institute, she went straight home.

Sophie had never seen her.

Alyssa looked outside through the one-way glass.

Sophie was taking off her lab coat, slipping into a brown leather overcoat, brushing back her chestnut hair, and lifting a white crocodile handbag that looked expensive.

It was the same brand as the silk scarf Justin gave her this morning.

As if possessed, Alyssa reached into her bag and pulled out the scarf, a strange unease rising in her chest.

Just then, her assistant knocked and stepped in. Seeing the scarf in her hand, she exclaimed in surprise, “Alyssa, did you use your bonus to buy one of their bags?”

“No.” Alyssa looked at the girl in front of her and added, slightly puzzled, “I didn’t buy a bag.”

“Oh.”

The assistant said, “I saw the scarf and thought you bought a bag. Usually with that brand, the scarves only come as add-ons.”

“Add-ons?” Alyssa felt her chest tighten.