Chapter 3

The day before a major launch, Ethan's company suddenly lost its core supplier. They'd rather pay the penalty for breaching the contract than deliver one more batch of critical parts.

The tech director was sweating bullets. "Mr. Fuller, tomorrow's launch is screwed. The listing review is definitely going to be affected."

Jessica walked in with a cup of coffee. "Ethan, I know the owner of that supplier. I can talk to him for you."

She even made a point of glancing at me. "At least I'm not the kind of person who only knows how to splurge at a time like this."

That really rubbed me the wrong way. That night, I transferred 20 million out of Ethan's account to vent.

The second Jessica received word, she took a screenshot of the transaction history and dropped it in the company group chat. "Everyone, look! The company's hanging by a thread, and she's still blowing money like crazy!"

A bunch of employees immediately went on social media to mock me.

"When your boss has a wife like this, you're really cursed."

"Seriously. I just hope the company doesn't stiff me on my paycheck if it goes bankrupt tomorrow."

Ethan only sent me one message. "Is that enough for you to spend?"

I thought about it. "Barely."

He wired over another five million.

Jessica lost it then and there. "Ethan! Did she put some kind of spell on you?"

Ethan looked dead serious as he said, "If she's still willing to spend my money, it means she's not planning to trade up to another man yet."

The next day, the launch went ahead as scheduled. Jessica made a point of exposing me in front of all the reporters.

"Last night, Lori Shore charged 25 million dollars to the company card. Watches, jewelry, a sports car—she bought a mountain of stuff! Trash like her needs to be kicked out of the company immediately!"

The crowd buzzed.

I touched the diamond hanging around my neck, feeling a little diffident. It was true that I'd bought all that stuff. But toward the end of my spree, I noticed a batch of old machines no one wanted in a corner of the auction hall.

They were huge and heavy, and a few dozen of them went for only 50 grand. I figured that since I was already there, I'd buy the whole lot, warehouse included.

When Jessica heard that, she doubled over with laughter. "Ethan, the company's short on parts, and she used your money to buy a pile of scrap metal!"

But before she could say anything else, the tech director suddenly burst into the venue like a madman. "Mr. Fuller! Where's that equipment?"

I pointed west, toward the industrial district.

His hands shook with excitement. "That's not scrap metal! That's the full experimental line the supplier phased out three years ago! With a bit of modification, we can produce the critical components ourselves!"

The room fell silent, and Jessica's smile froze. Honestly, I was taken aback too.

Ethan pulled me into his arms. "Lori, you knew they were gonna cut us off, so you bought the production line ahead of time?"

I hesitated for a couple of seconds, then said, "Of course."

No way was I going to tell him I'd only bought the stuff because diamonds being sold by the gram felt like daylight robbery, and I'd randomly decided to bid on that junk instead.

The tech team rushed into the plant overnight. Three days later, the first batch of components successfully rolled off the line.

The supplier who'd tried to choke Ethan's company panicked and crawled back. They were the ones begging to work with now, even offering discounts.

Because of this, Ethan's company finally locked down its own supply chain. Three different investment firms doubled down, and the valuation blew past two billion.

Ethan went on another spending spree for me, buying me a yacht and another villa. He practically treated me like royalty. I couldn't even share everything on my socials fast enough.

Meanwhile, Jessica was so mad she was about ready to grind her teeth to dust. She finally realized that the more she tried to prove I was just a gold digger, the richer my gold digging made Ethan.

So on the night of the company's IPO celebration party, she suddenly barged in with a swarm of reporters.

"Ethan, you don't even know that you've been cheated on, do you?" She held up a baby wrapped in a blanket for everyone to see. "This is the child Lori had behind your back with another man!"