Chapter 1

ESSIE

“Leonard Richardson, CEO,” was beautiful crested in bold letters on the door leading to my husband’s office. I am here as a dutiful wife to bring him his birthday cake.

Balancing the cake properly on my hands, I turned sideways and used my hip to push the door open. And froze. The excitement I had felt vanished into thin air. For one horrifying second, time stopped. My breath immediately caught painfully in my throat as my world narrowed into a single devastating moment.

Leo was bent over his mahogany desk, thrusting into a woman sprawled across it. Her skirt was pushed up around her waist, her red nails digging into his shoulders as soft moans filled the office.

His once clean organized office was a mess. Papers littered the floor, chairs pushed to a corner of his office… And the wet rhythmic sounds of sex echoed through the room.

The cake box slipped from my hands and crashed against the carpet as chocolate frosting splattered across the office floor… my entire world has just shattered with it. For one horrifying second, I could not breathe. I just stood, frozen in place, watching.

The office smelled like expensive cologne, sweat, and betrayal.My throat tightened painfully. This couldn’t be real but it was real and I still didn’t know how to process it yet.

Leo..the man I had stood beside when we barely had enough money to survive. The man whose dreams I had carried like they were my own.

I couldn’t stop looking at my husband even as his eyes met mine. Then, he straightened immediately, irritation flashing across his face and nothing close to guilt appeared on his face.

“Essie,” he said sharply. “What the hell are you doing here?”

I stared at him, unable to process the coldness in his voice. Thirty minutes ago, I had been driving here smiling to myself like a fool. Today was Leo’s thirty fifth birthday, and I had planned everything perfectly.

I had spent hours baking his favorite chocolate cake from scratch. I even drove my old modest sedan instead of the luxury cars sitting in our garage because some part of me still missed the version of us that existed before wealth changed everything.

Back when Leonard Richardson was just Leo. Back when he still looked at me like I mattered.

“Leonard…” My voice cracked as I forced the words out. “What is this?”

I look towards the woman as she slowly adjusted her clothes without the slightest hint of shame. She was young, beautiful in an elegant and effortless way. Well, wealthy women always seemed to be.

And worst of all, when her eyes met mine, she smirked at me. Like she had won something. Like she knew me and wanted this to happen.

Leo zipped up his trousers calmly, his expensive watch catching the office light. Every inch of him looked powerful now, the tailored suit that accentuated his perfectly tattooed muscles.

His cold blue eyes that always captivated me whenever he looked at me, the confidence money had carved into his bones. The struggling man I fell in love with was gone.

“You should’ve called first,” he said flatly. “You know I hate surprises.”

The words hit me harder than the scene itself. Tears burned my eyes, but I swallowed them down before they could fall. I refused to break in front of them. I refuse to let this woman see me hurt, she is staring ghostly at me, her face etched in a frown.

“This is wrong, Leo,” I whispered. “We’re married, for Christ’s sake. I helped build all this with you. I gave you everything.” My chest tightened violently, I wanted to scream and punch Leo but instead I remained standing, silently pleading that he hears me.

“How could you do this to us?” I murmured.

He sighed like I was exhausting him or maybe I was. “Essie… not now. Not here.”

Not here? A bitter laugh nearly escaped me. I remembered all the nights I sat alone in our massive mansion waiting for him to come home. How our conversations got shorter. The growing distance.

The way every attempt to reach him emotionally ended with irritation in his voice.

There has always been signs, and like an idiot, I convinced myself it was stress. I stupidly convinced myself it was the pressure of owning a successful business.

I had even smiled when I drove toward Leonard Richardson Towers earlier, staring up at the gleaming skyscraper that now carried our family name.

‘Our family name.’ I hissed.

God, I really believed bringing him a birthday cake would fix us.

“What is wrong with you?” I snapped, my voice rising. 

The woman leaned casually against the desk, watching me like I was entertainment. And maybe I was.

Leo rubbed a tired hand over his face. For a second, he almost looked annoyed that this moment had interrupted his day.

“Essie, go home,” he said calmly. “We will talk later. We will fix it.”

Fix it? The sheer casualness in his tone made something inside me crack wider. He didn’t offer me an apology. There was no remorse. Only cold dismissal wrapped in empty promises.

Part of me wanted to scream. To throw something. To demand answers until he finally looked at me the way he used to, with a little bit of affection.

But another part of me, the soft, people pleasing wife I had slowly become for him..still clung to hope.

“Fix what?” the woman asked suddenly, her lips curling into a cruel smile.

“Just tell her the truth now. There’s no point waiting anymore.”

Her eyes swept over me with open triumph.

“Bella,” Leo warned softly. “Not now.”

His tone was gentle when he spoke to her. The same gentle tone he once reserved for me. The sound of it twisted the pain deeper into my chest.

I looked between them, my pulse roaring in my ears.

“Tell me what?”