Chapter 1: My Husband, My Enemy

The moment Tessa stepped out of the courthouse, she was blinded by the flash of cameras exploding around her. Reporters shoved forward, voices colliding, each question sharper than the last.

“Tessa Caldwell, is it true your own husband testified against your father?”

Millions of viewers watching the trial on TV had been stunned. The mysterious CEO, who’d managed to stay anonymous for years, had finally shown his face, while testifying against his father-in-law.

“How does it feel to be betrayed by the man you married?”

She tried to push her way through the swarm, but the crowd pressed tighter. Someone yanked her hair, another grabbed her arm, and not a single cop moved to help her.

Breathless and shaking, Tessa finally shoved herself into her car and slammed the door shut.

“Move!” she screamed, pounding the horn, but it was useless.

The questions didn’t stop. She pressed her hands over her ears. She wanted silence. She wanted every voice in the world to disappear.

Her husband, the man she thought she married for love, was Nathan Hale, CEO of a massive investment firm. Until today, no one knew his face. But during the trial, Nathan revealed his tragic past. When he was a boy, his family lost everything in a fire. The insurance company, run by Tessa’s father, Robert Caldwell, denied their claim.

They weren’t the only ones. Dozens of families were left destitute, homes gone, medical bills piling up, forced into ruin because Robert Caldwell buried hidden clauses in his contracts and delayed claims until desperate people gave up. For years, his company had destroyed lives.

Tessa had known none of it.

Now, surrounded by a mob of reporters, she felt like prey. They beat on her windows, shouted her name, clawed for a piece of her.

The horn only seemed to make them wilder. With no other choice, she slammed her foot on the gas, forcing the crowd to scatter.

She drove as if speed itself could save her, refusing to look back, until she pulled up at her father’s estate.

Her stomach dropped. Strangers were carrying furniture, paintings, antiques, everything, out of the house.

“What are you doing?” she cried, watching a man haul away the dining room table. No one looked at her.

“Miss Tessa!” Lila, one of the maids, rushed over in her uniform. “They’re taking everything. They said they have a court order.”

“Everything?” Tessa whispered, stunned.

Another man came out carrying a portrait of her late mother, Clara, the only thing Tessa truly cherished.

“You can’t take that! That’s mine! That’s my mother!” She lunged for it, clutching the frame, but the man yanked it back.

“This was in my bedroom!” she shouted.

“Step aside, miss. I’m just doing my job,” the man grunted, shoving her. She stumbled, knees scraping against the gravel.

Humiliated, aching, she pressed her hand to the ground, tears spilling onto her skin. She had never felt so powerless.

Then a hand gripped her arm, firm, steady, and pulled her up with ease.

“I’ll make sure this painting stays safe,” a deep voice said.

Her breath caught. That voice. The voice she used to crave.

Nathan.

His piercing blue eyes locked on hers with a force that made her chest tighten.

Once, she had stood with this man at the altar, believing in love, believing in forever. But now, all she could feel was rage.

She jerked away from his touch, furious that part of her still ached for him, still longed for the warmth he could ignite in her. She hated herself for it.

The man she had loved had turned her heart into a weapon for his revenge. Since the day she said “I do,” her joy had been nothing but a lie.

“It seems justice has finally run its course,” Nathan said coldly, watching with satisfaction as every corner of the house was stripped bare.

“Are you proud of yourself?” Her voice trembled, but she refused to look away. “Happy now that you’ve destroyed me?”

Nathan’s lips curved into a cruel smile she had never seen before. “Pathetic. You lived your whole life drenched in wealth, all of it built on other people’s suffering. And now? It’s gone. Every last bit. Even that dress you’re wearing was bought with dirty money.”

“I didn’t even know what my father was doing! I had nothing to do with his company,” she insisted, shaking her head.

“You think that makes you innocent?” Nathan grabbed her chin, forcing her to meet his eyes. “Every time I look at you, I see him. Every luxury you enjoyed... your gowns, this house, even the air you breathed, was bought with blood money. Don’t pretend you’re clean, Tessa. Whether you knew it or not, you’ve been living with their blood on your hands.”

The hatred in his eyes gutted her.

Something cracked inside her chest. But this time, it wasn’t just tears that fell. It was fury. Her face burned as she shoved his hand away.

“Nathan… how could you?” Her voice broke, hoarse and raw. Tears filled her eyes, but anger sharpened her expression.

Nathan sighed, as if her words bored him.

“The only reason I married you was to destroy your father. Nothing more.”

The words shattered her. She closed her eyes, fighting to breathe. When she opened them again, she met his gaze with a resolve he couldn’t touch, even as her tears kept falling.

“You know what, Nathan?” She gave him a broken smile. “If you’d been honest with me from the start, if you’d told me what my father did and what you planned, I would’ve helped you. I would’ve stood by you. Not just because I loved you, but because it was the right thing to do. The court punished my father for his crimes. But you? You punished me for sins I never committed.”

She stared at the ring on her finger, as if the small band was draining the last of her hope. Slowly, she pulled it off and let it fall to the ground.

Her voice was calm, but icy. “I don’t want anything to do with you anymore, Nathan Hale. I want a divorce.”

She turned and walked away without waiting for his answer. Tears streaked her cheeks, but her steps didn’t falter.

That day, Tessa lost both her father and her husband.