Chapter 5

What a coincidence.

I looked up at Leon and said, "Tell the person who sent it that the money used to buy this bag is not clean. We will never do business with them."

Leon nodded understandingly and stepped away to make the call before the plane took off.

…

Once I got home, I turned on my newly purchased phone and saw that Daphne had left me hundreds of missed calls and countless messages on WhatsApp.

"Vance, have you had enough? It was just a loan to my childhood friend. Why are you pushing for a divorce over this?

"Is that woman who paid your medical bills the real reason you want a divorce? The one decked out in luxury brands? I saw her car and bracelet. They're worth millions of dollars.

"Are you looking down on me for being poor? I've worked so hard. I started out making just a few thousand dollars a month, and within three years, I've built that up to 15,000 dollars. You've been living off me all these years."

I shoved the old SIM card into a drawer and inserted a new one into my phone.

To be fair, Daphne was incredibly hardworking. While many of her peers from her graduating class were still unemployed or hunting for jobs, she had firmly established herself in the city. Her salary had skyrocketed, and multiple companies were competing to headhunt her.

Before Luca came along, I would cook after work because she hated it, and she would clean the entire house.

Daphne's personal expenses were remarkably low. She didn't get her nails done, didn't dye her hair, and didn't go shopping. She spent less than 2,000 dollars a month on herself.

I worked in a non-profit organization, where my salary maxed out at 3,000 dollars a month, and I only spent 300 dollars.

Together, we managed to put 10,000 dollars a month into our joint account. Combining that with our bonuses, and after paying the property management fees, car maintenance, and the mortgage, it had taken us three years to save up that 100,000 dollars.

Originally, I wanted to proudly tell Dad that I could build a good life without relying on the family.

But the moment Luca showed up, Daphne was willing to throw everything aside and hand over every single penny we had to him.

Even if nothing physical had ever happened between them, I couldn't accept it. I couldn't be with a wife who valued friendship more than her own husband.

…

A week later, our divorce was finalized. I didn't want the car we bought together and the apartment I had paid for using my investment earnings from insurance funds.

Giving them up was the only way to fast-track the process. After all, compared to those assets, Dad's massive company was the real fortune.

Dad announced he was throwing a grand homecoming party for me, where he would officially hand over 50% of the company's shares.

Previously, I had taken Mom's surname, Gardner. For this party, I was going to officially legally take Dad's surname before taking over the shares.

Seeing how Dad's hair had turned completely gray, I agreed.

Since I was still recovering from my illness and sensitive to the cold, I wore a heavy wool overcoat over my custom-tailored suit to stay warm.

I was sitting in a quiet corner, eating a piece of cake to soothe my stomach, when someone suddenly gripped my arm tightly.

I turned around. To my shock, it was Daphne.

She stared at me in disbelief. "Vance? Is that really you? I barely recognized you. You've gotten so handsome, and you carry yourself with this incredibly high-class vibe now."