Chapter 1 The Final Straw

"The bidding meeting has already started, and the presenter's still nowhere to be seen. Mr. Steele, are you seriously handing us the win on a silver platter? That's so kind of you."

The owner of our rival company slapped me hard on the shoulder, his eyes full of undisguised mockery.

I stood there stunned, unable to say a word.

Today was supposed to be our final bidding meeting. If we won, the company would finally go public.

More than a dozen employees were counting on the bonuses that would come with a successful IPO. We'd spent two full years working toward this moment, only for everything to fall apart at the very end.

Gideon Miller, Valerie Cross' best male friend, uploaded a new post on social media.

"It's just a a few coughs, but she's already worried sick about me. She even dropped everything to come and keep me company."

He attached a photo of Valerie feeding him some cough medicine, concern written all over her face.

I discovered she'd gone to take care of Gideon because he had a cold.

That was all it took for Valerie to willingly abandon the hopes of more than a dozen employees and two years of our hard work just to go running to him.

She treated me like I was beneath her, yet when it came to her best male friend, she was attentive and considerate in every way.

The tears I'd been holding back finally spilled over. I slammed my fists against the steering wheel several times.

Then, out of the corner of my eye, I spotted a used condom wedged in the gap beside the seat.

In an instant, it felt as though I'd been plunged into ice water. My entire body began to tremble uncontrollably.

Valerie was the only person who ever drove this car.

I didn't need to ask what she'd done.

I closed my eyes in despair. I'd thought she'd only cheated on me emotionally.

I never imagined she and Gideon had already slept together.

Suddenly, I remembered how Valerie had gone out of her way to cook for me some time ago.

She'd never done that before. She was unusually gentle, telling me she wanted to celebrate my birthday.

I thought she had finally been moved by my efforts, and that we could live a normal life together.

Now, I realized it had been nothing more than her guilt-driven compensation after cheating.

I opened Valerie's social media profile. Post after post, more than a dozen in a row, documented little moments she'd shared with Gideon.

There wasn't a single one about me.

Even the wallpaper on her phone was a selfie of Gideon.

It wasn't as though I'd never told her how much it bothered me. Every time I did, she turned it around and accused me of making a big deal out of nothing.

"We're just good friends. What's wrong with using each other's pictures? If Gideon and I really had feelings for each other, do you think you'd even be in the picture?"

Her eyes had reddened as she looked at me. No matter how much it bothered me, I could only let it go.

I kept telling myself that she truly had no feelings for Gideon. She just didn't understand boundaries.

But now, the last shred of hope I'd been holding on to was gone.

"Valerie, let's get a divorce."

After sending her the message, I immediately contacted a lawyer and had a divorce agreement drawn up.

…

When I got home, I started packing, determined to move out as soon as possible. Then, I found a pregnancy test report Valerie had tucked inside the cabinet.

We hadn't slept together in three months. There was no way that baby could be mine.

I thought I was already numb, but seeing that report still sent a sharp, unbearable pain through my chest.

It felt like my throat was being squeezed shut, and the suffocating sensation left me dizzy and dazed.

Without a word, I put the pregnancy report back exactly where I'd found it, took a photo, and left.

Valerie still didn't respond to my message. It was as if she'd vanished off the face of the earth.

Two days later, I forwarded the divorce agreement to her. Only then did she finally reply with a single question mark.

She asked, "What do you mean? I've only been away for a few days, and you're already asking for a divorce?"

When I did not respond, she seemed to grow angry again.

"Are you serious? Think this through. If you divorce me, you're not going to find another woman with what I have to offer."