Chapter 1

Elise's POV

Joshua Ford, my husband and the heir to Kingsbury's largest fortune, reached over, took the phone I was holding up, and tossed it onto the coffee table.

He glanced at the video playing on the screen and casually turned it off.

"Honestly, I've been a little tired these past few years," he said out of nowhere, rubbing his temples. His expression was unchanged.

"I'm in my 30s now. Young women still get my blood pumping. I meant to keep it from you forever, but now that you've found out, I don't have to hide it just to spare your feelings anymore."

Joshua sighed, looking as though a weight had just been lifted off his shoulders.

Every word out of his mouth pierced my chest like a needle. It hurt so badly I could barely stand straight.

I forced a faint smile. "Joshua, this joke isn't funny. Just tell me none of it is real, and I'll believe you."

The look he gave me was complicated—pity, impatience, everything except guilt.

He went into the room, returned with an agreement, and slid it across the table toward me. The stark black words on the page made everything I wanted to say catch in my throat.

"I've already signed it. If you don't want to stay in this marriage, sign it and we'll part on good terms. I'll give you money.

"If you want to stay, we can keep being husband and wife, but you'll stay out of my private life, and I'll stay out of yours. We'll just put on a show for the press so it doesn't affect the stock price."

Joshua tapped his fingers on the table, silently urging me to hurry.

I opened my mouth. Tears stung my eyes. "Why? We've been together for over 20 years—"

He stepped closer and took my hand. His fingers stroked my wedding ring, cutting me off before I could finish.

"That's exactly it. We've been together for so many years that I want to try someone new."

He paused, looking up with a smile. "Why don't you try someone new too? I won't stop you."

I lowered my eyes and pulled my hand free. My voice was hoarse. "I'm not divorcing you. I poured 20 years of my life into you. You think you can wipe all that away with money?"

Silence fell over the room. Only when a shrill ringtone shattered it did Joshua pick up his coat from the couch. He glanced back at me and said casually, "Elise, sooner or later, you'll come around."

The front door slammed shut, sending a gust of air through the room.

The dinner I'd cooked to celebrate Joshua coming home from his business trip was still sitting on the dining table.

My breathing was hard and ragged, the rage trapped in my chest with nowhere to go.

I stared at the divorce agreement, grabbed it, and tore it to pieces. Then, I swept every dish off the table and onto the floor.

The crash of shattering glass echoed through the empty living room.

We'd been married for ten years, and we'd dated for ten years before that. I'd spent 20 whole years walking beside him. Yet the more money he made and the bigger our home became, the colder his heart grew.

When I received the video, I wondered if it was just an AI face-swap, or maybe some kind of prank. It had never once crossed my mind that Joshua would be the one to betray our marriage first.

Scraps of the divorce agreement drifted around my feet. Joshua's name on the signature line burned my eyes until they ached.

I bent down to clean up the mess, and a shard of glass sliced my finger open.

I didn't care about the blood running down my hand. I tried to keep myself busy, looking for anything that might distract me.

Joshua's parting words kept echoing in my head. Just moments earlier, we'd still been talking about our tenth wedding anniversary. Then, that video shattered everything.

The whole thing was so absurd it felt like a dream.