Chapter 1

"What kind of place do you think this is? How can someone like you just waltz in?"

Bewildered, I looked up at the front office manager approaching me.

I had personally come to inspect the five-star hotel my husband recently acquired. I had just sat down in the lobby to rest since I was tired. Was that not allowed?

Seeing that I didn't respond, the woman gave me an even more disgusted look.

"What are you staring at? The air conditioning and WiFi in the hotel lobby aren't for freeloaders like you! Do you have any idea how much it costs to run the electricity here? Or how much a minute of Internet access costs?"

She looked me up and down, assessing me as though I were a piece of garbage. In the end, she curled her lips into a mocking smile.

"Looking at your shabby appearance… How about we do it this way? I won't make things hard for you. Just hand over 200 grand in Internet costs right now and then get out. I'll pretend I never saw you."

Behind her, two tall, expressionless security guards had already surrounded me.

There was one on the left and one on the right, both effectively blocking my way. Their postures suggested that they thought I'd refuse to leave.

The surrounding guests had also stopped, watching the scene unfold with keen interest. Their whispers soon drifted into my ears.

"My God! In this day and age, someone dares to enter a five-star hotel dressed like that? How shameless can one be?"

"She probably wanted to come in and take a few photos for her social media feed, pretending to be an influencer, but she got caught at the door."

"Ms. Shields is right. People like her should be kicked out early to avoid lowering the hotel's standards."

I casually picked at my nails, tuning out all the noise as I simply looked calmly at the woman I would later know to be Jessica Shields.

"What if I said I'm not here to freeload on the WiFi?" I questioned.

Jessica acted as if she'd heard the biggest joke, and she laughed exaggeratedly. "Not here for the WiFi? "What? Are you here to spend your money, then? The cheapest cup of coffee here costs 88 dollars. Is the t-shirt you're wearing enough to even cover a fraction of the price?"

She laughed until her shoulders shook, her expression eventually darkening as she waved her hand impatiently.

"Alright, stop wasting my time. Security, take her—"

"Wait," I interrupted her, my tone still calm. "I'm here because I'm the owner of the hotel."

Instantly, the air in the entire lobby seemed to freeze over.

The security guards stopped in their tracks, while the onlookers widened their eyes in shock. Even Jessica's harsh expression went blank for a brief moment.

Then, she burst out laughing in an even more exaggerated manner than before. "The owner of the hotel?"

Jessica laughed until she was nearly in tears. She pointed at me and said to those around her, "Did you all hear that? She says she's the owner of the hotel!"

The crowd also burst into exaggerated snickers at that.

After Jessica managed to finally stop laughing, she looked at me as if I were insane.

"Old lady, have you been fantasizing too much? Or did you forget to take your medicine before leaving the house? You didn't even consider where you were before pretending to be someone else. You're standing in front of the real deal!"

She proudly straightened up and looked around. Her every word dripped with pretentiousness and possessiveness as she said, "To tell you the truth, this hotel was a birthday gift from my husband. I, Jessica Shields, am the rightful owner of this hotel!"

I felt my heart sink abruptly. Husband? Birthday gift?

Did Ian…

A strangely cold chill shot through me from head to toe. My husband and I had been together since college, and we had been married for ten years now.

He loved me deeply and cherished me like his own life, so how could he possibly have another woman?

Impossible. It was absolutely impossible!

It could just be a case of people having the same name. Perhaps this was a misunderstanding.

I forced myself to calm down and looked at the name tag on her chest. "Jessica… I don't know who you are, and I've never heard your name before."

I took a deep breath before asking the question that made my heart tighten up.

"Who is your husband?"

Jessica lifted her head even higher, her expression containing the smugness of a winner.

"You don't even know who my husband is? And you dare pretend to be the owner of the hotel? Listen carefully. My husband is the CEO of Lambert Group, Ian Lambert!"