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All Chapters of My Wife Turned My Lodge into Her Childhood Sweetheart's Private Club: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

10 Chapters

Chapter 1

"Who were you sending that voice memo to just now? Talking trash about Lucas behind his back again?" Chloe shoved open the break room door.She didn't so much as glance at the wound still oozing blood on my forehead. She slammed her designer bag onto the coffee table. "I'm warning you, Lucas bringing his friends tomorrow is him doing you a favor. Don't push your luck."I pressed an iodine-soaked cotton ball to my forehead. The sting cleared my head a little. "He smashed a wine bottle against my head. You call that doing me a favor?"Chloe rolled her eyes impatiently. "Can you stop obsessing over every little thing? Lucas's wrist is all red. He has surgery tomorrow. That's a surgeon's hand. Could you ever afford to pay for that?"I went still for a moment.In three years of marriage, to make her mountain-lodge dream come true, I'd borrowed from predatory lenders without telling my parents and worked from dawn to dark supervising construction and chasing down permits.She, meanwhile, was

Chapter 2

The next morning, the snow fell harder.Chloe arrived at the lodge early, Lucas in tow.Lucas wore a custom ski suit, spinning his car keys in his hand. "Why isn't the snow cleared off the road? My friends all drive low-slung sports cars. You think you could afford it if one gets scratched?"The moment he walked in, he jabbed a finger at me and started lecturing.I was wiping down the bar with a rag. I didn't even look up. "Snowblower's broken. Hasn't been fixed.""It's broken, so you can't use a shovel?" Lucas walked up to the bar and slapped the counter hard. "You got a problem with me? I was big enough to let yesterday slide, and you're still giving me attitude?"Chloe hurried over and took Lucas's hand, all concern. "Hey, don't slap the table. Does your wrist still hurt?"Then she turned and glared daggers at me. "Ethan, are you deaf? Lucas told you to go shovel the snow. Move!"I set down the rag and straightened up to face them. "The bedding in the main cabin has been changed, al

Chapter 3

By three in the afternoon, the sky had already gone dark.I was taking inventory in the kitchen when my phone buzzed in my pocket.I stepped into a sheltered corner by the back door and answered. "Hey, Mom.""Ethan, honey, is it cold up at the lodge? Is your cold any better?" My mother, Linda, sounded deeply worried. In the background, I could hear my father, George, coughing.My throat tightened. I swallowed hard. "Not cold. I got over it ages ago. Is Dad out of his medication? I'll transfer money tomorrow."There was a pause on the other end. "Ethan, don't put so much pressure on yourself. You took our retirement savings to open that lodge for Chloe, and we don't blame you. Is her temper any better lately? Go easy on her. Girls need a little coaxing."I gripped the phone tight.They had no idea that the retirement savings they'd scrimped together had long since turned into Lucas's wagyu and wine.They didn't know their son was being treated worse than a dog up here."I know, Mom." I

Chapter 4

By eight that night, the three-story main cabin had been transformed into a lavish banquet hall.The long table was crowded with the finest air-freighted seafood, caviar heaped on ice sculptures like it was free.Lucas sat at the head of the table, seven or eight men and women clustered around him.Chloe wove through the crowd in a backless evening gown, glass in hand. "Come on, everyone, try this wine."Lucas raised a glass of Romanée-Conti and bragged loudly, "I had this held for me especially. Normally you can't get it at any price.""Lucas, you're the man!""Nobody does it like Lucas!"Glasses went up all around in a chorus of flattery.I stood in the corner in a black server's uniform, decanter in hand."Hey, you. Over here, pour." Ricky snapped his fingers and pointed at me.I walked over and poured his wine, my face blank."So slow. Did you skip lunch or something?" Ricky deliberately tilted his glass, splashing red wine across the back of my hand.I paused, took out a handkerch

Chapter 5

Bang!The doors burst open from outside. The revelry cut off as everyone turned, annoyed, to look.A dozen men in black suits walked in.At the front was Mr. Grant, a black briefcase in his hand. Right behind him came Walt the supplier and several creditors with fury written across their faces.Lucas frowned, pushed Chloe aside, and walked over with his glass. "Who are you people? Who let you in?"He sized up the uninvited guests, decided some contact of his must have sent investors, and softened his tone a notch. "Here to talk investment? Then learn some manners. Can't you see I'm entertaining VIPs?"Mr. Grant ignored him, scanning the banquet hall. "Which one of you is Lucas Reed?"Lucas straightened his collar and lifted his chin, arrogant as ever. "That's me. What do you want?"Mr. Grant drew a document from his briefcase. "I'm legal counsel for Meridian Asset Liquidation. The lodge entered receivership at five o'clock this afternoon, and as of eight tonight it is officially under

Chapter 6

Mr. Grant took a tablet from his briefcase, fingers sliding quickly across the screen. "Based on the legally binding signed tabs provided by Mr. Ward and tonight's itemized charges, Mr. Reed's outstanding balance at the lodge is $1,442,000. Tonight's charges, including three bottles of Romanée-Conti, five bottles of Cheval Blanc, and Almas-grade caviar, come to $786,000. The grand total is $2,228,000."Mr. Grant looked up with a slight smile. "Now that the lodge is in receivership, our firm will collect this personal debt. Would you like to pay by card or wire transfer?"$2,228,000.When Lucas heard the total, his legs gave out and he collapsed into a chair. "No... impossible... I didn't order that much..."He shook his head in panic and pointed at me, shouting, "It's him! That worthless Ethan framed me! Those bills are fake!"I scoffed, produced the confirmation he'd signed that very night, and held it up in front of him. "You signed this half an hour ago. Shall I pull the security fo

Chapter 7

The shove caught Chloe completely off guard, and she crashed to the floor.She looked up in disbelief at the man she'd defended for three years. "Lucas... what are you doing?"Every shred of Lucas's usual polish was gone. He pointed at Chloe and shouted at Walt and Mr. Grant, "Get the money from her! She's the one who invited me! She said this dump belonged to her husband and I could do whatever I wanted for free! The wine, the seafood, she pushed me to order all of it! She said she wanted to make me look good!"Chloe's eyes went huge, her voice shaking. "Lucas! What are you saying! You're the one who demanded the Romanée-Conti! You said what Ethan prepared was beneath your standards and insisted on replacing it all with the most expensive options!"She tried to get up, but her gown tangled around her legs. "For you, I threw away my own husband's dignity, and now you're dumping it all on me?"Lucas sneered, his eyes brimming with disgust and contempt. "Your husband's dignity? He's a ke

Chapter 8

I stepped back in disgust.She grasped at empty air and staggered, tears smearing her flawless makeup into a mess."Ethan, don't do this to me..." she begged through her tears, her voice smaller than I'd ever heard it. "I lost my head for a moment. Lucas tricked me. I'm your wife. We swore we'd spend our lives together. Help me. Go plead with them and get the lodge back, please?"Looking at her tear-streaked face, I felt a wave of nausea. "Wife? Now you remember you're my wife? These three years, when you were posting the bags Lucas bought you on Facebook and photos of the two of you out for coffee, did you remember you were my wife then?""When I was running a fever from standing out in the snow fending off debt collectors, and you were off at a beach resort with Lucas, did you remember you were my wife then?" I let out a scornful laugh. "Yesterday, he split my head open with a wine bottle, and the first thing out of your mouth when you rushed in was whether his wrist hurt."I pointed

Chapter 9

I walked down the winding mountain road, pulling a single suitcase behind me.Behind me sat the mountain lodge, already sealed under receivership notices.A few months later, drawing on relationships with loyal clients I'd built over the years and some startup money borrowed from friends, I opened a small boutique inn down south on the coast.No more pricey wagyu, no more sky-high wine. Just clean beds and a sea breeze that smelled of salt.Business was unexpectedly good. We were booked solid every day.As for Chloe and Lucas, the news reached me in bits and pieces through Mr. Grant.After that night, Lucas was completely ruined.Walt was as good as his word. The very next day, he showed up at Lucas's hospital with his men and their picket signs.Lucas wasn't just fired. After he refused to comply with the court's judgment, he was held in contempt and marked as a judgment debtor.The properties and cars in his name were all seized and auctioned, and it still wasn't enough to cover the

Chapter 10

"Over?" Chloe murmured the word back, her eyes hollow. "How can it be over... you loved me so much... you were even willing to borrow from predatory lenders for me..."She rattled the iron gate frantically, her voice grating. "Ethan! You can't be this heartless! You're doing so well now. What would it cost you to help me out? This inn is so beautiful. I could help clean the place. I don't need wages. Just feed me, that's all!"Her gaze slid to the cozy white building behind me, greed and resentment flickering in her eyes.She couldn't accept it. The "kept man" she'd stomped on and insulted at will had not only shaken off the debt but was living a thousand times better than she was.While she'd ended up with a broken family, a pariah with nowhere to go."Ethan, are you still angry with me?" She switched tactics abruptly, forcing an ingratiating smile. "Lucas is locked up. He can't bother us anymore. Let's start over, okay? I promise, from now on, you'll be the only one for me."Looking

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