Chapter 1

At the victory gala, my wife's secret obsession intentionally stumbled into my arms.

The wine in my glass soaked his designer suit.

Before I could even call for help, my wife, Linnea, snapped without a second thought.

"Wash it with your bare hands, right now," she ordered.

Every eye in the room turned toward us.

I ripped my hand away from her. "Linnea, have you lost your mind? Everyone is watching."

"He's the one who bumped into me. I refuse!"

The next day, she slammed a tablet in front of me.

On the screen, Cyrus was scrubbing that suit with a steel wool pad.

His fingernails were torn and bleeding, yet he didn't seem to feel the pain, only tears streaming down his face.

"Gentry, do you have any idea? That suit was the only thing Cyrus had left from his late father!"

Then, Linnea had her guards force me into a harness and pushed me off a thousand-foot skyscraper.

My humiliation was broadcast live to the entire world.

The hashtag #GentryScrubbingTheSkyline exploded on social media.

On the giant screen across from me, Linnea's face was frozen in ice.

"You didn't want to wash a suit by hand? Fine. Now, you're going to scrub this entire building with your bare hands!"

The high-altitude wind cut through my bones.

I looked into the drone's camera and forced a cold, jagged smile.

"Let's end this circus."

1

The live stream comments were scrolling at a frantic pace.

"Did you guys see that video? Cyrus's fingers are literally shredded! Gentry is a monster!"

"The trophy husband is acting up again? He ruined the clothes, just wash them!"

"CEO Linnea is a queen! I bet he won't last ten minutes before he's begging for mercy!"

"Place your bets! How long until he falls?"

I lifted my head, looking toward the penthouse suite of the building across the street.

Cyrus was leaning weakly against Linnea's shoulder.

His voice reached me through the loudspeakers, raspy and full of fake hurt.

"Linnea, please don't blame Gentry..."

"It's my fault for being so clumsy. I just have a thing for cleanliness, and you gave me that suit, so I panicked..."

"It has nothing to do with him..."

Linnea was crying for him, her heart breaking.

She grabbed a pair of binoculars and glared at me as I dangled in the air.

"Gentry! Look at what you've done to him!"

"He's still making excuses for you even now!"

"Today, you either get on your knees and apologize to Cyrus, or you scrub this building clean. Otherwise, you're never coming down!"

I swung in the void, the wind making it nearly impossible to keep my eyes open.

I remembered the first time I met Linnea.

Back then, we started from nothing.

She used to whisper in my ear that she loved my pride the most―the way I would never break.

But ever since my family went under and I married into hers, that pride became a sin in her eyes.

"Linnea," I shouted at the drone, my voice raw. "He shredded his own hands. How is that on me?"

"Tell him to act better next time. Who the hell washes a bespoke suit with steel wool?"

My words clearly struck a nerve.

Cyrus's body trembled as if he'd been slapped.

Linnea stood up abruptly, her wine glass shattering against the floor.

"Gentry! You're still talking back!"

"You think you're still that high-and-mighty heir? You're nothing but a dog I keep on a leash!"

"Asking you to kneel is a mercy. Everything you eat and wear comes from my pocket!"

The chat room went into a frenzy.

"Holy crap! The gold-digger is talking back!"

"CEO Linnea, break him! Make him kneel or let him hang!"

"Cyrus is so precious, his hands are ruined!"

I took a deep breath of the freezing air.

"Linnea, don't regret this."

"Regret?" She laughed coldly. "The only thing I regret is marrying a useless waste like you!"

She barked an order into her radio. "He thinks he's so proud? Give him the tools. Make him work!"

"He doesn't stop until this entire tower is spotless!"

A drone buzzed toward me, dropping a bucket and a brush.

I looked at the dust-covered glass, then at the two of them huddled together.

My heart finally turned to stone.

I grabbed the brush and began to scrub mechanically.

I had to move. If I didn't, the cold would kill me.

But my compliance only looked like a provocation to them.

"Linnea, look at him..." Cyrus murmured.