Chapter 3

3

The police arrived at the villa shortly after.

They secured the scene, took photos, and filed a formal police report.

The circus finally ended when Derek was forced to pay the full replacement value for the damaged property before swaggering out the door with Hailey.

Dawn was breaking by the time I returned home.

Looking at the empty safe, Derek's mocking words echoed in my ears.

"A divorce? Do you honestly have the guts?"

"Back then, you walked away from an arranged marriage with an ultra-wealthy heir and burned bridges with your family just to marry me. If you get divorced now, you'll be the biggest laughingstock in the Howard family."

He wasn't entirely wrong.

When we got married, Derek was a broke nobody with nothing to his name, while my family ran a massive cosmetics empire.

To be with him, I had severed ties with my parents.

If I divorced him now because he cheated, all my snobbish relatives would undoubtedly mock me mercilessly.

Yet he seemed to forget that when I chose him, I never gave a damn about what other people thought.

I was still the fierce woman I had always been.

He was the one who had rotted from the inside out.

While reviewing the divorce paperwork with my lawyer, I noticed Hailey had updated her public social media page.

She posted a photo showing off two brand-new designer gold cuffs, smiling brightly at the camera.

Caption: "Don't be afraid, little baby. Daddy is our brave knight, and he will always protect us."

Below the post, Derek had commented: "From now on, our son and I will protect you together and buy you all the gold in the world."

When I first hired her, her account had been strictly hidden from me.

Now, emboldened by Derek's open favoritism, she had the nerve to flaunt their affair right in my face.

I took screenshots and forwarded them to my lawyer immediately.

A second later, my lawyer sent over a corporate equity document that made my blood run cold.

Our cosmetics company, which had flourished entirely on my personal patents and family connections, had Derek holding 70% of the equity.

Seven months ago, he transferred every single share to Hailey Reed!

She was currently the majority owner of my life's work!

Stunned, I opened Hailey's social media feed and scrolled back through her entire timeline.

A full year of past posts had been made public, clearly meant as a deliberate taunt for my eyes.

"Derek transferred the entire company to my name as his bride price, saying he'll just run it for me. But having him is all I need; why would I ever care about a company?"

"Rose is pregnant too! Derek happily called it a double blessing. He signed all his real estate over to me and said our daughters' condos can be given to Rose's kittens."

"Rose is the luckiest mama cat in the world. She has four babies in her belly, and each one will have their own luxury penthouse."

The memories of the past few months suddenly crashed over me with horrifying clarity.

A month ago, Derek asked for the property deeds to our daughters' four high-end apartments, claiming he found two adjacent suburban villas to trade them for.

Every time I offered to tour the properties with him, he made up endless excuses to brush me off.

In reality, he had given those multi-million-dollar condos to four unborn kittens.

All of our marital homes and the company had become Hailey's lavish wedding gift, and my daughters' dowry had become her personal jewelry collection.

He had given away our entire world to her.

Leaving my daughters and me with absolutely nothing.

My phone rang.

Before my lawyer could speak, I gritted my teeth and enunciated every single word with lethal precision.

"Gather every shred of evidence and sue him for fraudulent transfer of marital assets."

"And immediately revoke every single cosmetic patent I licensed to the company. Do not leave them a single one!"

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