I shelled out a million bucks for a rare Platinum Arowana, only for my wife to give it to her intern to feed to stray cats. He even flaunted it on social media: [So grateful for the beautiful and kind Evelyn! Our little Buddy is now a cat who's eaten a dragon fish~] In the video my friend sent, my wife, Evelyn Hayes, was leaning into the intern, Dylan Miller, both of them cooing over a grubby stray cat, smiling so sweetly. Meanwhile, my prized fish, which was meant to be a gift, lay on the grass, scales ripped off, bloody and unable to move. I immediately called Evelyn. But I tried twenty-something times, and not a single call went through. An hour later, I posted my own update, complete with a video. [Nothing beats a stew made from carefully pampered exotic pets—the dogs just love it!] In the video, all of Evelyn’s expensive exotic pets had been tossed into a large pot, made into a rich stew, and shared among a pack of stray dogs outside the building. 1 Just as I was instructing the household staff to take the contents of the pot out to the nearby strays, Evelyn, who had been missing for hours, stormed back. The rapid clatter of the keypad buttons showed just how agitated she was. “Alex Thorne! Have you lost your mind?!” “Do you have any idea how much effort I put into getting those exotic pets? How precious they are? And you actually ate them all?!” I scoffed, retorting, “Who’s truly lost their mind here?” “Didn’t you casually give away the dragon fish I paid over a million for?” “How is it okay for you to feed cats, but not for me to feed dogs?” “I thought this was your new quirk, you know, buying million-dollar pets just to eat them. So I helped you stew all the exotic pets in the house. Good timing, you’re back just as the stew’s fresh and hot. Want a bowl?” Evelyn choked on her words, a breath catching in her throat. It took a while for the flush to recede from her face. “Isn’t it only natural for cats to eat fish?” “Besides, Dylan just landed a huge order for the company right after getting promoted from intern. I was just rewarding him.” “And once I gave him the fish, how he dealt with it was his business. No one else has a say.” At that, I let out a low chuckle. “Reward?” “Chloe Davis has been working with you since the day you joined the company. She’s done all the grunt work, never a single complaint.” “Funny, I’ve never seen you reward her with anything so extravagant.” I paused, my gaze turning cold. “Or is it that you’re just happy to be generous with my money, giving away things I paid for?” Evelyn was rendered speechless by my retort, but Dylan, who had been lingering behind her, piped up. “It’s just a fish, isn’t it? I’ll pay you back.” “Pay me back?” I craned my neck, sizing him up. “That was a Platinum Arowana worth over two million. Even its shed scales fetch a couple of thousand dollars each.” “Can you even afford it?” Hearing the price, Dylan’s eyes widened in disbelief. “No way! A small fish is worth over two million?!” Seeing his skepticism, I pulled out the payment receipt. He instantly quieted, looking pleadingly at Evelyn. “Evelyn…?” Evelyn was silent for a moment, then patted his hand reassuringly. “You don’t have to pay. I told you it was your reward; you earned it by securing that big deal.” “The company will cover the cost.” Hearing Evelyn constantly claim Dylan had secured a big deal, I grew curious. A two-million-dollar gift, just like that? How massive could this deal be? But I hadn’t heard of Hayes Corporation getting any major new business recently. The next second, Dylan unwittingly enlightened me. “Right, Evelyn, Mr. Thorne even stamped the approval. My bonus is well-deserved…” In an instant, it clicked. So, Evelyn had pulled strings and used my company’s corporate seal without authorization, all to help him gain a foothold in the company. This project hadn’t even passed through my hands, and she’d already given it my seal of approval. “Evelyn Hayes, what project did Thorne Enterprises and Hayes Corporation collaborate on? How is it that I, the CEO, know nothing about it?” “Where did he sign this ‘deal’? On your bed?” Evelyn’s voice suddenly rose. “Alex Thorne! What are you talking about? I’m your wife!” “Dylan secured that project based on his own merit. He couldn’t reach you, so I just stamped it for you. The proposal was genuinely excellent, a win-win collaboration. Would I ever do anything to harm you?” I laughed as if I’d heard the most ridiculous joke. “You still remember you’re my wife?” “I’m a CEO too, and I’m busy, but I don’t spend entire nights away from home like you do.” “And you say you’re ‘working overtime at the office.’ I think you’re more likely ‘playing around’ at the office!” Probably unable to argue back, Evelyn’s face flushed crimson. “You’re absolutely impossible to reason with!” With that, she grabbed Dylan and stormed out of the house. My intense, confrontational demeanor instantly deflated. In elite family marriages, it’s common for couples to appear united but be estranged, with plenty of discreet affairs happening on the side. But I thought Evelyn and I were different. Although we were childhood friends, the Thorne family's standing far surpassed the Hayes family's. At the time, countless women were vying to be my fiancée, but I chose her alone. Because she was the only one who didn’t care if I was outstanding, but rather worried if my path to success was arduous. I once believed she loved me too. To get my parents to accept her, I even leveraged my own resources and connections to help the Hayes family rise. At seventeen, I thought true love was invincible, capable of overcoming all odds. But after marriage, as the Hayes family leveraged their connection to the Thornes, skyrocketing to become a top-tier elite family, The Evelyn who was always so gentle and thoughtful with me changed. Perhaps reaching a certain height, she felt she no longer needed the Thorne family's help. She stopped pretending. She began subtly and unintentionally to distance herself from me, even overtly cheating on me. But no matter. Evelyn Hayes, I’ll make you realize the price of 'playing around'! 2 Half an hour later, I had the divorce papers sent to her. If Evelyn were a smart woman, she’d understand my stance. The implied message: she could give her lover anything she wanted, just don't involve me. This was the last shred of dignity I was offering this marriage. But when the papers came back to me, they were nothing but shredded confetti. I knew she was protesting. “Mr. Thorne, Ms. Hayes also asked me to relay a message.” “…” My assistant hesitated, unable to bring himself to speak the words. I knew what he wanted to say; after all, I had taught Evelyn that tactic myself. “Did she say ‘what’s done is done, the deal’s sealed, and if I want to terminate the contract, I’ll have to pay a breach penalty’?” The assistant nodded, his face grim, and added, “And Ms. Hayes said that since you appreciate Ms. Davis so much, Ms. Davis should just come work directly under you at Thorne Enterprises. Hayes Corporation is too small for her talents.” “When I left, I saw that Ms. Davis’s old desk had already been taken by Dylan Miller.” I let out a self-deprecating laugh. “Well done. Truly excellent. She’s certainly the talent I spent five years cultivating.” “Signing contracts behind my back, then swiftly firing the very person I handpicked for her… She’s truly surpassed the master.” Who would have thought I, Alex Thorne, would bring this trouble upon myself? But when I poured everything into teaching her, I certainly never taught her to repay kindness with enmity. The next moment, my gaze turned terrifyingly cold. “Tell the legal department to prepare a lawsuit against Evelyn Hayes for the unauthorized use of Thorne Enterprises’ corporate seal.” “Also, notify the others. They can move.” “Before sunset today, I want to see Hayes Corporation’s stock plummet.” For the next half-hour, I watched my computer screen, observing Hayes Corporation’s stock continually dipping into the red. Seven years of support, twenty-five years of shared life, all to be repaid by her letting some unknown kid publicly humiliate me. As the sun began to set, I finally received Evelyn’s call. I didn’t rush to answer. Call after call, twenty in total, before I unhurriedly picked up. “Alex Thorne, you’re behind the stock, aren’t you?” “Are you crazy? For a fish, you’re abandoning Thorne Enterprises too, aren’t you?” “Hayes Corporation and Thorne Enterprises rise and fall together! What good will this do you?!” I chuckled lightly. “Mind your tone, Ms. Hayes.” “Hayes Corporation is currently teetering on the edge of a cliff. What do you suppose would happen if I gave it another gentle push?” Silence on the other end. After a long pause, Evelyn asked, almost through gritted teeth, “What do you want, then? My dear husband.” Seeing that she had finally recognized her position and softened her tone, I cleared my throat and stated my demands. “Pay three times the project’s breach penalty, as per the contract, and then ban Dylan Miller from the company and blackball him from the entire industry. Do that, and I’ll have them stop.” “Evelyn! I don’t want to leave the company! I just got my promotion!” “You’re the CEO of Hayes Corporation, he’s just your husband! How can he just dismiss me with a single word?!” Dylan grew anxious, no longer caring if I could hear him, loudly and urgently voicing his discontent. Facing his whining, Evelyn seemed to move the phone away slightly. I vaguely heard words like “don’t be silly” and “it’s just a temporary measure.” A temporary measure, is it? Perhaps Evelyn had forgotten how she clawed her way to her current position. Without me, what could she have accomplished? Five minutes passed, and my patience was wearing thin. “Evelyn, there’s only half an hour left until sunset. You’re running out of time.” Evelyn’s voice trembled slightly. “Alex, do you really have to be so ruthless?” Seeing my silence, she understood my meaning. Her voice filled with intense resentment, yet utterly helpless, she said,
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