I came home with the breakthrough technology that would save my husband’s company, ready to give him the surprise of his life. The first surprise, however, was mine. Splashed across every screen in the airport was the breaking news: Larry Armitage, my husband, returning to our ‘love nest’ with another woman. At first, I brushed it off. Women had been throwing themselves at him for years, and he’d always dealt with them before I even had to lift a finger. But when I arrived at the gala he was hosting at our estate, the smart gate scanned my face and chimed with a cold, robotic voice: “Permission insufficient. Access denied.” I used my backup key, only to be met with the shriek of a high-decibel security alarm. And then, stepping out of the grand entrance, was the woman he’d told me was dead. His first love. She was wearing my wedding ring. Isla Hayes looked me up and down with a sneer of pure contempt. “This party is for people who can make the whole city shake with a single phone call. And what are you supposed to be?” she scoffed. “Get lost, before I call the cops.” Her smug, triumphant expression was so infuriating I had to laugh. “Get Larry Armitage out here right now,” I snapped. “I want an explanation. Since when does he let any and every piece of trash into our home?” 1 “A lunatic, raving at the gate? Are the security guards dead?” Isla gave me a strange look, and the assistant hovering behind her immediately started barking at me. “Who the hell do you think you are, using Mr. Armitage’s name like that?” Isla crossed her arms, her eyes flicking to the employee ID card still clipped to my jacket. “Just some low-level drone. Call HR. Have her fired.” Fired? Isla clearly had no idea that I was the primary investor in the entire Armitage Corporation. I’d never wanted to work at such a small company in the first place, but Larry had begged me for three months straight, whining that his heart ached every second we were apart. I’d only relented to put his mind at ease. And now his mistress was standing on my doorstep, trying to have me fired from my own company. I strode past her, heading for the security intercom to confront Larry myself. The fingerprint scanner glowed green, and a moment later, Larry’s face appeared on the screen. He was holding a champagne flute, schmoozing with a circle of business elites. “Hey, what’s wrong? Forget the passcode again?” he chuckled, his voice dripping with affection. “My little scatterbrain. Honestly, you’re so hopeless sometimes. I’ll have my assistant come get you in a minute. Mom’s waiting for you to come chat with her.” His tender tone stopped me cold. He had no idea I was back in the country. Seeing her chance, Isla shoved me aside, pressing her face to the camera and cooing, “Honey, just tell your mom to wait a little longer for me. I’ll be right there.” Mom? Could it be? Was his mother—the woman who’d always looked down on me, who treated me with nothing but thinly veiled contempt—in on this too? The moment he heard Isla’s voice, Larry’s gaze softened, his expression melting into a look of pure adoration that made my stomach churn. “Larry Armitage,” I snarled, my voice raw. “Get your ass out here right now!” He frowned. “Who’s that?” Isla shot me a venomous glare. “Just some beggar. I’m about to get rid of her.” Larry’s face hardened. “The guests tonight are the most important people in this city. Don’t let a piece of trash like that ruin everything.” The man who’d clung to me at the airport just before I left, his eyes red as he told me how much he’d miss me, now couldn’t even recognize my voice. Fury surged through me. I shoved my face in front of the camera. “Larry, look at me! It’s me! I guess you don’t want the core technology after all, do you!” Before the words were even out of my mouth, Isla’s assistant grabbed me by the hair and slammed me to the ground. Isla strode over and slapped me hard across the face. The diamond on my wedding ring—the one now on her finger—sliced my forehead open. Blood streamed down my face. Larry glanced coldly at my bloody, unrecognizable face. He didn’t even register who I was. “Get rid of her,” he said, his voice flat. “The company is at a critical turning point. I don’t need distractions like this.” Then he cut the feed. The silence that followed was deafening. My heart turned to ice. When his company’s technology was failing, he’d been so consumed with worry he couldn’t sleep for nights on end. So I personally led a team overseas, pouring three years of my life, my health, my very blood, into developing a solution. I had come home to give him a wonderful surprise. I never imagined he’d have an even bigger one waiting for me. It seemed that while I was in the lab, suffering from radiation exposure, vomiting blood and in and out of the hospital, he was busy rekindling an old flame. If that’s how it was, then whether his company survived or not had nothing to do with me anymore. I turned to leave, but Isla blocked my path. “Made your scene and now you want to just walk away? What about our family’s reputation?” She nodded at her assistant, who grabbed my shoulders and forced me to my knees. I had never been so humiliated in my entire life. My parents’ empire was based overseas, but our connections and resources in this country were second to none. It was the only reason Larry Armitage had gone from a complete nobody to one of the city’s most powerful figures overnight. Furious, I pulled out my phone and dialed the police. Isla just watched me, a smug, unbothered smile on her face. “Go ahead. Call whoever you want. Even if you called the president himself, I wouldn’t be scared.” Her voice dropped to a conspiratorial whisper. “Even if I killed you right here, in front of everyone, he wouldn’t dare do a thing to me. You should know who runs this city, shouldn’t you?” Soon, two police cruisers, lights flashing, screamed up to the gate. “Alright, break it up! What’s going on here!” I recognized the officer in charge. My own uncle had personally promoted him. Isla’s smugness was practically radiating off her. I raised an eyebrow, a cold fury settling in my gut. If Larry was going to play this game, I had no problem slapping him in the face in front of the entire city. I struggled to my feet. “Isla Hayes, for assault and battery. I don’t want compensation. I want her to rot in a cell—” Before I could finish, the officer walked right past me and addressed Isla with a fawning deference. “Mrs. Armitage. Are you alright?” I couldn’t believe it. I’d had dinner with this man just before I left the country. How could he turn on me so completely? Isla’s lips curved into a triumphant smirk. “I’m fine. Just some trash causing trouble.” The officer’s face hardened as he turned to me. I stared at him, my expression blank. “Have you forgotten who my uncle is?” A flicker of fear crossed his eyes, but he quickly covered it with a blustering arrogance. “Disturbing the peace in a public place. We’re taking you in. Let’s see how tough you are then.” It all clicked into place. While I was away, the entire city had accepted Isla Hayes as the new Mrs. Armitage. A humorless smile touched my lips. “Fine. Then you can get ready to turn in your badge.” He swallowed hard, panic flashing across his face. Isla’s assistant spat on the ground. “Crazy bitch! Threatening a police officer! Take her away! Mr. Armitage himself gave the order!” I ignored him, my eyes locked on the officer. “Are you sure you want to do this to me—” Before I could finish, he drew his stun baton and slammed it into my stomach. The fear in his eyes was replaced by a brutal resolve. “I don’t care who you are! In this city, what Mr. Armitage says, goes! Let’s see how long that tough mouth of yours lasts down at the station!” It felt like my organs had been rearranged. Agony ripped through me, and a cold sweat beaded on my forehead. At his signal, the other officers closed in. I clutched my stomach, my voice like ice. “I am Larry Armitage’s wife. I dare you to touch me. Do you have a death wish?” The other officers froze, hesitating. Isla spat. She brought the heel of her stiletto down on my hand, grinding it into the pavement. “So that’s it. You’re trying to seduce my husband! You shameless whore. Today, I’ll make an example of you for any other little trollop with ideas.” She pressed down, and the sharp heel bored a bleeding hole in my palm. I bit back a scream. Still not satisfied, she snatched the baton from the officer and brought it down hard on my head. Blood gushed, blurring my vision. As I thrashed on the ground, the USB drive containing the core technology tumbled from my pocket. I instinctively reached for it, but Isla was faster. Seeing the amount of blood, the lead officer grew nervous. “Ma’am, let’s not take this too far. Let me just take her in.” Isla shoved him away. Her assistant puffed out his chest. “Take it too far? Armitage Corporation has enough money to buy a dozen lives like hers! Didn’t you hear? Some guy bumped into Ms. Hayes at a coffee shop last week, and Mr. Armitage had his hands broken!” Isla grabbed my chin, her nails digging into my flesh. “His wife couldn’t even compete with me. And you think you have a chance climbing into his bed?” My blood ran cold. “You know his wife?” Her eyes gleamed with victory. “Just some useless, washed-up hag. She ran off to another country with her tail between her legs, didn’t she?” So Larry had never told her the real reason I was gone. Before I could speak, Isla addressed the growing crowd of onlookers. “Whoever gives this bitch the beating she deserves gets ten million dollars!” That was all it took. The police stepped back, and the crowd surged forward, shouting obscenities. “We hate sluts like you who throw themselves at married men!” “You’re not leaving here until you bow down to Ms. Hayes a hundred times!” Someone stepped on my shoulders, forcing my face into the dirt again and again. Another person grabbed my arm, trying to break my fingers. I gritted my teeth, my voice shaking with rage. “Isla, the data on that drive is the core technology Larry needs. I suggest you let me go. Or he will never forgive you!” Isla picked up the drive, examining it. “Core technology?” She paused, then laughed dismissively. “One minute you’re his wife, the next you’re an employee. Do you even believe your own lies?” With that, she dropped the drive and crushed it under her heel. “Let’s just see how he never forgives me.” Her assistant then unleashed a volley of slaps, so many I lost count. The taste of blood filled my mouth. My face swelled until it was unrecognizable. Isla smiled, the victor. She turned to the crowd, her voice a sharp warning. “This is what happens to any delusional fool who thinks she can climb into Larry Armitage’s bed! If I find anyone else trying to seduce my man, they’ll end up far worse than her!”
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