Chapter 2

At ten o'clock sharp the next morning, I arrived at the entrance of Blake & Associates.

The firm was located in the heart of the city's financial district, with floor-to-ceiling windows offering a panoramic view of the towering skyscrapers that symbolized wealth and power.

Ethan, my college classmate and the founding partner of the firm, greeted me. He was dressed in a perfectly tailored suit and wore gold-rimmed glasses, giving him an air of sophistication and refinement.

But beneath that polished exterior, he was a ruthless litigator in corporate law—feared by all his opponents.

He brewed the coffee himself, his demeanor composed as always.

"Eighth time now," Ethan said, setting the cup in front of me. His voice was steady, but I caught a hint of pity in his eyes. "Claire, your endurance is way beyond what I expected."

I lifted the coffee, the warmth spreading through my fingers, but it didn't reach my heart. "It's not endurance, Ethan. It's the plan. If you want to reel in a big fish, you need patience and the best bait.

"James is suspicious by nature and full of himself. Even the slightest hint of trouble will make him wary. Only when he thinks I've completely given up and turned into someone who goes along with everything will he finally drop his guard."

Ethan nodded, pulled a thick file from the cabinet, and slid it across the desk to me. "Three years ago, when you first came to me, I could hardly believe it.

"The Claire who was a star in the mock trials—how could she end up trapped in a marriage? But you weren't defeated. You were biding your time."

The file was labeled "The Plan."

I opened it, and inside was the elaborate trap I'd set, step by step, over the past three years.

From the moment James cheated on me for the first time, I knew our love was over. I didn't fall apart. Instead, I headed straight to Ethan's office, calm and collected.

We reviewed the entire plan, going over every detail once more.

The first step was to lull him into a false sense of security. I hid all my sharp edges and played the part of the perfect, obedient, even timid wife of a powerful family.

I turned a blind eye to his affairs and put up with every bit of his mother's nitpicking. I made sure he and everyone else thought I'd sacrifice all my dignity to keep being James's wife.

The second step was laying the landmines.

With Ethan's help, I took advantage of James's arrogance and the way he always underestimated me, getting him to sign a stack of documents that looked perfectly innocent but were actually packed with hidden traps.

Take, for instance, a "Joint Debt Agreement with Separate Assets."

James needed a clean account to funnel money into some shady investments, so I "naturally" suggested we sign something to keep his personal risks from dragging down the family.

The deal was simple. Any debts he racked up in his own name, he'd shoulder alone.

But to reassure me, he agreed to a "Debt Confirmation"—if he ever dipped into what I defined as the "family reserve fund," it would count as borrowing from me personally.

He thought I was fussing over money, trying to grab a bit of control, and signed without a second thought.

What he didn't realize was that I'd set the family reserve fund so high in the agreement that it covered almost half of his company's cash flow.

Then there were a bunch of "Equity Proxy and Full Power of Attorney" add-ons. Back when the Linkletter Group was starting out, I helped him build a complicated share structure to keep things safe.

Later, as the company grew, I "suggested" that for easier management and to handle emergencies (like when he was out of the country), we sign a supplementary deal.

It said that in certain "emergency situations", which I defined super vaguely and broadly, I'd automatically get proxy rights and full authority over all his shares to keep the company running smoothly.

He figured it was a formality between husband and wife, another way to keep a leash on me, so he signed without hesitation.

Every one of these documents was personally drafted by Ethan, with clauses so flawless that even James's legal team, after combing through them, thought they were just routine trust-building between spouses.

They never saw the trap hidden in plain sight.

"All the legal documents are ready," Ethan said, tapping his fingers lightly on the file. "Once we find the right moment, a real 'emergency' that will destroy his reputation and make him lose control of the company, we can trigger every clause."

I looked out the window. The sunlight was almost too bright to look at.

"We don't need to hunt for that moment," I said, a cold smile curling at my lips. "He'll hand it to us himself. Anyone who keeps wallowing in the mire of their own desires is bound to end up filthy sooner or later."

Ethan stared at me, his expression tangled. "Claire, you really went this far with your plan?"

I picked up my coffee and took a sip. The bitterness lingered on my tongue.

"Ethan, when a woman's heart is broken beyond repair, she either loses her mind, or she becomes someone who's crazy, but keeps it together," I said, setting the cup down, my voice barely more than a sigh. "I chose the second option."