Chapter 1

"Mr. Jennings, are we being too loud? What if your wife suddenly gets her hearing back and catches all of this?" a woman said.

Recognizing the voice, I froze outside the door with the stock transfer agreement in my hand.

When did Andrew's secretary sneak into the study?

In a daze, I caught Andrew's rough, heavy breathing as he warned, "Don't ever show up at my house again. If Olivia suspects anything, you'll have to pay."

Dorothy's sweet voice chimed in again, "Would you really be that cruel to me?"

The next moment, the urgent breaths from those two in the room made my blood run cold.

I never imagined that I'd be hit with such a bombshell right after I regained my hearing.

I had planned to give Andrew my shares in the company as a gift for our wedding anniversary.

But now, even though Andrew had betrayed me, I still intended to give him the gift.

I'd like to see whether he could handle it.

*****

Nausea churned in my stomach.

I took a few deep breaths, waiting for my tense body to relax. Then, I raised my hand and knocked on the door, adopting my usual soft tone. "Andrew, are you in the study?"

Suddenly, all the moaning noises from inside stopped dead. With my manners, I'd never barge in uninvited.

Andrew counted on that, which gave him the nerve to fool around with Dorothy practically under my nose.

After a few seconds, Andrew finally opened the door. Inside, I caught sight of Dorothy standing by the desk, flashing me a warm smile, even though the blush hadn't quite faded from her cheeks.

Andrew signed to me, saying, "Honey, what brings you downstairs by yourself? Dorothy just came in to report something tricky, so it took a while."

Our eyes met. I tried to catch some flicker of guilt or hesitation in his look, but all I got back was pure concern, almost like he really cared.

Clearly, he'd pulled this off more than once.

I maintained a straight face, casually waving the agreement in my hand. "Andrew, didn't I tell you I had an anniversary gift prepared for you? Here it is."

The big bold words "Stock Transfer Agreement" made Andrew's eyes sparkle for a second, and then guilt quickly clouded his expression.

"Honey, you don't need to transfer anything. We're husband and wife. The company belongs to both of us," he tried to assure me.

Back when we first started the company, my family put up the money to pull the Jennings family out of bankruptcy. We split the shares fifty-fifty.

To make sure the company could go public without any obstacles, I'd thought about handing my shares over to Andrew.

I'd joked about this before, and back then, Andrew would grin at me and tell me not to split things up between husband and wife.

Behind him, Dorothy stood frozen, her eyes locked on the agreement. Seeing Andrew hesitate, she finally spoke up.

"Mr. Jennings, you're seriously not going to sign? Don't forget that the company is about to go public. If all the shares are under your name, everything will go a whole lot smoother," she said.

Andrew frowned and switched right into the good husband act. He looked irritated as he said to Dorothy, "When did it become your place to butt into things between me and Olivia?"

Dorothy flicked a glance at me, her smile perfectly in place, but I could feel the grievance in her voice.

"Don't forget that you promised me half your shares. I've been with you for five whole years with no name or status. Isn't it about time you kept your promise?" she pleaded.

I was surprised. They'd been carrying on right under my nose for five whole years.

Luckily, I'd had the foresight to turn on the recording on my phone before I came in.

I clenched my fists, barely stopping myself from smacking Andrew across the face.

Andrew pulled a ring box out of the cabinet. Inside was a pink diamond, the very one I'd randomly pointed out to him when we were flipping through a magazine a few days ago.

He dropped to one knee like he was showing off some priceless treasure, slipping the ring onto my finger. It fit like a dream, as though he'd measured it just for me.

"Honey, I bought this gem for you. Lucky for me. I didn't mess up your size. Happy anniversary. Here's to forever, you and me," he said.

If I hadn't accidentally regained my hearing today, I might've gone to my grave never knowing about Andrew's betrayal.

But after ten years together, I couldn't help but feel my heart softening just a bit. I glanced at the two of them. Feigning casual curiosity, I teased Dorothy, "Dorothy, you're about the same age as a friend of mine. Maybe you two should meet sometime?"

If they had the sense to take the hint and gracefully step away, at least Andrew would be able to save some face when the time came for our divorce.

But instead, Andrew and Dorothy both quickly flashed hand signs, refusing outright.

Dorothy grumbled, "Come on. What kind of matchmaking is that? If I ended up with some other guy, Mr. Jennings would never look at me again."

Andrew clearly liked what he heard. A smug look spread across his face as he replied, "Glad you understand. I'd never let another man have you. Stick with me, and you'll always get what you want."

He refused to share his woman, but he had no problem forcing me to share my husband with another woman.

So be it. If that was his game, he couldn't blame me for tossing our so-called marriage aside.