Chapter 1

I took my daughter on a summer vacation trip.

During the journey, I saw a post on social media. It read: [The CEO is so generous.]

The picture showed an available balance of 1.5 million dollars.

The post came from my husband's new secretary.

My daughter pointed at the woman in the photo and said, "Mom, I don't like her. Last time Dad brought her home, she wore your clothes. She also called me a worthless brat and said you and I didn't deserve Dad."

I froze.

I was about to call my husband when I saw his comment under the post. It read: [My woman deserved the best.]

Without hesitation, I called the senior management of the company.

"Freeze all assets under my husband's name. Any expense over ten dollars will require my approval," I ordered. "And fire that secretary immediately."

After hanging up, I left a comment under the post. [After ten years of marriage, I finally learned my husband had such a generous side.]

*****

After sending the message, I turned off my phone, took my daughter's hand, and together we headed into the amusement park.

The carousel lights shimmered on my daughter's face, and for a while, she forgot all about the earlier drama. She let out a cheer and dashed toward the roller coaster.

We spent the whole afternoon having fun, and when the sun finally set, we trudged back to the hotel, worn out but happy.

As soon as I turned my phone back on, it blew up with 99+ missed calls and a flood of messages. Almost all were from my husband Samuel Duncan.

I skimmed through his frantic, accusatory texts and swiped them away.

Then I opened my social media and uploaded a photo of my daughter and me, grinning in front of the carousel.

I captioned it: [Quality time with my daughter. We had a blast today.]

Comments started pouring in right away. There were tons of likes and people gushing over how adorable my daughter was.

I was smiling as I replied to the comments when Samuel's call popped up again.

I frowned and hit decline.

But the next second, his calls and texts started blowing up my phone like crazy.

My daughter fidgeted, unsettled by all the noise.

I grabbed my phone and walked into the living room, took a deep breath, and hit accept.

As soon as I picked up, Samuel's roar nearly blew out my eardrums.

He shouted, "Ashley, what the hell do you think you're doing? Who gave you the right to freeze my assets?

"Do you even realize how much you embarrassed me in front of the business partners today?"

His voice was a mix of rage and self-righteousness.

Any good mood I'd managed to scrape together vanished in an instant.

I gripped my phone, my tone frosty. "Samuel, since you can't talk to me calmly, I'll hang up right now."

Without waiting for his response, I ended the call.

A few seconds later, my phone rang again.

This time, his tone was a bit calmer, but I could still hear the anger simmering beneath.

He said, "Ashley, the bank just called and told me all my cards are frozen. Care to explain what's going on?"

I leaned back on the couch, my voice flat and emotionless. "When we got married, you said yourself all the family finances would be under my control.

"Back then, I didn't care enough to bother. But now, I suddenly feel like putting that promise to use.

"Any expense over ten bucks? You'll need my approval."

"Ten bucks?" Samuel practically shouted, totally incredulous. "I'm the CEO of a major corporation. Ten bucks barely cover a tank of gas."

"I've already done the math," I said, cutting him off, my tone still ice-cold. "With how far your office is, you only need to fill up your car every few weeks. When it's time, someone will fill up your tank for you.

"And for meals, doesn't your company have a cafeteria? I've already arranged with the manager. From now on, your lunch gets delivered straight to your office.

"That ten bucks is for when you get thirsty and want a bottle of water, or if you don't feel like driving and need to grab a cab.

"A rideshare from the office to home is exactly ten bucks. I've already thought through everything for you. Ten bucks is plenty."

I paused, my voice growing even icier. "If I hadn't taken back control of the money, how would I know you thought you had cash to burn, blowing it all on other women?"

"That screenshot... It's not what you think," Samuel retorted at once, panic creeping into his voice. "That money is Helena's bonus from her last project.

"She was worried she'd spend it all, so she asked me to help manage it. I just set up a shared account for her, that's it.

"Ashley, don't blow this out of proportion. She's more than ten years younger than me. How could anything ever happen between us?"