Chapter 1
After standing by Dylan Foster's side and building our business from scratch, finally tasting success, he suddenly brought home a college girl and forced me to deal with her.
He said, "She's pregnant, so she can't wait any longer. With all this money, we need an heir."
It felt like I'd been struck by lightning. I absolutely refused to sign the divorce papers.
Suddenly, a message flashed right in front of my eyes.
[Are you silly? Dylan's about to go bankrupt! If you don't sign, you'll be stuck with thirty million dollars in debt and thirty years in prison!]
My hand, poised to tear up the agreement, froze in mid-air.
The messages kept scrolling.
[In the original story, the wife, Iris Bennett, stubbornly refused to divorce, thinking she could drag that cheating couple down with her. But in the end, it was herself who got wrecked.]
[Too bad she didn't know Dylan's company was about to go bankrupt in just a month. At that time, he'd cover up the mess, move all his money, and go away with Chloe Reed, his so-called true love, enjoying a happy life together.]
[But because Iris didn't sign the divorce papers, she ended up getting all his massive debts and took the fall for Dylan, in prison for thirty years.]
[The poor Iris, she really loved him. Even behind bars, she refused to divorce him. By the time she finally got out, Dylan's grandkids were already in kindergarten. She ended up homeless and died in a trash can.]
*****
The messages right in front of me jolted me back to reality.
It took me thirty-two years to realize that I was just the expendable wife in some over-the-top webnovel.
And the male lead, the rags-to-riches guy who became a billionaire, married a trophy wife, and hit the top of the world.
It was actually my husband, Dylan.
Seeing me frozen in place, Dylan frowned and pushed, "Iris, I know you're strong-willed. You'd never tolerate sharing our marriage with someone else.
"Don't waste the rest of your life out of stubbornness. Just sign it quickly. Let's let each other go."
Let each other go?
I glared at Dylan, resentment boiling inside me.
I spent ten years grinding alongside him, working from dawn till midnight, drinking so much for business deals that I ended up with stomach bleeding. He never said he was worried about me or let me off the hook.
When I was busy with careers and put off having kids, and his family tormented and humiliated me, forcing me through hundreds of IVF injections, he never showed a shred of compassion or said he'd let me go.
Now the company rang the bell on the stock market, and he was the billionaire chairman.
He held a young girl's hand like it was nothing, and thought a few calm words were enough for me to let him off the hook?
Why?
I just hated him! I refused to accept it!
But thinking about what happened that the pop-up warning had spelled out for me, I couldn't help but shiver.
I couldn't gamble with the rest of my life.
Putting my anger aside, I smoothed out the divorce papers in my hand and read them carefully.
But Dylan was getting impatient. He sneered, "Stop reading it. You've spent three years playing the housewife, how can you understand it? We've been married for years. I'm not going to shortchange you.
"If you sign the papers, the house stays with you, the car's yours, and the two hundred thousand dollars in your account is yours too. As the alimony, I won't touch it.
"After getting divorced, you'll have enough to live comfortably for the rest of your life."
[Seriously? The company is worth five hundred million dollars, and he's only giving his wife two hundred thousand?]
[That's right. The house was her parents' wedding gift for her, and the car is just the old ride the nanny used for errands for ten years. Dylan is really shameless.]
[This guy's supposed to be the male lead? He's just disgusting.]
[Come on, this is just a brain-dead power fantasy for guys. Without the original wife as cannon fodder, how else would the male lead look so decisive and ruthless?]
[No villain, no drama. It's just a webnovel, just enjoy the drama, why get all worked up about morals?]
[Well, who wants to stick with the old woman after making it big? Of course, he goes for a young beauty. Later, the male lead's gonna be living it up overseas, building a whole new home. If you don't like it, just leave!]
*****
The barrage of comments was exploding, but my heart was gradually becoming cold and resolute.
I didn't need to verify if those comments were true or not.
Dylan's calculations were right there in plain sight. It was enough to explain everything.
I picked up the pen on the desk.
With both of them watching me, I spun the pen between my fingers, then paused and said calmly, "I don't sign. I don't agree to divorce."
As soon as I finished, Dylan and Chloe's faces darkened.
The comments were blowing up even harder.
[Iris's got a terminal case of love-brain, seriously.]
[Is she still refusing to divorce after all this? I wasted my sympathy on her. She deserves to die on the street.]
[Clingy women like her are such a turn-off. If I were Dylan, I'd choose a soft, tough girl like Chloe any day.]
Dylan pondered for a moment, then said hoarsely, "Iris, I know you have feelings for me. But Chloe's already pregnant. You have to be responsible for the baby, right?"
What a joke.
Why should I take responsibility for a baby that was not even mine? It was not my mess to clean up.
But before I could speak, Chloe clung to Dylan's arm, her voice quivering with pitiful sweetness as she said, "Dylan, I told you she'd never let go easily. Even if you give her so much, she is still not satisfied."
She intertwined her fingers tightly with his, her eyes full of concern. She continued, "But she's just a housewife, lounging around at home every day. She wouldn't actually have the audacity to ask for a share of the company, would she?
"Dylan, you know I don't care about money. I just can't help worrying about you.
"That company is your life's work. She didn't do anything for it. Why should she get a piece just because she asks for it?"
As she spoke, tears actually slipped down her cheeks.
It seems that she suddenly got really emotional when it came to money.
But she was dead wrong.
I was never just a simple housewife.
From the day this company was registered, every division of it was something Dylan and I built together from scratch.
Before I left the business three years ago, I had more authority in the company and a bigger name in the industry than Dylan.