Chapter 1

A fresh-faced intern, Lucy Carter, started at the company not long ago. She seemed to have an uncanny knack for ending up in my husband Richard Bennett's lounge, often for no apparent reason.

Lucy made no secret of her interest in Richard, flirting with him at every turn. But Richard wasn't having any of it.

Each time, he'd furrow his brows and snap, "I ain't interested in you. Next time you pull this, you're fired!"

I took his words at face value, thinking he genuinely detested her.

Fast-forward to an auction. There, I spotted a stunning sapphire that caught my eye immediately.

I was just about to raise my hand to bid when, out of the blue, a mysterious figure ensured Lucy would get the gem without any competition.

Not long after, through the grapevine, I learned that Richard had blocked me on his socials and posted: [The finest gem should adorn the most radiant beauty.]

The post had a selfie of Lucy wearing the sapphire, looking smug.

I let out a scornful laugh. In a fit of pique, I outbid everyone on 99 precious stones.

I strode over to Lucy and dumped them all in front of her, growling, "Put them on! You're not leaving this auction house until you've got every single one around your neck!"

*****

I was at home, chilling with a face mask on, when Richard burst through the door with a bang.

"Was that really necessary?" Richard said, his brows furrowed as he stared at me.

His eyes, usually so soft, now flashed with annoyance.

My face mask dropped to the floor. I shot Richard a frown. "What's up?"

He tossed his phone over to me. On the screen, Lucy Carter was practically flattened—99 gemstones hanging from her neck, forcing her down to the ground.

Everyone was cracking up nonstop.

"Whose side chick is this? She's embarrassing herself in front of the whole auction house!"

"Probably came here to flex on the main wife, but ended up clowning herself instead! I can't—this is too funny!"

Lucy's neck was so weighed down that she had to crawl out of the auction hall while the crowd kept laughing at her.

Her eyes were filled with tears—she looked so miserable it was almost sad.

I turned off the phone. "I told you, I don't let anything slide," I said coldly.

Richard looked annoyed. "Lucy just scored a big project for the company. I was just giving her a little reward. Can you stop jumping to conclusions and assuming the worst?" he snapped.

Before he could react, I slapped him across the face.

Richard clutched his cheek, staring at me in shock.

We'd been married for five years, and we'd never even raised our voices at each other.

This was the first time we'd ever fought—and the first time I'd ever hit him.

And to think, it was all because of that intern.

"A reward? So you're telling me, even though you knew I wanted that sapphire, you still snatched it up and handed it over to Lucy? That's your idea of rewarding an employee?" I shot back.

Richard clenched his jaw. "But... even if you're mad, you could've just yelled at her or slapped her. What gives you the right to make her crawl out of there like that?"

I shouted, cutting him off, "Because I'm your wife! Is that really so hard to understand?

"You knew I wanted that sapphire, but you still handed it over to another woman. Is that what a husband is supposed to do?

"Sure, our marriage started as a business deal, but can you honestly say we haven't developed any feelings for each other over the past five years?"

At my words, Richard fell silent.

It was true, our marriage was all about business at first.

But after all those nights tangled up together, we ended up catching real feelings.

I let out a bitter laugh. "Besides, even if there's no love between us, that doesn't mean you get to disrespect me."

Richard looked at me like he didn't even know me anymore. "Calm down, will you?"

With that, he just turned around and left.

He didn't even look at the dinner I'd made.

I could only manage a wry smile.

It seemed that Richard had forgotten—it was our fifth anniversary.