Chapter 5

In the ninth week, my roommate sent me the files.

The apartment at No. 17 Lakeview Avenue wasn't under Henry's name. It was owned by Yvonne.

But when we tracked the funds, every dollar came from a sub-account tied to Henry, routed through two dummy companies.

The amount was 6 million dollars.

The purchase date was three years ago.

At that time, Henry was still chasing after me, sending flowers every week, picking me up from work, and always finding excuses to show up wherever I was.

At the same time, he bought an apartment for my younger sister with 6 million dollars.

The transaction records were jaw-dropping.

Over the past three years, Henry had funneled over 10 million dollars into Yvonne's account, under all sorts of labels: investment dividends, partnership fees, and consulting fees.

Every cent went through the company accounts. It was so well hidden.

Three years ago, Yvonne was a fresh college graduate with no job and no income.

But she had an apartment, a sports car, and three credit cards, each with a 300-thousand-dollar limit.

As for the source of these, everyone believed it was Alex.

He was the Pierce family's heir, loaded and reckless. Having a young girlfriend was nothing out of the ordinary.

But the real sugar daddy wasn't Alex. It was my husband, Henry.

I flipped through the files, page by page, and then neatly put them back in the folder.

My fingertips tingled. It wasn't heartbreak. It was a trembling excitement, like the answer was about to come out.

The puzzle was more complete. But there was still one piece missing: the safe.

Henry had never opened the safe in the corner of the study in front of me. I needed to know what was inside.

The opportunity came sooner than I expected.

On the Saturday of the tenth week, Henry got called into the office for an emergency. He left in such a hurry that he even forgot his coat.

I watched from the kitchen window as his Maybach pulled out of the driveway, waiting a full fifteen minutes to make sure he wasn't coming back.

Then I went upstairs.

The study door wasn't locked. The safe was hidden away in the cabinet right behind the desk. It was a medium-sized electronic safe with a six-digit code.

I tried Henry's birthday, but it didn't work. The company's registration date and my birthday were also wrong.

I paused and then punched in Yvonne's birthday: 030917.

With a beep, the green light came on. The door popped open.

I stared at the green light, and suddenly, the irony slammed into me.

The safe's password was my sister's birthday.

There was not much in there, only a stack of documents and a velvet box.

I didn't bother reading the documents. Instead, I snapped a few quick photos with my phone.

Then I opened the velvet box and found a ring.

It was a custom-made platinum band set with a beautifully cut sapphire. Clearly, it was not mass-produced. There was an inscription on the inside of the band.

I took the ring out and looked closely at the tiny engraving. It read: [Y.R. Forever].

Y.R. was the initials of Yvonne Roper. She'd been using that name since she was little.

I put the ring back in the box, slipped it into the safe, closed the door, and locked it up. Everything was back to normal.

Back in the bedroom, I sat by the bay window, staring out at the yard.

The roses in the garden were in full bloom. Henry said they were planted before I moved in.

Looking back now, I realized that so much more than the roses had been set up long before I arrived.

Henry had prepared a 6-million-dollar apartment, 10 million dollars in funding, and a custom-made engagement ring.

Eight years of chasing after me only served as a smokescreen. Marrying me was about buying Yvonne time and removing the obstacle for her.

The obstacle was me, the Roper family's rightful heiress.

If I married into the Pierce family, all the Roper family's resources would follow me, and Yvonne would be left with nothing.

But if I married Henry, the Roper family's social circle, connections, and assets would tilt in Yvonne's favor.

And Henry used that cup of milk to trap me, so I'd never have kids or an escape route.

Once the timing was perfect, probably after Yvonne had Alex wrapped around her finger and her standing in the Pierce family was rock solid, Henry would divorce me.

By then, I'd be way past my best years, with no kids, no bargaining chips, and I'd have to walk away with nothing.

But Yvonne would have it all: the status as the lady of the Pierce family, the Roper family's resources, and Henry, her real man.

It was a perfect plan. But the pity was that Henry missed one thing. He underestimated me. He thought a cup of milk was enough to trap me.

I pulled out my phone and opened the photos I'd freshly taken of the documents. I zoomed in on each one, checking every detail.

One of them was a private agreement between Henry and Alex.

The terms were simple. Alex was supposed to make a big show of chasing after Yvonne in public, making it look like a done deal.

Henry's job was to keep me in check, making sure I wouldn't marry into the Pierce family or go back to the Roper family to fight over resources.

In return, the Pierce family would hand over the rights to develop a plot in the south district to the Landon Group.

And Yvonne played the innocent, cherished girl between Henry and Alex.

The three of them were scheming together, and I was the prize they were after.

I locked my phone, closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and then let it out.

It was settled. The puzzle was complete. The hunter had stepped into the game, and the prey was totally unaware.

From here on out, I got to write the script.