Chapter 1

While everyone online was waiting to watch my rich husband look down on me on a marriage reality show, I signed the divorce papers right in front of the cameras. Instead of becoming a joke, I showed them what textbook-level independence looked like.

When my phone lit up, I was eating instant noodles. It was 2:43 a.m., and the villa was quiet enough for me to hear the outdoor AC unit humming. In this 3,400-square-foot house, it was just me and a ragdoll cat named Cashmore.

Charles Grant had brought the cat home from a business trip last year, saying a client had practically forced it on him, and then left it here to keep me company.

He never asked whether I even liked cats, and I never asked why a pet that was supposed to keep me company had a name that sounded more like a finance app than a cat.

My phone pinged. Charles's assistant had sent me a file: [The divorce settlement agreement]. I set down my fork, wiped my hands, and opened it.

The property split was crystal clear: anything we acquired after marriage would be divided according to the law, while the houses and shares he'd had notarized before the wedding had nothing to do with me.

What I'd get was the right to stay in this villa until I remarried, plus about 700 thousand dollars in "living expenses."

About 700 thousand dollars. I did the math. It was enough for a decent down payment somewhere, and if I was careful with the rest, it could last three or four years.

Then what? What was a thirty-three-year-old woman who'd been out of the workforce for three years supposed to do with that?

I didn't cry. I'd already cried myself dry three years ago, when I woke up with stomach pain before dawn and found no one beside me. That night, I signed my own surgery consent form at the hospital.

Charles was overseas negotiating a merger. Before he left, he'd told me, "This project's important. I'll be back next week. If anything comes up, text me."

I did. I sent more than a dozen messages: [Charles, my stomach hurts so bad.] [The doctor says I might need surgery.] [Can you come back?] [I'm scared being here alone.]

He didn't reply to a single one. I only found out later that he'd kept his phone on silent those few days because he didn't want rival companies harassing him with nuisance calls.

I signed the surgery consent form myself. When the nurse handed it over, my hand shook so badly I couldn't even write my own name right. I had to sign it three times.

As the anesthesia went into my vein, I had only one thought: if I died, would he regret it? I didn't die, but I lost the baby.

By the time Charles came back, I'd already been out of the hospital for three days. He stood at the door with a Hermès bag and said, "The merger went through. I brought you a gift."

I looked at the orange box and smiled. After that, I hardly cried anymore.

My phone buzzed again. This time it was his mother Mary: [Em, are you awake? There's something I want to talk to you about.]

I stared at the screen for ten seconds. In three years, she'd never messaged me at two in the morning. I had a feeling it was about the divorce agreement, and I was right.

She texted: [Marriage Diaries wants you and Charles on the show. I know your marriage is in trouble, but this matters a lot to Grant Holdings.

[This season's sponsor is Grant Holdings' biggest partner. Could you stay with Charles through the show? Just one month. After filming, do whatever you want. I'll make it worth your while.] A transfer notice popped up right after: [1.5 million dollars.]

One and a half million dollars. I looked at the number, then at the divorce agreement on my laptop, and laughed. Charles was offering me about 700 thousand dollars to make me disappear.

His mother was offering me 1.5 million to play along with him for a month. Three years in this family, and it was the first time I'd realized I was worth that much to them.

"I didn't reply. I opened my browser and searched Marriage Diaries.

The pageshow described it as the country's first marriage-observation reality series, now in its third season, with four celebrity couples filmed around the clock."

One comment read: [This season they got the young heir of Grant Holdings and his wife. First time this rich couple's appeared together.]

I kept scrolling until I found a collapsed comment: [His wife used to be a project manager at a major tech company, the kind making over 300 grand a year. Heard she quit after getting married.

[Sounds like life hasn't been going great for her lately.]

Someone adressed it: [Yeah... marrying into money isn't easy.]

I took a screenshot and sent it to Charles: [About 700 grand is too little. If you want me to cooperate and go on the show, I want 1.5 million total, after tax. Put it in writing and pay half up front.]

Since I'd already decided to divorce him, I might as well squeeze a little more out of this for my post-divorce security. And with how stingy Charles had been in the settlement, I didn't feel the slightest bit bad about taking all I could get.

Three minutes later, he replied with one word: [Fine.]