Chapter 1

My husband gave my beachfront villa, the one my parents bought me, to his secretary, Sophie.

Sophie posted a nine-photo pool party grid online, tagging the villa's location.

She posted: [Thanks to my boss for the luxurious villa. I'll keep striving for more.]

The butler sent me pictures: the garden sculptures were smashed, and every flower I'd planted had been torn out.

I shot the photos straight over to Edward.

I messaged: [Edward, what the hell is this? Why is someone else living in my villa?]

Edward fired back with a voice message almost instantly, waves crashing in the background.

He said, "Relax, would you? It's not like we don't have other places to stay."

I replied: [I want her gone from my villa in three hours. And I want my place put back exactly how it was.]

Edward read my message and left me on read.

Five minutes later, I sold the villa online for a single dollar.

Edward's precious antiques? I wrecked every last one.

If he wanted to play hardball, I'd show him what real payback looked like.

I'd barely set my phone down when it started ringing.

It was Edward, the same guy who'd just left me on read.

"Charlotte, what the hell did you do? Why did security just throw Sophie out?" Edward snapped, his voice tight with anger.

I said coldly, "That villa was mine, and I just sold it off.

"The only thing the new owner asked for was to have everyone and everything cleared out within the hour."

There was a few seconds of silence on the other end.

Then Edward said, "Charlotte, are you misunderstanding something?

"There's nothing between Sophie and me. She's just my secretary."

Edward's tone softened a bit.

He added, "Don't you think you're overreacting? Maybe being a little too dramatic?"

I couldn't help but laugh.

"Edward, you're the one who doesn't know how to keep boundaries or behave yourself, and now you're turning it around on me?" I shot back.

Edward dodged my question and smoothly changed the subject.

He said, "Charlotte, you've got all these villas just collecting dust. I was just putting them to good use.

"Sophie and I really haven't done anything out of line."

He paused, his voice growing impatient.

Then he snapped, "Don't be so petty."

I smirked, but my eyes went cold.

"Since you're so generous, Edward, I guess you won't care if your beloved treasures get smashed to bits, will you?" I taunted.

With that, I opened my gallery, picked out a few photos, and sent them over.

The pictures showed Edward's beloved treasures shattered everywhere, broken pieces littering the floor.

There was a few seconds of silence on the other end.

"Char-lotte Mon-roe," Edward pronounced my name slowly, each word dripping with anger.

I knew that was his way of showing he was furious. Not that I gave a damn.

I taunted, "Edward, you got the pictures, didn't you?

"This is the price you pay for testing my limits.

"If you ever pull this kind of stunt again, you'll lose way more than just these worthless trinkets."

With that, I hung up on him.

All these years after getting married, we hardly ever had any major fights.

But that didn't mean I'd ever back down just to avoid a confrontation.

In a marriage, the moment one started letting one's boundaries slide, the other party would only keep pushing for more.

Besides, my marriage to Edward was never about love to begin with.

Back then, Edward's family was dying to get into the top tier of the city's social scene, and they needed my family's backing. That was how this whole marriage deal came about.

When we first met, Edward made a real effort to show how thoughtful and gentle he could be.

He had one of those disarmingly handsome faces, and he always took care of things in a way that was both considerate and meticulous.

At the time, I thought sharing a life with someone like him might not be so bad, so I just went along with what my family wanted.

Fortunately, once we were married, we slowly started to fall for each other.

Edward and I even had our honeymoon phase. Those days were so sweet that people saw us as the golden couple everyone envied.

No matter what stage our relationship was in, I never lost sight of one thing: I always came first.

But after a while, the honeymoon phase ended, and things just became ordinary.

I got it, and I was okay with it. Every relationship cooled off in the end, maybe even disappeared altogether.

But I'd never let our marriage end because of some homewrecker.

Ever since I was a kid, the one thing I absolutely couldn't stand was anyone messing with what was mine.

If something got tainted, I threw it out without a second thought.

If a person got dirty, I dealt with them just as ruthlessly.