Chapter 1
On their fifth wedding anniversary, Claire Sutton received a share transfer agreement instead of a gift.
Her husband, Charles Goodman, slipped an arm around her shoulders and spoke gently. "Claire, do this for me. Just one last time."
Claire glanced at the agreement. One signature could put her behind bars. She looked up at him, perfectly calm. "What happens if I refuse to sign?"
*****
The villa was dead quiet.
Claire sat alone at the dining table, staring at the spread of dishes she'd spent hours preparing.
The sauce on the steak had already congealed, and the aroma of the red wine had faded away.
She reached out and touched the white porcelain bowl of soup, the coldness spreading from her fingertips straight to her heart.
The clock on the wall had its hands pointing to midnight.
She let out a sigh, wrapping her arms around herself, feeling a chill run through her.
Five years had passed.
He hadn't changed at all; work always came before everything else.
She pictured herself in her lawyer's robe, fierce and eloquent in the courtroom.
But now, she was nothing more than a housewife, sitting alone in the villa, waiting for her husband to come home.
A crushing sense of disappointment overwhelmed her.
A soft beep from the electronic lock echoed in the entryway.
Charles was home.
His steady footsteps drew closer. He took off his suit jacket, tossed it onto the couch, and walked straight toward her.
The scent of another woman's perfume, one Claire didn't recognize, filled the air.
Her heart sank.
But Charles acted like nothing was wrong, dropping a document on the table in front of her with a soft thud.
"Claire, there's a little issue at the company. I need you to be the legal rep for one of our subsidiaries for a while; just sign here," he said, like it was no big deal.
But the words "legal rep" stabbed right into Claire's nerves.
That was her lawyer's instinct flaring up.
Claire lowered her gaze, not immediately reaching for the document.
She reached out with her slender fingers and flipped through the stack of papers.
Her eyes raced over the terms, and the more she read, the paler her face became.
Her breath caught for a moment.
This was a financial fraud agreement that made her solely responsible for all the legal risks.
Charles didn't seem to notice anything was wrong.
He pulled out a chair and sat down next to her, said offhandedly, "It's just a formality, don't worry about it."
He even tried to soften her up by bringing up their old memories. "Remember back in college? You stayed up all night helping me fix my business plan. You said you'd always have my back.
"It's the same this time. Just a week, tops. Once everything's settled, we'll take your name off the paperwork."
His voice was gentle, but it was laced with poison.
Claire felt a wave of nausea hit her.
Her eyes drifted to the corner of the agreement.
A tiny signature caught her eye: Lily White, the name of the woman he could never forget.
Claire's heart turned to ice.
She looked at Charles like he was a total stranger, her lips curling into a cold smile. "So the problem was with Lily's project, huh?"
The feeling of being nothing but a replacement and being betrayed made it hard for her to breathe.
"What are you overthinking now?" Charles snapped, his brow furrowing, a hint of impatience creeping into his voice. "Don't make it sound so twisted. Lily's clueless—she just got tricked, that's all."
There he went again.
Whenever Lily was involved, he'd put up all his defenses, and somehow, all the blame ended up on her.
With Lily, he was gentle and understanding; with his own wife, it was nothing but suspicion and blame.
Claire didn't want to argue with him anymore.
With the calm of a seasoned lawyer, she pointed out the flaws in the agreement.
"According to this agreement, the subsidiary is carrying a debt of one billion dollars, and it's suspected of illegal fundraising.
"If I sign this, as the legal representative, I won't be facing just a week. I'll be looking at at least ten years in prison."
She looked up, her voice clear and steady, every word sharp as a blade. "Charles, you're basically asking me to die."
Charles's expression turned icy.
He dropped all pretense of warmth, his voice now hard and cold. "Claire, I'm the one who's kept this family afloat.
"You've enjoyed five years as a rich man's wife; driving luxury cars, living in a villa, never once checking a price tag.
"Now the company hits a rough patch, and you can't even do this one thing for me?"
He finally showed his true colors.
Just then, the faint sound of police sirens started echoing from outside.
The noise grew louder, getting closer and clearer with every second.
Charles stood up, towering over her, his gaze icy and devoid of any feeling.
"I gave you a choice," Charles said, his voice low, each word landing like a blow straight to Claire's heart. "Now, you don't get to choose anymore."
He'd been laying this trap from the very beginning, just waiting for her to fall right into it.
A heavy knocking echoed through the house.
The dull thuds shattered the silence in the dining room.
Several prosecutors in uniform strode in, their expressions stone-cold.
The lead prosecutor flashed his badge at Claire, his voice flat and icy. "Ms. Sutton, we're from the city prosecutor's office.
"You're suspected of involvement in a major illegal fundraising case with NovaTech. Please come with us to assist in the investigation."
Just as she feared, it was happening.
The cold reality of handcuffs loomed before her. Claire was about to be arrested then and there.
Just then, hurried footsteps echoed down the stairs.
Lily came running down, dressed in a silk nightgown, panic written all over her face.
She darted behind Charles, clutching his sleeve, her voice quivering, on the verge of tears. "Charles, I'm so scared. Did I do something wrong?"
Charles spun around and wrapped Lily up in his arms, speaking with a softness Claire had never heard from him before; it was almost like he was a different person.
"Don't be scared, Lily. This has nothing to do with you. As long as I'm here, no one can touch you."
Watching this whole "hero saving the damsel in distress" scene play out right in front of her felt like the cruelest joke to Claire.
Claire stood there, silent, watching the whole scene unfold.
She watched her husband hold another woman close, promising to protect her no matter what.
And she, his legal wife, was about to become a prisoner.
Her heart felt frozen, turning to ashes inside her chest.
Claire didn't utter a single word; she didn't even feel like she had anything left to say.
'So this is how it's always been. I'm just the expendable outsider, the one he can toss aside whenever he wants,' Claire thought.
In that instant, whatever feelings she had for Charles snapped, leaving nothing but emptiness inside.
"Ms. Sutton, please hand over your phone," one of the prosecutors said, his voice flat and official.
Claire didn't resist. She just looked up, her expression calm.
"I need to let my family know I'm safe. Is that okay?" she asked.
After getting the go-ahead, she called her best friend and lawyer, Emily Lane.
The call connected almost instantly.
Claire spoke into the phone, her voice unnervingly calm. "Emily, start the Red Plan for me."
Those words were like flipping a switch; her fightback was about to begin.
She wasn't going down without a fight.