Chapter 3

I stared at that transaction. My heart sank. The project reserve, I had approved it myself last year.

Back then, the company was pushing for a high-end custom line. I was worried about supply chain problems, so I set aside some emergency money.

Leonard took that money to grow flowers and used it to help Rosalind grow her flowers.

Then Nina sent another file. She said, "Ms. Branch, please look at this too."

I opened it. It was a bank mortgage document. Under the collateral section, it listed the old nursery my mother left behind.

I stared at those words, unable to move for a long time.

The old nursery was on the north side of town. My mother had put it together bit by bit back in the day.

The earliest flowers for Natalie's Florist all came from there.

Before she died, my mother held my hand from her hospital bed and said only one thing. "Don't sell that land. As long as you have roots, you won't feel lost."

All these years, even when the company was going through its hardest times, I never touched that piece of land.

But now, that piece of land was mortgaged three months ago.

Back then, Leonard had his arms around me on a beach vacation, saying once this round of funding went through, he'd take me to see the northern lights.

I went through the documents page by page. The signature on the authorization line was my name.

The handwriting matched mine almost perfectly. But I never signed that.

That was when it hit me. He wasn't just keeping another woman on the side. He was lying in my bed, all while stripping me of everything I had.

I stared at the screen, my eyes turning cold little by little.

My phone rang again. It wasn't Leonard this time. It was his mother, Ruth Rivers. I picked up.

She tore into me the second I answered. "Natalie, did you go snooping on Leo? You're his wife. Don't you have any shame, acting like this?"

I held my phone and said nothing.

She kept going, getting more and more fired up. "It's normal for men to fool around when they're out networking. Do you really have to blow things out of proportion like this? Look at yourself all these years. Do you even act like a woman?

"You spend all day at the company. You're always so tough and harsh. Every time you talk to Leo, it's either orders or criticism. So what if he found someone who knows how to act sweet for a change?"

I closed my eyes. My chest felt like something heavy had run over it.

Turned out, no matter how dirty Leonard got, as long as I was the one he betrayed, they always had a way to justify it.

She kept talking on the phone, "I've met Rosalind. She's sweet and pitiful. Nothing like you.

"Don't think you can control Leo just because you run the company. When a man has money, he can find any woman he wants."

I asked quietly, "Ruth, did you know about the nursery being mortgaged?"

There was a pause on the other end. It was short, but that was all I needed.

I smiled, "So you did know."

"That was just Leo moving things around for the company. What's the big deal? Besides, you're his wife. So what if he used it?"

"He forged my signature."

"Don't make it sound so ugly. You're married. You don't need to draw such clear lines."

"Then does keeping Rosalind on the side count as part of our marriage now?"

Ruth was stunned into silence for a good while. Then she gave a cold laugh. "Natalie, you'd better think this through. Without Leo, what would you even have left?

"He built the company and made all the connections. Don't think you're some big deal just because you know how to arrange a few flowers."

After the call ended, I sat in the living room and suddenly felt like laughing.

All these years, I had been carrying his family, burning myself out for the company, keeping the brand afloat. Still, they had the audacity to say I didn't act like a woman.

It wasn't that I wasn't soft enough. They were never worth it.