My husband dragged my two sleepless nights of work into the trash.

In front of his mistress.

“Your job is to be a beautiful wife, Mia. Nothing more.”

He gave me an ultimatum: “Apologize, or we divorce.”

He thought I’d beg. He never dreamed I’d agree.

Now, he’s the one on his knees, outside my new apartment, a broken man.

"Mia, I'll do anything! Just don't leave me!"

He thought he owned me. He's about to find out how wrong he was.

————————

1

I pulled an all-nighter.

The concept blueprints for the new headquarters of my husband Ethan’s tech company, "Aether," were finally complete.

By the time I knocked on his office door, the caffeine rush was already starting to fade.

"Come in." A low, impersonal voice.

I pushed the door open. Ethan was sitting behind his minimalist desk. Standing beside him was the company's COO, Chloe Vance.

Chloe was an ice queen, dressed in a perfectly tailored suit that radiated a "keep your distance" aura.

She had been Ethan's right-hand woman since Aether's inception. Where Ethan went, she followed.

The rumor mill claimed Chloe was the true queen meant to stand beside Ethan, while I was just a trophy wife who had bought him with a bit of seed money.

Despite it all, Ethan had publicly declared that I was his one and only Mrs. Sterling.

"Ethan, I finished the blueprints for the new headquarters. Take a look." I held out the USB drive with the final draft.

He didn't even reach for it.

"Mia, you're Mrs. Sterling," he said with a smile that was as cold as the metal decor in his office. "You can leave operational details like this to Chloe."

He motioned for me to give the drive to her.

Chloe took the USB with fingers tipped in a flawless nude polish. The pity in her eyes stung.

Then, right in front of me, she plugged the drive into the computer, selected the file that had cost me two sleepless nights, and dragged it into the trash.

Empty.

The motion was seamless.

This wasn't the first time. My heart was too numb to register anger.

Ethan didn't like me getting involved in company affairs as a designer.

He said I had established the company's core aesthetic and that was enough. All I needed to do was reap the rewards and simply be his beautiful wife.

I held my ground, staring at him stubbornly. "Ethan, aren't you even going to look at it? I worked all night."

He stood up, a slight furrow in his brow. "Mia, don't waste my energy on trivial matters."

Trivial matters. Was he talking about the blueprints, or me?

But he didn't give me a chance to ask.

Ethan pulled me into his arms, his chin resting on top of my head. His hand slid down my back, giving my hip a passionless squeeze, as if marking his territory.

That damn voice of his came from above, gentle, yet completely lacking in warmth. "Alright, I'll clear my schedule. We'll have a proper anniversary dinner."

He was always like this.

Just when you were drowning, he'd give you a breath of air, only to push you back under into a deeper sea.

But I still craved the scent of his cologne and the sheer scent of power. Then and now.

I buried my face in his expensive shirt and whispered, "Okay."

Wearing the vintage Cartier watch he’d bought me, I arrived an hour early at the three-Michelin-star restaurant where our story began.

This watch. Ethan had insisted on buying it for me when Aether secured its first round of funding.

He said it represented our "forever."

The company was tight on cash back then, but he stubbornly put it on my wrist himself.

Even later, when the company was on the verge of bankruptcy and he had to pawn everything else, he never laid a finger on that watch.

And that was why I always felt that Ethan wasn't completely without feelings for me.

The restaurant's clock hand swept silently past seven.

The entrance was a parade of elegant guests, but he never showed.

I waited until ten-thirty before I couldn't stop myself from dialing his number.

It rang for a long time before going straight to voicemail.

I couldn't help but wonder what he was doing. Was there a problem with a new funding round? A PR crisis?

Or was it Chloe?

He always had so much to deal with. It seemed everything was more important than me.

I don't know how much time passed before I fell asleep at the table.

I was cold at first, but then a jacket with a familiar scent was draped over my shoulders, and I slowly warmed up.

When I opened my eyes again, the room was dark, lit only by the red glow of his cigarette.

I smelled the strong scent of a cigar.

"Eleven fifty-three. Not too late."

Ethan extinguished the cigar, his voice raspy but warm in the darkness.

Then the lights came on. The man in the white shirt tightened the jacket on my shoulders. Still dazed, I looked up at him. "What took you so long?"

Ethan paused. "Chloe had a family emergency. I had to go handle it."

He couldn't even be bothered to come up with a better excuse.

Numbly, I asked, "So you went to help her?"

Ethan nodded. "Yes."

All the pent-up frustration boiled over in that moment. Tears rolled down my cheeks uncontrollably.

I looked at the face I had loved for so many years and asked him, "What about me? Ethan, in your entire world, is everything about me just insignificant?"

For once, the man showed a flicker of uncertainty. He cupped my face and kissed me roughly, his tongue prying my lips apart with a sense of punishment and possession, swallowing my tears, frustration, and protests all at once.

Finally, he said awkwardly, "Stop crying, Mia."

Right. He never knew how to comfort anyone.

After every fight, I was the one who had to swallow all my emotions and put the 'proper' Mrs. Sterling mask back on for him.

He didn't need to comfort me.

Ethan had the waiter bring a slice of cheesecake, accompanied by an uninspired bouquet of red roses.

His voice was hoarse. "Your favorite. And roses."

But I don't eat cheesecake.

Ethan always forgot.

I scooped a bite of the cake. The sweet, creamy texture melted in my mouth, but it left only a bitter aftertaste.

Just like my marriage to Ethan. Day after day, it grew more bitter.

He wasn't like this when we first got married.

Even if he didn't love me, he would still consider my feelings.

But later, his world filled with more and more important things, and I was always the one that could be postponed, sacrificed, or ignored.

Once I calmed down, I looked at him seriously. "Ethan, you should keep your distance from Chloe. No CEO personally handles their COO's 'family emergencies.'"

He frowned. "She's served the company for five years."

I lowered my eyes and said softly, "Something like that is probably better handled by her boyfriend."

"She doesn't have a boyfriend, Mia. Stop being unreasonable."

I took a deep breath. "Ethan, haven't you heard the rumors in Silicon Valley? They say Chloe is your business soulmate, and I'm just the gold-digger who used her family's dirty money—fifty thousand dollars—to force you into marriage."

I paused, then continued, "Aren't you afraid... that I'll leave you one day?"

His answer was quick and confident. "But you can't leave me."

Ethan didn't know that disappointment could sour, eventually curdling into the courage to leave him.

Seeing I was about to say more, he changed the subject. "Mia, look at this."

He took a velvet box from his pocket.

I opened it.

Inside was a pair of exquisite diamond earrings, designed to perfectly match the Cartier watch on my wrist.

Ethan raised an eyebrow, a smirk of pure control playing on his lips. "Didn't you say the watch looked a little lonely?"

I stared at him, stunned.

He had the same expression ten years ago when I was nearly expelled from college after being framed for academic misconduct.

It was as if the sky could fall, and he could nonchalantly hold it up.

He was the one who produced the evidence that cleared my name, then smiled and comforted me.

We were practically strangers, but he stood up for me without asking why.

That confident, bold young man clumsily wiped away my tears with his sleeve and said, "Don't cry. I can't stand to see girls cry."

I closed my eyes.

Ethan, it was the memory of the man you were ten years ago that convinced me to forgive the man you are today.

A week later, I went to Aether again to discuss the venue design for the most important event of the year, the "Innovator's Gala".

Chloe stopped me at the door of the conference room.

Her face was smug. "Miss Evans, Ethan is in an executive meeting and isn't seeing anyone. By the way, how was your anniversary last week?"

I sat down on a sofa in the lounge area and replied coolly, "Miss Vance, you should address me as Mrs. Sterling. As for last week... come here."

A flash of contempt crossed Chloe's eyes, but she walked over, to continue goading me. "Do you know why Ethan didn't come home last week? Because he was in my bed. He said I'm much tighter than you—"

A crisp slap cut her off.

I didn't believe a word she said. No one knew Ethan's fastidiousness and aversion to grime better than I did.

Chloe clutched her face, incredulous. "You psycho, you dare hit me?!"

I stood up, smiling at her. "Not only do I dare to hit you, I can have you thrown out of here."

"I'm the COO of Aether! On what grounds?" she screamed hatefully.

"Because I own half of this company."

Just as the words left my mouth, the conference room door opened, and Ethan walked out with a group of executives.

He stood beside Chloe, his face expressionless, without asking a single question.

Chloe immediately put on a victim act, clutching her face, her voice trembling. "I'm fine, Ethan. Mia was just impulsive."

"Mia, this is not the place for you to cause a scene." Ethan's eyes held a warning.

Even though I knew he would take Chloe's side, my heart sank seeing his cold gaze.

What was I even expecting?

"Don't you want to ask me why I did it?" I looked him straight in the eye.

"No matter what happened, you shouldn't have hit her."

"So?"

"Mia, apologize."

I looked away. "Ethan, I came to see you today about the gala's venue design..."

He cut me off with a frown. "I've already given Chloe full responsibility for that. Mia, when you're in the wrong, you apologize."

I froze.

Since the company was founded, all important aesthetic designs were a collaboration between Ethan and me. We saw it as our baby, the product of our creative souls merging.

I thought it was an unspoken understanding between us, but in the end, it was just my wishful thinking.