At least I was still wearing a base layer underneath, so I wasn't fully exposed on camera.

Only after I'd pulled the gown off did Thaddeus finally step out of the car.

He rushed to shrug off his own jacket and drape it over my shoulders.

"Babe, no matter what—you're my wife. All you have to do is turn around, and I'll be standing right here."

I looked up into that fake, rehearsed face and whipped the gown straight into it.

"Thaddeus, you make me sick."

I turned and walked away.

I hadn't gone far before a Mercedes came speeding up from behind and pulled to a smooth stop beside me.

Thaddeus and Deborah sat in the back seat, watching me with cold eyes.

"Maud, apologize to me and Debbie right now. Do that, and I'll forget tonight ever happened and let you come back."

Deborah chimed in right on cue.

"Thaddeus just landed a ten-million-dollar contract with Blue Horizon Group. His net worth is about to multiply overnight. Pretty soon you couldn't climb your way back to him if you tried."

I met Thaddeus's eyes with a slow, contemptuous smile.

"Thaddeus, if I'm not mistaken, your contract with Blue Horizon Group hasn't actually been signed yet."

"Let's see if you're still smiling tomorrow."

His face went rigid, eyes narrowing to something ugly and venomous.

"Maud, since you don't know what's good for you, don't blame me for forgetting we were ever married."

"You want a divorce? Fine. We'll see each other in court. And you'll walk out with nothing."

He floored it, and the Mercedes tore off down the road.

The moment he was gone, I walked straight to the Maybach parked under the streetlight.

As soon as I got in, my assistant handed me the tablet.

I tapped open the surveillance footage immediately.

There, in the family lounge across from the banquet hall, Deborah was straddling Thaddeus with her top hiked up.

"Thaddeus, baby… like what you taste?"

The footage hit my stomach like a fist—I doubled over the wastebasket and threw up everything I had.

Greg watched me, his expression grim.

"CEO Henson, I've already notified the contracts department to cancel the signing with Thaddeus Harding's firm. They should get the news first thing tomorrow morning, and I'd expect them to come running to Blue Horizon Group the moment they do."

My gaze hardened.

"I'll be at Blue Horizon Group, waiting for them to come beg."

Thaddeus had won me over with what I believed was his whole heart. To protect his pride as a man, I gave up everything and made myself invisible so he could shine.

I'd burned through every connection I had to pave his way. And this was what I got in return.

That night, I went back to my estate, worth over a hundred million.

I was about to rest when my phone rang.

It was Greg.

"CEO Henson, we have a problem."

"Thaddeus didn't just livestream what happened tonight. He had the footage edited to make it look like you stripped in public to seduce another man, with zero shame."

My heart sank. I pulled up the latest news immediately.

My name was sitting at the very top of the trending list.

Every link I tapped opened a video of me taking off the gown in front of the driver.

Thaddeus had even had someone photograph me getting into my assistant's car. Now the entire internet was calling me a slut who'd sleep with anyone.

"This kind of woman is trash. Stripping for a random man right there on the street."

"Did you see her face during the livestream? She was enjoying it. That's who she is down to the bone."

"She's probably been cheating on Thaddeus for years. He loved her so much, and she fed his heart to the dogs."

I was about to turn off the phone when a flood of new messages came pouring in all at once.

*Thaddeus Harding must've been cursed for eight lifetimes to end up with Maud Henson.*

*Maud Henson — desperate slut, stripping in public for attention. The whole city's had a ride.*

I scrolled through the flood of abuse and understood immediately: my personal information had been sold.

Thaddeus really would stop at nothing to back me into a corner.

I pulled the SIM card out of my phone.

He moved fast.

The very next day, a court summons and a lawyer's complaint arrived.

I tossed the complaint straight into the trash and headed for Blue Horizon Group.

I was about to walk through the front doors when a familiar mocking voice drifted up behind me.

"Maud, everyone online is calling you the town bicycle now — and you still have the nerve to show your face? Honestly, I'm impressed."

I turned and found Deborah's smug little face staring back at me.

Thaddeus stood beside her, his expression dark.

"What are you doing here? You think Blue Horizon Group is somewhere a person like you can just walk into?"

Before I could answer, Deborah cut in first.

"I bet she's here looking for a job! Finally realizing how hard life gets once you leave Thaddeus, hm?"

"Someone like you? You couldn't get hired as a receptionist at Blue Horizon — they wouldn't even take you on to mop floors. Stop embarrassing yourself."

"You'd better hurry back and apologize to Thaddeus. Go home and keep being his little housewife."

His face sank, and he turned a cold look on me.

"A housewife trying to walk into Blue Horizon Group? You have no idea how small you are."

"Apologize to me now, and I might — might — let you keep being Mrs. Harding."

I looked at him and laughed, short and cold.

"That title? Give it to your precious childhood sweetheart."

His face went rigid.

"Maud. I'll be waiting for the day you crawl to me on your knees."

He wrapped an arm around Deborah and strode inside without looking back.

I watched him go, my gaze turning cold.

The moment Thaddeus disappeared through the doors, Greg hurried out to meet me.

"CEO Henson, Thaddeus and the others have arrived. They're practically begging for a meeting with you."

I glanced at Greg, my tone clipped.

"Send them to my office. And have ten glasses of peach juice ready."

Thaddeus pushed open the office doors, all smiles, his eyes full of fawning eagerness.

"CEO Henson, regarding the cancellation of our partnership — I'd love the chance to discuss that with you."

The words were still hanging in the air when his gaze landed on me, seated behind the desk. He froze where he stood.

I smiled faintly and gestured toward the ten glasses of peach juice lined up in front of me.

"The partnership can wait. Finish all ten of these first."

Thaddeus's eyes went wide, full of undisguised panic.

"How are you — why are you in the CEO's office at Blue Horizon Group?"