The color drained from Brian's face in an instant.

"Eleanor, have you lost your mind?!"

He stared at me in disbelief.

He knew exactly how potent that aphrodisiac was. It was the very reason he'd ended up in Joan's bed all those years ago. The woman had slipped it into his drink. He'd been wrecked the entire night before the effects finally wore off, his body so hollowed out that it took him the better part of a month to recover.

And he understood something else, too.

Ever since his affair, I had never let him lay a finger on me again.

"Eleanor, spit it out right now! Your body can't handle this!"

Brian's face was ashen. He pounded on my back, clawing at me, even trying to shove his fingers down my throat to force it out.

But I sidestepped him without hesitation.

My eyes narrowed, and a cold smile curved across my lips.

"Do you believe me now?"

"Brian Delgado, let me make something crystal clear." I looked him dead in the eye, enunciating every single word. "I didn't get myself a male best friend to get back at you."

A beat.

"I did it to have a good time."

Within moments, heat rushed to my face, staining my cheeks scarlet. My breathing grew ragged.

I turned to Mervyn. "What are you standing around for? Go wait for me in the room."

Mervyn hesitated for a second, then nodded and did as he was told.

I swung my gaze back to Brian, amusement dripping from every word.

"Why are you still here?"

"Wait much longer and your precious Joan will throw another tantrum."

Before the reconciliation. After the reconciliation. It never mattered.

Joan always had to make herself the center of attention. The moment Brian was anywhere near me, she'd fake an illness, threaten to jump off a building, or dissolve into hysterical sobs. One stunt after another, each one designed to drag him away.

And Brian, fully aware it was all a performance, fully aware every word out of her mouth was a lie, chose to believe her. Every. Single. Time.

He stood frozen in place, his face white as chalk, staring at me with an expression twisted in agony.

"Eleanor, have you actually gone insane?"

"Do you have any idea what the consequences of this will be?"

I let out a cold laugh. "Of course I do. Once you leave, I'm going to be blissfully happy."

"After all, the reason you and Joan keep crawling back to each other is thanks to this little drug, isn't it?"

Brian gaped at me, stumbled back a few steps, and let out a hollow, bitter laugh.

His phone rang again.

Even his ringtone was set to a cutesy girl's voice. Joan's voice, specifically.

"Hubby, hubby, pick up the phone..."

After we'd reconciled, I had asked him more than once to change that ringtone.

He refused every time.

"Joanie and I are done. It's over. We're clean."

"That ringtone is the last thing I have left of her. Why can't you even let me have that?"

Now I smiled, razor-sharp. "Aren't you going to answer? Your precious Joanie must be getting upset."

Brian yanked the phone out without a second thought, rejected the call, and powered it off.

Then he lifted his gaze and fixed me with a frigid stare. "You want me to leave? Not a chance, Eleanor. I won't let you have your way."

He didn't leave that night.

Instead, he snapped.

He grabbed the edge of the dining table and flipped the whole thing over.

That table had been set for our tenth wedding anniversary. Brian had spent the entire afternoon in the kitchen preparing every dish himself.

Not a single bite had been touched.

And now—

A sharp, cascading crash of porcelain and glass.

An entire spread of food became wreckage on the floor.

"Why?" His voice cracked. "Why did we end up like this?"

"Eleanor, I know I cheated. I know I made a mistake!"

"But isn't all of that in the past?"

"Why do you insist on tormenting me like this?"

I pressed a hand to my chest. My face was flushed a deep, burning red, and yet I found myself looking at Brian Delgado with something close to amusement.

I was tormenting him?

He was the one who'd put me through hell for six straight years.

The moment I found out about Brian's first affair, I asked for a divorce.

He panicked completely.

He dropped to his knees and swore to me that he would cut Joan Henson out of his life for good.

He scrubbed his social media clean. Every last trace of the other woman, gone.

He even changed his profile banner to our wedding photo.

With tears in his eyes, he gathered up every cheap little trinket Joan had ever given him, shoved them all into a box, and threw it away.

But our finances were tangled too deep.

Even if I divorced him, I'd walk away with nothing.

And why should I be the one who left empty-handed?

So after all the back and forth, we got back together.

On the surface, we looked like the same couple we'd always been.

But only the two of us knew the truth. Once a crack exists, it can never be repaired.

The marriage had been hollow for a long time.

I thought we could at least keep up appearances a while longer.

Then last month happened.

He and Joan, drunk again, rekindled everything in a hotel room.

"Eleanor, take a good look. What exactly do you think you have that can compete with me?"

Three in the morning.

Joan had video-called me specifically to gloat.

"Your husband swore up and down he was coming back to his family. Said you were the only one in his heart. And so what?"

"All I had to do was crook my finger, and he came running right back to my bed."

When I found out he'd cheated again, I didn't cry or scream the way I used to. There was no hysteria.

I simply picked up the phone, calm as anything.

"Hi. I heard you can arrange a selection of men. Is that right?"

The very next day, a "male best friend" appeared in our home.

Brian would make up excuses about working late and sneak off to see Joan.

The second he walked out the door, I'd call Mervyn to come over for a candlelit dinner.

Brian spent five thousand dollars buying Joan clothes and handbags.

I turned around and swiped his card for a luxury watch worth ten times that, a gift for Mervyn.

One night I found lipstick on Brian's collar.

The next morning, I personally knotted Mervyn's tie in front of him, all smiles and affection.

Brian's eyes went red with fury, and something inside me finally unclenched.

That evening, Brian didn't leave after all.

He couldn't stomach the thought of me, drugged with an aphrodisiac, alone in a room with a strange man.

So he decided to play the antidote himself.

He loosened his tie, undid a few buttons on his shirt, and backed me into the corner.

"Eleanor, seeing you suffer like this... as your husband, I just can't bear it."

"Isn't this all because you're jealous?"

"Tonight, I'll keep you company..."

But before he could get any closer, I raked my nails across his face.

"Don't touch me. You disgust me."

Brian clutched his cheek. He touched it once, then stared at the blood on his fingers in disbelief.

"You're vicious, Eleanor. You really are."

I shoved him away hard and staggered toward the bedroom. The drug was coursing through me now, turning my limbs to cotton, draining every ounce of strength.

"Mervyn. Come help me."

He stepped out obediently and draped my arm over his shoulder.

Brian's gaze locked onto him, eyes bloodshot, and he hurled a glass that shattered at Mervyn's feet.

"Get the hell out."

"This is my home. Mine and my wife's. What the hell are you?"

"Keep meddling in our marriage, and don't blame me when I call the cops and have you arrested for trespassing."

Brian was livid.

So livid that every shred of composure he'd once prided himself on had evaporated completely.

Mervyn put on an awkward expression and rose hesitantly, as if to leave.

But I wrapped my arms around him from behind.

"Stay."

"You're sleeping here tonight."

With my arms still around Mervyn's waist, I walked into the bedroom without sparing Brian so much as a glance.

Behind me, Brian's voice erupted into a string of furious curses. Something about how if I dared make a fool of him, he'd divorce me.

Once the bedroom door closed, I let go of Mervyn and straightened up.

My expression settled back to normal.

Mervyn shook his head with a resigned sigh.

"Ellie, you went through all that trouble putting on a show. What's the point?"

I looked down at the glass of water in my hand.

The truth was, I hadn't slipped anything into it at all. I'd just stuffed a few effervescent tablets into an aphrodisiac packet to sell the illusion.

I hadn't expected Brian to actually buy it.

But it didn't matter.

I could already picture Joan throwing a fit because he hadn't shown up that night, screaming at him, tearing into him.

The thought alone was deeply satisfying.

Three days later, I was going through our accounts as usual when I noticed ten million dollars missing.

I called Brian without hesitation.

"Why is there ten million missing from the bank account?"

He was quiet for a few seconds.

"It's Joanie. She's... pregnant."

"I promised her I'd give her and the baby a proper home. So I used the money to buy her a villa."

My heart dropped like a stone.

Pregnant.

After the aphrodisiac stunt that night, Brian had stormed out first thing the next morning and hadn't come home for three straight days.

From Joan's social media posts, it was clear he'd spent an entire day and night coaxing his mistress back into a good mood.

And now, just days later, he was telling me the mistress was pregnant.

But I felt no sadness. Not a trace. My voice came out flat and expressionless.

"Got it."

"Same rules as always. Transfer twenty million to me. Same prime location. I'm buying Mervyn a villa too."

"Eleanor, let me explain—"

Brian's voice turned frantic on the other end.

"The baby isn't mine!"

"She got drunk, and some stranger picked her up outside a bar. That's how she got pregnant. She's terrified right now, hysterical, threatening to kill herself."

"She was with me once. I can't just turn my back on her."

"Besides, Eleanor, we've been married ten years. We're not getting any younger. We should have a child, shouldn't we?"

"Joanie's already agreed. She doesn't want to raise it. Once the baby's born, we can adopt it..."

A cold scoff escaped my lips.

Not only was he lying to my face, claiming the child wasn't his.

He actually wanted me to raise the baby of the woman who destroyed my marriage.

Brian Delgado, how did you even have the nerve to say that out loud?

I stayed silent for a long time.

But what finally left my mouth was something else entirely.

"Brian, do you even remember why we don't have a child?"

We did have one, once.

A beautiful little girl.

The year she was born, Brian's constant cheating led to fight after fight between us. The stress dried up my milk.

And all because I'd slapped Joan across the face, just once.

As punishment, Brian handed control of every cent in the household over to his mistress.

I will never forget that day as long as I live.

My baby screaming, wailing from hunger.

Me, sobbing, begging Brian. "I was wrong. Please, just let the nanny go buy some formula. Please?"

"She can't go hungry any longer!"

But Brian only frowned, his voice cold and measured. "Eleanor, when you do something wrong, you face the consequences."