I laughed at myself bitterly. But after that hollow laugh faded, ten years of buried grievances came surging to the surface like a tide that could no longer be held back.

I tried to speak calmly, to hold on to whatever shred of dignity I had left. But when I opened my mouth, my voice came out trembling, cracked with tears. "William, I'm begging you... just let me go."

The color drained from his face. His whole body seemed to lose its strength, and he fell back hard against his chair.

When he spoke, his voice was thick with barely contained fury. "Being with me makes you that miserable?"

"Please, just let me go. I don't want anything anymore..."

The title of Mrs. Sanchez? I didn't want it.

William, and everything we'd once had together? I didn't want any of it.

Even the reason I'd taken that million dollars and left him all those years ago, I no longer cared to dig into.

That memory, that love. The moment I discovered his affair, none of it mattered anymore.

The light in William's eyes dimmed, going dark as stagnant water.

"On what grounds?" Every word ground out through clenched teeth. "It's always been you. You come when you want, you leave when you want. Have you ever, for one single second, considered how I feel?"

He hated me. Every syllable dripped with it.

"When my family disapproved, I eloped with you. When the Sanchezes blacklisted me and I couldn't find work anywhere, I hauled bricks at construction sites just so you could paint in your studio with clean hands and a clear conscience." His jaw tightened. "And what did you do?"

William laughed. Without warning, his eyes went red.

"You played me for a fool. One day you told me we'd be together forever. The next, you went to my mother and took a million dollars to run off to Northgate."

"In your heart... I was only ever worth a million dollars."

Northgate.

A dark basement. A sickening, clammy sensation flashed through my mind.

I forced the nausea down and smiled bitterly. "I've already given you ten years to make up for it, Mr. Sanchez. Isn't that enough?"

William opened his mouth to say something else, but the door swung open and someone walked in.

He reined in his expression instantly. The visitor was Piers Rodriguez, a key partner of Sanchez Group.

"Mr. Sanchez, your secretary wasn't at her desk, so I let myself in." Piers smiled politely.

William let out a low grunt through his nose. All he could do was press his curled index finger against his lips and bite down.

The argument with me had already drained him. He was teetering on the edge of an explosion.

Piers glanced at me and clearly assumed I was just a cleaner. He pulled a contract from his briefcase without a second thought.

"About the proposal from last time, Mr. Sanchez. We're very pleased with it. I came today specifically to sign."

He stepped forward with the contract, but William raised a hand and growled, "Stop."

Piers froze mid-step, a flicker of displeasure crossing his brow.

William recovered quickly. "I think the proposal could still be refined. Give me a moment to gather the team for a meeting."

Piers chuckled. "Always thorough, Mr. Sanchez. Well then, why don't I just call everyone up to your office right now?"

Before William could object, Piers was already ignoring the strained look on his face, firing off messages in the project group chat to summon people for the meeting.

Office workers moved fast. Even though William's office sat on the top floor of the building, everyone filed in within a minute.

They all stood there, eyes fixed on William, waiting to hear what needed to be changed.

William's entire body was coiled tight. He suppressed every raw, primal urge clawing at him and launched into a measured, point-by-point discussion with the group.

I pulled out a rag and pretended to clean, working my way from the front of the desk around to the display cabinet behind it.

That was when my eyes met Vivian's under the desk. She glared at me, her gaze seething with hatred.

I reached into my bag and pulled out the purple underwear I'd fished from the toilet that morning. Without a moment's hesitation, I tossed it right onto her.

The fabric was still damp, still smeared with filth. The instant it touched her skin, Vivian let out a shriek of pure revulsion and scrambled out from under the desk.

Just like that, disheveled and half-undressed, she stood face to face with every single person in the room.

And because two companies were involved, there was a live video conference running too.

Everyone in the room sucked in a sharp breath. On the other end of the video call, the conference erupted into chaos.

Some fool even let out a low whistle.

Vivian's eyes turned red instantly. She scrambled to cover herself with both hands, then looked to William, desperate and pleading.

William tossed her his suit jacket and stood, fastening his belt.

He walked over to me. The slap landed clean and crisp across my face.

"Who gave you permission to touch what's mine."

Then he sat back down, his expression as calm as if nothing had happened. "Let's continue the meeting."

I couldn't remember how I got home. My face burned with a searing sting, and my chest ached with a pain so dense it felt woven into every fiber of my being.

I collapsed onto the couch, every last drop of energy drained, and passed out.

When I woke, something cool pressed against my skin.

In the dim light, I saw William's fingers, tracing the swollen curve of my cheek with a gentleness I barely recognized.

I couldn't tell if I was still half-asleep or if it was real.

His eyes were full of anguish. Full of tenderness.

It had been so long since he'd looked at me that way. So impossibly long.

Time seemed to fold backward, carrying me to that tiny rented apartment from years ago, and I murmured his name without thinking. "William..."

The moment the word left my lips, everything changed.

He stood. Backlit and distant, his expression wiped clean of whatever I thought I'd seen. "You're alive. Get up and make dinner."

Of course. It had only been a hallucination.

Since I couldn't afford to hire help, the house had no cook or housekeeper.

I made a meal as fast as I could.

At the dinner table, William held up his phone, the payment QR code aimed at me. "After subtracting your labor, you owe me nine hundred."

I shook my head. "I'm not eating. It's all yours."

His expression stiffened. "Stop throwing a tantrum. This meal's on me. Eat."

I shook my head again and explained wearily, "My tooth hurts too much to chew."

The swelling on my cheek wasn't just from the slap. The toothache had made it worse.

A long silence stretched between us. Something complicated shifted behind William's eyes. His voice came out clipped, almost reluctant. "How long has this been going on? Why haven't you seen a dentist?"

"Three years. I couldn't afford it."

Who on the outside would ever believe it? Mrs. Sanchez of the Sanchez Group, unable to treat a cavity for three years because she didn't have the money.

William's brow furrowed tight. His breath hitched. He pulled out his phone and transferred ten thousand dollars to my account.

"Call it your year-end bonus. Go get it looked at tomorrow."

I stared at him for a long time, then nodded.

"William, just sign the papers."

I couldn't hold it in any longer.

His chair scraped against the floor with an ugly screech as he stood. He looked straight at me. "Pamela, do you even have a heart?"

I was suddenly so tired. I swallowed down the violent churning in my stomach and heard my own voice, hollow and flat. "Sign them. Don't make me think you actually care about losing me."

The color drained from William's face. He took several ragged breaths before he could steady his voice enough to speak. "Even for the sake of the Sanchez fortune, you won't keep up the act anymore? You used to be so good at pretending."

"Good enough to trick me into running away with you. Or is it that ten years without a child made you realize you'd never get your hands on the family's money?"

He loosened his tie as he spoke, pulling it free. Each step he took toward me radiated a suffocating pressure.

He pushed me down onto the couch, pinning both my wrists above my head with one hand. The other gripped my chin, and his mouth crushed against mine, rough and furious. "Then I'll give you a child right now."

We used to hold each other. Used to kiss. But the photographs from last night kept flashing through my mind. The office this morning.

Everything that had happened screamed the same truth at me: this man was filthy.

A wave of nausea hit me, worse than what I'd felt unclogging the toilet that morning. Every cell in my body revolted, screaming with disgust.

I shoved William off me with every ounce of strength I had, grabbed the armrest of the couch, and started to retch.

"I disgust you?" The moment it registered, William's face drained of all color.

"How dare you... How could you..."

My fingers clenched into fists so tight my knuckles ached. Then the strength left me, and my hands fell open.

"What happened in the office today. I recorded it."

The air went still. Under the crushing weight of William's stare, it felt like all the oxygen had been sucked from the room. I could barely breathe.

"What do you want?"

"I want a divorce."

"As you wish."

He picked up the two-page agreement from the coffee table and scrawled his name across it in one fluid stroke.

Then he stood, and flung both pages at my face.

"Resignation and divorce both require thirty days' notice. For the next month, you'll keep doing your job as a janitor, and you'll keep playing the dutiful Mrs. Sanchez."

It was a long time before I found my voice again. When I did, it came out raw. "Fine."

The next day, my tooth was worse.

The slightest contact between my upper and lower teeth sent a bolt of pain so severe my mind went blank.

Because of my unusual position at the company, the only person I could request leave from was William.

I pushed open his office door and found the room empty.

I was about to leave when I caught the murmur of voices drifting from the lounge.

"Are you really going to divorce Pamela?"

It was Althea Sanchez, the only member of the Sanchez family who had ever shown me any kindness.

A long silence stretched before William answered. "She wants to leave. A woman that vain and money-hungry, going Dutch with me for ten years? It was only a matter of time before she couldn't keep up the act."

I didn't love him anymore. I knew that. But hearing those words from the man who had once treasured me like something precious still made my heart seize, the pain so sharp I doubled over.

"Maybe... there's more to it than you think?"

Althea's voice wavered, hesitant, and I realized in an instant that she might know what had really happened all those years ago.

I crept closer and pressed my ear to the door.

The lounge fell quiet.

"The truth is, back then, the reason was..."