The Wife He Discarded Was a Billionaire Heiress

The wall clock in that luxury dining room chimed twelve times. Elena stared at the row of food on top of the long, silent table. Everything had already turned cold. She hoped that tonight Arthur would come home sooner. However, just like the two years prior, Elena once again passed this moment all alone.

The sound of the front door being pushed open roughly broke the silence of the house. Elena directly stood up, neatening her dress, and walked quickly toward the direction of the front room with a forced smile.

Arthur Vance entered with heavy steps. His black suit jacket was slung carelessly over his arm, while the knot of his tie was already loose. The man's face was bent, radiating an anger that instantly made the atmosphere of the room feel gripping.

"Arthur, you have returned home? Do you want me to heat up the food?" asked Elena faintly. She took steps drawing closer, intending to take the suit jacket from her husband's hand.

Arthur let out a loud snort. He took a step backward, avoiding Elena's touch as if that woman carried a plague. He stared at Elena from the top of her head to the tip of her feet with a look of disgust.

"Get rid of that damn food, Elena. I have no appetite looking at your face, let alone eating your cooking," said Arthur with a heavy and sharp voice.

Elena stopped her movement in midair. She drew back her hand, then lowered her head deeply. Harsh words like that had already become her daily bread for these three years, but for some reason, tonight it felt far more piercing to her chest.

Arthur walked to the living room and threw his suit jacket on top of the sofa roughly. "That adoptive family of yours truly is a pack of idiots who do not know how to do business. The project in the western district is a mess because the raw material supply from the Miller company is late again. They cannot work, yet they continuously beg for additional investment from me!"

"Sorry, Arthur... I will try to speak with Father tomorrow morning," chirped Elena, trying to suppress her husband's anger.

"Speak?" Arthur laughed cynically. He turned his body around and took steps drawing closer until their distance only had two steps remaining. Elena could smell a thin aroma of alcohol from that man's breath. "You think your voice possesses an influence over them? Do not be naive, Elena. You are merely an useless adopted child in the Miller family. They only exploit your status as my wife to dig up my money. And unfortunately, I have to be trapped with a jinx woman like you."

Arthur suddenly extended a hand, gripping Elena's chin firmly. He forced Elena to look up, staring directly into his hawk eyes which were full of hatred.

"This marriage is the greatest mistake in my life," hissed Arthur precisely in front of Elena's face. "If it weren't because of the ridiculous request of my late grandmother before she died, I would never be willing to look at you, let alone touch you. You are nothing more than just a burden ruining my life."

Elena felt her eyes heating up. Tears had already gathered on her eyelids, ready to spill at any time. The grip of Arthur's hand on her chin felt very painful, but the pain in her chest was far more torturous. She highly wanted to scream and defend herself. She wanted to say that she too had never asked for this matchmaking. During these three years, she had already withheld all her ego, looked after this house alone, and became an obedient wife for the sake of pleasing Arthur. However, all her efforts were never appreciated.

Beneath her dress, Elena's hand clenched firmly until her nails turned white. She held her breath so as not to sob. Elena's thoughts drifted to the past. The image of the stuffy and cold orphanage returned to appear in her head. The Miller family came there and brought her away when she was still very little. Indeed, they had never given a sincere affection and only considered her as a tool for easing business. However, Elena could not forget the fact that they were the ones who gave food, clothes, and a roof to take shelter all this time. That extraordinarily grand sense of debt of gratitude was what locked her mouth, forcing her to swallow all of Arthur's insults whole without daring to fight back even a little bit.

Arthur narrowed his eyes seeing Elena's stillness. Feeling disgusted because of not getting a reaction, he released his grip with a rough jerk. Elena's slender body staggered slightly backward, nearly bumping into the edge of the dining table.

Arthur took out a handkerchief from his pocket, wiping the palm of his hand slowly as if he had just touched an extraordinarily dirty item, then threw that handkerchief to the floor.

"Starting tomorrow, do not ever wait for me to return home again. You are only wasting your time," said Arthur coldly without feelings. "And tell that damn family of yours, if they mess up one more project, I will not hesitate to stop the entire flow of funds to their company. I do not care if they will go bankrupt or die of starvation."

Without waiting for an answer, Arthur turned around and took steps climbing the stairs heading toward the main bedroom on the second floor. The sound of the bedroom door closed with a loud thud echoed in all corners of the house.

After Arthur left, Elena's defense collapsed. Both of her knees turned weak, making her fall to a sitting position on top of the cold marble floor. A speck of tear finally escaped and wet her cheek, followed by a voiceless crying that suffocated the chest.

Elena stared at the dark blue dress she wore, then shifted to the wedding anniversary candle which began to melt completely on top of the table. This luxury house, this marriage, and the status as Arthur Vance's wife, everything felt like a prison that did not possess iron bars. She was confined in a sense of guilt and low self-esteem, bearing all the hatred for a mistake she had never even committed.

"Three years... I gave my entire life, sacrificed every drop of my self-esteem merely to wait in this house. I cooked, I cared, I swallowed all his verbal abuse with the hope that one day later he would look at me as a wife. But it turns out, in his eyes I have never become a human."

Elena gripped her chest which felt very suffocated, withholding the sob restrained in her throat.

"I beg for affection from a man who considers me dirty, while my own family only waits for me to bring home the wager money. God, if my presence in this world is only a mistake, why did I have to be born? Why is there not even a single place in this world that can accept me sincerely? Is my life truly this despicable, to the point of not being worthy to obtain even a penny of happiness?"