Till Wealth Do Us Part

My wife was gone for 6 months on a business trip. The day she returned, however, she was not alone.

Hand in hand, my wife showed up with her lover—my client. This was not even the worst part—she was also 3 months' pregnant.

My client, in all his beer-bellied arrogance, hurled the contract at my feet, smirking. "Mr. Carter, your wife has gone to so much trouble for this partnership. Truth be told, I would never, not even in a million years, have agreed to partner with you if it wasn't for her!"

My wife caressed her pregnant belly and said smugly, "I was the one who successfully got Mr. Lewis' business! I'll let you have it, though, as long as you agree to get a divorce!"

I tore the contract into shreds and roared, "You want a divorce? Fine! I'll give it to you, but I'll never sign this!"

My wife, Mia, stared at the shreds of paper all over the ground, utterly dumbstruck. "Miles! You better think long and hard about this…

"Don't you know that this partnership alone is enough to sustain your lame company for almost a year?

"Or perhaps you're not satisfied by this amount I'm offering?

"Well, in that case, you can eat yourself!

"You're too greedy, and this will be the last time I'm ever helping you!"

I stared at her, affronted. I knew my eyes were probably red from close to crying, but I did not care. "Mia, do you know what day it is today?"

"What day?" She finally paused to gaze around her, registering her surroundings for the first time since stepping in.

To her surprise, she realized that the entire office was decked out in streamers and balloons.

She read the banner and sneered. "Celebrating three years of Carter Advertising?

"What's there to celebrate?

"We would have much more to celebrate if it weren't for your poor leadership! If you had been a better boss, you wouldn't need to send your own wife, the vice president of your company, out to get clients!

"I guess I shouldn't be complaining, though, because I'll be working for Keith very soon."

I slowly took my wedding ring off and placed it on the table before me. I could not help but notice that Mia was not even wearing hers anymore.

"You probably don't remember anymore, Mia, but today is not just our company's three year anniversary. It's also our fifth wedding anniversary. Don't you remember? Two years after we got married, you fell pregnant, but you insisted on terminating it, because you wanted to be a high-flying career woman. You didn't want to have a child because it would prevent you from reaching your goals.

"I honored your wish, and took out a massive loan to start up this company. All these years I've treated it like the child we never had…"

I did not even get to finish, because the next moment, Mia hurled my wedding ring onto the ground and stepped on it. The metal cracked underneath the weight of her shoe, just like the ending of our marriage.

"What are you trying to say, Miles? You think I'll be swayed by your devotion to our marriage? Or do you want more money? The audacity! You're a soul-sucking parasite, Miles! Even after our marriage has crashed and burned, all you care about is money!"

I scoffed. "You must be mistaken, Miss Lawson, because I'm not after your money. In fact, I don't even care about our joint assets anymore. You can have them all. All I want from the settlement is this company. Since you have made up your mind about ending our relationship, I don't see a point in holding on any longer."

Mia seemed utterly stunned. Sounding dubious, she asked, "What are you playing at? Why are you so obsessed with this wretched company that's not even making any money? Well, whatever. You can have it if that's what you want! Just don't expect me to go out getting clients for you anymore."

My client and the destroyer of my marriage, Keith Lewis, slung his arm around Mia's shoulder and said, sneering, "Mia, stop wasting your time with this scum. What else can you expect from him? He is nothing but a useless parasite, a man who relies on his own wife for his company's livelihood.

"I've been trying to convince you to divorce him for ages! I even offered you a job working at my company, and yet you're still wasting your time with him. Have you gone out of your mind?"

I could not stand it any longer. I whirled around and gave him a hard punch in the face, roaring, "Shut your filthy mouth! You're nothing but a homewrecker! What gives you the right to even speak?"

Keith let out a howl of agony. His bodyguards swarmed over, and within seconds, punches began raining down on me. It was agony like I had never felt before. Mia screamed, "Miles, our marriage is already over! What are you even getting jealous over? You should've known better! Serves you right!"

My employees watched, utterly unfazed, as the good-for-nothing president of their company got beaten into a pulp. It was my receptionist, Yvonne, who could not stand the fighting anymore and finally called the cops. Such ended an eventful day, when I found out my wife was leaving me. As expected, I ended up in the hospital that night.

Mia came by to visit me, but before leaving, she stuffed a wad of cash underneath my pillow. With a note of derision, she said, "Keith took pity on you and offered to pay for your medical bills. If you are expecting an apology, though, it will never come. To be frank with you, he wouldn't even have offered it if I hadn't convinced him.

"So please stop being so childish, Miles! I've already made up my mind, and you can't change it. No matter how much you beg and plead, I won't return. Even if you die fighting him, I won't return to your side!"

I threw the stack of money back into her face. "I won't accept filthy money! Also, don't get too pleased with yourself. I fought him because he deserved it, not because I was jealous of you."

Mia picked the money up and said, "Very well then. Be prepared to receive the divorce papers next week!"