Chapter 7
That night I tossed and turned in bed, unable to sleep.
I dug up all those little gifts Leonard had given me back in college and threw them in the trash.
It was pathetic, really. I was the only one who treasured those cheap little trinkets like they were precious, and in the end, he wiped out years of our relationship with one accusation that I “looked down on him.”
I’d planned to spend the long weekend relaxing, but instead I got a front-row seat to my husband’s affair.
That same night, after Leonard and Priya got dumped on the street, they took a cab to the hospital. Both of them were laid up in bed now.
I figured that would be the end of it. I’d pull my people out of his company, stop secretly funneling him projects, and just sit back and watch him go bankrupt.
But I totally underestimated how shameless Leonard and Priya could be.
They actually started livestreaming from their hospital beds, spinning their affair into some twisted love story for the internet.
Priya said: “Leo and I messed up, I’ll admit that. We couldn’t help ourselves-we fell for each other while he was still married to Maya. I want to publicly apologize to Maya for that.”
The second those words left her mouth, the chat went absolutely feral.
Priya smirked and kept spinning their so-called “love story.”
The dragging in the comments never stopped, but that’s exactly what drove their viewer count over 100K.
When Priya saw the numbers, she got ready to end the stream. “Okay everyone, if you want to hear more about Leo and me, make sure to follow and tune in tomorrow at the same time!”
She turned off her phone and Leonard glared at her with a dark expression.
“This is your fucking brilliant plan? You’re trying to destroy both our reputations! Did you see all those people trashing us in the comments? I’m worried this might literally kill my parents from the stress!”
Priya looked smugly at her phone analytics. “I gained 50,000 followers today. Just wait and see how this plays out. Maya’s the reason all my classmates are gossiping about us, and the school forced me to take a leave of absence. I’m going to make her pay for that!”
I knew Priya was livestreaming, but I had no idea what kind of scheme she was cooking up.
A few days later, I was handling paperwork in my office when the mansion’s security called.
Apparently Leonard had shown up at the house, but I’d already told security not to let him in anymore.
When he couldn’t get past the front gate, he started causing a scene in the security office.
The guard had no choice but to call me.
The second Leonard saw me, he rushed over yelling: “Maya, we’re still married! What gives you the right to keep me out?”
I waved him off. “Let me correct you-in one more week, we can file for divorce.”
Leonard straightened his clothes angrily. “Even after the divorce, didn’t you say you’d leave with nothing? Now you’re trying to back out and steal my
house?”
I was genuinely amazed by his stupidity.
Even at this point, he still thought he was some kind of millionaire.
Chapter 7
“Dude, are you seriously buying into the lies you told that college girl? Did you spend a single penny on this house? Is your name anywhere on the
deed?”
Leonard froze for a second, then seemed to remember something.
“We were already married when you bought this house. Even if you paid for it, it’s still marital property. Either way, half of it belongs to me.”
“Alright, let’s see if you can actually swallow a house this big.”
I pulled a copy of the property deed out of my bag.
Don’t ask why it wasn’t the original-I didn’t trust him enough for that.
Leonard stared at the information on the deed, completely stunned.
After a long moment, he looked at me in disbelief: “Maya, this house is yours? You’ve been lying to me this whole time?”
“Maya, in the five years we’ve known each other, I never imagined you’d deceive me. You’ve been treating me like an outsider from day one.”
Oh, so now he remembers it’s been five years.
For a split second, my eyes stung with tears.
I raised my hand and slapped him hard across the face.
When I spoke again, my voice came out as a hoarse shout.
“Well you cheated on me one fucking month after our wedding and played me for a fool for two whole years!”
“If I hadn’t caught you, were you planning to keep lying to me for the rest of my life?”
Leonard stood there stunned for a few seconds, panic flickering in his eyes.
When he snapped out of it, his face was full of disgust.
“Look at yourself right now-you’re like some crazy shrew, always lecturing me about everything. Being home with you feels like sitting through a board meeting.”
“Priya makes me feel relaxed. She makes me feel like I’m back in college again.”
Now he thought I was always lecturing him.
But who was it that didn’t know how to run his company and came home every night begging me to teach him business management?
Talk about biting the hand that feeds you.
I smiled bitterly and wiped the moisture from the corner of my eyes.
“In that case, I hope the next time we see each other is when we’re signing our divorce papers.”
“You’ll probably come crawling back to me in tears.”
Leonard let out a cold laugh and walked away.
I didn’t understand what he meant at the time-I thought he was just trying to save face.
Until two days later, when my assistant called me in a panic first thing in the morning.
“Ms. Hayes, we have a huge problem! You need to check the news right now!”
