Chapter 1
I had just picked up my teacup when my phone suddenly rang.
It was Seraphina Hayes, the woman who’d just blocked me.
“Liam Sullivan, what the hell are you doing? Why did Julian get arrested?!” she demanded, her voice thick with anger.
My tone was flat, completely devoid of emotion. “That estate is my private property. I suspected illegal activities were going on, so I had the police confirm.”
After a few seconds of silence, Seraphina’s voice softened.
“Liam, have you been listening to rumors? Julian is just my secretary. There’s absolutely nothing going on between us.”
“And don’t you think you acted too impulsively this time?”
I glanced at our wedding photo and let out a laugh.
“Seraphina, you drove him home on Wednesday, then gifted him a limited-edition watch on Friday. Don’t you know where to draw the line yourself? And now you’re lecturing me?”
She ignored my question and changed the subject.
“You have so many properties sitting empty. I was just reasonably utilizing one for a team retreat. Are you seriously going to quibble over that?”
“Besides, Julian and I are completely innocent.”
Before I could reply, she impatiently cut in again, “Liam Sullivan, don’t make a mountain out of a molehill.”
I took a sip from my teacup, a cold sneer twisting my lips. “If Ms. Seraphina is so generous, she shouldn’t mind donating some jewelry, right?”
With that, I sent her the photos from the auction.
The camera showed Seraphina’s treasured jewelry and designer bags being happily taken away by their new owners after being sold.
I heard her heavy breathing, then a voice, three words gritted out through clenched teeth: “Li-am.”
I knew that tone all too well.
Whenever she was furious, she used my full name.
I slowly spun the wedding ring on my ring finger. “Next time I see you getting involved with another man, you’ll lose more than just a few pieces of jewelry and some bags.”
Without waiting for Seraphina’s response, I ended the call and tossed my phone onto the sofa.
Five years of marriage, and I rarely had such explosive arguments with her.
But that didn’t mean I’d put up with everything just to maintain a facade of peace.
If you give an inch in a marriage, they’ll take a mile.
Especially when this marriage was a business arrangement from the very beginning.
Back then, the Hayes family wanted to break into the city’s leading families, so they set their sights on my family, the Sullivan’s. That’s how this arranged marriage came about.
I remember our first meeting. She wore a white dress, looking gentle and sophisticated.
I thought then, marrying someone like her would at least spare me petty arguments and insignificant troubles, so I agreed to the marriage.
After we married, we did spend a happy time together, making me believe, for a while, that I’d found love.
Later, the spark faded, and life settled into a routine, but that was normal.
I never imagined, though, that a third party would intrude.
I’ve always had a rule since I was a child: I don’t want anything someone else has touched.
If an object has been used by someone else, it goes straight into the trash.
And if a person gets involved in something shady, they should naturally be discarded like trash too.