The President She Betrayed

On my wife’s birthday, she lied that she had to go on a business trip and secretly went to her first love’s house. Late that night, my wife’s first love, Ryan, sent me a video. In the video, my wife Claire was sitting on the edge of a bed with her upper body completely bare. I silently saved it. The vows of eternal love we had once made suddenly felt like a joke. I picked up my phone and called home. “Mom, I agree. I’ll come back and take over the family business.” Three days later, my wife Claire finally contacted me. “Ryan had something come up. Come pick me up from his place!” In the past, no matter how urgent things were, I would drop everything and go get her whenever she called. But this time, I stayed in bed, hung up immediately, switched my phone to silent, and went back to sleep. When Claire returned home, her face was terrifyingly dark. She stormed over to me, yanked off my blanket, and threw it onto the floor. “Ethan, what the hell is wrong with you? You’d rather sleep at home than go pick me up?” “Do you have any idea how busy I was entertaining clients? I barely had time to breathe!” “I brought you into the company so you could learn, not so you could spend every day drinking at business dinners and come home to sleep like a useless lump!” I put on my clothes and met Claire’s furious gaze. She had no idea that I attended all those dinners to make her life at the company easier. Every major contract the company landed had been secured by me. But for Claire’s future, I secretly handed every one of those contracts over to her. After months of relentless networking, I had pushed someone as incompetent as Claire into a director’s position she never should have reached. Yet Claire stubbornly believed she had gotten me into the company. In her eyes, I was nothing more than a parasite feeding off her. “Ethan, why do you always go silent whenever I bring this up?” “Do you have any dignity as a man? Do you really plan to keep drifting around like a useless loser?” “That won’t happen again,” I said calmly. My answer eased her anger a little. Then, in the tone of a boss giving an order, she said, “I’m a little dizzy. Hurry up and make me some tea to sober me up. I’m going to take a shower.” I watched her walk toward the bathroom, finished getting dressed, and sat down in the living room. When Claire came out, drying her hair, she saw me sitting there without moving. Her suppressed anger exploded again. “Ethan, I told you to make tea. Are you deaf? Or have you finally decided my words don’t matter?” I simply looked at her and asked quietly, “Claire, were you really on a business trip these past three days?” Her entire body stiffened. Then, overwhelming fury spread across her face. “What exactly are you implying?” “I didn’t even celebrate my own birthday. I spent three days away securing a major contract for the company, and you still have the nerve to doubt me?” I took out my phone, unlocked the video, and held it out in front of her. Under the dim light, she was sitting on the edge of the bed with her upper body bare. Claire’s pupils widened. Even her rage froze for a moment. Then, overcome with embarrassment, she shouted, “Ethan, how dare you spy on me? That’s disgusting!” “Ryan sent it to me,” I replied calmly.Claire seemed to understand what had happened. A mocking smile curled across her lips. “So that’s what this is about. You’re jealous.” “It was an artistic video made for the company. Every partner received one.” “Ryan is a senior executive at Sterling Industries, so of course he got a copy too. Don’t be upset, okay?” She sounded completely sincere. If this had happened before, I might really have believed her without question. She took the dirty clothes she had changed out of in the bathroom and placed them in my arms. Then she kissed the corner of my mouth. “Okay, stop overthinking it. Wash these clothes for me. I’m going to take a nap.” As I accepted the clothes, a receipt slipped from one of the pockets. I bent down and picked it up. It was for the company’s newest “True Love” ring, a custom piece that could only be made once in a person’s lifetime. The receipt said it had been purchased by Claire for the love of her life—Ryan. Claire’s pupils shook violently. The panic in her eyes became impossible to hide. “Ethan, listen to me. This is one of our prototypes… Yes, a prototype. It was only an experimental sample for Ryan.” I listened coldly to her terrible excuse. The product had already gone into production. What prototype was she talking about? Things like this had happened far too many times before. Whenever I questioned her, she responded with nothing but accusations. This time, I said nothing. I dropped the clothes and casually tossed the receipt into the trash. Claire’s anger surged again when she saw what I had done. “We dated for five years and have been married for one. After six years together, you still don’t trust me?” “Nothing happened between Ryan and me. We were just doing normal business entertaining.” “This is my job. Do you understand?” I hadn’t even accused her of anything, yet she was already falling apart. “I know it’s your job. I never said there was a problem.” Claire became even angrier. “I explained everything to you, and you’re still not satisfied?” “I’m the director of this entire company. If I hadn’t been taking care of you, do you think I’d still be stuck in this position?” I shook my head calmly. Claire was always like this. Whenever she was in the wrong, she would drag some unrelated issue into the argument to overpower me. She wanted me to remember that she was always the one in control of our marriage—and that I was expected to obey her. When Claire saw me shaking my head, she became even more furious. “Ethan, do you really have to make such a big deal out of this?” “Are you seriously still hung up on that video? I told you, it was an artistic video!” I sighed. “I understand. It was an artistic video and a prototype. There’s no problem.” Claire shoved me several times. “Ethan, do you have to keep provoking me?” “What are you trying to imply? If you’re unhappy, blame yourself for being useless. If you could help me at work, would I have to work this hard and handle everything myself?” She kept pushing until she forced me out of the apartment. “Don’t forget—everything you eat and use comes from me. Go reflect on yourself. Come back after you realize your mistake!” With that, she slammed the door in my face, completely ignoring the cold rain outside and the fact that I was wearing nothing but a thin T-shirt. The freezing wind cut through me. I wrapped my arms around myself, trembling from head to toe. Claire didn’t care at all. She simply yawned and went to sleep. She probably thought I would be afraid like before. She probably thought I would come crawling back and beg for her forgiveness the moment she threw me out. The rain kept falling, and the damp cold sank into my bones. But this time, I simply took out my phone and dialed a number. Soon, a limited-edition Maybach pulled up outside the apartment complex. The driver got out and opened the door for me. “Sir, please get in.” I stepped into the Maybach. My mother was sitting inside. The moment she saw me, she pulled me into a hug. “Son, come on. Let’s go home.”Before I married Claire, her company—and nearly every other major company in the city—was secretly controlled by my family. That included Sterling Industries, the company owned by Claire’s childhood friend Ryan. In reality, my mother held the controlling power there. Ryan was nothing more than a pawn carrying out orders from above. But Claire had once said she wanted to work her way up from the bottom. So I abandoned my identity and started over with her, hoping to prove to my family that the woman I chose was the right one. Instead, I ended up with a wife who secretly betrayed me with her childhood sweetheart. When I arrived home in the Maybach and finished showering, my phone rang. It was Jessica, Claire’s best friend. “Ethan, where did you go? Claire said you two had a huge fight. Are you even a man? Claire supported you for years, and you ran away just because she criticized you a little?” Everyone around Claire had looked down on me throughout our relationship. Jessica was the worst of them all. She believed marrying Claire was the greatest stroke of luck I had ever received. Before I could answer, she ordered, “Come pick Claire up right now. She’s drunk. You have ten minutes, or don’t blame me for what happens next.” In the past, threats like that would have sent me into a panic. Now, I only found them laughable. “First of all, Claire was the one who threw me out. And I’m a person, not her on-call butler or servant.” Jessica snorted. “Then what are you? Don’t tell me you actually think you’re Claire’s husband. Don’t make me laugh, Ethan. Take a good look at yourself. Do you even deserve her?” Her words left no room for mercy. Then I heard familiar laughter coming from the other end of the call. Claire’s voice. And Ryan’s. “Ryan is there?” I frowned. Jessica’s voice grew even more contemptuous. “Did you think everyone was as useless as you? Ryan is the head of Claire’s partner company. You’d better hurry over. Otherwise, I can’t promise where Claire will end up.” “Is that so?” I found the whole thing ridiculous. Claire had just thrown me out, and now she had gone drinking with the man she loved. This was the woman I had treasured for all these years. “Then have Ryan take her home.” I hung up. Jessica called several more times, so I blocked her number. Around midnight, my phone rang again. Half-asleep, I picked it up and saw that it was Claire. Out of habit, I answered. The next second, her furious voice exploded through the phone. “Ethan, have you grown a temper now? Why didn’t you come pick me up?” I let out a cold laugh. “Weren’t you with Ryan? You two sounded like you were having a great time—” “I told you there’s nothing between us! Do you have to keep making trouble?” Claire cut me off. “You have two hours to get home and admit your mistake. Otherwise, we’re getting divorced!” I listened to her furious voice and replied without rushing, “Fine. Let’s get divorced.” “Besides, your home should be Ryan’s place—not mine.” I hung up and blocked Claire’s number. For the first time, the world was quiet.I didn’t waste any time. The day after I returned home, my mother began familiarizing me with the family business. The Sterling family owned countless industries, and since I had been away for so many years, there were many operations I knew nothing about. My first assignment was to inspect one of the companies. I never expected the first company my mother took me to be the very one where Claire worked. My mother received a phone call and told me to go inside first. I didn’t think much of it. When I arrived at the building, I tried to use facial recognition to enter. My access had already been deleted. Claire had acted quickly. She probably thought this was another way to force me to compromise. She had done it countless times before. She had never considered how hard I had worked to get that position or how much I had sacrificed. She had never cared how I would survive without a job. She only wanted to remind me of the distance between us. I was about to call the general manager of the company when I ran into Claire and Ryan arriving together, laughing and talking. When Claire saw me standing outside the building, her face stiffened. Then she seemed to realize something and lifted her chin arrogantly. “Why are you here? Didn’t you say you wanted to support yourself? Why are you shamelessly trying to get back into my company?” Ryan leaned forward with a mocking grin. “You probably couldn’t survive out there and came back to beg her, right? Ethan, you’re a man. Do you really have no shame left after living off a woman?” Claire snorted. “If you want to beg, then act like someone who’s begging. Ethan, if you want to come back, get on your knees and beg for my forgiveness.” Her voice was loud enough to draw the attention of the employees nearby. “That looks like Director Claire’s husband, doesn’t it? The freeloader?” “So the freeloader finally pissed off Director Claire? Serves him right. That pathetic loser only got promoted because of her. She should’ve kicked him out ages ago!” Claire’s self-righteous attitude made me laugh. “Get on my knees? Claire, stop pretending to be the victim. What exactly did I do wrong?” Ryan scoffed. “The freeloader has the nerve to talk back? If Claire says you’re wrong, then you’re wrong. Have you forgotten whose company this is?” I looked at him coldly. “Whose company is it? How come I don’t know?” Ryan laughed disdainfully. “Obviously, it’s Claire’s company. Otherwise, do you think you’d still be working here?” Claire’s voice was full of ridicule. “Ethan, think carefully. If it weren’t for me, would you have had such an easy life here?” I smiled. “Claire, you should think carefully. If it weren’t for me, would you have had such an easy life here?” Ryan’s smile turned even more mocking. “What a freeloader. He’s been a parasite for years and still thinks he’s entitled to anything?” Claire called over a security guard and folded her arms as she looked down at me. “You have two choices. Get on your knees and beg for my forgiveness, or I’ll make sure you never find another job for the rest of your life.” Ryan stepped forward too. “That’s right. I’m with her. Get on your knees, Ethan. Beg Claire for forgiveness. Maybe I’ll even toss you a little charity.” The two of them looked down at me smugly, as if they could already see me kneeling and begging. Then my mother strode through the entrance. “What a bold claim. Let’s see who exactly thinks they can keep my son from making a living!”