She Forced Me Out Penniless—Then Discovered I'm a Billionaire

My brother-in-law racked up $50 million in online gambling debts and left my contact information with the creditors.

By the time the interest compounded to $100 million, a pack of thugs showed up at my front door demanding payment.

After I talked them into leaving, my wife and mother-in-law finally crept out of the bedroom, trembling.

Adeline Harding's face was chalk white. "Let's get a divorce. I'd rather leave this marriage with nothing than stay. Your debts are your problem. Don't even think about dragging me down with you."

No matter how many times I explained that her brother owed the money, she refused to believe me.

Peggy Chavez, my mother-in-law, slapped me across the face. "You're trying to frame my son just so you can trick my daughter into paying off your debts! Divorce. Now!"

"And since we're being honest," she added, "Adeline's pregnant. It's your good buddy's baby. So get that through your head and sign the papers."

Wait. I had a hundred million. I'd been about to ask if they needed help covering the debt. How did this turn into a divorce ambush?

Fine. If that's how it was going to be, they could deal with Tim Harding's mountain of debt on their own.

——

My voice came out dry and cracked. "You're... you're carrying Alex Swanson's child? Since when?"

Adeline turned her head and looked at me with open contempt. "Ronald Mason, so what if I am? What are you going to do about it?"

"Don't bother trying to make me stay. I don't want a deadbeat husband who racks up debts and doesn't have the guts to own up to them."

I stood frozen. Not a single word came out.

Peggy saw me standing there like a statue and kicked me. "Did you hear her? Tomorrow. County clerk's office. Divorce."

She turned to Adeline with a sly grin. "Good thing you took birth control every time before sleeping with this loser."

"Otherwise he'd use a kid to chain you down and make you help pay off his debts. I was planning to let him raise the baby, but now there's clearly no need."

I couldn't believe what I was hearing. "Every time... you took the pill beforehand?"

Three years of marriage, and Adeline had never gotten pregnant.

Peggy had mocked me in front of relatives and friends more than once, calling me a useless man who couldn't even father a child. She'd even pressured me into getting tested at the hospital.

The results came back perfectly normal. After that, the subject was quietly dropped.

She'd been taking birth control the entire time. She'd even planned to let me raise another man's child like a fool.

Adeline let out a cold scoff. "Maybe you should think about how your family treated me. That whole wedding settlement mess? I hated it from the start."

Peggy spat on the floor. "That pathetic bride price. Your family hemmed and hawed forever before coughing it up. So cheap it made me sick. I never wanted my daughter marrying you in the first place."

My mind flashed back to the wedding three years ago.

We'd agreed on a bride price of $999,000. A lucky number.

But on the day of the wedding, Peggy told Adeline to stay in the car and refused to let her step out unless we paid an extra million as a "door fee."

I thought it was outrageous, but Adeline sat in the wedding car dabbing at her tears, saying her mother only had one daughter and life hadn't been easy for her.

I gritted my teeth and paid.

When we arrived at the house, Peggy demanded another million as a "name-change fee" for calling my parents Mom and Dad.

I was done. This was highway robbery.

But my father stepped in. He said a wedding was a happy occasion, and we shouldn't let money ruin it. He paid.

Thank God my father saw through them. He'd kept our family's multi-billion-dollar fortune a secret.

He'd even held the ceremony at the old house from before the family made its money. In the end, they walked away with three million and finally stopped pushing.

Peggy didn't give Adeline a single cent as a dowry. Said our family "wasn't worth the effort."

I found out later that every dollar of that three million went straight to Tim Harding, who blew through it all.