One billion dollars. That was the value of the contract I had just secured for my husband’s Paul company.
I stood on the stage of the grand ballroom. I looked down at Paul, my husband of five years, expecting to see pride, but his expression was unreadable. Yet, I continued with my speech.
"Thank you everyone," I said, my voice echoing through the hall. "This deal isn't just for the company. It's for the future of our family." I placed a hand on my stomach, a smile breaking across my face. "Paul and I... we are expecting."
Paul didn't smile. He didn't rush the stage to embrace me just like I imagined. Instead, he signaled the AV technician. The massive screen behind me, which had been displaying the company logo, flickered.
"Expecting?" Paul’s voice boomed from the floor, cold and sharp as a blade. "Expecting whose child, Olivia?"
My smile faltered. "What?"
"You secured the deal, didn't you?" Paul sneered, stepping into the light. "We all wondered how you managed to pull a billion-dollar contract out of thin air when the company was drowning. Now we know."
The screen behind me changed.
It wasn't a spreadsheet. It was a video. Grainy, night-vision footage. It showed a woman who looked exactly like me entering a hotel room. A man followed—the CEO of the rival firm I had just signed with. The door closed. The time stamp showed 2:00 AM.
"Paul," I whispered, the microphone picking up my ragged breath. "That’s not... that’s not me."
"Don't lie to me!" he roared, hurling his glass against the stage. It shattered, shards of crystal skittering across the floor. "You sold yourself for this deal. You slept your way to the top, and now you try to pass off a bastard child as mine?"
"No!" I screamed, looking at the faces in the crowd. Disgust. Pity. Judgment. "It’s a lie! I never went to that hotel! Paul, please!"
"You are a whore, Olivia," he spat, turning his back on me. "Get her out of here. She’s polluting the air."
Security guards rushed the stage. They grabbed my arms, their grip bruising.
"Paul!" I shrieked, fighting them. "I’m pregnant with your son! Listen to me!"
He didn't look back.
The humiliation crashed over me like a tidal wave. The flashing cameras, the whispers, the sheer cruelty of the man I loved. The room spun. The lights blurred into streaks of white.
My knees gave out. Darkness swallowed me whole.
I woke up to the smell of antiseptic and expensive cologne.
I wasn't in a hospital. I was in our master bedroom. My head throbbed, a dull rhythm against my skull. I tried to sit up, but my body felt heavy, leaden with exhaustion.
Voices drifted through the slightly ajar door connecting to Paul’s study.
"You are so great with that edit, baby," a woman’s voice purred. "The deepfake was seamless. Even I believed she was screwing him."
Jennie. Paul’s secretary.
My heart stopped. I held my breath, ignoring the nausea rolling in my stomach.
"It had to be convincing," Paul’s voice replied. He sounded relaxed. Triumphant. "Olivia is smart. If I just accused her, she’d fight back. But public humiliation? Shame? That breaks a person."
"So, does this mean you are finally going to divorce her?" Jennie asked. I heard the rustle of fabric, the sound of her sitting on his lap. "And marry me?"
"Not yet," Paul said.
I froze.
"Why not?" Jennie whined. "You humiliated her. You destroyed her reputation. What else is there?"
"She still holds forty percent of the shares," Paul explained, his voice dropping to a cold, calculating tone. "If I divorce her now, she takes half my empire. I need to use her a little longer. I need to break her spirit completely. I need her to believe she is nothing without me so she signs over the assets willingly."
"You’re wicked," Jennie giggled.
"I’m a businessman," Paul corrected. "She was just a stepping stone."
Tears pricked my eyes, hot and angry. I wasn't a wife to him. I was an asset. A stepping stone. And he had just destroyed my life for leverage.
I didn't scream. I didn't burst into the room. The shock had burned away, leaving only a cold, hard clarity.
I reached for my phone on the nightstand. My hands were shaking, but I forced them to be steady. I dialed the number for Arthur Blackwood, my personal attorney.
He answered on the first ring.
"Ms. Olivia," he said.
"Arthur," I whispered, keeping my eyes on the door. "I need you to file a lawsuit immediately. Against Paul. Defamation, libel, emotional distress. I want a restraining order."
I waited for his outrage. I waited for him to tell me he would destroy Paul for me.
Silence stretched on the line.
"Arthur?" I hissed. "Did you hear me?"
"I’m sorry, Ms. Olivia," Arthur said, his voice devoid of emotion. "I cannot do that."
"What do you mean you can’t?" I gripped the phone tighter. "I pay you. You work for me."
"Actually," Arthur said, "as of this morning, your accounts have been frozen pending an investigation into corporate fraud and embezzlement. Your husband has power of attorney over your assets due to your... medical instability."
"My what?" I gasped.
"Paul ordered it," Arthur said flatly. "I only obey your husband’s orders now. You don't have the funds to hire me, Ms. Olivia. In fact, as of this moment, you don't have any power... in everything."
