### Chapter 2
I took a long breath and told myself：
It's fine. From now on, I'll love myself the way he never bothered to.
I saved every photo and every video. The next morning, I went straight to a divorce attorney.
Frederick didn't come home until the afternoon.
“Got stuck at the lab too late last night, so I just crashed there. We're having dinner at my parents' place tonight. Go get changed.”
He held out a new dress. It was beautiful, a designer label he'd never once been willing to buy me before.
The old me would have thrown her arms around him in delight.
I just took it quietly and murmured：“Okay.”
Frederick frowned, looking me over：
“You don't like it? That dress cost over a thousand dollars.”
Yes. Too late. No gift in the world could make me happy now.
He had no idea.
That morning, on my way to the law firm, I'd spotted him next door at the sales office, touring a condo with Vanessa Sterling.
A sprawling riverfront unit, tens of millions. Vanessa said “I love it,” and he swiped his card without blinking.
She stood on tiptoe and kissed his cheek, beaming. He smiled gently and smoothed the hair from her forehead.
The handsome professor and the beautiful actress. A perfect match.
If only this man weren't my husband.
I'd once dreamed of a home by the river too, even a tiny one.
I'd clung to Frederick's arm and begged：
“The view at night is so gorgeous. Wouldn't it be wonderful if we could live there?”
He hadn't even looked up from grading papers：
“Do you have any idea what riverfront units cost? You don't even have a job. How am I supposed to afford that on my salary?”
I'd pouted and suggested a mortgage. He'd exploded：
“Audrey, I said no!”
“What's wrong with the apartment? You don't have the life for a rich wife, but you've sure caught the disease!”
So it was never about the price. And he knew exactly how beautiful the view was.
I was just the one who didn't deserve it.
I swallowed the pain twisting through my chest, pulled out my phone, recorded him buying that condo, and walked into the law firm.
That evening—the last dinner at the Sanchez house. Glasses clinked, laughter rose easy and warm around the table.
I stood up.
I pushed a divorce agreement across the table, right over the steak Frederick was cutting.
“Frederick. I want a divorce.”
The air at the table went dead.
“Being pregnant's made you lose your mind? Where do you get off talking about divorce!” Bertha Sanchez was the first to recover, her voice shrill and cutting.
Frederick's hand froze around his knife and fork.
A long moment passed before he looked up at me, brow creased deep：“What are you making a scene about now?”
“I'm not making a scene.”
I clenched my teeth and confronted him about Vanessa Sterling.
He rubbed his temples, looking thoroughly put-upon：
“Vanessa was just picking up some reference material from the lab. I helped her out a little, that's it.”
“You wanted a baby—I gave you one. So what exactly is your problem?”
One word. *Unreasonable.* And every grievance I carried was stuffed right back inside me.
Bertha's voice rose to a bark：“This is what happens when life's been too easy for you. It's made you completely out of control!”
Roland Sanchez rolled his eyes in open contempt：
“Everyone knows you've been living off my son since the wedding. Walk out that door, and you're just some used-up woman nobody else would want.”
Frederick's older brother set down his wine glass, voice dripping with scorn：
“A woman who acts up like this? Who besides Frederick could stand it.”
“That's enough.”
Frederick cut them off and turned to his parents：“Audrey is still your daughter-in-law. She's upset, that's why she's talking about divorce. Once I explain things, she'll calm down.”
Instantly the whole table rallied around his “defense” of me, praising him as the perfect husband, calling me an ungrateful waste of space.
They'd all forgotten. I have a PhD in AI engineering from an Ivy League school.
After the wedding, Frederick said he didn't want me in the public eye. And because I loved him more than anything, I became a full-time housewife.
What he never knew was that for years, the world's top tech companies had been reaching out to me. I turned every one of them down.
I never imagined that everything I gave up would become the knife his family used against me.
“Frederick's already protecting you. Quit while you're ahead and stop being so ungrateful!”
