Marius had never once told anyone that Cory was his wife.
Even though they had been together for five whole years, in the eyes of outsiders, he was still that noble and aloof heir of the Braithwaites—calm, composed, and untouchable—always appearing in public as a single man.
Cory was disappointed, of course. But she never pushed for him to make things official in public. To her, simply being by his side was enough to make her happy.
She had loved him ever since that day, as a child, when he risked his life to shield her from a kidnapper and brought her home.
From then until just moments ago, her feelings had never once wavered.
The two of them had grown up almost inseparably until after the SATs.
She went abroad for university while he stayed in Nebraska.
What she didn’t know back then was that, during those years, Marius had fallen into a passionate love with Jenelle.
All she knew was that the moment she came back, the man she loved greeted her at the airport with a bouquet in his arms and a confession on his lips.
“Cory, let’s be together.”
She’d said yes, dizzy with happiness—only to later realize that Marius probably never truly loved her.
Still, she didn’t give up. She believed that as long as she was good enough, someday, he’d come to love her the way she loved him.
But she was wrong—so terribly, painfully wrong.
That was the moment she stepped right into the abyss.
She had been in a secret relationship for five years, always waiting for the day he’d finally acknowledge her.
But now, she was done waiting.
That night, Marius didn’t come home.
Almost on instinct, Cory tapped into Jenelle’s Facebook page, where a new vlog had just gone up.
The video showed a recent company outing. Jenelle was laughing into the camera as she said, “Today, my boss helped me move stuff all afternoon, even the heavy file boxes I couldn’t carry. Come on, if my ex is this sweet, isn’t he basically chasing me again?”
Then the camera panned to Marius, who was crouching down, helping her tie the straps of her heels. His profile was gentle, his voice even gentler.
“Next time, don’t wear heels this high,” he said.
A colleague off-camera teased, “Whoah, President Braithwaite cares so much about Secretary McVicker. Is there still hope for you two?”
Jenelle giggled, blushing, but didn’t reply.
Cory’s fingers clenched. Her eyes were blank as she stared at the video looping again and again.
In front of the employees, Marius always kept a formal and distant relationship with her. But with Jenelle, he was indulgent, affectionate, and didn’t bother correcting anyone who misinterpreted their relationship.
So why did he keep his marriage a secret? Was he really trying to avoid workplace gossip—or did he just think Cory wasn’t good enough to flaunt publicly?
She refreshed the page, only to see Jenelle’s newest post—a photo of her collarbone, marked with what looked like kiss marks.
There was no need to ask where Marius had spent the night.
Suddenly, a sharp, tearing pain shot through Cory’s belly. She looked away, and one by one, she began screenshotting all the evidence of his affair.
When she had gathered more than enough, she sent them all to her divorce lawyer with a request.
[Draft a divorce agreement for me. Be ready to go to court.]
The lawyer responded promptly.
[Understood, Ma’am. I’ll have the papers ready in about three days.]
With that settled, Cory stood up and began quietly packing up the villa.
The matching toothbrushes she had picked out, the baby clothes she and Marius had bought together, the Lego sets they once built side by side—she tossed them all into garbage bags without hesitation.
She didn’t want the memories anymore. She didn’t want Marius either!
Just as she was bending down to tie up one of the trash bags, the front door opened.
Marius walked in and frowned slightly. “Aren’t these things you used to treasure? Why are you throwing them out?”
She kept her eyes lowered, forcing a smile. “They’re old. I don’t want to keep them anymore.”
Fortunately, he didn’t press.
To him, those things had never mattered anyway.
He simply walked over to her and placed his palm gently over her slightly rounded belly, murmuring, “Were you good today, baby? Daddy’s home!”
Once upon a time, Cory would’ve been moved by these little moments. She would’ve thought he wasn’t unloving—just bad at expressing it.
But now she understood—his tenderness was never for her. It was for his heir.
In other words, loving the baby didn’t mean loving her, too.
“Are you still upset about Jenelle?” he asked, sensing her cold treatment. His voice softened as he tried to coax her. “Don’t overthink it. She’s just working for me temporarily. She couldn’t find a job suitable for her, so I brought her into the company. She’ll be gone soon.”
Cory didn’t respond. She just looked at him with a cold gaze.
Marius seemed to think she was just being jealous, so his tone turned even more gentle.
“Sure, she’s my ex, but that’s all in the past. I have you now. How could I still have feelings for her?”
He leaned down and kissed her cheek—a rare display of affection.
In the past, Cory would’ve melted in an instant.
But now, she didn’t react at all and even turned her face away to avoid him.
If she hadn’t caught him having an affair with his ex-girlfriend in the parking lot that day, she might’ve really believed his lies.
But now, his every attempt to be tender just felt like chocolate mixed with shit—disgusting and impossible to swallow!
