I Raised His Mistress’s Child, He Ruined My Family

Since they were so impatient, I would grant them their wish.

I pretended to know nothing, drafted the divorce papers and hid them away, then told Ethan I had to go on a business trip for a week, leaving him in charge of the company.

I was giving them the perfect opportunity to make their move.

But I wasn't powerless. The day of the shareholders' meeting would be their judgment day.

As I left the studio, I heard Ethan's assistant muttering behind my back:

"She's such a failure, running a perfectly good company into the ground,  yet she still puts on this 'powerful woman' act."

I had long grown accustomed to such rumors.

After all, since I had taken over, Carter Design had indeed been going from bad to worse.

That night, I installed pinhole cameras and recording devices in every corner of the house.

High-definition video, stereo sound—they could capture the buzz of a fly.

Early the next morning, the surveillance feed came online.

Victoria was in the kitchen, bustling around in my silk robe, the fabric clinging to her andoutlining every perfect curve.

Ethan wrapped his arms around her from behind, his hands roaming restlessly over her body. "Baby, once we're rid of Sophia, we'll take Alex to Paris. I get so excited just thinking about our life as a family of three, I can barely sleep."

"Meeting you, I finally understood what a soul-devouring love truly is."

Victoria turned and kissed him. "Babe, you haven't told anyone about going abroad, have you?"

"Of course not. You told me to keep it a secret, so I haven't even told my best friend."

The two of them embraced in a passionate, lingering kiss, their movements growing more and more heated.

My heart was torn to shreds.

How dare they be so shameless in my own home!

And clearly, this wasn't the first time.

Victoria had been my sworn enemy since we were children. Her family's business went bankrupt a few years ago, and she fell from the lap of luxury into the gutter.

How could she possibly be content with clawing her way up from the bottom?

At first, she tried to bribe employees at my company to dig up dirt on me. When that failed, she constantly resorted to petty tricks, causing people to gossip and slander me.

I didn't pay it much mind.

But over the past few years, she's been gaining more and more prominence, one-upping me at every turn.

My company's resources were drained, my parents blamed me for being a disappointment, and everyone called me useless.

At my lowest point, Ethan would hold me and say he didn't care about superficial fame, that all that mattered was our family being safe and happy.

I believed his damned lies and became even more complacent.

It turned out that the sweetest home was hiding the most venomous snake.

I picked up my phone to call Ethan.

On the monitor, he reluctantly pulled away from Victoria's embrace. Seeing the caller ID, he immediately schooled his features before answering.

"Babe, are you done with everything over there? Did you miss me?" His voice was sickeningly sweet.

"I just woke up from a dream about my parents. They said there are bad people in the house who want to hurt you and Alex, so I want to do a good deed to pray for our protection."

Ethan's expression faltered for a moment, but he still replied gently, "Of course, sweetheart. Whatever you say."

The moment he hung up, he showed his true colors.

"Psycho! Always going on about her dead parents, it's so fucking annoying."

"If her parents hadn't died, how could I have helped you so easily? We would have been found out long ago."

"And now she wants to donate to charity? That's my money!"

Victoria caressed his chest, comforting him. "Don't be angry, baby. It'll all be over soon."

I turned off the surveillance feed and went out to see my parents' former lawyer.

I asked him how many of my assets the prenup could protect.

The lawyer flipped through the documents. "Although you have a prenup, many of your properties are directly in Ethan's name, which will be very difficult to get back. He's also acquired significant resources in recent years as your husband, so dividing the assets will be complicated."

"However, you could donate the assets in his name under the guise of charity."

I nodded.

Ever since I was ten, I had shared everything good my parents gave me with Ethan. To be able to claw anything back from him now was already a victory.

It was only while filing the donation paperwork that I discovered Ethan had already transferred his mansions to Victoria.

I thought about all the years he'd given me such ordinary gifts, telling me that expensive things were meaningless and that true feelings were what mattered most.

But for Victoria, he had offered both his fortune and his heart.