The Wedding Ring Falls, Never to Be Picked Up

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I never expected that pretty-boy to actually take a swing at me, and to be that good with his hands.

We fought, and I lost. He had me by the throat and slammed me down onto the ground.

I groaned in pain, and Susan crouched down over me, all tenderness, checking me over.

"Honey, are you okay? Did he hurt you?"

She used the moment to snatch up the camera and hand it to Bryce.

"Give me back that camera!"

I shoved her off and, fighting through the pain, glared hard at Bryce.

"Stanley, don't blame me for this. You're the one who insisted on blowing it up. Do it your way and you don't just ruin her, you take my career down with her."

Right in front of me, he pulled out the SD card and snapped it in two with his own hands.

The blood drained from my face. Evidence that important, and just like that it was gone.

Susan helped me up and reached out to wipe the sweat from my forehead.

"Honey, I didn't have a choice either. I'll explain everything properly once we're home. I'll cook for you myself, make you some chicken soup."

The old man jumped in too. "That's right! Young man, married folks fight and married folks make up. What's there that can't be talked through?"

"Your wife's chicken soup is really good. My son and I both love it."

I shot the old man a look and turned on my heel.

"That chicken soup, you keep it for yourselves!"

I left the Riverton complex and went home, my throat still tight, and I couldn't help dry-heaving.

After resting a while, I went back to the master bedroom and dug out the property deed.

The place Susan and I lived in was a detached house, Unit 12, Section A of Waterview Estates, worth ten million.

Three years ago, when Susan was still working at the property sales office, I fell for her at first sight.

But my father was dead set against the marriage. He was convinced Susan was after the Dickerson money.

We had a huge fight over it.

To prove that Susan and I truly loved each other, I hid who I was, didn't take a single cent of the Dickerson money, and quietly went and got our marriage license with her.

This house, I offhandedly said I'd won it on a lottery ticket.

Once he saw I'd already registered the marriage, my father had no choice but to make a deal with me: as long as Susan didn't cheat within three years, and kept a virtuous home, the Dickersons would accept her as a daughter-in-law.

And I, I couldn't work at any major company, and I couldn't make money off investments either.

I could only take on the dirty, backbreaking work to support us.

Call it my father's punishment.

I agreed.

I threw myself into the marriage, sure of it, and the result was a total defeat.

I'd made a joke of my whole life.

It wasn't until seven in the evening that Susan finally strolled back in.

The living room was pitch dark, thick with the sting of cigarette smoke.

She felt around in the dark and flicked on the light, and there I was, sitting on the couch in the corner, smoking one cigarette after another.

I'd lost count of how many I'd gone through; the ashtray was already heaped with butts.

Seeing the smoke that filled the living room, she frowned, came over, and pulled the cigarette out of my hand.

"How did you smoke this many? I remember you hardly ever smoke."

She wanted to lose her temper, but her voice went soft fast.

"Honey, are you still angry with me? Hiding it from you and playing fake husband and wife with someone else, that was wrong of me. But Bryce is different."

"He was hurt by the family he grew up in, that's why he's always been afraid of marriage. He's so young, so talented. If he let his whole future slip away over some psychological hang-up, that would be too sad."

"I just wanted to help him. To show him not every woman is like his mother, gambling herself into the ground, throwing family and blood aside."

Listening to her made me sick. I slammed my hand on the table and stood up.

"Susan, aren't you just a saint. Of all the women in the world, you couldn't help any of them, but you, a married woman, had to grovel to help him."

"I'm out there breaking my back to earn money, and behind me you're carrying on with another man!"

"You love helping so much, so if he told you to get on your knees for him, told you to sleep with him, you'd have said yes without a second thought too, is that it?"