Chapter 3From Rescuing His Broke Self to My Own Disaster

I truly just wanted to have an open and honest conversation with him. It wasn’t worth letting some low-life ex-girlfriend poison our marriage.

But the moment he heard my words, Mark’s brow furrowed in anger. He didn’t even glance at the file I placed in front of him.

“Why would you investigate her? Elara, how many times do I have to tell you? She’s just a secretary. She’s not important.”

My calm facade shattered. My hands clenched into fists, his words stoking a fire inside me.

“If she’s not important, then what’s the big deal about firing her?”

“Mark, the reason I’m showing you this is because I want to save our marriage. I don’t want another woman creating a rift between us.”

“And don’t think that just because you’re ‘Mr. CEO’ now, you can do whatever you want. Don’t you forget that without me, you wouldn’t be where you are today. Without the introductions I made to my family’s connections, your company would be nothing.”

“And why did I marry you? I didn’t need your money. I married you for the emotional security, for the freedom to be myself.”

“Mark, let’s be realistic. Anyone in the world can cheat, but you can’t. I can tolerate any other flaw, but infidelity is my absolute bottom line.”

I spoke with deadly seriousness, my fingers trembling slightly.

But Mark just shot up from his seat, his face contorted with rage.

“Right, it’s all you! Everything I have is because of you! Stop reminding me every single day that you’re my savior and I have to obey your every command!”

“When you told me to drink with your uncles, I had to drink. Even when I was sick with a fever and felt like I was dying, you wouldn’t let me take medicine or rest at home because you wanted them to be happy.”

“When one of your uncles was in the hospital, his own son wasn’t there, but you made me go and empty his bedpan.”

“On top of that, you made me grovel and suck up to your cousins. In your eyes, am I anything more than a tool for your business deals?”

Hearing his words, I shot up as well.

“Mark, I don’t care what grievances you have. We can discuss them. But Maya has to be fired. If you won’t do it, I will.”

“This is the last time I’m asking you. You knew what kind of person I was when you married me. I say what I mean, and I mean what I say. You can’t expect me to be your business partner on the outside and then come home and be your demure, emotionally available little flower.”

Mark was shaking with fury. He ripped off his tie, his eyes glaring at me as if I were his mortal enemy.

“Fine. I’ll do what you want. I’ll fire her tomorrow.”

He kicked the coffee table with a violent thud, turned on his heel, and stormed upstairs without another look at me.

As I watched him go, the tears I’d been holding back finally fell. My body went limp, and I collapsed onto the sofa.

His complaints were laughable. He felt humiliated drinking with my uncles and sucking up to my cousins, but he had no idea that without me, he wouldn’t even be qualified to be in the same room with them. My uncles were about to retire, and my cousins were taking over. If he didn’t build those relationships, his company would lose its key contracts and be crushed by the market.

Yes, he’d landed a few new deals recently, but who did he think made the initial introductions?

I had even asked him at the very beginning: did he want a stable, easy life with a nine-to-five, or did he want to start his own business? He was the one who chose to be an entrepreneur. I gave him the money, I gave him the resources, and until recently, he had been nothing but grateful.

But now, after just a few days of Maya being back in the picture, he suddenly felt victimized.

He had a point of comparison now. Suddenly, I was too bossy, not gentle enough, not understanding enough. But did he ever stop to think that if I were gentle and understanding, if I were the type to suppress my own needs to cater to a man’s ego, I’d be Maya—a parasitic vine who couldn’t survive without a man to cling to.

That night, Mark didn’t come to our bedroom. Before, the first thing he would do when he got home was shower and disinfect, then come to bed to gently kiss our daughter’s cheek and my forehead. “You’ve worked so hard, my love,” he would say, holding our daughter all night, cooing, “Elara, our Lulu is the cutest thing in the world.”

But tonight, because I had investigated Maya, he didn’t even come to see his own child. He didn’t even come to our room.

He of all people should understand. In business, you investigate your competitors, your partners. I knew, with every fiber of my being, that Maya was here to steal my husband. How could I not investigate her? Did he think I was a fool?