Chapter 2He Cheated, I Left with $52 Million

The first time I received a 'compensation' transfer from Liam was when I accidentally saw his flirtatious messages with his secretary.

I argued with him, I screamed, and he accidentally pushed me to the ground, causing a miscarriage.

That night, he transferred all his assets to me, knelt, and begged me for another chance.

I didn't take them. I just told him.

"From now on, every time you betray me, you transfer two million to me. When it reaches fifty-two million, I'll leave you for good!"

He thought I was just saying it in a fit of pique, joking.

What I didn't tell him was that his mother, Eleanor, had begged me not to divorce him even before he did.

Back when he married me, he'd settled tens of millions in gambling debts for my terminally ill, deadbeat father.

Eleanor had said I couldn't divorce him until the debt he'd cleared was essentially 'paid back' to the family. Until then, she insisted I had no right to leave.

I knew she wasn't actually trying to make me repay the money.

She just wanted to use me to keep her son, who'd inherited his father's philandering ways, tied down.

When I first found out I was pregnant, I considered aborting the baby several times.

But then he suddenly came back to the family, doting on me just like in our dating days, saying he wanted a home.

By the fifth month, he knew the baby was too far along for an abortion, so his old habits resurfaced.

After I sent the message, I received a draft of the divorce agreement electronically.

I breathed a sigh of relief.

The day I was discharged from the hospital and transferred to the postpartum recovery center, Liam came to pick us up.

The nurse, Brenda, sat in the back with Leo and a pile of baby supplies.

I took my place in the passenger seat, a spot I hadn't occupied in a long time.

The seat was adjusted far back. My hand brushed against the seat adjuster and snagged on a ripped pair of pearl-studded lace panties.

"That girl is just too wild, wants to try it everywhere."

He raised an eyebrow, watching me.

He expected to see the wild, uncontrollable rage he was used to in my eyes.

But I just dropped my hand expressionlessly, leaving the item where it was.

He paused, then chuckled.

"Your poker face is getting good lately. And you've become much more generous. Good thing you ordered those five extra boxes last time, otherwise, with her clinginess, they wouldn't have been enough."

"You know, if you'd been this understanding earlier, we might have had our second child by now."

I didn't reply, just quietly closed my eyes, resting.

A moment later, that familiar phone ringtone sounded, and a faint sense of dread settled in my stomach.

Sure enough, he slammed on the brakes, pulling the car onto a deserted shortcut lane.

"You guys wait here. Brittany has a toothache, I'm taking her to the hospital first. I'll be back for you guys soon."

He opened the car door, threw all our things onto the roadside, and roughly pulled me out in just a few quick movements.

Whoosh! The car sped off.

Meeting Brenda's confused, angry gaze, I gritted my teeth against the incision pain and pointed to the car turning the corner nearby.

"Take that one. It's Eleanor's car."

She looked at me, surprised. I managed a weak smile.

A year ago, he'd abandoned me halfway, believing his words to 'just wait'. During the dead of winter, I stubbornly waited until I was hypothermic and passed out from the cold.

When I was finally taken to the hospital, he even blamed me for being stubborn, saying my emergency call had interrupted his time comforting Brittany.

After that, I avoided riding in his car whenever possible.

And if I did, I was always prepared to be abandoned at any moment.

I was used to these 'unexpected' events by now.

That evening, Liam, panting, tracked us down after returning to the original spot and not finding us.

"Why didn't you tell me you hailed a cab? I went back and looked for ages."

"I messaged you. You didn't see it."

He instantly flared up.

"Then why didn't you call? I thought something had happened to you both."

I paused, then quickly regained my composure.

"Didn't you say not to bother you when you're with Brittany?"