Chapter 1

At our company's launch party, while I was pregnant with our child, my husband's COO, Dorian, slid her hand into his.

She leaned in and purred that she was already "taking care of" his unique needs, a public declaration of their affair.

My husband, Bryon, just laughed nervously, his classic tell when he was caught.

The next morning, after I'd made the gut-wrenching decision to terminate our pregnancy, I saw them again.

I stumbled and fell to the pavement. Bryon rushed to my side, but when Dorian faked a dizzy spell, he abandoned me on the ground without a second thought to cradle her in his arms.

Lying there, forgotten on the dirty sidewalk, I finally understood. He didn't just cheat; he had no care for me or the child I had just lost. All my love and sacrifice meant nothing.

As he walked away with her, I pulled out my phone.

"Dad," I said, my voice ice-cold, "Pull every penny from AuraTech. And get me the best lawyers. I need divorce papers and a termination of pregnancy consent form. Tonight."

Chapter 1

Hazel Horton POV:

Dorian Gay's voice, syrupy sweet and laced with venom, cut through the din of the AuraTech launch party, twisting the knife in my gut before I even saw her hand slide into my husband' s. She leaned in close to Bryon, her lips almost brushing his ear, making sure every word carried across the pulsating bass and excited chatter of our employees. My stomach, swollen with our baby, tightened.

"Bryon's needs are... unique, honey," Dorian purred, pulling back just enough to level a condescending smirk at me. Her androgynous haircut, usually so sharp, seemed to soften right then, an insidious trick of the light. "Don't you worry your pretty little head about it. I'm already taking care of him."

The words hung there, thick and ugly. It wasn't a suggestion. It was a declaration. A public stripping of my dignity, handed to me on a silver platter by the woman who was supposed to be my husband's COO and "best friend." A woman who, for months, had casually dismissed my concerns about their inappropriate closeness as jealousy, as feminine overthinking.

Bryon, my charismatic co-founder and the man I' d built this empire beside, let out a nervous chuckle. His eyes, usually so quick to meet mine, darted away. He adjusted his tie, a tell I knew too well. That laugh, that slight shift in his gaze, it was his default setting when he was caught. It was his way of saying, She' s just joking, Hazel. Why are you so sensitive?

My breath hitched. The champagne flute in my hand felt impossibly heavy. Every nerve ending in my body screamed, a raw, primal protest against the brazen insult. This wasn' t just a flirtation. This was a hostile takeover, right in front of everyone.

I could feel the murmurs rise, the sudden hushed tones that ripple through a crowd when something scandalous breaks. Heads turned. Eyes, sharp and curious, fixed on me. They expected a scene. They expected the pregnant co-founder, the venture capitalist' s daughter, to crumble. To burst into tears, to scream, to make a fool of myself. They wanted the drama.

I took a slow, deliberate sip of my champagne. The bubbles tickled my tongue, a stark contrast to the burning acid churning in my stomach. My hand, surprisingly steady, lowered the glass. I met Dorian' s gaze, then Bryon' s. My face felt like a mask, frozen in an unreadable expression. No tears. No screams. Just a chilling, blank stare.

Dorian' s smirk faltered a fraction. Her eyes narrowed, searching my face for the expected crack. Bryon, still avoiding my direct gaze, shifted his weight.

"Taking care of him?" I asked, my voice calm, almost detached. It was a question, but it wasn't. "Dorian, darling, I always knew you were dedicated to the company. But I didn't realize your job description had expanded quite so... intimately."

The air in the room thickened, suddenly heavy, as if the oxygen had been sucked out. The music, moments ago a vibrant pulse, now felt like a distant throb, a muted backdrop to the silent horror on many faces. Bryon's jaw tightened. Dorian's eyes flared, a flicker of something close to fear mixed with indignation. My words had cut through the noise, leaving a silence that screamed louder than any argument. It was exactly what I wanted.

A few gasps rippled through the crowd. Some of the newer hires, still bright-eyed and naive, looked genuinely shocked. The veterans, the ones who'd seen Bryon's easy charm and my quiet support build AuraTech from a dream into a booming reality, looked...concerned. And a few, the ones Bryon liked to schmooze and impress, looked openly gleeful at the spectacle.

Bryon finally met my eyes, a flicker of alarm replacing his previous smugness. "Hazel," he started, his voice a low warning, "what are you talking about? Dorian is my best friend. Our COO. She's been nothing but loyal." He looked around, trying to gauge the crowd's reaction, trying to regain control of the narrative.

Dorian stepped closer to Bryon, her hand now resting possessively on his arm. She looked at me, her smile a thin, cruel line. "Oh, Hazel. It' s always about this, isn' t it? You can' t stand being out of the spotlight. Always so jealous of anyone close to Bryon." She paused, letting her words sink in. "Some of us actually contribute to his success, not just ride on his coattails because of who our father is."

A few titters broke out from the periphery. The sound was like a physical blow, embedding itself deep in my chest. It wasn' t a loud, booming laugh, but a series of small, sharp jabs designed to chip away at what little composure I had left. The familiar script. The well-worn lines. I was the jealous wife, the trust fund baby, the one clinging to Bryon's brilliance. They believed it. He had made sure they believed it.

My mind, however, was no longer registering the pain. It was a cold, quiet place, analyzing, calculating. They thought they knew me. They saw the public-facing Hazel: the supportive wife, the co-founder content to let Bryon take the credit, the daughter of a powerful VC. They saw the woman who, just months ago, had cried herself to sleep after finding Dorian's scarf in Bryon's car, tangled with a pair of my husband's boxer shorts.

"It was just a scarf, Hazel," Bryon had said, his voice flat, his eyes cold. "She was cold. I offered her mine. You're overreacting. You always do. Why do you always have to make things so dramatic?" He'd spun it, twisted it, until I was the crazy one, the paranoid wife. He'd even threatened to leave if I couldn't "control my insecurities." I' d believed him. I' d always believed him. I' d thought I was fighting for my marriage, for our future, for the family we were building.

I' d compromised my career, my identity, my very self, to fit into his vision of what a supportive wife should be. I' d let him shine, dimming my own light, because I loved him. I had bought into the narrative that I was "too much" – too smart, too ambitious, too independent – and that my wealth was a burden, not a gift. I minimized my own contributions to AuraTech, letting him take sole credit for the innovations that were actually mine, because I wanted him to feel powerful, successful, cherished. I' d even convinced myself that his reliance on me, on my father's connections, on my intellectual property, was a sign of our unbreakable bond.

But now, standing here, watching them play their roles, I saw the truth. Bryon wasn't just gaslighting me; he was gaslighting everyone. He genuinely believed his own lie. And Dorian? She was a willing accomplice, a parasite feeding off his arrogance and my quiet suffering. He wasn't relying on me because he loved me. He was relying on me because he needed me. And he had no intention of ever giving me credit for it.

A deep breath steadied me. The decision, when it came, was like a sudden, crystal-clear snap. The emotional ties, shredded and tattered, finally severed.

"You know what, Bryon?" I said, my voice cutting through the lingering tension with a new, icy resolve. "You' re absolutely right. I am overreacting." I forced a small, brittle smile. "And Dorian? You have been exceptionally 'supportive' of Bryon. More than I could ever be, it seems."

Dorian blinked, surprised by my sudden concession. Bryon looked relieved, though a sliver of suspicion still lingered in his eyes. He probably expected me to launch into a fresh wave of accusations, to make a scene he could then dismiss.

"In fact," I continued, my gaze sweeping over the faces in the room, lingering on Dorian' s triumphant smirk, "I think you two make a wonderful team. A truly unparalleled synergy. Perhaps you should make it official. Not just in the bedroom, but in the boardroom." My smile widened, but it didn't reach my eyes. "Why don't you two take over my shares too? I'm sure you' ll manage AuraTech just perfectly, together."

Bryon's eyes widened, a mixture of shock and greed flashing within them. Dorian, however, looked genuinely stunned. Her triumphant expression melted into one of utter confusion. She hadn't expected this. She had expected tears, anger, a fight. Not surrender. Not... this.

"What?" Dorian finally managed, her voice cracking, the carefully constructed persona of the unbothered COO momentarily shattering.

"Oh, come on," I said, my voice dripping with saccharine sarcasm. "You two obviously have such... chemistry. You deserve to run your little empire hand in hand. I wouldn't want to get in the way of such... fervent collaboration." The word "fervent" tasted like vomit on my tongue.

Bryon' s face, moments ago pale with apprehension, now flushed with a dangerous cocktail of shock and dawning realization. This wasn't the meltdown he'd anticipated. This was something else entirely. He looked at Dorian, then back at me, his eyes searching, trying to decipher the coded message beneath my placid smile.

The entire room was silent now. The music had faded into oblivion. Every single person had their eyes glued to us, witnessing a play they hadn' t paid for, a drama far more riveting than any tech launch. They watched, spellbound, as I, the pregnant co-founder, calmly offered my entire stake in the company to my cheating husband and his mistress.

I didn't wait for a reply. The air in this room, thick with their stench of betrayal and my own suppressed rage, was suddenly suffocating. I turned, pushing past a startled intern, and walked towards the exit. My heels clicked against the polished concrete, each step a deliberate, defiant rhythm. I didn't look back. I knew they were watching. I knew they were confused. Good. Let them be.

As soon as I stepped out into the cool night air, away from the prying eyes and the suffocating atmosphere, I pulled out my phone. My fingers flew across the screen, dialing the one number I knew would cut through any red tape, any nonsense.

"Dad," I said, my voice steady, betraying none of the turmoil raging inside me. "It's me. I need you to pull every single penny you've invested in AuraTech. Effective immediately. And I need a legal team, the best you have, to draft divorce papers and, well, another document. A termination of pregnancy consent. Tonight." The cold, hard words hung in the air, sealing my decision. No turning back now. This was just the beginning.