My Wife, The Prize

At our company gala, Felix, the three-year sales champion, stood stunned under the spotlight. The prize he had just drawn left the room in shock: the boss's wife.

Panic flooded his face. He insisted it was a sick joke and shot me a desperate look.

I walked on stage, patted his shoulder, and told him it was a gift I had prepared just for him. A heavy silence fell.

Felix stood frozen, trembling. He begged me to stop joking, saying it would kill him. I calmly straightened his tie, feeling his racing pulse. I said I wasn't joking. He was my best employee, and that was why I was rewarding him with my wife.

Long before the gala, my wife Serena had already prepared his bonus: a villa, a Porsche, and a million in cash. When I joked if she wanted to give him the company too, she just frowned and told me to be more generous.

I smiled and said nothing.

The suffocating silence in the room was suddenly sliced open.

"Victor... Blackwood..."

The sharp clatter of Serena's stiletto heels parted the crowd like Moses parting the sea. She wore a stunning crimson evening gown, looking like a violent spark of fire burning its way straight toward the stage.

"There is a limit to your twisted sense of humor!"

She raised a hand, pointing a trembling finger so close to my face it almost grazed my eye.

"Apologize to Felix. Apologize to me. Right now!"

I lowered my gaze, landing on the emerald bracelet wrapped around her slender wrist. I had won it at a Sotheby's auction for our anniversary last year. The piece was called Eternity.

I used to believe that the love between us would live up to the name of those jewels. I thought we would grow old together.

But yesterday, when I discovered the little "bonus" Serena had prepared for our top salesman behind my back, I realized that our marriage had long been shattered beyond repair in the places I couldn't see.

"I wasn't joking."

I shifted my weight, taking a half-step back to let the spotlight fully illuminate Serena.

"A luxury villa, a Porsche... I can afford to give away all of that. So why not throw in the boss's wife?"

A collective gasp rippled through the hall. Dozens of people subtly pulled out their phones.

"Wait, hasn't Mr. Blackwood always treated his wife like royalty? What's going on..."

"Is the boss actually joking, or is he just trying to put Felix in his place?"

Felix took a stumbling step backward, his eyes clouded with raw, unfiltered fear.

Serena's pupils dilated. The vivid red of her dress only made the sudden, sickly pallor of her face more obvious.

"Victor, have you completely lost your mind?"

I chuckled softly. I reached out and gently tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear, my voice as tender as if I were coaxing a child.

"Don't worry about the logistics. The divorce papers will be waiting on your desk right after the gala."

"From today on, you belong to him."

"And the company belongs to me."

Standing under the harsh glare of the stage lights, the last trace of color vanished from Serena's face. When she spoke again, her voice was absolute ice.

"Are you done putting on a show, Victor?"

She took a step forward, the heavy thud of her heels echoing over the plush carpet.

"If you don't want to pay out the year-end bonuses, just say it. Using me as a human shield? Do you think everyone in this room is stupid?"

The crowd blinked in collective realization. A murmur of agreement swept through the room, as if my dramatic stunt was genuinely just a billionaire's cheap trick to avoid writing checks to our hardest worker.

Whispers erupted into open chatter.

"Yeah, Felix single-handedly brought in more than half the department's revenue this year. Anyone else would get a massive payout."

"The boss promised performance-based bonuses for everyone. Is he backing out now?"

"Using his own wife as a lottery prize is insane. He's obviously just trying to humiliate Felix to save a buck."

I let my gaze sweep across the room. It was like dragging the dull edge of a blade over their throats. The whispers died instantly.

But at that exact moment, Felix dropped to his knees with a loud thud.

"Boss!"

He pressed his forehead to the stage floor, the absolute picture of a broken, desperate man.

"If I messed up a contract, if I offended a VIP, just tell me! I'll take any punishment you dish out. But please, don't make jokes about Serena!"

"If you don't want to pay my bonus, keep it. I don't want a dime. Just please don't humiliate me like this."

"I have elderly parents to take care of, Mr. Blackwood! I can't afford to lose this job!"

Serena immediately seized the moment, her voice ringing out loud and clear.

"Listen to that, Victor. Even your employees know more about loyalty and gratitude than you do. You're afraid of paying them? Fine. Sign over your shares. I'll pay them out of my own pocket. From this moment on, you don't deserve to sit in the CEO's chair."

She spun around to face the massive crowd of employees.

"Listen to me, everyone! Whoever wants to follow me, stand on this side of the room. Your year-end bonuses? I'll double them."

The banquet hall plunged into a deathly stillness. Then came the chaotic scraping of chairs.

A few junior girls from the marketing department stood up first.

The Director of Operations hesitated for a fraction of a second before kicking his chair back and walking over.

Even Gary, the incredibly laid-back night security guard, let out a heavy sigh, unclipped his ID badge, and gently set it on his table before crossing the floor.

The crowd slowly pooled behind Serena like a rising tide.

I did the math in my head. Two-thirds of the company.

The remaining third consisted of the core veterans from the tech and supply chain departments. I felt a flicker of genuine warmth knowing they were standing their ground for me.

I looked down and let out a soft laugh.

"Serena," I said, casually brushing a speck of imaginary dust off my tailored suit cuff. "Are you seriously trying to stage a corporate coup right now?"

A cold, calculating smirk touched the corners of her lips. "Victor, you're a greedy, penny-pinching tyrant. You have zero appreciation for the blood and sweat these people pour into your company. All you want is to bleed them dry."

"You don't deserve to be a leader."

Thunderous applause broke out from her side of the room the second she finished.

"We stand with Serena!"

I leveled a freezing glare at the traitors cheering behind her. "Do you honestly believe I've treated you poorly? Who do you think signed the checks for the bonuses you're already holding?"

"You're going to bite the hand that feeds you for this woman?"

Felix was still trembling on his knees. Serena reached down and gripped him firmly by the wrist.

"Get up."

Her tone wasn't loud, but it carried the manufactured authority of a queen holding court. "From today on, you work for me. I always keep my promises. The villa, the Porsche, the cash bonus... you'll get every single penny."

Focus slowly returned to Felix's terrified eyes.

He stole a quick, calculating glance at me from the corner of his eye to make sure I wasn't going to physically stop him. Then, using Serena's grip for leverage, he straightened his spine inch by inch.

The moment he was standing tall, it was as if Serena had injected him with pure adrenaline. His voice boomed loud enough to rattle the chandeliers.

"Listen up, everyone! I've been at Blackwood Corp for five years. I went from a street-level cold-caller to a three-time champion. And I didn't do it on luck. I did it because Serena gave me the resources. She had my back!"

"Today, the boss treated his own wife like a carnival prize to make a fool out of me. I can take the hit. But you all saw it... even his wife can't stomach his behavior anymore."

"Who in their right mind wants to keep working for a man who goes back on his word and uses his own family as bargaining chips?"

He aggressively pointed a finger at me, leaning in so close I could smell the stale wine on his breath.

"I'm putting it all on the line right now. Anyone who follows Serena, step over here. She's signing the checks tonight, and they're doubled. Anyone who stays behind with this cheapskate can stick around and see what kind of twisted lottery game he plays with your lives next year!"

It was like he had tossed a live grenade into the crowd.

The team leader of Sales Division Two slammed his wine glass onto the table, shattering it, and marched over.

A young girl from accounting hugged her folders to her chest, jogged halfway across the room, then stopped to bow deeply to me before joining the defectors.

Even the stoic manager of the supply chain sighed, his fingers lingering on his name tag before he finally pulled it off.

Serena watched her new empire rapidly expand, her red lips curving upward like a drawn blade.

She raised a hand, calling for silence. The applause, the footsteps, the nervous whispers were instantly snuffed out.

"Victor..."

She looked at me from a place of absolute, condescending superiority, staring down like I was an animal trapped in a snare. "Do you see it now? Once people lose faith in you, you can never buy it back."

I shrugged, not even bothering to offer a verbal response.

Assuming she had won my submission, she pushed her advantage, stepping right up to the very edge of the stage.

The harsh lighting stretched her shadow across the floor, making it look like a spear pointed directly at my throat.

"I'm giving you two choices."

"Choice one. You hand over the company seals, the corporate legal documents, and the equity transfers. Right now. If I'm in a good mood, I might leave you five percent so you can at least afford a decent tie with your annual dividends."

"Choice two..."

She paused, relishing her victory. "I call an emergency shareholder meeting tomorrow morning. I initiate a special resolution and strip you of your Chairman and CEO titles."

"Oh, and while we're at it, sign the divorce papers. I'll make sure it explicitly states that the husband committed major marital faults. Don't worry, I won't let you keep a single dime."

"So, Victor. Pick one."

Down in the crowd, her newly formed army chanted in perfect, deafening unison.

"Step down! Step down! Step down!"

The sound vibrated so hard the crystal fixtures above us shook.

I looked down, slowly and methodically unfastening my cufflinks.

When I looked back up, I raised a single finger, wagging it gently in her direction.

"Serena, I think you've fundamentally misunderstood how this works."

My gaze drifted past her, past Felix's smug face, past the sea of traitors chanting for my head.

"I built this company from the ground up with my own two hands. I'm not begging anyone to stay. I'm the one who decides who gets to stay, and only those people get a slice of my pie."

Serena's face twisted with disgust. "You've lost the entire room, Victor. Are you seriously still trying to act tough?"

I didn't answer her. Instead, I smiled, reaching into my suit pocket and pulling out a sleek black USB drive.

"Ladies and gentlemen, weren't you all dying to know why I decided to give my wife away to an employee?"

I casually spun the flash drive between my fingers. "Everything will make perfect sense once you watch this."

"He's bluffing!"

Serena's face darkened as she screamed at the crowd.

"Victor, if you dare project whatever fake garbage you've doctored onto that screen, my legal team will sue you into oblivion for defamation and slander tomorrow morning. I will see you rot in a cell."

Her followers nodded in fierce agreement.

Felix stepped up beside her, his eyes rimmed red, playing the part of the tragic victim pushed to the brink.

"Don't let him fool you with that flash drive, everyone!"

He bowed deeply to the audience, then spun around to point at me, his voice choking with perfectly acted emotion.

"Three years ago, I accompanied Mr. Blackwood to Miami to close a massive client. At eleven at night, he called me up to deliver an urgent contract to his penthouse suite. When the door opened, a woman walked out. And it wasn't Serena. I was so terrified of what he would do to me that I bought a red-eye flight back that very night. The next day, he slashed my entire annual commission, claiming I had 'mishandled client relations'."

"And that's not all. Last September, I saw him with my own eyes making out with an Instagram model in the underground parking garage. I kept my mouth shut because I was terrified of retaliation. The man is willing to use his own wife as a lottery prize tonight! Is there anything he isn't capable of?"

The moment his speech ended, a hundred camera lenses zeroed in on my face.

I looked down, smiling to myself as I re-buttoned my cuff.

"Felix, it's a genuine tragedy you aren't writing screenplays in Hollywood. You have quite the imagination... It's just a shame every word of it is garbage."

I held up the USB drive, pointing it toward the media console at the front of the stage. "Give me three minutes. I guarantee every single one of you will look at me very differently when it's over."

"Don't you dare!"

Serena stomped her heel so hard it sounded like the stage floor cracked.

"My grandfather is on his way right now! If you play that, you're dead!"

"Your grandfather?" I raised an eyebrow in mock surprise. "Didn't you tell me the old man was resting at a clinic in the Swiss Alps until next week?"

She choked on her words, her face flashing between sickly green and pale white.

I sneered, turning my back to her and pressing the USB drive against the port.

"Stop right there!"

An old, raspy, yet overwhelmingly authoritative voice echoed from the fire exit at the very back of the hall.

The crowd parted as if pushed aside by an invisible force, creating a perfectly straight path.

Arthur Garrison. Sixty-eight years old. The absolute patriarch and founding pillar of the Garrison Group.

He leaned heavily on a blackwood cane, dressed in a sharp, slate-grey tailored suit.

I paused my hand and offered the old man a brief, respectful nod. "Arthur. You're a bit early. We're just getting to the climax of the show."

Serena looked like a drowning woman who had just been thrown a life raft. She rushed toward him, her voice melting into sickening sweetness. "Grandpa! Why are you here? Your health..."

"If I didn't come, you two would have burned the Garrison name to ash tonight!"

The old man cut her off ruthlessly. But his eyes bypassed her entirely, locking directly onto me. Or more accurately, onto the flash drive in my hand.

"Victor," he said, his voice quiet but carrying the heavy grit of a man who had survived decades of corporate warfare. "Do me a personal favor. Don't play it."

I smiled politely. "Arthur, I'm more than happy to give you the respect you deserve. But did either of them ever show me an ounce of respect?"

"If you hit play right now, you are declaring war on the entire Garrison family."

"If the Garrison family is willing to be reasonable, I'll gladly play nice."

I met his gaze dead on.

The tension in the air was so thick it was hard to breathe.

Suddenly, the old man handed his cane to his massive bodyguard. He raised his empty hands and clasped them together, bowing his head slightly toward me.

It wasn't a gesture from an elder to a junior. It was an equal-to-equal show of surrender.

"Victor, I know exactly what is on that drive. Better than you do."

The entire room erupted into shocked whispers.

Serena's head whipped around, her eyes wide with terror. "Grandpa?"

Arthur ignored his granddaughter, keeping his eyes fixed on me. "Give me ten minutes. I will tell everyone in this room the real story. When I'm done, if you still want to play the video... I will click the mouse myself."

He paused, his voice dropping into a register of old, unhealed grief. "Half the sins on that drive... belong to me."

I stayed silent for two long seconds. Then, I pulled the drive away from the port and slipped it into my pocket.

"Fine. Ten minutes. But when the time is up, if anyone tries to stop me again, I'm burning this whole place to the ground."

I waved a hand at the tech booth, signaling the spotlight to shift onto the old patriarch.

Arthur Garrison walked slowly to the center of the stage, taking the microphone. His shadow stretched long across the room, looking like a crumbling mountain.

Serena tried to grab his arm to support him. He shoved her away.

Felix opened his mouth to speak. Arthur silenced him with a single, lethal glare.

"Ladies and gentlemen," Arthur's raspy voice boomed over the speakers. "Ten years ago, the Garrison Group's supply chain collapsed. We were bankrupt. I was the one who practically gift-wrapped my own granddaughter and handed her to Victor Blackwood."

"Grandpa!" Serena cried out.

He raised a hand, ordering her to shut up, and continued.

"I told her to secure Victor's affections by any means necessary, to get her hands on the capital we needed to survive. The money came through. Garrison Group lived. But from day one, this marriage was nothing but a transactional farce."

"I owe Victor. The Garrison family owes Victor. Tonight, he humiliated my granddaughter by offering her up as a prize. It's a slap in the face to the Garrison name. It's a slap to my face."

"But to be entirely honest, I threw my own dignity away ten years ago."

In the massive hall, even the clicking of smartphone cameras had stopped.

I stood in the wings, my thumb running over the smooth metal casing of the USB drive. Suddenly, it felt incredibly heavy.

When the old man finished speaking, he turned to face me. His eyes were like a stagnant pool of dead water.

"Your ten minutes are up, Victor. The mouse is yours. Click it or don't. It's up to you."

"But remember one thing."

"If you tear her down tonight, you aren't just destroying Serena. You're destroying the very company you personally saved ten years ago."

I looked down. I pulled the drive from my pocket and jammed it securely into the media port. The tiny blue indicator light pulsed to life.

I hovered my finger over the 'Play' icon.

"Arthur, don't blame me for not giving you face. Blame Serena for crossing the line."

"Victor!"