My Husband Thought I Was Broke

I was browsing a popular lifestyle app, looking up private maternity clinics, when a highly upvoted post caught my eye.

My boyfriend wants me to give birth at the exact same hospital as his wife. He said we should swap the babies when theyre born so our son can grow up inheriting everything and living the best life. Should I agree?

The thread was flooded with over a hundred thousand outraged comments, but the original poster was completely unbothered. She had even pinned her own response at the top of the comment section:

I dont see whats so wrong with this. She took my spot in his life, so my son will take her sons spot in the family. Its only fair. What goes around comes around!

You can scream all you want, but youre just jealous. To make sure I never get caught, he even changed his office security code to my birthday. Die mad about it, sweeties.

I stood outside my husbands office door, the quiet of the corridor pressing in on me. Slowly, I reached out and typed in the passcodethe one that had always been set to my own birthday.

Two harsh, high-pitched beeps chimed. Access Denied. Incorrect Passcode.

A second later, my phone buzzed in my hand. It was a text from Gavin.

[In a meeting. Don't just barge in.]

Almost immediately, the girls profile refreshed. It was a selfie of her lounging on the custom leather sofa inside my husbands office.

She gets the house, but I get the office. The old hag is locked out and probably about to throw a tantrum. Poor baby, my sweet boss has to deal with so much.

I raised an eyebrow, a cold, hollow numbness settling over me. Without shedding a single tear, I opened my medical app and booked an abortion. Then, I dialed my parents.

I was done with the parasitic husband my family had built up. He wanted a plaything; he could have her. But he wasnt going to touch another cent of the Webster fortune ever again.

...

After making the calls, I walked down the hall to an empty conference room, sat down, and began scrolling through her profile from the very beginning.

Her earliest post was from a year ago.

She had posted a picture of her new employee ID, her caption bursting with naive excitement.

Late on my very first day! I accidentally ran into the private executive elevator, but the CEO is so handsome and sweet. He didnt even get madhe actually gave me an exclusive keycard!

Two months later, she posted her promotion. Her new title: Executive Assistant to the CEO.

Promotion and a massive raise! Financial freedom is just around the corner. Too bad my personal freedom is gone, because he told me he wants to keep me by his side forever.

After that, her feed became a gallery of luxury handbags, designer dresses, and jewelry. Right up until six months ago.

Six months ago, I had successfully secured our expansion into the European market. I flew back to surprise Gavin at the office, bringing high-end pastries for the entire staff. The entire office had crowded around, eager to catch a glimpse of the real heiress who funded the company.

My world is ending. The old hag is back to mark her territory. Thank god he got rid of her quickly, or I swear I wouldve burst into tears right there.

I remembered that day vividly. Gavin had looked at me with such performative tenderness, insisting I must be exhausted from the flight, and ordered his driver to take me home immediately. I had gone home feeling so loved, thinking he was finally learning how to care for me. Now I knew the truth. He was just managing his mistress's insecurities.

Two months ago, she posted another complaint.

Damn him, damn him, damn him! He promised hed never touch her, but the old hag just posted a positive pregnancy test. Gavin, you jerk, Im never speaking to you again!

In the quiet of the conference room, I opened my personal social media and scrolled back to that day. I had struggled with fertility for years. When the test finally turned positive, I was so overcome with joy that I shared it with my close friends. Within minutes, Gavin had called, his voice tight and strangely angry as he told me to delete it. He claimed it was bad luck, that early announcements put too much pressure on the baby.

It wasn't about the baby at all. It was about sparing his mistress's feelings.

The very next day, Amber posted a selfie from a luxury hotel bed.

He promised to make it up to me by giving me a baby of our own. We spent the whole day in bed. My back is literally sore.

That was the day I had experienced spotting and minor cramping. I had called Gavin repeatedly, but he never picked up. When he finally came home, he fell to his knees, begging for forgiveness, claiming he had been blacked out at a client dinner and his phone had suffered water damage. And like a fool, I had believed him.

Shortly after, Amber posted her own positive test.

As a reward for getting pregnant, my favorite guy is taking me on a trip around the world!

Around that time, my familys restructuring was hitting its most critical phase, and I was working eighteen-hour days. Out of nowhere, Gavin allegedly got into a car accident and suffered temporary amnesia. His "doctor" recommended he avoid all stress and take a relaxing trip to recover his memory. I booked first-class tickets and five-star resorts for him, while I stayed behind, heavily pregnant, managing a multi-million-dollar transition alone.

Two months later, he returned, weeping as he told me his memory had finally returned and that he would devote himself entirely to me.

There was no memory loss. It was just a pathetic, elaborate lie to spend a two-month honeymoon with his pregnant mistress.

A profound, chilling cold spread through my chest as I kept reading.

While the old hag is away, my CEO brought me to their master bedroom for some fun. Her stupid cat scratched me, so I kicked it to death. Oops, teehee.

My breath caught. My beloved cat, Barnaby, who had supposedly "slipped out the door and run away" while I was overseas. I had cried for weeks, putting up flyers in the rain. He hadn't run away. They had murdered him.

To make sure we give birth at the exact same time, my CEO is secretly giving her medication to slow down her baby's development. I asked if it would hurt the kid, and he said it didn't matter. After all, her baby is going to be swapped into my hands anyway, to do with as I please. Hes so bad, and Im so in love.

Goosebumps broke out over my arms as I pictured the "prenatal vitamins" Gavin hand-delivered to me with a glass of warm water every single night.

Right then, the heavy glass door of the conference room swung open.

Amber stood there, her Executive Assistant badge dangling against her chest, offering me a sweet, practiced smile.

"Mrs. Webster... oh, sorry, ma'am. Mr. Webster is finished with his meeting. He asked me to escort you to his office."

I offered a thin, calm smile, stood up, and walked over to her. I raised my hand. She flinched, covering her face and shrinking back, but I merely redirected my hand and ripped the keycard badge right off her collar.

"Amber, is it? As of this second, you are fired."

Amber frozen, her wide, doe-like eyes instantly filling with tears. "I am Gavin's personal assistant. Even if you are his wife, you don't have the authority to bypass him and fire me."

I looked at her trembling lips, raised my hand again, and this time, the slap connected with her cheek, sharp and echoing. Amber stumbled back, clutching her face, her eyes practically bulging out of her head.

"You hit me! How dare you!"

I looked down at her with pure disgust and laughed. Gavin was nothing but a charity case my family had set up in business. This entire firm was built from the crumbs of my family's empire, handed to him so he could play at being a CEO. Everything in this building belonged to me. There was nothing I couldn't dare to do.

"Go on. Call your protector. I want you to watch how quickly Gavin grovels at my feet like a well-trained dog."

Before the words even left my mouth, Gavin came storming down the hallway. I waited for the usual performancethe stammering apologies, the frantic pleading.

But to my surprise, Gavin pulled Amber straight into his chest, shielding her from me.

"Apologize to her," he barked.

I stared at him, genuinely stunned. In the past, Gavin had been acutely aware of his place. He was the kept husband; he was always deferential, always eager to please, putting my needs above everything else. Had he lived the high life for so long that he had actually lost his mind?

Seeing my disbelief, Gavin reached out, caught the back of my neck with a brutal grip, and forced my head down, forcing me to bow to Amber. The moment he let go, I whipped around and slapped him twice, hard enough to leave angry red marks on his jaw.

"Gavin! Have you lost your mind?"

Gavin didn't flinch. Instead, he looked at me with a smirk, a slow, ugly confidence spreading across his face.

"Ella, do you honestly still think you're the untouchable heiress of the Webster empire? Don't play dumb. I know your family's holding company has been liquidated and delisted. You are completely broke, Ella. You have nothing."

"Since you're taking your anger out on Amber, you clearly know about us. So let's lay it out. You can keep your title as my wife. You can live in luxury. But you will raise Ambers child as your own, and you will treat him like royalty."

He stood there, smug and superior, waiting for me to break and accept his terms.

But we hadn't gone bankrupt. We had merely pulled our capital out of the domestic market to consolidate our multi-billion-dollar European merger. During his supposed "amnesia trip," I hadn't bothered to explain the complex financial restructuring to him, wanting to protect his "frail recovery." And because of his own ignorance, he assumed my family had fallen. He waited until I was three months pregnant to show his true, parasitic colors.

In a strange way, a wave of relief washed over me. If not for this misunderstanding, I would have spent my entire life in the dark, happily raising a mistress's child while being poisoned by the man I trusted.

"I want a divorce."

I wasn't going to waste my breath. I turned to walk away, but Amber grabbed my wrist. Her face was a mask of innocence, but her eyes gleamed with malice.

"Ella, please don't be mad at Gavin. Hes just protective. He doesnt want you hurting my baby."

Staring at the mocking glint in her eyes, I didn't hesitate. I slapped her twice more, hard.

"And what if I do? What are you going to do about it?"

Tears welled in Amber's eyes instantly. She gasped, clutching her stomach with a theatrical groan. Gavin lost his mind. With a low growl, he shoved me back. I was completely off-balance. My lower back slammed violently against the sharp edge of the mahogany conference table. A searing, white-hot pain flared through my abdomen, and the world dissolved into blackness.