Chapter 3
Ethan came home very late that night.
It was almost midnight when he finally walked through the door.
I was sitting in the darkened living room, and he jumped when he saw me while taking off his shoes.
“Why didn’t you turn on the lights?”
“I was waiting for you.”
He paused, then walked over and sat on the couch. “What’s wrong? Why do you look so pale?”
“The contract you gave me to sign last week—what was it really?”
His expression didn’t change, but I saw his hand tighten against his knee.
“I already told you. It was paperwork for increasing the capital and expanding the shareholding.”
“Then answer me this. Why did someone take my power of attorney to the company to access my equity records?”
He was silent for two seconds.
“It might be a misunderstanding,” he said. “I had someone take care of a few formalities. Maybe they got something wrong.”
“Who handled it?”
“A friend. You don’t know him.”
“Was it a man or a woman?”
He fell silent.
I opened my phone and pulled up the photo my best friend had sent me, holding the screen out toward him.
“Ethan, who is this?”
In the photo, he and Madison sat facing each other, with the candles on the cake still glowing.
His expression changed.
He didn’t turn pale. His face turned gray.
“Did you have someone investigate me?”
I said calmly, “I didn’t investigate you. My best friend happened to run into you while eating at Hudson Yards.”
“Ethan, you were celebrating Madison’s birthday? Since when have you two been so close?”
He took a deep breath and then said something that still disgusted me whenever I remembered it.
“Madison came back from overseas, and she’s having a hard time alone. I’m just having dinner with an old classmate. What’s wrong with that?”
I let out a cold laugh. “Then explain why she took my power of attorney to my company.”
“What power of attorney? I don’t know anything about that.”
“Keep pretending. Go ahead.”
He stood up, raising his voice. “Claire, what exactly are you implying? Do you suspect something is going on between Madison and me? She dumped me back then. Do you know how much I suffered? How could I possibly still—”
“Because you never got over her.”
The moment I said it, the living room fell silent.
He didn’t deny it.
After three seconds of silence, he picked up his coat and slammed the door behind him.
I didn’t chase after him. I sat on the couch and saved the recording of our conversation.
Ever since I found the photo of Madison, I had kept call recording turned on.
It wasn’t because I was scheming.
It was because my instincts told me this time was different.
Early the next morning, I went to see my lawyer.
Her name was Ms. Parker. She was the long-term legal counsel for our company, and we had worked together for years. I trusted her.
I told her everything from beginning to end.
The shares, the power of attorney, Madison, and Ethan’s reaction.
After listening, Ms. Parker’s expression became very serious.
“Claire, I’ll be honest with you. I’ve seen plenty of cases like yours. A man cheating isn’t the scariest part. The scary part is when he also starts moving your assets.”
“I know.”
“If he forged your signature, and that’s confirmed, it’s a criminal offense.”
“Can it be proven?”
“Yes, as long as you’re willing to burn the bridge.”
I was silent for a few seconds.
“He already burned it. What am I still protecting?”
Ms. Parker nodded and took a stack of forms from her drawer. “Then I’ll give you a list. First, go to the business registry and obtain the company’s registration-change records from the past three months to see whether anything unusual happened. Second, I’ll send a letter from the firm to the company demanding the original documents containing all equity-related signatures. Third, go home and secure all important identification documents, property deeds, and bank records, and change every password.”
“Could he have moved other assets of mine already?”
“We won’t know until we check.”
When I left the law firm, the sky had turned cloudy.
I sat in my car for a while, then called my mother.
“Mom, could you take care of my daughter for a few days? I have something to deal with.”
My mother could hear that something was wrong in my voice. “What happened? Did you and Ethan have a fight?”
“It’s not a fight. We might be getting divorced.”
There was silence on the other end for several seconds.
Then my mother said, “All right. Take care of what you need to. Don’t worry about your daughter. I’ll take care of her. Don’t be scared. Mom’s here.”
I hung up, and the tears finally fell.
They weren’t for Ethan.
They were for me.
Seven years together and five years of marriage—I had worked myself to the bone to support our family, only to discover that he had been thinking about another woman.