Chapter 5

Jade Monroe's POV

Early the next morning, I went to the downstairs supermarket to buy necessities.

At checkout, I handed over the black card I usually used.

A few seconds later, the cashier awkwardly returned it.

"The transaction was declined."

The customers in line behind me cast strange looks.

I took back the card, and my phone immediately showed a message from Xavier.

"Supplementary card suspended. If you want to spend money, come home and apologize."

I switched to my own salary card for payment and carried my shopping bags out of the supermarket.

As soon as I got home, my phone vibrated.

A bank text: $200,000 has been forcibly redeemed and transferred from your joint investment account ending in 8899.

The note read: Family operational cost deduction.

That was an account we'd opened years ago to save money together. Most of the money in it came from my early design copyright fees.

Xavier was openly robbing me.

The phone call came immediately after.

"Jade, did you see the deduction notice?"

Xavier's voice was self-righteous.

"This is a fine for your emotional outburst. That two hundred thousand is Amber's compensation for emotional distress and medical expenses. Don't feel wronged-you have to pay the price for doing wrong."

In the background of the call, I could hear Amber's voice.

"Xavier, how do you turn on the seat heater? Does only your girlfriend's seat have one?"

Xavier hastily brushed me off.

"Reflect on yourself. When you're ready to apologize, I'll transfer the money back."

With that, he hung up.

I screenshotted that deduction text and sent it along with the transfer records to my lawyer.

And sent Xavier a message.

"This constitutes illegal misappropriation of jointly owned property. If you don't return it within 24 hours, see you in court."

After returning to my apartment, I opened my computer and pulled up the household expense ledger.

Thanks to Xavier's habits-for his so-called enterprise-level family management, he required every large expenditure to be documented. This had left me with perfect evidence.

Late at night, a social media notification popped up about someone I might know.

The profile picture was Amber. The photo was taken in what used to be my bedroom. She wore my pajamas, taking a selfie in the mirror.

Caption: "The previous owner had decent taste, but now it all belongs to me."

Moments later, a direct message appeared.

"I used up all your skincare products for you. Wouldn't want them to go to waste, right? He's sleeping so soundly next to me right now."

I calmly typed a reply.

"I wore those pajamas when I had a skin condition and never washed them. The skincare products expired three months ago. Hope you enjoy them."

The other side immediately showed "typing..." for a long time, but in the end, sent nothing.

At 3 AM, I couldn't sleep.

I got up and took a melatonin tablet, then sent my lawyer an email asking him to prepare a lawsuit authorization form for recovering gifts given to a third party.

In my dream, Xavier used his first earnings to buy me a ring, swearing to treat me well for a lifetime.

When I woke up, there was a bank deduction notice on my phone.

That "lifetime" turned out to be only seven years.

You want to talk money? Then let's discuss it as commercial fraud.