My Husband’s Mistress Sat Beside Me on the Flight,So I Took His $5 Billion Divorce Deal

My husband was working overtime during the New Year holiday—or so he claimed. I decided to buy a plane ticket and surprise him.

But only business class seats remained.

I stared at the five-figure price tag and, gritting my teeth, drained an entire year's savings.

Then I couldn't even figure out how to pull down the tray table.

The elegant woman beside me let out a cold laugh.

"Never flown business class before?"

I forced an awkward smile. "Sorry about that. You must be a CEO, right? You have that... expensive air about you."

"Me? No." She waved a manicured hand. "But my sugar daddy is. If I'm not in business class, he charters me a private jet."

I blinked. "A sugar daddy? That must be hard to find."

"Not really. I'm his subordinate. I keep making mistakes at work—cost him quite a bit of money, actually. He scolds me until I cry, and then... well." She smiled knowingly. "You can imagine what happens next."

A chill crept down my spine.

"What a coincidence," I said slowly. "My husband also has a female colleague who keeps making mistakes."

"You're married?" Her eyes swept over me, assessing. "My sugar daddy has a wife too. About your age, actually."

She examined her nails.

"But he says he got tired of her ages ago. Touching her feels stale, he told me. Less exciting than watching me flip my hair."

My stomach turned.

"I told him I wanted to see him during the holiday." She smiled. "So he just told his wife he had to work overtime."

That's when I saw it.

The ring on her finger.

A diamond ring identical to the wedding band I'd lost.

I went rigid.

Wait—Carl Stephens isn't some low-level employee?

When did he become a CEO?

1.

My gaze locked onto her ring finger.

"But that ring..." My voice came out strange, foreign. "It's a wedding band, isn't it? Did you marry him?"

"This?" Roberta Delgado held up her hand, admiring the diamond as it caught the light. "I made him take it from his wife."

The air left my lungs.

"I wasn't planning to make things hard for her, honestly." Roberta's lips curved. "But on my birthday, that woman suddenly had a miscarriage and made him rush to the hospital to take care of her."

She pouted.

"I spent my birthday alone."

My hand drifted to my stomach.

The memory hit me like ice water—that brutal winter. The road home from the market had been slicked with black ice. Carl's salary was barely enough to survive on; even an electric scooter was a luxury we couldn't afford.

I'd fallen hard.

Three months along, and my baby became nothing but blood on frozen pavement.

Carl had dropped everything. Stayed by my hospital bed for three days and three nights without sleeping.

When I finally woke, my wedding ring had vanished along with our child.

He'd held me close, voice cracking. "It's okay. We'll have another baby. The ring—I'll make you a new one."

I'd sobbed and shaken my head. "Aren't they doing layoffs at your company? We need to save money. When you make it big someday... you can get me a new one then."

His eyes had been red-rimmed, tears threatening to spill. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry I can't give you a better life."

I'd shaken my head again, unable to speak.

Beside me, Roberta was still admiring the ring.

"So..." My throat was sandpaper. "You made him give you his wife's ring?"

"Well, he didn't want to at first. Said he'd buy me something more expensive." She tilted her hand, watching the diamond sparkle. "But that old hag acts so superior just because she's his wife. If I don't put her in her place, she'll think she can walk all over me."

I bit down until I tasted copper.

"Honestly, compared to everything else he's bought me, this ring isn't worth much." She shrugged. "But it's a wedding ring. That's what makes it special."

Roberta turned to me with a pitying smile.

"When a woman lets herself become as pathetic as that wife of his? There's no hope left for her."

I gripped the fabric of my sleeve until my knuckles went white. Forced my lips into something resembling a smile.

"If your sugar daddy spends so much on you... he must be paying his wife a fortune to keep quiet, right?"

Roberta laughed—a bright, tinkling sound.

She leaned in close, her perfume cloying.

"Here's the thing," she whispered. "That pathetic old woman doesn't even know he's a CEO."