Gloria's heart beat fast and hard. She looked at her phone, her mind full of fear. What was Victor doing? And why was he acting like a good dad all of a sudden, taking Annabel to the children's park for her birthday? Something he has never done before, no matter how much Gloria pleaded with him to spend time with Annabel. Panic filled her stomach-what is Victor up to?

Gloria remained quiet, still clutching the phone tightly to her ear. Her mother spoke up. "Gloria, darling, what's wrong? You sound upset."

Gloria wanted to say everything was fine, like always. But she had never told the truth about her sad life with Victor to anyone. Her family didn't know about his mean words or the many women he slept with. Now, she is leaving him. Maybe she should tell her mom a little. She needed help. And she hoped her mom would understand!

"Mom, Victor and I are getting-" she trailed off. Gloria knew she had to be careful of what she said. Her mom loves Victor a lot because he never fails to impress her with cash. He even bought her mother a house in one of the rich neighborhoods and also bought her a car. Her mother had been able to join the Elite women club because of Victor. But Gloria still hoped her mom would change after hearing the truth.

"Mom, what do you think of Victor?" Gloria asked.

"About Victor?" Her mother sounded surprised. "Is there a problem with you two?"

"Well, yes... I-" Gloria swallowed hard. She felt sick. "-I want a divorce."

"DIVORCE?!" Her mother almost dropped the phone. "Gloria! What's wrong with you?! How dare you say you want to divorce Victor after everything he has done for us?"

"Mom, by us, you mean you?" Gloria said calmly.

"Oh, stop it, Gloria. If it wasn't for Victor, we would still be rotting in poverty right now. He's too good for you. He's the perfect husband. In fact, you should thank him for marrying you!" Her mother kept yelling on the phone, not letting Gloria speak. "If you two had a fight, then go and apologize to him right now-you can even go on your knees if need be. That's how to be a good wife!" Do you want us to go back to poverty? I'm used to the good life just because of my wonderful and generous son-in-law; you better not spoil it for me.

Gloria's heart broke into pieces. It hurt so much. But it wasn't new. Her mom always took Victor's side, not even bothering to listen to her. Her mother was turning a blind eye on her daughter's pain for her own selfishness. Gloria decided not to say anything to her mother again until after the divorce.

"It's nothing, Mom. I will call you later. I still need to go and meet Victor and Annabel at the park," Gloria said, her voice shaking. She was on the verge of breaking down.

"Good! Don't think about divorce. I did not raise an ungrateful daughter!" Her mother yelled one more time and hung up.

Gloria stared at her phone and sighed deeply. She hated hiding things; she just wanted her mother to take her side once. But what could she do? She was her mother's cash cow. She squeezed the phone hard, her anger growing.

Bad thoughts filled her head. She feared Victor might hurt Annabel just to get back at her. She hated calling him right after leaving, but she didn't have a choice in this situation.

She called Victor, and he answered on the first ring.

"Yes, Mrs. Anderson?" Victor asked, like nothing was wrong, like their big fight didn't happen.

"Cut the crap, Victor. Where is my daughter?" Gloria asked, her voice sharp with fear and anger.

"You mean our sweet daughter?" Victor looked left and smiled in a mean way. "She's on the swing, and I'm pushing her."

"Give her the phone. NOW!" Gloria yelled.

"Okay." Victor gave the phone to Annabel.

"Hi, Mommy!" Annabel sounded so happy. "Where are you? Daddy said you are on your way."

"Ah, baby, are you okay?" Gloria asked, trying to sound normal.

"Yes! I'm with Daddy! Why aren't you here? I want to celebrate with both of you!"

"Ah-Uh... Mommy is stuck in traffic. Have fun with Dad. Buy what you want," Gloria lied. She knew her daughter loves to ask so many questions.

"Baby, give the phone back to Dad."

"Okay, Mommy! I love you!"

"I love you too, baby."

Annabel gave it back. Victor's happy voice made Gloria mad. He enjoys seeing her in so much pain. He had no heart. Even after she signed the divorce papers and showed her anger, he acted like nothing happened.

"So, what else?" Victor asked.

"What do you want, Victor?" Gloria asked, full of doubt.

"What do you mean? I missed Annabel's birthday because I was getting my dick sucked by my secretary. And as a good dad, I had to make it up," he said. "What? Just because you want a divorce, you think you can keep me from her?"

Victor went on. "I'm not dumb, Gloria. If we divorce, you will certainly stop me from seeing Annabel, unless I pay you. You're using our daughter to trick me, you stupid bitch. I know your plan! You are just after my money!"

"If you want to be a good mom and give Annabel the life she deserves, then you need me, Gloria. Without me, you are nothing. You are just a poor middle-aged woman."

Gloria closed her eyes, fighting her anger at his mean words. He always talked like that, looking down on everyone, especially her. She had put up with his nonsense for far too long.

"Victor, tell me which park you took Annabel. I will come and take Annabel," she said.

"To where? To your friend's shared apartment? You are not taking my daughter there. Stay there alone. Enjoy leaving our nice and comfortable home." Victor said.

"Any place is better than with you!" Gloria shouted back. "Tell me where you are. I'm coming for my daughter!"

"Well, if you must..." Victor leaned on the wall and smiled. He still hated her, couldn't look at her like before, but he didn't want to sign the papers. He still needed her to maintain his image as a perfect husband in the public eyes.

"If you want to see your daughter, come home now or meet us at my mom's banquet tomorrow. I will be there with Annabel."

"You!" Gloria hissed.

"Not my idea, but Mom invited you. You're her good daughter-in-law," Victor said, his voice full of hate.

"Oh, how wrong she is."

Gloria bit her lip hard. Victor had trapped her.

She couldn't go home. Or Victor might just lock her up in one of the rooms. So, the party was her only choice. She could take Annabel and slowly tell her they would live apart from Dad.

"So, bitch. Where do you want to meet Annabel? Home, or the party?" Victor asked. "That's it, or you don't see her at all, and be fast with your decisions. My daughter wants to play with me."

I hate you so much Victor," Gloria said coldly. "I thought I gave you the perfect opportunity to sleep with your mistresses as much as you want. You can fuck any woman you want now without feeling guilty. Isn't that what you wanted? Not that you ever feel guilt anyway."

On the other end of the call, Victor sounded relaxed, almost amused by what Gloria was saying. "Honey, I will still fuck as many women as I want after this whole 'running away' thing you did," he said casually. "I just don't want my daughter thinking she lost her mom because of me. You know I love my daughter very much."

Gloria's grip on her phone tightened; she was about to explode with anger.

"My daughter will never lose her mother," Gloria said. "But she already lost her dad a long time ago. So stop pretending like you care about her now."

Victor didn't respond immediately. When he finally spoke, his tone was indifferent, like the conversation didn't matter to him at all. "If you say so, what's it going to be?"

"Fine," she snapped. "I will go to your mother's party. And I will take my daughter with me."

Gloria hung up before Victor could reply. She was already shaking with anger. The moment the call ended, she threw the phone onto the bed and covered her face with both hands. Her chest felt tight. She had really hoped she could cut ties with the Anderson family quickly after the divorce.

But Victor knew exactly how to control the situation. He's using their daughter as a tool to frustrate her.

Gloria knew that as long as their daughter was involved, she could never completely avoid him. "Great," she muttered bitterly. "Now I have to pretend to be the good wife again."

The person she dreaded seeing the most wasn't even Victor. It was his mother.

Her mother-in-law had never once taken her side in the marriage. Whenever Gloria complained about Victor coming home late or rumors about other women, his mother always took her son's side and would rather blame Gloria for her son going astray.

"A wife should be more understanding of her husband's needs. If a man looks elsewhere, it's because his wife isn't doing enough. You don't satisfy him, so he's seeking that satisfaction elsewhere. After all, he still comes home to you and your daughter at the end of the day. You need to behave better and stop nagging all the time."

Gloria took a deep breath and looked at herself in the mirror. "It's fine," she told herself quietly. "This will be the last time I will have to mingle with them. For my daughter's sake, I will go there once more."

After Gloria hung up, Victor looked at his phone and laughed under his breath. He already knew she would agree. She was that easy to control. He knew she would always come back if their daughter was involved. "Stupid woman. Let's see how she gets the divorce," he muttered.

At that moment, Annabel ran toward him holding a toy. "Daddy! Can we go home now? I want to see mummy!"

Victor crouched down and smiled. "My princess, don't you like daddy's company?"

"No," Annabel said seriously. "I like mommy's company better."

Victor raised his eyebrows. "Only Mommy? Daddy can keep you company too. I can take you to your favorite places and buy you the finest toys in this world. Won't you like that?"

Annabel shook her head. "No. Daddy, I only want my mommy."

"Why don't you want me?"

"Because Daddy doesn't keep his promises, and Daddy is always making mummy cry," she said honestly.

Victor froze for a moment. The words his daughter had just said made him uncomfortable, but he quickly brushed it off. "Why would Gloria cry all the time when he's always giving her money? He made sure she and their daughter never lacked anything. Anyway, that's nonsense," he said with a forced smile. "I'm sure that when Annabel grows up, she will know what a great father I was."

Gloria chose a simple red dress with an open back from her bag. It was one of her favorite dresses before she got married to Victor. She left all the expensive gowns Victor bought for her in her closet. She doesn't want anything that will connect her to him anymore.

On the way to the Gray mansion, she called him.

Victor answered on the first ring. "Yes, Mrs. Anderson." "Where are you?" Gloria asked. "I'm heading to your mom's place right now. And where is my daughter?"

"Oh, our daughter and I are already here," he said. "She's with her grandma."

Then he added casually, "My mom keeps asking about you. She says you are slacking off on your duties as a wife, and you can't even take care of yourself or your family."

He lowered his voice slightly. "I mean, she's not wrong. She's right."

Gloria ended the call. She knew arguing with Victor was pointless. She knew that everything would be over soon, and she would be free from Victor and his narcissistic mother.

She walked toward the main hall, but suddenly someone stepped in front of her - two people, actually.

"You actually came," a female voice asked.

She looked up. Victor stood there with his secretary, his arm around her waist, staring at her with a smirk.

Victor's eyes moved slowly over her dress.

"She doesn't even know how to dress properly," his secretary said, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

"That old dress looks good on you," Victor said. "It reminds me of when we used to sneak around in college. It's just so unfortunate that you have lost all your charms and have become old, unlike my beautiful secretary here, who's still in her prime, and knows how to take care of my needs in bed."

Victor's words stabbed through Gloria's heart like a knife; he knew his words were hurting her. He grabbed his secretary and gave her a kiss, not minding that people were gathering around them now.

"Where is Annabel?" Gloria demanded, her voice sharp enough to cut glass as she glared at the man standing across from her.

Victor didn't even flinch. If anything, the arrogance in his eyes only deepened. He looked like a man watching an amusing performance rather than facing his furious wife. The corner of his lips lifted slightly, not quite a smile, but close enough to make Gloria's blood boil.

"Oh, come on, don't be a killjoy," his secretary said. She was obviously enjoying the whole show.

"Annabel is with my mother," Victor said smoothly. "They are having a grandmother-granddaughter moment, and my mother has been waiting for you in her room, so go on."

Most of the guests had gone back to drinking and laughing as if nothing in the world could possibly be wrong. They were all the same all rich people were the same.

Gloria clicked her tongue, disgust curling in her chest. Without another word, she turned and was about to walk away when she stumbled on something and almost fell to the ground, but a strong arm caught her. She looked up to see Lukas, Victor's stepbrother.

"Hello, sister-in-law," Lukas said, smiling, his hand still holding her waist firmly.

Gloria quickly collected herself and wriggled out of his arm. "H-hi Lukas, t-thanks for saving me just now," she muttered.

"My pleasure, sister-in-law," Lukas said, his gaze never leaving her body.

Gloria turned to Victor's secretary. "You did that on purpose, right?" she asked angrily.

"Mrs. Anderson, you know you can't go about accusing people wrongly. It's not my fault you are too fat to even walk properly," the secretary said, laughing.

"Fat?" Lukas muttered to himself. The woman he had just held in his hands was anything but fat. She was perfect.

Lukas turned to Victor. "Brother, you allow your staff to disrespect your wife?" he asked. Victor was giggling with his secretary.

Gloria was shocked. This was the first time someone had stood up for her. But she didn't want to start a fight between the brothers.

"Lukas, just let it be. I'm used to it. I will go and find my daughter now," Gloria said as she walked away.

Lukas's eyes followed her. Her dress exposed most of her back, the fabric clinging tightly to her curves; she was breathtaking. No woman in the banquet room came close to Gloria in terms of beauty and full figure. Her skin was as white as snow. Not even the scheming secretary who was still clinging to Victor's arm. Gloria was everything Lukas needed in a woman and for his revenge against the Andersons.

Lukas turned to Victor. "Brother, if you don't treasure her, someone else will snatch her away from you soon."

Victor and his secretary started laughing. "Look at her," he said, pointing at Gloria's retreating figure. "Which other man would want her except me? She's already thirty years old. So you see, I'm doing her a favor by allowing her to remain my wife."

Lukas smiled. He knew he was closer to achieving his goal. "If you say so, brother," he said.

Gloria stormed down the long corridor, her heels striking the marble with furious echoes. The red carpet beneath her feet felt suffocating, like she was walking toward a battlefield she already knew she might lose.

At the end of the hall stood the massive double doors leading to her mother-in-law's room. The security guards recognized her immediately and opened them without question.

Gloria stepped inside.

Her mother-in-law sat on a luxury Italian couch, laughing warmly as she fed Annabel small cookies from a porcelain plate. The grandmother and granddaughter looked perfectly content-like a painting of domestic happiness.

The moment her mother-in-law saw Gloria, the smile vanished from her face, replaced by a deep frown. As she looked at Gloria from head to toe with disdain, Gloria knew she was looking for something to criticize.

"G-good afternoon," Gloria greeted her, forcing a thin smile.

Her mother-in-law didn't respond. Typical.

She turned to Annabel. "Sweetheart, can you give Grandma a moment?" she said sweetly.

"No, Mother, let her stay here with me," Gloria said, reaching for Annabel, who ran into her arms screaming. "Mommy! Where were you? Grandma and I have been waiting for you!"

The innocence in her daughter's voice stabbed straight through Gloria's heart.

"Sweetheart, Mommy had something to do," she said softly. "Did you have a nice time with your grandma?"

"Yes, Mommy! Grandma gave me a lot of chocolate and ice cream too," Annabel said happily.

"Gloria, the maid should take Annabel outside. I don't want you traumatizing my granddaughter with your sad stories about her father," her mother-in-law said. She signaled to her personal maid, who was always on standby, to take Annabel out.

"Baby, go out for a bit with her. I have something important to discuss with Grandma," Gloria said as she kissed her daughter's head.

"Okay, Mommy! Bye, Grandma!" the little girl said happily as the maid carried her out.

As the door closed, the room suddenly became silent. The two women remained, facing each other like opponents in a duel.

Gloria couldn't ignore the comparison. Her mother-in-law was elegance personified. She was wearing an expensive red gown hugging her figure, diamond earrings catching the light with every movement. Her skin was smooth, barely touched by age despite turning fifty years old very soon.

Gloria felt painfully aware of her own appearance. She was thirty but looked like she was already in her mid-forties. Her skin was dull, and she had eye bags around her eyes-an exhaustion that always showed on her face. She had aged quickly being married to Victor.

"Why were you late? You know today is the Andersons' banquet, and as the only daughter-in-law of the Andersons, you were supposed to be here before everyone," her mother-in-law said coldly.

"It doesn't seem like I'm needed here," Gloria muttered to herself.

"What did you say?" her mother-in-law asked.

"No, Mother, I'm sorry I was late. I was caught up in some personal issue."

Her mother-in-law sighed. "And why are you dressed like that? Did you come here just to embarrass my son again?"

"Huh? What is wrong with my dress, Mother?" Gloria asked, confused.

"Don't play stupid," the older woman snapped. "Victor buys you countless dresses, yet you choose to wear that outdated rag from years ago. It's embarrassing. Do you want the guests to start gossiping that my son doesn't take care of his wife?"

"Mother, this is my own dress. I bought it with my own money. I won't take anything from Victor," Gloria said firmly.

Her mother-in-law's brow lifted. "What do you mean you won't take anything from your husband?"

Gloria knew it was now or never. "He's not my husband," she replied, her voice trembling with restrained rage. "Not anymore." The words felt heavy coming out of her mouth.

"I still don't understand what you are saying, Gloria."

"I'm filing for divorce," Gloria said in a shaky voice. "I'm just waiting for Victor to sign the papers. Once he does, I'm taking my daughter and leaving him forever. He has done enough harm to me and my daughter."

Gloria knew what would follow, so she braced herself. She was expecting her mother-in-law to start shouting at her or even start insulting her like she always does-or better still, remind her of how her precious son brought Gloria and her family out of poverty. Victor was the apple of his mother's eyes.

To Gloria's surprise, her mother-in-law started laughing.

"I'm serious," Gloria insisted, her fists tightening. "I came here to take Annabel with me and also for you to convince Victor to sign the divorce papers."

Her mother-in-law's expression changed instantly. The smile remained on her face, but her eyes turned cold.

"Gloria, you really are funny," she said. "Do you think I care about what's going on between you and Victor? Hell no! I don't even care if Victor remains married or not. You were never suitable for my son in the first place."

Gloria's stomach dropped. "Mother, what are you saying?" she asked, surprised.

"You heard me right, Gloria. At first I didn't care if he married you or some prostitute off the street. All I needed was for him to inherit his father's empire and give me a grandchild."

She leaned back, pride gleaming in her eyes. "And he did both perfectly."

Her gaze shifted to Gloria with open contempt. "He built the company. He gave me a beautiful granddaughter." Her lips curled. "So your purpose is fulfilled. You're no longer needed. So you can divorce him for all I care. Do you know how many women outside are dying to marry my son? Take his secretary, for example. Do you see how she treats my son like a king?"

Gloria was shocked at what her mother-in-law was saying to her. "But-" she started to talk, but the older woman cut her off immediately.

"Let me give you some advice," her mother-in-law said as she poured herself another glass of champagne.

"You were never good enough for this family," her mother-in-law said bluntly. "You are not famous. You are not refined. You came from a family of generational poverty with a useless degree and no connections."

Each word landed like a slap on Gloria's face. "The only value you ever had was marrying my son and giving birth to my granddaughter. Otherwise, you are just good for nothing," her mother-in-law said, sipping her champagne.

The room went silent. Gloria could barely contain the tears streaming down her cheeks. Her chest rose and fell rapidly as humiliation, rage, and heartbreak tangled together inside her. She was just a tool for Victor and his mother. Now she understood why Victor stopped having sex with her immediately after she became pregnant. He only wanted the child to carry on their legacy, not her.