My wife was gone for 6 months on a business trip. The day she returned, however, she was not alone.

Hand in hand, my wife showed up with her lover—my client. This was not even the worst part—she was also 3 months' pregnant.

My client, in all his beer-bellied arrogance, hurled the contract at my feet, smirking. "Mr. Carter, your wife has gone to so much trouble for this partnership. Truth be told, I would never, not even in a million years, have agreed to partner with you if it wasn't for her!"

My wife caressed her pregnant belly and said smugly, "I was the one who successfully got Mr. Lewis' business! I'll let you have it, though, as long as you agree to get a divorce!"

I tore the contract into shreds and roared, "You want a divorce? Fine! I'll give it to you, but I'll never sign this!"

My wife, Mia, stared at the shreds of paper all over the ground, utterly dumbstruck. "Miles! You better think long and hard about this…

"Don't you know that this partnership alone is enough to sustain your lame company for almost a year?

"Or perhaps you're not satisfied by this amount I'm offering?

"Well, in that case, you can eat yourself!

"You're too greedy, and this will be the last time I'm ever helping you!"

I stared at her, affronted. I knew my eyes were probably red from close to crying, but I did not care. "Mia, do you know what day it is today?"

"What day?" She finally paused to gaze around her, registering her surroundings for the first time since stepping in.

To her surprise, she realized that the entire office was decked out in streamers and balloons.

She read the banner and sneered. "Celebrating three years of Carter Advertising?

"What's there to celebrate?

"We would have much more to celebrate if it weren't for your poor leadership! If you had been a better boss, you wouldn't need to send your own wife, the vice president of your company, out to get clients!

"I guess I shouldn't be complaining, though, because I'll be working for Keith very soon."

I slowly took my wedding ring off and placed it on the table before me. I could not help but notice that Mia was not even wearing hers anymore.

"You probably don't remember anymore, Mia, but today is not just our company's three year anniversary. It's also our fifth wedding anniversary. Don't you remember? Two years after we got married, you fell pregnant, but you insisted on terminating it, because you wanted to be a high-flying career woman. You didn't want to have a child because it would prevent you from reaching your goals.

"I honored your wish, and took out a massive loan to start up this company. All these years I've treated it like the child we never had…"

I did not even get to finish, because the next moment, Mia hurled my wedding ring onto the ground and stepped on it. The metal cracked underneath the weight of her shoe, just like the ending of our marriage.

"What are you trying to say, Miles? You think I'll be swayed by your devotion to our marriage? Or do you want more money? The audacity! You're a soul-sucking parasite, Miles! Even after our marriage has crashed and burned, all you care about is money!"

I scoffed. "You must be mistaken, Miss Lawson, because I'm not after your money. In fact, I don't even care about our joint assets anymore. You can have them all. All I want from the settlement is this company. Since you have made up your mind about ending our relationship, I don't see a point in holding on any longer."

Mia seemed utterly stunned. Sounding dubious, she asked, "What are you playing at? Why are you so obsessed with this wretched company that's not even making any money? Well, whatever. You can have it if that's what you want! Just don't expect me to go out getting clients for you anymore."

My client and the destroyer of my marriage, Keith Lewis, slung his arm around Mia's shoulder and said, sneering, "Mia, stop wasting your time with this scum. What else can you expect from him? He is nothing but a useless parasite, a man who relies on his own wife for his company's livelihood.

"I've been trying to convince you to divorce him for ages! I even offered you a job working at my company, and yet you're still wasting your time with him. Have you gone out of your mind?"

I could not stand it any longer. I whirled around and gave him a hard punch in the face, roaring, "Shut your filthy mouth! You're nothing but a homewrecker! What gives you the right to even speak?"

Keith let out a howl of agony. His bodyguards swarmed over, and within seconds, punches began raining down on me. It was agony like I had never felt before. Mia screamed, "Miles, our marriage is already over! What are you even getting jealous over? You should've known better! Serves you right!"

My employees watched, utterly unfazed, as the good-for-nothing president of their company got beaten into a pulp. It was my receptionist, Yvonne, who could not stand the fighting anymore and finally called the cops. Such ended an eventful day, when I found out my wife was leaving me. As expected, I ended up in the hospital that night.

Mia came by to visit me, but before leaving, she stuffed a wad of cash underneath my pillow. With a note of derision, she said, "Keith took pity on you and offered to pay for your medical bills. If you are expecting an apology, though, it will never come. To be frank with you, he wouldn't even have offered it if I hadn't convinced him.

"So please stop being so childish, Miles! I've already made up my mind, and you can't change it. No matter how much you beg and plead, I won't return. Even if you die fighting him, I won't return to your side!"

I threw the stack of money back into her face. "I won't accept filthy money! Also, don't get too pleased with yourself. I fought him because he deserved it, not because I was jealous of you."

Mia picked the money up and said, "Very well then. Be prepared to receive the divorce papers next week!"

Mia stormed out of the room, slamming the door behind her. I lay alone on my hospital bed, grieving the loss of my marriage.

Five years. I would be lying if I said I was not sad about it, but it was too late for what-if's. There was no point dwelling on the past anymore, when I had so many other problems to deal with. Most importantly, I needed to figure out how to keep the company running in Mia's absence.

Five years ago, I married Mia against my family's wishes. My parents had despised her from the very first moment they met. They did not trust her, and they insisted to me that Mia and I were not a good match.

Young as I was, I foolishly assumed that this was just my family's close-minded arrogance. Just out of spite, I proposed to Mia, and we got married within months of dating.

Ever since we got married, I rarely visited my parents anymore, and even turned down my father's offer of letting me take over the family business out of bitterness. I thought I could start my own company, and so that was what I did.

My parents despised Mia, and she loathed them in return. In her opinion, they were cold, callous, and selfish people. Since we had defied their wishes and struck out on our own, I decided there was no point divulging the truth of my family's wealth to her. Therefore, she had no idea that I had turned down a million-dollar inheritance for her.

I hated to admit it, but it turned out my parents had been right all along. Mia could not be trusted. I should have heeded their advice, but it was too late now.

The first two years after our marriage, I worked so hard that I rose to the position of president within my father's company. However, Mia's ambition of starting a business together still persisted, so I quit my job to help her accomplish this. I forked out my entire life's savings, and even took out an extortionate loan to start an advertising company. Under my leadership, the company flourished.

Mia had a knack with people and liked working in the sales department. She enjoyed the challenge of winning over a tough client, and would bask in the joy of every sale she made.

Unbeknownst to her, I had so many connections from my previous job that she need not even work so hard for all those sales, but in order to satisfy her ego, I secretly hid those leads away where she would not find them. I also wrote off the sales I had made under Mia's name, to further boost her ego. Meanwhile, I retired from the action and took up a more administrative role in the company, where I focused on the company's direction and business strategy.

As time passed, I began to yearn for a family of my own, but Mia, despite her slowly crossing the threshold into an advanced maternal age, was still insistent on building her career. Therefore, I had no choice but to fake the image of the company failing, in hopes that it would inspire her to prioritize our family. Who would have thought my plan would backfire, and she would leave me for a wealthier man?

All of a sudden, someone knocked on my door. It was Yvonne, who had stopped by to visit with a gigantic bouquet of flowers. I shot her a bitter smile. "Everyone else has turned in their resignation. Why are you still around?"

Yvonne smiled back at me. "I've been working at Carter Advertising for as long as I can remember. I won't abandon you. Besides, I have my full trust in you, Mr. Carter. I know you'll turn things around. There's no way the company will go broke with you around.

"The company had been doing well for two years, but since last year, you had suddenly ended partnerships left and right, and shrunk our business model as a result. I'm not very smart when it comes to doing business, so I have no idea what you did all that for, but I know you must have everything under control. I'm sure that you'll be able to build our company up again, so long as you put your mind to it."

I nodded at her. She was a smart girl, this one. "You're right, Yvonne. I do have something planned. Put out some new ads. I'm going to hire some new people and bring us back to glory."

Yvonne was delighted to hear this. All of a sudden, she frowned, and remarked wistfully, "I pity those people who quit in a hurry. They're going to regret this once we get back on our feet!"

I, on the other hand, could not care less about the employees I had lost. Good riddance!

I said to her, "By the way, I want to rename our company. We shall be called New Horizons from now on!"

I poured my time, energy, and effort into building things back up. I put out recruitment ads, and hired the best candidates of each field to replace the employees that had left. Within a week, my company grew from a measly ten employees to a staggering hundred.

I myself oversaw the recruitment process of several important positions, such as the vice president (Mia's old position), and the directors of various departments.

One day, a woman rang me, citing that she was interested in an opening as departmental head. She was so eager to get this job that she did not even wait until I was discharged. I had no choice but to agree to an interview at the hospital.

I was surprised when she arrived. She was dressed head to toe in designer clothes, and it was clear that she did not even need to work, much less apply for a job that was far below her.

I could not help but snap in annoyance, "You're not suitable for this job! Please do not waste my time, miss."

She tossed me a memory card and said nonchalantly, "You can make up your mind once you watch this. I have a feeling you'll find this very interesting."

I had a bad feeling about this, but I inserted the memory card into my laptop nonetheless. When I clicked on the video, however, I froze as if I had been struck by lightning.

It was a video of Mia and Keith, their unclothed bodies entwined in the most intricate positions I had ever seen. Guttural moans of pleasure emitted from their throats, and I felt my blood boil with rage and humiliation. I slammed my laptop shut and turned to the woman who had brought this disgusting video to my attention. "Who are you? What do you want?"

The woman nudged her sunglasses and said with an air of disdain, "I'm sure you can guess by now who I am. We're both victims, so there's no need to be short with me. I just thought you'd be interested in this. You should keep it. It might come in handy."

With that, she turned and sashayed out of the room, leaving only a trail of her perfume in her wake. Within seconds she was gone, as if she was never there in the first place.

I clenched my fists to stifle the nausea rising within me. It did not take a rocket scientist to figure out who this mysterious woman was—the fact that she had this video in her possession meant that she was most likely involved with Keith somehow.

Nevertheless, every last glimmer of hope I had towards reconciling our marriage dissipated with the discovery of said video.

My injuries were so severe that I had to stay an additional two days in the hospital. There was nothing much to do, so I decided to wheel myself downstairs for a walk.

At a bend in the hallway, I heard a voice that made me stop short in my tracks.

"I'm already three months along, and yet now you want me to get an abortion? In your dreams! Didn't you promise me that once the child is born, you'd divorce her and marry me instead? Why did you change your mind?

"I don't need any more rest! I want to start working immediately!

"What did you just say? You're not offering me the job anymore? And now you don't want to marry me either? What on earth is wrong with you, Keith Lewis? You had no intention of holding up your promise from the start, don't you, you liar?" Mia's voice rang loud and clear in the hallway. Obviously she was on the phone with Keith.

Everything became all the clearer. What a sick joke that life had played on me! She willingly left a man who had given everything up for her, to become a mistress.

When we finally conceived a child after years of trying, she was adamant to terminate it for the sake of her career, and yet now she wants to keep a baby that was not even wanted by the father?

As ironic as this all was, it no longer had anything to do with me, so I kept silent. At that exact moment, Mia hung up and turned around. We locked eyes across the hallway.

She roared, "Miles, you disgusting freak! Were you following me? Were you eavesdropping on me? How shameless are you? Don't you dare think that just because Keith and I are arguing it means you stand a chance! Let me make it clear to you—we are done! We are getting a divorce, and I won't change my mind, not now, not ever!"

I scoffed. "Mia, don't be so full of yourself. I had no intention of eavesdropping on your stupid conversation. All I feel now is disgust. You are nothing but a scarlet woman, a lying, cheating floozy! I will never take you back, not even if you get on your knees and beg me!"

With that, I turned and wheeled away without a second glance. All I could hear were the curious murmurs of the onlookers who had gathered around us. Mia's shouting match over the phone had garnered a lot of attention from passersby, and it was not difficult to deduce what had happened.

It turned out Keith was already married, and had no intention of marrying Mia nor offering her a job since the start. It was no wonder Mia was trying to find a new job, and this explained why she kept threatening to divorce me, and yet suddenly went quiet when it came to approving the legal proceedings. She was probably trying to keep me around as something to fall back on.

Well, I could not let her get what she wanted, could I?

Two days later, I was finally cleared to discharge by the doctors. I returned to the company and took over the interview process of the more crucial job openings.

That afternoon, Mia showed up in my office, looking excited. "Miles, how did you even come into so much money? I've done my research, and there's no way Carter Enterprises can grow so rapidly without at least ten million dollars' worth of investment!"

I stared at her coldly. "What does this have to do with you?"

I could not believe her audacity when she replied, "Why doesn't it? This money is part of our joint assets."

"So?" I asked, trying very hard to conceal my anger.

Our joint wealth was largely made up of my own hard-earned money. I would have been more than happy to share the fruits of my labor with her, but that was before finding out that she had cheated on me for another wealthier man. Since she had trodden on my dignity, what right did she have to claim my money?

"I want half of the profits! Either give me half of the shares of Carter Enterprises, or half of the profits in cash!" Mia said greedily, revealing her true colors at last.

I sneered. "I earned this money with my blood, sweat, and tears. I will not give you even one penny."

Mia snarled. "What gives you the right? If you don't hand over the money, I won't go ahead with the divorce proceedings! You will be legally responsible for raising and caring for another man's child! Is this what you want, Miles?"

I hurled the memory card containing proof of her adultery towards her. "Mia, in the future, before threatening someone, make sure said person doesn't have something on you."