To protect the assistant who had been evading taxes, she deliberately gave false testimony in her role as my superior's wife, putting all the blame on me.

I protested endlessly, but the law held me accountable. I was imprisoned for two months. Upon release, my colleagues turned against me, ostracizing me and destroying my promotion chances.

Seeing that I neither cried nor caused a scene, my wife assumed that I had finally submitted. She even threatened to make amends with a lavish wedding for me.

However, during the wedding vows, the assistant, suddenly overtaken by jealousy, ran to the company rooftop and threatened my wife with suicide to force her to cancel the wedding.

My wife, who had always been obedient to him, panicked. She abandoned everyone at the ceremony and spent the entire night comforting her assistant.

Afterwards, she calmly explained:

"Wilson is young and impulsive. I was just afraid he might get hurt. Besides, you were released from prison so early thanks to him. He helped a lot. By right, he's still your lifesaver. I couldn't just abandon him."

I looked at the couple rings she had just put on her finger, let out a faint hum, and said nothing.

She believed I accepted her excuse and was pleased, even making an unprecedented promise: once she had calmed the assistant, she would take me on a honeymoon.

However, she seemed to have forgotten one thing.

She had already signed the divorce papers, and I had filed a lawsuit in court to have the case heard.

From that moment on, we were no longer husband and wife.

We were only plaintiff and defendant.

The day after Ruby Larson ran away from her wedding, everyone at work couldn't stop talking about it. I got a lot of pitying looks from my coworkers at the office.

‘Do you think Liam will get back at her? Maybe he'll make a big fuss at the company about Ruby? Or hang up a huge sign and yell at Wilson?’ they wondered.

"I don't think so," someone said. "He seemed pretty calm after Ruby took off yesterday."

"Maybe he's just scared that Ruby will want a divorce if he makes a fuss, especially after everything that's happened in the last three months," another added.

When I walked into the office, a bunch of my coworkers were laughing. They quieted down as soon as they saw me.

I used to get mad about stuff like that, but not anymore. I just sat down at my desk and ignored them.

They were right. The last three months had been tough, and I wasn't the same person I used to be.

I was ready for their jokes.

Everyone knew about the crazy situation with me, Ruby, and her assistant, Wilson Charlton.

Ruby and I had been together since college and were really close. After we graduated, I got a great job at the company because of my grades, but Ruby had a harder time. I helped her get a job there.

I did her work when she couldn't, and fixed things when she messed up. When it was time for someone to get a promotion, I even let her have it. I didn't mind as long as she was happy.

However, two years ago, Ruby hired Wilson, even though he wasn't really qualified. She said he reminded her of herself when she was starting out.

Even though I was upset, I still put in the effort to help her, teaching Wilson carefully until he could handle things by himself.

I didn't expect Wilson to thank me, but I was shocked to overhear him complaining to Ruby, saying that I had been mean and unfair to him for a long time.

I couldn't stay silent, so I confronted them. However, Ruby said I was just feeling guilty and demoted me without looking into it.

From then on, she made things hard for me, all because of Wilson.

She gave me Wilson's work, she put his name on the plans I worked so hard on, and she even made me run for two hours in the cold to get Wilson's favorite breakfast.

I thought it was just a phase for her.

However, during a tax check, Ruby blamed me, protecting him. She and the others at work told on me, and she even set me up by planting fake evidence in my room because she was my wife.

I was so shocked by her betrayal that I didn't know what to say.

While I was locked up for three months, she only came to see me once.

She said she would never leave me, no matter what. I thought she still cared about me, but she just wanted me to lose hope and leave Wilson out of it.

Thinking about it now, I just laughed.

I got a message on my phone. It was from the lawyer I had talked to.

[The photo you sent last night is really important, but it needs work. They say it'll take three days to fix it.]

[However, we have enough other evidence to go to court now if you want.]

I read the message and held my phone so tight that my fingers turned white.

After I got out, I stayed with Ruby and didn't get mad at her. She thought I was too scared to leave her, and that I had learned my lesson.

However, she didn't know that, every single day and night, I was looking for proof to show I was innocent.

Then, finally...

I dialed the number, took a deep breath, and spoke in a firm voice.

"Don't worry, we will go to court in three days.

"We have to win this case, no matter what it costs."

The lawyer looked surprised, then said seriously, "Our job is to stand up for what's right. The law won't allow innocent people to be treated unfairly, and it won't allow guilty people to get away with their crimes."

After I hung up, I was about to turn off my phone when I got a message from Wilson.

It was a photo.

He and Ruby were in the kitchen. Ruby was cooking with an apron on, and Wilson was cheekily sticking his face next to hers, looking really close.

Ruby seemed to like it, smiling a little.

In contrast, once when I barely touched her, she pushed me away and said she hated it when guys got close to her.

It looked like it wasn't guys she hated, just me.

[With one call, Ruby ran away from her wedding to spend the night with me, Liam. She's never been that nice to you in five years of marriage, has she?] he teased.

I knew he was just trying to get to me.

I had told Ruby about it before, but she didn't care. She just asked if I had done something to upset Wilson, because why else would he bother me and not others?

She didn't want to get mixed up in our problems. However, when I got mad and talked back to Wilson, Ruby would tell me off. She said I was making a big deal out of nothing and that I was too sensitive.

I wanted to just ignore him, but Wilson kept sending more pictures. I saved each one and sent them to my lawyer as more proof.

Then, I blocked Wilson and deleted his number.

The phone rang in under two minutes. It was Ruby on the line.

"Liam, have you unfriended Wilson?"

Right off the bat, Ruby's voice was dripping with disapproval.

"What's gotten into you? Don't you see how childish this is? Remember that you and Wilson still have to work together. If you unfriend him, are you just going to ignore your job too?"

I kept quiet.

It seemed like no matter what I said or did, it would be wrong.

Ruby mistook my silence for guilt and got even tougher. "Say you're sorry to Wilson and add him back. Do that and I won't make a big deal out of this."

"Ruby, regardless of everything, Liam is your husband. It's not right for him to apologize to me. I've forgiven him already, so let's drop it," Wilson chimed in with a hurt tone before I could even speak.

He sounded like he was defending me, but I knew he was just trying to rile her up.

Ruby just scoffed.

"So what if he's my boyfriend? I'm always fair and don't play favorites. I'm worried that someone might hide behind the 'boyfriend' title to cause trouble.

"Liam, I'll ask you one more time, do you admit you were wrong?"

I almost laughed. "Yeah, I know I messed up."

I had messed up by not seeing who she really was sooner and not breaking things off with her to let Wilson have her. That's what I was truly thinking.

However, before I could say it out loud, Ruby snorted with satisfaction. "As long as you understand your mistake, that's enough. Considering you've just gotten out of jail and might be a bit out of it, Wilson and I will let it slide.

"You really should apologize to Wilson for all the help he gave you when you got out. It's the least you can do."

"There’s no need for formalities, Ruby. I was just doing what I should," Wilson said, pretending to be modest.

"You're too kind-hearted. However, I've made up my mind, so don't argue about it."

"......"

Ruby and Wilson were in perfect agreement on the phone, leaving me no chance to say anything before she hung up.

Soon enough, I figured out what Ruby had done. She had gone behind my back and transferred 30 thousand dollars from my card to Wilson.

When Ruby said yes to marrying me, I gave her my bank card PIN to prove how much I trusted her. She started using my card, and I allowed her to because I thought that we were family, and as the man, I should be the one to give more.

At first, she just bought things we needed for the house. However, when she saw I didn't make a fuss, she began treating herself to fancy clothes, expensive bags, and makeup that cost a pretty penny.

I made 4,500 dollars a month, but by the time the middle of the month rolled around, my bank account would be almost empty, and there wouldn’t even be enough to buy a meal. I brought it up with her a couple of times and Ruby got mad, saying I was criticizing her for spending too much. She said she didn't want to rely on me anymore and wanted to be her own boss.

She did cut back on her wild spending after that, but I noticed she still had a steady expense of three thousand dollars every month. I recently found out that it was for gifts for Wilson.

Ruby told me to pinch pennies, so much so that I couldn't even buy underwear that was ten dollars for three pairs, but she didn't think twice about buying Wilson socks that cost three hundred dollars. She talked about being thrifty while I wore the same patched-up shoes for two years, but she gave Wilson two pairs of fancy sneakers worth more than a thousand dollars in just one month. She said we needed to budget, counting every gram of food we cooked, but she spent a fortune on a birthday dinner with Wilson.

……

The more I thought about it, the sillier I felt. However, I knew that large money transfers had to be confirmed in person.

Ruby quickly sent me a text like she always did: [Verification code.]

I looked back at our old chats and couldn't remember when her messages to me had shrunk down to just those words.

She used to grumble about how annoying those codes were and asked me to get her a card linked to mine, but for some reason, I, who always did what she wanted, said no.

Looking back, I guess I was already trying to break free.

I laughed to myself and didn't bother replying. After I left work, I wrote up the divorce papers and, with the house deed in hand, headed to the nearest real estate office.

The house was a gift from my parents when we got married, picked out in Ruby's favorite neighborhood.

To make her happy, my parents had me put her name on the deed too. However, whenever they wanted to visit, Ruby would complain, and I would have to tell them I was too busy with work.