Chapter 3

“He was keeping a mistress, planning to move assets out, and trying to use divorce to pressure you. Now he’s turned around and made himself out to be the man who loved you enough to let you go. He makes me sick.

“I’ve spent too long on this project to drop it now, but it’ll be the last time I ever work with him. The man has no shame.”

I nodded. “All right. Whatever you say. My new business is nearly ready anyway. Soon I’ll be formally separating it from his.”

That was when Cheng Ming turned up.

I glanced at the door camera and motioned for Meng Yi to wait in the bedroom.

He gave me a wounded look. Reluctant though he was, he moved quickly enough.

When I opened the door, Cheng Ming handed me a rice ball and started changing his shoes to come in.

I took the food, glanced down, and gestured for him to leave the blue pair alone.

I got a pair of disposable slippers out of the cabinet.

He raised an eyebrow. “I heard there was someone new. Looks like the rumors are true. But I’d advise you not to take these men too seriously. Your career’s doing so well now. How do you know what they’re after?”

I ignored him. His intentions didn’t look particularly noble either.

He pointed at the rice ball. “From your favorite place. I queued for half an hour this morning. Nearly broke my poor old back.”

Then he gave me a suggestive smile. “How about a little massage?”

Before I could speak, something crashed to the floor in the master bedroom.

Cheng Ming raised an eyebrow.

“Bad timing, I see. He seems to have a temper.”

I refused to take the bait. “What do you want?”

“Just came to see you.”

His eyes kept straying toward the bedroom. I stepped into his line of sight.

“Seen enough?”

“That protective, are you?” he teased. “You seem more concerned about him than you ever were about me. Zhou Huan, the man in there... You two didn’t start something while we were still married, did you?”

“What about you and that so-called cousin of yours?” I shot back. “Did that start before we even got married?”

Cheng Ming’s aunt had adopted a daughter.

Apparently, the girl had come to live with them at twelve. Her father had been an old comrade of Cheng Ming’s uncle.

Both her parents had died young, leaving her with no one.

His aunt couldn’t have children, so they took her in.

Cheng Ming had always been close to this cousin. Closer, I thought, than cousins usually were.

I hadn’t minded before. They’d grown up together. Of course they’d be fond of each other.

I was always inclined to examine my own part in things. As our marriage headed toward divorce, I kept questioning myself.

For a while, I was miserable. I felt I’d failed.

Then, in the second month after we filed the paperwork, his cousin suddenly appeared at the company.

Her arrival was like finding the loose end of a thread in a tangled mess.

Everything came together.

Suddenly I understood. His womanizing might only have been an excuse. The real reason he wanted a divorce lay elsewhere.

That was also why I hadn’t yielded an inch over my stake in the company.

I wasn’t going to let someone else reap the rewards for doing nothing.

My marriage could fail. My career couldn’t.

A flicker of panic crossed Cheng Ming’s face.

“Who’s been filling your head with nonsense? Is this all because I gave her a job at the company?

“She just finished her master’s this year. You know what the job market’s like. My aunt came to my house with gifts and everything. I’m her cousin. Was I supposed to turn my back on her?”

He was very good at sounding righteous. Using that act on me was laughable.

“Is that so? Buying your cousin a house and a car is normal too, then?”

His voice rose. “You’ve been investigating me?

“What right do you have to question me? What right do you have to investigate me? You know perfectly well our divorce had nothing to do with anyone else. We just couldn’t live together anymore.

“If there really were something between us, why would I be here today? Don’t you know why I came?”

I gave a cold laugh.

“Who knows why you came? But it certainly wasn’t just for me.

“Since the divorce, the only thing connecting us is business. You should understand that. So stop doing things that make people uncomfortable. I can lose my temper too.”

He pointed at the bedroom door.

“You’re angry because of him? I only made an offhand remark. You’ve been itching to make a thing out of me and my cousin, haven’t you? Why show your hand so soon?”

“Do I need to make up anything about you two? Your cousin can hardly wait to tell the whole world she’s the real lady of the company.

“And while we’re on the subject of shares, I’m pulling out. Either buy my stake, or I’ll sell it to another shareholder.”

He stared at me.

“Why sell out of the blue? Where am I supposed to find that much money right now? You own nearly thirty percent. How am I going to raise enough?”

“Your problem. You have one week. After that, I’ll talk to Yao.”

“You’re really going to put me in that position?”

“Still not as disgusting as the way you pressured me into a divorce.”

The moment he left, Meng Yi came out.

He pulled me into his arms and said unhappily, “So you already knew about him and his cousin. I didn’t tell you because I thought you’d find it too upsetting.”

Meng Yi really did have his adorable points.

He hated Cheng Ming enough to complain about him eight hundred times a day.

But if he thought something might hurt me, he kept it to himself.

Whether it would hurt me was where he drew the line.

“Are you reassured now? There’s no way I’d remarry someone like that. Can you stop?”

He pouted. “You’re beautiful and capable. Cheng Ming gets on my nerves, but he’s not the one I’m guarding against.”

I laughed. “Then who is?”