Chapter 1

Tags: Hidden Identity, Biased Childhood Friend, Status Reversal, Revenge Divorce

To keep my husband from feeling insecure, I hid my identity as the daughter of the city's wealthiest tycoon.

I spent seven years pinching pennies by his side.

Yet, he took my hard-earned money to buy diamond rings and a brand-new car for his childhood friend.

Meanwhile, I—his lawfully wedded wife—was treated like an unwanted mistress, suffering cold sneers in his family home.

He even sneered at me, "Chloe grew up with my family. Spoiling her is normal! Claire, why do you always have to make a scene?"

I slapped him across the face in front of everyone and demanded a divorce, my heart completely turning to ice.

In that exact second, I realized that the man I had loved for seven years had become a terrifying stranger.

Ethan grabbed a fistful of my hair and slammed me hard onto the bedroom floor.

The door slammed shut with a deafening bang a second later.

"Claire, have I spoiled you so much that you think you can slap me in front of everyone?"

He kicked me, his handsome face contorted with pure rage. "I just bought Chloe a few gifts! Was that worth humiliating me?"

"When will you ever grow the hell up?"

Before I could even find my voice, a soft knock came from outside the door.

It was Chloe.

She called out, her voice dripping with tearful concern, "Ethan, please calm down! Open the door. Don't do anything crazy."

"I know it's New Year's Eve, and an outsider like me shouldn't have crashed your family dinner. If Claire doesn't want me here, I can leave right now. Please don't fight with her over something so petty."

"You've always protected me since we were kids, and I appreciate it. But you have a wife now. You need to stop losing your temper just to defend me."

"Be good and open the door. I'll explain things to Claire myself. I won't even keep the gifts, okay?"

Listening to her innocent act through the door, a wave of sheer disgust rushed up my throat.

I dragged myself up from the floor, shoved Ethan aside, and ripped the door open. Without a shred of hesitation, I slapped her across the face.

"If you're going to get lost, do it now. Stop sickening me with your little innocent routine."

Chloe clutched her cheek, staring tearfully at Ethan behind me, looking entirely devastated.

Ethan looked as if his heart had just been ripped out. He instantly rushed past me to check on her. "Claire, that is enough!"

He roared at me, then immediately turned around, cradling Chloe with the gentlest touch.

Watching him, my heart felt like it was being torn in two by an invisible pair of hands. The pain was suffocating.

In seven whole years, he had never once looked after me with such delicate care. Now, he was openly fawning over another woman right in front of my face.

"Claire, my patience is wearing thin."

"If you want this marriage, act like it. If you don't, pack your shit and get out!"

If this were the past, hearing him tell me to get out would have sent me into a panic, desperately apologizing just to earn his forgiveness.

Because I loved him, I had been terrified of losing him.

I had catered to his every whim.

But now, every ounce of my love had been ground into dust by his endless suspicion and sickening favoritism.

I drew a slow, ragged breath and gathered every shred of my dignity to say the one word I had never dared utter: "Divorce."

Ethan froze instantly.

In the past, no matter how bad things got, I had never once threatened to leave him.

Perhaps sensing that something was fundamentally different about me, his face twisted with irritation. "Claire, stop playing games. The whole family is out here. Do you really have to throw a tantrum tonight?"

"My parents were right there when I gave her those gifts! Chloe grew up with us. We've always treated her like my own little sister. Do I need your permission to buy something for my sister? Do I not even have that right?"

"Just be a good girl, okay?"

What kind of brother buys his sister a diamond ring? If she were actually his blood sister, maybe I could have forced myself to turn a blind eye.

Chloe didn't share a single drop of blood with him!

When we got married, Ethan had whined that his finances were tight and that we needed to save every penny for our future.

He had literally ordered a five-dollar cubic zirconia ring off Wish to wear at our wedding.

He promised back then that once our lives improved, he would buy me a real ring.

Over all these years, I had secretly poured so much of my own money into our lives, finally giving him a comfortable existence.

And what did he do the moment he had money? He took everything I worked for and bought Chloe a real diamond ring.

Why the hell should she get that?