Chapter 1

On our daughter’s birthday, my husband had to prepare a charity gala at the hotel and couldn’t come.

To surprise him, I took our daughter and checked into the hotel he managed.

In the VIP ballroom, our daughter accidentally bumped into an elegantly dressed woman.

The woman pointed at my daughter’s forehead and scolded her, “Whose child is this? Can’t you watch where you’re going?”

I quickly shielded my daughter behind me and apologized. “I’m sorry. She was running too fast and didn’t see you.”

The woman looked me up and down and snorted. “I really don’t know how the hotel let people like you in.”

“My dad is the general manager of this hotel. Why can’t we be here?” My daughter sounded indignant.

The woman raised her eyebrows. “What a coincidence. My husband is the general manager too—and he’s the hotel’s star general manager!”

Seeing her smug expression, I smiled faintly. “Is that so?”

A moment later, my husband’s steady voice came over the hotel intercom.

The woman leaned toward me, unable to hide her smugness.

“That’s my husband. If you know what’s good for you, leave on your own. Don’t stand around here and ruin my mood.”

My entire body went rigid.

How had I never known that my husband had another wife?

I always sympathized with how hard he worked, so I usually didn’t go to the hotel and disturb him.

This time, our daughter had insisted on coming, so I booked a room at the Starlight Hotel, the one he managed.

I watched as our daughter, Mia, played with the handmade toys she had prepared for her father.

Three slightly abstract clay figures stood in the middle of the orange-colored lobby.

My heart sank inch by inch.

I never imagined he had such a huge surprise waiting for me here.

The woman shook the custom bracelet on her wrist again.

“He said he couldn’t accompany me to the charity gala tonight. He spent most of last night comforting me and even gave me this bracelet. He specifically asked me to come to the hotel and keep him company.”

I stared at the bracelet and recognized it as the gift I had given my husband only a few days ago.

“How much did that bracelet cost?” I stared at it until my eyes hurt.

I had commissioned it from a French jewelry master. Our names, Claire and Ethan, were engraved inside the bracelet.

I had given it to him as a symbol of our love.

Now it was on another woman’s wrist.

“It wasn’t that expensive.” Sophie waved her hand, though the corners of her lips lifted proudly. “But someone like you could work your whole life and still never afford it.”

“My husband makes hundreds of thousands of dollars a month. These things are nothing to him.”

Hundreds of thousands a month?

I knew exactly how much Ethan earned.

My fingernails dug into my palms.

The general manager of the Starlight Hotel earned a good salary, but nowhere near hundreds of thousands a month.

And that was without mentioning that he had only gotten the position through my connections.

Three years ago, his performance in the general manager promotion assessment had been average.

I had personally begged my father, the chairman of the Starlight Hotel Group, to preserve Ethan’s eligibility for the position.

Although he had held the title of general manager for the past three years, he had never actually designed or overseen any of the hotel’s core operations.

“Your husband treats you very well,” I said, though I couldn’t take my eyes off the bracelet.

Sophie was lost in her own happiness and didn’t notice how stiff my expression had become.

“It’s what he should do. Since he said he couldn’t accompany me to the charity gala tonight, he spent half the night comforting me yesterday.”

Last night, Ethan had called me, his voice filled with exhaustion.

“Claire, there’s an emergency reception at the hotel tonight. It’ll be too late when I’m done, so I’ll sleep in my office and won’t come home.”

“You still have to host the charity gala tomorrow. Won’t you be exhausted?”

I had felt sorry for him then.

“As long as it’s for you and our baby, no matter how tired I am, it’s worth it.”

He had sounded so sincere—so sincere that I hadn’t suspected a thing.

So his so-called emergency reception had actually been in another woman’s bed.

“He’s given me more than just this. He gives me gifts every month.”

Seeing how attentively I was listening, Sophie could no longer contain her urge to show off.

She turned and picked up a limited-edition handbag from beside her seat. Under the ballroom lights, its orange color stabbed painfully at my eyes.

“This was my birthday gift last year.”

She stroked the handbag with an affectionate expression.

My breathing stopped.

There were only fifty of those handbags in the entire world, and they had disappeared from the market six months earlier.

At the time, Ethan had told me he had accidentally scratched mine while carrying it, and eventually thrown it away.

Then he had specially gone overseas and bought another one for me.

I knew the handbag was only a replica, but when I saw the hopeful look on his face, I had still been deeply touched.

“Mom,” Mia suddenly tugged at my sleeve, her clear little voice ringing out.

“That lady’s ring looks just like one you have!”

My gaze mechanically shifted to Sophie’s hand.

A delicate constellation ring rested on a silver band, with tiny diamonds set across its sparkling stars.

It was truly the ring I had designed myself. I had stayed up for several nights before finally finishing the design.1

“Yeah, what a coincidence,” I heard myself say in a dry voice.

Sophie’s smile finally stiffened, but she quickly recovered.

“How could that be? My husband had this custom-made especially for me.”

“What makes you think you can claim it?”

I still remembered how moved Ethan had been when he received the ring.

“I’ll never take it off again,” he had promised me. “From now on, you’re my entire universe.”

How much time had passed since then?

Now the ring was on another woman’s hand.

I also remembered the day the ring had disappeared. Ethan had searched through the entire house.

In the end, he had held me and said, “When one door closes, another opens. I’ll get you an even better one.”

A month later, a more elaborate ring with a larger diamond had appeared in my jewelry box, commissioned through one of his friends in the Bay Area.

Naturally, he had paid for it with the spending money I gave him.

He had given my possessions to his mistress, then used my money to buy replacements for me.

My stomach churned, and my face turned pale.

“Hey, if you’re feeling sick, don’t collapse here and then accuse me of stealing your things.” Sophie finally noticed that something was wrong.

“It’s nothing. I’m just a little short of breath.” I forced a smile.

“How long have you and your husband been married?”