Chapter 1

I married the richest man in Los Angeles.

He pursued me for four years and spoiled me for five. I was the woman every woman in Los Angeles envied.

But the “good man” they talked about turned around and rolled around with his female assistant in my car, then even forged photos of me cheating so he could throw me out.

Only later did I learn that I was the Foster family’s long-lost heiress.

Using my identity as the Foster heiress, I personally acquired Ashford Group.

On the day we signed the acquisition agreement, he begged me with red eyes to come home. I only said two words: too late.

Me living well was the best revenge against him.

Evelyn Clark POV

“Hello. I want a divorce.”

I pushed a stack of documents and materials toward the lawyer. The lawyer across from me froze for a full half minute, looking at my ID, then at the letter of authorization, repeatedly confirming the client’s identity.

The door to the reception room hadn’t been shut properly, and the staff’s whispers drifted in through the crack.

“Oh my God, is that Mrs. Ashford?”

“Did I hear that right? She wants a divorce?”

“Did she have a fight with Mr. Ashford? No way. Everyone in Los Angeles knows how much Mr. Ashford dotes on his wife. What could possibly be serious enough for a divorce?”

“Exactly. Their wedding of the century five years ago—champagne roses practically covered half of Los Angeles. No one in elite circles has topped that scale even now. That was a real-life fairy-tale romance. I was moved for the longest time. If those two get divorced, I’ll never believe in love again.”

“If Mr. Ashford finds out Mrs. Ashford came here, he’ll tear this whole building down.”

I lowered my eyes, bitterness spreading through my chest.

Everything they said was true.

Adrian Ashford and I were college classmates.

One of us was a scholarship student from a poor background who grew up in an orphanage, relying entirely on scholarships to get through college. Other than good grades, I had nothing.

The other was the sole heir of Ashford Group, the student council president, a campus celebrity everyone looked up to. At the University of California, there wasn’t a soul who didn’t know him.

But Adrian Ashford just had to fall for me at first sight, launching a grand, public pursuit.

Flowers piled up across the lawn beneath my dorm.

The Ferris wheel kept its lights on for me all night.

He set off fireworks for me, and every burst spelled out the same sentence: Evelyn Clark, be my girlfriend.

Back then, it wasn’t that I wasn’t moved.

I just knew all too well how worlds apart we were.

Adrian Ashford was good in every way. So good he didn’t seem like someone who could ever belong to me.

When I refused, he didn’t get angry.

For four whole years, every night at ten, he stood outside the library waiting for me.

On rainy days, he held an umbrella. On snowy days, he wrapped himself in an overcoat. More than a thousand nights, through wind and rain, he never missed a single one.

How many four-year stretches does a person get in their youth?

I didn’t want to keep failing his feelings, and I didn’t want to keep failing my own heart.

In the final semester before graduation, I finally stood in front of him and said yes.

After we got together, Grandpa Ashford, Malcolm Ashford, reacted exactly as expected. He turned against it.

I came from an orphanage. I had no family, no background. I wasn’t worthy of marrying into a wealthy family like the Ashfords.

So Adrian Ashford protested by going on a hunger strike. He didn’t eat for five days.

He was the only child of three generations of the Ashford family. Malcolm Ashford couldn’t do anything to him, and in the end, he relented.

Five years ago, Adrian Ashford married me in grand fashion, giving me a wedding of the century that shocked the entire United States and turning me into the Mrs. Ashford everyone envied.

After we married, Adrian Ashford spoiled me even more, practically lifting me to the heavens. He had never once even raised his voice at me.

If I casually mentioned liking an original painting by a famous artist, the next day, that painting would be hanging in my walk-in closet.

Malcolm Ashford looked down on me, so Adrian Ashford protected me every second, never letting me be alone with Grandpa for even a moment.

Adrian Ashford said that as long as he was alive, he would protect me to the very end.

And he truly did.

On that rainy night three years ago, Adrian Ashford drank too much at a business dinner.

I was worried, so despite being four months pregnant, I drove myself to pick him up.

On the way back, we were hit by a truck that ran a red light.

Although Adrian Ashford instinctively shielded me, both of us were still rushed into the emergency room.

I survived, but our child was gone. And I would never be able to have another one.

Adrian Ashford stayed by my hospital bed for seven days and seven nights. He said to me, “It’s okay. I don’t need a child. I don’t need an heir. I only need you to be okay.”

Malcolm Ashford was so furious he ended up hospitalized, but Adrian still didn’t back down.

At that time, I thought this man was worth entrusting my entire life to.

But this Adrian Ashford, who loved me so much, had an affair with his young assistant two months ago.

Lily Sullivan posted every detail of the two of them on WeChat Moments, setting it to visible only to me.

In the car, in the office, in the conference room, in hotel suites—everywhere had become a place for them to have sex.

Those positions Adrian Ashford had never let me try, those sex toys he had never let me use, all appeared in Lily Sullivan’s WeChat Moments.

At first, I only found it absurd. I thought they were maliciously photoshopped images.

Until I saw the mole on the man in the photo.

That mole was in a special place. Only I had ever seen it. It couldn’t be faked.

The evidence was irrefutable. I had no choice but to believe it.

On yet another night when Adrian Ashford and Lily Sullivan were making love, I stayed awake until dawn.

After my tears had all dried up, I finally made my decision.

Since he was the first to betray our relationship, then I didn’t want him anymore either.

I had never cared about the position of Mrs. Ashford.

The lawyer’s voice pulled me back to reality.

“Ms. Clark, all the materials are complete. One month after the agreement is signed, you can obtain the final divorce decree, if the other party agrees.”

I took the drafted divorce agreement, stood up, and thanked him.

After leaving the law firm, I drove to Ashford Group.

When I arrived at the CEO’s office, I didn’t knock. I pushed the door open and walked straight in.

Adrian Ashford was sitting behind his desk, a thin layer of sweat on his cold, handsome face.

Hearing the door open, anger flashed across his face. “Coming in without knocking—”

When he saw it was Evelyn Clark, the anger turned into panic.

“Evelyn, why are you here?” The man leaned forward slightly, but he didn’t stand. His posture was awkward in a way I couldn’t quite describe.

I looked around the office and didn’t see Lily Sullivan anywhere.

“It’s your company. Am I not allowed to come?”

I asked back, my gaze fixed directly on his face.

“Of course you are. It’s my company, and Evelyn can come whenever she wants.”

Adrian Ashford quickly pulled both hands back under the desk, and his voice returned to its usual gentleness.

“It’s just, why didn’t you let Uncle Jack drive you? Did you drive yourself? Didn’t we agree you wouldn’t drive on your own? I worry.”

Ever since the car accident three years ago, Adrian Ashford had never let me touch a steering wheel again. Whenever I went out, a driver picked me up and dropped me off.

I looked at the concern written all over the man’s face right now, and my heart ached even more.

He clearly had me in his heart. He clearly remembered every detail of the hardships we had gone through together.

Yet he could still have sex with another woman and sink so deeply into it.

So his heart was this big after all. I alone could never fill it.

“I came to have you sign something.”

I didn’t linger on that topic and placed the divorce agreement in front of him.

“I’ve got my eye on a villa in the mountains. I need your signature.”

Adrian Ashford habitually started flipping through the documents. Sweat seeped into my palms.

Suddenly, a suppressed groan rolled from Adrian Ashford’s throat.

The man’s tall body went abruptly tense, as if he was enduring something incredibly difficult.

I understood instantly.

Lily Sullivan was under the desk.

A strong wave of nausea surged in my stomach.

I came today to get the agreement signed. Catching them in the act on the spot would feel satisfying, but it would also create complications.

It took every ounce of strength I had to force the sourness rushing up my throat back down.

“Just sign it. It’s only a house.”

I pushed the documents a little closer to him.

Adrian Ashford clearly had no attention to spare for reading anything carefully right now.

The intense pleasure and the thrill of being almost discovered by me left him unable to handle it.

He picked up the pen and hastily signed his name.

I reached out and took the agreement back.

The messy handwriting showed exactly how hard he was restraining himself right now.

“You’re busy. I’ll go.”

I didn’t want to spend one more second in this room.

“Evelyn, wait.”

Adrian Ashford called out to me. “Sit in the reception room for a bit. I’ll clean up and then drive you home.”

Since the agreement had already been signed, at this moment, I deliberately made things difficult for him.

“Then I’ll wait for you in your lounge.”

In the past, whenever I came to the company to see Adrian Ashford, I would always wait in the lounge inside his office.

“Don’t—” Adrian Ashford blurted out.

“I mean, the lounge just had a deep clean. The disinfectant smell is too strong. It’s not good for your health. Wait in the reception room, okay? Be good.”

I understood.

Deep clean?

More like the traces of the two of them having sex in the lounge hadn’t been cleaned up yet.

Besides, if I stayed in the lounge, Lily Sullivan under the desk wouldn’t even have a chance to come out and get dressed. The situation would be impossible to resolve.

I pulled up the corners of my mouth, revealing a smile with no warmth at all. “Okay.”

I walked into the reception room next door.

From just beyond the wall came the man’s panting and the woman’s sweet, coquettish pleas for mercy.

I squeezed my eyes shut hard. I took out my phone, photographed the signed agreement, and sent it to the lawyer.

“What’s the fastest this can be finalized?”

The lawyer replied quickly.

“If we expedite it, one week.”

I didn’t hesitate. “Then expedite it.”