Chapter 4

"Did you confront him? Did you ask him about us?" Melanie popped up on my screen again.

I intentionally played the role of a pathetic, lovesick wife. "No... I love my husband too much. Even if he made a mistake, I’ll accept it. He promised he’d never do it again. I believe him."

Melanie was clearly losing her mind. She immediately fired back a screenshot of their latest chat: "This is what he looks like when he's 'ending things' with me? Wake up, girl! He's just lonely out there. He's completely using you."

"It's fine. My husband said he just needs some time to sort things out. Maybe he’s just confused," I wrote back, deliberately calling him "my husband" in every sentence to rub salt in her wounds.

"Stop lying to yourself! Austin told me he only married you because of your design talent and your family's connections. You're nothing but a stepping stone to him!"

I stared at those words on my screen, my jaw clenching so hard my teeth ached.

But she wasn't done yet: "Austin said as soon as he makes enough money, he’s going to bring me over. He said you're too proud and stubborn to stay. Once you find out about me, you'll demand a divorce anyway.

"Instead of losing embarrassingly, why don't you just sign the papers now and give him back to me?"

Pushed by my reverse psychology, Melanie had spilled everything. I didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

After taking a deep breath, I typed back: "The man you love sleeps in my bed every single night. Can you actually handle that? If you want my trash, you'll have to wait until I'm done playing with it."

Dealing with someone like her, I wasn't about to lose.

Melanie was completely speechless. She didn't reply.

Later that day, I saw she posted a new photo of her cat on her Instagram story. The caption read: *Momo seems to be saying: "I miss Daddy."*

Since her profile was set to only show the last three days of posts, I hadn't seen her updates before.

Days went by. I kept turning Austin down whenever he tried to get intimate, and he was clearly getting annoyed.

I ignored his attitude. I started looking for a full-time job while taking on freelance design gigs on the side.

Austin still tried to extract ideas from me, acting like we were partners discussing business strategies.

To be fair, though I didn't put cash into his escape room, almost every puzzle design and storyline had come out of my brain.

Instead of a messy, rushed divorce, I wanted to make sure I walked away with a heavy bag of cash.

One afternoon, while I was sitting by the bay window working on a design draft, Austin burst through the front door.

"Another shop copied our puzzle concept. Our customer numbers are tanking. If this keeps up, we won't even be able to pay rent next month. Chloe, we're a married couple. You can't just sit at home eating for free and doing nothing."

Was he seriously trying to lecture me?

From dating to marriage, this was the very first time Austin had ever taken a shot at me. Before, he used to shower me with compliments, calling me a brilliant designer and a strong, capable woman.

His sudden shift made me snap. "Is it my fault the business is failing? I give you brilliant ideas every single day, and you just sit back and reap the rewards!"

Still furious, I fired back: "If I'm just sitting here eating for free, where did all your business concepts come from? Go ahead and hire a professional designer outside. See how much that costs you!"

"That's not what I meant," Austin quickly backtracked, walking over to wrap his arms around me and smoothing my hair. He was clearly terrified I’d actually stop helping him. "I just wanted to remind you that we need a killer concept to turn things around."

His calculated affection only made me feel sick to my stomach.