Chapter 1Took a sip of the latte my husband handed me. Hot sauce burned straight down my throat.
I doubled over coughing, and pee ran down my legs before I could stop it.
"Told you pregnant chicks can't hold it. A few coughs and she's done."
His assistant Ivy was all over him, pinching her nose.
"Hayes, you lost the bet. You're taking me to see that movie tonight."
"Deal."
Hayes had his arm around her waist, grinning. "Wanna bet on something else?"
"How about whether she'll cry all the way home?"
"And if you win... I suck your dick tonight~"
The two of them laughed and stepped into the elevator.
I stood there alone, covering my soaked dress, with everyone staring.
But I didn't cry. I just made a call.
That night, hundreds of my security guys surrounded Ivy's place.
I pressed a blade to her cheek and smiled.
"Since you like betting so much, how about one more?"
"Bet where my next cut goes—"
"Your face?"
"Or straight through your fucking chest?"
...
Ivy stared at the knife against her skin and kept backing up.
"Margot, don't be crazy!"
"There are cameras everywhere—Hayes is gonna kill you if you touch me!"
Even now, she thought Hayes would save her.
I pressed the blade down just a little.
Ivy screamed and slammed her eyes shut.
The knife slid past her ear and took a piece of her hair with it.
"Chill. I settle my debts."
"And right now? I've got my own bet going—"
"How many of these before you cough hard enough to piss yourself?"
I nodded at my guys.
They cracked open a box on the table.
Dozens of cups loaded with hot sauce.
"You messed with me this afternoon. Now it's my turn."
"Drink."
Ivy pressed her lips together tight.
The guard barely touched the cup to her mouth when Hayes's voice came roaring from outside.
"Stop!"
He bulldozed past the guys at the door and rushed in.
The second he saw Ivy stuck in that chair, he pulled her into his arms.
"Margot, what the hell is this?"
Ivy's tears started immediately.
"Hayes, I was just joking around with Margot. But she brought a whole army to corner me and stuck a knife in my face."
She pointed at the hair on the floor.
"Another minute and she would've cut me open."
Hayes looked her over forever.
Once he was sure she wasn't hurt, he finally turned to me.
"Yeah, Ivy went too far this afternoon. I get it."
"But this?"
"You're healthy—choking on some spice won't kill you. Ivy has stomach problems. This stuff would actually land her in the ER!"
So he knew about Ivy's stomach issues.
But I guess he forgot I'm seven months pregnant and my doctor said no fucking spicy.
I didn't argue. Just asked:
"Did you tell her about my bladder leaks?"
Hayes went quiet a few beats.
"I just brought it up once. That's it."
"I didn't know she'd make a whole bet out of it."
Three months into my pregnancy, I leaked for the first time when I sneezed.
I locked myself in the bathroom and wouldn't even open the door.
Hayes begged me to come out forever.
Eventually he carried me back to bed and changed the sheets himself.
He told me there was nothing to be embarrassed about. We're married.
He even promised me: "This is just between us. That's it."
But now even his assistant knew enough to throw it in my face.
Ivy popped her head out from behind him, voice dripping sweetness.
"Margot, you've got it all wrong."
"Hayes just cared about your recovery after delivery. That's why he told me."
"I even googled pelvic floor therapy stuff for you."
I stared at her.
"And the video you posted—that was therapy too?"
Ivy's face froze for a second, then she shrugged.
"I only sent it to like... three friends."
Three friends??
I shoved my phone in her face.
The video had been shared tens of thousands of times.
The comments were ripping me apart—my body, my dress.
Someone even turned the moment I lost control into a meme.
Hayes barely glanced at it.
"Give it a couple days, nobody'll remember."
Real easy to say.
He wasn't the one caught on camera looking like that.
He wasn't the one getting roasted by thousands of randos.
I had the guard pour another cup.
"This is simple. Drink it. Delete the video. Apologize publicly. We're done."
But Ivy didn't take the cup.
She touched her stomach.
Tears completely gone, nothing but smugness left.
"I can't drink this."
"The doctor said pregnant women can't handle spicy stuff."
I couldn't have heard that right.
"What did you just say?"
Ivy fished a pregnancy test out of her bag and spread it open right in front of me.
"I'm pregnant. It's Hayes's."
Chapter 2
I stared at that test result.
Nothing came out.
Ivy ate up my reaction.
She wrapped herself around Hayes's arm and made sure to push her stomach against him.
"Margot, don't freak out."
"I didn't want your spot as Mrs. Ashford."
"But back off a little—my baby's gonna be seeing his dad constantly."
Hayes didn't pull away.
He just looked down at her all soft.
"The doctor said you shouldn't stand forever. Sit down."
He walked Ivy over to the sofa, then had someone clear all the hot sauce off the table.
Only once he triple-checked there was nothing that could hurt her did he turn back to me.
His tone was calm, like we were discussing takeout or something.
"So one time when I went with you to a prenatal checkup, Ivy got bored and wanted to bet on something."
"She bet you wouldn't notice us kissing in the hospital hallway."
"We were just screwing around, then I didn't stop myself."
"But look—I never planned on divorcing you. And I won't let her take your position as Mrs. Ashford."
He even stepped closer and straightened my coat.
The move felt familiar.
The words coming out of his mouth?
Total stranger.
"Margot, we both grew up in this world."
"Who doesn't have a few side pieces?"
"Keeping some hot girl around to pass the time—that's just normal, right?"
"You were raised to be a high-society wife. You should know when to make noise and when to look the other way."
I looked at him, and suddenly I remembered something from years ago.
Hayes used to hate that rich-family bullshit more than anything.
His father had countless women on the side.
Hayes's mother spent her whole life clinging to the title of Mrs. Ashford, but she didn't even get to see her husband one last time before he died.
The day she passed, eighteen-year-old Hayes cried all night.
The next day he held my hand and said:
"Margot, I'm never turning into him."
When Hayes turned twenty-two, his family lined up some alliance marriage for him.
Hayes threw the whole table right in front of both families' elders, grabbed my hand, and stormed out of the Ashford estate.
Dozens of relatives screamed after us.
A whole row of luxury cars sat waiting outside.
He never looked back.
That night the Ashfords froze his accounts and took back every property in his name.
He had like a couple hundred bucks, but he still smiled and said:
"So what? Screw the Ashfords. I'll still give you everything."
And he did.
When he proposed, he took over a private island.
Hundreds of drones spelled out my name over the ocean.
That pink diamond ring?
He dropped over a hundred million on it at some auction in Geneva.
The night before our wedding, he walked into the Ashford family estate and signed this loyalty agreement right in front of all the elders.
The whole thing was super clear—
If he ever cheated or had a kid with another woman during our marriage?
His shares in Ashford Industries, his funds, his overseas assets, every last bit of it would go to ME.
Everyone told him not to sign it.
But Hayes handed me the pen, grinning like he had the whole world.
"Sign it."
"I'm never gonna give you a reason to cash this in anyway."
I believed him.
So when Ashford Industries went into a cash crunch, I convinced my family to cover the gap.
When the board turned on him, I handed over every voting share my family controlled
The day Hayes nailed down his position as heir, he held me and said:
"Everything I've got now? That's all you."
"For the rest of my life, you'll be my only wife."
Now he still has the Ashford empire.
And he turned into exactly what he swore he'd never be.
Chapter 3
When I didn't say anything, Hayes clearly thought I was finally listening.
His tone softened.
"Once the baby's born, I'll get Ivy her own place and throw her some cash."
"She won't show up in front of you."
"You'll still be Mrs. Ashford, and our kid will be the only official Ashford heir."
Ivy leaned back on the couch, gently rubbing her stomach.
"Margot, Hayes still loves you way more than me."
"I'm happy just having him swing by once in a while."
She sounded all sweet and humble.
But her eyes were basically screaming victory.
I'm guessing in their heads, I was supposed to be like Hayes's mother—swallow everything for the sake of looking good.
Hell no.
I smiled and turned to my security.
"Get the legal team in here."
"We're activating clause seven of the prenup."
The moment I said it, over a dozen lawyers walked through the door.
Philip, the lead guy, handed Hayes a folder.
"Mr. Ashford."
"Ms. Ivy's pregnancy test is all the proof we need that you violated the prenuptial agreement."
"So, right now, your 37% stake in Ashford Industries gets transferred to Ms. Whitmore."
"The Whitmore family's financial backing of Ashford Industries is done. Officially."
Hayes's phone started ringing.
It was the chairman.
Even from where I stood, I could hear him screaming.
"Hayes, what the hell did you do?!"
"The Whitmores just pulled their funding—the banks are coming after us for loans!"
"The board's suspending all your duties this second!"
Hayes gripped his phone.
His face went white.
"Margot, we've been together for years."
"Are you seriously gonna destroy everything I have over this?"
I looked at him and straight-up laughed.
"Hayes, you love keeping hot girls around to kill time, right?"
"Well, now she's all yours."
"But... as for the money you used to keep her?"
I yanked the villa keys out of his hand.
"Mine."
"And starting today, I'm not leaving you jack shit."
I turned and headed for the door.
Behind me, for the first time ever, Hayes completely dropped his pride and called my name.
I didn't look back.
At the door, I only said one last thing to Ivy:
"Congrats. This broke-ass jerk is all yours now."
I'd barely made it to the door when Philip suddenly called out.
"Ms. Whitmore, hold on."
His voice was heavier than I'd ever heard it.
"We just pulled the marriage registration records."
"There's nothing."
"I mean—no record of a legal marriage between you and Mr. Ashford."
"WHAT??"
