He Secretly Married His Mistress While Living Off My Money—So I Stripped His Wealth Overnight Chapter 01

He Secretly Married His Mistress While Living Off My Money—So I Stripped His Wealth Overnight Chapter 01

Twelve years into my relationship with Brendan Hale, I stumbled across a marriage license post shared by a mutual friend.

The caption read, “Seven tough years, finally legally bound.”

I froze for a beat, chalking the whole thing up to a dumb prank.

Everyone in our circle swore Brendan was head-over-heels obsessed with me.

Years prior, he’d broken three ribs shielding me from an attacker at a drinking gathering and nearly lost his life right there.

I hopped in my car immediately to confront him.

I overheard his chat with a buddy before I could knock.

“What’re you gonna do when Sorrel Bennett finds out you married Maren Finch?”

Brendan flicked cigarette ash off his fingers without a care in the world.

“Sorrel’s body’s shot to hell. She’s been mocked for clinical infertility ever since she got an early pregnancy termination for me, no kid’s ever stuck. No other guy would take a broken woman like her.”

“Maren’s different. She’s stuck by my side seven full years; I owe her a legal last name.”

Sharp cramping twisted my lower stomach. Fighting back pregnancy-induced nausea, I dialed my billionaire father’s number.

“Dad, I picked the wrong man. I regret everything. Come get me home.”

I finished moving paperwork and arrived back at our gated suburban estate to find Maren wrapped in my pajamas, perched on our shared bed painting her nails.

She pointed at piles of luxury silk lingerie strewn across the floor from their passionate nights the second she spotted me.

Pink flush still lingered across her youthful cheeks.

“Wash these for me, will you?”

A massive diamond ring glinted with every small movement of her hand, stabbing straight into my line of sight.

I’d found this exact ring tucked inside Brendan’s jacket pocket the morning before.

I’d believed our twelve-year romance was finally heading toward an engagement.

I’d slipped it onto my own finger excitedly, ignoring the poor fit without a single suspicious thought.

I’d planned to hand over my OB-GYN Pprenatal lab slip as my surprise gift once he got down on one knee.

“These are high-end silk fabrics, they can’t go in the washer.”

“Scrub every piece by hand gently. They cost a fortune, got it?”

Maren tilted her chin up and ordered me around like a pampered caged songbird.

She was nothing like the scrawny teen I’d met seven years ago. Back then she wore frayed old tees, worked shifts at a roadside food truck to cover tuition and fought off drunk harassing patrons nonstop.

I’d suggested launching her spot in the corporate need-based scholarship fund right as Brendan’s startup first turned a small profit.

I’d lived in a cramped basement studio unit back then, rushing from one business pitch to another to secure contracts for him, drinking until stomach bleeding and groveling endlessly for deals.

I couldn’t bear to watch another kid struggle to scrape by, so I personally wired her scholarship money yearly under the company’s official name.

When I refused to lift a finger, Maren pulled $5 USD cash tip from her wallet and tossed the cash alongside the dirty clothes into my arms.

“Here’s your tip.”

I made no move to catch the bundle.

Clothing and money spilled all over the hardwood floor.

Tears instantly welled up in Maren’s eyes.

Brendan stepped out from the bathroom wrapped only in a bath towel right at that moment.

A big client had once fixated on my looks and demanded I spend the night with him to finalize a business contract.

Enraged, Brendan flipped the entire dining table on the spot.

The scar from the rib-breaking beating he took defending me stood out clear as day on his torso.

Maren threw herself into his embrace, covering the old injury completely.

“Brendan, your new housekeeper keeps staring at me in such a mean way.”

Brendan’s expression flickered with faint awkwardness upon hearing Maren label me their live-in maid.

Still, he pulled the fragile-looking girl protectively against his chest at her teary display.

His features hardened into a cold scowl.

“She’s young and innocent. Don’t scare her off.”

A thick lump clogged my throat, roiling nausea turning my complexion sickly green.

Brendan frowned, seemingly trying to smooth things over.

He snatched a necklace from the cabinet and tossed it onto the floor before my feet.

“Take this. Go stay somewhere else for a few days, we can sort this out later…”

The tiny “Retail Free Gift” marking on the jewelry box burned into my eyes, leaving my throat rough and hoarse.

“I’m leaving for good.”