He Secretly Married His Mistress While Living Off My Money—So I Stripped His Wealth Overnight Chapter 09

He Secretly Married His Mistress While Living Off My Money—So I Stripped His Wealth Overnight Chapter 09

Maren’s head buzzed with overwhelming shock.

She stumbled two steps backward, her eyes instantly glistening red.

Seven years of admiration, gratitude and devotion crumbled into nothing but a cruel joke.

Blinded by rage, she sprinted forward and slammed her fists wildly against Brendan’s chest.

“You rotten hypocrite, Brendan! Every loyal year 1 spent beside you was nothing but a scam. How shameless

can you be?”

Her shrill weeping and relentless blows pushed the already unraveling Brendan over the edge.

Irritated beyond measure by her nonstop harassment, he shoved her hard the moment she reached for his

shirt again.

Slender and unprepared, Maren crashed heavily into a solid metal filing cabinet with a dull thud.

She sank to the floor clutching her stomach, her face drained of all color.

Warm blood seeped through her white dress, staining the fabric crimson.

The agony was so crippling she could not utter a single cry.

She’d lost her baby.

Staring at the blood pooling on the floor, Brendan’s mind flashed back to the blood-soaked hospital bed

sheets from before.

Rooted to the spot, all strength drained from his body, his spirit fading away completely.

Betrayed by everyone around him soon after.

Investors pulled out entirely, all staff quit in mass resignation, and his company filed for bankruptcy weighed down by crippling debt.

The once high-flying young CEO crashed from prosperity to total ruin overnight.

I crossed paths with Brendan half a year later outside Bennett Global Conglomerate’s towering headquarters in Meridian Metropolis.

He bore no trace of his former confident glow.

Gone were the tailored designer suits I’d always kept neatly pressed for him, replaced by faded, wrinkled

cheap outerwear.

Bloodshot eyes, sallow skin and an emaciated frame made him look wildly out of place amid the polished

upscale surroundings.

He’d lingered out in the cold for untold hours, shivering nonstop.

His gaze locked rigidly on the building’s entrance, scanning every passing crowd desperately for my figure.

When his eyes finally landed on me, a deranged spark lit up his face.

He fought to break past building security, screaming my name as he scrambled forward.

“Sorrel! Sorrel Bennett!”

Two guards stepped in promptly to hold him back.

He thrashed fiercely with a contorted face yet could not break free from their grip.

Trapped several yards away, he tilted his head upward toward me, his voice thick with desperate remorse and humility.

He repeated his apologies over and over.

“I messed up, Sorrel, truly. I lost my mind and made terrible choices. Can you find it in your heart to forgive me?”

“I never should’ve betrayed you or hurt our child. Come back to me, I’ll never cheat again, I swear.”

“I’ve finalized my divorce with Maren entirely.”

“She’ll never bother you again for the rest of your life.”

“I know every wrong I’ve done to you.”

Doubting plain apologies would appease me, he began slapping his own face brutally in front of passersby, splitting his lip and swelling his cheeks badly.

“I’m worthless garbage! Give me just one more chance, please.”

“I’ll spend the rest of my life making amends to you and our lost baby.”

“Just glance at me once, Sorrel, I beg you.”

I stood calmly in the distance watching him, my expression empty and impassive.

Twelve years of wholehearted affection had drained away completely alongside my blood during that catastrophic hospital hemorrhage long ago.

Seeing my unyielding indifference, his pleading melted into irritable fury.

Red-eyed and frantic, he roared angrily.

“Why won’t you forgive me, Sorrel? This mess isn’t all my fault!”

Everything spiraled wrong because you hid your wealthy family status from the start. Had you told me you

were a Bennett heir, I never would’ve turned to Maren, none of this would’ve happened!”

“You held immense wealth and connections yet chose to endure hardship alongside me on purpose, hiding your identity just to laugh at my downfall!”

A faint, sarcastic smile tugged at my lips listening to his twisted reasoning.

Even after everything, he refused to take responsibility for his own mistakes.

I’d abandoned my privileged birthright for twelve grueling years, moving into a basement studio unit and pouring every ounce of energy to pave his business path.

I’d built his empire from absolute zero into a multi-million-dollar enterprise with all my heart and resources, trusting in his genuine love from our youthful bond.

Yet in his warped mind, all my sacrifices and endurance were premeditated tricks meant to mock him.

My father had been right; everyone pays the painful price for reckless decisions and misplaced love.

I’d spent twelve years of my youth buying a brutal life lesson.

I turned and headed inside the building without another glance at the raving man below.

Security dragged Brendan off the premises, banning him from ever lingering near the property again.

With my financial backing and protection gone entirely, Brendan sank back to where he’d always belonged.

Full of empty ambition yet lacking real skill, he foolishly believed he could replicate his past entrepreneurial

success a second time without my help.

He scraped together startup funds by forcing his aging parents to sell their Parents’ fixed-rate retirement

homestead.

With that money, he dove back into business, determined to reclaim his former CEO glory.

Veteran industry con artists swindled him within half a year, leaving him buried under new debts and on the

run from creditors.

His devastated parents regretted ever raising him, crushed by financial ruin and heartbreak.

Trapped in endless regret and suffering, Brendan never climbed out of poverty, doomed to live out his remaining days in destitution.

Years afterward, I met Maren once more at a nonprofit scholarship fundraising gala.