The Billionaire's Regret: I’m Done Being Your Doormat

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On Christmas Eve, my husbands secretary, Chloe Bennett, updated her Instagram.

Ugh, what kind of company makes you travel on business on Christmas Eve? Every single hotel in town is fully booked! Thank god my handsome CEO is here to spend Christmas with me...

Below the caption was a sultry selfie of her lying on a bed, wearing a plush white bathrobe.

Right next to her lay a man. The photo captured only his backa toned, sun-kissed back that looked incredibly attractive.

In the comments, tons of netizens swooned over how sexy and masculine the man was.

Chloe, of course, couldn't help but show off. She replied with a blushing emoji: *So strong, so wild... my legs are still shaking.*

I let out a cold laugh. Opening my CashApp, I sent her a transfer of $66.60 with the note: *Enjoy the room.*

A few minutes later, Chloe called. She was sobbing hysterically, claiming she had taken the photo of Julian Sterling by accident and had absolutely no intention of provoking me.

Before I could say a word, Julian snatched the phone from her. His voice was dripping with impatience.

"Daisy Vance, Chloe just started working as my secretary. Why do you have to be so passive-aggressive? Can you stop being so paranoid for one single day?"

Then, he turned around and spoke to Chloe in a voice so tender it made my skin crawl. "Chloe, don't take it to heart. She's just crazy."

Hearing the soft, sweet giggles on the other end, I hung up.

Julian and I had dated for three years and had been married for four.

The dreaded seven-year itch had finally arrived, and we weren't going to survive it.

***

**1**

At 2:00 AM, Julian finally came home.

The moment he pushed the door open, our eyes met. Neither of us spoke.

Julians gaze drifted to the table littered with takeout boxes. He marched over, snatched the leftover pizza and cheesecake right out of my hands, and threw them into the trash.

"Eat, eat, eat! That's all you know how to do! Keep this up and you'll turn into a land whale!"

The last time he had talked to me like this was a year ago, right after Chloe returned from studying abroad. Back then, he showered her with compliments in front of me, only to turn around and mock me for being "as bloated as a cow."

Since that day, I had eaten nothing but bland meal-prep salads for an entire year.

Seeing that I remained silent, he tossed a package of high-end, tight shapewear onto my lap.

"Chloe bought this for you. See how thoughtful she is? She said if you still don't accept her apology, shell delete her Instagram account."

I looked at the tag on the shapewear. It read in bold letters: *Instantly flattens fat and sculpts curves.* I smiled. Chloe really knew exactly how to push my buttons.

Julian saw my smile and assumed my anger had faded. He handed me my phone.

"Since Chloe is being so sweet, aren't you going to thank her?"

I ignored him and kept my eyes on the TV.

"Daisy! Are you fucking deaf?"

He grabbed my arm and yanked me up. Taken off guard, I lost my balance and crashed hard onto the floor.

My lower back slammed right against the sharp corner of the coffee table.

A sharp, blinding pain shot through my body.

The injury on my waist was a scar from seven years ago. During a terrible house fire, I had dragged Julian out of the burning building, only to be crushed by a collapsing wooden beam. It was a chronic injury that never fully healed.

I curled into a ball on the floor, clutching my waist, shaking from the agony.

Julian looked down at me, a flicker of guilt crossing his face.

"Ill get the pain-relief cream."

I looked up at his retreating back. I wanted to tell him to stop, but the words caught in my throat.

The pregnancy test results had been sitting in my drawer for three days now.

When the results came out, the doctor had specifically warned me to stay stress-free in the early stages of pregnancy. She also told me to be extremely careful with medicationsespecially topical pain-relief creams.

I had originally planned to tell him on Christmas Day that we were going to have a baby. But now, it seemed entirely unnecessary.

Julian rummaged through the medicine cabinet frantically, but stopped after a few seconds.

"Where is the cream? Did we..."

He stopped mid-sentence. I caught the fleeting expression on his facea mixture of guilt and sheer panic.

Suddenly, I remembered Chloes reply to a comment on her Instagram post a few days ago: *Hes such a caring guy. I accidentally burned my hand while cooking, and he immediately brought over his favorite imported scar gel to apply it for me.*

If this had happened in the past, I would have demanded to know if he had given my expensive prescription cream to Chloe. But this time, I didn't even bother to expose him.

I let out a tired laugh.

"Julian, stop looking. I'll go buy some myself."

Julians face hardened.

"How are you going to go out looking like that? Just stay home. I'll go"

Before he could finish, his phone buzzed.

He glanced at the screen and answered it instantly.

"Chloe, what's wrong?"

Chloes whimpering voice echoed through the quiet room.

"Julian... I was feeling down, so I went to a bar for a drink. Some strange men are hitting on me and trying to force me to leave with them. They said... they said if I don't go with them, they'll hurt me..."

"Julian, can you come save me? Please... I'm so scared..."

Julian slammed the first-aid kit onto the couch and stood up abruptly.

"Chloe, don't be scared. I'm on my way."

"Julian, thank you... but maybe you shouldn't come. If Daisy finds out, shell be furious. Ill... Ill find a way to handle it myself!"

"She has no right to be angry."

With that, he cast a cold, dismissive glance at me as I lay curled on the floor.

After hanging up, Julian rushed toward the front door.

"Julian, wait," I called out.

"Daisy, can you stop throwing tantrums for once in your life?" he snapped, not even turning around.

"You left your phone and wallet. How are you going to save her without them?"

I pointed at the couch.

His phone and wallet were lying quietly right next to the discarded first-aid kit.

Julian stared at them, stunned for a brief second.

"Ill go get Chloe first. Ill take you to the hospital when I get back."

Then, he slammed the door and left.

***

**2**

Morning came.

Julian never returned.

The pain in my abdomen grew so excruciating that I couldn't bear it any longer. I finally called an ambulance.

While waiting for the paramedics, I scrolled through Instagram. Sure enough, Chloes latest post popped up.

She posted a long paragraph about how she was harassed by thugs at a bar, and how Julian had arrived just in time, getting into a fistfight to protect her. She wrote about how deeply moved she was.

Beneath the post was a photo of Chloe, teary-eyed, gently dabbing ointment onto a bruise on Julians cheek. The caption read: *Love can conquer all, and face all.*

One comment read: *How can you resist a man that handsome right in front of you? Girl, you must be made of stone!*

Another added: *Right? If he were in front of me, Id be healing his wounds too, just... in a very different way... ??*

Chloe replied with a smug emoji: *Why the rush? Hell be mine sooner or later anyway!*

Then, another user posted a video in the comment section: *Omg, what a coincidence! I ran into you guys too!*

In the video, Chloe was crying like a damsel in distress while Julian yelled at the thugs, sweeping Chloe into his arms and carrying her out of the bar.

The way he looked at her was filled with nothing but tenderness and fierce protection.

My mind suddenly drifted back to two weeks ago. Julian had invited a group of business partners to a VIP lounge at a high-end club.

When I arrived, the guests hadn't shown up yet. Julian texted me saying something urgent had come up at the office and hed be a bit late.

Not long after, a man walked in.

It was Carter Hayes, Julians main business partner. Julian often talked about him, praising him as a young genius who had secured a massive round of funding and was about to take his company public.

Carter eyed me up and down, then slid onto the couch, sitting uncomfortably close to me.

"Hey, beautiful. You're even hotter than Julian described."

I gasped, but before I could speak, he clamped a hand over my mouth.

"Julian told me you have an amazing body. He said you're incredibly submissivethat no matter what we do to you, you won't fight back."

Carter yanked my hair, forcing my head back against his shoulder. He whispered in my ear, "Are you really that obedient, sweetheart? No matter how rough I get?"

I fought back frantically, trying to tear myself away from him.

My resistance seemed to anger him. He bit my neck viciously. When I refused to scream, he took his freshly lit cigar and pressed the burning end right against my chest.

The searing pain made me scream. I shoved him away with all my strength and ran out of the room.

As I bolted into the lobby, I ran straight into Julian and Chloe.

Julian didn't even look at me. He kept his arm wrapped around Chloe's waist and walked right past me.

Chloe turned her head, flashing me a triumphant smirk.

Around her neck was a stunning, heart-shaped yellow diamond necklace.

I recognized it instantly.

Julian had bid on that exact necklace at a Sotheby's auction. He had told me he bought it as a Christmas gift for me.

Later, he told me he changed his mind because I was "too out of shape" to pull it off.

Julian didn't come home until midnight, smelling strongly of whiskey.

"Daisy, what the hell was wrong with you today? You ran off before the guests even arrived! Who do you think you are, throwing a princess tantrum like that?"

In response to his shouting, I unzipped my dress, exposing the dark bite mark on my neck and the raw, blistered cigar burn on my chest.

He gasped, stepping closer to inspect the wounds.

"Oh my god, honey... does it hurt? How did this happen?"

I told him exactly what Carter Hayes had done to me.

Julian let out a harsh, mocking scoff.

"Daisy, do you think I'm stupid?"

"If you're going to lie, at least make it believable! Why would Carter ever look at you? Did you throw yourself at him to get his attention?"

He grabbed my hair, dragging me to the full-length mirror in the walk-in closet. The woman in the mirror had messy hair, a pale face, and eyes swollen red from crying.

"Look at yourself, Daisy. Who would ever want you?"

"Look at the fat on your stomach. It's disgusting."

With that, he walked back to the bedroom. I knelt on the cold floor of the closet and cried until dawn.

The next day, Julian bought me a Cartier diamond necklace to "apologize."

I thought I had buried that memory deep down, but seeing the video of Julian saving Chloe today brought back all the disgust and humiliation.

The ambulance arrived, and the paramedics lifted me onto a stretcher.

While lying in the ER with an IV drip in my arm, I opened Snapchat and sent a message to my best friend, Mia Collins.

*Mia, Im divorcing him.*

***

**3**

After getting discharged, I rested at home for a few days.

I thought I would finally get some peace, until my phone rang repeatedly, waking me up.

I answered it weakly. Julians cold voice came through the speaker.

"Im picking you up for dinner."

Before I could reply, he hung up.

Wanting to keep things civil before the divorce, I got dressed and went downstairs.

Seeing my pale, exhausted face, Julian suddenly seemed to remember the pain cream he had promised to get.

"The restaurant is near the medical center. Let's stop by and get you checked out first."

"No need. It's been days. The pain is gone."

He let out a sigh of relief.

"I figured. It's been seven years, after all. Any pain you feel now is probably just psychological."

I smiled bitterly. "Yeah. Seven years."

Seven years ago, I used every ounce of my strength to push Julian out of the collapsing house, leaving myself trapped in the raging fire.

I suffered three broken ribs and a fractured tailbone. To this day, even a minor bump caused agonizing pain.

I had never told him about the chronic pain because I didn't want him to feel guilty. But he chose to believe I was just "delusional."

But then again, we had been together for seven years. If he had loved me even a little, how could he not know how much I was hurting?

Julian kept talking as he drove, explaining what happened the other night.

"After I got Chloe out of the bar, she was traumatized. I stayed with her for a couple of days to make sure she was safe. Don't go making up stories in your head."

I stared out the window blankly.

"I'm not making up stories. She's your secretary. It's only right that you take care of her."

Clearly annoyed by my flat tone, Julian slammed on the brakes. The sudden jolt knocked my AirPods onto the floor.

I leaned down to search for them under the passenger seat. Instead of my AirPods, my hand brushed against a pair of sheer, lacy G-strings.

If this had been two weeks ago, I would have held up the underwear and screamed at him.

But now, I simply smiled, picked them up, and tossed them onto the backseat.

Julians face flushed with embarrassment.

"Oh, that... Chloe probably left them there after her swimming lesson. It was an accident."

I nodded. "Okay." And went back to staring out the window.

At the restaurant, a young couple at the next table kept staring at us.

Realizing I had noticed them, the girl walked over to our table.

"Excuse me, are you the billionaire CEO from Chloe Bennett's Instagram? Oh my gosh, you are even more handsome in person!"

Julian looked up at her. "Can I help you?"

The girl asked eagerly, "Are you and Chloe actually dating?"

Julian glanced at me as I quietly chewed my food. He smiled at the girl. "Yes, Chloe and I are dating."

I looked up and smiled politely at the girl, even as a sharp, sudden cramp bloomed in my lower abdomen.

The girl looked at me, confused. "Then... who is she?"

"Our housekeeper," Julian replied smoothly.

Before leaving, the girl squealed at Julian, "I'm such a fan of you two! You guys have to get married!"

Julian watched them leave, then placed a scoop of ice cream on my plate.

"Don't take it personally, Daisy. The 'Billionaire CEO falls for me' series Chloe is posting is doing wonders for our company's PR. She's so happy right now. If I ruin her fantasy in public, shell be devastated."

"I don't care," I said quietly. "You don't need to explain."

The sharp cramp in my stomach intensified. My face went completely pale, and a cold sweat broke out on my forehead.

On the drive back, Julians phone rang again. It was Chloe.

"Julian... can you come pick me up from the indoor pool? The cover-up I brought is a bit too revealing, and I don't feel safe taking an Uber. Please? Pretty please..."

Unable to resist her whining, Julian let out a fond chuckle.

"Alright, alright. I'm on my way."

Julian hung up and grabbed my hand, kissing it.

"Let's go pick up Chloe together, honey. That way, you won't have to worry."

"Julian, you can't go," I gasped, clutching my stomach. "My stomach hurts so bad. Take me to the hospital. Now!"

His face darkened instantly.

"Daisy, can you stop being so dramatic? I offered to bring you along so you wouldn't get jealous, and now you're playing the sick card?"

"I am not playing! Take me to the hospital! I'm not joking, Julian, it hurts so bad!"

"Stop acting. You're terrible at it."

Suddenly, I felt a warm, thick rush of liquid flowing between my thighs.

"Julian... I'm pregnant. My stomach is in agony, and I think I'm having a miscarriage! We need to go to the hospital right now!"

Julian didn't believe a word. He looked at me with pure disgust.

"You usually play games, but now you're lying about being pregnant?"

"We've been married for four years without protection. You never got pregnant once. Now that I'm going to pick up Chloe, you suddenly have a baby in your womb?"

His anger boiled over, and he slammed on the brakes, pulling over to the curb.

"Get the fuck out! Out!"

"Aren't you in a rush to go to the hospital? Bleeding and hurting? Then get out and call an Uber! Stop wasting my time. I need to get Chloe!"

"Fine. I'll get out."

But as I reached for the door handle, he grabbed my arm.

"I've been way too soft on you. It's made you completely unmanageable!"

"Let's get a divorce, Julian."

The words seemed to freeze him.

"Divorce?"

I nodded slowly.

"Mia already drafted the papers."

He let go of my arm, staring at me in shock.

"Are you serious, Daisy? You better think this through. Once you leave me, no one is going to want a dramatic, manipulative woman like you."

"I've thought it through. Goodbye."

I opened the door and stepped out. But before I could even clear the car, Julian slammed his foot on the gas pedal.

The sudden acceleration knocked me off balance, throwing me violently onto the asphalt.

Amidst the screams of pedestrians, I collapsed in a pool of blood. Julians car sped away, never once braking.

TThe blood pooled beneath me, spreading out like bright, crimson spider lilies blooming on the road to hell.