He Forced Divorce for Pregnant Secretary; I Left, Awaiting Collapse

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Everyone said I'd bet ten years of my youth on the right man.

I'd built Delgado Corp with Benedict Delgado from nothing, always believing that even if the day came when he made it big, he'd never throw me away.

On the day the company went public, I pushed open the conference room door and saw a woman's legs sticking out from under his desk.

Before I could say a word, Benedict kicked her out with one shove of his foot.

"Go to HR and file your resignation."

The woman crawled out from under the desk, crying, and scrambled away.

But that same night, in the family reunion photo my mother-in-law posted for the holiday,

I saw the secretary standing where I should have been, at Benedict's side, wearing my dress.

When Benedict came home, he pushed the divorce papers across to me.

"She's pregnant."

His voice was low and rough.

"The doctor said it's almost impossible for me to have children. This is my only bloodline."

"I can't let my future heir be born without a proper name."

When my eyes reddened, he softened, which was rare for him.

"Don't cry."

"The company can't go to you, but the shares you hold, I'll cash them out in full at today's market price."

"The house, cash, other assets, whatever you ask for, I'll compensate you as much as I can."

I said nothing, lowered my head, and signed.

What Benedict didn't know was that I wasn't crying because I couldn't bear to let him go.

I was crying because the evidence of the company's financial fraud would reach the regulators tomorrow.

I'd been agonizing over what to do with it.

And he, right before the whole thing blew up, was personally handing me a fortune in cash, sending me off to cash out and walk away.

This time, I really had bet right.

The money was mine.

The cheating bastard and his company could rot together.

1.

Once the papers were signed, I pushed the itemized list my lawyer had prepared across to Benedict.

"The shares in my name get cashed out at today's closing price. The property and other assets split according to the agreement."

"Once the paperwork's done, I'll resign from every position I hold at the company."

The more Benedict listened, the deeper his brow furrowed.

Until I turned to the last page.

"And this apartment. I'm planning to sell it."

Benedict's head snapped up.

"Sell it?"

"Mm."

My tone was calm.

His face darkened.

"This is our marital home."

"We chose everything together back then, from the renovation to the furniture."

He glanced around without thinking, and his voice dropped.

"Did you forget? Your health wasn't good then, so I moved the master bedroom to the sunny side just for you. Redid the bathroom with anti-slip. Even had the kitchen counter built to your height"

He stopped halfway through.

He must have finally remembered.

The one who'd put this home together with me, piece by piece, was him.

And the one asking for a divorce now, the one throwing out the wife who'd weathered more than ten years by his side, was also him.

Something like shame flickered in his eyes.

It was a long moment before he said, hoarsely,

"You don't have to sell it. Keep it. Live here."

I shook my head.

"Forget it."

"The better the past was, the harder it'll be to stay here alone, looking at all of it."

Benedict had nothing left to say.

After a long silence, he suddenly spoke:

"Then sell it to me."

Like he was trying to make up for something, he named a figure on the spot.

I froze for a couple of seconds.

Three times the market value.

I did the math in my head without meaning to.

The shares cashed out, the divorce compensation, and now this apartment.

Once all of it was transferred out of Benedict's personal accounts, the cash he had on hand would be nearly drained dry.

I didn't say anything for a moment.

But Benedict misread my silence.

He looked at me, and for the first time, plain guilt surfaced in his eyes.

"Don't look at me like that."

"I know. None of this makes up for your ten years."

He paused, and his voice went lower.

"I know it's my fault. I wronged you."

"Actually..."

His throat bobbed.

"The one I love is still you."

My fingers stilled for a second.

He looked like he'd finally found a reason to explain himself.

"But there's nothing I can do."

"My mother's half out of her mind over this baby."

"Eudora Sullivan, you know how much it's eaten at her all these years, you not having a child...."

I suddenly remembered, a few years back,

my mother-in-law had dug a premarital gynecology report out of my drawer.

It was nothing but a common infection,

but once she learned I'd had a boyfriend before marriage,

she went around pouring her heart out to anyone who'd listen, saying I'd had an abortion in my youth, that I'd wrecked my body and left her son without an heir.

It was only after tests showed the real problem was Benedict that she quieted down for a while.

Something dawned on me, and I asked, half in disbelief, half at how absurd it was:

"So your mother still thinks I ruined my body with an abortion and held you back?"

Benedict was silent for a moment, then said bitterly:

"I know you didn't...."

"But you know how it is. My mother isn't educated, she doesn't understand any of this. Now that Angela Swanson's pregnant, my mother's going to think... that she was right all along."

Seeing my face fall,

he rubbed his brow wearily, as if he were the one this divorce was hardest on.

"I know it's ridiculous, but she got down on her knees and begged me."

"She said she'd give up everything, she only asked that I not let this child be called a bastard the moment it's born."

"I can't just stand by and watch my own mother threaten to end her life over this, day after day."

Benedict looked at me, his voice low and hoarse.

"Don't hold it against me. I just want to put her mind at ease first."

I said nothing, only pressed a trembling hand to my stomach.

The truth was, that holiday night, I'd been planning a surprise. I wanted to tell him he was going to be a father.

I just never imagined that his betrayal would come sooner than my surprise.

Benedict watched me for a long while, then suddenly reached out and covered the back of my hand.

"Actually, if you don't want the divorce..."

"We could still"

I pulled my hand out.

"Benedict."

"Your mother's right. You don't want your child to be a bastard, do you?"

"I agree to the divorce. Sign."

The air went dead quiet.

Benedict's lips moved.

In the end, not a single word came out.

After a long moment he lowered his eyes and picked the pen back up.

"Remember to come with me next month to get the divorce certificate. Don't worry, I'll move out today."

I gathered up the agreement and stood, ready to go pack my things in the bedroom.

But Benedict suddenly called out to stop me, his voice a little hoarse.

"Your health has never been good."

"When this place was renovated, a lot of it was changed specifically for your habits."

"You're a light sleeper, so the bedroom walls were built with double soundproofing."

"Your hands and feet get cold in winter, so I had radiant floor heating laid throughout."

"And the bathroom, the kitchen"

He kept going, then stopped himself. His eyes had gone red.

"If you suddenly move somewhere else, I'm afraid you won't be comfortable."

I followed his gaze.

The little lamp by the entryway. I was afraid of the dark, and he'd installed it himself.

The bottom row of cabinets in the kitchen had no sharp corners. He'd insisted on that change after I hurt my leg the first time, back in our old rental.

Outside on the balcony grew a row of gardenias, already grown tall.

Ten years ago, when we had no money, I'd said something offhand.

Once we have a home, I want to push open the window every day and smell flowers.

Later we really did have a home, and he really did plant them for me, filling the whole row.

But now, thinking back on it, it only felt like a cruel joke.

My nose stung all at once, and I could only duck my head.

I mumbled some kind of answer and turned into the bedroom.

That night I barely slept.

I lay there with my hand over the baby already stirring in my belly and cried the whole night through.

In the end, I still booked the abortion.

Early the next morning, before I was fully awake.

A crash.

The bedroom door was kicked open hard from the outside.

I opened my eyes to see my mother-in-law standing there with Angela.

Angela wore a loose long dress, one hand cradling a belly that wasn't showing yet.

The moment my mother-in-law saw me still asleep in the master bedroom, her face darkened.

"Why are you still living here?"

"You're divorced, and you're still squatting in another woman's husband's master bedroom. Have you no shame?"

She turned and ordered the housekeeper, "Clear all her things out."

Several people came in at once and started packing.

I sat on the edge of the bed and watched them toss my clothes and jewelry into boxes, one piece at a time.

My mother-in-law found the wedding photo on the wall an eyesore and smashed it with a swing of her arm.

The wooden lamp on the nightstand offended her too, too dated, she said, and she threw it straight onto the floor.

That was from back when we were renting. I'd complained the bedroom was too dark.

Benedict had bought the wood himself and followed an online tutorial, spending three nights making it.

I didn't stop them. I just watched in silence.

Angela came over to me and said quietly,

"Big sister, I'm sorry."

"Auntie said since I'm carrying the baby now, and the master bedroom gets the best light, I should live here from now on."

She bit her lip.

"I really didn't want to take your room."

I nodded. "As it should be."

Angela was caught off guard.

I was already on my feet, picking up my bag from the wreckage on the floor.

"You're carrying Benedict's only child. Of course you should have the master bedroom."

With that, I turned and left.

......

Benedict had, for once, wrapped up his meetings early. In his hand was a box of cream puffs from the little bakery on the South Side.

Ten years ago, at our poorest, I'd craved them for half a month, and he'd ridden a beat-up scooter two hours round trip to buy them for me once.

Later the company slowly took off and he got busier and busier.

Every time I brought it up, he'd frown and say, "That's too much trouble, eat something else."

Now that we were getting divorced, he'd finally found the time.

But when Benedict pushed open the bedroom door, the smile vanished from his face in an instant.

The master bedroom had been completely changed.

The wedding photo he'd had carefully framed was gone, and the lamp he'd carved for me by hand was gone too.

My favorite Morandi-toned bedding had been swapped for a baby-pink patchwork set, unbearably tacky.

Angela sat on the edge of the bed in a nightgown. Seeing him come back, she got up at once, smiling, and went to him.

"Ben, you're home?"

Benedict didn't move. "Where's my wife? Where are all those things I gave Eudora?"

Angela's smile froze. She pressed her lips together, looking a little wronged.

"Auntie had them cleared away."

"I did think those things were kind of old, and not really right for this room, so I changed them out while I was at it."

She grabbed hold of his sleeve and pouted, wheedling,

"Ben, from now on I'm the one who's your wife. Besides, didn't you used to say you liked it when I decorated things to look cute?"

In a daze, Benedict remembered the year Angela had first become his secretary, how she'd loved stuffing things into his car.

Pink throw pillows, rabbit charms.

In the end even the lumbar cushion he'd kept on the passenger seat for me got tossed into the trunk.

I'd asked him about it once. He was busy answering emails at the time and didn't even look up.

"They're just a few decorations. The girl said you'd like them, so I let her put them in."

After that I never asked again, and Benedict pretended not to know, and let the girl keep overstepping.

But now, hearing the same words, Benedict's face went completely cold.

"Who told you to touch her things?"

"Put it all back."

His voice dropped hard.

"I'm giving you one night. If it's not back to the way it was by tomorrow, get out! And if there's a next time, don't bother having this baby either!"

Angela froze completely, tears falling without stopping.

But this time Benedict didn't spare her another glance. He turned and left.

.......

I sat in my rental, working through a big bowl of takeout and watching a trashy reality show.

My phone buzzed.

It was Benedict.

I'm downstairs.

I didn't know about what happened today.

My mother took it upon herself. I apologize to you on her behalf.

A few seconds later, as if he were reporting some accomplishment, he added,

I bought you cream puffs.

You always wanted them, didn't you? Come down and get them, okay?

I looked at that last "okay?" and felt strangely off-balance.

Years ago, when he was chasing me, it had been just like this.

When he'd made me angry, he'd stand downstairs from my dorm and text.

I know I was wrong.

I bought you something to eat.

Come down and see me, okay?

Back then, no matter how many times I said out loud that I was ignoring him, in the end I'd always sneak down anyway.

I walked to the window, and sure enough, Benedict was standing below.

That box of cream puffs in his hand, his head tipped up toward my window.

I looked for a while, then drew the curtains.

And sent him one message back.

What your mother said today made sense, actually. Since we're already divorced, if I go on tangling with another woman's husband, word would get out and I'd be the one who didn't know her place.

Go home. From now on, let's each be well on our own.

The phone lit up again.

But Eudora, I'm not another woman's husband yet.

I'll wait for you, no matter how long it takes.

I didn't reply.

When I woke the next morning, the first thing I saw was a text from the bank.

Benedict had wired me a huge sum, nearly every cent he had.

Then the doorbell rang. The wooden lamp and the wedding photos his mother had smashed the day before were all delivered to my door.

He'd had every single one of them remade overnight.

On top of that, there were a few designer bags I'd once mentioned in passing but had never let myself buy.

A card sat on top, with a single line.

Everything I've owed you, I'll make up for, little by little.

I had no time for whatever game Benedict was playing.

I'd been dealing with something far messier financial fraud.

The one who had cooked the books and then reported himself was Lester James.

Not only had he been with us since the company's earliest days, he was the finance head I'd promoted myself.

Back when the company was so broke we couldn't even make payroll, he was the one who'd sat with Benedict and me going through the accounts line by line, chasing funding wherever we could find it.

So I couldn't understand it for the life of me.

Why, in the space of a single year, he'd used Benedict's trust to get him to sign a stack of falsified documents.

And then, on the eve of the IPO, sent word through someone that he was going to report himself, and drag the whole company down with him.

That was why, on the day of the family reunion, I hadn't gone to the Delgados' for dinner.

I'd been frantic, half out of my mind trying to reach Lester, to ask him what he actually wanted.

But I never found Lester that night. Instead, I found out my husband was cheating.

Today, Lester reached out to me himself.

"Let's meet. There are some things I want to make clear to you."

"The Los Angeles Grand Hotel, eight o'clock tonight."

I was just about to reply when Angela came up to my desk, hugging a paper bag.

She looked at my phone, all curiosity, and said with a soft, sugary smile,

"Looks like there's something new going on, big sis. Guess Ben doesn't have to worry about no one wanting you after all!"

I locked my phone at once and turned to her, cold.

"Did you need something?"

She set the bag on my desk. Inside were some newly bought baby clothes, with a prenatal checkup sheet on top.

The keyboards around us, which had been clacking away, went noticeably quieter the moment she mentioned there was "something going on" with me.

Angela acted as if she hadn't noticed, and gave me a sheepish little smile.

"I don't mean anything by it."

"It's just that Ben keeps saying lately that he can't eat well, can't sleep well, and I'm scared I won't take good care of him."

She bit her lip.

"You were with him ten years. You know his habits best. I wanted to ask, big sis what does he like to eat, is there anything he can't have?"

Some of them nearby couldn't hold back and started murmuring.

"Married into money, huh. Talk about how devoted they are, and behind the scenes it's all this."

"I thought Ms. Sullivan was so pitiful, but turns out she's got someone on the side too. Maybe Mr. Delgado caught her at it... and that's why the divorce..."

I swallowed my anger and said flatly,

"Go ask Benedict about all that."

"And I'm not your big sis."

Angela's eyes went red on the spot.

"I'm sorry."

"I just thought, after all these years, even divorced you two would still be friends... Maybe I shouldn't have come?"

I didn't answer. I just turned my computer back on.

She stood there a moment, then finally left with her things, eyes rimmed red.

I thought that would be the end of it.

But that afternoon, my mother-in-law marched straight up to my desk and slapped me across the face.

"You ran around with men when you were young and wrecked your own body, and now that you can't have children, you won't even let anyone else give Ben a baby?"

"You drove Angela all the way to the hospital! Are you only going to be satisfied when you've left the Delgados with no heir at all?"

So it turned out that after Angela left me, she'd gone straight to the hospital in tears, saying I'd called her a mistress and forced her to get rid of the child.

My mother-in-law raised her hand to hit me again.

Benedict rushed over, caught her wrist, and pulled me behind him.

"Mom, enough."

Then he frowned at me.

"If you can't bear to divorce, just say so. There's no need to take it out on Angela and the baby."

I let out a furious laugh and looked straight at my coworkers.

"You were all here this morning when she came."

"Did I ever tell her to get an abortion?"

Several of them shook their heads at once.

"No."

"Ms. Sullivan only told Miss Swanson to take her things and go. She didn't say anything else."

Benedict's face froze.

It was a while before he offered, trying to save face,

"Maybe the pregnancy's made her oversensitive, and she misread what you meant."

Seeing the red marks his mother's nails had left on my face, he frowned again and dragged me out anyway.

"Let's get that treated first."

I shook his hand off and said outright,

"Since it was a misunderstanding, then let's get the divorce papers as soon as possible."

"It's better for me, and for Angela."

But Benedict fell silent. "Let's not go get them for now. We'll talk about this some other time."

Something felt off to me right away.

Sure enough, the next second he took my hand and said in a low voice,

"Eudora, I've been thinking."

"Ten years together there's no need to divorce over one child."

"You're so against Angela. Isn't that just because you can't let me go?"

He looked like he'd finally made up his mind.

"Let her have the baby, and we'll bring it home for you to raise."

"All you have to do is let me take the child to see her once a month."

"That way my mother gets a grandson, and you don't have to leave me."

I swallowed it down. I was in a hurry to see Lester, so in the end I only said, flatly,

"Let's divorce first."

"Once the child is born and registered, we can talk about remarrying."

Benedict froze, and somehow the look in his eyes went even softer.

"Eudora, I knew you were still thinking of me."

I didn't answer him. I turned and walked out.

When I met Lester, the first thing he said was,

"The falsified accounts, the embezzlementit wasn't me framing Benedict. Benedict is the one who told me to do all of it."

I went completely still.

Lester pushed the ledgers across the table to me.

For years, Benedict had been keeping Angela on the company's books.

Tuition, luxury cars, designer goods, even the houses for her parents and her brotherall of it paid out of company funds.

Lester gave a cold laugh. "When I realized something was wrong, I wanted to tell you."

"Benedict threatened me with my family. My mother was waiting for surgery, and he withheld my bonus and my time off."

"By the time I got back, she'd missed the window for treatment. She'll be bedridden for the rest of her life."

"So I pretended to go along with it, and quietly kept every piece of evidence."

"I want to make Benedict pay."

I looked at those receipts, one after another, and I won't pretend it didn't shake me, didn't hurt.

Everyone says Benedict built the company from nothing, but there were more than ten years of my own work in it too!

He'd taken what I'd poured myself into and used it to keep his young mistress.

And still I couldn't stand to watch the company I'd built collapse in a single night.

Even less could I stand to watch this junior colleague I'd trained with my own hands fall into the abyss.

"These accounts all passed through your hands. If they really dig into it, you won't get out either."

"I've already drained every bit of Benedict's usable capital. The moment I break the story of his affair, the stock takes the hit, he can't cover the gap, and the board throws him out anyway. That's your revenge too, isn't it?"

Lester fell silent, his eyes going faintly wet.

"I don't want this either... but if I really go inside, there'll be no one to take care of my mother."

The door to the private room was suddenly shoved open.

Angela burst in holding up her phone, a whole crowd livestreaming behind her.

"Everyone, look! The Delgado boss's wife, meeting a man in secret behind her husband's back!"

The camera swung straight onto me and Lester.

Angela saw the ledgers on the table, and her eyes lit up.

"He's the Delgado CFO?"

"So while you're sneaking around with the CFO behind Ben's back, don't tell me the two of you have been hollowing out the company this whole time?"

She shouted excitedly at the livestream,

"Guys, help me report her!"

My expression changed.

"Angela, turn that phone off!"

I reached out to grab the phone.

Angela used the motion to stumble backward, dropping to the floor, clutching her stomach and bursting into tears.

"Sis, I won't tell Ben you cheated on him."

"Just don't hurt the baby..."

Benedict rushed in at that exact moment, and the instant he saw it he kicked me aside.

Angela's eyes went red at once. "Ben, I only think you deserve better."

"That boyfriend she had in college was Lester. My fans already dug it up."

"And when I was tidying the master bedroom, I even found her old prenatal test records."

"She was pregnant once, and she kept it from you the whole time."

"If that child had been yours, why wouldn't she have told you?"

Benedict's face went completely dark. "Eudora, is what Angela's saying true or not?"

But I couldn't get out a single word,

because a piercing pain tore through my lower belly, and a warm stream kept running down.

Lester saw it and hurried to help me out, but Benedict charged over and knocked him to the floor with one punch.

Shaking all over from the pain, I forced the words out through my teeth, "It hurts so much. Take me to the hospital."

But Benedict only snapped, furious, "I'd like to see who dares save this bastard child!"

He flung Lester off and made a phone call.

"Yes, it's me. No hospital in Los Angeles is to admit a patient named Clara James. That's rightpull her tubes now and throw her out!"

Facing the despair and hatred on Lester's face, Benedict gave a contemptuous, cold laugh.

"You want to take my woman? You're not good enough."

"One lifeyour mother'sshould be enough to wake you up to reality."

Benedict looked at my ashen face and threw the divorce certificate at it.

"The divorceI agree to it."

"You threw me over and chose him. Eudora, I'll make you regret it."

Suddenly the assistant rushed in, his face white as paper.

"Mr. Delgado!"

"The regulators just showed up at the company!"

"They say someone filed a signed complaint of financial fraud, with a complete set of evidence!"

Benedict's head snapped toward me and Lester.

"Was it you two who reported it?"

But Angela immediately held up her phone, fishing for credit.

"Ben, it was me!"

"I saw them with those contracts, being all shifty, and I couldn't tell what they were up to, so I got my livestream fans to help me report it!"