Chapter 1: Chapter 1: Cheating
Ashley Shaw first suspected Warren Prescott of infidelity when he sent her a cute emoji.
Warren was forced to marry her back then. The two of them didn’t have a particularly strong emotional connection, but at least he’d never crossed her boundary before.
Her boundary was an intolerance for betrayal.
And given what she knew about her unsmiling husband Warren, it was impossible for a pink heart with winking eyes emoji to suddenly appear on his phone.
Unless a woman frequently sent it to him, he saved it, and casually forwarded it to her.
So when she saw the message, she sat at home stunned for a long time, feeling as if all the strength in her body had been drained away in an instant.
She had always been a traditional woman.
So after marrying Warren Prescott, she quit the job she loved and stayed home to cook and clean.
Even the cabinet where she used to store her favorite high heels was replaced one by one with Warren’s leather shoes.
"Madam."
A middle-aged woman wiped water stains off her apron and came inside to Ashley Shaw.
"Madam, should we start preparing dinner? All the ingredients you wanted have been airlifted here; they are all the ones the master likes. However, the king crab might arrive a bit late, so you could start on other dishes first..."
"No, need."
"What?"
"I said, I won’t be making dinner today, you all can do it."
Mrs. Chase widened her eyes in surprise.
The madam, who always prepared dinner for the master with her own hands, has decided today... what’s going on?
"Are you feeling unwell?"
"I have something to do and need to step outside."
"I see, so should we wait for you to come back to start the food, or..."
"Like I said, you all do dinner today."
"Yes, ma’am." Mrs. Chase saw the anger in Ashley Shaw’s eyes and dared not ask further.
Half an hour later, Ashley Shaw arrived at the Prescott Group building.
Standing in front of the towering office building, Ashley felt an inexplicable sense of nervousness rise within her.
The last time she had come to Warren’s company was three years ago when she brought him a cooked meal.
She had waited outside the meeting room for a good two hours, and after the meeting finally ended, she didn’t even get to see him before Warren’s assistant told her he had to go inspect the construction site and suggested she head back first.
When she returned home, all she got was a cold message from Warren: "Don’t come to the office again in the future."
Perhaps, she should have realized three years ago.
As a wife, she wasn’t even worth a fraction of Warren’s employee’s time.
This marriage was her own insistence from the start to finish.
So as she stepped into the building again and faced the receptionist’s inquiry, she couldn’t muster the courage to reveal her identity.
"I, I’m..."
"Ma’am, if you don’t clarify, I can’t let you upstairs."
Ma’am?
Ashley was stunned.
At only twenty-seven, was she now being referred to as a ma’am by a receptionist?
She couldn’t help but look down at herself. She had forgotten to take off her apron, was wearing mismatched fluffy slippers, and her face was disheveled and without makeup.
The long hours in the kitchen had left her face oily.
She looked every bit the stereotypical frumpy housewife.
"Ah..." The receptionist spoke up suddenly, "President Prescott is coming down, you don’t need a clearance, you can go talk to him directly."
Ashley’s spine stiffened with a nervousness that surged from deep within her heart.
She turned her head rigidly, just in time to see Warren walking out of the elevator.
A group of well-dressed executives exited the elevator with him, and when one middle-aged man said something, a slight furrow appeared in Warren’s brow, making his chiseled face even more imposing.
The executive immediately lowered his head, left speechless by fear.
The next moment, a slender figure rushed up to Warren.
A youthful, vibrant girl fearlessly took the coffee from Warren’s hand.
Warren naturally took the documents the girl was holding in exchange.
The gentleness in his eyes felt completely foreign to Ashley.
He had never looked at her with that kind of gaze.
She also noticed that the executives seemed to breathe a sigh of relief upon the girl’s appearance.
Who... was she?
Instinctively, Ashley wanted to scrutinize the girl, but she was already walking away from her toward the exit.
Warren fell in step with her, suddenly aware of Ashley’s presence and looked over.
At that moment, Ashley turned like a frightened rabbit and quickly hid behind the reception desk.
"Ma’am, what’s with you...?"
"Please, let me crouch here for a while." Ashley’s voice was full of pleading.
The receptionist, not understanding the situation, didn’t ask her to leave.
After quite some time, Ashley emerged from behind the desk.
Warren and the girl were nowhere to be seen.
She wandered out like a lifeless puppet.
When it came to the emoji, she only suspected.
But after seeing Warren’s expression, she was certain—he was unfaithful.
The girl didn’t seem much younger than she was, but the vibrancy she exuded was something Ashley couldn’t ever compete with.
She was like the morning sun, while Ashley seemed like the aging sunset.
The staff’s attitude towards that girl was starkly different from how they treated her; she recalled the looks of pity she received the first time she visited the company.
Why did it turn out this way?
In just three years, how did she become what she is now?
She was only twenty-seven, after all.
Ashley held her face, tears escaping through her fingers.
"Ashley Shaw?"
A clear voice sounded from above her.
Tearfully, Ashley lifted her head to see a handsome man looking at her in surprise.
"Are you alright?"
He offered her a Bvlgari handkerchief.
Ashley’s sharp eyes noticed the Rolex on his wrist, the same model as Warren’s.
Perhaps he was a friend of Warren’s.
His friends were all either wealthy or noble, yet she had remained busy with household chores for three years, disconnecting from all her past friendships.
"I’m fine, thank you..."
She didn’t take the handkerchief, fearing her tears would soil it.
Without giving him a chance to question further, she hastily said, "Don’t tell Warren I was here," and quickly hopped into a taxi.
...
In a high-end jewelry store.
Gillian Lynch wandered around, pausing in front of a diamond-studded necklace.
"Do you like it?"
The low, husky voice of the man behind her snapped her focus back.
"No, no, I just thought... the design is quite unique."
Warren signaled for a sales associate: "This one, wrap it up."
Gillian looked panicked.
"No, how can this be, it’s too expensive."
"Today is your birthday, I promised you as a kid I’d celebrate it with you. Now your sister isn’t here, giving you a necklace is nothing."
Mentioning her sister, a fleeting stiffness overtook Gillian’s smile.
So, that’s why he was being so nice to her, just for her sister?
She couldn’t help but ask, "Warren... you still haven’t forgotten my sister, have you?"
Warren continued to look for his card as if he hadn’t heard her.
The clerk packing the necklace added with a smile, "You two have a great bond, wishing you everlasting happiness and centuries of unity."
Gillian instinctively glanced at Warren, seeing a slight raise of his refined eyebrows with no trace of displeasure.
Her heart instantly felt as if it was filled with honey.
Gradually, the bitterness toward her sister was swept away.
The ring of a phone interrupted, the special assistant on the line.
Warren ended the call on the spot.
"I’ll take you home."
Gillian, holding her gift, nodded with a smile: "Sure!"
Knowing Warren’s kindness was mainly due to her sister didn’t stop her from indulging in this dream.
Hopefully, she would never wake up!
...
Once Gillian got out of the car, Warren redialed the call.
"Speak."
"President Prescott, did you pick out a gift for the madam for your wedding anniversary?"
Warren’s brow furrowed slightly.
"Gift?"
"Yes, you went out to buy a gift for the anniversary with madam, right?"
"Warren’s brows slightly furrowed as the thought shifted in his mind. After a brief silence, he instructed, "Have Cillian wait for me a moment, you can buy her gift and send it after work."
He thought to himself, Today was meant for the collaboration. While he had assuredly known this day would come, he never once thought it would arrive when Ashley wouldn’t be there waiting for him.