Chapter 1

After twelve years of what everyone called a perfect, polite marriage, my husband decided to produce and star in a high-profile movie dedicated to confessing his sins to his first love.

He even publicly praised me on Instagram for my “grace and maturity” when I liked and reposted his movie poster from my verified corporate account.

Yet, when I slid the divorce papers across his mahogany desk, he completely lost his composure.

"Babe, don't be ridiculous. I’m just repenting for a mistake I made when I was a kid."

I tapped the paper, urging him to sign.

"And right now, Ethan, I'm just fixing the mistake I made when I was young."

When the news broke that Ethan Sterling was pouring millions into a feature film mourning his long-lost first love, I was at the ER with my assistant, frantically dealing with our son's sudden high fever.

Between waiting for lab results, my assistant, Zoey, glanced at a trending alert on her phone and gasped.

"Clara... you need to see this."

Trembling, she handed the screen to me.

The headline was blaring at the top of the entertainment feed:

Sterling Group CEO Announces Real-Name Biopic Dedicated to His College Muse and First Love.

I took one look and handed the phone right back.

Zoey was fresh out of college, completely unprepared to handle her boss facing such public humiliation. She wanted to comfort me, but the words caught in her throat.

Seeing her panic, I gently patted her shoulder and said, "It's just PR, Zoey. In corporate America, hype translates to profit. That's all this is."

She breathed a sigh of relief.

I sounded calm, but beneath the surface, my mind was racing.

Inside my tightly clenched phone was a log of a dozen unanswered calls to the husband I had lived with in quiet civility for over a decade. After getting no response while our son burned with fever, I had sent him a brief, urgent text: Leo has a dangerously high fever. Come to the hospital immediately.

Ethan’s reply had arrived minutes later: Tied up at the office. Big corporate emergency. I’ll be there later.

Right after that text, an automated notification popped up: five million dollars had been wired into my private checking account.

That was our marriage in a nutshell. Courteous. Emotionally distant. Passionless, yet rock-solid in public.

We were partners who had each other's backs in the boardroom. When his family's empire was on the verge of bankruptcy years ago, I poured my family's fortune into his firm, fighting side by side with him without a single fight. In high-society circles, we were the ultimate power couple.

Once Leo was settled into a private pediatric room, I had my driver take Zoey home. It was late, and I didn't want a young woman out alone in the city.

I smoothed back Leo’s damp hair. His fever was finally breaking, and my racing heart slowed down.

Once everything was taken care of, I unlocked my phone and watched the press conference video that was breaking the internet.

The Ethan on screen looked nothing like the cold, calculating CEO I knew.

In the cutthroat world of corporate takeovers, Ethan was a stone wall. He never let his emotions show.

Yet on that stage, dressed in an immaculate Tom Ford suit, his eyes glistened with tears, and his voice trembled on the microphone.

"The person I failed most in this life was Jessica Cole," he said, choking back a sob. "Today, I have wealth, power, and success. I have everything a man could dream of—except her. In this film, I won’t hide behind a pseudonym. I want to use my real name to publicly repent to the woman I loved when I was young."

"My advice to all men watching is simple: if you are lucky enough to find the love of your life, marry her. No matter the family opposition, be brave. Otherwise, you’ll spend the rest of your life trapped in regret."

A bitter chill washed over me.

So this was his "corporate emergency."

Too busy repenting to an old flame to bring his sick son to the emergency room.