A Billionaire's Boredom, A Wife's Rise

A Billionaire's Boredom, A Wife's Rise

Gui Chen

5.0
Comment(s)
9.6K
View
18
Chapters

For three years, I was the perfect wife to tech CEO Atticus Monroe, trading my architecture career to become his personal chef and perfect hostess. My world shattered when I brought him an eight-hour bone broth and overheard him confess to a friend. "I'm just... bored." His boredom quickly turned into an affair with his ex-fiancée, Isla. He spent nights at her apartment, then came home to blame me for his unhappiness. At a family gala, when I finally stood up to their public humiliation, Atticus grabbed my arm so hard it left a deep, purple bruise. He had cheated, humiliated, and hurt me, yet he refused my pleas for a divorce, desperate to maintain his perfect image. But his grandfather saw the bruise. He saw the video of Atticus and Isla. After punishing his own grandson, he handed me a check. "Go build the life you deserve." So I did. I filed for divorce to reclaim the life, and the career, I had sacrificed for him.

Chapter 1

For three years, I was the perfect wife to tech CEO Atticus Monroe, trading my architecture career to become his personal chef and perfect hostess.

My world shattered when I brought him an eight-hour bone broth and overheard him confess to a friend.

"I'm just... bored."

His boredom quickly turned into an affair with his ex-fiancée, Isla. He spent nights at her apartment, then came home to blame me for his unhappiness. At a family gala, when I finally stood up to their public humiliation, Atticus grabbed my arm so hard it left a deep, purple bruise.

He had cheated, humiliated, and hurt me, yet he refused my pleas for a divorce, desperate to maintain his perfect image.

But his grandfather saw the bruise. He saw the video of Atticus and Isla. After punishing his own grandson, he handed me a check.

"Go build the life you deserve."

So I did. I filed for divorce to reclaim the life, and the career, I had sacrificed for him.

Chapter 1

Eliza Dunlap POV:

For three years, I had been the perfect wife to tech CEO Atticus Monroe, renowned in high society for my gourmet cooking. Then, just outside his office door, I overheard the three words that would shatter my meticulously crafted world: "I'm just bored."

The rich, savory aroma of the bone broth soup I' d simmered for eight hours filled the hallway. I held the insulated thermos, its warmth a familiar comfort against my palms. This was my ritual, my duty, my expression of love. Bringing Atticus his lunch was a small, tangible way I could care for him amidst the chaos of his corporate empire.

I was about to knock when I heard voices from inside, the door slightly ajar. Atticus' s voice, smooth and confident, was instantly recognizable. The other belonged to his friend, Julian.

"So, things are still good with you and Eliza?" Julian asked, his tone casual. "You guys are like the perfect couple, seriously. Everyone's jealous."

I leaned in a little, a smile touching my lips. Of course, things were good. I had dedicated my entire life to ensuring they were.

There was a short pause.

"Yeah," Atticus said, but his voice lacked its usual conviction. It was flat. "Everything's fine."

"Fine? Just fine?" Julian pressed. "Come on, man. She's a saint. A goddess in the kitchen. And you know, she' s beautiful. You hit the jackpot."

Another pause, longer this time. The silence stretched, heavy and uncomfortable. I held my breath, the thermos feeling suddenly heavier in my hands.

"I don't know, Julian," Atticus finally confessed, his voice low and laced with a weariness I' d never heard before. "I'm just... bored."

The word landed like a physical blow. Bored.

"She does everything right," he continued, and each word was another turn of the knife. "She manages the house perfectly, she cooks like a Michelin-star chef, she never complains. It's... perfect. Too perfect. Too predictable. There' s no... spark. No challenge."

His words hung in the air, thick and suffocating. A cold dread washed over me, so intense it felt like I' d been plunged into icy water. My meticulously constructed life, my identity as the perfect wife, crumbled in that single moment. It wasn' t about something I had done wrong. It was about who I was. He was bored of me.

I stood frozen, the thermos now feeling like a block of lead. It was a symbol of my effort, my love, my sacrifice. And to him, it was just part of the predictable routine he had grown tired of. I had given up my career as an architect, a passion that once defined me, to become Mrs. Atticus Monroe. I had traded blueprints and construction sites for recipes and society galas, believing it was what he wanted, what our life required.

And he was bored.

The truth was a bitter pill. We were no longer on the same page. He saw my devotion as tedious, my care as cloying. He was tired of me.

Just as I was about to turn and retreat, to disappear before my presence was known, a new voice sliced through the air, dripping with saccharine sweetness.

"Atticus, darling, are you going to hide in here all day?"

Isla Salinas. His Chief of Staff. His ex-fiancée. The woman my mother-in-law still wished he had married.

She pushed the door open wider, her eyes, sharp and calculating, landing on me instantly. A slow, triumphant smile spread across her perfectly painted lips. She knew I had heard everything.

"Oh, Eliza! Look at you," Isla chirped, her voice loud and performative. "Bringing Atticus his lunch again. You're just the most devoted wife, aren't you?" The words were a compliment, but her tone was pure mockery.

Atticus looked up, his expression shifting from unguarded frustration to mild annoyance at my presence. He didn' t meet my eyes. He simply reached out and took the thermos from my hands, his fingers brushing against mine with an impersonal coldness.

"Thanks," he mumbled, placing it on his desk without a second glance.

"Smells delicious," Isla said, leaning over his desk with a theatrical sniff. "What masterpiece did you create today, Eliza? Atticus was just telling me the other day how he sometimes misses the simple things, like a good old-fashioned pizza. Your fancy cooking can be a bit... much, you know?"

My heart squeezed painfully. He had said that? Complained about my cooking-the one thing everyone, including him, supposedly praised me for?

Isla didn't wait for an answer. She casually perched on the edge of Atticus' s desk, her thigh just inches from his arm, and opened the thermos. She picked up the spoon I had carefully packed and took a delicate sip of the soup.

"Mmm," she hummed, though her expression was unimpressed. "It' s... fine."

The same word he had used to describe our marriage. Fine.

I felt a sharp, physical pain in my chest, a pressure building behind my eyes. I had to get out of there.

Atticus must have noticed the shift in my posture, the way my face had paled. He stood up and took a step toward me, his hand reaching for mine. "Liza, are you okay?" he asked, his voice now laced with a synthetic concern that made my stomach turn.

I pulled my hand back before he could touch me.

He frowned. "Isla has low blood sugar, she needed to eat something," he said, as if that explained everything. As if her needs an hour before lunch were more important than the blatant disrespect. He was asking me to be considerate of the woman who was actively trying to destroy me.

I remained silent, my throat too tight to speak.

Atticus' s hand found mine again, this time closing around it, his thumb stroking the back of my hand in a gesture that was meant to be soothing but felt like a cage. "Don't be like this," he whispered, his voice low and commanding.

"We were just talking about the team retreat this weekend," Isla announced brightly, breaking the tense silence. She shot a pointed look at me. "It' s going to be so much fun. Hiking, bonfires... just the core team."

Julian and the other guys in the room chimed in with enthusiasm.

"Yeah, can't wait!"

"It's been too long since we all got away."

Atticus looked at me, then back at them. "Yeah," he agreed, his voice regaining some of its earlier energy. "It'll be good."

He then turned back to me, his grip on my hand loosening. He picked up the now-empty thermos and lid, pressing them into my other hand. The gesture was clear. I was dismissed.

"You should head home, Liza," he said, his tone final. "I'll be late tonight."

I felt a strange numbness creep over me, extinguishing the fire of my anger and leaving only cold ash behind. I couldn't even summon the energy to be furious anymore.

As I turned to leave, Isla's voice, sickly sweet and dripping with malice, called out behind me. "Oh, Atticus, why didn't you invite Eliza to come along? It's a couples' retreat, after all."

I stopped, my back rigid. I didn't turn around, but I could feel every eye in the room on me.

Atticus sighed, a sound of pure exasperation. "You know how she is, Isla," he said, his voice carrying a condescending edge that cut me deeper than anything else. "She doesn't really fit in with the team. It would just make everyone... uncomfortable."

My feet felt rooted to the floor. Uncomfortable. I made them uncomfortable. I, the woman who had contorted herself into a perfect, pleasing shape for three years, was an inconvenience.

It took every ounce of my remaining strength to force my legs to move, to walk out of that office and down the long, silent hallway, leaving the sound of their easy laughter behind me.

Continue Reading

Other books by Gui Chen

More
The Woman Who Saved Him Twice

The Woman Who Saved Him Twice

Romance

5.0

The poison in my veins had two years left, just like me. Two years I' d spent trapped in a gilded cage by Ethan Lester, the man I once loved. He believed I betrayed him, orchestrated his family' s slaughter, a lie I carried to protect him from a truth that would have led him to self-destruction. I endured his hatred, the scars, the daily degradations, all while my life slowly ebbed away. Then came the night Sabrina, his new woman, a viper wearing a sweetheart's smile, orchestrated the unspeakable. She lured my little brother, Andrew, the only innocent left in my world, to the compound. She planned to drain his blood for a twisted art project. I found him, strapped down, and I screamed for her to take me instead. But Ethan, blind with rage and manipulated by Sabrina' s lies, saw my reaction as defiance. He threatened Andrew, trying to extract a "confession" from me. My truth would kill him; my silence guaranteed my brother's fate. He offered me everything I' d ever wanted – a future, marriage – if I just confessed. I couldn't. Sabrina, with a subtle push, guided his hand, and the blade sliced across Andrew' s throat right before my eyes. My world shattered as I watched him die, Ethan' s hand, bloodied, still on the knife. As I lay dying beside my brother's cooling body, my last words shattered Ethan' s delusions, revealing the true traitors. Now that it' s all over, all I want to know is: Can a man who destroyed everything he claimed to love ever atone for the irreparable damage he caused?

His Wife's Other Life

His Wife's Other Life

Modern

5.0

Michael thought he had built a good life. His son, Leo, a brilliant debate champion, was headed to Yale on a full scholarship, a testament to hard work. Michael, a humble handyman, had willingly sacrificed his own dreams for his wife Jessica' s demanding, "modestly paid" corporate career. Then the phone rang. A multi-car pile-up. Leo, critical. Michael frantically tried to reach Jessica, but she was unreachable. He tracked her phone across the country to a lavish Miami yacht party, where she was cheering on her "nephew" Ryan with extravagant gifts. When she finally did answer, her voice was sharp, dismissing him because she was in a "very important business meeting." Leo died. How could the woman he loved, the one he sacrificed everything for, be so cold? He overheard her casually refer to their shared life as "slumming it," a revelation that shattered his world. Weeks later, he learned that Ryan, the spoiled relative Jessica adored, was responsible for the accident that killed Leo. Yet, Jessica protected him, openly preferring him over their dead son. His entire existence with Jessica, a profound, agonizing lie. Who was this woman? And why had she hidden immense wealth while he struggled? Michael found a hidden bank statement, zeros stretching endlessly, confirming decades of deception. He had lost his son, his wife, and his life as he knew it. With his body failing from stress-induced illness, Michael chose to leave, walking away from the ruins of his past, seeking a different kind of peace.

You'll also like

THE SPITEFUL BRIDE: MARRY TO RIVAL'S SON

THE SPITEFUL BRIDE: MARRY TO RIVAL'S SON

Ray Nhedicta
4.7

"Let's get married," Mia declares, her voice trembling despite her defiant gaze into Stefan's guarded brown eyes. She needs this, even if he seems untouchable. Stefan raises a skeptical brow. "And why would I do that?" His voice was low, like a warning, and it made her shiver even though she tried not to show it. "We both have one thing in common," Mia continues, her gaze unwavering. "Shitty fathers. They want to take what's ours and give it to who they think deserves it." A pointed pause hangs in the air. "The only difference between us is that you're an illegitimate child, and I'm not." Stefan studies her, the heiress in her designer armor, the fire in her eyes that matches the burn of his own rage. "That's your solution? A wedding band as a weapon?" He said ignoring the part where she just referred to him as an illegitimate child. "The only weapon they won't see coming." She steps closer, close enough for him to catch the scent of her perfume, gunpowder and jasmine. "Our fathers stole our birthrights. The sole reason they betrayed us. We join forces, create our own empire that'll bring down theirs." A beat of silence. Then, Stefan's mouth curves into something sharp. "One condition," he murmurs, closing the distance. "No divorces. No surrenders. If we're doing this, it's for life" "Deal" Mia said without missing a beat. Her father wants to destroy her life. She wouldn't give him the pleasure, she would destroy her life as she seems fit. ................ Two shattered heirs. One deadly vow. A marriage built on revenge. Mia Meyers was born to rule her father's empire (so she thought), until he named his bastard son heir instead. Stefan Sterling knows the sting of betrayal too. His father discarded him like trash. Now the rivals' disgraced children have a poisonous proposal: Marry for vengeance. Crush their fathers' legacies. Never speak of divorce. Whoever cracks first loses everything. Can these two rivals, united by their vengeful hearts, pull off a marriage of convenience to reclaim what they believe is rightfully theirs? Or will their fathers' animosity, and their own complicated pasts tear their fragile alliance apart?

Chapters
Read Now
Download Book