My Husband's Affair My Anniversary Gift (Lily and David) novel Chapter 15

“I can’t divorce right now.”

“You mean you won’t.” She folded her arms, the bitter disbelief tightening her throat. “What’s the plan then? Keep me hidden while you parade around with Marina? She can’t marry you yet because she’s got modeling dreams, so I stay the backup wife in the shadows?”

He flinched, but said nothing.

Her voice dropped to a mocking whisper. “I see. Marina becomes the fantasy, and I stay the legally convenient nobody.”

“You’re being ridiculous.”

“Am I?” she snapped. “Because the last time I checked, I was still only good enough to be your assistant. That’s all I ever was to you—wasn’t it?”

“Don’t twist this, Lily.”

“Oh, I’m not twisting anything,” she said with a bitter laugh. “You just said it all. Marina gets the lights, the camera, the attention. And I? I get a desk and a broken heart.”

David stepped closer, his face unreadable. “If you can’t meet your father’s condition, you’ll lose your mother’s mementos will be gone. I’m the only reason they didn’t throw it already.”

Lily froze.

That...… it was the last thing her mother left her. Her only link to the woman who once shielded her from this cruel world.

She looked away, breathing hard. The memory returned—her father and stepmother shoving her out of the house at seventeen, trying to sell her off to a filthy old businessman when she was too broke even to eat. No friends. No support. Just betrayal.

David had given her a job then, a shred of hope. But now, he was no different from the people who’d once tried to break her.

She took a shaky breath. "I don’t want anything to do with you anymore. I’ll find my own way. I always have."

But she hated how her chest still clenched at the sound of his voice, how a part of her still hurt.

David’s voice cut through her thoughts. "If you want a divorce, it’ll cost you thirty million dollars. Then you’ll have to pay me thirty million dollars to break the contract.”

Lily’s heart stopped. “What?”

“You heard me,” he said coolly. “That’s the termination clause. You want out? Fine. But business is business.”

“Thirty million?” she hissed. “You’re insane.”

He raised a brow. “I’m practical. Everything I do is to protect my interests.”

“You bastard!” she shrieked, lunging at him.

He released Lily and stepped back, jaw clenched as he answered the call.

Lily didn’t wait. She grabbed her bag and rushed out the door, her vision blurred, her heart in pieces.

Outside, the sky had opened up, rain pouring like the heavens were weeping for her.

She stood motionless on the sidewalk, soaked from head to toe. Rain dripped from her eyelashes and her clothes clung tightly to her skin. Her arms wrapped around herself, trembling not just from the chill, but from the heavy ache in her chest. No cabs in sight. Her knees were beginning to ache from crouching for so long under the weak shade of a closed tea shop’s awning. And just when she considered walking aimlessly into the night, a black car stopped in front of her.

The window rolled down.

"Get in the car unless you want to become bear food," David said flatly, one arm resting on the wheel.

She didn’t move. Not right away. Her pride screamed at her to turn around and walk into the rain, even if it meant collapsing somewhere cold and forgotten. But her body ached, her fingers were blue, and her shoes squelched miserably.

She couldn’t afford to get sick—not when she had so much to lose.

So, clenching her teeth, she stood up and approached the car. Her hand hesitated on the handle. The rain was still loud, hammering against the roof like it was trying to keep her out. Finally, she yanked the door open and slid inside.

But the moment she did, regret slammed into her chest like a fist.