Love Turned to Ash: He Cheated Again, So I Took His Empire

Love Turned to Ash: He Cheated Again, So I Took His Empire

Rabbit

5.0
Comment(s)
2.1K
View
9
Chapters

On the third anniversary of our marriage, Adrian Griffin had a new face in his passenger seat. This time, I, Audrey Lawson, didn't storm over to tear them apart. I didn't scream or demand explanations. I simply went home and poured the dinner I had spent the entire afternoon preparing into the trash. The housekeeper tried to stop me. "Mrs. Griffin, you worked all afternoon on those dishes..." I wiped my hands, my voice flat. "It's cold. I don't want it anymore." Not the food. Not the man I had once given up my career to marry. I took out the divorce papers I had prepared long ago. Without hesitation, I signed my name-slowly, carefully, stroke by stroke. Then I began packing my things. Clothes. Jewelry. And the honors that were rightfully mine. Adrian had no idea that every award-winning design Griffin Group had received in the past five years had come from my hand. He had built his reputation in the industry on my work. I dialed a number that had lain dormant for three years. "Professor, I'm back." From this day forward, I would reclaim everything that belonged to me.

Love Turned to Ash: He Cheated Again, So I Took His Empire Chapter 1 A Chance Encounter

On the third anniversary of our marriage, Adrian Griffin had a new face in his passenger seat.

This time, I, Audrey Lawson, didn't storm over to tear them apart. I didn't scream or demand explanations.

I simply went home and poured the dinner I had spent the entire afternoon preparing into the trash.

The housekeeper tried to stop me. "Mrs. Griffin, you worked all afternoon on those dishes..."

I wiped my hands, my voice flat. "It's cold. I don't want it anymore."

Not the food. Not the man I had once given up my career to marry.

I took out the divorce papers I had prepared long ago. Without hesitation, I signed my name-slowly, carefully, stroke by stroke.

Then I began packing my things. Clothes. Jewelry.

And the honors that were rightfully mine.

Adrian had no idea that every award-winning design Griffin Group had received in the past five years had come from my hand.

He had built his reputation in the industry on my work.

I dialed a number that had lain dormant for three years.

"Professor, I'm back."

From this day forward, I would reclaim everything that belonged to me.

......

The next day dawned bright and cloudless.

I had a follow-up appointment with my private dentist in Southridge Enclave, that discreet pocket of wealth in the southern district of Asterford.

As I stepped out of the clinic, I passed a bespoke jewelry boutique next door.

The emerald necklace in the display window looked familiar.

I had once casually admired that very design at an art exhibition last month.

The glass door opened, and a familiar figure stepped out.

It was Adrian.

He was wearing the charcoal-gray suit I had pressed for him. A young woman I didn't recognize clung to his arm.

She looked fresh out of college, dressed in a white sundress, her smile bright and sweet.

"Adrian, this is way too expensive. I can't accept it."

"Silly girl, if you like it, I'll buy the whole store."

His voice was gentle-laced with a tenderness I hadn't heard in a long time.

I stopped without meaning to.

Not because it hurt. Because it was absurd.

Just three days earlier, he had held me close and sworn I was the only woman he would ever love. The others, he said, had meant nothing-mere transactions in the world of business.

I had caught him cheating more times than I could count.

Each time, a different woman.

Models. Minor celebrities. Even a distant cousin of mine.

The first time I found out, I broke down and smashed everything in the house.

He had knelt outside in the rain all night, burning with a fever of 104 degrees, begging me not to leave.

Back then, my heart had softened.

I told myself a prodigal could come home. I told myself he loved me-he just lacked self-control.

But when it happened again and again, I grew numb.

He grew bolder. He believed that no matter what he did outside, a few sweet words at home would keep me waiting forever.

Just like now.

Adrian looked up-and our eyes met.

The smile on his face froze. The shock in his expression was almost comical, like he'd seen a ghost.

He yanked his arm free from the girl's grip and even shoved her aside.

She stumbled, nearly twisting her ankle, and looked at him with wounded eyes. "Mr. Griffin..."

Adrian rushed over to me, cold sweat beading on his forehead.

"Audrey, what are you doing here?"

His hand trembled as if he wanted to grab mine, yet he didn't dare touch me.

Watching him squirm like a guilty thief, I felt nothing.

No anger. No hurt. Not even the energy for sarcasm.

The girl also approached, timidly looking at me, yet her eyes held a hint of provocation.

Adrian stepped in front of the girl and began speaking rapidly.

"Audrey, don't get the wrong idea. She's Marcus's cousin. Her name's Jasmine Jensen. That idiot got drunk and can't even get out of bed. It's his mom's birthday, so he asked me to bring her to pick out a gift. You know Marcus. If I don't help him, no one will."

The excuse rolled off his tongue smoothly, almost rehearsed.

Marcus Chandler was his closest friend, and he did come from a large, influential family.

If this had happened before, I would have demanded to know why picking out a gift required linking arms, why she was calling him something so intimate.

I would have dug into Marcus's entire family tree. I would have turned the world upside down.

But now, I was simply tired.

Watching sweat bead across Adrian's forehead, I suddenly found him pitiful.

Living inside a web of lies like that-wasn't it exhausting?

I nodded, my tone even. "Oh. Marcus's cousin."

Adrian froze.

He clearly hadn't expected me to accept it so easily.

All the vows and explanations he had prepared clogged in his throat.

"Then... what are you doing here?" he asked, gesturing toward the dental clinic behind me.

"Toothache. I came to see the dentist."

I adjusted the collar of my coat, my gaze drifting to the girl named Jasmine.

She was looking at me like a victor surveying the defeated, a faint trace of mockery hidden in her eyes.

I gave a small smile and said to Adrian, "Since you're helping a friend, make sure you choose carefully. Marcus's mother likes jade. Don't get it wrong."

With that, I turned and walked away.

My steps were light, not a trace of hesitation in them.

Behind me, Adrian called out in disbelief, "Audrey? You're not mad?"

I wasn't.

The dead don't get mad.

Adrian hurried after me for a couple of steps, as if trying to decide whether I was being sarcastic.

But I was already inside a taxi.

In the rearview mirror, he stood frozen in place, his face clouded with confusion and unease.

He was used to my hysteria. Used to my tears and accusations.

My calm unsettled him far more than any outburst ever had.

But he didn't know this was only the calm before the storm.

Continue Reading

Other books by Rabbit

More

You'll also like

While I Was Bleeding Out, He Lit Lanterns For Her

While I Was Bleeding Out, He Lit Lanterns For Her

Katie Oettgen

As I lay on the floor of our manor, bleeding out from a ruptured ectopic pregnancy, I used my last ounce of strength to call my husband, Cole. I begged him for help, my vision blurring. But the only thing I heard was the clinking of champagne glasses and his mistress's giggle in the background. "Stop the drama, June," Cole snapped, his voice cold. "We're about to go on stage. Don't call again." He hung up, leaving me to die alone on the Persian rug while he accepted an award with another woman on his arm. I woke up in the hospital days later. My baby was gone. They had removed my fallopian tube. Cole finally arrived, smelling of expensive scotch and his mistress's perfume. He didn't hug me. He didn't cry. Instead, he leaned over my hospital bed, pressing his knee into the mattress until my fresh stitches tore open and bled. "You embarrassed me by calling an ambulance," he hissed. "My mistress, Alycia, says you're faking it. Clean yourself up." He left me bleeding again to go announce a $10 million donation to Alycia's "groundbreaking" medical research. I stared at the TV screen, numb. The research Alycia was taking credit for? It was mine. I wrote that patent years ago under a pseudonym. They thought I was just a poor, orphan housewife who needed Cole's money to survive. They had no idea I was actually a billionaire scientist hiding my identity. I pulled the IV needle out of my arm. A drop of blood fell onto the divorce papers I had been hiding. I didn't wipe it off. I signed my name right over it. Then I walked into the bank, reactivated my dormant account with $128 million, and bought the penthouse directly overlooking Cole's house. The mourning widow is dead. The avenger is born.

No Longer Mrs. Cooley: The Architect's Return

No Longer Mrs. Cooley: The Architect's Return

Xiao Xiaosu

I went to the City Clerk’s office for a routine copy of my marriage license to finalize a trust fund audit. I expected a simple piece of paper, but the clerk’s pitying look told me my entire life was a lie. "The license was never finalized, Ms. Oliver. In the eyes of the state, you are single." The three-hundred-guest wedding at the Plaza and the Vogue features meant nothing. My husband, Gray Cooley, had intentionally filed the documents with a "procedural defect" so he could discard me without a legal divorce. Moments later, an iCloud invite titled "Our Little Secret" popped up on my screen. It was a photo of my best friend, Brylee, holding a positive pregnancy test at our Hamptons estate. Gray’s text to her was the final blow: "Happy anniversary, babe. This baby is the best gift. Once the trust unlocks today, we’re done with the charade." I soon discovered they were even stealing my career, reassigning my architectural masterpiece to Brylee while preparing my eviction notice. Gray's mother called me a "barren mule" in a leaked recording, mocking the infertility I suffered after saving Gray’s life in a construction accident. I wasn't a wife; I was a three-year placeholder used to secure his inheritance. How could the man I bled for treat me like a disposable prop? How could my best friend carry his child while pretending to comfort me through my darkest moments? The betrayal burned until it turned into a cold, hard stone of fury. I didn't cry. Instead, I walked into the penthouse of the Barretts, the Cooleys' most powerful rivals. I signed a marriage contract with Kane Barrett, the man the tabloids called the "Beast of Wall Street." "I want a wedding," I told his father, my voice steady and lethal. "Bigger than the one I had with Gray." If they wanted me gone, they would have to watch me become the woman who owns their world.

Secret Triplets: The Billionaire's Second Chance

Secret Triplets: The Billionaire's Second Chance

Roderic Penn

I stood at my mother's open grave in the freezing rain, my heels sinking into the mud. The space beside me was empty. My husband, Hilliard Holloway, had promised to cherish me in bad times, but apparently, burying my mother didn't fit into his busy schedule. While the priest's voice droned on, a news alert lit up my phone. It was a livestream of the Metropolitan Charity Gala. There was Hilliard, looking impeccable in a custom tuxedo, with his ex-girlfriend Charla English draped over his arm. The headline read: "Holloway & English: A Power Couple Reunited?" When he finally returned to our penthouse at 2 AM, he didn't come alone-he brought Charla with him. He claimed she'd had a "medical emergency" at the gala and couldn't be left alone. I found a Tiffany diamond necklace on our coffee table meant for her birthday, and a smudge of her signature red lipstick on his collar. When I confronted him, he simply told me to stop being "hysterical" and "acting like a child." He had no idea I was seven months pregnant with his child. He thought so little of my grief that he didn't even bother to craft a convincing lie, laughing with his mistress in our home while I sat in the dark with a shattered heart and a secret life growing inside me. "He doesn't deserve us," I whispered to the darkness. I didn't scream or beg. I simply left a folder on his desk containing signed divorce papers and a forged medical report for a terminated pregnancy. I disappeared into the night, letting him believe he had successfully killed his own legacy through his neglect. Five years later, Hilliard walked into "The Vault," the city's most exclusive underground auction, looking for a broker to manage his estate. He didn't recognize me behind my Venetian mask, but he couldn't ignore the neon pink graffiti on his armored Maybach that read "DEADBEAT." He had no clue that the three brilliant triplets currently hacking his security system were the very children he thought had been erased years ago. This time, I wasn't just a wife in the way; I was the one holding all the cards.

Chapters
Read Now
Download Book
Love Turned to Ash: He Cheated Again, So I Took His Empire Love Turned to Ash: He Cheated Again, So I Took His Empire Rabbit Modern
“On the third anniversary of our marriage, Adrian Griffin had a new face in his passenger seat. This time, I, Audrey Lawson, didn't storm over to tear them apart. I didn't scream or demand explanations. I simply went home and poured the dinner I had spent the entire afternoon preparing into the trash. The housekeeper tried to stop me. "Mrs. Griffin, you worked all afternoon on those dishes..." I wiped my hands, my voice flat. "It's cold. I don't want it anymore." Not the food. Not the man I had once given up my career to marry. I took out the divorce papers I had prepared long ago. Without hesitation, I signed my name-slowly, carefully, stroke by stroke. Then I began packing my things. Clothes. Jewelry. And the honors that were rightfully mine. Adrian had no idea that every award-winning design Griffin Group had received in the past five years had come from my hand. He had built his reputation in the industry on my work. I dialed a number that had lain dormant for three years. "Professor, I'm back." From this day forward, I would reclaim everything that belonged to me.”
1

Chapter 1 A Chance Encounter

13/02/2026

2

Chapter 2 Behind His Empire Stood Me

13/02/2026

3

Chapter 3 Fifty Million And A Divorce

13/02/2026

4

Chapter 4 The Unmasking Of L

13/02/2026

5

Chapter 5 Forced To Sign

24/02/2026

6

Chapter 6 The Siege

24/02/2026

7

Chapter 7 Plagiarism

24/02/2026

8

Chapter 8 The Truth

24/02/2026

9

Chapter 9 Rebirth

24/02/2026