My Daughters Downfall

For a decade, I was the perfect wife to tech mogul Carson Jarvis. I cleaned up every scandal and endured every affair, trapped by my father's "poison pill" inheritance clause that would leave me with nothing if I divorced him.

His latest mistress was pregnant, but that wasn't what finally broke me. It was when he shut down our mansion's power grid for their tryst-and turned off my grandmother's life support.

He murdered her.

At a charity auction days later, he paraded his new love while she announced her pregnancy. When I confronted her for stealing my money, Carson watched as his guards broke my arm, leaving me bleeding on the floor while he comforted her.

He thought I was his unbreakable wife, a possession with nowhere else to go. He expected me to clean up this mess, just like all the others.

He was wrong. As I watched him shield her during the chaos of an explosion I secretly arranged, I knew my old life was over.

Tonight, the world would learn of my death. And with it, Carson Jarvis would lose everything.

Chapter 1

The TMZ headline screamed: "Tech Mogul Carson Jarvis Caught with Influencer Karin Riddle: Is His Marriage to Amelie Knight Over?" My phone buzzed with calls from publicists and damage control specialists. It didn't sting. Not anymore. My heart had hardened into a stone years ago, a monument to a love that had long since died. But this time, Carson's recklessness was a death sentence.

He was already on the phone, his voice a smooth, practiced calm that barely masked his irritation. "Amelie, darling. You've seen the news, I assume?"

"I have," I said, my voice flat. "Another Tuesday, another scandal."

He chuckled, a sound that used to charm me but now only grated. "Yes, well. Boys will be boys, you know. Just a little indiscretion. Nothing you haven't handled before."

I gripped the phone tighter. For ten years, I had been his silent partner, his image consultant, his mop. I cleaned up every drunken brawl, every whispered rumor, every public flirtation. I smiled for the cameras, stood by his side, and lied to the world, all to protect the facade of our perfect Silicon Valley romance. I was the woman who bore his name, but not his children. The wife who smoothed over his mistakes, while he made new ones.

"She's so young, Amelie," he continued, oblivious. "So innocent. Reminds me a bit of you, actually. Back when we first met."

A cold wave washed over me. Young. Innocent. Like me, before he broke me. "Is that why you chose her, Carson? Another fresh face to defile?"

His tone sharpened just a fraction. "Don't be dramatic. Look, the usual channels are already buzzing. TMZ wants a hefty sum to pull the story. I expect you to handle it, just like always."

"And how much is 'hefty' this time?" I asked, my voice dangerously soft.

"A few million. Pocket change, really. Just make it disappear. This could hurt the IPO." He paused. "Remember all those beautiful promises I made to you on our wedding day? How I swore to cherish you, to protect you? You were my world. The media loved that story. Don't let them twist it now."

I remembered. I remembered every word. The public, too, remembered. The articles were already flooding my feeds, juxtaposing his passionate vows with today's damning photos. Carson Jarvis: From Devoted Husband to Serial Cheater?

"So, Mrs. Jarvis," a reporter's voice echoed from my voicemail, recorded just hours ago, "what's your strategy this time? Another dignified silence? Another expertly crafted PR statement?"

I stared at the screen, at Karin Riddle's eager face, at Carson's triumphant smirk. No. Not this time.

"No," I told Carson, my voice steady. "I won't be paying."

Silence on the other end. Then, a sharp intake of breath. "What did you say?"

"I said, I won't be paying," I repeated, a strange, exhilarating calm settling over me. "In fact, I have an even bigger story for them. And this one? This one is free."

He scoffed. "What could possibly be bigger than this? Your pity party?"