Chapter 1

The code blurred on the screen. Three years. Three years of nights like this, fueled by caffeine and the promise of tomorrow. Our tomorrow.

Chloe' s company, built from the ground up in our spare bedroom, was on the verge of its IPO. The finish line. The day we could finally stop hiding our marriage.

I stretched, my back cracking in the silent office. I was the lead engineer, the ghost in her machine. No one here knew I was Mr. Chloe Davis. To them, I was just Ethan Miller, the quiet coder who always stayed late.

A soft laugh echoed from the hallway. Chloe' s laugh. It always made me smile. But it was almost midnight. I thought she' d gone home hours ago.

The sound came closer, followed by a low murmur. It was coming from her office. My office, technically. She' d given it to me when the company moved into this building, a private joke between us. "The best for my best," she'd said.

I got up, a smile on my face, ready to surprise her. I pushed the door open a crack.

And my world stopped.

Chloe was there, leaning against my desk. Liam, her personal assistant, stood in front of her, his hands on her waist. His mouth was on hers.

I couldn' t breathe. The air in my lungs turned to stone.

I watched, frozen, as she pulled back, her face flushed.

"You' re amazing, Liam," she whispered, her voice thick.

A cold dread washed over me.

"Better than him?" Liam asked, a smug grin on his face.

Chloe' s expression flickered. She ran a hand through his hair. "So much better than my husband."

The words hit me. Not like a punch. It was quieter, deeper. A hollow space opening up inside my chest. Husband. She was talking about me.

Liam chuckled, a low, ugly sound. "That boring engineer? I don' t know what you ever saw in him. He just sits in front of a computer all day. A total loser."

I expected her to agree. To laugh along. My hand tightened on the doorframe, my knuckles white.

But she didn' t.

Her face went cold. She pushed Liam away, her voice dropping to a dangerous hiss. "Don' t you ever talk about him like that."

Liam looked confused. "Chloe, I just..."

"He built this company with me," she snapped, her eyes flashing with a fire I hadn't seen in years. "Every line of code that' s about to make us millions, he wrote it. You' re just a toy, Liam. You' re fun. But him? He' s my foundation. Say one more bad word about Ethan, and I' ll destroy you. Do you understand?"

Liam paled, nodding quickly. "I... I' m sorry. I understand."

She stared at him for a long moment, then her expression softened again, melting back into that seductive smile. She pulled him close again. "Good boy."

I backed away from the door, my movements stiff, silent. I stumbled back to my own desk in the open-plan area, my heart a frantic, painful drum against my ribs.

Betrayal. And a fierce, confusing defense. What did it mean?

My hands were shaking. I fumbled for my phone, my fingers clumsy. I needed to get out. Not just out of the office. Out of this life.

My thumb hovered over a number I hadn't called in years. Dr. Peterson. My old college professor. The man who' d first told me I had a gift for cybersecurity.

He picked up on the second ring. "Ethan? It' s late. Is everything alright?"

My voice was a raw whisper. "Dr. Peterson. That mission you told me about. The one in the Zercian conflict zone. Is there still a spot?"

There was a long silence on the other end. "Ethan, that' s a high-risk deployment. We' re talking active war zone, minimal support. The last volunteer didn' t make it back. What' s going on? I thought things were going great. Chloe' s IPO is tomorrow. She calls me sometimes, you know? Always telling me how proud she is of you, how she couldn' t do any of it without her brilliant husband."

Husband. The word was poison now.

"She' s cheating on me," I said, the words tasting like ash. "Right now. In my office. With her assistant."

"What? No. That' s impossible," Dr. Peterson said, his voice full of disbelief. "Ethan, Chloe adores you. I was there when she turned down a full ride to Stanford to stay with you after your parents... after you were alone. She said you were her home. That doesn' t just change."

The memory twisted something inside me. The sacrifices. The promises. It made the current reality even uglier.

I stood up, walked back to the office door, and angled my phone through the crack. I didn' t look. I just snapped a picture of them, still wrapped around each other. I sent it to him. No caption.

The line was silent for a full minute. When he spoke again, his voice was heavy with sorrow. "My God. Ethan... I... I don' t know what to say."

"Is the spot open?" I asked again, my voice flat.

He sighed. A deep, weary sound. "Yes. The spot is open. If you' re sure, the flight leaves in two days. But I need your final confirmation and paperwork by tomorrow."

"I' m sure," I said. I hung up before he could try to talk me out of it.

I looked around the massive, gleaming office space. The servers hummed with my code. The stock ticker on the wall was already programmed to display her company' s symbol tomorrow. Our dream.

Our shared dream was a lie. And in less than 24 hours, she would stand on a stage and become a billionaire because of my work, while the man she called "better" stood by her side.

I felt a tear slide down my cheek, hot and sharp. I wiped it away angrily. It was over. Leaving was the only clean cut I could make. It was better for everyone. Especially for her parents, the kind people who had taken me in when I had no one. I couldn't bear to face them after this.

Leaving was a kindness. It was my final gift to her.