Husband and Secretary Drained My Fortune; My Death News Enraged Me

1: 1

The night before my company went public.

Out of nowhere, I got a video call from myself, ten years in the future.

I answered, excited.

How is it? Ten years from now, am I living the dream? The company went public without a hitch, and Guy and I got our happy ending, the envy of everyone?

But the me on the screen was barely breathing, a wreck too awful to look at.

Don't go public. I'm begging you, whatever you do, don't let the company go public!

Tomorrow's IPO is one enormous trap! Half an hour after the opening bell, the company implodes. Every cent on the books, nearly ten billion of the investors' money, all of it moved out through overseas accounts by Guy Delgado and his secretary, Winifred Pruitt!

They marked you as the fall guy from the start. They forged every one of your signatures, and in the end you're finished, your name in ruins, cornered in an abandoned factory by hundreds of bankrupt investors and the families of the victims, and beaten to death like a rabid dog!

While they stand on your corpse, living it up abroad with your money like a golden couple in paradise!

My pupils shrank to points.

The next second, Guy's gentle knock came at the door.

"Honey, there's an important project overseas tomorrow. I'm going to fly out first with Winnie to follow up on it. The IPO, I'm leaving that to you."

In an instant, the cold ran through every inch of me.

......

"Honey?"

Outside, the knocking went on.

I forced out a light breath and got to my feet.

It had to be a competitor's dirty trick, some prank meant to drive a wedge between us.

Guy and I had known and loved each other for a full ten years.

We'd built everything from the ground up since college graduation, one step at a time.

We were the model couple everyone in our circle talked about.

How could I let some prank with no head or tail make me doubt him.

But the moment the door opened.

"Honey, what I just said, did you hear me? Why didn't you answer?"

Guy handed me the glass of milk, easy and natural.

I opened my mouth, but something had lodged in my throat.

Inside my head, everything went off at once.

"Ruthie?"

When I still hadn't spoken after a long moment.

Guy started to lose his patience.

"Ruthie, tomorrow's overseas acquisition is critical for us. It's our first step into the international market."

"As for the IPO, all the early contracts, the paperwork, the media coordination, I've already arranged everything. There's nothing that can go wrong. All that's left is for you, as the legal representative, to sign the final documents."

He paused, with the flat certainty of a man who would not be argued with.

"I don't think I need to be there for that. You can handle it perfectly well on your own, can't you?"

It took a while, but I finally found my voice again, tight in my throat.

"Guy, do you really have to bring Winifred Pruitt with you?"

As long as it wasn't her.

I would trust Guy.

But he blinked, then frowned, irritated.

"Ruthie, why would you ask something so unreasonable?"

"Winnie's been with us for so long. She's been the one following up on the project from the start. If I don't take her, who do I take? Don't tell me you still don't trust her?"

"Look at the timing. The company goes public tomorrow, and here you are, the chairwoman, getting jealous over nothing at the worst possible moment, this petty?"

My breath caught.

Suddenly I couldn't speak.

Because Guy's gut reaction gave him away.

The look on his face when he brought up Winifred.

It was the one he used to get back when we were falling in love.

And yet, in the beginning, Guy had hated her so much.

"Ruthie, you have no idea how useless that new intern is."

"She prints the material with the pages out of order. She makes a cup of coffee and somehow spills it all over the documents."

And back then I'd smiled and talked him down.

"Don't be so hard on a girl fresh out of school."

But little by little, that disdain changed into something else.

From flying into a rage and telling her to get out and redo it, to sitting down and fixing her slides himself.

He'd even, the time Winifred cried after her supervisor chewed her out.

For once in his life gone out of his way to buy a strawberry cake and leave it on her desk.

I drew a deep breath, and my shaking voice steadied.

"Guy, I've decided. The company is not going public tomorrow."

I didn't dare gamble.

The words had barely left my mouth.

Guy went rigid, and before he could say anything.

A soft, frail woman's voice came from behind me.

"Ruthie, how can you say something so irresponsible?"

My whole body jolted. When had she come in.

Something like a challenge flashed through Winifred's eyes, then smoothed instantly into the perfect picture of hurt.

"Do you have any idea how many all-nighters Guy pulled for tomorrow's IPO, how much of himself he poured into it? We're right at the finish line, and you'd gamble with everyone's future like this?"

"If this is because you don't trust me going on a business trip alone with Guy, then I just won't go......"

"There's no way I'm going to let myself be the reason all of Guy's work and the whole company get destroyed!"

With that, she covered her mouth, turned, and ran off.

"Winnie!"

Guy's face changed in an instant.

He shot me a vicious glare and snapped.

"Ruth Sullivan, you are absolutely impossible!"

And without a second's hesitation, he went after her.

I stood there, head bowed, hollow with grief.

On the screen now.

The woman who looked exactly like me was already dead.

2: 2

The next morning, Guy Delgado wasted no time calling an emergency board meeting.

"Ruth Sullivan, do you have any idea how hard it was to get this company where it is? We're one step from the finish line and you want to stop everything? This is madness!"

"Exactly! I said from the start I didn't want a woman running things. And look where it got us. Long on hair, short on sense. Every minute you delay ringing that bell costs us how much money?"

"If you keep this up, don't blame us for setting sentiment aside and dealing with you the hard way!"

The words got sharper by the second.

Every one of them meant to force me into line.

A flicker of triumph crossed Winifred Pruitt's eyes, and she raised a brow.

"Ruthie, you heard them yourself. You can't fault everyone for being blunt. The company's about to go public, and at a moment this important, you're being so willful, calling a stop on a whim."

"Think of the criticism that brings down on us. If it triggers a real market panic and ruins everything Guy and the others have worked for, who's going to answer for that?"

I let out a cold laugh.

"And who exactly are you? Since when does a board decision come down to a lowly secretary throwing her opinion around?"

Her face twisted with humiliation, and she shot me a hateful glare.

Then her eyes reddened, and she bit her lower lip and turned to Guy with a wounded look.

Sure enough, his expression darkened, but with so many executives watching he could only manage a strained smile.

"Ruthie, don't be angry. Secretary Pruitt overstepped, yes, but she's thinking of the futures of tens of thousands of people at this company. Don't gamble with everyone's future."

I curled my lip in contempt.

What a fine, high-sounding speech.

"Fine."

"I'll sign off on the IPO. That's fine."

Guy's face lit up at once.

Then I turned it around.

"But I want a full audit of every account this company has kept over the past several years, right now. Every cash flow on the market, every overseas contract still awaiting signature. Line by line, all of it accounted for!"

For ten years I'd trusted him without holding anything back.

Stepped into the background, never questioned a thing.

But now he didn't deserve it.

The smile froze on Guy's face, and shame turned to fury.

"Ruth Sullivan, what's that supposed to mean? You don't trust me? We're about to ring the bell, and you want an internal audit now? You want the whole world laughing at us?"

"If Mr. Delgado has nothing to hide, then he's got nothing to fear from a knock at the door."

I scoffed, holding his eyes without giving an inch.

He clenched his teeth, but he understood he was cornered now.

"Ruth Sullivan, you make a scene this big, but if the audit turns up nothing, then what?"

I gave a light laugh.

"If the books come back clean, I'll not only apologize publicly, I'll resign on the spot and hand the position of company legal representative over to someone worthier."

"No!"

The word was barely out before Winifred shrieked.

Then she caught herself, flustered, and changed course.

"Ruthie, what I mean is, everyone has seen how much you've given to this company all these years. How could you say something so drastic over a moment's willfulness? The legal representative's seat, of course that should still be yours."

"You only have to sign off on the IPO when the time comes."

I closed my eyes in disgust.

The last trace of hope in me collapsed for good.

Years ago Guy had gone down on one knee, promising me with all the tenderness in the world.

"Ruthie, the moment this company goes public, I'll offer every share I own as the bride price and marry you in style, and make you the company's sole legal representative. I want to tell the whole world that you, Ruth Sullivan, didn't choose the wrong man!"

Back then I'd wept with emotion, believing it was love given to me without reserve.

Now I saw it plainly for what it was. A death warrant.

I couldn't work out when exactly the love we'd once shared through thick and thin had rotted all the way through.

I drew in a deep breath.

If I couldn't work it out, then I'd stop trying.

They wanted me dead. I'd live out of pure spite.

But there was one thing I never saw coming.

The company's books were spotless.

And even so, ten years from now, my brutal end still hadn't changed.

3: 3

"Well, Ruthie? How'd it go? Did you dig up some earth-shattering scandal?"

Winifred lounged against the doorframe, smug all over her face.

"Three whole days. You shut down every core operation in the company, threw a fortune at the best audit team money can buy, and came up with nothing at all?"

She covered her mouth and let out a little laugh.

"If you ask me, this is what happens with women. The second they get married, they start seeing ghosts everywhere. If you'd known your place from the start, none of this would've gotten so embarrassing."

"Well, look at you now. You made the whole industry laugh at us, and in the end it still took Guy stepping in to clean up your mess."

I looked at her cold and steady, that petty little triumph written across her face.

"That's enough, Winnie. Let it go."

Guy stepped forward right on cue, the corner of his mouth twitching, unable to hold back the same look.

He stared down at me from above.

"Ruthie, have you made your point? The audit report's in now. You should give this up. There are tens of thousands of people depending on this company, and they can't afford to wait around while you throw a tantrum."

He paused, then held out his hand with that show of magnanimity.

Like he was coaxing a pet that had been acting up.

"I'll admit it. I've been buried in the IPO lately, and I did neglect you. That's what made you so insecure, so anxious. I'll let this little bit of willfulness slide this time."

"Just sign and restart the listing process right now, the way we planned, and I promise youonce the bell-ringing ceremony's over, I'll take you abroad to unwind. How's that?"

Unwind?

I lowered my lashes and wiped away every trace of feeling. I'm afraid you won't get the chance.

"All right, honey. It was my fault."

I looked up.

I took his outstretched hand gently and gave a bitter, self-mocking little smile.

"The pressure's been too much lately. I've been overthinking things."

Hearing me give in.

A flash of wild delight crossed Guy's face.

I went on, riding the moment.

"But I think you're right. The board and the employees can't afford these delays. Every minute we waste is a minute of loss."

"Why don't we go public tomorrow, just like we planned? As for all the bad press, once the listing's stable, I'll apologize to the public myself, in person. I'll give everyone an explanation. What do you think?"

At that, Guy's smile grew even wider. He patted the back of my hand, thoroughly pleased.

"Since you're willing to think about the bigger picture, I can rest easy. And don't worry about the boardI smoothed things over with them a while ago. All you have to do is show up and sign tomorrow. Leave the rest to me."

"Hmph. Good to see you've come to your senses."

Winifred lifted her chin in contempt.

Then, in open provocation, she flicked my hand away and slipped her arm through Guy's for everyone to see.

"There, GuyRuthie knows she was wrong now. Why don't we go book the tickets right away? The overseas project really can't wait any longer."

She turned her head and mouthed at me, silent.

"You idiot. You're dead."

I gave a cold smile. We'll see about that.

I pulled out my phone and typed an encrypted message.

"Christopher Dickerson. The fish has taken the bait."

"The moment the market opens tomorrow, close the net. Lock down every airport and customs checkpoint in advance. Guy Delgado and Winifred Pruitt are not to leave the country through any channel."

Then I opened the safe.

I took out a document envelope that had nearly gone to dust.

Guy thought he'd covered every last trace.

What he didn't know was that my father, before he died in the line of duty, had been famous as the Tax Reaper.

Those tangled cross-border accounts were a foreign language to other people.

To my father, they were nothing at all.

And I had inherited every bit of his talent.

The year I graduated from college, I could have taken these special appointment credentials and carried on my father's work.

But back then, my heart and mind were full of nothing but Guy.

To help him build his company and clear away the obstacles in his path, I locked these credentials away in a drawer with my own hands.

Now the game should end too.

4: 4

Just as I'd expected, after that little episode Guy was even more impatient than I'd guessed.

The next day, the opening bell ceremony had barely ended.

Then came the CFO's terrified scream.

"This is bad! Nearly ten billion in the company's working capital and investment funds is gone, all of it, in the half hour since trading opened!"

"The company, the company's blown up!"

The room exploded in an instant.

Not five minutes later.

The people who'd heard the news came rushing at me like they'd lost their minds, jabbing their fingers, screaming.

"Ruth Sullivan! You poisonous witch! You're the one who secretly ran off with the money!"

"Shameless animal! Cough up our hard-earned money!"

A gray-haired old woman, sobbing, hurled the travel mug in her hand straight at me.

"That was my whole retirement, my life's savings! I put every cent of it into your company, you soulless bloodsucker, you stole the money I was living on, why don't you just drop dead?"

"I didn't move any funds."

I stood where I was and spoke calmly.

But the words had barely left my mouth.

Guy came forward holding a stack of documents he'd clearly prepared well in advance.

Wearing a look of anguished grief as he stepped up to me.

"Ruthie, how much longer are you going to keep lying to everyone?"

"Every document here, every dirty transfer sent overseas, is signed in your own hand, plain as day, as the company's legal representative. No wonder you insisted on making such a show of auditing the books a few days ago. So this was your real plan all along. The evidence is right here, and you still dare say it has nothing to do with you?"

Winifred stood off to the side wiping her eyes too, feigning pity as she urged me on.

"Ruthie, after everything, Guy trusted you so completely, he handed you every bit of financial control in the company. How could you do something like this? If we hadn't gotten here a step ahead, wouldn't you have run off with the money?"

"Just listen to Guy. Admit your mistake, fix it, hand the money back right now, stop being so stubborn. We can't let all these people down after they put their trust in us!"

I gave a cold laugh.

But the crowd's fury was already fully lit.

"You bitch! Still trying to deny it, when your own husband has come out to testify against you!"

"I mortgaged my whole factory, put every cent into your original shares! And now you want to run off with my hard-earned money? Dream on! Even if I die today, I'm taking you down with me!"

"That's right! Beat her to death! Shameless animal! Give the money back!"

The enraged crowd was nearly ready to tear me apart.

The wretched ending ten years from now, beaten to death, was about to play out again right before my eyes.

Then, out of nowhere, sirens blared outside.

Dozens of fully armed law enforcement officers moved in fast and hard and took control of the scene.

Guy's eyes lit up instantly, gleaming with excitement, and he pointed straight at my face.

"Officers! You've come at exactly the right time! I'm her husband, and I want to file a report in my own name! Ruth Sullivan, as the company's legal representative, abused her position to hollow out every account and moved over ten billion in funds overseas."

But the one in the lead didn't even glance at him.

Under the stunned eyes of everyone in the room, he walked straight up to me.

And gave a respectful salute.

"Professor Sullivan! The Financial Crimes Division and the Major Crimes Unit are all in position! The overseas accounts have been intercepted, and all funds tied to the case are fully frozen!"

In that instant, Guy's eyes went wide with terror.