Married Poor in Disguise, He Divorced Over My Buyout

To spare Christopher Sanchez's fragile pride, I hid that I was the daughter of the wealthiest family in the city and married beneath me.

A year later, Christopher handed me a divorce agreement. Let's get divorced.

Heartbroken, I demanded, Why?

Being with a bottom-rung woman like you, I can see exactly how the rest of my life will go.

I suddenly laughed. "Is it because your village is being bought out, and you're afraid I'll take half the money?"

"Think whatever you want. Either way, we're getting divorced."

Fine. If he didn't know how to value what he had, then I'd sign.

The moment I finished signing, my best friend Yvonne James walked in from outside, wrapped her arms around Christopher, and laughed in my face. "Thanks, bestie. Thanks for giving up that hundred-million buyout. Now Christopher and I can finally be together out in the open."

What they didn't know was that the company handling this whole buyout belonged to my father.

So I made a call and put the entire buyout on hold.

...

Back when Christopher and I first started dating, I noticed how insecure he was. He never talked about sneakers, cosmetics, or cars in front of our classmates.

Once I wore the latest limited-edition designer bag, and he called me materialistic and ignored me for days.

I quickly told him it was a knockoff.

After that, to protect his feelings, I hid the fact that I was the heiress of the wealthiest family in the city while we dated.

Christopher was brilliant. Given time, I believed he could become a real force within my family's world.

Not long after graduation, he and I both started working at my eldest brother's company.

A year into our marriage, he made manager, and his salary rose to fifty thousand a month.

We were happy together. We were even actively trying for a baby.

At the class reunion coming up in a few days, I'd planned to finally tell him the truth about who I was, and to announce in front of everyone that he'd be taking over as president of a subsidiary worth ten billion, letting him have his moment of glory.

Who could have guessed that because of the buyout, terrified I'd take half the money, he'd ask me for a divorce.

Now, hearing him say he wanted a divorce, it cut through me like a blade.

"Christopher, why? When you married me, you said you'd love me for the rest of your life!"

His eyes flicked away for a second, then he said firmly, "Being with a bottom-rung woman like you, I can see exactly how the rest of my life will go."

"That's right," my mother-in-law Wendy Lawrence chimed in. "Look at that shabby, penniless state of yours. What part of you is good enough for my son?"

My sister-in-law Tessa Sanchez said, "You only drag him down. He's already a manager. And you? Still just an ordinary employee."

I nearly laughed from anger. Everything he'd achieved, I'd quietly arranged for him behind the scenes.

As for staying an ordinary employee, that was because the job was easy.

If I wanted, one phone call and I could be running the company as president.

"Your father died young, your family was poor, so when I married you I didn't ask for a bride price, and I even brought a car to get around in as part of my dowry"

"You didn't ask for a bride price because you're cheap. Otherwise Chris never would've taken you!"

Wendy pushed him on. "Son, when it's time to cut it off, you cut it off!"

Christopher finally steeled himself and pushed the divorce agreement toward me. "Let's get divorced."

The agreement was simple. As long as I signed, the dowry car was mine.

"Christopher, you're afraid I'll take half of that hundred-million buyout. That's the real reason you want a divorce, isn't it."

"Youhow do you know that?"

Christopher couldn't believe it.

I gave a cold laugh. "I also know you'll have the money in a week. That's why you're forcing the divorce now."

The company handling the redevelopment is my family's. The buyout was only supposed to be a few million. It was me who told my brother to bump Christopher's share up to a hundred million.

I never imagined that was exactly what would turn him against me.

Tessa curled her lip. "The old house was in my brother's name before you two ever married. Divorce or no divorce, you don't get a single cent."

Wendy sneered at me. "There are too many gold diggers these days. Always scheming to take half of a man's money."

For over a year I'd worked hard, come home and kept the house, even handed over my whole paycheck the way my mother-in-law demanded. And now I was a gold digger?

Wendy, at her age, still caked on the makeup and squeezed into yoga pants to go dancing with the old men at neighborhood dance nights every single day.

Tessa had lounged at home since graduation under the excuse of studying for college admissions exams, did no housework any more than her mother did, and kept dozens of lovesick guys on her phone, always angling for gifts and cash from them.

"Eleanor, let's part on good terms. Sign it."

I cried.

I truly loved Christopher. He didn't value it at all.

Fine, then. Let's divorce.

I wiped my tears away and signed my name.

"Ha, we're rich!"

Tessa waved the divorce agreement, laughing along with Christopher.

Then my college roommate, Yvonne James, walked in from outside and slid her arm around Christopher.

Seeing the shock on my face, Yvonne looked smug. "Chris has been sick of you for ages. You can't keep up with him. But me? I can give him so much more. I'm a vice president, after all."

Yvonne was my best friend in college. We used to say we'd be sisters for life.

So when we were interning senior year, I quietly arranged for her to work at my brother's company. My brother gave her the green light on promotions, and in just over a year she'd become a vice president there.

Her actual work was mediocre. What she loved was office politics, and she'd blown a few deals playing them.

Thinking back now, Yvonne probably only got close to me because she could mooch my skincare, my bath products, my pads, and all the lattes and meals I kept treating her to.

"You homewrecker," I shouted. "You'll get what's coming to you!"

"The one who isn't loved is the real homewrecker." Yvonne was glowing with triumph. "Oh, and Chris says he's giving me a hundred million as my bride gift."

Wendy winced a little, but still smiled. "Yvonne's a vice president. You need to get Chris promoted quickly."

"Mom, don't worry. There's an associate director spot opening in half a month. I nominated Chris, and the company approved it."

Yvonne had switched to calling her Mom awfully fast.

At that, Christopher pulled her into his arms, doting. "I just bought a ruby ring. A hundred thousand. It's for you."

A blazing red ring went onto Yvonne's ring finger.

When we got married, Christopher gave me a gold ring worth a few thousand. After that, not even on my birthday did he manage a simple gift, not even one that cost twenty dollars.

It hurt. And it showed me exactly who these people were.

I turned to go in and pack, but Tessa blocked me. "Your luggage? I already threw it out for you."

I walked out and found my clothes and personal things scattered by the trash bins, reeking.

I gathered up my things, went downstairs, drove to a mall nearby, and sat alone, quietly weeping.

I never once imagined Christopher could be this ruthless.

I pulled up the home security cameras on my phone and watched the whole family celebrating.

"Chris, we're rich now, stop living so tight! I told my girlfriends we'd take a trip. Give me half a million."

"Son, buy your mom some health supplements. I want to give them to Mr. Hanson, Mr. Wang, all of them."

"Honey, that villa we liked before, let's go buy it tomorrow. In three days I want to invite my classmates over to the house so I can really show off."

Christopher swept his hand grandly. "Buy all of it!"

True enough, with a hundred million from the buyout, none of it was much.

Then Christopher's face fell. "Yvonne, everything else is fine, but the villa's over ten million, and the buyout money won't come through for another week. I don't have that kind of cash on me right now."

Yvonne wasn't pleased. "So what do we do? I already told everyone in the group chat to come to the villa. If there's no villa when they show up, are you trying to make me a laughingstock?"

I opened the class group chat and saw Yvonne's message from five minutes ago inviting everyone over. The whole group had blown up.

"Yvonne's really loaded."

"More like Yvonne married well. She landed Christopher Sanchez."

"Huh? That's not right, is it? Didn't Christopher marry Eleanor Summers?"

"Your info's way out of date! Christopher thought Eleanor was some broke nobody, so he dumped her and married our lady VP, Yvonne."

"Yvonne's a VP? Oh my god! She's amazing!"

"Christopher and Yvonne are the ones who are perfect for each other! Eleanor's pretty, sure, but a broke girl like that can only marry some bottom-tier guy."

I stared at the camera feed on my phone, my face dark, just in time to catch Christopher laughing. "Yvonne, I'll take out a loan and buy a mansion. Then we can really show off in front of everyone from school."

"And I'll give every classmate a Louis Vuitton bag."

"Babe, you're so generous!"

The group chat exploded again.

"What? Christopher's giving everyone at the reunion a Louis Vuitton bag?"

"Oh my god, Christopher's rolling in it now!"

"Barely a year and he's this successful, and here I am still scraping to put food on the table!"

"Eleanor Summers isn't fit to shine his shoes, and she got to sleep with him for three years! Disgusting!"

...

Watching all these messages tearing me apart, my face went cold as frost.

An idea rose in my mind.

I called my brother. "Tristan, shut down the Red Hill Village redevelopment project."

Tristan Summers said, doting as always, "My little princess, you were the one who insisted on redeveloping that village in the first place. Now you want it stopped? What happened between you and Christopher?"

"Tristan, don't ask so much. Just stop it." I put on my sweetest voice.

"All right, all right."

I told him to hold off on announcing the halt for now.

I wanted to wait until Christopher took out his loan and bought the mansion, then make it known to the whole world.

By then I'd have my brother find a reason to fire both Christopher and Yvonne James.

And then, at the reunion, I'd reveal in grand style that I was the daughter of the richest family in the country.

I hadn't meant to tell my brother anything, but the man could talk, and in a few quick moves he'd pried the divorce out of me.

"Good riddance!"

Tristan burst out laughing. "Little sis, a man who doesn't value the relationship isn't worth your love. Listen to your big brother, you're better off without him. Don't be sad."

"If you want a man, I can haul over a whole truckload for you to pick from. Handsome ones, celebrities, national heartthrobs, whatever you like."

I flushed red. "What are you talking about? You think this is some royal selection?"

"Ha, our Summers girl has every right to it!"

"Tristan, I'm hanging up. I'm heading home."

I drove home.

The moment I saw Mom and Dad, I threw myself into their arms, the hurt spilling over into tears. "Mom, Dad..."

They'd already heard from Tristan that I'd divorced, and instead of blaming me, they looked relieved.

"He threw you away over a measly hundred million?"

"Don't waste another thought on a man like that."

They kept comforting me, and Mom went into the kitchen herself to make my favorite, pineapple-glazed steak.

While I ate, Mom said my mother-in-law was too calculating, and that Christopher had never been willing to spend on me. He'd barely even bought me a latte.

"So the divorce is a good thing. Your dad and I were actually going back and forth on whether to let you inherit that little company worth a hundred billion. But we were afraid his family would use it to control you. Now that you've divorced, it's all worked out for the best."

I settled in at home with an easy mind.

The next day, Christopher went to take out his loan and buy the mansion.

He only had a few hundred thousand to his name, and the down payment alone was at least three million, so his only option was a loan shark.

He borrowed three million, due back at three and a half million in four days. The interest was brutal.

The loan shark warned him, "If you don't have the three and a half million in four days, I break your legs, and your sister comes to sleep with me."

They looked Tessa Sanchez over and swallowed hard.

Soon enough, Christopher headed out to the Hillcrest Estates and bought a mansion.

Yvonne posted it all over her feed.

The photo grid was full of the mansion, inside and out, every angle touched up, plus a shot of her standing in front of it holding the deed in one hand, her fingers laced through Christopher's with the other.

Caption: For the rest of my life, rain on the leaves, stargazing under the moon, walking through every season with you.

A lot of people liked it and left comments.

"Gorgeous mansion!"

"You two are so happy together!"

"A broke girl like Eleanor Summers really didn't deserve Chris!"

"Don't even bring up Eleanor Summers, bad luck!"

Everyone from school heaped praise on Christopher and Yvonne, and when my name came up, it was nothing but savage put-downs.

That night.

I opened the camera feed inside Christopher's place.

Wendy Lawrence and Tessa had taken money off Christopher and gone out to enjoy themselves.

Christopher had his arm around Yvonne on the couch, the two of them talking.

"So, the baby's over two months along now. When are you going to marry me?"

My heart sank. So it turned out they'd been at it for a long time already.

"In a few days, once I get the hundred million from the buyout, I'll come marry you with a million-dollar dowry."

Christopher had it all worked out. He wanted to turn the whole hundred million into pre-marital assets, clean and untouchable.

Yvonne kissed him sweetly on the cheek, and then he pressed her down onto the couch and the two of them fell into a deep kiss. Before long he carried her into the bedroom and stripped her clothes off.

"Yvonne, you're gorgeous. A thousand times better than that worn-out hag."

My eyes stung.

Christopher had never once praised me.

And whenever we were together in bed, he'd always been quick and careless about it.

I used to think he was just old-fashioned. Now here he was, all over Yvonne like that.

Maybe he'd simply never loved me.

The day of the reunion came soon enough.

The others pulled up outside in all kinds of cars.

Me, I took the subway on purpose, then rode the last stretch on a rented city bike.

"Well, look at this. Eleanor Summers, gracing us on a city bike. What an honor for us all."

A good number of the crowd laughed at Yvonne's crack.

"Yvonne, you're too funny."

"Someone like her, bottom of the barrel, and we should feel honored?"

"Eleanor's wearing head-to-toe flea-market junk. Not fit to be seen."

"Not worth a single strand of Yvonne's hair."

Plenty of them were falling over themselves to flatter Christopher and Yvonne, throwing me nothing but contempt.

"Everyone, thank you all for coming to see our big mansion! Let me give you the tour. European-style architecture, huge floor plan, front and back yards where you can plant flowers and greenery, and a heated pool..."

I moved into the crowd and listened along as Yvonne showed off the mansion, smug about every inch of it.

She led everyone from the front yard into the house, from the first floor up to the third, walking them through every room, the little bar, the pool, and just about everything got talked up like it was some kind of miracle.

The flattery never let up.

"How much did a place like this cost?"

Someone couldn't help asking.

"Oh, only ten million or so. Honestly, buying this house brought its own headaches. You have to hire someone to trim the garden, hire a housekeeper to clean. Such a hassle." Christopher was good at putting on airs, and it earned him plenty of admiring noises.

Everyone sat down in the main hall, where Christopher treated the guests to a lavish spread delivered from a five-star restaurant. They snapped photos of the lobster, the steak, and all of it and posted them to their social media feeds.

At the table, one guest after another raised a glass to Christopher and Yvonne, laying the praise on thick.

Before long Christopher took a phone call. "The regional manager from Louis Vuitton just dropped off a few dozen LV bags for me. One for each of you. Pick whichever you want in a bit."

Right as he said it, the door opened, and three men in suits came in hauling a big crate of LV bags.

The crowd rushed forward, and everyone grabbed one, each bag going for twenty or thirty thousand.

Shrieks and cheers broke out one after another.

The reunion had hit its high point for the night.

Someone still didn't miss the chance to needle me. "Eleanor's got some nerve, showing up to a reunion just to score a free bag, right?"

"Right. A broke nobody like her could work her whole life and never afford a bag like this."

"Too bad Christopher didn't set one aside for her. Look at her, about to cry from the panic. Ha!"

Taking it all in, I kept my face flat and sent my brother a message. "Tristan, you can release the news that the redevelopment project is canceled now."

Tristan replied with an OK sticker.

"By the way, Harvey Hughes from the Hughes family posted on his page that he's driving a hundred Bugatti Veyrons over to come find you!"

There was a knowing grin behind Tristan's words.