Outside a luxury villa in the suburbs.
Willa Bulman sat in the back seat of the car, quietly watching her husband on a date with another woman.
The girl was wearing a white dress, fresh-faced and bright, all youth and softness.
Their fingers were tightly intertwined, looking disgustingly sweet.
Jaden Aubert had that smile on his face too—the kind full of indulgence and affection.
The girl puffed up her lips and whined at him, "My feet hurt so bad. Carry me for a bit, okay?"
Willa had thought that with Jaden Aubert’s cold, untouchable personality, there was no way he’d say yes to something that clingy.
He was famous for being distant and hard to approach. Forget coaxing him like this—even getting close to him was usually a challenge.
But reality hit her hard, straight in the face.
She watched as her so-called icy husband lightly tapped the girl on the nose, his gaze ridiculously gentle, then bent down and scooped her up into his arms without a second thought.
The girl wrapped her arms around his neck like it was the most natural thing in the world, her fingertips brushing past the hair at the back of his neck.
There was a small blood-red mole there, Jaden Aubert’s sensitive spot.
Willa still remembered that one time she had touched it by accident. He had snapped on the spot, pinned her arm down, and lost his temper with her like she’d crossed some insane line...
And sure enough, Jaden couldn’t hold back. He pressed the young girl against the pillar of the pavilion, his eyes burning hot.
Willa closed her eyes. She couldn’t keep watching.
She had never seen Jaden Aubert look this gone over someone, this openly obsessed.
...
When she opened her eyes again, all the emotion inside them had already frozen over into calm.
Since the marriage was dead, then fine. Time to settle the score.
After all, this villa they were using to fool around behind her back was still joint property between her and Jaden Aubert.
Willa Bulman looked at the secretary in the front seat and asked, "Have they been like this the whole past three months?"
Winny answered cleanly, "That girl is Roxanne Moore, an old acquaintance of Mr. Aubert. Three months ago, he forced her into the company despite objections, and he’s been openly taking care of her ever since."
A file was handed over to Willa.
She lowered her eyes and flipped through it, thinking maybe she really could just help them out and make it official. Outside, the autumn dusk spilled across the horizon, bright and gold.
Willa steadied her emotions, picked up her phone, and called Jaden Aubert.
It rang several times before he finally answered. No surprise there. He was probably busy keeping his new girl company.
His tone was lofty and cold. "What is it?"
Willa spoke softly. "It’s my birthday today. Can you come home for dinner tonight?"
There was silence on the other end.
Just when Jaden seemed ready to come up with some excuse, a young woman’s coy voice floated from the background. "Babe, why are you still on the phone? You’re not allowed to talk to her anymore..."
Jaden very obviously faltered for a second, then said stiffly, "If there’s nothing else, I’m hanging up."
The call was cut off without hesitation, leaving only the sharp beeping tone behind.
Winny was instantly pissed. "Mr. Aubert is seriously unbelievable. He actually brought—"
Willa just paused for a moment. Weirdly enough, she didn’t seem that affected.
Inside, she let out a cold laugh. Sorry for interrupting President Aubert and his little sweetheart. But unfortunately, this Mrs. Aubert in name only? Yeah, she was not in the mood today.
"Winny, call property management and have them cut off the water, electricity, and gas to that villa. He should learn what it means when home isn’t somewhere you can just ignore."
"That is savage. Honestly, brilliant," Winny said from the heart.
Willa didn’t reply. She only turned her head and looked out into the deepening evening.
The setting sun looked like melted gold, and the clouds spread across the sky like brocade.
In that brief daze, she suddenly remembered another dusk from years ago, when she had asked Jaden Aubert, "Is our engagement really for life? Will we stay loyal to each other forever?"
Back then, Jaden Aubert had sworn it like he meant it: "In my heart, Willa will always come first."
Now it seemed obvious that, in his world, only profit ever stayed loyal.
A tear slid down soundlessly, catching the last glow of the sunset... and Willa Bulman returned to the villa at Dijingyuan.
Half an hour later, a divorce agreement was placed in her hands.
She planned to ask for half the marital assets.
After her shower, she had just gotten dressed when, for some reason, she drifted over to the full-length mirror like she was under a spell.
She slipped off the white bathrobe again and, under the crystal chandelier, studied her figure carefully.
Years of grinding for her career had left her on the slim side, but her skin was still pale and soft, and she still carried a quiet kind of charm.
Too bad this body clearly wasn't enough to keep a man's eyes on her. Otherwise, Jaden Aubert wouldn't have gone looking elsewhere.
She couldn't stop herself from imagining him tangled up with that young girl. Whatever was between them had to be more fiery, more alive, than what he ever had with her.
The moment that thought hit, her face burned, and she felt embarrassed by where her mind had gone.
Just then, the walk-in closet door was gently pushed open—
Jaden Aubert appeared in the doorway.
He was wearing a black luxury-label shirt with tailored dress pants, his frame tall and straight. Under the light, that sharply defined, handsome face looked even more dangerously polished, all the appeal of a mature man turned up to max.
Willa thought, with a face like his, even without all that money, women would still be lining up to throw themselves at him.
Being married to him for four years... honestly, that alone almost made it worth it.
Their eyes met, and neither of them needed to say a word. They both knew.
Jaden Aubert slowly walked up behind his wife and looked into the mirror with her.
By then, Willa was already fully dressed, her long hair neat without a single strand out of place. Even fresh from a shower, she still looked every bit the cool, iron-willed businesswoman.
Jaden suddenly remembered what Willa had looked like on their wedding night—still carrying that faint, shy softness back then.
Facing his body, Willa Bulman trembled all over.
That night, nothing happened between them.
Half a month later, the company hit a crisis. That night, Willa softly called Jaden Aubert’s name in his arms, and he held her tight. Only then, on that night, did they truly become husband and wife.
They had been each other’s first.
But after marriage, they were rarely intimate.
At Horizon Universal Group, Willa was the sharp, no-nonsense Ms. Bulman. At home, she was the aloof, elegant Mrs. Aubert.
No matter where she was, she felt like an iceberg, cold and distant, impossible to get close to.
Even in their most intimate moments, Jaden had never seen her truly let go.
After a while, even he started to find it dull.
"So, you’re the one who had the villa’s water and power cut, right?" Jaden leaned close to Willa’s ear, his tone teasing. "I just looked after an elder’s daughter a little more than usual. Did you really have to get this mad?"
Willa looked at him coldly through the mirror, her gaze sharp and emotionless.
Jaden, meanwhile, was doing the math in his head. These few days just happened to be Willa’s fertile window.
He lightly pinched her ear and said in a low, suggestive voice, "Was it really just about celebrating your birthday? Or was it physical need? Mrs. Aubert is only twenty-six, and already this impatient?"
His words sounded flippant, almost playful.
But Willa knew exactly what he really meant.
He wanted an heir.
Mr. Aubert still held ten percent of Horizon Universal Group’s shares in his hand, and Jaden was in a hurry to have a child so he could strengthen his position in the family.
What he didn’t know was that after that accident, Willa had been kicked hard in the lower abdomen.
Getting pregnant was almost impossible for her now.
At that thought, Willa slowly closed her eyes, not wanting him to see the hurt flickering underneath.
But Jaden suddenly seemed in the mood.
He bent down, scooped her up in one motion, and placed her on the soft king-size bed in the master bedroom. His body pressed down right after, clearly trying to get closer to her.
How could Willa possibly agree?
Her breathing turned ragged. Both hands pressed hard against his chest, her hair spilling messily across the stark white pillow, her robe already half in disarray. "Jaden Aubert!"
Jaden Aubert stared at her face without blinking, like he was completely gone in the head. He leaned down and kissed her again, desire already tightening through his whole body.
Willa Bulman looked back at him, and there was only disgust left in her eyes.
A woman could not have made it any clearer. Faced with that kind of coldness, any man would lose the mood.
Sweat beaded at Jaden Aubert's forehead. His face was flushed, and when he spoke, his voice came out rough and low. "Why won't you?"
Resting against the snow-white pillow, Willa Bulman tilted her head back and looked up at the man she had once been crazy about for four whole years.
She knew it better than anyone: she was worn out, down to the last thread. It was time to live for herself, just once.
But Jaden Aubert was still there, going on and on, asking why she would not sleep with him, why she would not give birth to an heir for him, why she would not keep helping him fight for power and advantage in the business world.
Willa Bulman lifted her hand. Her fingertips brushed lightly across her husband's face, almost gentle, and she said in a quiet voice, "Jaden Aubert, let's get divorced."
