THE FIREFIGHTER HUSBAND I DIVORCED IS A QUADRILLIONAIRE

CHAPTER 2, PART 1

The very first thing Derek saw when he stepped into his home was the wine. Two crystal glasses filled with deep red wine sat directly on the expensive coffee table, catching the soft and warm light of the living room lamp.

The second thing he saw was Mike. The young heir was sitting comfortably on the leather couch. He was wearing Derek pajamas.

They were the old gray ones with the frayed left cuff. Erin had always complained heavily about those exact pajamas. She always said she would throw them away, but she never actually did. Now, her wealthy lover was wearing them proudly.

The third thing he saw was his own wife.

Erin was standing gracefully in front of the modern stove. She had a cheerful little apron covered in cartoon kittens tied neatly around her thin waist. She looked incredibly comfortable. She looked perfectly at home.

Derek stood there quietly and felt a deep ache inside his chest. This was the exact same woman who had once written him a very lengthy email before they got married.

He still had that old email saved somewhere in his inbox. In that long message, she had firmly explained why she absolutely refused to participate in traditional structures that reduced modern women to mere domestic servants.

Derek had read every single word of that email and completely agreed with her. Because he loved her deeply, he had happily taken over the cooking.

He did all the cleaning. He folded the laundry. He did it every single day. He did it every single week. He did it without a single complaint because he truly believed in her vision and thought that was exactly what it meant to be an equal partner.

Now, he stood in the doorway and watched her stir a hot pan of food for Mike.

The heavy crash of the broken front door finally made Erin turn around.

She looked straight at Derek. He was completely bloodied. His tired face was soot streaked. His badly injured leg throbbed so much that he was barely able to stand upright.

But Erin did not look shocked at all. She did not gasp or rush over to check his bleeding wounds. She only sighed heavily, dropping her shoulders as if she had just been interrupted by something incredibly tedious and annoying.

"Jesus, Derek," she said with a tired and exasperated voice.

"What were you doing at the hotel? Half dressed," Derek asked, stepping fully inside and letting the broken wooden door close slowly behind him. "With him. In a suite."

Mike straightened up quickly on the couch and opened his mouth to speak. Erin immediately silenced him with a gentle and protective look.

Then she turned her full attention back to Derek. She wore the exact same face she usually reserved for particularly unreasonable members of the public at her charity speaking sessions.

"I am not going to justify myself to you," Erin stated with a cool and level tone. "Do you even hear how you sound right now? You are interrogating me about where I was, what I was wearing, and who I was with. That is textbook possessive behavior."

Her brown eyes sharpened into a cold glare. "You have an incredibly fragile male ego."

"I am your husband," Derek replied with a quiet and broken voice.

"And I am not your property," her voice rose immediately, sounding perfectly rehearsed. "My body, my choices, and my relationships are not subject to your strict approval. I have spent my entire career fighting against exactly this kind of controlling behavior."

"Erin," Derek said, keeping his voice as level as he possibly could despite the burning pain shooting up his leg. "I pulled you out of a burning building tonight. I took a heavy wooden beam across my leg doing it. I was severely injured. I just want to know the truth about what you were doing in that hotel room."

Something very small flickered in her eyes. Just for a brief second. Then the emotion was completely gone.

"You know what I just noticed?" she asked, pivoting the conversation cleanly with a raised eyebrow. "You are not wearing the wristband."

Derek looked down at his bare wrist with total confusion.

"My Firefighter Family Safety Foundation awareness wristband," Erin continued, her voice sharpening with pure righteous purpose. "You are a frontline firefighter, and you do not even use it? That proves exactly how little you actually care about the families of firefighters. It proves how little you care about me. Do not you dare stand there pretending you have any moral right to question my personal actions."

Derek slowly lifted his head and glanced over at Mike. Mike was not wearing one either.

Noticing Derek staring directly at him, Mike quietly reached deep into his pajama pocket. He pulled out a bright red silicone wristband and quickly slipped it onto his own wrist with a nervous swallow.

Erin saw Mike put the wristband on. Her cold facial expression softened immediately.

"Oh, do not worry about that," Erin said to Mike warmly, offering him a sweet and adoring smile. "After everything you did to secure the Apex business deal for me, you have already done more for firefighter families than most normal people will do in an entire lifetime. Whether you wear the little wristband hardly matters at all."