THE FIREFIGHTER HUSBAND I DIVORCED IS A QUADRILLIONAIRE

CHAPTER 3, PART 1

The slap came before he even finished the word divorce.

It was not a dramatic swing. It was just a sharp and highly efficient crack across his left cheek. Erin wore a heavy diamond ring. That expensive ring caught the corner of his mouth and left behind a sharp metallic sting.

"Do not," Erin whispered with a voice made of pure ice. "Do not you dare."

He looked at her. For one foolish moment, a tiny trace of warmth crept into his broken heart. Maybe she still loved him deep down.

Maybe this aggressive reaction meant she actually cared about saving their marriage. A quiet sigh of relief escaped his lips. But that brief warmth was quickly snuffed out by the very next thing she said as she opened her mouth.

"I have the Cambridge Ethics Forum in exactly three weeks," Erin stated, fixing her posture perfectly and smoothing her apron. "I am the keynote speaker for a major panel on modern family values. Do you have any idea what a messy divorce filing would do to that event? To the media coverage? To everything we have built?"

"Everything you have built," Derek replied quietly, tilting his injured head slightly. "So in the very end, this is still entirely about you. Your public image. Your career. Your business."

"What else would it possibly be about? Your wounded pride?" Erin sneered with a perfectly curled lip. "My important work has helped hundreds of vulnerable people. That matters far more than your bruised feelings. For once in your life, Derek, just man up."

The sheer audacity of her words almost made him laugh out loud. What an absolute gaslighter. She knew exactly how to twist every single situation to make herself look like the hero.

Then her voice dropped to something much quieter and highly deliberate. It was the exact tone she used when she wanted her words to land like heavy stones inside a quiet room.

"Do you understand what happens if you file for divorce right now?" Erin asked, staring directly into his tired eyes. "The corporate sponsors will walk away. Every single one of them. And once the funding disappears completely, so does the new assistance program of the foundation."

She paused to watch his face carefully. "I am announcing a long term support initiative right after the forum. It is meant specifically for struggling families like Lily."

Derek tightened his jaw completely.

William Hawk had been his closest friend in the entire fire department. They had come up together. They had trained together.

They had watched the backs of each other on dangerous calls that could have gone either way. Three years ago, during what should have been a routine extraction, a heavy roof collapsed.

William never made it out alive. He left behind Lily and their young son. That tragedy left a massive silence in Derek life that had never completely closed.

Lily had been raising the boy all alone ever since that terrible day. Derek knew exactly how hard she worked just to keep them afloat. He knew exactly what that financial support could mean to her small family.

"If the big speech collapses," Erin continued, watching his pained expression with dark satisfaction, "those families lose absolutely everything the foundation was going to provide. The positive media coverage, the wealthy donor network, and the monthly financial support. All of it will be gone, just because you could not wait three short weeks." Her voice remained precise and completely cold. "Is your wounded pride really worth more than the rent money for Lily?"

Derek said absolutely nothing. He saw the trap very clearly. Erin had taken the tragic death of William, the daily struggle of Lily, and the heavy guilt inside Derek. Then she had arranged them into a sharp weapon pointed directly at his fragile conscience.

What made it so much worse was that the cruel weapon actually worked.

Sensing she had found the one strong argument he could not dismiss, Erin straightened her shoulders proudly.

"Yes, the foundation also brings me great influence, useful resources, and management revenue," Erin explained with a very calm and rational voice. "And I deserve every single bit of it. Without me, those poor families would never get any funding. Most wealthy people would not even know their names."

"So yes, I certainly benefit," Erin added, lifting her chin slightly as she felt satisfied with her neat argument. "But they benefit too. That is exactly how the real world works. Through fair exchanges."

Mike shifted very uneasily on the leather couch before rising slowly to his feet.

"Derek, I am so incredibly sorry. This is all my fault," Mike said, clutching his chest and looking at Derek with eyes full of fake guilt.

"Do not be ridiculous," Erin replied immediately, her voice clipped and highly businesslike. "You have absolutely nothing to apologize for."

Mike ignored her briefly. His voice sounded as weak as a fading breeze. "I really do not want to cause any big problems between you two."

He did not get to finish his fake apology.