The Beggar Husband She Divorced Is a Trillionaire

Chapter 7

Logan had taken exactly three steps toward the exit when Vivian's voice cut through the air again, sharper this time, laced with something beyond mockery.

"You know what's truly pathetic, Logan?" she called out, her heels clicking against the marble as she followed him. "It's not just that you're poor. It's not just that you're useless. It's that you're also a liar and a cheater."

Logan stopped.

He turned slowly, his expression unreadable. "What are you talking about?"

Vivian's smile was vicious, triumphant. She had been waiting for this moment, and now she was going to savor it. "I found your little secret today. When I was packing up your worthless belongings."

Brandon stepped closer to her, his arm sliding possessively around her waist. He was grinning now, sensing blood in the water.

"What secret?" Logan asked, his voice quiet.

"The ring," Vivian said, practically spitting the word. "That cheap silver ring you kept hidden in your nightstand like it was some kind of treasure. I found it, Logan. And do you know what else I found?"

Logan's jaw tightened almost imperceptibly.

"I have the exact same ring," Vivian continued, her voice rising with vindictive pleasure. "The same pattern. The same design. They match perfectly. Which means you've been screwing around with the same person who gave me that ring years ago. My old classmate. Emma Laurent."

The name hit Logan like a physical blow.

Emma Laurent.

Not Vivian.

The world seemed to tilt slightly on its axis.

"You've been sleeping with that washed-up nobody behind my back this entire time, haven't you?" Vivian's eyes glittered with malicious satisfaction. "Emma Laurent. The girl whose family is drowning in debt. The girl who's so desperate she's probably been spreading her legs for any man who'll give her a second glance. And you — pathetic, worthless you — thought you could play me for a fool."

Logan stared at her, his mind reeling.

The ring. The girl who saved him. It had never been Vivian.

It had been Emma.

All these years. All this time. He had married the wrong woman.

Brandon laughed, the sound cruel and sharp. "Wow. Not only is he a leech, he's also a cheating piece of trash. That's impressive, man. How low can you go?"

"Lower than dirt, apparently," Vivian said coldly. "You disgust me, Logan. You always have. But finding out you were sneaking around with that pathetic has-been while pretending to be my devoted husband? That's a new level of revolting."

Logan's hands were clenched at his sides, but his voice when he spoke was steady. "I never cheated on you."

"Right," Vivian scoffed. "Then explain the matching rings, Logan. Explain why you had one and Emma had one. What, you two thought you were soulmates? Star-crossed lovers? Please. You're both just sad, desperate losers clinging to each other because nobody else would have you."

Brandon stepped forward, his chest puffed out with borrowed confidence. "You know what I think? I think you're exactly the kind of man who'd have an affair with someone as worthless as Emma Laurent. Birds of a feather, right? Two broke nobodies consoling each other about how unfair life is."

"At least my gift to Vivian was a partnership with Imperial Group," Brandon added smugly. "What did you give her? A cheap piece of metal that probably came from a pawn shop? Even your tokens of love are garbage."

Vivian's smile widened. "And you had the audacity — the sheer, pathetic audacity — to stand here and claim you just had dinner with Samuel Wright and Marcus Reed. Do you hear yourself, Logan? Do you understand how insane that sounds? You're a cheater, a liar, and a fraud. You're nothing. You've always been nothing. And now everyone can see it."

Logan looked at her — really looked at her — and felt something inside him finally, irrevocably break free.

He had spent years protecting this woman. Building her career. Loving someone who had never existed.

And all along, the girl who had saved his life had been someone else entirely.

Before he could respond, a commotion erupted near the restaurant entrance.

"Please," a woman's voice said, strained but polite. "I just need five minutes. I have a proposal for the CEO of Imperial Group. If I could just speak with someone—"

"Ma'am, I've already told you," the security guard said firmly. "Without an appointment or a membership, I cannot let you inside. Please step away from the entrance."

Logan turned toward the sound.

A woman stood at the doors, clutching a leather portfolio to her chest like a lifeline. She was in her late twenties, dressed in a business suit that had seen better days — professional but worn, the kind of outfit someone wore when they were trying to look successful despite having no money left to spare. Her hair was pulled back in a simple ponytail, and her face carried the exhausted determination of someone who had been fighting an uphill battle for far too long.

And she was beautiful.

Not in the polished, manufactured way Vivian was beautiful. But in a way that was real. Honest. Worn down by life but still standing.

Logan's breath caught.

Emma Laurent.

He recognized her instantly. Not from their marriage. Not from any recent memory.

But from a cold street corner more than a decade ago, when he had been dying and she had been the only person in the world who had stopped to help.

"I understand," Emma was saying to the guard, her voice tight with barely controlled desperation. "But this is important. The CEO of Imperial Group just approved a partnership with Stellar Finance. If he could just see my proposal, if he could just give me a chance—"

"Ma'am—"

"You bitch!"

Vivian's voice rang out like a whip crack.

Everyone turned.

Vivian was staring at Emma with an expression of pure, incandescent rage. She strode toward the entrance, her heels clicking like gunshots against the marble.

"You have some nerve showing your face here," Vivian snarled.

Emma's eyes widened in shock. "Vivian? What are you—"

"Don't play innocent with me," Vivian snapped. She stopped directly in front of Emma, her entire body radiating fury. "I know what you've been doing. I know about you and Logan."

Emma blinked, genuine confusion crossing her face. "What? Logan? I haven't seen Logan in years. Not since—"

"Liar!" Vivian's voice rose to a near-shout. "I found the proof today. The rings, Emma. The matching rings. You've been sleeping with my husband behind my back this entire time, haven't you? You pathetic, desperate little slut."

Emma's face went pale. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Of course you don't," Vivian said mockingly. "You're going to stand there and pretend you don't know. Pretend you haven't been sneaking around with him. Pretend that cheap ring you stole from me wasn't part of some sordid little affair."

"I didn't steal anything from you," Emma said, her voice shaking now — not with fear, but with anger. "That ring was mine. It was given to me years ago by someone I helped. It has nothing to do with you."

Brandon had joined Vivian now, standing beside her like a bodyguard. He looked Emma up and down with undisguised contempt. "Let me guess. The 'someone' who gave it to you was Logan, right? Your partner in poverty?"

Emma's gaze flicked to Logan, who stood a few feet away, frozen.

Recognition flickered in her eyes. "Logan?"

"Don't even try," Vivian cut in. "I know everything. You and him. The rings. The whole disgusting affair. You're both trash. Absolute trash."

Brandon laughed. "Look at her. She can't even afford a decent suit, and she's trying to pitch business proposals to the CEO of Imperial Group. That's rich. What are you going to offer him, sweetheart? Payment in installments?"

"The CEO wouldn't waste five seconds on someone like you," Vivian added venomously. "You're a nobody from a failed family with a failed business. Even your little boyfriend here is more pathetic than you, and that's saying something."

Brandon smirked, turning to Logan. "You really know how to pick them, don't you? First you leech off Vivian for years, and when that doesn't work out, you run to this broke has-been. What's next? Are you going to find someone even more desperate?"

"At least try to make your lies believable," Vivian said, her voice dripping with scorn. "Claiming you had dinner with Samuel Wright and Marcus Reed while carrying around cheap rings like they're worth something. You're pathetic, Logan. And so is she."

Emma stood there, her face flushed with humiliation and anger, her hands trembling around the portfolio.