Limited Love Chapter 2

In my past life, I cared entirely too much.

We were a marriage of corporate convenience, but we had also been childhood sweethearts. He was the golden boy woven through the entirety of my youth. It was precisely because I loved him so deeply that I could not stomach Linda's little manipulative games.

The first time I really noticed her was when I brought Gideon his stomach medication.

He had chronic gastritis. When work piled up, he would routinely skip meals.

When Linda pushed the office door open that day, Gideon was holding me tightly, resting his chin on my shoulder like an overgrown child, whining about his stomach ache and demanding that I comfort him.

Linda stood frozen in the doorway. The rims of her pretty eyes turned a quiet, devastated red.

Later that week, I found a handful of dried shrimp hidden in my catered lunch.

I am severely allergic to seafood. The executive chef knew this and would never make such a fatal error.

Someone had planted it there with malicious intent.

The security cameras had a blind spot right over the pantry, but the footage clearly showed Linda lingering around my lunchbox.

Knowing she came from a struggling household and desperately needed money for her mother's upcoming surgery, I chose not to make a public scene.

Instead, I slid a premium bank card across the table to her. I told her to consider it a loan for the medical bills to solve her immediate crisis. "Resign on your own terms and find another job."

But things did not go as planned.

That night, Gideon came home enveloped in a glacial silence.

Thinking the arrogant board of directors had given him a hard time again, I wrapped my arms and legs around him, murmuring soft comforts into his neck for a long time.

That was until he pulled the very same bank card out of his pocket and tossed it onto the coffee table. His face was devoid of warmth. "Look at what you did."

He raised his eyes, fixing me with a stern, judgmental glare. "Linda is not like you. She clawed her way up from nothing to get here. Her life is incredibly hard."

"Even if you are insanely jealous, you do not use money to humiliate her."

I was stunned into silence.

That was our very first real fight.

Even when I showed him the security footage, he absolutely refused to believe Linda would try to harm me. He genuinely thought I was throwing a pampered heiress tantrum, going out of my way to bully a poor subordinate.

As a punishment, he not only paid for her mother's surgery out of his own pocket but also promoted her to his personal executive assistant.

Spending day and night together in the executive suite, they grew increasingly intimate.

There was a viral artisan ice cream shop I had been begging him to visit for months. He ended up taking Linda instead.

When I confronted him, he brushed it off with a careless shrug. "The kid has a sweet tooth. I was just humoring her."

Linda's birthday wish was to ride the city's grand Ferris wheel at sunset with him.

He agreed to that, too.

They took countless photos together. Linda chose a candid shot of Gideon's handsome side profile and set it as her social media background.

There were times I called my husband, only for Linda's sickly sweet voice to answer.

"Mrs. Wyatt, the CEO is currently changing his clothes."

Her voice purred through the receiver, soft and victorious. "If you need anything, just tell me. I will be sure to pass the message along."

I hung up after seconds of suffocating silence.

But minutes later, Gideon called back, his tone absolutely freezing. "What exactly did you say to Linda?"

"Why is she sobbing her eyes out after taking your call?"

"What will it take for you to believe that there is nothing going on between us? Does bullying a young girl make you feel powerful?"

I listened to his accusations, drained of all energy. The fortress of trust I had built in my heart felt like it was drowning in a silent, violent tide. The wind whistled through the newly carved holes, and the pain was agonizing.

And then came the day I caught Linda stealing that kiss.

On our wedding anniversary, no less.

Months of agonizing, unspoken grievances erupted like a volcano.

Refusing to listen to any more empty excuses, I lost my mind entirely. I tore the place apart, screaming and crying.

I became the crazy, hysterical woman in everyone's eyes.

Gideon watched my meltdown with a deep frown, his eyes chillingly detached. "Are you absolutely insisting on a divorce?"

Eyes bloodshot, I gave a firm nod.

He stood up slowly, a cruel sneer twisting his features. "I have spoiled you far too much."

"When the Vanderbilt family went bankrupt, I took on tens of millions of your parents' toxic debts just to clean up their mess. Without me keeping the wolves at bay these past few years, your family would have been driven to suicide."

"If you insist on walking away, you will be blacklisted by Wyatt Corp. Not a single company in this country will dare to hire you."