The Disgraced Househusband Is a Tech Tycoon Chapter 2

Five years ago, Felix's company consisted of exactly five people working out of a cramped residential apartment.

He told me we were going to change the world. We were going to build something disruptive.

I told him I was getting married. Victoria needed me.

Felix pleaded with me. "Nolan, think about this carefully. Opportunities like this only come around once in a lifetime."

I replied without a second of hesitation. "Family only comes around once in a lifetime, too."

He stayed silent for a long time before replying. "Alright. I will always keep a seat warm for you. Whenever you want to come back, the door is open."

Today, his company, Abyss Innovations, was an untouchable industry giant. And I had become the pathetic back scrubbing a toilet on a projector screen.

After a brief moment of hesitation, I pressed the call button.

It rang exactly once before it was picked up.

"Hello?" Felix's voice came through the speaker, carrying a hint of exhaustion from being interrupted.

"It is me. Nolan."

The line went dead silent. A few seconds later, Felix's voice practically exploded through the receiver, vibrating with sheer, unbelievable excitement. "Nolan? Is that really you?!"

"It's me."

"Bro, you finally woke up!"

Felix's voice fired off like a string of firecrackers.

"I kept your equity shares perfectly intact all these years. Where are you right now? Tomorrow, no, tonight, I am sending a car to pick you up. The team is currently hard-stuck on a massive vulnerability in our core security protocol. You called at the absolute perfect time..."

He spoke at lightning speed, his familiar, burning passion rushing over me. My eyes grew slightly hot.

"Felix, I can't come over just yet."

I interrupted his rant, my voice slightly hoarse.

"Why not?" Felix's excitement ground to a halt, replaced by deep confusion.

"Let me handle some personal matters at home first. But that vulnerability you mentioned, you can send the files over. I will take a look."

"Done!" Felix didn't pry any further, always a man of decisive action. "Nolan, if you are stepping in, this problem is already half solved!"

A few minutes later, the encrypted data transfer was complete.

Staring at the dense walls of data and complex architecture diagrams, everything felt completely foreign, yet intimately familiar.

Over the next three days, my life appeared exactly the same.

I dropped Sophie off at kindergarten, went grocery shopping, cooked dinner, and cleaned the floors.

Victoria continued to leave early and return late, entirely consumed by her corporate ambitions.

We barely spoke a word to each other. The atmosphere in our home was colder than living with a stranger.

The only difference was that every night after my daughter fell asleep, and every spare second between chores, my brain was operating at maximum velocity.

Late on the third night, I sent a complete security patch and a meticulously detailed analysis report directly to Felix.

Minutes later, my phone lit up. Felix's voice was pitching upwards in pure hysteria.

"Holy shit! Nolan! You are a literal god! Not only did you patch the hole, but you optimized the entire defensive logic loop! The engineering team is practically worshipping your code right now!"

Listening to his incoherent, ecstatic praise, the corners of my mouth twitched into a faint smile. Yet, my heart remained strangely calm, as if I had just completed the most basic, trivial task in the world.

"Send me your bank details. I am wiring your consulting fee right now."

I hesitated for a moment, but I didn't refuse. I genuinely needed money right now. Not to prove a point, but to buy back the life I had surrendered.

Shortly after, my mobile banking app chimed with a deposit notification: $5,000,000.

I froze staring at the screen and immediately called him back. "Felix, this is way too much for a simple vulnerability patch."

"Too much?" Felix yelled into the phone. "Nolan, do you have any idea how many millions we would bleed daily if our competitors exploited that backdoor? Double this amount wouldn't even cover your true value. I actually feel like I am underpaying you. You have to take this money, or I am going to be seriously pissed off!"

Hanging up the phone, I stared at that long string of zeros. For the first time, I truly grasped how pathetic and laughable my so-called "sacrifice" and "support" over the past five years had been.

It took Victoria five grueling years of climbing the corporate ladder to secure her million dollar salary.

It took me exactly three days, working entirely in the margins of diaper changes and dishwashing, to earn five times her annual income.

With the money secured, I began my transformation.

First, I walked into the most exclusive boutique in the city and ordered several bespoke, tailored suits.

I stepped back into a high-end gym, hired a private trainer, and resurrected the physique I had neglected for years.

I also bought a watch. A subtle, understated piece that only people with true wealth and taste could recognize.

When I walked into the living room completely reinvented, Victoria visibly froze.

She looked me up and down, her gaze lingering on the metal around my wrist before her lips curled into a mocking sneer.

"Nolan, since when did you learn to play dress-up? Wearing a fake designer watch out in public, aren't you afraid of humiliating yourself? What is this, a midlife crisis? Is this how you desperately search for validation?"

Her words were like icy needles, but they could no longer pierce the psychological armor I had built.

However, the final, fatal stab came without warning.

That evening, I had taken Sophie to the playground and stayed out a bit late.

As we walked back to our apartment building, I spotted a sleek Mercedes Maybach idling near the entrance.

Victoria stepped out of the passenger side. A distinguished, middle-aged man stepped out from the driver's side.

The man casually reached out and tucked a stray strand of hair behind Victoria's ear.

Then, the two of them embraced. It was a fluid, deeply intimate motion that was absolutely not their first time.

The man got back into the luxury car and drove off. Victoria turned around, a lingering, sweet smile painted on her face, until she saw me standing quietly in the shadows a few yards away.

A flash of panic crossed her features, but it was instantly buried under a mask of arrogant justification.

"My company is fighting for a massive contract. The total value is over a billion dollars. That was Preston, the executive holding the keys to the final bidding process. In the business world, you sometimes have to put on a show and play the game."

I didn't say a single word to her. I just stared at the empty road where the Maybach had disappeared.

In that exact moment, the final, lingering shred of hesitation in my heart was permanently extinguished.

Since that is how you want to play it, Victoria, I will use my true power to show you exactly what it is you abandoned and trampled on.

The man you saw as a "negative asset" scrubbing your toilets is going to become the one insurmountable mountain standing between you and your precious billionaire contract.