52 Book(s) Related to divorce

At the board meeting, he voted to dilute my equity.

"This is business, Elena. Not personal."

Three years of hidden marriage. I thought we were partners. But in that moment, I finally understood—I was just his technical supplier on the road to success.

What Ryan didn't know: that Technology Contribution Agreement he signed three years ago contained one clause. 70% of NexTech's core algorithm IP belongs to me. Personally.

Product launch day. Two hundred investors watching. I took the microphone.

He thought I'd present the tech specs like always.

He was wrong.

The champagne in my glass had gone flat, but I barely noticed. From our VIP box at the Vienna State Opera House, I watched my husband lean close to the pianist Lucia—close enough that she was practically sitting in my lap.

Five years of marriage. Five years of playing the perfect Habsburg wife, smiling through charity galas and dinner parties, pretending I didn't see the way other women looked at Max, pretending I didn't care when he looked back.

The diamonds at my throat felt like a noose.

Every eye in the opera house was on us. The Viennese elite loved their gossip, and tonight I was serving it up on a silver platter. The wronged wife, the beautiful mistress, the scandal everyone had been waiting for.

I could have endured it. I'd endured worse.

But when my father collapsed in Berlin—his heart giving out—and I called Max with shaking fingers, all I got was his voicemail. Again and again.

That's when I understood. I hadn't been protecting a marriage. I'd been guarding a tomb.

The question wasn't whether I could bear this humiliation.

The question was: why should I?