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He Chose the Cleaning Lady, So I Left Him With Nothing
NovelShort
Hoàn thành
In the third year of Emma’s remarriage, her husband, James, fell in love with a poor cleaning lady.
Chương (5)
第1章
In the third year of Emma’s remarriage, her husband, James, fell in love with a poor cleaning lady.
He disguised himself as a security guard and reunited the entire company to engage in his illicit affairs.
Emma caught them in the act, but James was unconcerned. “Emma, three years ago when we remarried, I promised you that I would only ever have you as my wife. You don’t need to be so petty with a young girl.”
His manner was exactly the same as when he was caught cheating on her five years ago. Ignoring the tears in Emma’s eyes, James smiled indifferently.
He was certain she couldn’t live without him. After all, their remarriage was due to their son’s dying wish.
But the next day, Emma caught James walking into the maternity hospital with his new lover. At that moment, she learned: her husband had already had a child with another woman.
Even when their child was seriously ill, he was still having an affair. Emma wiped away her tears, took photos as evidence and called her lawyer to file for divorce.
James had long forgotten the agreement he signed when they remarried. If he cheated on her again, he would leave with nothing. This time, she wanted James to repay everything he owed her and their son!
Her husband fell in love with a poor cleaning lady and reunited the entire company to play games with him while he pretended to be a security guard.
When Emma pushed open the door, the girl was already sitting in her usual spot, her clothes half-revealed, looking both alluring and shy.
“Mr. Nicholas, do we need to check here too?”
James leaned in, pulling her into his arms, his hand caressing the curve of her breasts. Seeing her, Charlotte timidly hid behind the man.
James turned around, his composed, superior manner returning, as if his previous gentleness had been an illusion. “Emma, I’m just doing a routine check.”
Emma’s gaze fell on Charlotte’s huge chest. “A check requires you to take off your clothes? Do you think I’m that easy to fool?” Without waiting for a reply, she turned and headed for the elevator.
The man quickly followed, taking off his security guard jacket to reveal a neatly pressed white shirt underneath. He sighed softly, his tone helpless yet indulgent.
“Emma, it’s not what you think. Charlotte’s family is struggling financially. I only let her join the company out of pity.” He reached out to touch her face, but she turned her head away.
His hand paused in midair, then he withdrew it and put it in his trouser pocket. “Fine, if you mind, I’ll let her go.”
Emma looked at him, suddenly remembering five years ago. That day, she came home early, only to find him on their wedding bed, passionately ravaging a minor celebrity. Ignoring James’s pleas, she resolutely divorced him.
But two years later, their son died of a serious illness. James stood downstairs at her apartment, soaked in sweat. “Emma, Michael said before he left that he hoped Mommy and Daddy would remarry.”
Her heart softened. On the night of their remarriage, James lit up the entire Eldoria skyline for her at Valtheris Harbour.
He even bought a full-page advertisement on Valtheris Harbour, playing it day and night. “Emma, I will never let you down in this life.”
For the next three years, he showered her with all the sincerity he could buy in Eldoria.
The next day, a private investigator sent photos: James accompanied Charlotte into a private maternity hospital.
At the corner of the corridor, Emma overheard his conversation with a friend.
“Mr. Nicholas, are you really going to let her give birth?”
James’s voice was full of exhaustion. “Charlotte insists on giving birth, even if it’s just to leave a memory.”
“A memory? Don’t you already have a son?”
After a brief silence, James’s voice grew even deeper. “Michael was seriously ill then and Emma was having a complete mental breakdown. I felt terrible seeing her like that, so I went to Norvanya to clear my head.”
“Clearing your head and ending up in bed with Charlotte? Mr. Nicholas, what if Emma finds out and starts a divorce again?”
“She won’t. She promised Michael she’d be with me forever.” The resolute voice made Emma’s breath catch in her throat.
“It was because Emma was taking care of Michael day and night at the hospital that I was able to be with Charlotte in Norvanya…”
Emma couldn’t hear the rest of the words. She leaned against the wall, feeling as if her whole world was collapsing.
Three years ago, Michael was hospitalized and she stayed by his side day and night, growing thinner and thinner.
James, however, frequently left Eldoria under the pretext of work.
She thought he couldn’t bear to see his son suffer, but it turned out he was thousands of miles away, creating “a memory” with another woman!
A wave of nausea washed over her and she rushed to the bathroom, vomiting for a long time. Until she could vomit nothing more, only tears streamed down her face.
Staggering out of the hospital, Emma contacted the lawyer who had handled her divorce. “When my husband remarried me, he signed an agreement to show his sincerity; if he cheated on me again, he would leave with nothing.”
She sent the lawyer a recording she had made outside the hospital corridor and photos she had taken the day before. “Please process this divorce for me again.”
After sending the message, James pushed open the door and entered. He hugged her from behind, his voice low and gentle. “Emma, I’ve already had Charlotte leave Eldoria. Don’t be angry with me anymore, okay?”
When he released her, a full-diamond necklace was now around her neck. “I saw it at the auction. I thought you’d like it.” His movements were gentle, like he was coaxing a child.
Emma looked at that familiar face, her heart turning cold. Five years ago, after she caught him sleeping with that minor celebrity, he had acted the same way.
He gave her the yacht she had always wanted and took her on a trip to the Zerathia. He had never taken her anger and sadness to heart, nor had he ever truly worried that she would leave. Five years ago, it was true; five years later, it was even more so.
That evening, James took Emma to a charity gala.
“Mr. and Mrs. Nicholas are still as loving as ever!” someone complimented.
James, his arm around her waist, gazed at her with deep affection. “Marrying Emma is the greatest blessing of my life.” Emma smiled in response, but didn't reply. The vow was real and so was the change of heart. How laughable that she had once naively believed that time and loss could teach a person to cherish.
“Mrs. Nicholas, your wine.” A waiter approached with a tray.
Just as Emma reached out, the waiter seemed to slip and he crashed straight into her! The three-meter-high champagne tower behind her collapsed, smashing into her.
Champagne mixed with blood soaked her entire body. The banquet hall fell silent; everyone stared in disbelief at the scene.
Emma looked up and saw the waiter who had bumped into her. It was Charlotte, whom James had mentioned “already leaving Eldoria.”
第2章
Emma was hospitalized. The next day, James personally brought breakfast to her hospital room.
“I’ve already called the police about last night’s incident. Intentional assault will get her in jail for years. Emma, I promise she won’t show her face in front of you again.”
A promise? Last night, he had made the same solemn promise that he had sent Charlotte out of Eldoria and now she was at the banquet.
After seeing James off, Emma received news. The necklace her mother had left her had appeared at an underground casino near the former Calderon Walled City.
This was her mother’s only keepsake and her heartache for many years. Without hesitation, Emma went alone.
But when she pushed open the door, sitting behind the velvet gambling table, was none other than Charlotte, who should have been in prison! Her makeup was impeccable and a mountain of valuable chips lay before her.
Where was the image of the impoverished cleaning lady? Emma gave a self-deprecating laugh. The so-called departure from Eldoria was a lie, the imprisonment was a lie; only James’s deception was real.
Their eyes met and Charlotte smiled smugly, opening her palm. “Mrs. Nicholas, what a coincidence, looking for this?” In her palm lay the jade necklace her mother had left her.
Emma felt her blood rush to her head, then freeze instantly. “Does James know you’re wasting his money in a place like this?”
Charlotte’s expression stiffened. “Mr. Nicholas arranged this job for me; I was just playing around…”
Emma ignored her, walking straight to the person in charge. “I want to redeem this necklace.”
She hadn’t even touched the supplementary card James had given her; she had easily won back the necklace.
Before leaving, Emma turned back and said calmly, “Please thank Mr. Nicholas for his generosity in keeping this necklace for me temporarily.”
That evening, as Emma was polishing the necklace, James returned. He loosened his tie and casually asked, “I heard you went to Calderon Walled City today and even gambled? You even humiliated a young girl, winning all her money and embarrassing her in public? Emma, when did you become so undignified?”
Emma paused, wanting to explain. But James didn’t give her a chance. He walked to the liquor cabinet, poured himself a glass of whiskey and looked at her with a mixture of disappointment and understanding.
“Charlotte worked as a croupier in the Norvanya casino back then because of financial necessity, just like... when we first came to Eldoria, didn’t you dance in bars in Lunaris to earn more money? Why make things difficult for each other, clinging to past embarrassments?”
The word “embarrassment” was like a resounding slap across Emma’s face. She jerked her head up, staring at him in disbelief.
Years ago, her family had fallen on hard times and she had come to Eldoria with James. After finishing work late at night, James would always squeeze into their cramped room in the tenement building, tenderly massaging her aching calves, vowing to give her a better life.
Those shared hardships they had endured together, through thick and thin, were now described by him as accusations of her being undignified and “shameful.”
That night, they parted on bad terms. The next day, Emma received a message from James: [Emma, the pendant on your mother's necklace is a little loose. If you want it, come to Calderon Walled City.]
Emma gripped her phone, her knuckles turning white. That place was the underground casino from yesterday. James wanted to use this method to force her to go back and face Charlotte.
Pushing open the casino door, Emma met a boss who had once been interested in her. That boss had tried to seduce her because of her beauty, but James had dealt with him with ruthless methods, after which he left Eldoria. She never expected their reunion to be in this way.
Lucas stared at her, then suddenly laughed. “Mr. Nicholas, you’re quite the gentleman. To redeem that female croupier, you actually used your own wife as a bargaining chip.”
Emma then realized that Charlotte had lost the bet and Lucas wanted to take her away.
James refused, so he used her as the wager to get Charlotte back. The game began. Emma, pale and cold, watched the man strategizing with such confidence.
Long ago, James had also made his fortune in this way, back when he didn’t have the power to control everything he had now. She had also been forced into becoming a bargaining chip. When she sat down at the table, James trembled. He was terrified that one mistake would cost him her.
Now, his calm and collected face showed no trace of tension. Lucas opened the pot, three sixes. James lost.
第3章
Just as Emma closed her eyes, heartbroken and resigned to her fate, ready to perish with Lucas, James’s voice rang out again. “Lucas, shouldn’t you take out the magnet under your table?”
As soon as he finished speaking, two bodyguards stepped forward and restrained Lucas.
James pulled the magnet from under the table and threw it in front of him. “Cheating on my territory and desiring my woman, do you want to die?”
Lucas’s face was drained of color. “Mr. Nicholas, this is all a misunderstanding, a misunderstanding!”
James didn’t look at him again and had him taken away like trash. After dealing with these matters, he stood up, took off his coat and wrapped it over Emma. “Scared? Let’s go home.”
In the car, James took out a jewelry box from his pocket; inside was Emma’s mother’s necklace. The necklace pendant had been re-set with gold and jade, making it look even more magnificent than before.
“Emma, how could I really put you in danger?” He turned to look at her, his eyes unfathomable in the night. “Today, I just wanted you to know that I always know my limits.” He reached out, wanting to gently stroke her face.
Emma turned her head away, her fingertips digging deeply into her palm. He knew his limits? Yes, his limits were seeing her fear, seeing her despair and then lightly offering a rescue.
He knew perfectly well that what she hated and feared most was this feeling of being swept away from heaven and hell in an instant.
But for Charlotte’s sake, to teach her a lesson, he still pushed her into this situation without hesitation. She gritted her teeth, clutching the necklace tightly, without uttering a word.
She thought the storm had passed, but a few days later, James knocked on her door again. “Has Charlotte contacted you these past two days?”
Emma was taken aback. “She called me, but I didn’t answer.”
James sighed softly, his tone helpless yet indulgent. “I know you don’t like her, but Charlotte is naive and timid. I’m worried about her. Emma, for my sake, don’t hold it against her, okay? Tell me where she is, alright?”
Emma’s heart sank. “You think I kidnapped her?”
James looked at her for a few seconds, then suddenly smiled. That smile held a hint of helplessness, like looking at a sulking child. “Emma, I’m not doubting you. It’s just that Charlotte’s whereabouts are currently unknown and you were the last person she contacted.”
As he spoke, he dialed a number on the room’s internal phone. “Officer Matthew, my wife might be connected to the disappearance of one of my friends. I need you to come over and assist with the investigation.”
Emma looked at his still gentle eyes, but felt a chill seep into her bones. “You called the police?”
James patted her hair reassuringly. “It’s just a routine inquiry, don’t be afraid.”
Officer Matthew arrived quickly and Emma was immediately handcuffed. Before being taken away, James even wrapped a coat over her shoulders, his tone gentle. “Just a few questions. I’ll pick you up after I’ve taken care of things.”
Just as she was being led into the police car, James’s phone rang. He answered, his voice low and focused. “Charlotte? Where are you? Don’t panic, I’m coming right away.”
Emma suddenly leaned out of the car window. “James, I already said it wasn’t me!”
But before she could finish speaking, the man had already strode away. He left in such a hurry that he even forgot Emma was still in the police car about to be taken away.
Emma clenched her fingers. “Officer Matthew, the person has been found, can you let me go now?”
Officer Matthew pursed his lips helplessly. “Mrs. Nicholas, we also need to follow procedures.”
Emma was taken to the detention center. The night in Eldoria was chilly and the detention center was dark. Her claustrophobia quickly flared up and she even began to hallucinate.
She seemed to see again the days after their marriage, when James installed thousands of nightlights in the villa and even held her in his arms to lull her to sleep.
But then, the scene distorted, turning into him and Charlotte in the office, then into Michael lying on the floor covered in blood…
The night passed and all ten of her fingernails were broken off, bleeding profusely. The walls and doors were covered with scratches from the extreme fear she had endured the previous night.
Officer Matthew felt a pang of pity. “Mrs. Nicholas, why don’t you call Mr. Nicholas and ask him to bail you out? He loves you so much, how could he bear to leave you here…”
But after ninety-nine calls, no one answered.
第4章
Officer Matthew’s gaze towards her became complicated. She spent another three days in the detention center.
Three days later, James finally remembered her. James came to pick her up personally. Seeing her frail figure, his brows furrowed slightly and he quickly stepped forward to drape his coat over her shoulders. “How did you get like this?”
He held her mangled fingers, his eyes filled with tenderness. “It was my negligence that made you suffer. I was handling urgent matters in Norvanya these past few days and I only saw the news today…”
This gesture, if it had happened before, might have softened Emma’s heart. But now, she simply withdrew her fingers. “Let’s go.” The stinging pain in her fingertips was far less than the numbness in her heart.
All the way, James patiently comforted her, signaling the driver to drive carefully while taking out a thermos. “Your favorite red date and longan tea.”
The warmth from the tea quickly dissipated the moment Emma pushed open the villa door. Charlotte, dressed in a maid’s dress, was kneeling on the floor with her back to the door, her buttocks raised high.
Emma froze in her tracks. “Isn’t the cleaning lady’s antics enough? Does she have to wear a maid outfit and continue this uniform fetish?”
James frowned slightly, put his arm around her shoulder and explained gently, “Charlotte ran off last time and caused you to be misunderstood. She feels bad about it, so she wants to work as a maid for a few days. If you don’t want her, I’ll make her leave tomorrow.”
The same old excuse. Emma felt exhausted. She pulled her hand away and turned to go upstairs.
In the afternoon, Charlotte brought in tea. But when she put down the tray, her elbow accidentally bumped into a photo frame on the table. The photo frame fell to the ground, the glass shattering instantly.
Emma froze instantly, her blood seemingly freezing. That was the only family photo the three of them had taken when Michael turned one month old. Now it was shattered.
Charlotte cried out in alarm and hurriedly knelt down to pick it up.
“Don’t touch it!” Emma pushed her away, trembling as she knelt down and carefully picked up the photo. Her fingertips traced Michael’s bright smiling face, her heart breaking.
She raised her hand and slapped Charlotte hard across the face. The loud noise startled James. He looked at the mess on the floor, then at the finger mark on Charlotte’s face and gently comforted Emma in his arms.
“Emma, don’t be angry, don’t be angry. It was my oversight. The negative of this photo should still be there. I’ll have someone expedite the restoration tomorrow, okay?”
Emma leaned against him, listening to his steady heartbeat, but she couldn't feel any warmth.
That evening, she received a message from Charlotte: [Mrs. Nicholas, you probably don’t know, but after you left, Mr. Nicholas has been comforting me in the room. He even applied medicine for me himself just now.]
She then sent a photo. In the photo, James is kneeling on one knee, tenderly stroking Charlotte’s face.
Emma’s fingers paused slightly. James had always been arrogant and haughty; even with her, he had only knelt before her during his proposal and their subsequent remarriage. Now, for Charlotte, he had lowered himself considerably.
Looking at the screen, she could almost picture Charlotte’s smug expression as she typed. She replied expressionlessly: [A maid doesn’t deserve a cell phone. It seems James is still too lenient with you.]
After sending the message, Emma blocked Charlotte’s number.
The next day, to make up for the previous day’s unpleasantness, James took Emma to a private auction. Faced with those priceless jewels, James didn’t even blink, repeatedly raising his paddle to bid for Emma’s items.
“The last item, from Mrs. Nicholas!” As the announcer’s voice fell, the curtain rose, revealing a huge tank filled with countless piranhas on the stage. Above the water tank, an iron cage was slowly lowering. Inside the cage was Charlotte, dressed in a thin white dress!
“Mrs. Nicholas ordered that this beauty be bid on before the countdown ends, otherwise, the cage door will open and this beauty will have intimate contact with the piranhas in the tank.”
James’s previously relaxed body instantly stiffened. He almost instinctively looked at Emma beside him, his eyes filled with disappointment. “Emma, stop. Even if she displeases you, this method has gone too far.”
Emma clenched her fingers, her heart turning icy cold. Charlotte’s self-directed trick was so clumsy that he couldn’t possibly not see it, yet he still condemned her without explanation.
“James, in your eyes, am I just a vicious woman who will stop at nothing? Since you’ve decided it’s me, then you might as well see what your little lover looks like after being bitten by piranhas!”
James’s eyes suddenly darkened and he raised his bidding paddle without hesitation.
“$2.9 million USD!” Having successfully won the bid, he immediately strode onto the stage, not even bothering to say a word to Emma.
Emma sat alone, surrounded by various ambiguous gazes. She sat upright, expressionless. Just when she thought the matter was over, two men in black approached.
“Mrs. Nicholas, our auction house’ rule is always one for one. Since that young lady has left, you will take her place as today’s auction item!”
第5章
The words had barely left her lips when the two men in black grabbed Emma and forcibly dragged her onto the stage.
“Let me go!” She struggled violently, but to no avail.
Under the malicious gazes of the crowd, she was thrown heavily into the water tank. The icy water instantly submerged her head. Before she could even breathe, the excruciating pain of her flesh being torn apart followed.
Piranhas frantically tore at her flesh and blood instantly stained the entire tank red. Before her consciousness faded, she vaguely heard the auctioneer’s cold voice from below the stage.
“Mr. Nicholas instructed that his wife be given an unforgettable lesson, to learn who is untouchable.”
James’s instructions? Emma felt ice-cold all over. Just because of Charlotte’s self-directed and self-acted drama, he was going to treat her like this?!
She didn’t know how much time had passed before she was roughly dragged out of the water tank and thrown to the ground like a rag doll.
She woke up again in a hospital, her body completely covered in bandages, every inch of her flesh bruised.
The doctor looked at her, frowning. “You’re pregnant and you still haven’t been careful. You’ve suffered such serious injuries. Where’s your husband? Did you know you miscarried?” Emma froze.
She was pregnant? She didn’t even know. After Michael’s death, she had been depressed and desperate several times. Her greatest wish in life was to have another child like Michael.
But now, before she even had time to feel joy, that little life had left her. She lay in the hospital bed, staring blankly at the ceiling, unable to even shed a tear.
That afternoon, a nurse came in to change her dressings and couldn’t help but chat, “Ms. Ryan in the VIP room next door is really lucky. I heard she was just frightened and Mr. Nicholas has been taking care of her every step of the way.”
“Yes, he even personally brought her water and medicine. Unlike this one here…” The nurse looked at Emma with pity.
Emma closed her eyes, a self-deprecating smile playing on her lips.
That night, James came. Seeing Emma covered in bandages, lifeless and pale, his pupils contracted and he spoke in a hoarse voice. “Emma, Charlotte said you just fell, I didn’t expect you to be so badly injured… Children… We’ll have more in the future.”
Emma lay on the bed, not even lifting her eyelids. James was still unaware that she had been thrown into the water tank and bitten by piranhas, still believing Charlotte’s one-sided story, thinking she had just fallen.
“In the future?” There would be no future. That was what she thought to herself.
The next day, Emma had just finished changing her dressing when the door was gently pushed open.
Charlotte, wrapped in James’s coat, had a rosy complexion. If it weren’t for the hospital gown, you wouldn’t have guessed she was a patient.
“How pitiful, Mrs. Nicholas.” Her eyes held undisguised smugness and malice. “I heard you lost another child and are covered in injuries? I’m so sorry, Mr. Nicholas took care of me all day yesterday and only had time to come see you this evening.”
Emma remained unresponsive, her eyes still closed. Charlotte bent down and whispered in her ear, “By the way, you don’t know, do you? Your little one didn’t survive back then, not because the illness was too acute–”
Emma’s eyes snapped open, her bloodshot eyes fixed on her. “What did you say?”
“It was because when the little one had a seizure that day, I was in a bad mood and wanted Mr. Nicholas to go to the beach with me. He came with me without a second thought, completely forgetting that your child was still lying in the hospital waiting for help.” Charlotte became increasingly smug as she spoke. “You didn’t see it? When the doctor called via video, the child’s face was turning blue and purple. No wonder he couldn’t be saved. Don’t you think so, Mrs. Nicholas?”
The last thread of reason in Emma’s mind snapped completely. She had always believed her baby hadn’t survived due to limited medical resources. But she never imagined the truth was that James had let their child die for another woman!
She abruptly rolled out of bed and with a strength she didn’t know she possessed, grabbed Charlotte’s hair and slammed her against the wall with all her might. “Charlotte, I want you to kowtow and apologize to my child!”
Caught off guard, Charlotte screamed. Blood immediately appeared on her forehead. The commotion attracted James, who rushed over and saw Charlotte’s bloodied face.
“Stop!” He pushed Emma aside, shielding Charlotte behind him, his face ashen. “Emma, are you insane?”
Emma lay on the ground, panting heavily, her eyes bloodshot as she glared at the man and woman before her. “James, you killed Michael!”
James was stunned for a moment, then roared, “What nonsense are you spouting! Michael was terminally ill; no one could save him. I think you’ve lost your mind. Guards, take Madam back to the villa and let her sober up. No one is allowed to let her out without my order!”
With that, James carried Charlotte away without a second glance. Emma curled up in the villa room, her heart feeling like it had been ripped open.
Just then, her lawyer sent her a message: [Ms. William, your previously submitted divorce application has been officially approved by the court.]
Emma’s eyes lit up instantly. She could finally leave this place and make James and Charlotte pay the price!
She gathered her documents and Michael’s belongings, then jumped out of the second-floor window.
After hailing a taxi, she got in, snapped her SIM card and then resolutely pressed the detonator in her hand.
A massive explosion echoed through the sky. Emma looked back out the car window; the once luxurious villa was now a pile of rubble.
Amidst the billowing flames, Emma averted her gaze. The car drove into the darkness of the night. And she never looked back.