“Honey, thank you for letting me live in your apartment for free for five years. While you paid for everything, I saved up to buy my own place — and now I’m divorcing you!” My husband announced this on our wedding anniversary. His mother listened with pride. I simply smiled and said: “What a coincidence, I also have news to share.” What I said next made my husband turn pale, and my mother-in-law was so shocked she had to call an ambulance.

The lights of the Golden Gate Bridge glittered in the distance, reflecting off the floor-to-ceiling glass of my $8 million penthouse in the Marina District. This was my apartment—Sarah Vance, CEO of a biotech company. And tonight, it was decked out to celebrate Jason and my fifth wedding anniversary.

Jason sat across from me at the long dining table, holding a glass of the expensive Petrus wine I’d bought. Beside him was his mother, Margaret, who had flown in from Ohio to “celebrate.” She was wearing a Chanel dress (also a gift from me) and gave me that familiar, scrutinizing look, as if checking to see if her son’s golden goose was still in good health.

“Happy 5th anniversary, honey,” Jason smiled, the handsome smile that had captivated me in college.

“Thanks,” I replied, sipping my wine. “I have a present for you, too.”

I reached for the small box in my purse, but Jason held up a hand to stop me.

“Wait, Sarah,” Jason put down his glass. His smile changed. It was no longer warm, but sharp, calculating, and… triumphant. “I have something to say first. And Mom is here to testify.”

Jason stood up and walked toward the fireplace, the confident air of someone who had just won the lottery.

“Sarah,” he began, his voice echoing in the large room. “Honey, thank you for letting me live in your apartment rent-free for five years. While I was paying for everything, you were saving up for your own place—and now you’re divorcing me!”

I paused, my glass wobbling slightly. “What did you say…? Did you say it backwards? I’m the one who paid for everything.”

“No, I didn’t say it backwards,” Jason sneered. “What I mean is: Thank you for paying for the house, the car, the food, the travel, the clothes… everything for the past five years. Thanks to your generosity (or stupidity), I haven’t spent a penny of my salary. I’ve invested it all. And last week, I closed on a beautiful mansion in Palo Alto. It’s in my name only.”

He pulled a light blue piece of paper from his vest pocket—a divorce decree.

“My lawyer says that since we didn’t have a prenup, and that house was bought with ‘separate savings’ that I cleverly kept separate from our joint accounts, it’s mine. As for your assets… well, I’m going to demand a split of your stock because I’ve been your ‘moral support’ for the past five years.”

Margaret clapped her hands, her face stretching in pure joy. “Well done, son! I told you, you deserve the best. She’s too busy, too mature for you. Now that you have a big house, we can take Alice home.”

Alice. Jason’s first love. The one that Margaret always praised as “gentler, more sensible” than me.

I sat in silence. The naked truth was revealed so quickly that I didn’t have time to feel pain. I just felt… amused.

“So…” I asked calmly, putting my glass down on the table. “You’ve used me for 5 years to accumulate capital, buy your own house, and now you’re going to kick me out and steal half of your company?”

“Don’t be so mean, Sarah,” Jason shrugged. “It’s called strategy. Men need careers. You’re too strong, you make me feel inferior. Now I have my own kingdom. Sorry.”

Margaret added, “Don’t try to hold her back, Sarah. She bought the famous Oak Estate. I’ve seen the pictures, it has a pool and a garden twice as big as this one. I’ll move in there with her and take good care of her, unlike you.”

I looked at them. Greed was evident on their faces.

I smiled. A gentle smile, but enough to make Jason uneasy.

“What a coincidence, Jason,” I said, my voice soft. “I have news to share too.”

I pulled out my tablet, opened a folder, and turned the screen toward them.

“You said you bought The Oak Estate in Palo Alto for $3.5 million, paid for in one lump sum with cash savings and stock winnings, right?”

“How do you know the price?” Jason frowned.

“Because, dear Jason,” I swiped my hand across the screen, revealing the logo of a real estate company. “It was you who sold me that house.”

Jason’s face stiffened. “What? That’s impossible. The seller was a company called Vantage Holdings.”

“That’s right. And Vantage Holdings is a wholly owned subsidiary of mine. I bought that dilapidated mansion six months ago at a bank auction for only $1.2 million. It’s termite-eaten and part of a state highway expansion next year. I was having a headache trying to figure out who to sell it to…”

I looked straight into Jason’s eyes, my smile turning cold.

“Then you showed up. Through the broker, you generously paid three times its true value. Thank you for transferring $3.5 million in cash into my account this morning. The money cleared. The deal is done.”

Jason staggered, gripping the armrests of the chair. “You… you lied to me! Is that house going to be demolished?”

“That’s not all,” I continued, my voice sharp. “You think you’re smart by separating your salary to buy a house? You forget that you’re a

Marketing Director of a subsidiary that… you invested in?”

Jason’s face paled. He worked for Helios Tech, and yes, he didn’t know that I was the largest shareholder there through venture capital funds.

“I had the internal auditors review this morning. You embezzled $500,000 from the advertising budget to cover the house purchase because your savings didn’t amount to $3.5 million, right? You thought you’d make up for it after dividing my assets?”

I threw a stack of documents on the table.

“This is a summons for embezzlement. And this is a dismissal effective immediately. Not only did he lose $3.5 million on a house that was about to be demolished, but he was also facing five to ten years in prison.”

“No… no…” Jason collapsed to the floor, his head in his hands. His perfect world had just collapsed. He was no longer a millionaire. He was broke, in debt, and about to go to jail.

But my final blow wasn’t for Jason. It was for the woman sitting there dumbfounded.

“And Margaret,” I turned to my mother-in-law, my eyes full of fake pity. “You said you were going to move in with Jason? I’m afraid not.”

“Why?” she whispered, clutching her chest.

“To get enough cash to close that house before the ‘fake buyer’ (that I set up) stole it, Jason needed a hard loan to cover the shortfall before embezzling from the company. And he used your house in Ohio as collateral.”

Margaret’s eyes rolled back. “What? My house? My ancestral home?”

“That’s right,” I nodded. “And since Jason has just been charged with embezzlement, the assets related to his dirty money will be seized by the bank to settle the debt. The foreclosure order was issued this afternoon. You… are officially homeless.”

“Jason! What did you do?” Margaret screamed, a heart-wrenching scream. She lunged at her son. “You tricked me into signing that paper! You said it was a guarantee for your promotion!”

“Mom! I thought I was going to win! I thought I was going to get Sarah’s money!” Jason screamed, trying to push her away.

Suddenly, Margaret stopped. Her hand clutched her left breast, her face turning red and purple. She fell to the marble floor, convulsing violently.

“Mom! “Mom!” Jason called out in panic.

I calmly picked up the phone and dialed 911.

“Hello, emergency? There’s a woman having a heart attack at Penthouse 1… Yes, please hurry. And by the way, tell the police, the suspect, Jason Miller, is here.”

I hung up and looked down at my husband, who was crying hysterically next to his dying mother.

“Happy anniversary, Jason,” I said, picking up my glass of wine and drinking it down. “You want freedom? I’ll give you freedom. Free to go to court, free to go bankrupt, and free to start over from zero.”

Outside the glass door, fireworks from the harbor began to shoot up, bright and dazzling, as if to celebrate my release from five years of lies. Jason looked up at me, his eyes filled with utter horror as he realized: He had tried to play a game of chess with a Queen, when he was nothing more than a sacrificial Pawn.