“Get up. You’re embarrassing everyone,” she said as I lay at the bottom of the stairs. I was invisible again—until a deep voice cut through the silence: “Touch her again and you’ll regret it.” When he reached for my hand, the room froze. No one knew who I really was… not yet.
A sharp, piercing pain shot down my spine as my body slammed against the final, red-carpeted step of the Metropolitan Museum of Art (The Met). The sound of shattering glasses echoed, followed by a deathly silence that enveloped the opulent hall.
The pungent smell of blood filled my mouth. I struggled to open my eyes, seeing the gleaming designer shoes surrounding me. No one bent down to help me. They just stared, whispered, and judged.
“Oh dear, it’s Liam’s country bumpkin wife again,” I heard a famous model nearby whisper. “Doesn’t she know how to walk in high heels?”
Liam – my husband – descended the stairs. He wasn’t rushing in a panic. He walked slowly, adjusting the diamond cufflinks on his Tom Ford suit jacket, his handsome face showing undisguised disgust.
He stopped directly in front of me, lightly kicking my foot with the tip of his polished Italian leather shoe.
“Get up. You’re embarrassing everyone,” Liam hissed through clenched teeth, his voice low enough only for me to hear, but cold enough to freeze the blood in my veins.
I, Maya, the wife who had sacrificed her own career to support Liam’s tech company for the past three years, looked up at him. Beside him, on the higher steps, was Chloe – the hot secretary who had “accidentally” slipped and pushed me down earlier. She was covering her mouth and giggling, a triumphant look in her eyes.
“I… I’m in pain, Liam. I think I sprained my ankle…” I whispered.
“Stop acting,” Liam bent down, his hand gripping my bicep until it turned purple, roughly trying to pull me up. “Don’t let the investors see this. I have to meet with the Chairman of BlackRock today. Don’t let your clumsiness ruin my billion-dollar deal.”
I became invisible again. In their eyes, I was just a flawed accessory, an obstacle that needed to be cleared away so the frivolous party could continue.
Liam yanked my arm. The pain from my ankle made me cry out and I collapsed again.
“Useless!” Liam roared, raising his hand to slap me to “bring me back to my senses”—a violent habit he usually practiced at home, but now dared to bring out in public because he thought I was worthless.
Liam’s arm swung in mid-air.
Chapter 2: The Hand of Death
BAM!
It wasn’t a slap to my face. It was the sound of Liam’s hand being stopped in mid-air.
A large, strong hand, like an iron clamp, gripped Liam’s wrist, twisting it backward.
“Touch her again, and you’ll regret it.”
A deep, resonant voice, like distant thunder, shattered the silence of the banquet hall. It wasn’t a threat, but the assertion of an absolute command.
Liam winced in pain, spinning around: “Who the hell are you…?”
Liam’s curse choked in his throat.
Standing before him was a man in his 40s, dressed in a custom-tailored, jet-black tuxedo, his demeanor exuding danger and overwhelming power. His cold, ash-gray eyes stared at Liam as if he were an insect.
It was Alexander Sterling.
The entire room fell silent. Whispers erupted. “Alexander Sterling? The venture capital firm Sterling Capital?” “The man dubbed the ‘Godfather’ of Wall Street?” “Why would he interfere in the family affairs of a small-time CEO?”
Alexander shoved Liam’s hand away like a piece of trash. Liam staggered back, clutching his reddened wrist, his face drained of color. He knew who Alexander was. That was the person Liam had been applying to meet for six months now, but had never even gotten past the secretary.
Alexander didn’t look at Liam for another second. He knelt on one knee on the cold marble floor, right beside me.
The moment he reached out and took my hand, the room froze.
He didn’t hold my hand like someone catching a fall. He lifted my hand, bowed slightly, and placed a light kiss on the back of my hand – the gesture of a knight to his queen.
“You’re late, Maya,” Alexander said, his voice strangely gentle. “And you chose to make such a fuss?”
I looked into those familiar gray eyes, smiling weakly through the pain: “I’m sorry, Alex. I had a little trouble with… the trash.”
Chapter 3: The Mask Falls
Liam stood frozen. Chloe, standing on the stairs, also gaped.
“Mr… Mr. Sterling,” Liam stammered, trying to salvage the situation. “Do you know my wife? She’s just a clumsy housewife… There must be some mistake…”
Alexander slowly rose, helping me to my feet. Despite my aching leg, standing beside him, I felt my old strength returning to my veins.
“Your wife?” Alexander repeated the word sarcastically. “Do you think you know who she is?”
Alexander turned to the crowd, who were holding up their phones to film. He adjusted the microphone on the nearby podium.
“Ladies and gentlemen,” Alexander’s voice echoed throughout the museum. “I’m not here for a party today. I’m here to pick up my Chairman.”
He took a step back, extending his hand towards me.
“Allow me to introduce the lady that this gentleman…”
“That guy just called ‘useless.’ This is Maya Vance. The founder and sole owner of Vance Global – the parent company that holds 51% of Sterling Capital.”
An invisible explosion rang in everyone’s heads.
Vance Global. The mysterious name behind a series of acquisitions of the biggest tech companies in Silicon Valley. Business circles rumored that the person behind it was a grumpy old Jewish man, or a group of Arab tycoons. No one expected it to be a young woman, the one whose leg her husband had just kicked at the bottom of the stairs.
Liam collapsed. “Vance Global? Impossible… Maya… you’re just the daughter of a teacher…”
“My father was a teacher, yes,” I said, my voice cold, casting aside my earlier weakness. I pulled out a tissue to wipe the blood from my lips. “But he also wrote the core algorithm that Vance Global uses. When he died, I inherited it.” “I hid my identity because I wanted a normal life, I wanted to be loved sincerely. And I chose you, Liam.”
I limped closer to Liam. Alexander walked close beside me like a loyal bodyguard.
“I used my money, through virtual funds, to invest in your startup. I cooked, did laundry, endured your family’s contempt for the past three years just to see: Would you treat me like a human being when you didn’t know who I was?”
I looked straight into Liam’s eyes – eyes now filled with utter horror and regret.
“And the answer is: You treated me like trash.”
Chapter 4: The Devil’s Contract
“Maya! Listen to my explanation!” Liam crawled forward, trying to grab my dress. “I love you! I was just under work pressure! Chloe… she seduced me!” “I swear!”
Chloe stood on the stairs, her face pale, hastily backing away and disappearing into the crowd.
“Work pressure?” I chuckled. “Then let me help you relieve some of that pressure.”
I turned to Alexander. “Alex, what’s the situation with Liam’s company?”
Alexander pulled a tablet from his jacket pocket and lightly tapped his finger.
“Mr. Chairman, Liam’s company, ‘Nano Tech,’ currently owes the bank $50 million. This loan is guaranteed by a subsidiary of Vance Global. The deadline for payment is… midnight tonight.”
“And what if he doesn’t pay?”
“We have the right to activate the ‘Full Foreclosure’ clause. We will seize all personal assets, intellectual property, and permanently ban Liam from any management position in companies within our ecosystem.”
I nodded. “Activate it.”
Liam yelled, “No! Maya! You can’t do that!” “That’s his life’s work!”
“Life’s work?” I leaned down and whispered in his ear. “Your life’s work was built with my money. And you just kicked your ‘investor’ in the foot, you idiot.”
I turned to the crowd and declared loudly:
“From this moment on, anyone in this room who cooperates with Liam or Chloe will be declaring war on Vance Global and Sterling Capital. Consider this carefully.”
Those who had once mocked me, those who had once looked at me as if I were invisible, now recoiled from Liam as if he were a leper. Handshakes were withdrawn. Eyes turned away. In the world of money, loyalty changes faster than stock prices.
Chapter 5: The Price
The museum security guard, receiving a signal from Alexander, stepped forward and grabbed Liam by the armpits.
“Let me go!” “I’m her husband!” Liam screamed, struggling desperately.
“It’s old,” I said, taking off my diamond wedding ring – the one I’d bought myself and given him to propose to me.
I tossed the ring to the floor, where it rolled right next to where he’d fallen.
“Take this and sell it; maybe you’ll have enough money to hire a lawyer for the divorce.” “But I warn you, my legal team will make sure you leave with exactly what you came to me with: empty hands and a rotten character.”
The security guards dragged Liam out the front door. His screams faded into the New York night.
Chloe, the spoiled secretary, tried to sneak out the back door.
“And that girl,” I pointed at Chloe without looking.
Two of Alexander’s bodyguards blocked her way.
“Send notices to all recruitment companies,” I told Alexander. “Put her name on the industry’s blacklist. For the crime of: Intentional injury to a superior and violation of professional ethics.” “I want to make sure the best job she can get later is washing dishes at some fast-food restaurant.”
Chloe burst into tears, collapsing to the ground.
Chapter 6: The Queen Returns
The banquet hall fell silent again. But the atmosphere was different. No more contempt. Only absolute awe.
Alexander took off his tuxedo, draped it over my shoulders to cover my trembling shoulders from the cold and pain. He bent down and lifted me up in a princess style.
“Let’s go, Maya. Our private doctor is waiting in the car.”
I rested my head on his shoulder, feeling the steady heartbeat of my friend, my most loyal partner. I glanced at the crowd of glamorous but empty-headed people. They bowed to me as I passed.
“Get up. You…”
“You’re embarrassing everyone.”
Liam’s words echoed in my head. He was wrong. I wasn’t embarrassing anyone. I’d just taught them a lesson about never judging a book by its cover, and never trampling on the woman who’s willing to stand behind you.
As I walked out of The Met, the flashlights of hundreds of reporters flashed incessantly. This time, I didn’t duck. I held my head high and smiled.
I was no longer the invisible wife. I was Maya Vance. And the real game was just beginning.
