Unaware that his wife had just signed a $50 billion contract, he abandoned her—along with their daughter who was struggling with health issues—to be with another woman. But what happened to his marriage left everyone stunned.
Chapter 1: Signatures in the Intensive Care Unit
Boston Children’s Hospital on a bitterly cold November night. The wind whistling through the thick glass of the intensive care unit (ICU) sounded like the wailing of lost souls.
I, Elena Vance, sat beside my daughter Lily’s bed. She was six years old and suffered from a rare genetic disorder that caused her immune system to attack itself. Her skin was pale and translucent under the fluorescent lights, surrounded by a tangle of wires.
The door to the ward opened. Not the doctor.
It was Mark, my husband. He was wearing an expensive Armani suit, but a plum-red lipstick stain hadn’t been removed from the collar of his white shirt. The strong scent of women’s perfume overpowered the smell of disinfectant.
Mark hadn’t come to visit his daughter. In his hand was a file.
“Elena, we need to end this,” Mark said, his voice cold, not daring to look into Lily’s sleeping eyes. “I can’t take it anymore. This life… this gloomy atmosphere… it’s killing me.”
“What are you saying, Mark?” I whispered, afraid of waking the baby. “She’s lying here. We owe the hospital $200,000. Where are you going?”
“I met someone,” Mark confessed, a cruel relief on his face. “Her name is Jessica. She understands me. She gives me life. And more importantly… she’s not a burden.”
A burden. He called his daughter a burden.
“I want a divorce,” Mark threw the papers down on the table. “Sign here. I’ll leave you the old car and the mortgaged apartment. In return, you take all the medical debts and custody of the children. I won’t contest.”
I looked at the man I’d loved for ten years. He was the CEO of a pharmaceutical company, always boasting about his ability to close deals. But he didn’t know that the biggest deal of his life was happening right here in this room, and he’d just chosen the losing side.
He didn’t know that in the worn-out briefcase at my feet lay another contract.
A patent transfer agreement for the CRISPR-X gene technology that I – a Biochemistry PhD working quietly in the lab for the past five years – had just finalized with OmniCorp Pharmaceuticals.
The deal’s value: $50 billion (including cash and stock).
I was going to tell Mark tonight. I was going to tell him we were rich, that Lily would be saved.
But looking into his eyes, I saw blatant betrayal.
“Okay,” I said, picking up the pen. “I’ll sign. With one condition.”
“Anything, just hurry up,” Mark impatiently checked his watch. Jessica was waiting for him downstairs.
“You have to sign this addendum,” I pulled a handwritten note from my bag. “That you relinquish all rights to any intellectual property, inventions, or income arising from my past, present, and future research. In return, I will take on all the debt.”
Mark sneered. He always considered my research work a “pointless joke” in the university lab. “Fine. Your test tubes aren’t worth a dime. Sign it now.”
He signed. Mark Sterling.
I signed. Elena Vance.
He snatched the divorce papers, turned his back, and walked away, leaving his wife and daughter struggling to breathe. He thought he had just escaped a sinking ship.
He didn’t know he had just jumped from Noah’s Ark into the deep sea.
Chapter 2: Mark’s New Life
Three months later.
Mark was living his dream. Jessica was the daughter of a real estate mogul (or at least she said so). They lived in five-star hotels, partied all night long. Mark felt young again. He had completely forgotten about Elena and Lily.
Until one morning, while he was drinking coffee at The Plaza Hotel in New York, the TV in the lobby turned on the CNBC financial news.
“Breaking news: OmniCorp has just announced the largest acquisition in biotechnology history. They have acquired the rights to a life-saving gene therapy from Dr. Elena Vance for a record-breaking $50 billion.”
Mark choked on his coffee. He coughed violently, his eyes bulging as he stared at the screen.
On the TV was Elena. She no longer looked haggard and tired. She was wearing an elegant white suit, standing next to the CEO of OmniCorp, smiling confidently. And beside her, sitting in a wheelchair but rosy-cheeked and healthy, was Lily. She had been treated using her mother’s method.
“With this money, Dr. Vance has announced she will establish the world’s largest charity to support children with rare diseases,” the editor said.
Mark dropped his coffee cup. $50 billion. And he… he was her husband when she invented it. By state law, he was entitled to half. $25 billion!
He trembled as he pulled out his phone and called Jessica.
“Jess! Are you watching TV? My ex-wife… she’s a billionaire! We’re rich! I’m going to sue for the property! We’re going to buy the whole island!”
But there was an eerie silence on the other end.
“Jessica?”
“Idiot,” Jessica’s voice rang out, cold and sharp, a stark contrast to her usual coquettish tone.
“What did you say?”
“Do you think I love you because of your good looks and your paltry director’s salary, Mark?” Jessica scoffed. “I’m a cockroach.”
“Industrial Espionage Agent. I work for Apex Bio, OmniCorp’s competitor.”
Mark was speechless.
“We know what Elena is researching. My mission was to approach you, use you as a go-between to steal the formula or force her to sell it to us cheaply. I intended to use you to blackmail her.”
“But…” Jessica hissed through the phone. “You’re too stupid and hasty. You divorced her before I could act. And worse, my lawyer just checked the public divorce records. You signed the papers relinquishing your intellectual property rights? Are you crazy?”
“I… I didn’t know…” Mark stammered.
“You’re a useless person, Mark. You’re worthless to me. I’ve canceled the hotel account.” “Take care of yourself.”
Beep. Beep. Beep.
Chapter 3: The Legal Battle
Mark didn’t give up. He hired the best lawyers, borrowed money at exorbitant interest rates to sue me. He loudly proclaimed in the press that I had cheated him, that I was hiding assets. He played the role of a husband betrayed by his wife.
Public opinion began to split. Some believed him.
The trial took place in the Manhattan District Court. Mark appeared haggard, trying to play the victim.
“Your Honor,” Mark’s lawyer said emphatically. “My client sacrificed his youth to support his family and provide for Mrs. Vance’s research.” “She maliciously concealed the value of the assets to trick him into signing an unfavorable agreement.”
I sat calmly at the defendant’s table. My lawyer, Arthur, stood up.
“Your Honor, we would like to present evidence number 1.”
Arthur played a video on the large screen.
It was footage from the security camera in the children’s hospital’s ICU. (Mark had forgotten that ICUs always have cameras monitoring patients 24/7.)
The courtroom fell silent.
Images of Mark walking in, not even looking at his daughter.
Images of him throwing the divorce papers.
And the sound… the sound was crystal clear.
“Her name is Jessica… she has no burdens.”
“Those test tubes of yours aren’t worth a penny.”
The judge frowned. The jury murmured.
“As you can see,” I stood up, looking Mark straight in the eye. “He wasn’t tricked.” He valued me and my daughter as ‘zero.’ He abandoned us when we needed him most. He signed that paper not out of ignorance, but out of contempt and a greedy desire to pursue his mistress.
“And about Jessica,” I continued. “I want to call a special witness.”
The door opened. Jessica walked in.
But she wasn’t in as Mark’s witness. She was handcuffed and accompanied by two FBI agents.
“Ms. Jessica Davis,” the federal prosecutor stood up. “Arrested this morning for economic espionage and fraud. In exchange for a reduced sentence, she agreed to confess to the entire conspiracy.”
Jessica stood before the witness stand, looking at Mark with contempt.
“Mark Sterling is a puppet,” Jessica testified. “I approached him on orders from Apex Bio.” He gave me his wife’s computer password – a violation of federal cybersecurity laws – in exchange for lavish trips.
The courtroom erupted in murmurs. Mark had not only lost his inheritance, he was now accused of being an accomplice in economic espionage.
Mark jumped to his feet, his face drained of color. “No! You’re lying! We loved each other!”
“Love?” Jessica scoffed. “You were just my ticket. But that ticket has expired.”
Chapter 4: The Betrayal of a Traitor
The judge struck the gavel.
“The court rejects all of the plaintiff Mark Sterling’s claims. The divorce settlement is legal and binding.” Defendant Elena Vance retains full ownership of the property.
“Furthermore,” the judge looked at Mark sternly. “Based on witness testimony and video evidence, I recommend that the police arrest Mark Sterling immediately in court on charges of: Unauthorized data access, Violation of trade secrets, and Child neglect.”
The police stormed in. Mark was handcuffed right in front of the press – the very people he had invited to smear me.
I walked out of the courthouse, holding Lily’s hand. She was healthy, her cheeks rosy.
Mark was led past us. He stopped, looked at me, then at Lily. In his eyes was belated remorse, but more than anything, the despair of someone who had lost the biggest lottery ticket of his life.
“Elena…” he whispered. “I’m Lily’s father…”
“No, Mark,” I said, my voice calm. “You’re just a gene donor.” A father wouldn’t call his child a burden.
I turned and walked away.
But the final twist (the story of his new marriage) wasn’t over yet.
In prison, Mark received news about Jessica.
Jessica wasn’t the daughter of a real estate mogul. Nor was she a high-ranking spy.
She was actually a professional con artist, with three husbands who all went bankrupt. She even swindled rival company Apex Bio out of “operational fees” but used the money for lavish living.
And the most shocking thing: Mark and Jessica were never legally married.
The marriage certificate Jessica gave Mark to sign in Las Vegas was fake. She didn’t want to be legally bound by his debts.
But Mark… Mark used that fake marriage certificate to…
He owed the mafia $500,000 in high-interest loans for a “wedding of the century” and a lavish life with Jessica, hoping to pay it back after winning the lawsuit against me.
Now, Mark is in prison. He has no money, no wife, and no inheritance.
And outside the prison gates, the mafia creditors are waiting for him.
He abandoned his wife and children thinking he’d struck gold. In the end, he realized he was just a pawn in a game he wasn’t qualified to play.
One year later.
I stood on the balcony of my penthouse overlooking Central Park. Lily’s Hope Foundation had saved thousands of children’s lives.
I received a letter from prison. It was from Mark. He asked for $50 to buy personal items.
I folded the letter and put it in an envelope along with a piece of paper.
On that piece of paper, I didn’t write anything. I simply printed a copy of the “Supplemental Clauses” he’d hastily signed in the hospital years ago, with his scrawled signature next to the words: “…relinquishing all rights…”
I sent it.
It wasn’t cruelty. It was the final lesson.
Mark Sterling traded $50 billion and a happy family for an illusion. And now, he’ll spend the rest of his life gnawing at the price of that choice within the cold walls of a prison cell.
