Chapter 131 Desperate Times
MELISSA'S POV
“Hey, hey, didn’t you say you’d bring me breakfast this morning?” James’ irritating voice cut through my sleep. “Or do you want to lie there all day being lazy?”
I groaned and slowly opened my eyes, already annoyed before I was even fully awake. He stood behind me, arms folded, looking down at me like I’d committed some kind of crime by still being in bed.
“I don’t want to come here again and wake you up,” he added, his voice dripping with entitlement. “I’m hungry.”
Before I could even respond, he turned around and walked out of the room, leaving the door slightly open behind him.
I pushed myself up into a sitting position and stretched my neck slowly, feeling the stiffness that never seemed to leave my body these days. My eyes went to the small clock on the bedside table.
6:30 a.m.
I stared at it for a moment, disbelief sinking in. It was barely morning, and he was already demanding breakfast. Not because he had somewhere to be. Not because he was rushing off to work. Just because he felt like it.
Now I knew he was doing this on purpose. There was no other explanation. Who asks for breakfast at this hour when they have absolutely nothing planned for the day? He slept in almost every morning, lazed around the house, watched TV, complained, ate, and somehow still had the audacity to call me lazy.
The irony almost made me laugh.
In case he’d forgotten, when we got married, there were maids for all of this. Cooking. Cleaning. Laundry. Everything. But now they were all gone, sent away one after the other because he couldn’t even afford to keep paying them.
And somehow, all that responsibility had quietly fallen on me.
Every single day, I cooked. I cleaned. I tried to keep the house presentable. I tried to act like a supportive wife while he did absolutely nothing but eat, sleep, and ask me for money like I was hiding it somewhere under the mattress.
I let out a slow sigh and swung my legs off the bed.
This wasn’t what I signed up for.
I didn’t marry James to suffer. I married him because I believed in him. Because back then, his light was shining so brightly. He had ambition. Hunger. A fire in his eyes that made you believe he was destined for something bigger.
He used to talk about expansion, partnerships, and influence. He used to dream out loud, and I believed every word of it.
But now?
I couldn’t see that thirst anymore. It was like it had evaporated completely. And I was tired — tired of enduring all this nonsense from a man who couldn’t even provide the bare minimum, yet still expected to be treated like a king.
I stood up and walked toward the mirror across the room.
The woman staring back at me barely looked like the one I remembered. My face looked even more tired than before. My skin still dull.
I wasn’t even thirty yet, but anyone who saw me would think I was well into my mid-thirties.
All this stress was getting to me. Wearing me down. Slowly chipping away at my beauty.
And that hurt more than I liked to admit.
I was still young. Still beautiful. Men still looked at me when I walked into a room. There were countless men out there who would do anything for my attention.
And I wasn’t about to waste all this perfection on a man who didn’t even know what he wanted to do with his life in the next two years.
No.
I was done being soft with him.
Done trying to reason with him. Done pushing him, pretending that my patience would somehow magically bring back the man he used to be.
Whatever he decided to do with his life was his business. But I wasn’t going to let him drag me down so far that by the time I realized it, it would be too late to escape this marriage.
That said, I wasn’t stupid enough to just leave out of nowhere.
That would mean going back to my mother’s house and that was absolutely not happening. I was tired of running back to her every time my life fell apart. She had helped me enough already. I was a grown woman. I needed to stand on my own.
James had cheated on me once.
And I forgave him.
Now it was my turn.
Before he found out anything, I would make sure my bank account was filled with enough money to keep me comfortable. Enough to survive. Enough to live well. So that if this marriage ended whether by my choice or his, I wouldn’t be left stranded.
From today onward, there will be no more perfect wife.
A slow smile crept onto my lips as an idea formed in my mind.
And I already knew the first person I was going to exploit.
I turned back toward the bed and picked up my phone.
Before all the investors pulled out of James’ company, there was a particular day that stood out clearly in my memory. James and I had gone to the office together, and one of the investors couldn’t take his eyes off me.
I remembered it vividly.
The way he looked at me like I was something he wanted badly.
Once James disappeared into the boardroom, the man approached me without hesitation.
His name was Eric Kross
A man in his early forties. Confident. Well-dressed.
If I remembered correctly, he had been the second-largest investor Greenleaf Med had at the time. He was married too — which hadn’t stopped him for even a second.
He told me he liked the way I looked. The way I carried myself. The way I turned him on, even though at the time I hadn’t fully understood what he meant.
When he realized he was running out of time, he didn’t bother beating around the bush.
He told me exactly what he wanted.
Me.
He complained about his wife, said she wasn’t satisfying him in bed anymore, and then made it clear that if I agreed to sleep with him, he would satisfy me financially.
Back then, I was insulted.
I told him never to try that nonsense with me again. At the time, I wasn’t desperate. I wasn’t lacking. I still believed my husband would rise, even though James and I quarrel a lot I still couldn’t do that to him
I thought my warning would make him back off.
But Eric didn’t.
Every time I followed James to the office, Eric would suddenly appear. Always finding excuses to be around me. Always looking at me like he already owned me.
I didn’t tell James. I didn’t want to cause a fight between them. James’ company needed Eric too much, and I wasn’t about to be the reason things got worse.
Somehow, up till today I still don’t know how Eric got my number.
That was when the calls started.
The messages.
And the worst of all, he started sending me pictures of his dick, I didn’t know if he was trying to tempt me and show me how big his dick was
Or he was just out of his mind
Either way, I blocked him eventually, disgusted and frustrated.
And not long after that, everything came crashing down. That bitch released the proof, and Greenleaf Med fell apart. The investors pulled out. The company collapsed.
I hadn’t seen or heard from Eric since then.
Until now.
I stared at my phone screen for a long moment.
Desperate times called for desperate measures.
This time, things would be different.
I wouldn’t be doing this blindly. If Eric wanted me, then he would pay for it properly. No empty promises. No excuses.
I'll make sure he actually satisfy me financially like he said he would and I’ll drink him dry like a glass of milk