The fight started the moment I walked through the door. David stood there, his face twisted with anger, and instead of a happy anniversary, he accused me of pushing Carol into traffic. “I never pushed her,” I said, but he refused to listen. The room filled with familiar faces—Carol, feigning innocence with her wide eyes, Stephen, her smug accomplice, and David, my husband of three years, who couldn’t remember that today was supposed to be about us.
“You’re all lying,” I told them, but my voice trembled. Carol had spent two years planting seeds of doubt, and now the harvest was betrayal. David didn’t even look at me when he said, “Just apologize to Carol, and we can put this behind us. ” Apologize?
For what? For being the one who actually built his company while he took all the credit? For keeping the secret that I was Alice, the mysterious investor who made David Tech possible? I looked at him, at the man who promised to love me, and I felt something crack inside.
“I will tell him once the company goes public,” I had told Simon weeks ago. But now, standing in this room filled with their lies, I realized I couldn’t wait any longer. The anniversary dinner I had prepared sat untouched on the table—candles burned down to nothing, the food cold, the champagne flat. I had dressed up for him, worn the red dress he once said made me look like a queen, and he hadn’t even noticed.
Instead, he had spent the evening with Carol, letting her whisper poison into his ears. “Isn’t that exactly what your sugar daddy bought you? ” Carol sneered at me from across the room, pointing at my necklace. I felt my face burn.
“There is no sugar daddy,” I said through clenched teeth. “This is entirely her. ” But Stephen just laughed. “You know, I got dressed up all for our wedding anniversary,” I said softly, hoping David might hear the hurt in my voice.
He didn’t. “What will you do? ” he asked coldly. That’s when I knew I couldn’t hold back anymore.
“All you need to know is that without me, you’re nothing,” I told him. “After the IPO, I’ll be richer than any man you could find. ” The words tasted bitter, but I meant them. Let’s see if your company even makes it to the IPO, I thought.
The accusation hit harder when Stephen produced the “evidence”—a security footage clip that conveniently showed me near Carol at the wrong time. “Did you even check the footage from that night? ” I asked. “No, you didn’t.
” But David just shook his head, already convinced of my guilt. “Still lying,” he said, and I felt the sting of three years of dedication crumbling. “I have never cheated on you,” I told him, and for a moment, I saw a flicker of doubt in his eyes. But Carol was quick to douse it.
“I should know,” she said, her voice dripping with false concern. That night, I made a decision. If they wanted a villain, I’d give them one. “Mark my words,” I said, standing taller, “every single one of you will be begging for my forgiveness once David’s company goes public.
” They laughed at me. They called me crazy. They had no idea. Simon found me later, his face pale with fear.
He was the only one who knew the truth—that I was Alice, the shadow investor who had placed 20 billion into David Tech. “Alice is never wrong,” I told him, but my confidence was starting to waver. The investors were getting nervous. Black River Fund had started circulating rumors.
And then, the inevitable happened: the stock began to fall. David stormed into the room, panic in his eyes. “What did you do? ” he shouted.
I almost told him the truth right then, but the words caught in my throat. “In exactly three minutes, David Tech will drop below its opening price,” I said instead, my voice flat. They looked at me like I was some kind of oracle. If you knew who I really was, you’d regret this.
The countdown began. David’s phone rang—investors pulling out, one after another. “Black River Fund was the first to invest,” someone whispered. “They must know something we don’t.
” I watched the stock price plummet as the seconds ticked by. Exactly one minute left. “I never meant to bankrupt him,” I whispered to Simon, but he just shook his head. David was pacing, screaming at his advisors, completely oblivious that the woman he had just accused was the one holding his entire world in her hands.
The final blow came when David’s grandfather, Walter, walked in with a smirk. He had always preferred David over my own husband, Peter, and now he seemed to be relishing the chaos. Walter looked at me, his eyes cold. “If she actually is Alice, then I’ll eat trash from the New York subway,” he declared, and the room erupted in laughter.
I felt my hands shake. “I never meant for Black River to pull out,” I said, but David wasn’t listening. He had collapsed into a chair, his head in his hands. I looked at Simon, who was nervously tapping his phone.
“Wait, how do you have this? ” I asked, noticing the security footage he was holding. He went pale. “Simon, you have to tell me what your connection to the Black River Fund is.
” He opened his mouth to speak, but before he could, David’s grandfather took a step forward. “Stay away from her,” Walter said, pointing at me. “We should hold a wedding for you two tomorrow—back when you were kids, our families were meant to unite. ” I stared at him, confused.
Then Simon handed me a note, his hands trembling. The words read: *”Louise should die alone so the Brock Fortune stays in the family. “* I looked up at Walter, at Peter, at David, and I realized that the conspiracy was deeper than I ever imagined. “Delete the footage from three days ago immediately,” Walter ordered.
And in that moment, I understood that my secret—my identity as Alice—was no longer a weapon. It was a death sentence.
