Lucas Hunter spent the entire morning trying to reach me.
One hundred and seven missed calls.
Thirty-two messages.
Calls from his father.
Calls from the board members.
Calls from the bank.
Calls from people who had never remembered my existence before.
Funny.
Yesterday, I was only the wife who stayed home.
Today, everyone suddenly remembered my name.
I finished my coffee slowly while watching the financial news.
The reporter continued:
“Hunter Group’s emergency crisis meeting has begun. Several major shareholders have requested a complete review of President Lucas Hunter’s management decisions.”
A photo of Lucas appeared on the screen.
The same man who stood beside Serena last night with that confident smile.
Now his expression was exhausted.
Lost.
I turned off the television.
Then my phone rang again.
Lucas.
I watched the screen light up.
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
I finally answered.
“Hello.”
There was silence on the other end.
Then his voice came.
“Clara.”
Not my nickname.
Not the cold way he called me during arguments.
Just my name.
Like he was afraid I would disappear.
“Where are you?”
I looked around my apartment.
The place I had bought before marrying him.
The place he always called “our home.”
But legally, it had never belonged to him.
“I’m home.”
A breath of relief.
“You saw the news?”
“Yes.”
“Clara…”
His voice became hoarse.
“I need your help.”
I almost laughed.
Yesterday, he didn’t need me.
Yesterday, he had Serena beside him.
Yesterday, the world believed she was the real Mrs. Hunter.
Now he needed the woman he hid.
“What happened to Serena?”
Silence.
I didn’t need his answer.
Because I already knew.
When the company collapsed, everyone looked for someone to blame.
And Serena was the easiest person to abandon.
“She wasn’t involved.”
Lucas tried to defend her.
I smiled.
Even now.
Even after everything.
“Still protecting her?”
“No.”
His voice lowered.
“I’m just telling the truth.”
“The truth?”
I looked at the empty space where my wedding photo used to be.
“The truth is that you wore my ring on another woman’s hand.”
Lucas stopped speaking.
For several seconds, there was only silence.
Then:
“Clara, I made a mistake.”
A mistake.
Such a simple word.
Three years of marriage.
Countless nights waiting alone.
Every important moment forgotten.
All reduced to a mistake.
“You know what the problem is, Lucas?”
“What?”
“You didn’t make one mistake.”
“You made a choice.”
Three years earlier.
When Lucas first met me, he didn’t know who I was.
He only knew me as Clara Reed.
A quiet woman who worked in design.
A woman who liked simple clothes.
A woman who never mentioned her family.
He fell in love with that version of me.
Or at least, I thought he did.
When he started Hunter Group, I secretly helped him.
The first investment.
The first major contract.
The connections that opened doors.
All of it came from my family.
But I never took credit.
Because Lucas once told me:
“I want to prove I can succeed without anyone’s help.”
So I let him believe that.
I watched him become President Hunter.
And I stood behind him.
Until he forgot who was standing there.
“Clara.”
Lucas’s voice pulled me back.
“Please come to the company.”
“No.”
“I need you.”
“You needed me before.”
Silence.
“When the company was growing.”
“When you needed investors.”
“When you needed someone to solve problems behind the scenes.”
“But last night…”
I paused.
“Last night you needed Serena.”
His breathing became heavier.
“It’s not like that.”
“Then what was it?”
He had no answer.
Because the photographs had already answered for him.
An hour later, someone arrived at my apartment.
Not Lucas.
His father.
Jonathan Hunter.
The man who once told me:
“A woman should know her position.”
Now he stood at my door with a completely different expression.
“Clara.”
I didn’t invite him in.
“Mr. Hunter.”
He looked uncomfortable hearing the formal address.
“Can we talk?”
“About what?”
“The company.”
I smiled.
“Isn’t that Lucas’s company?”
His face changed.
He understood.
For three years, the Hunter family believed I married Lucas because of their status.
They never imagined the opposite.
That Lucas’s success existed because my family allowed it.
Jonathan lowered his voice.
“Please.”
“The board is demanding answers.”
“The banks froze our accounts.”
“Investors are withdrawing.”
I looked at him.
“And?”
“And only you can fix this.”
I nodded.
“Finally.”
He froze.
“Finally what?”
“Finally, you understand my value.”
That afternoon, I entered Hunter Group’s headquarters for the first time.
Everyone stopped.
The employees whispered.
“Isn’t that Mrs. Hunter?”
“No, Serena was…”
They didn’t finish.
Because they saw the way the executives greeted me.
“President Reed.”
The entire lobby became silent.
Lucas was standing at the end of the hall.
His face was pale.
“President Reed?”
He repeated the title.
I looked at him.
“Yes.”
His expression changed.
“Your family…”
I walked past him.
“My family founded the company that saved yours.”
The words hit him harder than any accusation.
I entered the meeting room.
The board members stood.
Not because they respected me.
Because they feared losing everything.
I placed a folder on the table.
Inside was the final acquisition agreement.
The one I had approved last night.
“The Hunter Group will not disappear.”
Everyone relaxed.
Until I continued.
“But Lucas Hunter will no longer be president.”
The room went silent.
Lucas looked at me.
“Clara.”
For the first time, he looked afraid.
Not of losing the company.
But of losing me.
I closed the folder.
“Three years ago, I gave you everything.”
“Last night, I took back what was mine.”
Then my assistant walked in.
“President Reed.”
She handed me a document.
“There is one more matter.”
I opened it.
My expression changed.
Because the document was not about Hunter Group.
It was about Serena Blake.
And the last line made Lucas’s face completely lose color.
“Serena Blake did not accidentally become your secretary.”
I looked at him.
“She was sent here.”
A long silence followed.
“By someone who wanted Hunter Group to collapse from the beginning.”
I turned the page.
And saw the name.
The person behind everything.
It was someone from Lucas’s own family.
