My Husband Told Me to Move to the Attic So His First Love Could Have Our Bedroom—He Forgot the House Was Mine, and So Was the Company Where He Worked

PART 3

The next afternoon, Nathan and I sat in a quiet family restaurant.

The place was calm enough that every clink of silverware could be heard.

But the story he pushed toward me across the table was anything but calm.

He placed his phone down and turned the screen toward me, his eyes carrying a faint smile.

“Madison, your former mother-in-law certainly knows how to make herself noticeable.”

I did not rush to look. I slowly cut a piece of pork chop, ate it, and asked, “No power, no water, no internet, and she still had the mood to go out for tea?”

Nathan nodded.

“Maybe she was too bored at home. She went to meet a few society ladies, looking for attention and conveniently bragging that her son was about to become vice president.”

I laughed, not because it was funny, but because everything was unfolding exactly like a farce whose actors still thought they were standing at the center of the stage.

Clearly, Ethan had not told Gloria he had been fired.

Or more accurately, he did not dare tell her.

“And then?” I asked, setting down my fork.

Nathan took a sip of tea, deliberately stretching the rhythm.

“She tried to pay the bill to show off in front of them, but the card was declined. The club manager personally informed her that her membership had been canceled for insufficient funds.”

I leaned back slightly.

I imagined the scene and felt no discomfort anymore. Only a cold and decisive clarity remained.

The people who had once surrounded Gloria had only done so out of respect for Hartstone Properties. Now that everything was clear, she had no value in their eyes.

My phone rang at that moment.

The display showed Ethan Blake.

I answered. Before I could speak, his voice came low, carrying a pleading softness I had never heard before.

“Madison, can we meet once? Just the two of us.”

I glanced at Nathan. He raised an eyebrow, leaving the decision to me.

“Three o’clock. Blue Harbor.”

I hung up without another word.

At three o’clock, I arrived on time.

Ethan was already seated. A cup of coffee sat cold in front of him. He looked as if all life had been drained out of him.

His suit was wrinkled, stubble covered his jaw, and the confidence of the man who thought he controlled everything had vanished from his eyes.

The moment he saw me, he stood quickly and pulled out a chair.

“Madison, you came.”

I did not sit. I only looked at him and said coldly, “Say what you need to say. I don’t have time.”

He withdrew his hand and sat back down. After several seconds of silence, he finally spoke, every word dragged out of his throat.

“I read the divorce papers. My family can return the house to you, but can you let go of the two hundred sixty thousand in rent?”

I laughed, but there was not a trace of warmth in it.

“You think I’ll let it go?”

He clenched his hands as if forcing himself to take one more step.

“I can leave with nothing. But you have to give me four hundred fifty thousand dollars.”

When he finished speaking, I only found it so ridiculous that anger was no longer necessary.

“Are you dreaming, Ethan Blake?”

I leaned forward and looked directly into his eyes, each word falling clearly.

“You cheated on me and brought another woman into my house. You embezzled money from my company. I already showed mercy by not pushing you straight into jail. And you still dare ask me for money?”

His eyes suddenly changed. The weakness disappeared, replaced by something vicious.

“Madison, don’t push people too far. I contributed to this family for three years.”

I remained silent, waiting for the next sentence.

And just as I expected, he did not disappoint me.

“If you don’t give me the money, I’ll expose you online. I’ll tell everyone you pretended to be poor to fool me. I’ll let people see how a big boss like you toys with ordinary people.”

I looked at him for a long time.

I no longer felt anger. No disgust either.

Only pity for the version of myself who had wasted years on him.

I opened my phone, pulled up a video, and pushed it toward him.

“Watch.”

In the video, Sophia sat in an expensive bar, her arm hooked around a fat middle-aged man. She smiled so hard she almost leaned completely into him.

I recognized that man.

A loan shark from the south side.

Ethan’s face turned pale immediately.

“When was this?”

“Last night.” I took back my phone, my voice empty of emotion. “You’re here asking me for money because of her. Meanwhile, she is calculating how to squeeze the last drop out of you.”

I paused, then continued more slowly.

“She is not a fallen heiress. She is a professional scammer with piles of debt. She approached you only because you acted rich and lived in a townhouse.”

Ethan sank into his chair as if his spine had been taken out.

At that exact moment, his phone rang.

The name on the screen was Sophia Reed.

He answered and put it on speaker.

“Ethan, are you done talking? Did you get the four hundred fifty thousand?”

Her voice was light, completely different from the weak girl she used to play.

“If you got it, let’s go buy that Hermes bag tonight. Then we can fly to Miami for a few days.”

The air in the room froze.

I stood and said nothing more.

Behind me, Ethan called my name, but I did not turn around.

Nathan’s car was already parked at the curb. He got out and opened the door for me.

“Negotiation failed?” he asked calmly.

“It was never a negotiation.”

I sat in the passenger seat and watched the traffic flow past.

A lightness slowly spread through me.

“You were right. Sophia Reed is not simple.”

I smiled faintly, but there was no humor in my eyes.

“But the person with the biggest headache now is not me.”

I could almost imagine Ethan returning to face the truth, dragging himself into a chaos he could no longer control.

Nathan started the car, his voice low.

“The play is only beginning. Gloria called me earlier. She wants to meet you and reconcile.”

I closed my eyes and leaned against the seat.

“Reconcile? Fine. I also want to see how much farther she can perform.”

The tea room where Gloria asked to meet me was quiet, expensive, and decorated in a minimalist style.

But the woman sitting by the window did not belong in that space at all.

Gloria wore a silk dress with a coffee stain still visible on it. The heavy powder on her face could not hide the exhaustion and panic in her eyes.

When she saw me, she did not rage as before. Instead, she forced out a twisted smile.

“Madison, you’re here. Sit. This tea is very expensive.”

I pulled out the chair and sat, but I did not touch the cup.

“Say what you need to say. My time is not cheap.”

She smiled awkwardly and rubbed her hands together, her voice much softer than before.

“You know, young couples fight. It’s normal. Why go all the way to divorce?”

I did not respond. I only looked at her.

She continued gently.

“As for Sophia, I already scolded her. She is only a distant relative, not sensible. I told her to move out.”

I laughed softly, but my eyes cooled.

“Move where? The hotel? Or the basement your son just rented for her?”

Her face froze for a second, but she quickly smiled it off.

“As long as you don’t divorce Ethan, we are still one family. Can you help him with his job? He is the pillar of the family.”

I leaned back and looked at her as if watching a stage play.

“You don’t seem to understand the situation.”

I let the words fall slowly.

“Ethan did not simply lose his job. He owes the company more than one hundred eighty thousand dollars.”

Her hand shook. The tea cup tilted, spilling tea onto the table.

“One hundred eighty thousand? Wasn’t he about to become vice president? How could—”

I did not let her finish.

I took a stack of papers from my bag and placed it before her.

“This is a legal notice.”

I looked straight at her. My voice was calm enough to be chilling.

“You can read it carefully and then decide whether you still want to reconcile. Abuse of position, misappropriation of company assets, and embezzlement. Mrs. Blake, I’ll be direct. If your son cannot repay what he took, a few years in prison will be hard to avoid.”

The paper before her was light, but Gloria’s eyes stuck to it as if locked in place.

The thick powder on her face cracked, unable to hide the panic spreading underneath.

Before she could speak, a mocking laugh came from the next table. It was not loud, but it was sharp enough to strip a person bare.

“Oh, isn’t this Mrs. Blake? Yesterday you were causing a scene at the club, and today you’re drinking tea calmly?”

I turned and recognized several familiar faces at once.

They were the women Gloria used to flatter humbly in order to squeeze into what she called high society.

Mrs. Lawson stepped forward, her designer bag swinging from her wrist. Her eyes swept Gloria from head to toe as if assessing a fake luxury item.

“I heard your son isn’t some big executive after all. The car was company property, and the title was just a shell. Then those jewels you always showed off—were they borrowed just to complete the act?”

The air sank.

Gloria opened her mouth to explain, but her throat seemed choked. Only weak stammers came out.

“Mrs. Lawson, you misunderstood. Things are really not what you think.”

Another woman laughed, her voice soft but cutting.

“What misunderstanding? Just now I saw that Sophia Reed girl being blocked at the entrance by several tattooed men demanding money. It looked pitiful, but the funniest part was that they kept saying your son’s name.”

That sentence stabbed directly into Gloria’s weakest point.

She sprang up, both hands on the table, eyes wide with panic.

“Debt? Whose debt? Who owes money?”

“Sophia Reed, obviously. But the paperwork has your son’s signature on it. If they can’t find her, of course they look for the guarantor.”

Gloria’s strength seemed to drain away. She dropped back into the chair, eyes empty and lost.

I remained seated, slowly opened a bottle of water, took a sip, and then stood to walk closer.

“Mrs. Blake, is this the peace talk you prepared for me? If Ethan signed as guarantor, the little money you wanted to use to settle things is only salt thrown into the ocean. It will not cover the hole they dug.”

Hearing that, she suddenly lost control.

She lunged forward and grabbed my arm. Her nails dug into my skin, causing a sharp sting.

“Madison, help him. You have money. One hundred eighty thousand is nothing to you. He is your husband. You can’t watch him go to prison.”

I pulled my arm free and wiped the touched area with a wet napkin.

My voice stayed flat and cold.

“You’re mistaken. He is your son, not mine. I have money, but I have no obligation to save someone who dug his own grave.”

After saying that, I turned and left without caring to look back at the collapse behind me.

The moment I stepped out of the tea room, I saw Ethan running toward me in a terrible state.

Behind him, two tall men followed closely like shadows of debt.

“Stop. Where’s the money?”

Their voices did not need to be loud to make people’s backs turn cold.

When Ethan saw me, he changed direction at once and almost threw himself toward me, panic filling his eyes.

“Madison, save me. Sophia tricked me into signing papers and ran. They said if I don’t pay, they’ll cripple me.”

I stopped just long enough to see clearly the face of the man I had once trusted.

Then I continued walking, as if I did not know him.

“Mr. Blake, this is a public place. You should preserve the last bit of dignity you have. If there is a problem, call a lawyer or the police. Don’t block an unrelated person’s path.”

I got into the car.

The door closed, cutting off all the chaos outside.

As the car pulled away, Nathan glanced at me, amusement in his voice.

“Your mood looks good.”

“Very good. Even more relieved than I expected.”

In the rearview mirror, I saw Ethan being dragged away. He no longer had any trace of the man who once stood in front of me with confidence.

“Tomorrow is the deadline to reclaim the house,” I said. “Call enough people. I want everything done on time.”

“Already prepared.”

The next morning, I stood in front of the townhouse at 18 Harborview Drive.

The front door remained shut, as if trying to preserve the last scrap of dignity inside.

Behind me stood a moving crew. Eight strong men lined up, creating silent pressure.

I only gave a small nod, and the locksmith stepped forward immediately.

The building manager stood beside me, wiping sweat from his forehead.

“Ms. Hart, is this perhaps a little…”

I did not look at him.

“This is my house. I don’t need anyone’s permission to enter my own home.”

In less than three minutes, the lock clicked open.

The moment the door opened, a heavy stench rushed out, making people frown.

Only two days without water and power, and the townhouse once flaunted as luxurious had become a mess.

Trash piled up. Spoiled food gave off a sour odor. The space that used to be bright now felt dark and unbearable.

Gloria sat in the middle of the sofa with messy hair, clutching a throw pillow. Ethan huddled in the corner, his face swollen.

The moment Gloria saw me, she jumped up and threw a cup at me, her eyes red with anger and panic.

“Madison Hart, you still dare come back?”

The cup shattered against the wall before it could touch me.

Nathan stood in front of me, his eyes cold enough to lower the temperature in the room.

“Illegal entry, and now assaulting the homeowner. Mrs. Blake, how would you like this handled?”

Gloria froze for a beat, then immediately began wailing, trying to draw the neighbors’ attention.

“Everyone come see this! My daughter-in-law brought people to destroy her husband’s family home. What is the point of living like this?”

I did not bother paying attention.

I turned to the moving crew.

“Start. Anything I bought, take it. Anything left that has no value, throw it out.”

The movers acted immediately.

Piece after piece of furniture was carried out quickly and decisively.

Gloria rushed forward to block them, but the moment she touched someone, she was gently pushed aside and fell onto the rug with a shriek.

“That is mine. You can’t touch it.”

I walked over and looked down at her.

“Remember this clearly. Whoever paid for it owns it. Today, I am only taking back what was always mine.”

In less than an hour, the living room was empty.

The things they had once used to show off were packed into bags and thrown outside.

Gloria stood frozen, then suddenly turned and ran upstairs.

“You can’t touch that room. The walnut bed is mine. Ethan bought it for me.”

I followed slowly, in no rush, yet my steps only made her more panicked.

In my father’s former studio, she spread her arms in front of the bed as if guarding her last possession.

“This is mine.”

I looked at her, then turned to Ethan.

“You tell her. Where did this bed come from?”

Ethan stood still, avoiding my eyes. His lips pressed together, as if he did not dare face it.

After a very long moment, he lowered his head.

“Mom, that was left by Madison’s parents.”

The room froze in that instant.

All the arrogance on Gloria’s face collapsed completely.

I said nothing more. I only raised a hand to the workers.

“Take it apart.”

“Madison Hart, you heartless woman! You even dare take away my bed.”

Gloria’s shrill voice rang through the yard, mixed with the sound of wheels over tile and movers carrying the last items out.

She stood among piles of shabby luggage, hair tangled, eyes red, mouth screaming as she argued with the workers like the house had been born belonging to her.

I did not answer immediately.

Some people, when you take back one bed from them, scream as if their life has been stolen.

But when they steal another person’s youth, trust, and dignity, they think it is perfectly normal.

I opened my phone, tapped on the security footage I had saved, and turned the screen toward Gloria.

“Why are you grieving over a bed? What you should be grieving over was taken last night by the woman you treated as your precious daughter-in-law.”

At first, Gloria still wanted to curse.

But a few seconds later, her throat seemed to be grabbed by an invisible hand.

On the screen was Sophia.

Not the weak, obedient Sophia who hid behind Ethan with tearful eyes, but a quick and cold Sophia dragging a suitcase into Gloria’s room, opening the safe, collecting cash, gold, and jewelry with practiced movements that showed she had prepared for it long ago.

The pearl necklace Gloria once showed off everywhere, claiming it was a Blake family heirloom, was wrapped in a towel and stuffed into the bottom of Sophia’s suitcase without hesitation.

Gloria trembled.

Not because she was angry at me anymore, but because she had just watched the dream of becoming a noble mother-in-law crushed under the feet of the woman she protected.

“No. Impossible. That’s impossible.”

She grabbed the phone and stared at it as if she could crawl through the screen and drag Sophia out.

Then a scream burst from her throat.

“That little snake. She dared steal my money. She dared take my necklace.”

She suddenly turned on Ethan, rushing over to hit him again and again.

“It’s all your fault. I raised you all these years so you could bring a scammer home to destroy us? Because of her, you pushed Madison away. Because of her, you made me lose everything.”

Ethan staggered from her blows, only able to cover his head and dodge.

The man who once stood in the living room and calmly told me to give the second floor to Sophia now lowered his head and could not say one proper word.

Watching them, I suddenly found it very funny.

Before, they had joined hands to pressure me. One used filial duty to pin me down. One used the title of husband to make me endure.

Now, without my doing anything, they had turned around to bite each other.

I took back my phone. My voice was not loud, but it was enough for everyone to hear.

“Are you finished? If not, go continue outside the gate. This house no longer provides a stage for the Blake family tragedy.”

I turned to Nathan.

“Change the locks. From today on, none of them steps inside again.”

The main gate opened, then quickly closed again.

Gloria and Ethan were taken outside with several sacks of belongings.

No imported sofa. No second-floor bedroom. No bright kitchen. No dinner table where they sat above me and ordered me around.

Only two pathetic people stood under the fading afternoon light.

Gloria was still cursing, but her voice was swallowed by traffic.

Passersby glanced once and walked away. No one wanted to get involved with an old woman crying and cursing outside someone else’s gate.

Ethan stood silently.

He looked at the townhouse before him, eyes empty, as if only now did he understand that all the glory he had worn on his body had never belonged to him.

Nathan handed me the new keys.

I accepted them and asked softly, “Where is Ethan’s case?”

“It has been sent to the financial crimes unit. The amount is not small, and the evidence is complete. He can’t run.”

Nathan paused, then added, “Perhaps tomorrow he won’t need to worry about where to sleep.”

I smiled faintly.

“That’s true. Jail always has room for people who like taking things that don’t belong to them.”