The Empire He Stole From Me

On their fifth wedding anniversary, Ophelia Blake received photos of her husband, Matthew Moore, cheating.

A man in a dark gray coat had his arm around a long-haired woman's waist as they walked into a five-star hotel.

The man was tall and well-built, with broad shoulders and long legs—exactly like Matthew.

A message popped up on her phone from her friend Scarlett Lewis: [Ophelia, I just passed by Sapphire Sky Hotel and saw your husband with his arm around some woman going inside? What's going on?]

Ophelia's fingers went cold as she zoomed in on the photo.

Though the man only showed his back, his build, his presence, even the way he walked, looked exactly like Matthew.

Ophelia gripped her phone so tightly her knuckles turned white.

No wonder Matthew volunteered to pick up their daughter Katya from school today—it was to make time to meet his mistress!

Ophelia grabbed her car keys and rushed toward the door.

She was going to see for herself who this woman, Matthew, was cheating with!

Just as Ophelia reached the door, it pushed open from the outside.

"Mommy! We're home!" Katya flew into Ophelia's arms like a little sparrow.

Ophelia froze, looking up to see Matthew following behind, carrying Katya's little backpack and two grocery bags.

He wasn't wearing the gray coat from the photo. Instead, he had on a white hoodie, looking very casual.

Ophelia's hand, clutching the keys, stiffened at her side.

"Were you going out?" Matthew noticed the keys in her hand. He bent down to set things down, then reached up to feel her forehead. "Why do you look so pale? Are you feeling okay?"

"Where did you pick up Katya?" Ophelia asked, her voice tight.

Matthew looked confused, then smiled. "School, where else would I pick her up? I don't know what was going on today, but there was traffic at the school gate for almost half an hour. Sorry for making you wait so long."

As he spoke, he crouched down and pulled out a box of strawberries from the grocery bag, handing it to Katya.

Katya hugged the strawberries and looked up with her little face, nodding in a sweet, childlike voice. "Daddy was the first one to pick me up! The teacher even praised Daddy!"

She tugged at Ophelia's sleeve again. "Mommy, look! I drew a picture of our family today."

Ophelia looked down at Katya's innocent big eyes, and the tension inside her eased a bit.

Katya was only four years old—she wouldn't lie.

Matthew stood up and finally noticed the setup on the dining table. His eyes lit up. "What's the occasion? This looks special."

"Our fifth wedding anniversary." Ophelia quietly slipped the keys back into her pocket.

Matthew's expression instantly turned guilty. He pulled her close and kissed her forehead. "I'm sorry, honey. I've been so busy lately, I almost forgot."

Ophelia said nothing. She knew Matthew worked hard, and she'd prepared all this food today to surprise him.

"Mommy, I'm hungry!" Katya had already climbed onto her chair, staring longingly at the food on the table.

Ophelia sighed. "Let's eat first."

At the dinner table, Matthew peeled a plate of shrimp for Ophelia first, arranging them neatly, before helping Katya with her food.

He cut the pumpkin pie into small pieces and carefully picked out the raisins. Katya was losing her baby teeth and couldn't eat anything too sweet, so he always removed the sweet ingredients.

"Daddy, I want the yellow one."

"This one?" Matthew speared a piece of pumpkin pie with his fork, blew on it, and held it to her mouth. "Eat slowly, it's hot."

Ophelia chewed on her shrimp, watching this scene, and the doubt in her heart slowly melted away.

She and Matthew didn't have a passionate love story.

The Blake family and the Moore family were old friends. They'd grown up together—childhood sweethearts, you could say.

When she was twenty-two, Matthew's company faced a cash-flow crisis and went bankrupt overnight. Her parents begged her to break up and leave Matthew.

But Ophelia refused. The next morning, she showed up with her suitcase and moved into the basement apartment Matthew was renting.

She gave up the MBA she was halfway through. During the day, she worked as Matthew's assistant. At night, she did personal shopping, translated documents, and took any job she could get.

Matthew worked even harder. He practically lived in that borrowed little office, eating instant noodles three meals a day.

At their lowest point, they had less than a thousand dollars in their account and could barely afford next month's rent.

But they made it through.

Three years later, Matthew's company came back to life—even better than before. It became the Moore Group.

Just when things were looking up, she found out she was pregnant.

Matthew asked her to leave work and be a stay-at-home mom. She hesitated for a long time but eventually agreed.

She trusted him—trusted that he would take care of her and their daughter.

After Katya was born, no matter how busy Matthew was, he always picked up Katya on time. He never scheduled work on weekends. The family would go to the park, the aquarium, and travel around the world.

He was even more thoughtful than when they were dating. Every month, he left a different bouquet on her bedside table. He never came home empty-handed from business trips.

How could a husband like this cheat?

Ophelia took a sip of soup and silently cursed herself.

She knew what Scarlett was like—always dramatic. She took a photo of someone's back and claimed it was Matthew. It was probably just a stranger with a similar build.

Besides, that dark gray coat in the photo—she searched her memory, and Matthew didn't even own a coat like that.

"What are you thinking about?" Matthew's voice pulled her back.

"Nothing." She smiled. "How's the food today?"

"When is your cooking ever bad?" Matthew put a piece of beef in her bowl, his tone gentle. "Eat more, you've lost weight."

After dinner, Katya begged Matthew to tell her a story. Matthew kissed Ophelia's cheek and told her to rest on the sofa.

He brought out a large box from the study, tied with a champagne-colored ribbon. "Anniversary gift. I was going to surprise you tomorrow, but since you prepared dinner tonight, let's open it today."

Ophelia was surprised and delighted. She hadn't expected her husband to remember their anniversary and even buy a gift.

She opened the box to find the latest model of an automatic shoulder and neck massager.

"Don't you always say your shoulders hurt?" Matthew had already taken out the massager and plugged it in. He guided her by the shoulders to sit down. "Come on, try it."

The massager started working, and Ophelia closed her eyes, so comfortable she almost fell asleep.

Seeing her look of contentment, Matthew turned and went to the bedroom to put Katya to bed.

After about ten minutes, the massager suddenly stopped.

Ophelia thought the program had ended. She pressed the button on the remote, but there was no response.

Could something be wrong with it?

Ophelia got up from the massager, wanting to tell Matthew in the bedroom.

The hallway light was off, with only a sliver of warm yellow light coming through the bedroom door.

She was about to push the door open when she suddenly heard Matthew's lowered voice inside: "Katya, be good. What happened during the day—that's our little secret. Don't tell Mommy, okay?"