My Husband Served Me Divorce Papers Hours After I Gave Birth To Triplets. He Called Our Children A Mistake, Not Knowing I Am Actually The Billionaire Heiress Funding His Company. Should I Bankrupt Him Before He Realizes Who I Really Am?

The Auction Trap

Richard’s CFO, a middle-aged man who looked consumed by stress, entered the room trembling with the latest bad news that made Richard’s blood boil. The main bank, which had always provided him with soft credit lines, had suddenly frozen the company’s account, citing a violation of the debt ratio and a change in internal risk management policy.

In the midst of the crisis storm, the office door opened and Tiffany entered with a radiant smile that completely contrasted with the situation. She was wearing a red cocktail dress and carrying several shopping bags from luxury boutiques. Her expensive perfume quickly filled the room that smelled of sweat and stress. Tiffany sat on Richard’s lap, ignoring his tense face, and began to chatter about the plans for their lavish engagement party. She complained about how difficult it was to get a reservation in the ballroom she wanted and asked Richard to transfer the down payment of several thousand immediately.

Back at the Prescott Tower, Eleanor smiled slightly, sipping her tea slowly, savoring the sweet taste of victory she was beginning to feel. She asked about the Golden Land project on the outskirts of New York, a real estate project that was Richard’s only hope to reverse the situation and make a huge profit that could cover all his debts. It was Richard’s dream project, something he had worked on the proposal for months with total obsession. Winston placed a blue folder on the table, reporting that the land auction for the project would be held the next morning behind closed doors, and Richard had mortgaged his parents’ house and his remaining assets to raise the auction deposit.

Eleanor took the folder, her eyes shone coldly as she gave a new, cruel but brilliant instruction. She ordered Winston to register an unknown subsidiary of Prescott as a participant in the auction and to submit a bid slightly higher than Richard’s maximum limit but enough to destroy his hopes. She wanted Richard to feel victory within his grasp only to snatch it away at the last second, letting him fall from the height of hope into the deepest abyss of despair.

The Gala

Three months later, the stage was set for the main act: a reunion that would become Richard’s worst nightmare and the moment of Queen Eleanor’s coronation. The grand ballroom of the Plaza Hotel in New York that night was bathed in the golden light of thousands of giant crystal chandeliers hanging from the ceiling, creating an atmosphere of almost blinding luxury.

It was the most anticipated night of the social calendar for the New York business elite: The National Entrepreneurs Gala Dinner. For most of the guests, this night was an opportunity to show off their wealth and connections. But for Richard, it was the last battlefield, a life or death gamble in which he had to secure an investor or face the total ruin that already awaited him.

Suddenly, the main lights of the ballroom dimmed drastically, leaving a single spotlight focused on the grand curved staircase at the end of the room. Instantly all conversations ceased. The authoritative voice of the host echoed through the speakers, announcing with great respect the presence of the new chairwoman of the board of the Prescott Group, the figure who would lead the largest conglomerate in the United States into a new era.

The double doors at the top of the staircase opened slowly, and a female figure emerged from the darkness into the light, causing thousands of pairs of eyes to fixate, holding their breath. The woman wore a deep black velvet evening gown custom-designed to cling elegantly to her body, with a pure gold accent at the collar that radiated an aura of majesty and mystery, and a small but ancient diamond tiara that sparkled on her flawless asymmetrical bob haircut.

Richard narrowed his eyes trying to focus on the figure high above, feeling that there was something very familiar about her posture and the way she stood. His heart began to beat at an irregular rhythm. The woman began to descend the stairs with graceful and confident steps. When her face was finally captured clearly by the spotlight, Richard felt as if the floor beneath his feet was collapsing. That face, though now professionally made up with a sharp look and a cold unfamiliar expression, was the same one he had seen every morning at the breakfast table. The face of the woman he had called boring and divorced in the hospital. It was Eleanor.

The Public Humiliation

Eleanor reached the bottom of the stairs and was greeted by thunderous applause that echoed throughout the room. She went up to the podium, stood behind the microphone, and looked at the sea of human faces before her with a terrifying calm. Her eyes scanned the room as if searching for someone, and when her gaze met Richard’s wide stunned eyes in the distance, time seemed to stop for both of them. There was no longing or pain in Eleanor’s eyes, only the cold gaze of a judge observing a man condemned to death.

Richard abruptly let go of Tiffany’s hand, ignoring her protests, and began to push his way through the crowd to get closer to the podium. When he finally managed to get close enough to be heard, he shouted Eleanor’s name with a voice forced to sound familiar and affectionate, hoping to rekindle some old feeling.

Eleanor stopped slowly, raising her hand to signal her bodyguards to let the man approach. A mysterious smile appeared on her lips. Richard stood in front of Eleanor, trying to catch his breath and fix his disheveled suit. Then he put on his best smile, the one that had always managed to melt the woman’s heart.

He greeted Eleanor calling her honey, pretending that the divorce and the humiliation in the hospital had never happened, and praised her incredible appearance that night. He said loudly so those nearby could hear that he was very proud of his wife’s achievements and that he always knew she was hiding her great potential to support his career. Richard tried to take Eleanor’s hand, wanting to show the world that he still had a claim on the most powerful woman in the room.

But Eleanor’s hand did not respond. Instead, she crossed her arms over her chest and looked at Richard with a gaze that could freeze lava. With a quiet voice but loud enough to be heard by the inner circle surrounding them, Eleanor interrupted Richard’s nonsense with surgical precision.

She corrected him coldly, stating that she was no longer his wife but Miss Eleanor Prescott, and she reminded him that he was the one who threw the divorce papers in her face when she had just given birth. The words slid like daggers, causing the smile on Richard’s face to shatter and the guests around them to start whispering in surprise. Eleanor did not stop there. She continued in a formal business tone, saying that she had reviewed the collaboration proposal that Richard’s company had submitted to the Prescott Group through a third party and that she had personally rejected it because Richard’s ethical standards and managerial competence were far below the qualifications expected by her company.