All Chapters of Wife, Wine, War: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

"Get a load of this shameless bitch! He thinks he can just walk in without paying!""Smile, you freeloading bum. You're on the internet now!"Phones and cameras shot up and pointed at me like weapons. I turned aside and shielded my face with my hands. I forced myself to stay calm."What are you talking about? This estate is mine. I have no idea what you're accusing me of."The woman who had started the shouting, the obvious ringleader, stepped closer instead of backing off. She yelled hard enough that flecks of spit nearly hit my face."Cut the crap. We all know Belgard Estate belongs to our Jaxie, you scum. If you're going to run a scam, at least pick a place owned by someone as irrelevant as you are."Miss LePenn already given this estate to Jaxie. She said so on a livestream."I frowned.Half a month ago, my girlfriend, Sylvia LePenn, had lent the estate to the mayor for a promotional shoot. The video had gone viral. Since then, Belgard had become the top livestream backdr

These valuables were meant to remain locked behind secured glass boxes and cabinets. If that prick had managed to seize them and claim them as his own…What would happen to everything else in Belgard?My vision darkened. Anxiety and rage gave me the strength to wrench free from the men restraining me. "Unhand me! If any of you dare harm a hair on my head, I'll have the city deport every last one of you by tomorrow."I knocked aside their hands and bolted into Belgard.The first horror that greeted me was graffiti scrawled across the 10,000-dollar wine barrels: *Jacques Mightiest*. Every glass I had commissioned at great expense from master artisans bore a tacky tag that read, *Art, by Jacques.*The drawing room, once lined with refined paintings by masters spanning centuries, had been stripped. The canvases lay heaped in a corner as though set out for a yard sale. In their place, an ugly canvas reading "Jacques and the Jax-Minnies" hung at the center of the wall.Someone had smas

Before anyone had even mentioned it, Sylvia had already jumped in preemptively."Stop making up stories among yourselves! I don't know this guy, period!" She looked at me and added anxiously, "Stop feeding them lies! This estate belongs to me, and I have every right to gift it to my boyfriend. Security! Get this madman out of my property!"Six men answered by forcefully twisting my arms behind me before shoving me toward the exit. I realized I did not recognize any of their faces. It just occurred to me that almost everyone in the retinue was a stranger—save for that snake, William, who might as well be someone I used to know. Oh my God, Sylvia had been giving my estate a total makeover, without my consent, while I was abroad!The security had barely pushed me out of the front door when we heard chopping sounds from above.A dozen helicopters landed on the clearing before uniformed men armed with guns flooded out of them and surrounded the estate. No one could get out now!The

"I have proof that he cheated on me with a female employee at the estate! They had a tryst right here! Yes, one of us has to pay under the prenup, but it won't be me!"Jacques exchanged a look with Sylvia and nodded. He pulled out his phone and swiped through several photos for us to see.They showed me leaning close to a female worker at Belgard. In one, I entered her room and seemed to pat her head. In another, the most open to misreading, I handed her a sleeping robe.The problem was… I had no recollection of any of it.Jacques glared at me with disdain. "The first time I borrowed Belgard, I said it was for my livestream. That was just an excuse. I wanted to catch Richard red-handed after I noticed you cheating on Sylvia. I never expected the evidence to fall into my lap so easily."Look at these photos. We all know what they mean, right? She took the robe and went into the bathroom. What else could have happened? Hell, I still remember how loud she was from outside. She sang l

I could see what he truly wanted. He wanted to stay.I set a bag of cash on the table. "I know what kind of person you are, William. That is why you are no longer suitable to serve as majordomo."If anyone was bullying you, you should have told me at once. You should not have allowed others to walk over your employer."Take this. It is your severance pay. Goodbye."William stood in silence for a long moment. In the end, he offered a quiet apology and walked away from the place where he had spent most of his life, leaving the cash untouched.I retrieved the bottle of wine I had come for and returned to my grandfather's birthday party. Belgard could wait.To my relief, the incident at Belgard had not dampened my grandfather's spirits. He enjoyed the evening immensely.…At my direction, the IVWA calculated every detail of the damage and losses Belgard had sustained and compiled a formal case against Sylvia and Jacques.The value of the items that jerk had appropriated might have