All Chapters of The Perfect Wife Went Off-Script: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

The next day, a junior flight attendant named Amber Hayes showed up at our house.She said she was there to pick up Nathan's spare uniform. Around her neck hung the Cartier necklace I'd thrown into the rubbish bin the night before.When she caught me looking at it, she deliberately ran her fingers over the pendant."Do you like it too, Mrs. Ashford?"Nathan said this necklace looks better on younger women."I turned to Nathan.He was standing in the doorway to his study. He didn't say a word.Amber wandered into the kitchen and started picking through the ingredients I'd prepared, chatting with a bright smile."Nathan takes such good care of me on flights."The last time we hit bad turbulence, I got so scared I started crying. He held my hand the whole time and even buckled my seat belt for me."He said girls are fragile and meant to be protected."I swept everything she'd touched straight into the rubbish bin."Are you done?"Amber blinked. "Mrs. Ashford, I think there's been a misund

The next day, Nathan booked out the Grand Summit Hotel for two events in one: our 22nd wedding anniversary and his fan meet-and-greet.The ballroom was packed with reporters, airline executives, sponsors, and hundreds of his fans.Before we left, he helped me into a white gown, fastened pearl earrings on me, and slipped two documents into my hands: an apology statement and a voluntary consent form for psychiatric treatment."Tonight, I'll tell everyone about your condition."Then you'll go on stage, admit you lost control during the livestream, apologize to the airline, our sponsors, and Amber, and sign the consent form for inpatient treatment.""And if I refuse?"He rested his hands on my shoulders, his voice gentle. "Every media outlet here has already been told you'll be checking yourself into treatment."Viv, you have two choices. Walk onto that stage yourself or let the doctors take you there."When we arrived, they locked me inside a backstage dressing room. Four bodyguards stood

Sienna didn't go to the side entrance.Hotel security caught Logan in the parking garage. He was clutching a blue folder, sweat pouring down his face."It's just Mr. Ashford's personal documents. I don't know what's inside."One of the officers opened the folder.The first document was an emergency spousal guardianship authorization.The second was a conservatorship agreement covering all of my assets.The moment I was declared mentally incompetent, Nathan would gain complete control over my property, bank accounts, and company shares.The paperwork had already been signed.Not by me. By Sienna.Sienna stared at the signature, her fingernail digging into the paper's edge. "I never signed this. That's not even how I write my name."Nathan stood off to the side. "When you first enrolled in school, you signed so many forms. Maybe you just don't remember."Sienna lifted her head. "When I first enrolled, you told me minors shouldn't sign things carelessly. You guided my hand through every s

I didn't bring the real company seal. I brought a replica the police had already marked.Officers had surrounded Ridgewood Recovery Center long before I arrived.But all of us underestimated Nathan.When I stepped into the room on the second floor, he was already waiting.Sienna stood by the window. She wasn't tied up. She wasn't hurt.Logan guarded the door.Amber stood beside the table, one hand resting on her swollen belly, the other holding a document."Mom." Sienna moved toward me, but Nathan raised a hand. Logan stepped in front of her."Put the seal on the table." Nathan met my eyes. "Do that, and Sienna goes home."I didn't move. "The police already have evidence of unlawful confinement. Keeping her here only adds another charge.""She came here willingly." Nathan pointed at the security camera in the corner. "No one laid a hand on her."I only asked my daughter to witness the final step of you destroying this family."Amber slid a document across the table. It was a power of a

Eight months later, the verdict was handed down.Nathan was convicted of false imprisonment, forging corporate documents, embezzling company assets, and coercion. He was sentenced to seven years in prison.Logan and the director of Ridgewood Recovery Center were also sentenced.Amber received a suspended sentence for her role in the forged documents and the false imprisonment. She was ordered to repay every dollar she had obtained illegally.After she gave birth, a paternity test confirmed the baby was Nathan's. By then, it had nothing to do with me.When the divorce decree arrived, I was at the hospital receiving treatment for my joints.The doctor looked over my test results. "A few more years like this, and you wouldn't have been able to button your own shirt."I looked down at my misshapen fingers.For years, I kept telling myself to bear it just a little longer.There were meals to cook. Laundry to do. A child to raise.Now, with no one waiting for me at home, I finally completed