Chapter 1

My wife, Olivia, was giving a speech titled “My Ten Years” at an industry summit, and the presentation had reached the “Thank You” slide.

The night before, she had said she would be giving me special thanks today.

I secretly wondered if she might put up an intimate photo of the two of us.

Then the first picture appeared.

It showed me wearing an apron and frying fish, oil splattered across the fabric and making me look utterly miserable.

Laughter came from the back rows.

A moment later, the second photo popped up.

It showed my back as I knelt on one leg and leaned over to scrub a toilet, the strange angle making me look especially pathetic, as if I were serving the toilet itself.

The entire room erupted in laughter.

And I was sitting right there below the stage, invited as the “family representative.”

The camera swept across my suddenly pale face, and I clearly heard the people sitting beside me whispering.

“So that’s the guy who lives off Olivia?”

“No wonder Olivia succeeded. She dumped her baggage and moved forward without the extra weight.”

“Olivia must have had it rough, climbing this high while dragging around a useless burden like him.”

Their voices were loud, as if they deliberately wanted every word to reach my ears.

I sat frozen in my chair, feeling everyone’s eyes strike my face like searchlights.

Onstage, Olivia looked radiant, her voice rising and falling with practiced confidence.

“As we advance in our careers, we have to learn how to subtract. Any burden that slows our progress must be identified and removed in time…”

For ten minutes, she broke down my doing the laundry, cooking, cleaning, and taking care of our child into a series of business case studies.

Sunk costs, opportunity costs, return rates on negative assets…

Every word was a knife plunging straight into my heart.

When the speech ended, thunderous applause filled the room. Olivia smiled and bowed onstage, the lights shining down on her until her whole body seemed to glow.

As for me, I hunched over and walked out of the venue one step at a time.

When I got home, I sat on the couch without turning on the lights, quietly staring at the outlines of the furniture in the darkness.

Five full years had passed since we got married.

Olivia had said she wanted to focus on her career, and I had said fine, I would take care of the home.

She had said she hated housework, and I had said fine, I would do it.

She had said having a child would interfere with her career plans, and I had said fine, I would raise our daughter, Ellie.

I had thought this was support, teamwork, and what a family was supposed to look like.

It wasn’t until today that I understood the truth. In her eyes, I was nothing but a burden, a “negative asset” holding her back.

The front door opened, and Olivia stumbled inside.

She smelled of alcohol, her cheeks flushed, but her eyes still sparkled with the excitement of success.

After turning on the light, Olivia frowned when she saw me.

“Ethan, what are you sitting around for? Don’t you know to make me some honey tea to sober me up?”

I didn’t move. I simply stared at her.

“Olivia, what exactly am I to you?”

Olivia impatiently pushed me away. “Ethan, what the hell is wrong with you?”

“The presentation today. Those photos. Those things you said.” I questioned her word by word. “In your eyes, am I just a burden?”

Olivia turned around and leaned against the wall, folding her arms as she looked at me.

I knew that posture well. It was the same stance she used at the negotiating table when dealing with difficult opponents.

“Ethan, today was an important day for me. I don’t want to argue. Those were just examples. They were for the sake of the speech.”

I laughed. “Examples? You used photos of your own husband scrubbing toilets as examples?”

“Then what was I supposed to do?” Olivia raised her voice. “Put up a romantic photo of us? Then tell everyone I succeeded because I had a wonderful husband? Who would believe that?”

She walked over, alcohol rolling off her breath. “Ethan, today was the high point of my career. Could you stop ruining my mood?”

I looked at her and suddenly felt like I was looking at a stranger.

This woman had shared my bed for five years, yet I realized I had never truly known her.

“So to you, I’m a negative asset that needs to be removed from your path to success, is that it?”

Olivia was silent for several seconds.

“So what if I am? And what if I’m not? Ethan, can you grow up?”

She turned and walked toward the bedroom. “I’m exhausted. I have to meet investors tomorrow.”

The bedroom door closed.

I got up and walked to the study.

At the very bottom of the bookcase sat a dusty cardboard box.

I carried it out and opened it. Inside were a few old belongings: the medal I had won in a college programming competition, a yellowing team photo, and an old black phone.

I plugged in the charger and turned on the phone. A text message from five years ago appeared.

“Ethan, are you really not going to join us? Name your price.”

Sender: Jordan Blake, the founder of the tech giant Abyss Technologies.