A Wife's Worth in Shares

At the company's eighth-anniversary livestream, the host asked Derrick, "Mr. Waterson, you started in a tiny 12-square-meter shop and built all this. Who deserves the most credit?" At that time, he took my hand in front of hundreds of thousands of viewers and said, "My wife, of course. I wouldn't be where I am today without Lydia." The comments flooded with praise for our perfect marriage. However, he pinned a "Co-Founder" badge onto Natasha's chest himself while mine was just a "Mr. Waterson's Wife" badge. In my previous life, I had confronted him right after the livestream. "She has shares. What about me?" Derrick pushed a 5-million-dollar guarantee agreement toward me while saying, "Natasha is an outsider. Why would she work hard for me if I don't give her any shares? On the other hand, you're my wife. Are you really going to keep score with me?" … That night, I signed it. Six months later, the company went bust. Natasha took her 35% shares and the key clients to a new company, while Derrick moved every asset he could. By the time 12 creditors showed up at my door, I finally saw the shareholder register. Derrick: 65% shares. Natasha: 35% shares. Lydia: 0% shares. All I had was the title of legal representative and five million in personal debt. … When I opened my eyes again, the livestream camera was pointed straight at me. Derrick smiled and handed me the microphone. "Darling, say a few words." I took it and pointed at the badge on Natasha's chest. "Mr. Waterson, you just said there would be no success without me. In that case, would you care to tell everyone exactly how many shares I own?" Chapter 1 The Price of Being His Wife The comments froze for a few seconds before filling with question marks. "What does she mean? Does Mr. Waterson's wife not have any shares?" "Didn't he just say they built the company together?" "Natasha is already a co-founder. So, how many shares does his wife have?" The host gripped the , unable to continue with the congratulatory speech she had prepared. Derrick reacted quickly, putting an arm around my shoulders and smiling naturally at the camera. "She doesn't like handling these matters. We're married, so does it really matter whose name the shares are under?" I had heard those words for eight years. When our first shop couldn't afford the next month's rent, I closed my own studio and transferred all my savings to him. He held me and said married couples shouldn't keep score. Then, Natasha joined the company. She received 5% in the first round, 12% in the second, and now had 35% sitting pretty. I had never questioned it because I was his wife. "If it doesn't matter whose name the shares are under, then why does hers have to be under her own name?" I asked while pointing at Natasha's co-founder badge. Derrick's smile faltered. She quickly took the microphone and replied, "Lydia, the shares are just part of my job. I meet with investors every day, so how am I going to convince them I'm a partner if I don't own anything?" She made it sound perfectly reasonable. Then, she smiled at me and continued, "You and Derrick are married. You don't need shares to prove your relationship." Some people in the audience even applauded her. Derrick immediately changed the subject. "Today is our eighth anniversary. Let's not get into family affairs." Family affairs, huh? Natasha's 35% was company business, but it suddenly became a family affair when I asked how many shares I owned. His smile disappeared as soon as the livestream ended and the lounge door closed. "Lydia, did you really have to embarrass me in front of everyone?" I took off my name badge and tossed it onto the table. "I only asked about my shares. How did I embarrass you?" "Did you have to ask that in front of everyone?" "You also told them that you wouldn't be where you are without me." Derrick loosened his tie and took a few sips of water. "I was talking about marital property. You know what I meant." Just then, the door swung open, and Natasha walked in carrying a stack of documents. "Come on, you two. Don't fight because of me." Then, she set the top document in front of me. "The 5 million financing deal needs final approval tomorrow. Once you sign the guarantee, the funds can arrive by the end of the month." I recognized the words on the cover. "Personal Joint and Several Liability Guarantee." I had seen that document countless times in my previous life. I had signed it in that life. Six months later, the company went bust. Natasha took her shares and clients, while Derrick moved every asset he could. And so, the bank came after me. I flipped to the last page and said, "I won't sign." Derrick had been looking at his phone, so he slammed his phone onto the table upon hearing my firm refusal. "What did you just say?" "I said I won't sign this guarantee." Natasha softened her voice as she spoke. "Lydia, please don't let a little disagreement during the livestream affect the company." She pulled another document from her bag. "I'm willing to put my entire fortune on the line for Derrick. You're his wife, so there's really no need to make this complicated." Derrick pushed her document toward me. "Look at her. She's an outsider, yet she's still willing to take this risk with me. You're my wife, so why are you being so skittish?" In my previous life, his words had made me feel ashamed. I had genuinely thought that I was being selfish for asking about those shares. This time, I turned both documents to their final pages. Natasha's was titled "Shareholder Risk Commitment." If the company went bankrupt, the most she could lose was the value of her shares. However, mine was very different. If the company couldn't repay its debts, the creditors had all the right to pursue me personally. My savings and property would all be at risk. I placed the two documents side by side and drawled, "If the company goes down, she only loses her shares. If the company can't repay 5 million, they come after me." Natasha's smile faded. "Lydia, shareholders and guarantors naturally have different responsibilities." "How are they different?" I shot back. She paused before saying, "I'm a shareholder." I picked up my "Mr. Waterson's Wife" badge and set it beside her document. "Then, what am I?" Derrick swept the badge aside, knocking it into a cup and sending it rolling onto the floor. "Enough!" He pushed the guarantee agreement toward me again. "Natasha is an outsider. If I don't give her shares or some kind of security, why would she bother working so hard for me? You're my wife. Do I really have to give you shares just to convince you to stay with me?" I didn't argue. Instead, I picked up the pen and handed it to Natasha. "If you're so willing to take the risk with him, then you're more than welcome to sign it." She didn't reach for the pen. Derrick's voice turned cold. "Lydia, stop making trouble." I set the pen back on the table. "She gets 35% of the company, while I get saddled with 5 million dollars worth of debt. Yet, you're asking what I'm afraid of? Really?" Just then, someone knocked on the door to remind them it was time for the group photo. Derrick growled with what little patience he had left, "We'll talk about this at home tonight." "Don't bother." I pushed the guarantee agreement back into his hands. "I won't sign this." Before I left, I casually snapped a photo of Natasha's so-called commitment to risk her entire fortune. In my previous life, I believed she'd put everything on the line for Derrick when the creditors came pounding on my door, just as I had. However, my second lease of life proved that it wasn't true. She would get the shares and the glory if things worked out. If she lost the gamble… Well, she'd only lost her shares. On the other hand, I'd been drawn and quartered. Chapter 2 The Recipes They Stole The next afternoon, the company held its eighth-anniversary product showcase as scheduled. Three of its best-selling products appeared one after another on the big screen. They were osmanthus cheese spread, green plum sparkling drink, and black sesame rice milk. The host smiled and asked, "Ms. Farrel, these three bestsellers practically built the company's early success. Where did the original inspiration come from?" Natasha took the microphone and replied, "Well, Lydia enjoys experimenting with food at home. So, she did give us some inspiration in the beginning." All eyes turned toward me the very next second. She smiled and went on, "But home recipes and commercial products are two very different things. The team worked hard on standardization, supply chains, and rolling everything out across our stores." Applause followed. Two new employees in the front row whispered to each other, "So, Mr. Waterson's wife was involved after all." Just involved? I had revised the first version of the osmanthus cheese spread 27 times because it tasted bitter. As for the green plum drink, it fermented too easily in the summer. I tested every batch in the early hours of the morning for three whole months. Back then, the company didn't even have a research and development department. Natasha wasn't even part of the crew. I was the brains and the muscle behind it, but now all my work had been reduced to experimenting with food at home. I didn't go looking for Natasha after the showcase. Derrick was talking with business partners backstage. I handed him the anniversary booklet and asked, "Did you approve this?" He glanced at it and said, "It's just promotional material." "Then, why is Natasha listed as head of product development?" "She handles commercialization." "What about me?" When Derrick heard that, he closed the booklet and said, "Lydia, why are you suddenly fighting over everything? First, it was the shares, and now you can't even let go of one line in a brochure." "I created these products." "I know." "Do the others know?" His patience ran out quickly. "Natasha is the one who sells them. How much would those recipes of yours even be worth without the company, its distribution channels, and her marketing efforts?" Just then, someone from the R&D department hurried over. "Mr. Waterson, the new product still isn't passing the taste test." The employee immediately brought over a sample cup when they saw me, saying, "Ms. Lydia, perfect timing. The aftertaste is still too strong. Could you help us taste it?" I didn't take the cup. Jessica followed my gaze, looked down at the sample, and then back at me. "Ms. Lydia?" "Who's in charge of this project?" "Ms. Farrel." "Then, run along and ask Ms. Farrel." Jessica instinctively took a step forward and replied, "But the product will be launching next week. You've always helped us with the final adjustments." I handed her the anniversary booklet. "Tell me. Whose name is on it?" Nobody around us dared to answer. "From now on, whoever's name is on a project can take responsibility for everything." Derrick's voice darkened. "Do you really have to mix company business with our marital problems?" "Didn't you say it yourself?" I pointed toward the R&D room. "My recipes are worthless without the company. So, surely the company can manage without me as well." He messaged me that evening. "The new product's taste test is at 10 a.m. tomorrow. Don't be late." I replied, "Ask the head of R&D." He immediately rang me up, but I didn't answer. The small apartment I had owned before we married had been empty for a long time. I went back, opened the storage cabinet, and pulled out a cardboard box from the bottom shelf. It held everything I had kept when I closed my studio eight years ago. The earliest recipe drafts, ingredient purchase records, testing reports, and documents signed under my personal studio's name before the company was founded. One of them was an exclusive license agreement for the core production techniques. Back then, the company was short on cash and couldn't afford to buy the rights outright. Derrick had told me, "Let the company use them for now. We'll make it official once we start making money." Later, we were swamped with building our franchise, securing investments, and expanding the company. As a result, the matter was put off again and again. I opened the special terms section of the contract. One clause was written in black and white. It stated, "The core materials may not be transferred to any third party without the rights holder's written consent." The computer's old email account still held a message from three months earlier. The title was, "Request to Access Core Product Materials." The requesting party wasn't our current company, but it was a name I had never seen before. Farrel Food Inc. Derrick and Natasha were both CC'd on the email, and I was the only one left out. Chapter 3 The Plan to Abandon Me That weekend, Derrick's mother, Lora, invited us over for dinner. She said the financing deal was almost final, and the family should celebrate the good news early. When I arrived, Natasha was already seated to Derrick's right. Lora put a piece of fish on her plate and praised, "Natasha really is capable since she is a young woman willing to go with Derrick to meet investors and drink whenever she has to. That's impressive." Then, she turned to me. "You are great too, Lydia. You know how to run a household. A woman should hold down the fort at home." Natasha smiled and spoke up for me. "Lydia has contributed a lot to the company, too. With the household so well taken care of, Derrick can focus on work without worrying about a thing." Derrick served me a bowl of soup and said, "My mother speaks bluntly. Don't take it personally." … Halfway through dinner, he picked up the guarantee agreement from the chair beside him and said, "We need to finalize this tomorrow." I didn't accept it. Lora immediately asked, "You still haven't signed it?" "No." "Why not?" "Because the company isn't mine." In that split second, everyone stopped eating. Her expression darkened as she demanded, "What are you getting at? Are you really going to split everything down the middle between husband and wife?" "Do we split things when it's time to make money?" She fell silent. "Natasha owns 35% of the company. Why isn't that considered marital property?" Lora immediately retorted, "She earned those shares with her own abilities!" I turned to Derrick, but he didn't say a word in my defense. Natasha hurried to smooth things over. "If Lydia is concerned about it, I could pledge some of my shares as additional security." However, he swiftly shot the idea down. "Your equity is already tied up in the financing arrangements. You can't touch it." That riled Lora even more. "Look at Natasha! She's even willing to put up her shares. You only have one little apartment. What's wrong with using that as collateral?" I opened the supplementary guarantee document. The collateral address had already been filled in. It was my premarital apartment, which was less than 70 square meters. I had paid the down payment out of my own savings in my third year of joining the workforce. Derrick had once suggested selling it when the company was struggling to stay afloat. Later, he changed his mind and told me, "It's good to keep it. If we ever fight, at least you'll have somewhere to go." Now, he had listed that very apartment in the guarantee agreement. "Who filled this in?" I pushed the page toward him. Derrick replied, "It's just a backup arrangement." "Did I agree to this?" "Once the financing comes through, we can release it in a few months." "Then, why not use Natasha's property?" The dinner table went quiet again. Natasha set down her glass and said, "My apartment was given to me by my parents." Lora snapped, "Her parents gave that property to their daughter. How can you even think of taking it from her?" I pulled out my own collateral page and asked, "Then, why is mine fair game?" Lora slammed her palm on the table and barked, "Lydia, why are you being so unreasonable?" Derrick's expression darkened, too. "Nobody is taking your apartment. I promise the company will be fine." "How much is your promise worth?" "You—" Before he could say anything, I put the entire agreement into my bag and said, "If you want me to sign, fine." When Derrick heard this, his voice immediately softened. "You should have said that earlier." "Give me the complete financing documents." His hand stopped halfway as he held his glass. "What do you need those for?" "I'll be taking responsibility for 5 million dollars worth of debt. I want to review the risk disclosures, the related entities, and the asset arrangements." "Those are confidential company documents." "Then, I have even less reason to sign the papers." Natasha let out a chuckle and chimed in, "You don't understand any of these things, Lydia. You might not make sense of those pages even if we give a hundred copies of them." "Whether I understand them is my business. Whether I sign is my decision, too." Nobody finished dinner that night. … The next morning, the legal department emailed me the complete financing documents. There were more than 400 pages, but I didn't start at page one. During the liquidation in my previous life, I had only caught a glimpse of one term—risk isolation. I typed those two words into the search bar, and an attachment came up immediately. "Risk Isolation and Core Asset Transfer Plan." It included profitable stores, key distribution channels, important clients, and the brand team. If the financing situation deteriorated, all the valuable assets would be moved in advance to a new company. Lo and behold, the new company was the same one named in the email I'd found—Farrel Food Inc. Natasha was listed first among the actual controlling shareholders. I kept reading. The old company would be kept with bank loans, supplier debts, employee compensation obligations, and financing guarantees. The legal representative was my name. This wasn't some rough draft. After all, the document included partial implementation records, and several major clients had already been contacted. I opened the file properties. This document was created on September 17, 9:46 p.m. I didn't need to think about what happened on that day since September 17 was our wedding anniversary. I opened our old chat history. At 9:49 p.m., I had messaged Derrick, "The food has gone cold again. I've asked them to heat it up." At 9:52 p.m., he replied, "I'm in a meeting. Stop rushing me." He didn't come home until 1 a.m. When he got home, he brought a bouquet of leftover roses from a convenience store; the wrapping paper was already crumpled. He said the company had called an emergency meeting and he was too tired to talk. I went into the kitchen and reheated some noodles for him. Half the roses wilted by the next day. I even trimmed the damaged edges and changed the water. Now, I finally understood. At 9:46 p.m., he was in a meeting discussing how to move all the company's valuable assets out if things went wrong. Yet, I had foolishly asked him at 9:49 p.m. whether he wanted his dinner reheated. Chapter 4 Sign It Yourself On Monday afternoon, the company held its financing signing ceremony as scheduled and livestreamed the entire event. They hoped this event would end the recent controversy over me owning zero shares. The viewer count had passed 200,000 within ten minutes. The final 5 million guarantee agreement sat on the table. Derrick pushed the document toward me after explaining the financing plan. He even smiled at the camera while saying, "Just one last formality. Darling, once you sign it, we'll go home and celebrate." The comments were already pouring in. "Has she finally gotten her shares?" "So, does she really own 0%?" "Natasha owns 35% but doesn't have to guarantee anything. Meanwhile, the wife with 0% has to guarantee 5 million?" The host didn't dare to read a single comment off the screen. I opened the first page. The amount was still 5 million, and my premarital apartment was still listed as collateral. I picked up the pen. Natasha lifted her glass of water across from me, secure in her victory. Derrick leaned back in his chair, utterly confident. The next moment, I pushed the pen toward Natasha and said, "You sign it." The livestream chat exploded the very next second. Natasha paused briefly before saying, "Lydia, this is a personal guarantee. It's not something I'm supposed to sign." "You're the co-founder," I replied. "This financing arrangement is only here because you two built the company together," Natasha answered. "So, you're suggesting that you're only a co-founder when the company makes money? Is that why it's suddenly a joint marital responsibility when the company is borrowing money?" She glanced at the camera and lowered her voice as she whispered, "We're live right now." "I know." Then, I turned the guarantee amount toward the camera. "As you can see, there's 5 million dollars on the line. Natasha owns 35% of the company while I own 0%. However, I'm expected to sign the guarantee when they need it." The comments were scrolling so fast they were almost impossible to read. "The 35% shareholder gets the profits, while the 0% gets the debt?" "Does that mean Mr. Waterson's wife is only useful when the company's in hot water?" "Something about this doesn't sound right." Derrick hastily reached out and pressed down on the agreement. "Lydia, we can discuss the shares at home. Hundreds of employees are watching the livestream today." Natasha chimed in, "Lydia, I understand that you and Derrick are having some problems, but if the financing falls through today, how will we pay for everyone's salaries next month? Hundreds of employees are depending on this company. They shouldn't suffer because of a personal disagreement." The chat began to shift their stances right after she said those words. "True. The employees are indeed innocent." "Can't they discuss the share issue later on?" "What happens to the company if the financing falls through?" Things were happening in the exact same way as they did in my previous life. The company belonged to Derrick, and the shares belonged to Natasha. However, when shit hit the fan… Well, suddenly everyone's livelihoods, debts, and futures were dumped on me. Derrick lowered his voice as he said, "Didn't you want an explanation? Sign it first, and I'll give you one when we get home." I put the cap back on the pen and replied, "You have a tendency to promise me something later on whenever you ask me to give something up." He cut me off, "Why are you bringing that up now? Don't you dare blame me for dragging the company down if the financing falls through today and the company runs into trouble." "Don't worry. I won't blame you," I drawled as I closed the guarantee agreement. "I'm just refusing to keep holding the fort for you, that's all." Derrick snatched the document away and said, "Cut the livestream!" … Before the staff could react, someone from the investor's team hurried into the room. A young assistant leaned over and whispered something into the investor representative's ear. Then, the representative's pen hovered over the signature page for several seconds before closing the entire investment agreement. "Mr. Waterson, we'll have to reschedule today's signing." "What do you mean?" Derrick turned on him. The representative handed his phone to the legal team before looking at everyone around the table. "We've just received a risk alert. Three of your company's core assets are involved in major ownership disputes. We can't, in good conscience, proceed with this investment until the matter has been verified." The livestream chat, which had been hotly debating just who was in the right, was now flooded with question marks. Natasha straightened while Derrick immediately jerked his head to me. "Lydia, what have you done?"