The Day I Died

I didn’t expect to die today, but here I am.

Dead.

When I woke up this morning, I had every intention of celebrating my twenty-ninth birthday with my husband, Owen Wilde, who was also my business partner. It had been all day, and he hadn't wished me a happy birthday, so I expected something. Excitement and anticipation at what he could be planning made me smile. What could he have in store? I just knew this day would be different. He must have had something up his sleeve.

When he left early from our company without saying anything to me, I thought he was planning a surprise party for my birthday, so I followed him. I was so wrong. I pulled out of the parking garage at our skyscraper, behind my husband’s SUV and toward God only knew where.

“Where is he going? It’s the middle of the work day.” Confusion became my driving emotion as I tailed my husband. I also felt a little guilty for following him. Should I have let him go and waited to see how things played out instead? My curiosity won out. It’s always been a character flaw of mine.

Owen pulled straight into a hotel parking lot. Okay, I thought, he’s just having a meeting or something. Stranger things have happened.

But when I followed him inside, he didn’t head to a conference room. He checked in.

What is he doing? I wondered. Peering around a potted plant like a stereotypical private investigator, I waited until he entered the elevator before striding up to the desk, as if I hadn’t been hiding just a moment ago.

“Hello,” I said, trying not to seem suspicious. “I’m here to check in.”

“Name please,” the front desk attendant responded, not looking up from her computer. Her dirty-blonde hair was pulled into a neat bun, and her uniform looked freshly pressed.

“Mrs. Wilde.” That wasn’t my name. I kept my prestigious maiden name when I married. I’m Fay Lush, daughter of the wealthiest family in the city and heiress to the family fortune. But if Owen checked in here, he wasn’t smart enough to use an alias, assuming he was up to no good. I was still hopeful that it was just a business meeting because I couldn’t imagine it could be anything else. Please, don’t let it be anything else, I thought, holding my breath.

“Yes, yes. Room 211. Here’s your key card.” The young attendant handed it to me and went back to her computer.

Thanking her, I entered the elevator and went up to the second floor. This being a cheap hotel, the walls were paper thin, and I could hear girlish giggles coming from down the hall, followed by some feminine moans. When I got to room 211, it was obvious they were coming from inside.

I paused, unsure how to proceed. I must have had the wrong room. Did she really say 211? I was surely going to interrupt something if I walked in here.

But then I heard a distinctive male moan, one I’d heard many times before. It was Owen! Rage filled me, along with horror and shock, and I brought my fist to my mouth to stop the gasp that flew to my lips. This couldn’t be possible. Next was the hurt and anguish, then more rage. The sounds of a headboard hitting the wall filled the air, then there was more moaning.

I had to know. So, taking the key card in hand, I entered the hotel room.

Much to my dismay, although I don’t know how I could have been so fooled, it was Owen and a beautiful, young blonde, deep in the throes of passion! A tiny squeak escaped me as I saw them. Owen’s face was filled with ecstasy as he pounded her into the bed, which only filled me with disgust and fury. They didn’t even notice me as I came in. They were too deep in the thrall of their cheating to notice anything but each other.