1 - Betrayal

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.

I clenched my fists, the desire to either scream or flee overriding any other desire. I didn’t want to see this. I couldn’t be here. I’d go home, pack my things, and leave them to each other.

The woman was five to ten years younger than me, somewhat thinner, and she could have been a model. But I’d seen enough. Just as I turned to leave, the blonde opened her eyes and looked at me, her face twisting.

“Were you expecting someone, love?” she asked my husband, as if they knew each other better than a one-night stand. “Who is that?”

Owen paused, glancing over his shoulder. His eyes widened when he saw me, and he stood, giving me a full view of both of them.

“What do you think you’re doing?” I asked, my voice cold and hard as steel. A sudden burst of courage made me speak, though I wanted nothing more than to flee this awful situation.

“Only taking what you can’t give me. You shouldn’t have come here.” His eyes were emotionless, lacking any remorse.

It had been so long without any affection from him that I should have seen this coming. I didn’t know why I thought he would be planning anything for me. He never had.

“How long has this been going on?” My voice was shaking.

“It doesn’t matter. If you put out more, maybe this wouldn’t have happened. Or if you worked out more or dressed better. Regardless, I think we should consider divorce,” he said.

“It’s my birthday. You are cheating on me, and you're the one asking for a divorce?” I couldn’t believe what I just heard.

“So what? It’s not like we love each other or anything,” he continued. “This was an arranged marriage.”

That wasn’t entirely true. I was in love with him. At least until today. Even though my parents arranged our marriage to better help the company, it had been real for me. I had dreams of children and a life together. But those dreams were now like ash in my mouth.

The beautiful blonde looked from me to Owen and back again. Her hair was even mussed like the just-banged look of some magazine models. She didn’t look sorry either, only pitying.

Seeing I would have no resolution here, only pain, I stomped out of the room, seething. I didn’t even close the door behind me.

How dare they?! How dare my husband do this to me? After everything we shared, everything we promised to each other? “For better or worse,” we’d said. The vows we made on our wedding day were meaningless now. It’s obvious how much he meant them.

As I made it to the elevator, I saw an email I’d been CC’d on, congratulating my half-brother, Max, for being promoted to vice president of my family’s company. As if this day couldn’t get any worse. That position was supposed to go to me.

My eyes brimmed with tears of anguish and fury as I stormed out of the hotel, not watching where I was going. I made to cross the street, looking for where I parked my Mercedes, but I didn’t even see the other car coming.

All I saw was a blur of motion, and then I was on the ground. Pain ricocheted through me like ping pong balls. I couldn’t tell where it hurt, only that it was the worst pain I’d ever felt. I could hardly breathe. The asphalt beneath me was the most solid thing in my life right then, and its warmth heated my cold body. It couldn’t warm my cold heart, though, no matter how I wished it could.

Shouts rang out around me, but they seemed so far away. Nothing seemed to matter. Car horns blasted, and people came into view, but my vision was fading. I was choking, but what was I choking on? Something wet spilled from my lips and the side of my head before my vision began to dim. Cursing Owen in my head, I closed my eyes. And that was how I died.