Chapter 1: The Anniversary

JIA'S POV

I stood in front of the full-length mirror in the large bathroom of the Grand Plaza Hotel. Room 402. It was the best luxury suite they had in the entire building.

I ran my hands down the sides of the dark red lace lingerie. It was brand new. It was short, incredibly tight, and left absolutely nothing to the imagination. I paired it with black thigh-high stockings and sharp black heels.

"He is going to love this," I whispered to my reflection in the glass. "He has to."

Today was our wedding anniversary. I had been married to Liam Collins for three years. He was a handsome, wealthy, and untouchable CEO. Most people looked at us and saw the perfect couple. The smart doctor and the billionaire businessman. But behind closed doors, things were so cold between us lately. I wanted tonight to fix that. I wanted to remind him of the fire we used to have.

I walked out into the main bedroom. I had spent the last hour getting all the details perfect. I scattered hundreds of dark red rose petals across the white silk bedsheets. I ordered his favorite dark chocolate strawberries. A bottle of expensive French champagne was sitting in a silver bucket full of ice. The room smelled like sweet vanilla and expensive perfume.

I picked up my phone from the nightstand. I decided to call him at the office to give him a little tease. A small preview of what was waiting for him.

I dialed his private office line. It rang twice before someone picked up, but nobody said hello.

"Liam?" I said into the phone.

There was no answer, just the sound of a leather chair moving. Then, a sweet, giggly voice came through the speaker loud and clear.

"You are so bad, Liam. What if someone walks in?"

I froze. My breath caught in my throat. It was Mia. My sister-in-law. She was married to Liam’s brother. Why was she inside his private office?

"Let them walk in," Liam’s voice answered.

My heart skipped a beat. His tone was so soft. So warm and incredibly playful. It was a voice he hadn't used with me in over two years.

"You are crazy," Mia giggled again. "But I like it."

"Only for you," Liam whispered.

I could not stay quiet anymore. My hands started shaking. "Liam? Are you there? What is going on?"

There was a sudden shuffle of papers and a loud cough. "Jia?"

His voice instantly changed. The warmth was completely gone. It turned hard, flat, and ice-cold. "Why are you calling this line?"

"I... I just wanted to call you," I stammered. I tried my best to hide the sudden hurt in my voice. I forced myself to remember the plan. I needed to get him to the hotel. I took a deep breath and made my voice drop lower, trying to sound hot and teasing. "I wanted to remind you about tonight, handsome. Our anniversary."

"I am busy, Jia."

"Too busy for your wife?" I purred into the phone. I dragged a single finger over the cold glass of the champagne bottle. "I am at the hotel right now. The suite is ready. And trust me, you really want to see what I am wearing right now. Or rather, what I am not wearing."

He let out a loud, annoyed sigh. The sound felt like a slap to my face.

"I have silk sheets, cold drinks, and I am waiting for you on the bed," I continued, pushing through the cold rejection. "It is going to be a very long, very fun night if you get here by eight o'clock."

"Jia, I do not have time for this stupid anniversary game right now," he snapped at me. "I have a company to run. I have real work to do."

The word stupid echoed in my head loudly.

"Please, Liam," I said, dropping the teasing act. My voice cracked. "Just for an hour? I planned all of this just for us."

He let out a harsh, angry breath into the phone. "Fine. I will come. Just stop bothering me at work. I will be there."

Click.

He hung up on me.

That phone call happened at six o'clock in the evening.

Now, I looked at the digital clock on the bedside table. It was 10:15 PM.

Over two hours late.

I had turned off all the lights in the suite to make it a surprise for when he opened the door. The room was pitch-black. The only light came from the city streetlamps shining through the large glass windows. The ice in the silver bucket had completely melted into warm water. The champagne was no longer cold.

I sat alone in the dark on the edge of the huge king-sized bed. My feet were killing me in the high heels. My skin was freezing in the thin red lace.

My mind was racing fast. Why was Mia in his office earlier? Why did he sound so sweet to her? Why is he always so angry and cold with me? I am a good wife. I work long shifts at the hospital, I save lives, and yet I still make time to look beautiful for him. I cook his favorite meals. I keep my body in perfect shape. But nothing I do is ever enough to make him look at me the way he used to.

"He promised he would come," I whispered to the empty room. "He said he would be here."

At 10:30 PM, the silence in the room became too loud to handle. I could not sit there in the dark for one more minute. I grabbed my phone. The bright screen hurt my eyes in the darkness. I dialed his personal cell phone number.

Ring. Ring. Ring.

I expected it to go straight to his voicemail. But on the fourth ring, there was a click. The line opened.

"Liam?" I said quickly, standing up from the bed. "Liam, where are you? I have been waiting in the dark room for over two and a half hours."

There was no answer. Just a strange rustling sound. Like skin rubbing against skin.

"Liam, are you driving? Are you almost here? Hello?"

Then, I heard it. A soft, wet, breathless gasp.

"Ah... Liam... wait..."

My blood turned into ice water. The phone slipped slightly in my sweaty hand. I pressed it harder against my ear, praying to God I was hearing things.

"Liam, you are going too fast..." the female voice moaned loudly.

It was Mia.

Her voice was high, breathy, and dripping with pure pleasure.

"You like that?" Liam's voice growled in the background.

My knees gave out. I sank down onto the floor.

His voice was dark. It was hot, rough, and full of animalistic teasing. It was the exact voice I had begged him to use with me earlier today. The voice a man only uses when he is deep in bed with a woman he desires.

"Tell me you like it," Liam demanded over the phone, his breathing heavy and fast.

"Yes! Oh my god, yes, right there..." Mia cried out. Her moans filled my ear, echoing loudly in the silent, pitch-black hotel room.

"Liam?" I whispered. My throat closed up completely. I could not pull air into my lungs. Hot tears immediately spilled over my eyelashes and rolled down my cheeks.

"You are so much better," Mia moaned into the speaker, her voice shaking. "So much tighter."

"Don't talk right now," Liam groaned back at her. "Just look at me. Only me."

"Ah... yes... Liam..."

I pressed the red button and ended the call.

The silence slammed back into the dark room.

I sat on the floor, staring at the black screen of my phone. My brain felt like it was moving in slow motion. My husband. My sister-in-law. On our anniversary night.

He didn't just forget. He didn't just stay late at work.

He called my anniversary plans stupid so he could go sleep with his own brother's wife. While I sat here in the dark, shivering in cheap red lace, waiting for a man who was already naked in another woman's bed.

A loud, ugly sob tore out of my throat. It sounded like a dying animal.

It felt like someone had taken a heavy baseball bat and smashed it directly into my chest. I fell forward onto the soft carpet. My hands crushed the expensive red rose petals I had so carefully placed earlier.

"No," I cried out to the empty walls. "No, no, no!"

The pain was blinding. It burned through my veins. It made my head spin and my stomach twist into sick, tight knots. My heart completely shattered into a million tiny, sharp pieces.

I needed the pain to stop. I needed the awful images of them together to get out of my head. I could still hear her dirty moans. I could still hear his hot, teasing growls in my ears.

I crawled across the carpet on my hands and knees until I reached the small table in the center of the room. I reached into the melted water and grabbed the heavy bottle of champagne.

I did not care about the beautiful crystal glasses I had set out on the tray. I peeled the gold foil off the top with my shaking fingers. I popped the cork. It flew across the room and hit the wall with a loud bang.

I brought the cold green glass bottle directly to my lips.

I tilted my head back and drank.