CHAPTER 2

I woke up around 2 a.m., stretching my hand across the bed. The space beside me was empty. He wasn't there. The room was dark. I stood up, still naked, and turned the light on. Aldwin was gone. He's probably at a bar or in a club. Those were the only places you could find him at this hour.

I winced at the burning pain, then dragged myself to the bathroom for a cold shower.

I checked my phone: eight missed calls from Lisa. I was very certain she had something to blabber about; she always did. Most times, when Aldwin went to the club, she was my informant. If she wasn't there herself, Eric, her boyfriend who worked there as a barman, would message her whenever Aldwin showed up. For reasons best known to him, Aldwin seemed to frequent the place.

“Hey, girl,” I said as she answered her phone

“Kora! Where have you been? I've been calling you for ages!”

Her high-pitched voice rang in my ears.

“Take it easy. At this rate, you'll burst my eardrums. What’s going on?”

“Where are you right now?”

“Really? Like, you don't know, I never leave this mansion. Girl, what are you drinking?”

“I've had a few drinks, but that's not why I called. And honestly, I don’t know how you do it, but I see you don't give a fuck who fucks your man, girl! He's out here looking like a whole snack, and these bitches are drooling and circling him like vultures. I keep telling you, you need to start stepping out with him. Especially to places like this girl!”

“Will you slow down before you choke on something? I was fast asleep; I didn't even know when he left the bed.”

“I see, you two had some bed business,” she teased, her signature crackly laugh cutting through the line.

“I see you are all healed up from yesterday,” she added.

I raked a hand through my hair, pushing it back from my face. Of course, I told Lisa, I always told her everything.

“You know how he gets when he wants it”

She sighed softly, “I know, girl. But how are you, really?”

“I'm exhausted”

“Damn. That must have been some next-level banging…”

“Don't even say it. Don't.” I warned.

“Oops! I already did,” she laughed. Her voice dripped with mock innocence. “But seriously, you need to get down here. Same place as always. Just you showing up would scare those women off. They look hungry like they're going to devour him whole. Damn girl.”

I guess I'm supposed to feel insecure. That's what a wife should feel, right? But I don't feel that way. Not even a trace of that. Maybe because I still haven't felt like he's truly mine. I swear, I felt so lucky when he asked me to marry him in that bar; any girl there would have said yes too. The billionaire heir to imperial holdings. He wasn't just wealthy; he was devastatingly handsome, too. The kind of masculinity that could intimidate without a word.

He had the kind of athletic build that was mostly seen in magazines. A commanding height that made a room feel smaller, and a perfect jawline that seemed to defy the very concept of compromise. Aldwin Ellison was a perfect ten by anyone's standards, and his aura didn't just enter a space; it seized it, leaving your heart to stumble for its next beat. Any woman would be out of her mind to turn him down.

He never dated; he never needed to. If he had, it would've made headlines; the media would have sold their souls for that story. What everyone knew, though, was his reputation: the consistent rumour of his legendary talent, for handling a woman's wildest, most private desires; the exact fantasy I was clinging to. Then one random night, there I was. Just another girl in a crowded bar, trying to catch the attention of a billionaire who never looked twice. I and the untouchable Aldwin Ellison.

It worked. I caught his attention, but I was only hoping for a one-night stand. Instead, I became his so-called wife in less than a week. No courtship, no gradual shift, just a sudden, irrevocable promotion from stranger to wife.

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