Wakes pov
I woke up to the harsh glare of sunlight pouring through the thin curtains, my head pounding like I’d been hit with a hammer. The room smelled of cum and alcohol, nothing like the warmth of our main bedroom. For a few seconds, I just lay there, staring at the ceiling, trying to piece together how I ended up here.
The guest room.
Of all places.
Then the blurry flashes of last night came back. A bar, too much whiskey, and a girl whose name I never cared to learn. Her perfume had been heavy, clinging to my shirt, her laugh loud enough to drown out the noise in my head. A mistake, sure, but one I’d chosen. One I could shrug off, because sometimes you need to sink low just to breathe.
I’d taken the guest room deliberately when I got back, not because it was comfortable, but because it was far from Aloe. I didn’t want the questions. The quiet accusations. The way her eyes could strip me bare without her saying a word. I thought a few hours of silence would be a blessing.
Turns out, it was a curse.
Dragging myself out of bed, I ran a hand through my messy hair and headed toward the main room expecting to find Aloe there. Maybe sitting with that stiff posture she gets when she’s angry. Or ready to throw a sarcastic comment my way. Anything.
But the bed was untouched. The sheets are smooth. Her pillow was exactly where it always was, only without the faint smell of her hair.
Something inside me twisted.
I searched the living room but she wasn't there. The kitchen was empty too. Even the terrace, where she sometimes went to cool off, was deserted. Each empty room fueled my irritation until it was a steady burn in my chest.
I went straight to the security post. The guard was leaning against the desk, half-distracted by his phone.
“Have you seen Aloe since last night?” I asked, my voice low but sharp enough to make him straighten.
He shook his head. “No, sir. Not since yesterday evening.”
I stared at him, waiting for more, but he avoided my eyes. My patience was already thin, and his evasiveness pushed it to the edge.
“Pull the footage,” I ordered.
The place where all the CCTV recordings were kept, felt colder than usual. The hum of the equipment filled the air as I rewound through the hours, my eyes locked on the screens.
I scrolled back to the day she caught me with the blonde girl on our bed..mm but it was filled with cries so I skipped till where she pulled out her phone, glanced around, then made a call.
I leaned closer to the monitor, but the audio was nothing but scrambled static. My jaw clenched. Who was she talking to, without my permission, I'm sure she's with whoever that person was. My worst mistake was giving her a phone.
I inhaled loudly, then skipped to the next day… I wanted to fast forward to evening time after the security man saw her last … but I paused when I saw her suitcase, half-open on the floor, clothes spilling out everywhere. A few dresses, jeans, and shirts and.. few stuff but I quickly skipped till when I saw her carrying her bag outside.
I clicked on the outside camera as the video played full screen. And there was a Black SVC which she entered after a little talk with whoever that person holding the door for her was.
My heartbeat slowed, heavy, like my body was bracing for something my mind didn’t want to accept.
Was leaving me, of course she can't, she can't spend more than 48 hours without my help.
I sat there longer than I needed to, staring at the paused frame of her stepping into the car. The Aloe I knew or thought I knew would never vanish in the middle of the night without saying a word. And yet here was proof.
By the time I left the surveillance room, anger was everywhere around me, because I got inside the main building, I had my phone and dialed my Tech guy's digits.
“Heron,” I said immediately he picked up, “I need you to trace something for me. Last night, Aloe made a call. I want to know who she called.”
There was a short pause, before he said. “Give me the time and the phone number she used in making the call.”
I told him the exact minute I’d seen her on the footage, then called her phone digits for him. I could hear his keyboard tapping in the background.
“Got it,” he said after what felt like eternity. “The call came from Blake Matthew’s personal apartment.”
I still went.
“That’s impossible.”
“No, it’s not,” Heron replied. “That’s what the logs show.”
I shook my head. “No one goes to Blake’s apartment, not without an invitation. He meets people at his villa, his penthouse, his mansion… but never that place.”
Heron didn’t argue. “All I know is what the system tells me.”
I ended the call without another word, my grip tightening around the phone until the plastic creaked.
Blake Matthew, my fucking enemy. And Aloe had gone to him.
The thought alone was enough to make my blood feel like boiling tar. It wasn’t the fact that she’d left but she fucking went to my enemy, of all places to go.
I stood there in the middle of the room, and made myself a promise… one I had no intention of breaking.
She could run to the ends of the earth. She could hide behind locked doors and powerful names.
But I would find her. Because as long as we didn't end with a signature on some divorce papers, she's still my legal wife, and nobody takes what belongs to me.
And as for Aloe… she hadn’t seen the lengths I could go yet…. She's about to bring out the monster that created the monster in me.
Wakes povI woke up to the harsh glare of sunlight pouring through the thin curtains, my head pounding like I’d been hit with a hammer. The room smelled of cum and alcohol, nothing like the warmth of our main bedroom. For a few seconds, I just lay there, staring at the ceiling, trying to piece together how I ended up here.The guest room.Of all places.Then the blurry flashes of last night came back. A bar, too much whiskey, and a girl whose name I never cared to learn. Her perfume had been heavy, clinging to my shirt, her laugh loud enough to drown out the noise in my head. A mistake, sure, but one I’d chosen. One I could shrug off, because sometimes you need to sink low just to breathe.I’d taken the guest room deliberately when I got back, not because it was comfortable, but because it was far from Aloe. I didn’t want the questions. The quiet accusations. The way her eyes could strip me bare without her saying a word. I thought a few hours of silence would be a blessing.Turns ou
Aloe’s POVThe door opened before I could even raise my hand to knock.He stood there, tall, broad, and was like a figure carved from shadows and light, like he belonged in a different world altogether.And standing before me is no other person than Blake's Matthew. The man whose name was whispered like a curse at Wakes Savage’s gatherings. The man Wakes had sworn to ruin.“Mrs. Savage,” he said smoothly, his voice low and certain, like this was the moment he’d been waiting years for.My heart slammed against my ribs, each beat a warning. The faintest smirk tugged at his lips. “I was wondering when you’d show up.”I don't understand what he meant by that but my instinct was telling me to turn and run and battle with the iron will that had kept me standing through every storm. But I couldn’t go back, not after what I’d left behind.Blake stepped aside, his movements slow and deliberate. “Come in. Before someone thinks you’re stranded with nowhere to go.”The front door closed behind me
Aloe’s POVThe hours between morning and night felt endless.Every tick of the clock sounded louder than usual, like a countdown marking the seconds I had left in the house that had become a prison. Every creak of the floorboards echoed like a threat, taunting me with the possibility that Wakes might return early and catch me halfway through my escape.I kept my bag tucked under the bed, hidden in the shadows, like a secret I wasn’t ready to reveal.The room around me blurred into something unreal. I went through the motions as if nothing was wrong. But inside, my nerves were frayed raw, and my thoughts kept spiraling back to one place: tonight.Wakes had texted earlier, his message cold and clipped.Message;;; Contact:MY WAKES“Business dinner, I will be back late.”I didn’t care to imagine what “business dinner” really meant because by now, I’d learned not to trust his words, just his absences. That was the only reason I’d dared set the pickup for eleven. The later it was, the few
Aloe’s POVI was still sitting on the floor, lost in thought when the lights went off, signaling that it was time for bed. I was still contemplating on how to leave this loveless marriage, but no idea was coming aside going to Blake Williams, Wake's altermost rival. That I didn't even notice how late it was already.I managed and stood up, took off the sheets and placed new ones, I didn't bother taking a shower, I just changed my clothes and moved to the bed.I lay on the edge, facing the wall, my body tense as if even in dreams I’d have to defend myself. Every creak of the floorboards, every whisper of wind through the curtains kept my mind on high alert. My hand stayed pressed to my stomach most of the night, as if I could shield the baby from the poison that seemed to seep from every corner of this house.When morning light crept through the curtains, it felt like a spotlight, exposing the mess inside me. My limbs were heavy, but I dragged myself up, slipping into a robe before hea
Aloe’s POVI knew something was wrong the moment I heard the laughter, it was coming from our matrimonial bedroom. It wasn't the warm, guarded chuckle I used to pull from Wakes on our better days either.My fingers froze on the banister, as my pulse crawled up into my throat, pounding so loud I could hear it in my ears.For a moment, I told myself I was imagining it, that maybe one of the staff was inside,or maybe Wakes was on the phone with a client. But then came the moan that ripped through every fragile excuse I’d been clinging to.My Wakes was moaning, in his usual deep, and low moan, that particular tone he used when he wanted me. Only this time, it wasn’t for me.My legs moved before my brain could stop them. I pushed the door open, and immediately, my world stopped.There he was; Wakes Savage, my husband standing shirtless by the bed, his hands gripping the hips of a woman I’d never seen before. She was perched on the edge in nothing but his dress shirt, her lipstick smeared a