1: Gut-wrenching Scene

CIARA

I couldn’t sleep.

The excitement and nervousness of knowing I was getting married tomorrow were too strong to even get a wink of sleep. I let out a sigh and shifted uncomfortably in my sheets, staring blankly at the ceiling as I tried my hardest to clear my head.

Yet, sleep remained elusive.

So, instead, I slipped out of bed and reached for the spare keycard to my hotel room. If I couldn’t get my thoughts to quiet down, maybe seeing Austin would help. I knew we weren’t supposed to see each other the night before the wedding because of that old superstition he oddly insisted on. But I couldn’t help it.

The idea of tiptoeing down the hallway, keycard in hand, felt a lot more comforting than lying here, tangled in my own nerves.

When I reached the right floor and found his room, I bit my lip, ready to press the doorbell. But even before my finger touched it, I noticed the door was open, causing my brows to knit together.

I was pretty sure that most of the hotel doors were supposed to beep or something if they weren’t shut all the way. Did Austin not hear it?

I just shrugged it off and gripped the doorknob, pushing the door open quietly. As soon as I was inside, I immediately heard his voice coming from the bathroom, which wasn’t far from the entrance. 

I was about to call him, but from where I stood, I could make out his blurry silhouette inside; he was slumped against the sink, and in front of him, a woman was kneeling… His hand was tangled in her hair as she moved her head up and down.

I just stood there, frozen. My heart pounded so hard it hurt as I clamped a hand over my mouth.

“Haah! Fuck, that feels good, take me deeper, Yuri,” he moaned, and my eyes widened. I could hardly process what I was seeing or hearing.

Yuri? Had I heard that right? Had he really just uttered my stepmother’s name?

“Am I better than my stepdaughter?” the woman asked, and the second I heard her voice, I knew. There was no mistaking it. The woman sucking off my fiancé right now—that was my father’s second wife.

“Yeah,” Austin answered without much hesitation, and his words punched through me, shattering the pieces of my heart than it already was. “Thanks for pleasuring me these past two years. Too bad this is the last time, so let’s make the most of it tonight, yeah?”

At that moment, tears stung my eyes, and nausea twisted in my gut until I could barely breathe. Two years. For two whole years, they’d been doing this behind my back?

Was I really that clueless, so stupid I never noticed a thing? Or maybe because Austin was just so good at showing me enough warmth and affection that I never even thought he could cheat?

“Are you sure you want to end our relationship? Isn’t having an affair while married more thrilling?” Yuri’s words sent a chill crawling down my spine, hot and cold all at once. “I mean, fucking your mother-in-law sounded more pleasing.”

“Stop tempting me. You know I genuinely love Ciara. We’ve been together for six years. She’s kind, beautiful, smart, and sweet; she’s someone I can’t live without.” Austin said as he pulled her to stand up and made her face the sink, positioning himself behind her. “We’re going to live together soon, and I can’t risk getting caught...”

“Besides, I decided to be loyal to her once we get married.”

His words made my hands curled tight, nails digging into my palms. I wanted to barge into the bathroom, to scream until my throat burned, to slap them both and leave them reeling. But I couldn’t move.

The gut-wrenching scene rooted me to the spot, helpless against the sickening weight of what I’d heard.

I just stood there, stupidly, numbly watching as they started having sex, and finally, when I couldn’t bear it anymore, I slipped away. I closed the door quietly behind me and slid down to the floor as my legs gave up, my whole body trembling with disgust and heartbreak.

I tried my best to muffle my sob, but the soft click of a door opening in the hallway made me hiccup. My first instinct was to hide, to run for the stairs, but, even before I could move, Rowan, Austin’s older brother and rival, stepped out of his room.

“Shit, I forgot, he’s here too!” I mumbled to myself before I scrambled to my feet, desperate not to let him catch me like this. Then, I quickly wiped my tears with the back of my hand, and as if I didn’t see him, I tried to brush past him.

But of course, he wouldn’t let me—not when his hand closed around my arm, stopping me in place.

“What happened?” he asked, his deep voice making me tense up, just like it always did.

“Nothing,” I blurted, yanking my arm away from his grip and hurrying down the hall. Once I was inside the elevator, I sagged against the wall, breath shaky, vision spinning. But then everything stopped because Rowan reached out and caught the closing elevator door with his hand, stopping it from shutting.

“W-what are you doing? That’s dangerous.” I stammered, my eyes darting from him to the door as panic built inside me.

Honestly, Rowan and I had never really connected, so I couldn’t understand why he was acting this way. His presence made me uneasy, and I felt a sense of intimidation whenever he was around. Besides, I shared Austin’s disdain for him. After all, he often vented about his older brother: how awful he was, how he always schemed and humiliated him.

I hated how Rowan was making Austin suffer. I really did. But now, after what I’d just discovered, I couldn’t help but think he deserved it. Every last bit.

“Why are you crying?” Rowan asked, his voice low and direct as he stepped in and let the door close behind him. He didn’t even move closer, just stood there, letting his 6’4 height swallow the tiny space between us.

“I said nothing. Why do you even care?” I snapped, my words coming out sharper than I meant before I reached for the button to press my floor. However, I was interrupted again as his hand closed around my wrist and pressed for the top floor instead. “What the hell? What’s your deal—”

“Did you catch them?” His words made me flinch, causing me to look up, right into his amber eyes. They always seemed to see more than they should, and now they unsettled me even more.

I tried to tug my hand away, but he didn’t let go. For a moment, I just glared at him, my mouth opened, but nothing came out. My thoughts were already a tangled mess.

“Was my question vague?” He sighed, “Fine, I’ll ask it again. Did you finally catch that whore of a stepmother of yours and my stupid brother screwing around?”

I froze.

“You knew?” My eyes widened, like I had been betrayed the second time.

He shrugged, almost bored.

“I know everything Austin does. Including how much he loves to fuck your stepmother in his apartment every weekend.”

I gritted my teeth. For a second, I wanted nothing more than to slap him, to let the sting of my palm say what I couldn’t. But I stopped myself, not wanting to take out my anger on the wrong person.

“You knew, but you didn’t consider telling me?” My voice cracked, thick with tears that pressed hot at the corners of my eyes. But Rowan just scoffed, the look on his face hardening as he stared down at me, mockingly.

“Would you even believe me?” he smirked, taking a slow step closer. Instinctively, I backed away, feeling my heart race. “Now, let’s be real here, Ciara. Even if I had shared everything about their affair and laid out proof for you, you still wouldn’t trust me. Not when you feel such deep hatred toward me.”

I looked away, unable to meet his eyes as a bitter taste filled my mouth. I hated how I couldn’t argue, hated even more that I knew every word out of his mouth was true.

Nothing he said could make me believe him, not after six years of listening to Austin rant about how Rowan would stop at nothing to ruin him. It was all I’d ever known, the way Austin painted his older brother as a villain, and I’d believed it without question.

Suddenly, the elevator stopped at the top floor, the doors sliding open with a slow, hollow sound.

“Why did you bring me here?” I frowned, letting him pull me along, out of the elevator, straight into the dimmed hallway. I just watched his broad shoulders leading the way, hair tied back in a bun, without a single glance in my direction.

“I’m getting a drink, so accompany me.” He didn’t look back; he just kept walking like this was normal, like it was the most obvious thing in the world. Then, abruptly, he stopped, turning to face me, “Shouldn’t you want revenge?”

“Of course I do, do you think I’m a doormat?” I shot back, finally tugging my hand free, annoyance spiking as I narrowed my eyes at him.

Sure, I loved Austin; my feelings for him were genuine, but my love for myself ran deeper. Since he broke my heart and betrayed me, I wouldn’t think twice about returning the favor. After all, I always knew my value, and was taught to stand firm in it.

“Tomorrow, at the ceremony. I’ll leave him at the altar after refusing the I dos.” I said confidently, causing Rowan to snort.

For a second, I wanted to smack him. But of course, I was sane enough not to do that.

“I’m serious,” I insisted, feeling heat rise to my cheeks.

“You call that revenge? That isn’t satisfying at all.” He laughed, a short, sharp sound. “That’s nothing. That’s barely a scratch to his ego.”

He stepped closer, reaching up to tip my chin so I was forced to meet his gaze. His lips then curled into the kind of smirk that should be illegal, and I felt a shiver race down my spine, all the way to my toes.

“Wouldn’t it be better to get back at him by screwing with the person he hates most?”

“What?” The word tumbled from my lips with disbelief. I knew exactly what he meant, but hearing it out loud made no sense to me.

“I said what I said.” Rowan leaned in close, so close his breath skimmed my ear as his voice dropped to a low murmur, “The best revenge is to fuck me.”