CHAPTER {1} Tired Of This Mess!

~~~DIANA~~~

The gift box slips from my fingers and shatters into tiny pieces on the tiled floor of the hotel lobby. 

Eden freezes immediately. His eyes widen as soon as they land on me. “Shit! Diana!”

The man I just wedded two hours ago is on top of his boss. His bare ass was moving fast while her legs circled around his waist. 

He hurries off her, dragging the sheet with him as he goes. 

She sits up slowly, pulling the comforter over her chest. 

She doesn’t even look embarrassed. She looks rather annoyed.

The same woman he brought to his house three months ago and introduced as “just my boss, Bella, from work.” 

The same woman who smiled politely while I poured her coffee just a week ago.

Now she’s moaning under him in a hotel room he booked in the same building where we just had our wedding.

Two hours ago I stood in front of everyone in that ballroom and promised to love him forever. 

I smiled so wide my cheeks hurt because I really wanted to be the perfect wife for him.

My knees feel like jelly and I stagger back until my shoulder hit the doorframe.

Eden stumbles toward me, his belt still flying as he zips up his pants. “Diana, wait! It’s… it's not what you think!”

I turn and start walking down the hallway, tears already blurring everything, but I keep moving.

He catches up fast and grabs my arm. “Sweetheart, please. Just listen to me for a second.”

I spin around to face him, my breath shaking with so much rage.

“It’s not what I think, Eden? What the hell do you mean it’s not what I think?”

He rubs the bridge of his nose hard, like he’s trying to push the shame away. His face is flushed red. 

He knows he’s been caught, and there’s no quick lie that’s gonna fix this.

I wipe my eyes roughly with my palms.

“The day I saw her at your house, you told me she was just your boss. So what the hell are you doing with your boss in a room, in the same hotel where you just married me two hours ago?”

He looks away for a second, then forces his eyes back to mine. 

“Diana… that’s not the room I booked for us, okay?”

My stomach growls and I almost feel like vomiting.

“You booked a different room for you and your boss?”

He breathes out and throws both hands up in the air like he’s surrendering. 

“I just needed some money, alright? It’s not like I cheated for fun.”

The hallway goes completely quiet. 

My own heartbeat is screaming in my ears.

I stare at him, trying to make sense of what he just said. 

“What… what do you mean you needed some money?”

He doesn’t answer right away. His dark eyes fill with shame, but he still doesn’t look sorry enough to make this hurt any less.

I have to ask again, just to be sure I heard him right. “Are you sleeping with your boss for money?”

He stays silent, grabbing his dark brown hair.

“Are you fucking kidding me?” My voice stutters.

He finally speaks with a sharp voice. “Explain that to me, Diana. What the hell did you want me to do?”

I flinch when he raises his voice at me, my back presses against the wall.

“I’m literally broke to the last penny!” he snaps. 

“Who do you think pays your mom’s hospital bills every month? Me!”

“Who do you think donates blood for your mom every time she has one of her episodes without ever asking you or her for a dime? That’s me, Diana!”

“I pulled you out of the streets where you were selling hot dogs that barely paid for food, let alone your mom’s medicine!”

“I got you a job that actually pays you five grand a month. And how the hell do you think we could afford this hotel for a nice wedding? Huh?”

Every single word hits me like a hot arrow straight through my heart, because he’s right. He’s been right about all of it for five years.

I met Eden when my mom’s cancer got so bad we couldn’t find a rare blood donor anywhere. 

Hospitals kept turning us away. I was working double shifts on the roadside selling hot dogs, coming home with blisters on my hands and barely enough money left to buy her painkillers.

Then Eden showed up at the hospital one day. He donated without asking for anything in return. 

He started covering the bills when I couldn’t anymore. 

He found me a job that finally gave me steady pay. Then he asked me out.

I didn’t feel butterflies. I was too tired for anything romantic, but I felt grateful. So grateful that I said yes to everything. 

Yes to dates. Yes to moving in. 

Yes to sex even when it felt empty and dry.

Fake moans, quick finishes, nothing that ever made my body light up or my heart race.

I told myself it was enough. I told myself love could grow from gratitude. 

I told myself I owed him my loyalty, my body, my future.

And I did owe him. I still do.

I swallow back my own words because I can't even yell at him.

Eden lets out a long, exhausted breath, like saying all that finally got the truth off his chest. “I’m so sorry, Diana.”

I bite my lips till I feel sharp pain there. Because I want to scream at him.

I emptied my entire savings to buy him this wedding gift. 

I ignored every time he snapped at me, every time he blamed my mom’s illness for why we were always broke. 

I stayed quiet because I was terrified that if I pushed back too hard, he would stop helping her.

If I walk out of this marriage right now, what happens to my mom? How do I find another rare donor when it took months of begging and waiting just to find Eden? She could die waiting.

I finally look up at him. “If you’re really broke, Eden, if you couldn’t even afford to start a family with me, then why did you propose to me?”

He steps closer, his gaze softening.

“We need to build a family, Diana. My parents they're… they're old. They should have grandchildren at least.”

Goosebumps spread across my arms. 

“Are you serious? Is that why you married me? Just so you could have kids to show your parents?”

He grabs my cheeks with both hands. “Fuck no. Sweetheart!”

“What you saw in there was not me being in love with another woman.” He points back at the door. 

“I messed up. And I’m sorry.”

I try to pull his hands away but he holds on tighter.

“I’m going to make this work, Diana. Trust me. I love you. And I know you love me too.”

“You always care for me more than any other woman I’ve ever known. I don’t take that for granted.”

He lets go of my face, pulls his phone out of his pocket, taps quickly, then turns the screen toward me. 

“See? I’m never letting her come close again.”

The message reads:  

Bella, let’s not do this again. I’m fucking married.

I stare at it, then a gasp sucks out of me as three dots appear. His boss is typing back.

“Awnnn, but your little wife can’t give you 10k dollars for a session, Eden. Sorry I forgot to lock the door but remember why we started this in the first place. You’re stepping down in the company!”

The rage boils hot in my veins as soon as I read her message.

I shake my head in utter disappointment. I can't even breathe.

Eden sees the reply. His eyes widen immediately. “Shit, shit, shit!”

He starts typing back frantically, but I've seen enough.

I turn away from him. “I’m done.”

He grabs my wrist. “Where are you going?”

I yank my hand free. “That’s none of your business!”

He steps in front of me, blocking the hallway. 

“Let’s go back to the room we booked. It’s night already.”

“Let go of me, Eden.” I push his chest hard. He stumbles back two steps.

He raises both hands like he’s surrendering. 

“Alright, run off. But just know you’re my wife now. I already said I’m sorry. I’ve made a lot of sacrifices for your family and I’m willing to do more. You can’t just leave me because of a single mistake. Think about what’s involved, Diana.”

My neck burns hot. I want to scream that sleeping with his boss isn’t a single mistake. It's a betrayal after five years of me trying to be the perfect grateful girlfriend. 

But the words lock in my throat because I’m terrified. 

If I walk out for good, he might stop the donations. He might stop the bills. My mom could die waiting for another donor.

“I’ll think about it.” I say, then I turn and start walking down the hallway. 

“I’ll be waiting for you!” he yells after me, but I don't answer him.

I keep walking until I reach the elevator. 

The doors hit shut and I slide down the wall and sit on the floor, tears turning my vision to gray.

I’m so tired of this mess.

My bank account is empty. I worked months of overtime to buy him that gift. I emptied everything for a man who was busy fucking his boss while I was getting ready in my wedding dress.

The elevator dings as it lands on the ground floor.

I step out. The lobby is still bright and loud with wedding guests laughing and dancing. 

I can see Pippa, my bestie, talking with a man who probably doesn't know she's gay.

But I can’t face any of them. I head straight for the exit that leads to the quiet back corner of the hotel.

Outside, the night air hits my skin and starts drying up the tears on my face.

I’ve pulled my main wedding dress leaving just the milk-colored satin gown.

I find a little concrete and sit on it, my toes curl against it as the cold rattles my ribs.

The first ugly thing I see is my toenails. My nail polish is chipped and uneven. I couldn’t even afford a proper pedicure before the wedding. 

I rest my back on the wall, trying to process what the hell I just saw.

That's when I hear the heavy thuds of footsteps approaching the corner where I am.

I sit up immediately. Then a group of masked men in polished suits rush out from the backyard of the hotel, closing in on me really fast.

“Get her!” One of them commands, and the others start walking toward me.

My heart thunders with fear as my feet drag backward, away from them.

“What… what do you want?” I scream.

Before I can finish yelling, a masked man with long hair falling over his shoulders clamps his hand over my nose.

It's so tight it’s impossible to breathe freely without sniffing in what smells like a sharp chemical stench.

I scream, hitting the hand that just grabbed me, but my little fists are no match for the bulk of muscles circling around my waist and mouth.

My heart beats like gunshots as I realize I’m getting kidnapped by a group of unknown men in black.

“Let go of me!” I yell, but my voice gets swallowed by the white cloth held tight against my nose and mouth.

My feet keep kicking, trying to free my body from their grip, but it’s all useless.

My body drops freely into the big arms holding me, and my vision blurs out.

But I still see a faint figure.

A broad-shouldered manly figure in a black suit with olive-gray eyes standing a few feet away from them. 

His hands are in his pockets, staring at me. 

He’s not even trying to stop them. He's too relaxed. As if witnessing a kidnapping is something casual to him.

Or maybe… he’s the one who gave the orders.