Chapter 1: Caught In The Act

**Nadia**

Tonight was supposed to be perfect.

I had planned every single detail. The room number was already memorized, but I checked my phone anyway. Suite 412. Booked by me, paid for by me, dreamed up by me while Garrett laughed on the other end of the phone.

*"You booked it?"*

*"Yes."*

*"Damn, Nadia. Look at you being bold."*

Bold. I carried that word down the hallway like a good luck charm. Like it could turn me into someone different just by believing in it hard enough. Not boring. Not careful. Not the girl who overthinks every single thing until the moment passes her by.

Tonight, I was different.

I decided that. And I needed it to be true.

---

I stopped in front of the door and took one slow breath.

My hand shook a little when I reached for the handle.

*It's fine*, I told myself. *It's just Garrett.*

My fiancé. The man I had been saving myself for. I pushed the door open quietly, already smiling.

The smile died before I finished walking in.

It came in pieces at first. A sound, soft and rhythmic. A laugh that wasn't mine. A woman's voice, light and careless, like she was exactly where she wanted to be.

My brain refused to catch up with what my eyes were already seeing.

The sheets were twisted. Garrett lay back like he owned the universe. And Priya, my best friend Priya, was straddling him, moving like she belonged there.

My stomach dropped straight through the floor.

---

They didn't notice me at first.

Too wrapped up. Too busy. Her head tipped back as she laughed, hair falling over her shoulders. His hands on her hips like he'd done it a thousand times before. Like it was nothing. Like it was routine.

My fingers went tight around the door handle.

Leave. The thought came sharp and clear. Just turn around. Close the door. Walk away. Pretend you never saw this.

I couldn't move.

I stood there, completely outside my own body, watching it happen.

Then Garrett looked up.

His eyes found mine, and something flickered across his face. Surprise. It was gone almost immediately.

What replaced it was worse.

Not guilt. Not panic.

Just annoyance.

"Damn," he muttered.

---

Priya froze. Followed his gaze. When she saw me, her whole body went still.

"Nadia..."

My name sounded wrong coming from her mouth. Like she'd lost the right to it somewhere in those twisted sheets.

"What..." My voice came out dry. Empty. "What are you doing?"

It was a stupid question. I could see what they were doing. Hear it. But my brain needed something to hold onto, and that was the only sentence it could find.

Garrett didn't move. Didn't push her off. Didn't even try to look sorry.

He just looked at me like I'd shown up at the wrong time.

"You weren't supposed to be here yet," he said.

That hit harder than anything else.

Not I'm sorry. Not this isn't what it looks like. Not even a lie to soften the blow. Just inconvenience. I was an inconvenience.

"This is our room," I said. My throat felt tight.

"Yeah," he replied.

Like that explained everything.

---

Priya grabbed the sheet, wrapped herself in it, and stepped forward. "Nadia, listen..."

"No." My head shook before she finished. "Don't."

If she started talking, it would get even more real than it already was.

Garrett sat up and ran a hand through his hair. Casual. Like he was solving a mildly annoying scheduling problem.

"You're overreacting," he said.

I stared at him. "I'm overreacting."

"Yeah. It's not that deep."

Not that deep.

The room tilted.

---

"How long?" I asked.

The silence that followed said everything.

I looked between them. From her guilty eyes to his careless ones. "How long?" I asked again.

Garrett shrugged. "A while."

I laughed. It sounded wrong even to my own ears. "A while. You mean days? Weeks? Months?"

"Does it matter?"

Yes. It mattered more than anything had ever mattered in my life. But the way he said it, like the answer was obviously *no* made something go cold in my chest.

Priya stepped toward me. "Nadia, I didn't mean for it to..."

"Stop." Sharper this time.

She flinched.

Good.

"I trusted you," I said, and I was looking right at her. "You were my best friend. You knew everything about tonight. About what this was supposed to be..."

"That's the problem right there," Garrett cut in.

I turned to him slowly.

"You made it too big," he said. "Saving yourself, turning it into some huge moment." He shrugged. "It's just sex, Nadia."

Just sex.

Priya shifted beside him, clearly uncomfortable now. "Garrett, maybe don't..."

"No, I'm serious." He looked at me like he was doing me a favor. Like he was finally being honest with me after years of holding back. "You're always so careful. So stiff. I knew tonight was going to be awkward."

"I'm not..."

"You are." He said it simply. Flatly. The way you'd state a fact. "You're boring."

The word landed like a slap.

I felt it in my chest.

"She needed to hear it," he said to Priya, who was wincing now.

"I booked this room for *us*," I said quietly.

"Yeah." His voice went almost gentle, almost patronizing, which was somehow worse. "And that's sweet. But it doesn't change who you are."

"And who am I?"

He didn't even hesitate.

"Predictable. Safe. Vanilla."

Each one pressed down harder than the last.

I looked at Priya. "And her?"

He smirked. "She's not afraid to actually do things."

And then Priya, my best friend, the girl who helped me pick out the lingerie I was still wearing under this dress, let out a soft laugh and said:

"Someone had to save him from a frigid wedding-eve night."

---

Something inside me snapped.

Not loud. Not dramatic. Just... gone. Like a switch flipped and took everything warm with it all at once.

I looked at both of them. Really looked. At the man I was supposed to marry in less than twenty-four hours. At the girl who was supposed to stand beside me when I said I do. I waited for tears. For screaming. For something.

There was nothing.

Just emptiness.

"Congratulations," I said.

Garrett's face did something. "Don't be dramatic."

I didn't answer.

I turned around and walked out.

No one stopped me.

---

The hallway was too bright.

I walked without deciding to walk, legs moving like they'd made their own arrangements with the floor. I don't remember pressing the elevator button. I don't remember the doors opening. I stepped inside and watched them close in front of me, and the person reflected back in the silver surface didn't look like anyone I recognized.

The lobby arrived.

Then the bar.

I was sitting on a leather stool with an empty glass in front of me before I fully understood I had crossed the entire casino floor.

"When did I..." I muttered to no one.

"Another?" the bartender asked.

"Yeah."

It burned going down. I welcomed it. It was the first thing I'd felt since I walked into that room. I pushed the glass forward before he even finished pouring.

"Again."

He didn't ask questions. I drank that one fast too. Too fast. Didn't care. If I slowed down, if I stopped, I'd have to start thinking. And I couldn't afford that. Not yet. Not here. Not with the image of them still running on a loop in the back of my skull.

I dropped my forehead into my hand and let out a slow breath.

Don't think. Don't feel. Just drink.

"Another."

Then a low voice came from right behind me.

"You look like a woman who wants to burn the world down."