Chapter 1

This was the worst night of Elena Matthews’ life.

She sat in the dim theater, fingers drumming the armrest as the screen lit up with some sappy love story. Normally, she’d lose herself in the drama, but tonight, her mind was a million miles away. Then her phone buzzed.

Elena dug it out of her purse. Unknown number. The message hit like a punch to the gut:

Hotel Sunset. Room 721.

Her hands shook uncontrollably as she brought the device up to her face, reading the last text once again.

This wasn’t just a text—it was proof. Proof of the affair she’d suspected for months but refused to believe.

Cold rage flooded her veins. She shoved the phone against her chest, heart hammering. No way could she sit here now. She bolted from the theater, ignoring the stares.

She could explain to Danika later. Her best friend’s new movie screening was important, but it paled in comparison to the chaos now unfolding in her life.

Outside, Elena orders at her driver. “Hotel Sunset. Now.” As the car tore through the city, anger and confusion twisted inside her. The hotel’s neon sign glowed brighter with every block. No backing out now.

At twenty-five, Elena had been Hollywood’s golden girl—talented, gorgeous, destined for greatness. The kind of woman who turned heads everywhere, except around Danika. Those two were always on the same level.

They'd been thick as thieves ever since that first audition years back. Two hungry young actresses bonding over bad coffee and big dreams. Late nights spent scheming about how they'd conquer Hollywood together.

When Elena landed her first movie role? Danika was right there cheering loudest in the front row.

Then came Richard.

It was during the shooting of that movie that she first met Richard. Richard McDowell was the new CEO of the McDowell Media Group, a company responsible for financing and producing Blockbuster movies, including the first movie of Elena’s life. Richard was charming when he met her, and they hit it off right away. It was hard work getting close to Richard because of his social status. His status as a man of influence and power often landed him in trouble with women, which is why the few relationships he did manage to get involved in usually ended badly. Elena knew that. She read about him in the business magazines all the time. And yet she couldn’t resist.

Eventually, they began dating secretly. It was his idea, to “protect his image.”

And he was serious about it. There were no photos of them together, no public declarations of their romance on social media.

Only whispers among those close to them hinted at the truth. Then came the day when Richard surprised everyone by dropping to one knee right before Elena’s first award ceremony for the best debut actress and proposing marriage.

It was an unexpected shock to those who knew them because their relationship had been kept so private. But as Elena looked into his eyes, she saw genuine love and sincerity. Richard was certain about taking this major step that would change their lives forever. He seemed completely devoted to her.

Elena agreed. How could she not?

When he proposed before her first awards show, she thought she’d won at life.

What a joke.

#####

The elevator doors slid open on the seventh floor. Elena’s stomach churned. Part of her wanted to turn back, but the louder part needed to see this through.

A guy leaned against the wall near Room 721—leather jacket, toothpick dangling from his lips, texting like he hadn’t a care. He glanced up as her heels clicked closer. Without a word, he pulled a keycard from his pocket and held it out.

Elena shoved an envelope of cash at him. She didn’t ask how he’d gotten the key. Didn’t matter.

The guy vanished.

She stared at the keycard. The door loomed. One breath. Two. She slid the card in. The lock clicked.

Inside, the room was dark. But the noises from the bedroom? Crystal clear. Moans. Gasps. Skin slapping skin.

She forced her legs to follow the sound of moans. With trembling hands, she pushed open the last door that now stood between her and the absolute heartbreak. There, on the bed, lay Richard on his knees, cock shoved deep inside the woman she recognized too well.

“Oh, my God, baby. Yes, yes, please, don’t stop. You’re so amazing, darling. Ah” The woman cried out as Richard continued to thrust deep into her.

Her worst fear had finally come true. Richard was not the man who loved her anymore. Richard was not the man she fell in love with anymore either. No. He loved someone else. And what hurt the most was that the woman he was fucking was no one but his own step-sister.

Cecelia McDowell.

Richard, on his knees, pounding into Cecelia McDowell like his life depended on it.

“Oh God, yes! Don’t stop, baby—”

Hurt, and now disgusted, fierce rage burned through her, searing away the numbness and flooding her veins with adrenaline. It was at that moment that Elena grabbed the first thing she could get her hands on and threw it at her cheating husband.

Richard never saw the vase coming. The woman beside him shrieked in surprise, scrambling to cover herself as Elena’s fury filled the room like a raging inferno.

Elena didn’t even feel the tears streaming down her face. “You… asshole,” Elena screamed, “How could you betray me like this!”

——————————

The roadside outside the hotel:

The leather-jacketed man crossed the street and slipped into the black car's passenger seat. He held out the cash envelope, but the figure in the backseat dismissed it with a wave.

"Keep it."

"How'd she take it?"

A shrug. "Not well."

The backseat man exhaled sharply, his gaze fixed on the Sunset Hotel's glowing facade. "Better she learns what kind of man she married."

Leather Jacket shifted in his seat. "You sure we did the right thing? Messing with her life like that?"

Silence hung heavy for a beat. Then, quietly: "She deserved the truth. Now maybe she's free."