The Night Before

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Anna’s POV

6:45a.m

The sound of heavy traffic in the street woke me up a little earlier than I wanted. I blinked slowly and opened my eyes, the sun’s scorching rays settling directly on my face. 

My head was still aching from last night. I know I shouldn’t have been drinking, alcohol never mixed well with me, but it was a party and it was only right that I did.

What happened last night? I remember drinking, but not that much, and then suddenly nothing. I must have blacked out. 

Nursing the throbbing pain in my head, I searched around the bed for my phone but unexpectedly, my hand hit a solid wall of muscle next to me. 

‘Oh my God!’ I recoiled in shock but covered my mouth just before the words spilled out. 

He tossed and turned slightly, but then went back to sleep.

I shakily laid back down and covered myself with the duvet. My eyes dilated fully from the shock and I realized then that I wasn’t in my bedroom, and not only that - I was also completely naked.

‘What the hell? What happened? How did I get here?’ I wondered, scanning the unfamiliar room, trying to acquaint myself with my environment. 

The room looked quite luxurious with elegant furnishings and tasteful artworks on the wall.

I sat up slowly and noticed some clothes on the floor. That was when it dawned on me - I had spent the night with this man. Like a flash, the memories from last night slowly returned. 

I remember meeting my adoptive mother, Linda Brown here to celebrate finding my birth family.

I had a feeling something wasn’t right when she wanted to celebrate with me, and the way she acted all through the night confirmed it, but I decided to wave it off. I truly wanted to belong with their family and thought I was finally getting that chance.

Linda never really loved me and never shied away from making that clear, reminding me constantly that I was just some stray they took in out of pity.

But last night… yes, I remember now. I hung out mostly at the bar because I was uptight and nervous about the party. I didn’t know anyone there, so I just sat quietly in the corner, sipping my drink. 

‘That’s right!’ I sat up fuming with anger, it was Linda who approached me with this man lying next to me now. She introduced him to me and it seems we had a little conversation of some sort before she poured me another glass of wine and that’s the last thing I can remember. 

‘Oh my God! Did she spike my drink?!’ My eyes widened with a sudden realization. My brows furrowed furiously as an overwhelming anger surged through my body. 

I felt violated just thinking about it and hurriedly reached for my phone to call the police, but just as quickly, fear crept in. My adoptive mother was a cruel and vindictive woman. She might probably retaliate if I wrongly accused her and reported it to the police. Besides, who would believe me? It’d probably sound crazy to anyone I told it to anyway. They’d just think I was being paranoid and having cold feet.

‘Oh my God! Luke!’ I covered my mouth reflexively, feeling an instant regret.

Quietly, I got out of bed and hurriedly put on my clothes. I grabbed my bag and tiptoed to the door, making sure not to wake the mysterious stranger lying in the bed as I opened the door quietly and crept out.

Once outside, I needed to find Linda. She needed to explain who that man was and how I ended up in his hotel room. 

I trudged through the hallway, with my stilettos in my hands and my head down to avoid any cameras in the hallway, praying that no one recognized me here or saw me coming out of a stranger’s hotel room. But still, I couldn’t escape the heavy guilt weighing on my heart. I knew what happened wasn’t my fault, but my heart was still in shambles. 

As I reached their hotel room, I knocked twice but no one answered, so I pushed the door open and walked inside, clenching my fist in anger, ready to confront Linda. That was when I heard her voice. It seemed to be coming from the balcony, so I strode quietly towards it, 

“You were right mom, she didn’t suspect a thing.” It was my adoptive sister, Sarah Brown.

“What did I tell you, your sister…pardon me. That snobby bitch is so naive and clueless, she wouldn’t know she was being used even if she was told,” Linda replied chuckling.

“She deserves everything that’s coming to her. Does she actually think that she can marry Luke? Who does that bitch think she is? This will teach her to know her place!”

“Luke Johnson has been and will always be mine” Sarah responded angrily 

“And when we show Luke videos of his dearest fiancée in bed with another man, this will certainly be the nail in the coffin. It will shatter whatever feelings Luke has for her and if those videos just so happen to be leaked, well… she can kiss goodbye to whatever reputation she has in this city. Everyone will see her for who she truly is, a cheap undeserving cunt!

Luke will have no other choice than to leave her, and guess who’ll be there, waiting and ready to marry him and mend his broken heart?” Linda said and shot Sarah a wicked smile.

“Gosh Mom, you’re an evil genius,” Sarah said smiling, then chuckled, “I can’t believe she bought that whole story about her real family. She can’t be that delusional; it’s obvious they never wanted her.”

“The way I see it, they’re the lucky ones. I think anyone would find her insufferable. But now with these videos, we’re going to exploit her and turn this unfortunate situation to our advantage,” Linda replied.

They chuckled and clinked their wine glasses, toasting to their malicious plans. 

I felt as if a thunderbolt had just struck me. My head was buzzing and my feet became wobbly. I felt devastated, I knew my adoptive family were not the most caring or genuine people, but this…this was pure evil. Not only had they planned this whole thing to ruin me and destroy my marriage, but they also lied about finding my real family. ‘How could they do that to me?’ 

I closed my eyes tight as the tears threatened to form, feeling terrified and heartbroken, dreading their plans and the hole I’d found myself in. 

They were the only family I had and I’d just found out that they didn’t have an ounce of love for me. They didn’t even want me in the first place.

Alas, I was unable to stop the tears from streaming down my cheeks. But crying over something I never had was pointless and pathetic. I opened my eyes, wiped my tears aggressively, and decided to leave the hotel. I needed to get away from this place, I had to escape from this nightmare, so I turned around and left quietly. 

As soon as I was in the hallway, I could feel the tears welling up in my eyes again, so I just kept running and never looked back.

Suddenly, I heard a loud explosion behind me, but I never stopped to look back. My heart was too broken to care; all I could think about was finding Luke and explaining everything before they showed him the videos, so I just kept running.