004

~Evelyn

I signed out of work way early, my hands shaking so badly I could barely hold my pen as I filled out the departure log, reporting that I was leaving due to a blinding headache. I just needed to escape the building.

I was barely halfway to the lobby when my phone buzzed with a text notification. I looked down at the screen, my heart skipping a beat.

Marcus: Please take all the days off that you need, Evelyn. Rest up. And if you ever need anything, anything at all, I am just a phone call away.

A heavy lump formed in my throat at his concern, but I shoved the phone into my bag, boarded a taxi, and leaned my forehead against the cool glass window all the way home.

My head was pounding, but my soul felt entirely fractured. All I could do was silently pray that I wouldn't find Julian at home. He would only add salt to my bleeding wounds.

When the cab dropped me off, I trudged up the quiet hallway of our apartment building. I reached the front door and pulled my keys from my purse, but just as I went to insert the key into the lock, a sudden, sharp sound froze me dead in my tracks.

Moans. I can hear loud, breathless moans echoing from right inside our bedroom.

"Oh fuck me, baby! Fuck me harder!" a woman's voice shrieked out, raw and panting. "Tell me I'm better than your trash fat wife! Tell me!"

My blood turned to absolute ice. The keys slipped through my numb fingers, dropping silently onto the welcome mat.

"You're so much better, baby!" Julian's voice roared back, heavy, guttural, and completely breathless. "Fuck, you feel so good! Ride me! Ride my dick!"

I stood paralyzed in the doorway, my head spinning violently as my stomach dropped into a bottomless pit. I couldn't believe it. The voices were right there.

The filthy, damning evidence was echoing against the walls of the apartment I paid to maintain. But my brain desperately tried to reject the reality crashing down on me.

Julian will never cheat on me... will he? No! No, he wouldn't! He promised me... he wouldn't do this…

My body moved on instinct. I quietly turned the door handle, it was unlocked and I slipped inside without making a sound.

The bedroom door was pushed wide open, and as I crept closer, every single piece of my heart, my sanity, and my self-worth was utterly obliterated by the sight before my eyes.

As if him cheating wasn't enough to break me into a thousand pieces, it was the person riding him that killed me.

Nadia.

My best friend. The only girl who knew every single private, agonizing detail of my marriage. The woman who had spent the last two years petting my back, wiping my tears, and holding me while I sobbed over Julian's cruelty.

The woman who had just hours ago told me to leave him, pretending to care while secretly fucking my husband behind my back.

For how long? the thought screamed inside my mind as I choked on my own air. How long have they been laughing at me?

Nadia was naked, her back arched violently as she sat atop Julian on our marriage bed.

Her hands were slammed flat against his broad chest, her head thrown back in pure ecstasy as she bounced her hips up and down with a wild, ravenous speed.

The heavy, wet slap-slap-slap of her thighs pounding against his skin rang through the room like a slap to my face.

Julian's hands were everywhere, gripping her slender waist, his fingers digging into her skin as he violently drove his hips up to meet her downward thrusts.

"Ah! Fuck, Julian!" Nadia squealed out, her breasts bouncing wildly as she took every inch of him. "She thinks she can diet her way back into your bed!"

Julian let out a loud, cruel laugh, his hands sliding up to brutally cup Nadia's breasts, rolling her nipples between his fingers while he pounded up into her tight, wet body.

"She's a delusional, oversized cow!" Julian grunted out, his jaw clenched as his hard thrusts made the headboard slam violently against the wall. "I wouldn't touch that repulsive body if my life depended on it! You're the only woman who gets me hard, Nadia. You're so tight, fuck!"

"Pound me then!" Nadia whimpered out, her voice dripping with filthy pleasure as she ground her pelvis down onto his cock, her eyes rolling back into her head. "Fill me up! Don't save a single drop for that fat bitch!"

Julian growled like an animal, suddenly grabbing Nadia by her waist and flipping her effortlessly onto her stomach.

Nadia let out a shattered, high pitched scream of pleasure, her fingers tearing into the bedsheets, my bedsheets as Julian began to drive into her with a hard, relentless rhythm.

He pounded into her ass, his hand coming down with a loud, stinging crack over her cheek, leaving a bright red mark.

"Yeah, take it!" Julian growled, his face twisted in raw lust as he slammed into her faster and deeper, the wet, squelching sound of their sweat wet bodies echoing through the room.

"Tell me who you belong to!"

"Yours! I'm yours, Julian! Fuck my pussy!" Nadia shrieked, her body shuddering as the intense pounding pushed her straight over the edge.

Her walls clamped down violently around him, her loud, breathless shrieks filling the bedroom as her orgasm crashed through her.

Nadia rolled over on the tangled bedsheets, her breathless panting hanging when her eyes accidentally flicked toward the open doorway.

She froze.

The color instantly drained from her face, leaving her skin looking sickly pale. With a sharp gasp, she scrambled backward, hastily grabbing the edge of the duvet to cover her naked body.

She shoved Julian hard against his chest, her voice shrill with panic.

"What the hell! Julian, get up!" she hissed, glaring down at him in sheer terror. "I thought you said she left for work!"

Julian jolted upright, blinking the fog of lust out of his eyes. He whipped his head toward the doorway, and when he saw me standing there, his panic instantly curdled into pure, vicious irritation.

"What are you doing here?" he snapped, his voice sharp and defensive as he pulled the sheet over his waist. "Are you spying on me now?"

I couldn't say a single word. My mouth opened, but no sound came out. My throat felt like it was blocked by broken glass, and the hot, heavy tears just kept rushing down my face in a blinding, unstoppable flood.

My chest heaved as I stared at the man I had humiliated myself for, the man I had defended against the entire world just hours earlier.

Nadia didn't waste another second.

She scrambled off the bed, hastily throwing on her clothes while keeping a silk robe clutched tightly around her shoulders. She grabbed her bag from the floor and started marching toward the exit.

As she reached the doorway, she stopped right beside me.

She turned her head, leaning in close so only I could hear. Her eyes held not an ounce of remorse, only a cold, triumphant gleam.

"In case you're wondering how long I've been fucking your husband behind your back," Nadia whispered, her voice dripping with venomous sweetness right into my ear, "it's been two whole years, Evelyn. I've always wanted him ever since you got married to him, but back then, he had eyes for only you. I could only thank my lucky stars when you decided to let yourself go, become this fat, and start completely irritating him. The very last time he touched you in that bed was the exact beginning of the first time he started touching me."

She gave me a sickening, patronizing smile.

"Take care of yourself, my sweet Evelyn."

With that, she brushed past me and stormed down the hallway, the front door clicking shut behind her with a final, echoing snap.

"So that is your wish now?!" Julian yelled, carelessly shoving his legs into a pair of trousers and leaving his chest bare.

He pointed a shaking, enraged finger directly at my face. "I swear to God, Evelyn, if Nadia leaves me because of this shit you just did, you’ll have yourself to blame!"

He didn't even look back. He sprinted past me down the corridor, chasing after my best friend, leaving the front door wide open behind him.

My eyes blurred completely with tears. I collapsed onto my knees on the cold floor, my chest heaving with silent, shattering sobs. My home, my self-respect, my marriage, everything was completely, brutally gone.

Right at that exact moment, my phone began to vibrate violently in my lap.

Through the haze of my tears, I blinked at the screen. The caller ID read Marcus Montgomery.

My trembling fingers swiped the screen, and I pressed the phone to my ear, unable to form a sentence.

"Evelyn?" Marcus’s deep voice cut through the line, it was calm yet immediately authoritative. "I wanted to check on you. Did you make it home safely?"

All that came out of my throat was a muffled, broken gasp as fresh tears rushed down my face.

The line went dead quiet for two agonizing seconds. I could hear the sudden shift in his posture on the other end, the quiet rustle of his suit jacket as he stood up. I was suddenly sensitive to everything.

"Evelyn," his voice dropped, turning sharp as broken glass. "Are you crying? What happened?"

"I... I..." I tried to speak, but another sob tore out of my chest, completely betraying me.

"Who did this to you?" Marcus demanded, his voice suddenly laced with a terrifying, lethal darkness. The sheer authority in his tone was cold, commanding, and dangerous. "If a single soul in that city has laid a hand on you, or made you shed a tear, I swear on my life I will destroy them. I will ruin every single thing they own and make sure they rot in hell. Tell me who it is."

How would I tell him the person he's about to send to help is his only son?

I squeezed my eyes shut, my entire body shaking as I gripped the phone with both hands.

Marcus took a heavy, steadying breath on the other end, his voice softening just a bit, though the underlying fire remained.

"Where are you right now?" he asked firmly. "Give me your address. I am coming to pick you up right now.”