Chapter 1

THIRD PERSON'S POV

“Ma’am, where to? The office or home?” Clinton, Lucy's personal driver asked after he picked Lucy up from the airport.

Lucy raised her head from her laptop. 'Normally I would have gone to the office first, but ughhh, I haven't been home for days now. And I have missed my husband so much.” She smiled a little. “Home, please.” She said, excitement coating her voice.

“I hope one day to find a woman that loves me as much as you love your fiancé.” Clinton smiled back from the front mirror. “Home it is.” He said and turned the ignition.

As the rain softly patted on the car, Lucy couldn't help but remember how far she had come with her husband, Logan. Just last year she finally got them a perfect apartment and settled all their financial debt. Everyone told her she was making a mistake, but she never faltered. And when he finally proposed last year, everyone ate their own words. The rain reminded her of the day he proposed and the joy she felt as they danced under the rain that night.

“Clinton”. She called out to her driver.

“Yes, ma'am.”

“I need to pick up some flowers and cake. I already paid for them, and they will be ready to go. Just drop by so we can pick them up.”

“Okay, ma'am. Your husband's favourite cake place?” He asked.

Lucy smiled. “Yes, Clinton. Thank you.” She replied.

Clinton made a detour, and they got the cake and flowers before they continued on their way home. The car came to a stop and the engine died. “We are here, ma’am,” Clinton said.

“Thank you.” Lucy replied and alighted. “Take tomorrow off; I am probably going to sleep in and just relax throughout tomorrow.”

Clinton smiled. “I understand, ma’am. Good night.”

“Good night, Clinton.” Lucy replied. “Balancing the cake in one hand and the flowers in one hand, she checked her bag to make sure the latest Rolex watch she got him was still intact. She has made it a habit to always do something nice for him whenever she returns from a work trip.

She gently opened the door and was met with a dark house. She wasn't too disappointed because she knew Logan didn't know she was back, but her heart did drop a little. She dropped off the cake on the counter, pulled off her shoes and started to tiptoe upstairs.

She barely made it up the first stair when she heard the moans of a woman. She stopped in her tracks, momentarily questioning her own sanity.

“Ughhh, baby, you are so damn sweet.” came Logan's voice, forcing her out of her shock.

“No, no, no, it can't be.” She muttered to herself. Her feet moved faster than her thoughts, and she was soon standing in front of the slightly opened room door, watching Logan buried deep into another woman. Sheets tangled, and the moans filled the air. She stumbled backwards, and the flower and wristwatch case fell from her hands. But the sound was nothing amidst the moans and screams of the lovers. They were too engrossed in themselves to notice their surroundings.

She grasped her mouth to cover the scream that almost left her throat. The scent of sweat mixed with sex filled the air. Tears trickled down her face. “Not again,” she muttered, the sight before her dragging her back to the memory she had fought hard to forget.

Flashback

Lucy pushed the door open and entered after returning from a work trip tired and exhausted. There Logan was on the couch, another woman's leg hanging off his neck as he plunged deep into her.

The scent of sweat mixed with sex filled the air. She stood frozen, watching Logan and whoever she was, too far into their ecstasy to notice her entrance. She turned on her heels and fled. Too scared to confront them, too in love to say a word.

***

And here she was again, too scared to say anything as tears ran down her eyes. Unable to say a word, she turned on her heels to leave, but something caught her eyes. A pair of red heels lay on the floor. For some reason it looked familiar, and the strangest thought rushed into her head. “Was the lady someone she knows?” She picked up the flower and wristwatch case and rushed out, too scared to find out.

As she got to the kitchen, she picked up the cake. She was too scared to leave any clues that she was here. She ran like she was the one caught in bed with another man. She ran like she was the one at fault.

She ran out into the rain, hair dishevelled and carrying everything like a lost woman. Her mascara ran down her face along with her tears and the rain, leaving her looking homeless and broken.

Clinton was gone with the car. She had no one to call; she had nowhere to go. Her home no longer felt like home. If it was home, why was she running from it?”

“Why do you choose the best days to do the worst things?” She screamed into the dark, empty street. “The last time, it was a few weeks after you proposed, and today it's just a few weeks to our wedding. What did I do wrong? What did I do to annoy him? Maybe it's because I haven't been around for days now? Or is it because of my PCOS (polycystic ovary syndrome) diagnosis? Maybe, just maybe, I am the problem.”

She dropped everything she was holding and crouched. She wanted to scream, but even her voice had failed her.

“Ma’am, are you okay?” A stranger asked.

Lucy nodded, too ashamed to speak or show her face. As the woman left, she got up and slowly walked to the waste bin and dumped everything inside. She crossed to the other side of the road and sat on the pavement, and for the first time, she regretted building her life around Logan.

Everyone around her had said Logan was good for nothing, that he was using her. She hated to hear those words. They didn't know Logan the way she knew him. All they saw was a failed aspiring musician, but what she saw was love. Gradually she had dropped all her friends and distanced herself from them. She had never once regretted it, but in this moment she did. She had no one to call, no one to run to. She only had her best friend; she was the only one that liked Logan, but she was too ashamed to call her.

She covered her face and cried into her palm, stifling her cries and shame.

As she sat there hidden from the rain, she looked at the house, and suddenly the promise Logan made her on the day she bought the house filtered into her mind.

“I have nothing but you. You supported me through school, worked your ass off to continue taking care of me after school, and now you bought us a home. I promise to love you and only you forever. "I will never hurt you, Lucy," he'd said then in the sweetest voice.

“Did those promises mean nothing?” She muttered to herself.

After sitting there for minutes, she decided to go find a hotel and spend the night. Just then the red heels crossed her mind. “I have to find out who she is.” She thought to herself.

She flagged down a taxi and gave him a wad of cash. “I just need you to pack here and wait until someone comes out of that house.” She said to him,

The taxi man narrowed his eyes at her and looked at her closely. After looking at her for a second, his eyes changed to one of sympathy. It was as though he could tell what she was going through. He nodded and opened the car door for her.

She entered, fixed her eyes on the house and waited.