The lights twinkled throughout the lavish living space as men in evening wear, mingled with women in sparkling cocktail dresses. The drinks flowed in crystal glasses as the guests of this stately party chatted among themselves as they waited for the guest of honour to appear.
This was the third wedding anniversary of Mr. and Mrs. Michael Barron. Mrs. Barron was the perfect host and flitted between the guests. Despite the passing time, Mr. Barron remained absent.
The party should have started almost an hour ago. All the guests were there; even the fashionably late guests had been waiting for a considerable time.
Juliette Monroe, or Mrs. Michael Barron, had put on the perfect mask to hide her panic. Several wives of her husband’s business associates had forced her to host this party. It was to celebrate their third wedding anniversary as a surprise gift.
She felt cornered. Juliette should have declined at once. Three years later, she wished to keep their private lives hidden from this crowd.
Juliette knew Michael hated anything to do with his marriage, and that included her. She thought he might go along with it because it would help with his networking and business deals.
Normally, Michael would be home by now. He’d at least have the decency to let her know he’d not be home.
He’d never pick up her calls or answer her texts. Juliette learned that within days of her wedding disaster. She was still kicking herself for letting him force her into taking the place of the bride.
Aria Cain is Juliette’s enemy, for lack of a better term.
It started during her last year of college. Call her weak if you wanted, but Juliette had crushed hard and fast for years on Michael Barron, to the point the man knew she’d help him with anything. In those days, she’d been naïve to the extreme.
Juliette knew she was a people-pleaser. A chronic people-pleaser. In college, she worked herself to the bone because, unlike these trust fund babies, Juliette didn’t come from a moneyed family. They funded her place in college through arduous work and grants.
Her nativity came from her believing that if she did everything Michael wanted, he’d be so happy that he’d notice her and fall in love with her.
Call her thirty different kinds of fools, because here she stood after the ultimate sacrifice for nothing. It’s okay; Juliette already beat everyone with the name-calling, having called herself everything already.
Michael would eventually call and tell her what was happening. She’s always the last to know. The one often overlooked. Juliette was the laughingstock of this social scene. She knew it, but for Michael, she tried her best not to allow it to affect his life or business.
Michael informed her that this was their first marriage. A trial run to see if he liked married life. If it fit his lifestyle in his future, to him, who his wife was didn’t matter. In fact, a nobody like her was perfect. She’d be gone in five years, anyway.
He threatened to destroy her business and life after Aria backed out of their wedding hours before it happened. Michael blamed her for Aria’s leaving, the unprofessional mishaps, the cancelled venue, and a host of other disasters that she dealt with. Sometimes, she took on the debt to fix them. That wasn’t enough. He wanted her to hurt, and he needed a wife to see if marriage suited him. She was there, and she’d do it. It also put her within easy reach of being punished for this entire debacle.
She suspected Michael knew of this party and avoided it to humiliate her yet again.
Her wedding planning business? It’s long gone. He lied to her, and she couldn’t save it after the wedding disaster.
Now, she kept her efforts quiet and mentioned nothing about them to these people or Michael. Just two more years until freedom, she planned to seek ultimate revenge and emerge victorious. It was her sole defence against these people. There was something empowering about hearing someone slam you to the ground in one breath. Then praise your efforts because they don’t know it was your blood, sweat, and tears that created it. That was her revenge—a dish served cold in a few years.
Juliette held her cellphone, moving around and checking up on everyone, being as nice as they allowed her to be.
Finally, her phone rang, and Michael’s number appeared on her phone.
She rushed into a quiet bedroom after apologizing to everyone as she disappeared. Michael’s best friend had shadowed her since he arrived. Juliette knew how loyal Leon Opus was to Michael.
Michael even forgave Leon for stealing Aria from him months after the wedding. Juliette assumed Leon stood in as a guest so he could tell Michael all about her utter humiliation in front of his friends.
“Hello?” Leon wouldn’t let her close the door because he leaned against the doorjamb. Juliette frowned at him and at how he listened to her conversation.
“I won’t be home tonight until late. Don’t hold dinner for me and don’t wait up for me.”
“Why didn’t you tell me this earlier? What’s keeping you?”
“I’m working, and I don’t need to explain myself to you.”
“Alright, don’t work too hard. Good night.” Arguing was pointless, and mentioning the party would only anger him. His anger toward her was preferable to the humiliation.
Michael disconnected the call with, “Goodbye, Juliette.” She didn’t respond to that. She tossed her phone onto the nightstand and stared at it as she tried to come up with a plan to deal with the mess outside.
“I’ll assume that was Michael.” “Why don’t you record that, Leon? You and Michael will enjoy watching my social missteps repeatedly, I have no doubt. With the right camera angle, you could create an incredible meme.” Juliette meant to say this, but she didn’t owe him loyalty or friendship. He dated a woman who wanted to destroy her simply for existing. “I never took that video. All I did was bring it to Michael’s attention. After all, as his wife, he deserved to know it existed.” His jacket shifted as he straightened and shrugged his wide shoulders. Michael and Leon were a pair of trust fund babies with looks, education, and wealth. People sought their company for the sake of appearances. They needed to scrape the women off, even as those women fought for their attention. Even now, women vied for Michael’s attention to take Juliette’s place. Michael never refused a fun time with them. “Leon, I don’t ca
Leon followed the yellow cab through the crowded streets because he knew this was a shit-show of Michael’s making and Juliette always ended up knee deep in its consequences. He kept wondering why she allowed herself to be injured by Michael’s actions. Leon worried Juliette would injure herself one day when Michael went too far, and she wouldn’t be able to get past her humiliation. Juliette knew two things on her wedding day about the prenup agreement they had forced her to sign. Michael kept everything from before and during the marriage, and she would receive nothing. Michael ignored a minor detail saying that anything she created during the marriage belonged to her. Since he’d destroyed anything, she’d brought into the marriage and believed he’d kept a tight rein on the money he gave her to use. Michael also believed he’d made it impossible for Juliette to work so that he could keep her where he wanted her. Despite Michael’s efforts, Juliette found a way to work and
-Three Hours Earlier- Michael Barron sat in his office overwhelmed by many unfinished projects. There were several prospective acquisition propositions to be assessed and approved. Another long evening awaited him at work. He refrained from complaining as he battled the urge to read the private investigator’s report on his wife. Michael couldn’t understand his fixation on something irrelevant. He battled several emotions after the investigator informed him, she either was having an affair with some foolish author or she planned to leave him. Regardless, she no longer visited the spa and was now renting an apartment. She had him paying for her love nest. That irked him to no end. Michael knew he needed to call her and ensure she avoided him. He couldn’t face her right now. Michael felt he would harm her or do something completely in appropriate. He knew it was too late about the latter problem. He’d called his personal lawyer and orde
“Micky, are you in a mood? Can I help you make it better?” Aria pouted as she leaned on the glass top of his desk, knowing she gave him a full view down the top of her blouse. The woman’s loose blouse revealed everything, since she wasn’t wearing a bra. She clearly offered him whatever he wanted. He wanted a moment of procrastination. Maybe he could forget it was her lips wrapped around his cock? He was also uncomfortable with that. Lately, he’d found he wasn’t interested in other women touching him intimately. Michael would usually brush it off as some weird anomaly. He was uneasy about testing a suspicion he had. Either he had lost interest in sex, or only his current wife could satisfy him. That part currently bothered him. What if he found his desired second wife before the five years were over? He pondered his desires too; what if he found his next wife less enticing than Juliette? Was his desire for her stronger now? Or could Aria make him forget? She used to do
Eventually, he tried to sleep, but that wasn’t working for him. He’d made her sleep with him and now he was used to holding her. Now a pillow was a poor substitute for her soft curves, even though it smelled like her shampoo and her. By morning, he was in an increased foul mood. Angry, he went to cancel her bank and credit cards. Her gym membership and her country club membership card. But he found he was too late. The cards and accounts had already been cancelled. In utter frustration, he texted her phone. [Where are you? Come home right now. This is ridiculous and absurd. We need to talk now.] The reply he expected to get never arrived. What he received was this: [I am home. The separation and divorce papers are all signed. The guests observed me signing the papers, and I have dated everything.] [They are on your desk in your home office. I added a business card to the pile with my lawyer’s contact
Juliette’s morning started out differently from her usual morning. She didn’t set her alarm, having slept in for once, because she could. If sleeping until seven in the morning counts as waking up late. Last night she took care of what she called ‘operation clean break.’ She cancelled her life with Michael, packed up the remains of it when she finished, and sent the pieces back to Michael. Actual pieces, she’d cut every card into many pieces. Let him figure out what he received. The last payment, thankfully, made to pay him back for paying her student debt, was in the bank account before she cancelled her card. She was free to start her new life without him. The payment was slightly larger, but she wanted to finish before he caught on. He’d argue about it until he had his way, and she was bound to him financially again. Despite all her efforts the previous night, she still experienced a moment of panic upon waking up naturally, without the aid of her
Michael received no answer when he went to the apartment building Juliette was supposed to have her love nest in. It annoyed him, but he came up with a phone number for this A.K. Crusader and when he called it, no one picked it up. It went straight to voicemail. A voicemail message clearly recorded by Juliette played. “Leave your name and number with a brief message.” This was only getting stranger as he went along. Michael didn’t want to talk to her lawyer. He wanted to talk to her. His investigator claimed he’d followed her and found her meeting with two men. One who followed her as she went shopping before returning to this apartment. They left shortly after arriving. A quick call to the investigator told him he was sitting outside of her lawyer’s office and the man went inside with her. Was this man A.K. Crusader? Michael wanted to know. “Who is he? Is he, her lover?” “I’m unsure about that currently, but he follows her around like a lost puppy dog. I’ve not seen them kiss o
“Aria, what are you doing tonight?” “Oh, I don’t know. What am I doing? You tell me Michael.” He briefly glanced at his phone. Didn’t she run out of his office last night with her lipstick smeared over her lips? She was embarrassed because Leon called him while she was trying to give him a blowjob. This was another strike against her. Michael knew he couldn’t stand to have a stupid wife. She’d have to prove she’s smarter than she sounds right now for him to even entertain the idea. “Not now, maybe later Aria. I need to get into an art gallery this evening for a private showing. It’s the Levee Gallery. Are you familiar with it? Would you have a connection there? Who could get us in there?” Michael waited for the disappointed whine from her when she realized this wasn’t a booty call. “Oh, that’s perfect Michael. I thought I’d have to miss it all together, because I would not attend alone. Nothing more boring than wandering as the const