Chapter 1

Nora 's POV

The sound of a woman moaning in pleasure greeted me the moment I opened my bedroom door.

At first, my mind refused to understand what I was hearing.

I had spent the entire afternoon rushing through work so I could surprise my husband with dinner for our fifth year anniversary.

My husband and my best friend were naked in our matrimonial bed, completely consumed by each other.

For a second, I couldn’t breathe.

I just stood there staring like my body had forgotten how to function.

“What is going on here?!” I screamed, my voice breaking so violently it hurt my throat.

They both turned.

Nadia froze first, grabbing the sheets and covering herself, but there was no guilt on her face, only annoyance, like I had interrupted something private.

Dennis , on the other hand, didn’t react like a man caught cheating on his wife with her best friend.

He calmly pulled away from her, reached for his boxers, and put them on slowly, completely unbothered, as if I were standing there asking him a stupid question.

Then he looked at me with irritation.

“What are you doing here, Nora ?” he asked coldly. “Weren’t you supposed to be supervising my shipments?”

A hollow laugh left my mouth before I could stop it.

I shook my head slowly, my hands trembling.

“Are you serious right now?” My voice cracked. “That’s what you’re asking me?”

I pointed between them.

“I just walked into our bedroom and found you in bed with my best friend… and you’re asking me about shipments?”

Dennis ’s jaw tightened slightly, but his expression didn’t change.

“And what do you want me to say?” he asked calmly. “That I’m sorry and we pretend this never happened?”

My chest rose and fell sharply.

“Yes,” I whispered. “At least have the decency to give me an explanation for this disgusting behavior!”

He laughed under his breath.

“I’m not sorry, Nora .”

I blinked at him, stunned.

“What?”

Dennis rubbed his jaw, finally looking directly at me.

“If anything,” he said, voice flattening, “I think you walked in at the right time.”

I looked between him and Nadia, my whole body shaking.

“So what is this?” I asked, my voice breaking. “She’s the reason? My best friend is the reason you’ve been ignoring me and denying me sex this whole time?”

Dennis looked me up and down with disgust.

“I’d rather shoot myself seven times in the head than have sex with you, Nora .”

“W…What?!”

“Have you taken a good look at yourself?” he said coldly. “Just look at the way you’re sweating, you fucking weigh 250 pounds, Nora !”

He banged his fist on the dresser, and I flinched.

“I’m tired of pretending in this hell hole you call a marriage,” he said, voice flat now, stripped of emotion. “You’re the worst mistake of my life.”

“That’s not fair…” I stammered, voice breaking. “You know it’s not my fault…”

Dennis suddenly clapped his hands once, sharply.

“Then whose fault is it?” he asked, stepping closer. “Mine?”

I shook my head quickly.

He cut me off immediately.

“Is it my fault that you’re always hungry and you eat more than fifteen times a day?”

“Dennis …”

“Oh, let me finish,” he snapped.

I went silent again.

“It’s my fault that you have no dress size and you can’t even go to the gym. And as if that’s not enough…”

He paused, then let out a short, bitter laugh.

“You’re barren.”

My chest caved in.

“Dennis !” I choked out, tears spilling now.

He didn’t even react to my tears.

He just stared at me like I was something he had already made peace with hating.

“Why are you acting like I told a lie?” he asked. “You’ve undergone ten IVFs in five years and you come back empty every single time!”

My knees felt weak.

“So please tell me,” he said, voice low now, controlled again, “what exactly are you good for?”

His eyes stayed locked on mine.

“Honest advice, Nora , just die. The world is honestly better without you in it.”

If anyone had told me that the man I sacrificed everything for, helped become one of the top five businessmen in New York would ever say this to me, I would never have believed it.

I met Dennis when he was just a struggling entrepreneur.

I was new in New York, and on my first day, my bag was stolen at a business conference.

He chased the thief, brought it back himself, bought me coffee because I was shaking, and even offered me a ride.

It was love at first sight.

Somehow, over the years, he changed.

And I kept trying to fix what was breaking between us, even when it stopped making sense.

I went days without food, pushed myself until I fainted, ran laps around the estate, lived in the gym, but no matter what I did, my body only became something else he hated more.

I turned to Nadia, rage and heartbreak crashing through me at once.

“You…” My voice shook violently. “I trusted you, Nadia. I told you everything about my marriage, and all this time, you were sleeping with my husband?”

Nadia stared at me for a second, then burst into laughter.

She slid off the bed, letting the sheet fall before wrapping it loosely around herself.

“Oh please,” she said, rolling her eyes. “Spare me the pathetic performance, Nora”

My chest tightened as she smiled wider.

“And since we’re finally being honest, I’ve been his mistress for over three years now.”

She stepped closer, her eyes glittering with venom.

“And let’s not pretend you didn’t practically hand him to me. Weren’t you the one crying to me every other week that your husband wouldn’t have sex with you because he found your body repulsive?”

Nadia’s gaze dragged over me with naked contempt.

“Look at you, Nora . Aren’t you ashamed of yourself? Your body is so disgusting, and you keep clinging to a marriage that died the day it started.”

She smirked.

“Dennis came to me because I’m everything you’re not. Not only am I sexy, I know just how to handle his dick. Do you know he fucks me every day on this bed?”

Her voice dropped lower.

“So tell me… how exactly is this my fault that you failed as a wife?”

My body moved before my mind could stop it.

I stepped forward and raised my hand toward Nadia.

“HOW DARE YOU…”

But I never got the chance to complete the slap because Dennis grabbed my wrist mid-air with brutal force.

Then he struck me.

The slap landed across my face with such force that my head snapped to the side and my body staggered back before collapsing onto the floor.

For a second, I couldn’t even breathe.

“How dare you?” he said coldly, standing over me. “You think you can touch her?”

I looked up at him in shock.

“Dennis …” my voice broke. “You slapped me…”

“I’d do it again,” he said flatly..

He tilted his head slightly toward Nadia.

“At least something good came out of it, she's carrying my child, something you can never do!”

Nadia lifted her hand and showed a diamond ring on her finger, letting it catch the light.

“Aww,” she said sweetly, her voice dripping with satisfaction. “You look so shocked.”

Her hand rested on her stomach as her smile widened.

“Well, you heard him right. I’m pregnant.”

She leaned into Dennis slightly, still smiling at me..

“And I’m soon to be Mrs. Adams .”