CHAPTER 3: SHATTERED SURPRISE

Austin POV

“…..I love you too, see you when I get back” I say before hanging up with a smile on my face but she doesn't know I'm surprising her by coming home early.

The flight back felt endless, but I didn’t care. 

I’d cut the business trip short by two days just to surprise her. Two months until the wedding. Two months until Lila was mine forever.

I’d spent the week in Paris and London making sure everything was perfect.

My First stop The Graff on Place Vendôme. The private salon had been closed just for me. The saleswoman is an elegant, silver-haired woman , with a soft French accent. She presented the black velvet tray to me with utmost care.

“Mr. Hale, she will never take this off,” she murmured, lifting the necklace.

A cascade of flawless white diamonds formed the chain, framing a breathtaking pear-shaped emerald at the center; it has a. deep, vivid green color chosen to match Lila’s eyes exactly. 

The emerald glowed, it's surrounded by a halo of pavé diamonds. Engraved on the hidden clasp are our initials and the exact date we first made. “A woman like her…is truly blessed to be loved this way.”the saleswoman continues .

My phone buzzed in my pocket when I pull it out. The caller ID was JAX, my best friend, I pick up and put him on speaker as I show him the piece.

“Dude, you’re insane,” Jax laughed. “Two exotic Hermès bags plus a Graff emerald? Lila’s the luckiest woman alive. You are so extra my man…..if this isn't the wedding gift I wonder what you will gift her then.

I grinned like an idiot, watching the emerald catch the light one last time. “Nah, bro. I’m the blessed one. She chose me. Every single day she chooses me. This is just…me appreciating her for all she does.”

The Hermès atelier had the same magic. The Kelly 28 in luminous Etoupe leather with custom interior monogrammed in gold. The Birkin 30 in exotic Noir matte Porosus crocodile is the exact one she’d traced in magazines and gushed how impossible it was to get offered such a bag. 

Both orange boxes are tied with perfect ribbons. The sales associate had smiled wide. “She’s going to cry happy tears, sir.”

I smile back at her, Lila’s happiness is all I need as long as she's happy I don't care the cost.

The driver dropped me at midnight. I sent him away. I want this moment to be just us.

I wanted to watch her face light up when I opened the door and say, “Baby, I couldn’t stay away.”

I carried the three boxes like they were made of glass all the way to the penthouse. My heart beating so fast like I was about to propose all over again. This was it.

The hallway was too quiet.

I slipped the key in, turned it slowly trying to be as quiet as possible.

The foyer was dark.

I set the boxes down gently on the console table so they wouldn’t make a sound. 

I wanted to creep in, maybe slip into the bedroom and wake her with kisses and the surprise already waiting I smiled at the thought.

I took off my shoes, left them by the door.

The house felt strangely quiet. Too quiet. No soft music or TV murmur that Lila usually had on she always needed white noise so she could sleep, no hum of the city filtering through the windows like usual.

I moved deeper inside, past the living room, toward the hallway that led to the master suite.

When I started up the short flight of stairs to the bedroom level.

Halfway up, I froze.

A sound drifted down a feminine moan that sounded too familiar.Followed by the distinct sound of the wet slap of skin on skin and the headboard thudding steadily against the wall.

Lila’s voice was breathy, needy and she was gasping, “Harder, Marcus… just like that… fuck, yes.....”

Marcus’s grunt followed. “You feel so good, baby. So much tighter than I imagined…”