Chapter 1

Right at midnight, the black sedan cut through the neon-lit downtown streets, its engine letting out a low, throaty growl.

Asher Deleon gripped the steering wheel with one hand. The veins on the back of his free hand stood out, and his knuckles were white from the strain.

The dashboard navigation was set to the Velvet Lounge.

Just 15 minutes ago, he had been sitting in the dining room, watching over an exquisite dinner that had gone from warm to cold and back again.

Today was their fifth wedding anniversary. He had spent the entire afternoon preparing Boston lobster, Beef Wellington, and the black truffle pasta that his wife, Katherine Spears, loved most.

A bottle of Domaine de la Romanée-Conti had been decanting for half an hour. The flickering candlelight cast a soft glow over a dinner prepared with painstaking romantic care.

Yet the star of the evening, who was supposed to be home before nine, still hadn't shown up. At 11:45 PM, he finally dialed her number.

"Hey, babe. What's up?"

On the other end of the line, Katherine's voice carried a faint, almost imperceptible trace of fatigue.

“Hey, when are you coming home?” Asher asked, forcing his tone to stay gentle. “The food is getting cold.”

"Oh... I'm so sorry. It slipped my mind. I've got a crucial cross-border video conference tonight, and it looks like it's going to run late. Go ahead and eat without me, okay?"

Right as she finished her sentence, Asher caught the faint background noise of music along with the muffled laughter of men and women.

His heart sank instantly. "Are you really in a meeting?"

"Yeah, why?" Katherine answered without hesitation.

"Then why do I hear music?" Asher pressed.

There was a brief silence on the other end before she smoothly explained, "Oh, that? They might be having an event in the conference room next door. I've gotta go, babe. I'm super busy right now. Talk to you later. Love you!"

As the dial tone buzzed in his ear, Asher held his phone in midair, unable to bring it down for a long time. Sitting alone in the warm, yellow candlelight, he felt like a complete fool.

The food still smelled inviting, but now it only mocked him. Over the past few months, he had grown all too accustomed to this constant waiting and endless disappointment.

Just as he was about to get up and clear the table, the screen of his phone lit up with a notification from Katherine's friend, Rachel Sanford.

He tapped on it and saw a video.

The clip showed a dimly lit, noisy lounge. Right in the center of the frame was none other than Katherine, who had just claimed to be trapped in a corporate meeting.

She was sunk deep into a plush leather sofa, her cheeks flushed. Her long hair fell loose around her shoulders, and her usually sharp eyes were glazed with drink.

Sitting beside her was a handsome guy in a white shirt. Holding a glass of wine, he was about to hook his arm around Katherine's for an intimate toast.

The surrounding crowd was roaring with excitement.

"Drink! Drink!"

"Our star has just returned from abroad. Katherine's gotta show him some real love tonight!"

A sharp female voice pierced through the clamor. "Right? If Lucas hadn't gone abroad to chase his dream, that loser Asher would never have gotten a chance to marry her."

"Loser..." Asher's fingers clenched around his phone.

Faced with the man's intimate gesture and the crowd's egging on, Katherine didn't pull away at all. She simply tilted her head, giving him a gentle smile.

That was a soft, indulgent look Asher had never once seen directed at him.

He recognized the man instantly. Lucas Terrell was Katherine's first love, a rising star who had recently returned from abroad.

His mind went blank with a deafening buzz. Memories from the past month replayed uncontrollably in his mind.

When Lucas returned, Katherine insisted on picking him up at the airport as an old college friend. When he went to an audition, she tagged along to give him moral support.

When he sprained his ankle, she rushed straight to the hospital to take care of him without a second thought. Two weeks ago, the two of them spent an entire afternoon testing out mattresses at a furniture showroom.

It was a double bed! They lay side-by-side on it, testing how firm or soft it was.

She had posted a picture on Instagram with the caption: [Helping my best friend pick out furniture. Having the worst time deciding!]

And last week, at eleven o'clock at night, Lucas called her out of the blue. She bolted out, claiming he was having an emotional breakdown and needed comfort.

She stayed out the entire night without even sending a text message to check in. When she returned the next morning, she casually remarked that Lucas had drunk too much, so she had stayed with him all night.

She always had a perfectly reasonable excuse. And every time, Asher chose to let it go.

He had constantly told himself that she loved him, that she just valued her relationships too deeply and lacked a sense of boundaries.

But now, as he looked at that soft smile on her face and the way she willingly raised her glass, all the excuses he had told himself shattered. It wasn't that she lacked boundaries. It was that he had never been included inside them.

To him, marriage was a safe harbor. To her, it was little more than a convenient inn.

Asher stood up, grabbed his car keys, and walked out.

At Room 888 of the Velvet Lounge, even the heavy, soundproof door couldn't fully block the noise inside. The deafening music, the wild laughter of men and women, and the clinking of glasses merged into a rowdy, decadent frenzy.

Asher stood there, rage and cold dread warring inside him. Right as he reached out to push the door open, a man's slurred, playful voice carried clearly through the crack.

It was Lucas.

"Katherine, hide-and-seek is almost over. I'm going to catch you soon."