Unknown message

“Maybe I was naive. Maybe I didn’t know the world at all. Maybe I wasn’t lucky enough. Love? Love destroyed me.”

~Zara POV~

The text came late afternoon. Unknown number. Seventh one this year. 

I stared at the screen, thumb hovering. Words. Address. Photos. 

The address burned in my brain. The house Wilson gave me before the ring. Before “I do.” 

In my other hand, the paper crumpled under my fingers. Positive. Two months. A baby. The thing I thought would finally pull us back together.

“Ma’am, you can’t... this is private!” The housekeeper blocked the doorway, arms out.

I shoved past her. Heart hammering. Please don’t be true. Please.

“I’m calling security!” she yelled as I flew down the hallway. Each step felt heavier. He told me he loved me. He looked me in the eyes and said it.

The bedroom door wasn’t locked.

The world went black.

“Fuck me, Daddy… ahh, Wilson, harder,” a woman moaned from his bed. 

My husband was naked. On top of her. Moving like I’d never existed.

Wilson’s head tilted back. “Say my name, baby… ahh… sweeter than her. Sweeter than Zara.”

They laughed. Like I was a joke.

The woman flipped him over, straddling him. “Can she do this?” She rode him slow, smirking right at me.

“No,” Wilson groaned, hands on her waist. She was blonde. Slim. Twenty-two, maybe. “She can’t. She’s lazy. Boring.” His eyes flicked to me for half a second. No shame. “You’re so young, baby. So tight. Ride my cock.”

My voice cracked. “Wilson.”

He turned. Both of them did. Shock flashed across his face...then vanished. He propped himself on his elbows, sweat dripping down his chest.

“What the fuck are you doing here, Zara?” Pure disgust. Like I was trash he tracked in.

The woman kissed his forehead. He let her.

“How could you?” I whispered. My legs locked. I couldn’t run. Couldn’t breathe.

“Get out,” Wilson snapped. “Close the door. Unless you wanna watch? Is that it? Wanna see how a real woman does it?” He smirked and thrust up. Grabbed her hair, flipped her on all fours, and slammed into her from behind.

“Mmm, Daddy… ahh, take me,” she screamed. 

His eyes stayed on mine the whole time. Five years of marriage. Five years of “you’re my queen.” Shattered in one look.

“You were right,” she moaned. “She’s ugly. Plain. A CEO like you deserves better.”

I turned away before I screamed. My body felt like it belonged to someone else. The housekeeper grabbed my arm at the stairs.

“Sluts like you ruin families,” she hissed, dragging me down. “You want me jobless?”

At the bottom, three kids played on the rug. Two boys. One girl. The girl was Ivy’s age. The boys looked like twins. Maybe three years old. 

Wilson’s kids. In my house. The house he had given me. The same house he promised to build a life with. The same house he told me he sold a year ago.

The housekeeper shoved me onto the pavement outside. My hip hit concrete hard. Pain shot through my stomach. 

Not my baby. Please, not my baby.

Blood. Warm and wrong, soaking my dress. 

I crawled into the waiting taxi, leaving the mansion behind. Leaving Wilson with another woman in in bed. With three kids I never knew about. 

“Why?” The word left me hollow. 

The taxi pulled away. Adams Mansion in the rearview. Hell, not a home. Did his family know? Did they all laugh at me behind my back?

“I’ll never leave you, Zara.”  

“You’re the one for me. No one can separate us.”

His voice in my head. His hands. That night on one knee, his mother crying happy tears. I felt like a queen.

He lied. He cheated. He broke me without blinking.

When the taxi stopped at the Adams mansion, I looked up.

And my world went dark all over again.