When My Husband Lost Me, His CEO Found Me.

2. When I Look At A Stranger.

Serena's Point of View

All the lies I had believed so far, all the false hopes I had clung to as if my life depended on them… how could I have been so foolish just because I loved him?

Yes, it was indeed my husband inside Room 1243, naked without even a thread of fabric covering himself.

“Who the hell?!” The first thing I heard was his curse.

Then he quickly got down from the bed and took a step forward without even covering his still aroused body.

However, the moment he saw it was me who had entered the room, the moment our eyes locked, his eyes widened, and his jaw dropped.

“Se… Serena?! How… how…”

My mind didn’t register what he was trying to say. All I could think about was what my husband was doing a moment ago with a woman who wasn’t me.

And that thought alone felt like a knife stabbing straight into my heart.

My eyes shifted to the wide bed.

And yes…

It was his immediate boss, Michela, the same woman he claimed he had an important client meeting with.

Michela was equally naked and lying on the bed, her hair disheveled and her legs still wide open, leaving no doubt about what they had been doing only seconds ago.

For a moment, I couldn’t breathe.

It felt like all my organs were being crushed inside my chest. All the pain I had endured in my entire life, even combined, could not compare to the pain I was feeling right now.

Seeing the man I loved more than anything in this world naked with another woman, after he refused to come to the doctor’s appointment I had begged him to attend… no words felt sufficient to describe what I was feeling.

“Serena?!”

Rowen’s panicked voice, filled with guilt, finally snapped me back to reality.

Michela lazily pulled the blanket over herself, but unlike Rowen, she didn’t look panicked. The only emotion I could see on her face was annoyance.

Yes. Her lover’s wife had just interrupted their beautiful moment.

Of course, she was annoyed.

“Serena, baby… it’s not what you think…” Rowen hurriedly stepped away from the bed and walked toward me.

My stomach twisted so violently I thought I might throw up.

Not what I think?

What else could it possibly be?

I stared at him silently.

For the first time in four years of marriage, and all the seven years of loving him, I felt like I was looking at a stranger.

“Baby, listen to me,” Rowen continued, his voice growing more desperate. “This isn’t...”

He tried to touch me with the same hands that had been holding that woman moments ago.

I dodged his touch and took a step back.

“Wasn’t I enough?”

It felt like a volcano was erupting inside my mind, but my voice came out eerily calm, surprising even myself.

“Baby… no… don’t say that. It wasn’t like that…”

“You might as well stop pretending, Rowen,” Michela’s lazy voice interrupted.

My eyes shifted to her, and our gazes locked.

Her lips curled into a mocking smile.

“Don’t look at me like that,” she said coolly. “You should actually be grateful to me. I kept your husband entertained while he worked so hard to earn a better future for both of you.”

“Michela, stop!” Rowen shouted angrily.

But she ignored him.

“However, you should seriously learn to knock before entering a room,” she added calmly.

“Walking in on people like this is quite embarrassing… even for you.”

The audacity in her voice, the mocking smile on her face, made me realize one thing.

I should have listened to the person who had been sending me those anonymous messages much earlier.

At least then this woman wouldn’t be looking at me like I was a complete i***t.

Suddenly, I realized I needed to leave.

What was I even doing here?

In a room where my husband had slept with another woman.

Without saying a word, I turned around.

“Serena, wait!”

Rowen rushed after me.

But I was already walking down the hallway.

And since he was completely naked, there was no way for him to follow me.

I ran as fast as I could.

My vision blurred.

The hotel corridor felt strangely narrow, like the walls were closing in on me.

“Serena!” I could still hear Rowen calling my name, but what reason did I have to stop?

I reached the elevator area and turned the corner quickly,

And collided with someone.

I stumbled backward.

Strong hands caught my arms before I could fall and pulled me into a strong chest.

He was tall, broad-shouldered, and dressed in a dark suit. Standing perfectly still in an empty corridor at an hour when most people had somewhere to be.

I didn't think to wonder why.

I should have.

“Careful.”

The voice was deep and steady.

I looked up instinctively.

The man standing in front of me was tall, broad-shouldered, and impeccably dressed in a dark suit.

His sharp features and cold green eyes made him look intimidating, but his handsomeness was impossible not to notice, even in my state.

He steadied me and slowly released his grip on my arms.

Then he studied my face carefully.

His eyes lingered on my tear-streaked cheeks.

“Are you alright?” he asked.

I quickly looked down, embarrassed.

“I… I’m fine,” I murmured.

“Are you sure?” he asked again, his tone gentler this time.

I didn’t want to appear so vulnerable in front of a complete stranger.

I really didn’t want to.

But…

For some reason, when I looked back into those green eyes, the words I had been trying so hard to hold back suddenly slipped out.

As if his eyes had some strange power.

“No,” I whispered.

Tears began to roll down endlessly, and my wounded heart started to ache even more painfully.

The man’s expression softened slightly.

“Is there anything I can do to help?” he asked softly.

What I wanted most right now was a shoulder to cry on.

Someone to hold me tightly and stop me from losing my sanity.

But the man in front of me was a stranger.

He couldn’t give me what I truly needed.

So instead, I asked,

“Can you… please… call a taxi for me?”

Getting out of this place was my top priority.

I was feeling dizzy, my whole body weak. I was afraid I might collapse at any moment. Before that happened, I needed to go home.

Home?

Could I really call that place home anymore?

But right now, there was nowhere else I could go.

“Of course I can,” he nodded.

He took out his phone and made a quick call.

“Let me walk you downstairs. The car is waiting for you,” he said.

“I… I can go…” I said weakly.

“That’s fine. I’m going down as well.”

We stepped into the elevator.

The suffocating feeling inside me grew even worse.

I was so dizzy that I leaned against the wall.

My vision blurred.

“Hey!!!” his voice turned urgent.

“You’re not alright.”

The elevator walls spun around me.

And the last thing I felt before darkness swallowed me…

was a pair of strong arms pulling me into them.