His Ultimate Ruin

Delaney's Pov Today should have been an ordinary day. Exhausted from an endless mountain of paperwork at the company, I left early just to get some quiet rest. My eyes burned from staring at figures, and my shoulders ached all the way home. I certainly wasn't expecting to see Noah's car parked right outside the house. For once, I thought, we might actually have the evening to ourselves. Without thinking much of it, I walked into the living room and lazily dragged myself up the stairs, one hand sliding along the banister, my feet heavy on every step as though I were slowly losing my soul. Finally, I reached the last step. I couldn't wait to get to my room, but then I heard a sound. I couldn't quite identify it at first, but it unmistakably sounded like a woman's moan. Or perhaps I'd heard wrong. Frowning, I paused, my fingers still on the banister. Was Noah in his study? I changed direction and followed the sound. As I got closer, the sound grew clearer, and there was no mistaking it for anything else. A moan. But who could it be? Was Noah pleasuring himself? I wondered. Either way, I kept moving. The sound was coming from Noah's study. The door was slightly open, leaving just enough room for me to see what was causing the noise. I peeked inside, and my whole world crumbled. There, half-naked on his desk, was my younger stepsister, Sloane, riding my shirtless husband. My breath caught. I pressed a hand against the wall, suddenly unsure whether my legs would hold me. My fingers curled into a fist against the paint, nails scraping. My cheeks were dry, but my chest burned as though I'd swallowed something hot. I loved him. I had thought he loved me too. And now he was gripping my sister's waist, his head tipped back, with a look on his face I hadn't seen in years. To think that he had cheated on me with my own sister! The betrayal hurt even more because it was Sloane. It should have been easier to hate a stranger. I could have blamed a faceless woman, convinced myself she meant nothing, and returned to the life I had built with Noah. But it was Sloane. The same Sloane who had sat across from me at dinner, smiled at me over a glass of wine, and called me her sister. Everything in me wanted to storm into the room. My foot was already shifting forward. I wanted to drag Sloane off that desk and ask her how long she'd been smiling at me while sleeping with my husband. But anger was loud, and loud people made mistakes. Not wanting them to know I was there, I drew one slow breath through my nose, then another, until my hand stopped trembling against the wall. The exhaustion I had carried home was gone. Every nerve in my body was awake and burning. But I wasn't going to cause a scene, at least not yet. I stepped back, one careful step at a time, went back downstairs, and drove away from the house. I got as far as the end of the street. I pulled over beneath a dead streetlight and put the car in park, and that was when my body finally caught up. My hands began to shake on the steering wheel, a fine, ugly tremor I couldn't stop. I tried to say his name. Noah. The word came out of my mouth in pieces. I pressed my fist against my lips and bit down on my knuckle until I tasted salt, and I rocked forward until my forehead met the wheel. No tears came. That was almost worse. Only a dry, scraping heave in my chest, like something was trying to leave and had forgotten how. I don't know how long I stayed there. When I lifted my head, my reflection in the rearview mirror looked like a stranger had borrowed my face: pale, mascara untouched, eyes too wide. I wiped my mouth. I put the car in drive and went back to my company. On getting to my office, I didn't turn on the lights. I walked around the room in the dark, from the window to the desk and back again, my heels clicking, my mind racing with thoughts. My head spun. I pressed my palms against my temples. What exactly could have made him cheat on me with my own sister? Every piece of the puzzle clicked into place with horrifying clarity, and then it all began to make sense. Sloane's frequent visits, disguised as sisterly affection. Her bottle of wine at my door, her hand on my arm, the sister who supposedly wanted to bridge the gap between us. Sloane and I had never really been the best of sisters. We argued constantly, had our differences, and... somehow, I had believed she had finally found a connection with me. I thought she wanted to forget our differences and get closer to me. That was why she always visited. I hadn't been the wife; I had been the blindfold hiding their affair. I was the side chick in their relationship. And Noah... I had never once thought he could do something like this to me. I thought about every night I had gone to bed alone, every dinner I had eaten while his chair remained empty, and every morning I had convinced myself that a demanding career was the only thing keeping us apart. Whenever I complained, Noah would kiss my forehead, promise that things would get better, and ask about my day. I had treasured those small gestures because they were all I had. Now, I wondered whether he had been giving me just enough affection to keep me from asking the questions he didn't want to answer. I felt there was more to this betrayal than met the eye, and I was ready to investigate. I picked up my desk phone and dialled my secretary. "I want the call details and schedule for Mr Jaxon Wellington as soon as possible," I instructed before hanging up. ★★★★★★ I spent a few more hours in the office, staring at the same page without reading a word, glancing at the clock every few minutes. I had to stay longer to make Noah believe I'd been at the office all along. I wasn't ready to let him know I was already aware of his affair. I returned home, playing the dutiful, unsuspecting wife. When I got to my room, I dashed straight to the bathroom and scrubbed my hands under scalding water. After a few minutes, I came out and saw Noah sitting in the armchair close to the window. "Hey, babe," he said. My jaw tightened at once. In just a few hours, my love for him had turned to hate, and my nails pressed crescents into my palm because I couldn't show it. If only I could, but I had to pretend. I forced a smile. "How was work?" he asked. "Okay," I replied. He smiled, stood up, and said, "All right, I'm off to the study. Sleep tight." He came closer to kiss my cheek, and my skin crawled. Every instinct screamed at me to pull away, but I forced a sweet smile and whispered a soft goodnight as he retreated to his study. I had been sleeping alone for as long as I could remember. He always slept in his study, which he had turned into a bedroom to avoid me. Stupid me! I had thought he was just busy with work. Once he was gone, I locked the door and pulled out my phone. My secretary had already texted me Jaxon Wellington's details. JAXON WELLINGTON CONTACT AND SCHEDULE DETAILS Jaxon was Noah's biggest rival in the business world and also his cousin. Noah had never liked Jaxon, not once. He despised him because Jaxon always managed to take away everything Noah wanted. He felt Jaxon had always been chosen first, and he wanted to compete with him on every level. Jaxon was the perfect person to plot my revenge with. Everything Noah was doing with Sloane, I would do to him with Jaxon. If Noah wanted to share my bed with my sister, I would return the favour in kind. I wouldn't just cheat on him with Jaxon; I had other plans. I would give Noah a taste of his own medicine. My finger hovered over the screen before I pressed the call button. It rang twice before a smooth, smug voice answered. "Hey, Jaxon. It's Delaney," I said. "Well, if it isn't my favourite sister-in-law. To what do I owe the pleasure?" I could hear the smugness in his voice. I stared at my reflection in the dark window, and a cold smile touched my lips. "Jaxon, I need to see you tomorrow. If you could spare me a couple of hours of your time..." I paused. "Trust me, you're going to want to hear what I have to say." "Why not, sister-in-law? I'll be expecting you." I ended the call. If Jaxon thinks he can play this game, then I can play better. Tomorrow, I would meet Noah's biggest rival and offer him a chance to help me destroy the man we both had reasons to hate. My marriage was about to become a weapon, and Jaxon Wellington was going to help me pull the trigger.