My Husband Booked Three Lunches, I Found Her

Chapter 3

I wiped my tears and called the front desk. "Hello, this is Peter Chapman's wife. I would like to cancel the booking for room 2202."

The person on the other end of the line confirmed again. "Ms. Lindsay, are you sure you want to cancel? If you cancel now, we will have to charge a 50% cancellation fee, which is not very cost-effective. Are you still certain?"

I agreed without hesitation, "Yes!"

The cancellation confirmation text was sent to my phone almost immediately.

This time, an inexplicable sense of satisfaction welled up in my chest.

I couldn't wait to see how embarrassed they'd be when the cleaning staff walked in on them in the middle of their little affair. Would they be mortified enough to wish the floor would swallow them whole?

Even better, the woman in that room was their top-performing sales employee.

I also decided to go see the place in the photo.

Since Peter loved keeping backups so much, it was time I got to know one properly, wasn't it?

Belle's victory celebration was held in a large private room.

When I saw the red roses covering the floor, for a moment, I was lost in a trance.

It was my 10th wedding anniversary with Peter, and every year, he would fill the entire floor with red roses just for me, saying red suits me. It was gorgeous and bewitching, the most eye-catching one out of thousands.

When this once-exclusive rose arrangement appeared at a cheap company celebration, it lost all its appeal to me.

A red carpet stretched all the way to the center of the stage, and directly across from me stood the man and woman of the hour. Belle, in a red dress, was going around to toast every guest one by one.

The sapphire pendant around her neck caught my eye immediately, because it is the same style that Peter gave me before.

If I hadn't seen that necklace, I never would have guessed that such a plain, unassuming girl was actually the mistress who seduced Peter into bed.

When she reached Peter with her toast, they locked eyes, their gazes lingering thick with chemistry.

Someone started egging them on.

"Belle, that's not right! Mr. Chapman is your biggest client. Ordinary toasting just isn't good enough!"

"That's right! You gotta give Mr. Chapman a special treat, like a toast of crossed arms!"

"Do the toast! Do the toast!"

Belle put on a show of shyness, but her other hand was already pouring another drink.

She smoothly passed her own half-drunk glass to Peter, and he accepted it readily, even sneakily brushing his hand against hers.

Her eyes lingered on him, thick with chemistry, and she said, "Excuse me, Mr. Chapman!" And the two did their cross-arm toast.

Everyone in the crowd who came to watch the show got excited. Only I noticed that Peter lingered, pressing his lips to the rim right where she had drunk from, before he took a sip of his whiskey.

Seeing that, I almost couldn't stay on my feet. It felt like I was attending a wedding, and the groom was my own husband.

I kept my head down and hurried away, only to bump into a passing staff member.

The red celebratory banner scroll he was carrying fell from his hands.

The scroll unrolled, and the bold characters burned into my eyes.

"To my dearest Marie, happy 10th wedding anniversary!"

The glue on the word 'Marie' was still wet.

So this was something they had just made onsite for me.

The staff apologized awkwardly, "I'm so sorry, ma'am. I was in such a hurry. My boss told me I had to finish setting up the venue within half an hour."

My heart jolted, and I asked the staff, "Do you know whose banquet this venue is for?"

"Um... I think it's for Mr. Chapman. I heard he and his wife are celebrating their wedding anniversary on the cruise."

After saying that, the staff hurried off toward Belle's large private banquet room.

Right! With only half an hour to spare, how much could they rearrange anyway? Of course they would just reuse the same venue. Even the roses were the exact same arrangement.

I suddenly laughed.

This was what having a backup got you.

At that moment, all my hope vanished.

Right after I got back to my hotel, I received a private message from Belle.