Chapter 1
My husband thought I was boring in bed, so on our wedding night, he made me sit right there and watch him fool around with his little mistress.
After they finished, I tore a check out of my checkbook on autopilot and handed it to the woman, who was covered head to toe in love bites.
I never saw what was coming next. Eugene reared back and smacked me straight across the face.
She turned her head, pouting and cooing at Hunter, "What does your wife take me for? Some cheap street w***e?"
Far from getting angry, Hunter just laughed. "Nonsense, you're my favorite little baby," he said.
He cupped Eugene's face in his palms and dove back in for another kiss.
Even as their tongues tangled together, he still had the presence of mind to grab the fallen check and pass it back to me. "It's your mother's medical bills," he said.
He smiled slowly and lazily. "Tiffany, Eugene was nothing like the other ninety-nine women before her. You don't need to pay her.
"From now on, Eugene and I will give you lessons. Once you learn what you're supposed to do, I'll give you the proper wedding night you deserve."
I crushed the check in my fist and didn't say a word. Right after that, I booked a plane ticket to Paris.
What Hunter never knew was that during those three straight days and nights he spent f*****g Eugene senseless, my mother was fading fast.
I'd knelt right outside his bedroom door, banging my forehead against the hardwood over and over, begging him to save her.
But the only answer I got was Eugene's moans, getting louder and wilder with every thrust.
When my mother saw my head, raw and bleeding from all the kneeling, she reached up and pulled out her own oxygen tube.
Right before her heart stopped for good, she gasped out one final warning, "Tiffany, don't beg him anymore."
*****
Following the contact info my mom left me, I dialed the number.
The man on the other end was ecstatic. "Tiffany, you have finally decided to call uncle! I'll send someone to pick you up right now, okay?"
I just hummed a soft yes in reply. I didn't say anything else, just hung up the phone.
Suddenly, a pair of strong hands wrapped around my waist from behind, lifting me clean off my feet.
A man's deep breath warmed the shell of my ear. "Who were you talking to? I called you multiple times just now, and you didn't answer."
My gaze landed on the deep crimson bite mark blooming on his collarbone, and I immediately dropped my eyes.
"Just a delivery," I answered offhandedly.
After setting me down on the bed, Hunter's voice dropped to a rough growl. "Tiffany, did you learn the position we taught you today?"
I slipped out of his embrace without him noticing, and answered coolly, "I'm on my period."
Maybe it was because I wasn't throwing a screaming fit like I always used to. Hunter froze for a beat, his eyes raking slowly over me from head to toe.
Then he chuckled lightly. "Still mad? Didn't I already cover your mom's medical bills this time?"
When I stayed silent, his tone sharpened with growing irritation. "I already promised you no one's going to take your place as Mrs. James. What more do you want from me?
"It's your own fault, anyway. You're so boring in bed, you can't even hold my interest." With that, he stormed out, slamming the door behind him.
Back before all this, every single fight ended with me groveling for forgiveness. Sometimes I'd camp out outside his bedroom door all night, apologizing over and over just to get that cold, distant forgiveness from him.
But now I've already lost everything. There's no reason for me to grovel in the dirt like a doormat to patch up this laughable excuse for a marriage.
That night, I was haunted by nightmare after nightmare. When I finally woke up, Hunter was lying right beside me like nothing had happened at all. He was fully absorbed in scrolling through his phone.
Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted he was just checking out to order a bracelet I'd had saved in my favorites for ages.
That was when the memory hit me. Back when we were still madly in love, he always logged into his shopping app with my account.
A faint, unwanted warmth pricked at my long-numb heart, just before his deep voice rumbled from above my head.
"You're awake? What do you think of this bracelet for Eugene?" he asked, turning the phone screen toward me.
That was when I noticed he'd even switched his phone case to a pink one.
A hazy memory drifted back. On Valentine's Day years ago, I'd spent a whole month making a matching couple of phone cases by hand DIY.
When I gave it to Hunter, he tossed it straight into the trash can without hiding his disgust. "Only three-year-olds waste time on this garbage," he'd snapped.
And yet, just a short while ago, he bailed on our relationship anniversary, left me waiting alone in the restaurant until midnight. All so he could keep Eugene company, DIY that childish phone case with her, going over it again and again without ever getting annoyed.
I tore my gaze away from that shoddily made phone case and answered flatly, "It suits her perfectly."
The man nodded, satisfied, and smiled. Out of habit, he leaned down to press a kiss to my forehead, but I tilted my head slightly to dodge it.
Hunter froze, opening his mouth to say something, right as his phone rang.
A soft, doting smile tugged at the corner of his mouth as he stepped out onto the balcony to take the call.
By the time he came back downstairs, I'd already finished making breakfast.
He sat down at the table, noticed I hadn't brewed his usual coffee, and frowned. "We're out of beans?"
I swallowed my last bite of food and answered, tone neutral as can be, "I'm allergic to caffeine."
Back when we were in college, I accidentally drank a caffeinated milk tea and ended up passing out from an allergic reaction.
Hunter had blown a gasket over it back then, firing the maid who'd made the drink for me. Every single thing I ate went through his obsessive, repeated checks before he'd let me touch it.
But later on, Hunter had way too many other women to fuss over. And after my family fell on hard times, I'd learned to just keep people happy.
I'd push through the discomfort even when I felt bad, so little by little, he forgot about that silly little quirk of mine.
Hunter's hand froze halfway to his mouth, bread still clutched between his fingers. A flash of complicated emotion crossed his face. "Sorry. I forgot."
He was about to say more when his phone rang a second time.
