Chapter 1

It was the worst night of her life.

Elena Matthews sat in the dimly lit movie theater, her fingers absently tapping on the armrest as she watched the huge screen flicker to life with images of love and betrayal.

A sudden vibration in her purse, alerted her to a new message.

With a furrowed brow, she discreetly retrieved her phone and unlocked the screen. A text from an unknown number. The message was brief yet jarring, causing her breath to hitch in her throat as she read the words that would forever alter the course of her life.

“Hotel Sunset. Room 721.”

Her hands shook uncontrollably as she brought the device up to her face, reading the last text once again.

Suddenly, Elena was consumed by rage. Clutching the phone tightly to her chest, she grabbed her purse and bolted out of the theatre.

She could explain to Danika later. Her best friend’s new movie screening was important, but it paled in comparison to the chaos now unfolding in her life.

After calling her driver, who picked her up outside the cinema complex, she instructed him to take her to Hotel Sunset. Walking briskly towards the hotel, she struggled to contain the anger and frustration slowly building inside her.

In her mid-twenties, Elena was a beautiful woman who had once been a rising star in the movie world. She always stood out for her glamour, elegance, and extreme talent—a combination that made her incredibly attractive to men, except for Danika, who stood out just as much.

The two had been inseparable ever since they met years ago during an audition, where they bonded over their passion for performing. They both dreamed of making it big in Hollywood one day and spent hours discussing how far they would go to achieve their dreams.

When Elena received her first movie role, Danika supported her all the way. It was during the shooting of that movie that she first met Richard.

Richard McDowell was the new CEO of the McDowell Media Group, a company responsible for financing and producing Blockbuster movies, including the first movie of Elena’s life.

Richard was charming when he met her, and they hit it off right away.

It was hard work getting close to Richard because of his social status. His status as a man of influence and power often landed him in trouble with women, which is why the few relationships he did manage to get involved in usually ended badly.

Elena knew that. She read about him in the business magazines all the time. And yet she couldn’t resist.

Eventually, they began dating secretly. He insisted on keeping their relationship low-key, urging her not to let anyone know about it to avoid any negative impact on his reputation or career. And he was serious about it. There were no photos of them together, no public declarations of their romance on social media. Only whispers among those close to them hinted at the truth.

Then came the day when Richard surprised everyone by dropping to one knee right before Elena’s first award ceremony for the best debut actress and proposing marriage. It was an unexpected shock to those who knew them because their relationship had been kept so private.

But as Elena looked into his eyes, she saw genuine love and sincerity. Richard was certain about taking this major step that would change their lives forever. He seemed completely devoted to her.

Elena agreed. How could she not? Marriage to Richard sounded like a dream come true.

As the doors to the elevator swished open on the seventh floor, Elena felt another knot tighten deep in her belly. She wanted to get this over with as soon as possible. But at the same time, something continued to tug at her, a soft voice in her head begging her to think this through.

Perhaps she was wrong. There was a huge possibility that it was all in her head. After all, why would Richard do that to her? He loved her, didn’t he? He proposed to her in front of the entire world. Why would he do something so stupid to destroy something he had worked so hard for?

Why?

Elena stepped out of the elevator and scanned the hallway. Her gaze fell on a man standing outside a room, dressed casually in dark jeans and a leather jacket. A toothpick wedged between his teeth as he focused on his phone.

Elena approached him, her heels clicking against the polished floor. When close, the man finally looked up and shifted the toothpick from one side of his mouth to the other.

He didn’t say anything, only reached into the pocket of his jacket and handed her a keycard.

Elena nodded, swallowed, and then retrieved an envelope full of cash from her purse, handing it to him in exchange for the key to the room. She had no way of knowing how the hell he arranged to have it, but she wasn’t the one about to question. He was showing her the truth, that’s all she needed to know.

The man accepted the payment and left.

Elena stood there for a moment, staring at the keycard in her hand.

Taking a deep breath, she steeled herself and inserted the card into the slot beside the door. The lock clicked open, and she pushed the door inward, stepping into the dimly lit hotel room.

But that wasn’t what froze her at the door. No. It was something else. Something that was coming from the bedroom. Something that was breaking her heart.

She forced her legs to follow the sound of moans. With trembling hands, she pushed open the last door that now stood between her and the absolute heartbreak.

There, on the bed, lay Richard on his knees, cock shoved deep inside the woman she recognized too well.

“Oh, my God, baby. Yes, yes, please, don’t stop. You’re so amazing, darling. Ah ah ah.” The woman beneath her husband cried out as he continued to thrust deep into her.

For a moment, Elena stood there, feeling as though the ground had been ripped out from under her. She didn’t know what to do, or to think, or to say. Her worst fear had finally come true.

Richard was not the man who loved her anymore. Richard was not the man she fell in love with anymore either. No. He loved someone else. And what hurt the most was that the woman he was fucking was no one but his own step-sister.

Cecelia McDowell.

Hurt, and now disgusted, fierce rage burned through her, searing away the numbness and flooding her veins with adrenaline.

It was at that moment that Elena grabbed the first thing she could get her hands on and threw it at her cheating husband.

Richard never saw the vase coming. He was so lost in the throes of pleasure that when the vase struck him on the side of his head, it knocked him off balance, sending him sprawling onto the bed in shock and pain.

The woman beside him shrieked in surprise, scrambling to cover herself as Elena’s fury filled the room like a raging inferno.

“You… asshole,” Elena screamed, her tears flowing violently. “How could you betray me like this!”

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Outside the Sunset Hotel, the man in dark jeans and a black leather jacket walked across the road and slipped into the front seat of the passenger side of a black car already parked on the roadside.

He pulled the envelope full of cash and turned to hand it over to the man who sat in the back seat.

But instead of taking it, the man sitting in the back merely flicked his wrist, as if dismissing him. “Keep it.”

The man in the leather jacket shrugged and put it back from where he retrieved it.

“How’s she?” The man in the backseat asked.

“Didn’t seem too thrilled from what I could tell,” the man in the leather jacket responded casually.

The man scoffed. “Of course. Do you think it was wrong of me to interfere in her life like that?” He mused.

The man in the passenger seat looked around the car, not sure if he was the right person to ask such a question. “I don’t know. I don’t care.”

“Yes, of course,” the man sighed, flipping his phone in his hand. His dark eyes rolled back to the Sunset Hotel’s grand building. “Well, from what I see, it was about time she saw her husband for who he truly is.”

At least now she’ll have a shot at finding happiness somewhere else, or so he thought.