Prologue

I sat down at the round table alone. This would be the first time I had come to a bar in many years, the pain I felt in my heart was just too much. The scenes kept replaying in my head, welling me up with pain and anger.

I ran my veiny hands over my hair until my always neatly combed hair became rough and I didn't care. I was supposed to care, as I was a billionaire heir, and even without my father’s money I would still be a billionaire. I was a public figure, the Sloan heir, but I refused to care.

For the past three months, after the scene, I had immersed myself in deep work, I barely ate or changed my clothes. But today, while at work, my body could not take it anymore. My hands began to shake, skin colour turned pale and all the memories kept coming back. It came back with a gush of pain.

At first, I tried blocking it, but I allowed it to freely take over me. I gulped down the remaining Scotch from the half-filled glass and drank, letting the memory replay itself.

It happened when I had forgotten something and had rushed down to take it. I stopped at the front of my gate, I didn't bother driving into the parking lot. The gateman greeted me cheerfully, too cheerfully, as if he was happy that I was finally discovering something.

“Is Bella inside?” I asked in a hurry.

The gateman nodded quickly. “She has not left since you went out.”

I walked out before he finished talking. “Good,” I murmured to myself as I loosened my tie.

She would help me find another suit and help me arrange my file while I took a quick shower. I just hoped she had not stressed herself or my unborn baby.

On entering the house, I felt something was amiss. The air carried a foreign scent. I heard sounds coming in as I approached my bedroom, sexual sounds. I immediately waved off the thought of it. After all, she was pregnant. Then it came again.

“Ahh… fuck Aaron…

“Harder...” Bella's voice moaned.

My heart sank, and for a moment, my heart skipped a beat, my legs became too heavy for me. No! No! No! This can't be happening. It can’t be here. She would never want to hurt me. After all, we would be expecting a baby and our marriage was in the next six months.

I mustered strength and walked into the room. “Fuck!” Bella shouted immediately at the sight of me. The man continued thrusting shamelessly, unaware of my presence.

“Eric,” she called awkwardly, and this made him stop. He turned to look at the door, only to find me leaning across the bedroom door, my hands crossed around my chest. I smiled. It was Aaron Walker, one of my competitors.

Aaron smiled back at me with victory, rolled to the other side. “I think our baby is going to be a baby boy,” he said sarcastically, kissing the bump and moving upward to kiss her.

She shone her eyes in confusion while Aaron closed his eyes to kiss her. Her eyes fixed on me. The truth soon dawned on me. The baby was not my own. They have been having an affair for so long. No wonder I had never outsmarted Aaron, because I always discussed my plans with Bella and they always flopped. She had been the one telling him of my plans.

I swallowed the betrayal bitterly and waited for Aaron to get dressed and walk away after he told her he would see her later. Bella immediately knelt before me and began begging. I watched her pour out everything, from how she met Aaron, how she got pregnant and Aaron told her to make me the father of the unborn child for now, and finally, how sorry she was. I didn't not say anything, neither did I smile, nor shout, nor asked her any questions.

“I just have two words for you,” I finally broke the silence. “Get… out…!” I fired at her stressing every single word before leaving her on the floor still begging. The only luck she had was that she was pregnant. If not, I would have carried her out of the house myself. I reached out to my file and left. Ordering my boys to carry her belongings out of my house.

**

Since that day, I hadn't sat down to think about it or feel the pain. I just worked, worked, and did not even bother to think about it until now.nWith that incident, I promised to never love anyone again. I ordered another and drank the whole bottle, making it my fourth bottle. Without wasting time, I called Damien to pick me up. I was too drunk to drive.

Damien arrived in an hour, took a pitiful look at me, his best friend and carried me. I kept on babbling and talking nonsense. In the process of leaving, we fell. Causing attention. Unknown to us, a photographer stood at the edge of the bar. Clicking every moment that looked intimate.

Tomorrow’s headlines would be headlines that would keep on trending for days or months.