The low thrum of bass from the club below was a persistent buzz against the plush walls of the VIP lounge. Marvin Lee stood near the floor-to-ceiling window, a glass of Macallan swirling in his hand. His towering frame, encased in a charcoal Tom Ford suit, was a statue of disinterest amidst the chatter of other businessmen. Their laughs were too loud, their deals too boisterous. He preferred the quiet, the observable.

Particularly the women, draped in silk and ambition, their eyes like hunters’ scopes, all fixed on him. He was the prime trophy: Marvin Lee, 28, CEO of a tech empire, with a face that seemed carved from marble and a fortune that made men green with envy.

He saw the schemes in their practiced smiles, the calculation in their batting lashes. They were all the same, dreaming of climbing into his bed, of trapping him with a pregnancy, of leaching onto his money and status. It was a pathetic, tiresome dance he had no interest in joining.

His thoughts, as always, drifted to you. You, his anchor. His high school sweetheart now wife, the only woman who had ever seen the boy behind the fortune. Thinking of you was the only thing that made this circus bearable.

A bold one, a brunette in a dangerously red dress, finally broke from the pack and slinked over. "Mr. Lee, such a pleasure," She purred, her voice like syrup. "I've been admiring you all evening."

Marvin didn't turn. "I have a wife." he stated, his voice cold and flat, his black eyes remaining on the city lights below.

Undeterred, she gestured to a waiter and plucked two glasses of red wine from his tray, pressing one into Marvin's free hand. "At least let me toast to your success." Annoyed and wanting to end the interaction faster, Marvin set his whiskey down and took the wine, clinking his glass against hers with a dismissive finality before draining half of it. The woman’s smile was a little too triumphant.

He moved away, but a strange heat began to prickle under his skin barely 5 minutes later. It was a slow, insidious fire, coiling in his gut and spreading through his veins. His stern composure began to feel like a brittle shell.

The woman in red reappeared, her form suddenly the only focus in his hazy vision. "You look a little warm, Marvin." She murmured, her hand landing on his chest. His body, betraying him, reacted violently to the touch. A low groan threatened to escape his throat as she pressed closer, her other hand drifting down, palm rubbing boldly against the growing bulge in his trousers.

His body, traitorously aroused, reacted to the touch. For one horrifying, weak moment, his arm snaked around her waist, pulling her flush against him. The aphrodisiac screamed in his blood, a potent poison urging him to take what was being offered. The scent of her cloying perfume filled his senses, and his hazy mind, for a fleeting second, didn't push her away.

His vision started to blur, his strict discipline crumbling.

But then he saw it. A flicker of utter victory in her eyes. That look. It was the same look he’d seen in a dozen other women’s eyes, the look that promised a lifetime of chains.

You.

The thought of you was a bucket of ice water thrown on the inferno. He almost cheated. This was a schemer, a liar, trying to steal what was yours and yours alone.

A cold, brutal rage cut through the chemical fog. "Get your fucking hands off me." He snarled, his voice a low, dangerous whip-crack. He shoved her, sending her stumbling back into a group of startled businessmen, her cry of shock lost in the music.

He staggered, the room tilting. He had to get out. Now. Clenching his jaw until it ached, he straightened his suit jacket with a sharp, violent tug and strode for the exit, his movements uncharacteristically uncoordinated. He ignored the calls of his associates, the confused stares.

Marvin barely registered the cold night air hitting his feverish skin as he slid into the back of his Rolls-Royce, biting out orders to the driver. "Home. Is my wife home?"