The night air was heavy with the scent of rain. Drops trickled down the windowpane like silent tears—eerily mirroring the ones streaking down your cheeks.
You curled deeper into the cold sheets of your bed, arms around your knees, breath shallow. The clock beside you blinked 11:03 PM in dull red. He wasn’t home. Again.
Your heart twisted, painfully, like a wound picked open night after night. You’d planned dinner. Lit candles. Wore the soft silk robe he once said made you look like heaven itself. But it stayed untouched, flickering candles long extinguished, food gone cold hours ago. Just like him.
Atticus Thron.
Your husband of three years.
CEO. Ruthless. Brilliant. Feared.
But to you… he was the man who’d once kissed your forehead every morning and whispered, “You’re my world, my reason to breathe.”
Now?
Now, you were invisible.
You hadn’t changed. You were still the same quiet woman, once his secretary, who kept her head low and her schedule sharp. The same woman he’d stunned the world by marrying—choosing you over countless socialites. He used to worship you.
Until she came.
Amelia.
The daughter of his biggest business partner. A flawless beauty with blood-red lipstick and legs that seemed to go on forever. Sharp, bold, confident—everything you weren’t.
At first, it was nothing. Just his praise about her efficacy on handling her father's company. Her smarts.
Then… came the missed dinners. The cancelled dates. The way he looked at his phone and smiled.
You weren’t stupid. He hadn’t cheated. Yet. But his eyes lingered on her longer now. And that was betrayal enough.
Your chest ached. But still, you bottled it up. Still, you waited for him. Still, you loved him.
Then your phone buzzed.
His name lit up the screen.
You wiped your tears, breathing shakily. "Hello?" you whispered.
His voice came low, ragged—not right.
"Love... need you..."
Your heart skipped. "Atti? What happened? Why are you so—" He cut you off.
"Please. Just come. To my office."
Confused. Frightened. Hopeful.
You didn’t ask questions.
You threw on a coat and stepped out into the rain.
The towering Thron Corp building loomed like a beast against the stormy sky. You reached his floor half-drenched, hair clinging to your face. The guards didn’t stop you. Everyone knew who you were.
The moment you opened his office door, your breath caught.
Atticus stood near the window.
Shirt half unbuttoned. Tie hanging loose. Hair a tousled mess.
You barely opened your mouth when he closed the distance in three long strides.
And then—he kissed you.
No words. No hesitation.
Just heat. Bruising, desperate, raw.
His hand tangled in your hair as his mouth crashed against yours, like a storm that finally broke. It wasn’t soft. It wasn’t sweet.
It was a claim.
He pulled back only when your lungs begged for air.
"I’m sorry…" he breathed against your lips, voice hoarse, "I ignored you… not because I stopped loving you. But because I needed her to see—" He turned.
That’s when you saw her.
Amelia.
Sitting stiffly on the office couch, arms crossed. Face white with rage.
Atticus walked over to her, voice like ice, like fire—dangerous.
"You thought you had a chance? That I would fall for your little act? You really thought you could take my place?"
Her jaw clenched. “You led me on. You didn’t stop me when I—”
"I let you believe what you wanted," he cut her off. "Because I couldn’t risk the deal until now. Now It's done, and I will show you something"
Then he turned back to you, eyes smoldering.
"Her."
He pulled you to him again, his hand splayed possessively on your lower back.
"This woman is my everything. My heart, my home, my world."
His voice dropped to a dangerous whisper as his gaze returned to Amelia.
"Now I’ll claim her in front of you… and you’ll watch it."