The Two Hour Betrayal

By the time Stella had finished half a tiramisu, I had finished the few miserable soda crackers.

During her livestream, her other phone suddenly lit up. She glanced at the screen, a flicker of surprise in her eyes. A few seconds later, she burst into tears in front of over a hundred thousand viewers.

The stream ended abruptly. I was staring at my phone, stunned, when Julian's call came through. The moment I answered, his voice lashed out like a whip. "Cassia Rhodes, all for a bottle of wine? For a few maids? You leaked photos of me and Stella to the gossip columns?!"

"I don't know what you're talking about. The moment I got home—"

"Still denying it? Stella said she only sent those photos to you. No one else has them—not even me! And the yacht today? We've been there before. Your username was in the livestream chat, I saw it!" His voice was a low growl, each word forced through clenched teeth.

If I had been standing in front of him then, I knew what would have happened—he would have kicked me to the ground and forced me to kneel and apologize to Stella.

Just like last winter, when Stella was suffering from menstrual cramps and insisted I take care of her. I had just had a miscarriage and was too weak, so I softly apologized, "I'm sorry." That one sentence was enough for Julian to grab me by the shoulders and shove me to the ground.

I remember bowing again and again—ten times, maybe more—until my forehead was bleeding, and only then did Stella tearfully say she forgave me.

Julian's ragged breathing over the phone pulled me from the memory. I stared at the cracker crumbs and said softly, "It wasn't me. I have no reason to do that."

Then, I heard Stella's trembling voice in the background. "Julian, I feel like... there are paparazzi watching me outside. I'm so scared..."

The call was cut off. I sat motionless at the table, staring blankly ahead.

Sure enough, ten minutes later, Julian's soldati kicked open my door and stormed in. Without a word, they grabbed me like a sack of rice. "Let's go. The Don wants you to be a decoy for Miss Vaughn."

...

The beach house in the Hamptons had a massive floor-to-ceiling window. They tied me to a chair facing the ocean and stuck a book in my hands. On the other side of the room, in the safest part of the basement, Julian was holding Stella gently. "Don't be afraid," he whispered, "I'm here. I'll protect you."

She buried her face in his chest, her small hands clutching his expensive shirt. "Julian, are they going to kill me? I'm so scared. I don't want to get hurt..."

"They won't," he murmured, "You're safe here. I promise."

Her crying slowly subsided into sobs. "Julian, what would I do without you?"

"Don't be silly. You'll always have me. I'll be with you until we're old and gray."

The soft, wet sound of their kissing filled the room. No matter how hard I tried to focus on the book in my hands, every noise found its way to my ears. It went on for half an hour before finally stopping.

Then, Stella's sweet voice broke the silence. "Julian, Cassia is still here. She is your wife, after all. Maybe you should have someone protect her, too."

Julian shot a cold glance in my direction. "If she hadn't leaked our photos and location, you wouldn't be scared right now. She brought this on herself."

I tried to keep reading, but the words blurred. I thought I had run out of pain—so why were there still tears? I didn't understand, and I didn't want to.

I don't know when I fell asleep. When I woke, pain and exhaustion had dulled everything around me. The system's voice echoed faintly in my ear, "24 hours remaining."

But before I could move, Julian's hand struck my face in a hard slap. "Cassia Rhodes, you venomous bitch! How dare you sneak in here while I was sleeping?!"

I shot up too quickly, and a cry of pain was torn from my throat as the movement ripped at the wound in my shoulder.

"Stop pretending," he roared. "Where's Stella?"

Only then did I realize I was in their bedroom. I didn't even know how I had gotten here, but Stella was gone.

"I don't know. I was by the window all night—"

"Liar! Where did you send her?"