Painful Flashbacks.
The city sparkled beneath me, cold and distant.
I stood in front of the floor-to-ceiling windows of my office on the top floor of the Aeternum Tower. The lights below blinked like stars choking on smoke. The skyline looked exactly how I wanted it to, calm on the surface, while chaos brewed underneath.
On the screen beside me, Ronan’s finances flickered, red charts with flashing alerts.
Investor withdrawal, stock bleeds, and a few contract collapses.
I smirked in satisfaction.
“Beautiful.” I muttered in delight.
Ronan Lancaster was spiraling, and I was the one who lit the fuse.
My thought swift to Seline, the perfect mistress, slow but poisonous like a serpent. I won’t rejoice too soon until Se- line falls too.
I got up from my seat and walked towards the window, my heels clicking against marble as I crossed the room, glass of wine in hand, dry, rich, as sharp as memory because it wasn’t just Ronan who destroyed me.
I also walked to destroy Seline because she worked hand in hand with Ronan to bring me down, she have cost me so much pain and I still remembered the night I lost everything.
It all started there years ago, the night of my wedding.
As I walked into Ronan penthouse, I scanned around with smiles on my face.
The laughter from downstairs still echoed faintly as I climbed the curved staircase of Ronan’s penthouse.
“Ronan?” I said out loud, “Where are you?” My eyes scanned around but there was no sign of him.
My hands brushed over the ivory rail, still wearing my wedding ring, my veil trailing in one hand. My lips carried the faintest taste of champagne and rose-petal gloss, my chest was full of hope, of nerves, of that foolish belief that I was starting something real.
We’d only been married for hours, and yet, he disappeared during the last toast.
I thought maybe he was tired, or overwhelmed being a CEO and a husband.
0.0%
15:50
I was so stupidly in love, I convinced myself he was upstairs, waiting, maybe with music, or candles.
“Ronan.” My lips stretched into a beautiful smile as I stood in front of his bedroom door, our new matrimonial room.
I didn’t knock, at once, I pushed the door open, but the moment I opened, my fairytale cracked into hell and I froze in shock.
Right in front of me was Ronan and Selina, twisted in my silk sheets, naked and kissing passionately.
She was moaning, half-laughing, her nails dragging down his chest, the bed creaking beneath them. His hands were on her hips, the same hands that had slid a ring onto my finger just hours ago.
I didn’t move because I couldn’t breathe.
For a full ten seconds, the world froze.
My veil slipped from my fingers and landed soundlessly on the floor.
“Ronan?” Tears hooked my voice and at once, the room became silent.
Ronan looked up, sweaty, flushed, his eyes not leaving.
“Ronan, how could you? Who the hell is she?” Pain grabbed my heart so tight that it felt like I was about to die at the spot.
To my surprise, I watched as Ronan’s face twisted in an ugly frown.
He was furious.
“The f**k, Zyrah?!” he snapped. “Do you not know how to knock?”
I blinked, his words didn’t make sense, they didn’t compute.
“What, what is this?” My voice cracked. “What are you… ?”
“What does it look like?” he snapped, stepping out of the bed naked, no shame, no effort to cover himself. “Jesus, do you just barge in now? This is my space.’
“My space,” he said, like I didn’t exist in it, like I wasn’t wearing the same dress I married him in, the woman in his bed didn’t just watch me walk in smiling.
Selina didn’t look flustered.
She wasn’t embarrassed, I watched her smirked in delight as she pulled his shirt over her bare skin, like it was hers,
like he was hers.
“She’s cute when she’s shocked,” Seline said coolly.
Ronan turned back to me, his expression venomous. “Let me be clear, Zyrah. You’re here because I let you be here, don’t get confused.”
10.7 %
15:51
I felt the floor tilt.
I backed up a step. “You said you loved me…”
He scoffed. “You were convenient, quiet, and very low-maintenance. Don’t make the mistake of thinking that meant anything.”
Each word landed like a blade.
“You don’t belong in this world,” he sneered. “You’re a shadow, not a queen, you should be grateful I gave you my name for even a minute.”
Selina laughed quietly, sitting cross-legged on my bed.
My hands curled at my sides, I tried to scream but I couldn’t.
I didn’t know how I was still standing.
My body felt hollow, and numb, but my skin was burning. My heart pounded against my ribs like it wanted to escape, like it couldn’t even bear to stay inside me.
And yet I stood there in my wedding dress watching my husband, my damn husband step out of bed with another woman still lounging behind him like this was her home.
“Ronan, please…” I whispered, tears choking the back of my throat. “It’s our wedding night.”
He scoffed, grabbing his boxers from the floor and slipping them on with infuriating ease. “And you ruined it.”
“What are you saying?” I cried. “I walked in and saw you in bed with…
“Don’t you dare try to raise your voice at me,” he snapped. “Not in my house, not when you didn’t even knock. This is my house, you are under me and I can freaking do what I want to do.”
Tears broke from my eyes in sharp streaks, hot and endless. I stepped forward. “You’re cheating on me! On the night we said our vows! How can you Ronan? How dare you?”
He turned on me so fast it stole the breath from my chest.
“I dare because I can,” he hissed. “Because you’re nothing but a name on paper, you’re furniture Zyrah, a second pick at my desperate time just because my company needed me to settle down. You are convenient and I married you to keep things clean. Don’t act like this was some fairytale.”
“You said you loved me!”
He sneered. “I said what you wanted to hear.”
I was shaking now, violently, uncontrollably. I clutched the fabric of my dress, white satin now soaked with tears, my veil forgotten on the floor behind me.
Selina giggled in the background, her voice like shattered glass. “She’s so dramatic.”
21.9 %
15:50
That laugh, at once, pushed something inside me past its limit.
“You’re a monster!” I screamed, the sound raw, ragged. “I gave you everything! I trusted you, loved you, how could you do this to me?”
Ronan didn’t like my tone, the look on his face was alarming. He stepped toward me, opened the door, and grabbed my arm, not hard, not bruising, but firm and cold.
Before I could realize what was happening, Ronan shoved me out of the room.
“Selina’s staying with me tonight,” he said flatly. “Go sleep in the guest room. Hell, sleep in the hallway, I don’t care.”
I froze in the doorway, breath ripped from my lungs. He leaned in, voice low, laced with cruelty.
“Maybe if you listen hard enough, you’ll hear what a real woman sounds like when she’s being touched right.”
With those words, he shut the door in my face.
Just like that, I was nothing.
I stood there, staring at the closed door. My chest heaved as my hands trembled. The edges of my vision blurred.
Without a second thought, still in my wedding dress, I ran down the hallway, down the stairs, and down past the mar- ble, the chandeliers, the perfect floral arrangements.
I ran out into the garden, still lit from the wedding, fairy lights glowing above rows of white roses. My heels twisted on the stone path and I fell to my knees.
And immediately, I broke into bitter tears.
“No!”
“How could you Ronan? What did I ever do to deserve this?”
I screamed into the night.
Sobs tore out of me like fire as I clawed at the bodice of my dress, pulled the pins from my hair, tore the earrings from my ears.
My hands trembled as I hugged myself, the tears unstoppable.
“Why…” I whispered. “Why did he change?”
I thought of the man who kissed my forehead every morning. The one who laughed at my terrible cooking, who called me his peace.
Where did he go?
What had I done wrong?
34.0 %
15:51
“I’ll fix it,” I whispered to no one. “I’ll stay because I know that I can change him, I have to.”
The words made me sick but I said them anyway because I believed them and most especially because I loved him.
“I’ll make him love me again… even if I have to befriend his mistress to do it.” and in that moment, kneeling in the grass, crying into my own wedding dress, Zyrah Callisto Aeternum died.
The following day, the morning light filtered in through the sheer curtains of the guest room, soft and golden, mock- ing me.
It had no business being beautiful, not after last night.
I hadn’t slept.
My body was aching from how tightly I had curled into myself, my eyes were swollen, cheeks streaked with dried tears, and my throat felt raw from screaming into the pillow, screaming so they wouldn’t hear me because I could hear them.
Their moans.
The headboard against the wall; her name in his mouth.
On our wedding night.
I rose, legs shaking, feet ice-cold on the marble floor. My body moved like it didn’t belong to me anymore, I grabbed the satin robe someone had gifted me the night before, wrapping it over the nightdress I had planned to wear for him.
How pathetic.
I left the room and made my way down the hallway, every step echoing with the memory of the vows he spoke less than 24 hours ago.
The scent hit me first, coffee, bacon, a hint of vanilla.
Domestic, like nothing had happened.
Like I hadn’t walked in and found my husband inside another woman.
I turned the corner into the kitchen, and to my surprise, they were already at the kitchen counter.
Selina stood with her back to me, barefoot, wearing his white dress shirt, the hem barely covering the curve of her ass. Her long legs were crossed at the ankle as she leaned into him, arms lazily draped around his waist. She was laughing softly, her lips brushing the shell of his ear.
Ronan stood at the stove, shirtless, flipping eggs like this was just another ordinary morning. His hair was still damp from the shower, he looked relaxed.
Happy.
Like she hadn’t destroyed something sacred, and like I didn’t exist.
44.3 %
15:51
Fainiui Flashbacks.
My feet carried me to the far end of the table, where I sat without a word. I didn’t clear my throat to announce my presence, but without a surprise, Selina noticed me.
Her smile widened when she turned, coffee mug in hand. She sauntered over slowly, taking her time, like a cat cir- cling a bleeding bird.
“You’re up,” she said lightly, voice honeyed with fake warmth. “Didn’t think you’d still be here.”
I said nothing to her.
To my surprise, she placed her mug and walked closer to where I sat.
“I heard you tossing all night, rough sleep?”
I stared at the steam rising from my untouched tea.
Selina clicked her tongue.
“Poor thing, I guess guest beds just aren’t the same, are they?” she giggled in a mocking tone.
Still, I didn’t speak, I wouldn’t give her the satisfaction but she wanted more.
Seline moved behind me and leaned down, her voice dipping just enough for only me to hear.
“You know, Ronan and I used to do this every Sunday. Make breakfast, dance in the kitchen, laugh till noon, he loves mornings like this.”
Her words dripped like poison in my ear.
“Maybe if you weren’t so stiff all the time, he wouldn’t have gotten bored before the ink dried.”
I couldn’t take her words anymore, my body was about to explode and I know that if I stay longer, I might do some- thing that I will end up regretting.
I stood abruptly, the chair scraping against the floor.
I wasn’t going to cry, not again, especially not in front of her.
I turned to walk away but to my shock, Seline wasn’t done.
“Where the fuck do you think you are going to?” She yelled and before I could realize what was happening, she grabbed my hair and yanked it back hard.
“Ah!” I screamed as a cry ripped from my throat, sharp, sudden, and humiliating.
She yanked again, twisting my scalp. “Don’t walk away from me when I’m talking, you little ghost.” she spat.
The rage boiled over me, at once, I turned to her and without a twinkle of an eye, I slapped her across the face with everything I had left.
The sound cracked through the kitchen like a whip.
56.0 %
15:51
Seline staggered back, hand flying to her cheek, eyes wide.
I was panting hard in rage, staring at her shocked face.
“What the f**k is wrong with you?!” Ronan suddenly roared behind me.
Before I could move, he stormed toward me, his hand didn’t land, but it might as well have.
He grabbed my arm with enough force to spin me sideways, his grip was like iron.
“She’s been nothing but kind to you!” he shouted.
“She attacked me…” I yelled.
“You’re ungrateful!” he snarled and slapped me hard on my face.
The slap was so heavy that I fell to the ground, my face stinging as hit tears swelled up my eyes.
“You think your place is secured because you signed a marriage license? Wake up.” Ronan yells in fury as he stares at
Seline began to cry and walked towards Ronan who wrapped his arms around her.
His face was inches from mine, twisted in disgust. “You were a favor, do not ever lay your hand on the woman I love the most.”
I staggered back, the force of his words more painful than any slap could have been.
“Get out of here!” he said. “Before I throw you out myself.”
I stood frozen, breath shallow.
This time I couldn’t control the tears and they rolled down my face.
Without a word, I walked out leaving them.
Days went by and the emotional torture continued. The walls of that penthouse began to feel like a prison.
I wandered through them like a ghost, watching the life I thought I was building twist into something I could no longer touch. Selina’s perfume lingered in the air long after she left. Her lipstick stained glasses that were never mine. Her voice, the syrupy pitch she used when Ronan was near, had become the soundtrack of my silence.
She came over often.
Too often.
Sometimes it was just for drinks, other times to talk about company strategy, and on more nights than I could count, she simply didn’t leave. Her heels lined up beside mine in the entryway like she lived there. Her laughter drifted down the halls like it belonged.
Ronan lets her in every time.
67.4 %
15:51
Painful Flashbacks.
They would vanish into the bedroom together while I sat in the dark of the guest room, clutching a book I couldn’t read, pretending not to hear what was happening behind those walls.
I told myself it was temporary.
I told myself he’d come back to me.
But the truth kept screaming louder and one night I broke.
That night, Ronan was pouring a drink at the bar when she arrived. A soft knock, a knowing smirk, and her arms were around his neck before the door even closed. She whispered something, giggled and I watched him kiss her shoulder.
I stood in the hallway watching, my hands clenched as my stomach turned at the sight.
Seline looked up and noticed me, she didn’t blink but winked at me like I was nothing more than a forgotten shadow in my own home.
And this time I didn’t retreat.
“I’m done!” I snapped, storming into the room. “I’m done pretending!”
They both turned at me.
Selina raised an eyebrow while Ronan narrowed his eyes.
“You think I’m going to keep living like this? Sitting in the dark while you parade your mistress in front of me?!”
“Zyrah,” Ronan said flatly. “Don’t start.”
“No! You don’t get to tell me when to start!” My voice cracked, tears already hot in my eyes. “I’ve stayed quiet for weeks, I’ve let you walk all over me, but not anymore.”
He stepped forward slowly, his jaw tense.
“I’m going to the press,” I said, lifting my chin. “I’m going to tell them everything, about how their perfect, charming Ronan Lancaster, the feminist CEO, husband of the year cheats on his wife nightly and lets his mistress live in their home.”
Ronan’s face shifted and turned red immediately.
That one word, the press, had landed hard because earlier that week, he had gone viral on the news.
Lancaster Enterprises had hosted a summit on modern leadership and progressive values. The headlines sang praises, the face of a new, emotionally intelligent CEO. Clips of him on stage played across every business outlet.
“My wife, Zyrah, is my calm. She is my center, she reminds me every day what it means to be present, and I try to be worthy of her.”
I had watched it on the news with a shaking hand over my mouth, knowing he’d kissed Selina that morning before walking onstage.
78.7 %
15:51
Painful Flashbacks.
288 Vouchers
“You wouldn’t dare,” Ronan said now, voice dangerously low.
I laughed bitterly. “Try me.” and then he moved.
Ronan grabbed my wrist, not hard enough to bruise, but tight enough to hurt. He dragged me down the hallway, past Selina who didn’t even flinch, into the study, and slammed the door behind us.
“You want to destroy me?” he growled, backing me into the wall. “You want to throw away everything just to feel powerful for five seconds?”
I shook my head, trembling. “I want to feel like your wife.”
“You’re not my wife, you’re a liability,” he snapped. “Do you understand how fragile the image we’ve built is? One story, your story, and everything collapses, for me and for you because I won’t go down alone.”
Tears burned my eyes.
He leaned in closer, voice cold and clinical. “If you want to keep wearing that ring, if you want to stay Mrs. Lancast- er, you’re going to shut your mouth, smile in front of cameras, and play your part.”
“You mean, you want me to pretend to be friends with your mistress?”
He didn’t flinch.
“Yes.” his eyes hardened.
My jaw dropped, “Are you hearing yourself?!”
“If you ever try to expose me,” he said, eyes locked on mine, “I will bury you, and you’ll be just another sad little woman no one believes.”
I stared at him and I broke all over again, not because I feared him, but because I still loved him, even after every- thing.
Even as he stood there, peeling back every ounce of dignity I had left.
“I’ll do it,” I whispered, voice hollow.
“What?”
“I’ll be what you want. I’ll play along. Just, don’t throw me away.”
He smirked, satisfied.
“Good girl.”
Zyrah’s Point Of View.
91.0%
15:51
