Chapter 2
Once he’d had his coffee, he would surely try a piece of the cake. Liliana thought.
She finished tidying it up just as the coffee was ready. Picking up her phone to call him downstairs, the screen lit up with a breaking news alert.
[The CEO of Zephyr Group Throws Lavish Birthday Bash for Vice President. Romance Rumored p>
Liliana’s heart skipped a beat. She tapped the notification.
A series of photos filled the screen. In them, Cedric stood beside a stunning woman, his shirt unbuttoned at the collar, his hand covering hers as they sliced into a towering six-layer cake. The caption identified the woman as Sylvia Woods, the Vice President of Zephyr Group.
According to inside sources, Cedric had personally planned the entire event as a surprise for Sylvia. The company’s thousands of employees had all received a cash bonus in honor of the occasion. It turned out Sylvia shared Cedric’s birthday. They had exchanged gifts and sung “Happy Birthday” to each other.
He had personally planned it all, every detail prepared in advance for tonight, the very night he claimed to be “working late p>
So, while Liliana was at home meticulously preparing a birthday surprise for Cedric, he was meticulously planning one for Sylvia.
His gift to Sylvia was a piece of jewelry from a world-renowned brand, something with at least a six-figure price tag. Sylvia had given him a new tie and had even fed him a bite of cake.
In the photos, Cedric’s usually stoic face was warm, his eyes soft as he looked at Sylvia, a tenderness Liliana had never seen directed at herself.
And though the pictures were just stills, she recognized her instantly. Sylvia Woods was the woman from the video, the one who had knocked on Cedric’s hotel room door in the middle of the night. The long, wavy hair and bombshell figure were identical.
It all clicked into place. Cedric’s frequent business trips, lasting anywhere from a few days to a week. The way he would ignore her calls and texts while he was away.
Was he spending that time with Sylvia? While she lay alone in their bed, missing him, was he tangled in the arms of another woman?
The video was real.
The truth struck her like a bolt of lightning, draining all the color from her face.
She couldn’t bear to think about how long this had been going on, only that she had been played for a fool.
On their wedding day, he had told her he wanted her to be a full-time wife. It was the only reason she had agreed to give up her dreams.
A single sentence from him had confined her to this house for two years. Only now did she understand that the woman he truly admired was a powerhouse like Sylvia.
She couldn’t lie to herself any longer. She could endure any other slight, any other form of neglect, just as her mother had taught her to.
But infidelity? That was the one thing she could never forgive. “Pack a few things for me,” Cedric’s cool voice broke the silence.
He had come downstairs, his hair still damp from the shower, wearing a set of dark gray loungewear that softened his sharp edges. He sat down next to her and began to drink the coffee, his head down, without sparing her a single glance.
Her phone was still on the table, the screen lit up with the picture of Sylvia feeding
him cake. His eyes flickered over it for a fraction of a second before he returned to his coffee, saying nothing.
“Is celebrating an employee’s
birthday part of your job description
now?” Liliana couldn’t hold it in any longer. Her voice was sharp, accusatory. It was the first time in. their marriage she had ever spoken to him that way.
Cedric’s brow furrowed, and his gaze snapped to hers, his expression unreadable. “Of course.” he said coldly.
“And you never thought to mention that your VP, the one you spend all your time with, is a woman?” His casual dismissal only fueled her anger.
“It wasn’t relevant,” he said, draining the coffee cup and rising to go back upstairs.
His indifference was the final spark. In that moment, Liliana forgot all her mother’s lessons about a wife’s
duties She shot up from her seat and blocked his path. What do you mean, ‘not relevant? We’re married! The money you spend on gifts for another woman is our money. I have a right to know, a right to have a say in p>