“Since when do you have that?” he asked, his voice suddenly thick and raspy. He swallowed hard. “I’ve never seen that before.”
Rosália crossed her arms over her chest. It was a defensive posture, but the movement pushed her breasts together, deepening her cleavage. David’s gaze instantly drifted to the hollow of her chest, glued to the very skin he had ignored for months.
“How would you even know if I’ve had this for a long time or not, David?” Rosália asked, her voice quiet but lethal, slicing through the quiet room like a blade. “We practically don’t even have sex anymore.”
The blow landed perfectly.
David flinched as if she had physically struck him. A flash of guilt—or perhaps just the terror of being caught neglecting his marital duties—crossed his features. He swallowed hard again, taking a hesitant step forward. The possessive anger was completely gone, replaced by a sudden, desperate need to reclaim his territory.
“You’re right,” David murmured, his voice dropping into a low, apologetic cadence. “You’re right, Rose. I’m sorry. I’ve just been working so much harder lately... the firm is bleeding me dry. But I’m going to fix it. I’m going to pay more attention to you.”
He took another step, his eyes dark with sudden, undeniable lust. He reached his hand out, wanting to touch the red lace. wanting to prove to himself that she still belonged to him.
Rosália immediately stepped backward, smoothly slipping entirely out of his reach.
“I’m going to take a shower,” she announced coldly, turning toward the massive marble en-suite bathroom.
David blinked, his hand falling to his side. “I’ll come with you. Let me wash your back—”
“No,” Rosália cut him off, pausing at the bathroom door. She didn’t look back at him. “I want to take a shower alone. I prefer it that way tonight.”
She let the silence hang for a heavy, agonizing second before delivering the final strike.
“You can take advantage of this time to think a little better about everything you just said to me,” she murmured softly, her tone laced with absolute ice. “And think about exactly how you’ve been treating me lately.”
She stepped into the bathroom, shutting the heavy wooden door behind her with a definitive click, leaving her husband standing entirely alone in the middle of the luxurious suite with nothing but his own guilt for company.
Chapter 10
Sean
The silence inside the extra penthouse suite was absolute, oppressive, and heavy with the weight of everything that was about to happen.
Sean stood perfectly still before the massive, floor-to-ceiling glass windows, a glass of untouched scotch in his hand. Below him, the dark, churning waves of the ocean continuously slammed against the jagged cliffs, a violent rhythm that perfectly matched the frantic, unfamiliar hammering of his own heart.
He checked the heavy gold face of his Rolex.1:15 AM.
A dark, suffocating knot of anxiety tightened in his chest, pulling his muscles taut. He was a man who commanded boardrooms, manipulated markets, and dictated the flow of billions of dollars. He was never out of control. But standing in the dark, meticulously prepared suite, he felt entirely powerless.
She hasn’t come,the dark thought whispered in the back of his mind.She couldn’t do it.He pictured Rosália sitting alone in the dark of her own hotel room, paralyzed by the sheer, devastating reality of her husband’s betrayal. What if she had given up? What if the pain of confronting it was simply too much, and she had chosen the agonizing safety of the blankets over the terrifying leap into their revenge? The thought ofher crying alone, while David was out dirtying his hands with Katherine, made a lethal, burning rage flare in Sean’s blood.
He set the crystal glass down on the marble bar with a sharp, echoingclink. He reached into his pocket for his phone, entirely prepared to march down the hall and break David’s door off its hinges to get to her.
Just as his thumb hit the screen, the distinct, electronicclickof the heavy suite door shattered the silence of the foyer.
Sean spun around, the breath leaving his lungs in a long, ragged sigh of absolute, profound relief.
The heavy mahogany door opened, and Rosália slipped inside, shutting it silently behind her.
She had stripped off the armor of the breathtaking red gown. In its place, she wore a pair of flowing, wide-leg cream silk trousers and a soft, oversized cashmere sweater that had slipped down, exposing the smooth, golden skin of her left shoulder. She looked incredibly fragile, but she didn’t look away.
When her dark, expressive eyes found him standing in the shadows of the room, the rigid tension instantly bled out of her posture. She let out a soft breath, and a small, genuinely relieved smile curved her lips.
Sean felt the answering smile pull at his own mouth, a sudden, blinding warmth flooding his veins and chasing away the cold anxiety.
He crossed the plush carpet, keeping his voice a low, steady rumble in the quiet space. “How long has it been since he left?”
“Ten minutes,” Rosália answered softly, wrapping her arms securely around her waist. She walked further into the room, kicking off her flats, her bare feet sinking into the rug. “He waited until he thought I was fast asleep. He didn’t even take his shoes. How long has Katherine been gone?”
