Chapter 5
FELIX
Each step felt like I was walking to the gallows, my fate blatantly laid before me with the tallied list of sins shackled to my ankles.
All I could wish for was a clean break of the neck rather than the long-winded suffocation that squeezed my throat.
The comparison was dramatic but hauntingly accurate all the same. My gaze clouded, and a roaring echoed in my ears as I approached.
After a short embrace between Alicia and Stella, the former left the building before I could catch her, leaving me in the foyer, alone… with my wife.
My knees threatened to buckle when blue eyes pinned on me. I didn’t even know how I came to be before her.
My voice had deserted me, words completely failing as I looked down at my beautiful Stella and awaited her spit on my face.
Instead, her lips shifted into a lopsided frown as the back of her hand pressed against my forehead. “You really are unwell, aren’t you, darling? You’re heating up, and your heart is pummelling.” She finished by placing her palm to the middle of my chest.
She may as well have grabbed a gun and shot the bullet straight through me. Keep your hand there. Don’t let go.
Unintentionally, I raised my hand to cover hers. She flinched, her fingers freezing cold, yet I grasped on anyway—the last remaining tether of contact that I refused to release.
On my third attempt at clearing my throat, I managed to croak out a statement. “Is… was Alicia, okay? She seemed in a rush.”
What did she say? What do you know?
Stella hummed in concern. “She said she had a family emergency and that she had to leave immediately. I hope everyone’s okay.”
A flash of relief registered, which quickly transitioned into self-disgust. Oh, my Stella. Always concerned about everyone else.
Alicia hadn’t disclosed what she saw. Which meant I had to talk to her as soon as possible.
When she had caught us, it was like an electric shock of devastating proportions. It jolted me back to the present, where I was faced with the stark realisation that I was on the verge of losing every-fucking-thing that mattered to me. All for a cheap thrill and mediocre pussy.
Fucking hell. How did I get to this point? So low and loathsome that I even contemplated having sex with another woman in the same vicinity as my wife, much less acted on it.
Disgusting.
“You should go home, Felix. Rest up.”
“Come with me,” I implored once more, despair coating the lining of my voice.
“I can’t. I know you’ve been working hard for us, and you deserve some rest, alone. Do you want me to grab Heather so she can give you a ride?”
Heather? My pulse stuttered. Hearing my wife say her name… It felt wrong, grotesque, like it was an abomination on her lips.
I closed my eyes as they began to burn. I didn’t want her to see the guilt, the deep-seated pain beneath.
“No. I can get myself home.”
Like a coward, I took the offer of escape. I would use that space wisely to regroup and figure out a way to sort my mess of a life out. I wasn’t going to let my marriage derail, especially not for a fucking secretary.
I was a businessman, thrived in a challenge and brokered deals on the daily. I could do it. Operation Save My Marriage was underway.
Stella led me to the glass doors, practically shoving me through. “Go, Felix. I’ve got it from here.”
I nodded, acting like a damn zombie without a brain.
“Oh, wait,” she said, pressing closer. “Have you got a spare pen? Wouldn’t be a good look on my first day, would it?”
Stella giggled, and my mind short-circuited until I noticed too late that she was reaching for my jacket pocket. The same one that Heather had deposited her panties.
Sheer panic had me staggering backwards until I ripped away from my wife.
Her face fell, taking in my startled demeanour. “Umm…”
“Sorry. I’m not myself.”
She nodded. “Sure.”
“Stells! There you are. I need you!”
I swivelled to see the big shot himself. Fucking Curtis and his friendly, perfect-toothed smile. Yeah, I wanted to stab him. He was my wife’s childhood best friend, but I wasn’t stupid. I knew the way men thought, the way our brains were wired.
Curtis was in love with my wife. Always had been. And I fucking hated him for it. The shared childhood memories, the inside jokes, the familiar camaraderie. Pfft, the underlying longing was pathetic.
I had enjoyed slinging my dick around over the years and had taken some sick satisfaction when Stella had my babies. My wife loved being a mother, and one could see her devotion through her actions and the precious effort she spent on them.
Sure, that meant that time was taken away from me. But that also meant she had no time for her bestie over there.
I’d never enlightened Stella with my views, since she considered him as close as family. But I knew—and most importantly, he knew—she was mine.
Except, as I watched Stella approach him with a beaming grin, that blackened organ in my chest gave a painful tug.
“What happened, you big baby?” Stella asked, tone teasing and light. “Couldn’t last five minutes without me?”
Curtis groaned. “Howard invited himself over to have a close inspection of my baseballs. This is all your fault.”
Stella laughed, sincerely let go, falling into Curtis as she wiped her eyes of mirth.
“I’m going now!” I piped, cutting through their moment.
She spared one glance. “Get well, husband. Don’t wait up. I’ll be late tonight.”
“But—”
“One of us must stay. And since you’ve been working late nights for months, I should take some of that burden, no?”
Curtis slipped an arm around her shoulders, giving me a wink. “Don’t worry, bro. I’ll stay and look after her.”
Now, why did that sound suggestive?
Before I could reply, they had turned their backs. I watched on, completely detached, as they walked away from me, their heads falling back in laughter.
Look back at me. Please, look back at me.
A disturbing heaviness seeped into my bones. It was minuscule, near undetectable to catch, but it was there. Steadily thriving and taunting, driving me to the brink.
Stella never looked back.