Chapter Forty-Two - Daniel
CHAPTER FORTY-TWO
Daniel
THE VENUE WAS pure ego.
Exposed brick, custom lighting, curated cocktails with stupid names like “Brand Identity” and “The Disruptor.” Tall glass windows looked out over downtown like the city was something to be conquered, not lived in.
Daniel stood near the far wall, sipping a club soda. His shirt collar was crisp. Shoes polished. His body here, his mind… somewhere else entirely.
Everyone looked like they were trying too hard—middle-aged art directors in t-shirts, social media managers comparing follower counts like it was net worth.
This kind of event used to energize him. The flirtation, the buzz, the deals. It used to be fun. Now it just felt like noise.
He was about to step outside for air when he saw her.
Sienna .
Loose, bohemian pants. Backless top. Beads jangling against her collarbones. She was barefoot. Of course she was barefoot.
He didn’t realize she had been invited. But he wasn’t surprised she was here. Her yoga channel had too many followers for his agency not to take notice.
Apparently, Sienna was now a brand.
She spotted him and beamed. That wide, open-lipped, zero-boundaries smile that used to make him feel young and hot and wanted.
“Daniel,” she said, walking over like she was an old friend, not the biggest regret of his life. “Wow. Your aura is heavy tonight.”
He blinked. “Excuse me?”
She touched his forearm with too much familiarity. Daniel jerked back, out of her reach. “You’re carrying so much. I could feel it the moment I walked in.”
“I’m fine,” Daniel said flatly, stepping back further.
She didn’t notice. Or didn’t care.
“I had a feeling you’d be here,” she continued, sipping her drink. “The universe’s timing is never wrong. You’ve been on my mind lately. Especially during happy baby.”
Daniel blinked. He had no idea what that was and didn’t care enough to ask. Whatever it was, it sounded ridiculous coming from her mouth.
Of course.
She gave him a gentle look. “You seem tense. You should come to my sunrise chakra alignment class. We’re focusing on the heart center this week.”
Daniel raised his glass slightly. “No.”
Sienna tilted her head. “You’re mad at me.”
“I’m not anything,” he said, his voice clipped.
She smiled, like she knew better. “I just think it’s beautiful how our energies found each other when they did. You were vibrating at my frequency. I could feel it.”
Daniel stared at her, stunned by how sincerely she believed it.
Then he was speaking, words spilling out of his mouth. “I hate myself for what we did. And if I thought about you at all, which I don’t , I would hate you, too.”
Sienna blinked slowly, absorbing it. But instead of being hurt, she just smiled again—beatific and unfazed.
“Well,” she said brightly, “then that was the path. Nothing’s ever really lost. Just… transformed.”
And with that, she drifted away. Leaving Daniel alone with his self-disgust.
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Daniel turned too fast and nearly collided with someone.
“Shit—sorry—” he started, then froze.
It was his boss. Jenna Monroe, Creative Director. Sharp, no-nonsense, younger than him by a few years. She was looking at him like he was something she’d stepped in.
“Daniel,” she said coolly.
He opened his mouth to say something. Anything. But nothing came.
Jenna stared at him a beat longer, then shook her head—subtle, disappointed.
And then she walked away.
Daniel could almost track the progress of the rumor in real time as it made it’s way through the party.
The glances. The low murmurs. A trio by the bar not even pretending to keep their voices down. One of them said “affair” like they were tasting it.
So that was it. Now everyone knew.
Everyone knew that he had betrayed his wife.
He turned away from the bar—and found Tristan standing there, just a few feet away. “Dude, people are saying you had an affair with an influencer ?”
Sienna was hardly an influencer, and what they did wasn’t anything as classy as an “affair”. But that wasn’t the most important part of the charge against him.
“I did it,” he said quietly, before the younger man could speak. “I cheated on my wife.”
The words tasted like ash. Saying them out loud here—at work, in this setting, to someone who once looked up to him—was a humiliation deeper than any rumor. He felt exposed under the fluorescents.
Tristan didn’t respond right away. His face was set—stone still, not angry, not mocking, just... confused.
Tristan looked at him like he’d never seen him before. Then, with a shake of his head and a dry, bitter laugh, “Man. You made marriage look like it was still worth believing in.”
He turned and walked off, leaving Daniel in the silence he’d earned.
And this time, Daniel didn’t walk away because of the shame.
He stood in it.