"Ma, are you still waiting for Mr. Thane?"
Leah, Mira's personal maid asked, her voice etched with concern.
She forced a smile, yet it was not enough to conceal the anger and frustration which clouded her chest.
"Yes. He will be back soon."
"I am sure he must be overwhelmed with work, satisfying clients may seem demanding most times" she defended.
"If you say so, Ma'am, I will be in the kitchen. Do you need anything else?" She asked.
"No, I will be fine." Mira assured her.
Leah hesitated, glancing at the untouched food before bowing and leaving the room.
The silence that followed Leah's exit seemed suffocating.
Mira glanced at the table one more time, her fingers tracing the rim of her wine glass.
She heaved a heavy sigh of relief as she stole a glance at the clock.
Today was her third wedding anniversary and she had prepared a candle-lit dinner for her husband.
Mira sighed, her gaze settling on the elegantly wrapped package sitting beside her plate. A navy-blue box, tied with a silver ribbon which was Thane's favorite colors.
Inside was a platinum wristwatch, custom-engraved with the words "Forever Yours, Thane".
She had spent weeks finding the perfect gift for him.
Beside the gift lay a handwritten letter, folded neatly inside a cream-colored envelope. She had poured her heart into that note, recalling their journey together, the promises, the dreams they once shared, and how, despite the growing distance between them, she still believed in their love.
She had arranged a bouquet of green and white roses in a crystal vase, the same flowers Thane had sent her on their first date.
The meal was just as carefully planned.
She had prepared his favorites:
Garlic-butter steak, cooked just the way he liked it coupled with truffle mashed potatoes, creamy and rich, seasoned to perfection.
A bottle of aged red wine sat in an ice bucket, waiting to be poured.
She had envisioned the evening a hundred times in her head. Thane would walk in, tired but smiling. He would notice the effort she had put in, pull her into his arms, and whisper how much he appreciated her. They would talk, laugh, reminisce, and just maybe, tonight would be the night they found their way back to each other.
But with every tick of the clock, her hope dimmed.
11:02 PM.
Her phone buzzed.
Mira reached for it eagerly, thinking it was Thane with an apology or an excuse or a message to reassure her that tonight wasn't another night spent waiting in vain.
Instead, a message from an unknown number flashed on her screen.
Her brows furrowed as she tapped it open.
Her world stopped at the sight of the man in the picture. His face looked familiar and upon further glance, Mira recognized him.
It was Thane, a white singlet hung loosely on his broad chests exposing his body frame.
His head tilted back in laughter, his arms wrapped around a woman draped in silk sheets. Her face was turned toward his, her lips passionately close to his lips.
The message below read:
"Happy Anniversary, Mrs. Thane. Thought you should see where your husband is tonight."
Mira's breath caught in her throat, her fingers going numb around the phone.
The beautiful dinner before her blurred as tears welled in her eyes. The gift, the letter, the effort all felt like a cruel joke now.
Thane wasn't working late, he wasn't with any client, he wasn't stuck up in traffic either.He was with another woman on their anniversary day.
A sharp pain twisted in Mira's chest as reality sank in.
She had spent the night waiting for a man who was never coming home.
Her hands fidgety, Mira picks up her phone to call Sienna, her best friend and the only person she had always trusted.
Her hands trembled as she dialed Sienna's number, her vision blurred by the tears she refused to let fall.
The phone rang once and twice and on the third ring, a sleepy voice cut up at the other end.
"Mira? It's late. What's wrong?" Sienna's voice was thick with exhaustion, but at the first crack in Mira's breathing, she immediately woke up.
"Are you okay?"
Mira let out a shaky breath, gripping the phone tightly as if holding onto it would keep her from shattering completely.
"He's with someone else, Sienna," she whispered, her voice barely holding back the sob clawing at her throat.
"Tonight is our third wedding anniversary but Thane is in bed with another woman."
The kind of silence that exuded shock lingered in the air.
"Sienna?" Mira's voice broke the silence.
"Are you still here?"
"I—I don't know what to say,"
Sienna sputtered like a child, her voice suddenly unsteady.
"Are you sure? I mean… maybe it's not what it looks like?"
A humorless laugh escaped Mira's lips. "Not what it looks like?" She pulled the phone away to glare at the screen, at the damning image that burned itself into her memory.
"He's in bed with her, Sienna.
"Don't you get it?"
"He is lying naked in the arms of a fucking stranger, Do you need me to send the damn picture?"
Sienna inhaled sharply, and for a fleeting moment, Mira thought she heard something else in the background, a rustling sound, maybe a choked breath.
"Mira, I…" Sienna's voice cracked.
Sienna's reaction seemed suspicious but Mira was too exhausted and broken to question it.
"I don't know what to do anymore," Mira admitted, pressing a hand to her forehead. "I sat here all night waiting for him. I made his favorite dinner. I wrote him a letter, Sienna." Her voice grew bitter.
"For goodness sake, I exhausted all my energy and resources preparing dinner for us while he was with another woman."
"I feel so worthless and stupid." Mira rant, tears pouring down her face.
Sienna sniffed quietly on the other end. "You don't deserve this, Mira."
"You are losing your mental health already, you have to act fast before he breaks you completely." Sienna advised, her voice now firm.
"Then tell me what to do."
Mira leaned back against the chair, gripping the edge of the table.
"Do I leave or stay? Would I be foolish to keep fighting for this marriage ?"
Sienna let out a loud exhale.
"Mira, if I was the one going through this, what would you tell me?"
Mira closed her eyes. "I'd tell you to leave."
A sharp inhale from Sienna.
"Then let go, Mira." Her voice wavered.
"Walk away before he breaks you beyond repair."
Mira's chest tightened.
She hadn't expected Sienna to say it out loud. Somehow, hearing those words made it real.
Reality dawned on her like a ton of bricks. Thane had never loved her.
Her mind drifted back to three years ago when she met Thane Ashford. She was working in The Ashford Corporations.
Thane's father had fallen in love with her hard work and commitment and had encouraged Thane to get married to her.
Her fingers curled into a fist.
"Three years of love and sacrifice just gone?" Her voice was barely above a whisper.
Sienna was quiet for too long before she finally spoke.
"Maybe it was gone long before tonight. You just kept holding on."
A tear slipped down Mira's cheek. She hated that Sienna was right.
"I don't know if I can do this," Mira admitted, her voice breaking.
Sienna swallowed hard. "You can. You have to."
There was a long pause and then so softly, Sienna whispered, "I'm so sorry,Mira."
Sienna let the phone slip from her fingers, staring blankly at the darkness of her bedroom. Her hands trembled as she pressed them against her face, trying to steady her breathing.
She hated the fact that she was there and she had seen everything, yet she was silent.
Mira had no idea that the message was a trap, a cruel setup designed to destroy her marriage.
Sienna's chest ached with guilt. She had watched how Thane was set up yet,she had just given Mira the final push to leave.
Had she done the right thing? Or had she just made the biggest mistake of all?