Reborn For A Second Chance: The Alpha's Blonde Secretary

Louisa's POV

It was very faint at first, coming from deeper inside the suite and I froze in place. I pushed the thoughts away and resumed walking, my ears perked up on high alert.

I turned the corner when I heard it again, louder and clearer. The sound didn't come from the study where I was going in the hope of finding Eric. It came from the bedroom just a few steps away from where I was standing.

Was Eric perhaps in there?

With his guest?

I walked swiftly forward till I was standing right in front of the bedroom door then I pressed my ears against the wood. I heard the sound again. It was my husband's voice and it sounded like a groan.

My hand reached for the door and I hesitated. Some foolish part of me was still in denial. Actively praying that the man I loved wasn't betraying me.

I took a deep breath and twisted the knob.

Big mistake.

Or

Best decision ever.

Really, it depended on how you looked at it, but based on the scene in front of me, I didn't even know what to think or believe or even understand.

I couldn't breathe.

Couldn't move.

For several seconds, I just stared, trying to make sense of what was happening.

Why was Eric on the bed with a woman, both of them naked?

And what was she doing on his lap with both their eyes closed, and his hands on her waist?

Why was he kissing her with the lips meant for me? Touching her with the hands meant for me?

Was I dreaming?

They were too immersed in whatever it seemed they were doing to notice me.

What was really going on?

Surely, I'd walked into the wrong room. Or maybe my mind was playing a nasty, not-funny trick on me.

There was no way Eric, my Eric whom I loved with everything in me, cherished more than I did myself, was doing something so horribly wrong to me.

No!

I refused to believe my husband would hurt me as deeply as this by sleeping with another woman.

I was his wife, right!

He shouldn't be with someone else.

But what was happening before my very eyes was as real as it got. I noticed their clothes discarded on the ground and my eyes stayed fixed on the red dress that I knew belonged to the woman.

It was the same dress from the video which meant she was the same woman with Eric in that video. The video had shown both of them coming out of his car, his arms around her and her body pressed tightly against his.

I had clearly seen my husband's face but the woman's had been a mystery I was hoping to uncover by coming here.

But now, maybe coming here wasn't the best idea.

I couldn't explain the searing pain that tore through my chest as the sounds from them reached me. Deafeningly loud and undeniably real.

Would I be pathetic to admit that I had suspected this exact scene when I first heard the sounds? Heck, when I first saw the video?

I badly didn't want to believe it and deceiving myself just felt like the easiest choice.

Tears rolled down my face as I slowly opened my mouth.

"E...ric,"

The single word escaped my lips, so low I almost didn't hear myself say it. My throat was all dry and parched, my eyes stinging, and I really needed to sit down to fully digest what was happening.

They didn't hear my call, too lost in each other to care about anything else.

I spoke again, louder this time, letting my anger and hurt bleed through.

"Eric!"

They jolted and jerked away from each other so fast that their close contact pulled them back and they slammed their foreheads together.

"Ow," The woman winced, rubbing her forehead as they scrambled apart and dragged the duvet over their bare bodies.

"What are you doing here? Y-you're supposed to be..."

Eric scrambled for words and my heart broke even louder in my ears as I just stared at him.

I handed this man an empire.

And this was what I got?

"Baby, please calm down." He looked like a deer caught in headlight.

Baby.

The word should have comforted me. It used to make me giggle but instead, it made my stomach twist.

"What is going on?" My voice shook. "Tell me this is a nightmare, Eric!"

"I can explain." Eric reached toward me but before he could get any closer, the woman caught his wrist and pulled him back.

She'd been quiet all through and hiding her face like she didn't want me to know who she was just yet.

My eyes narrowed as she turned around to lie back against the bed. Her face became completely visible to me and a sharp, bitter chuckle tore from my throat at who it was. I looked from her to Eric and back in disbelief.

You have got to be kidding me.

She just smiled at me.

I turned my glazed, widened eyes to Eric again, who was looking everywhere but directly at me like he had just been caught doing something he shouldn't be doing by the very person who was never supposed to find out.

"Her? Are you kidding me?!" My heart sank.

This was too much. I didn't deserve it. I know I wasn't the best person in the world but I've also never done anything remotely bad to deserve this kind of treatment from these two.

I really did love Eric. Genuinely and with all my heart, I've never made him question choosing me, so why?

My hurt slowly transformed into raw anger. I needed answers and I needed them now or else I was going to burn this entire room to the ground with all of us in it.

And no, this wasn't me bluffing.

I meant every single word.