Isabella couldn't believe her best friend's words. Thinking she might have misheard, she asked her friend, "What did you just say now?"
Chloe bent toward Isabella and repeated, "I said it again: I saw your precious, trustworthy husband relaxing comfortably and walking into a hotel with a woman."
Isabella's heart tightened painfully. She asked, "Are you crazy? I believe my husband would never do something like that."
Chloe looked at Isabella anxiously and said, "Isabella, don't trust him."
Just like Chloe said, Isabella's hand gripped her phone tightly. Her ears kept echoing, Don't trust him, don't trust him.
Chloe held Isabella's hand and said, "Isabella, he's cheating on you."
As Chloe said that, she took out her phone. Isabella saw a photo of her husband holding another woman's hand while entering a hotel.
Thinking why the husband who loved her so deeply was in that photo, even breathing felt difficult for Isabella.
Chloe handed an address to Isabella and then left.
Unable to understand what was happening, Isabella clutched the address card tightly in her hand.
She stood up in shock and walked out of the café in a daze.
As she stepped outside into the night, a cool breeze swept over her, filling the air with a chill—but she couldn't feel anything except the echo of her best friend's words.
Without thinking, she quickly got into a cab.
Before she even realized it, she had told the driver the hotel address.
As she stood at the entrance of the high-end hotel, Isabella couldn't figure out how to believe her best friend's words.
She desperately wanted to trust her husband, so she stepped back, taking a single step away from the hotel entrance and stopping there.
But the photo of her husband entering the hotel with another woman flashed in her mind.
Determined, she decided to go into the hotel and prove that her husband was innocent. Maybe he only came here for work, she thought.
She walked to the receptionist and asked, "Which room did Cassian Hawthorne book?"
The receptionist looked at her and said politely, "I'm sorry, I can't share private room information about our customers."
Isabella quickly replied, "I'm his wife. I need to meet him."
The receptionist hesitated, then looked at her and finally said, "Room number…" and gave her the room number.
As Isabella stepped into the elevator, she prayed with all her heart that her husband was innocent. After all, she had loved only one man so deeply in her entire life.
When she stepped out of the elevator, she walked straight toward the room. Her heart was pounding wildly as she inserted the key the receptionist had given her.
As she opened the door, her heart shattered into a thousand pieces in an instant. Tears streamed down her face uncontrollably.
She saw her husband's face reflected clearly like a mirror as he lay on the bed, embracing a woman.
In reality, she couldn't see the woman's face, but her husband's reflection was unmistakable.
As her husband noticed something and turned around, She quickly pressed herself against the wall, covering her mouth with her hands to keep herself silent as tears streamed down her face.
As she choked, Isabella could hear muffled moans and disgusting sexual sounds filling the room.
She heard the woman's voice, sweet like syrup, asking, "Did you feel satisfied?"
He replied, "Finally, I can breathe without feeling burdened."
The woman asked him, "Aren't you afraid your wife will find out?"
He replied casually, "What can she do, or what can she wish for? She never gave me this pleasure anyway."
Remembering how, during their first intimacy, he had promised to love her forever, Isabella's eyes filled with tears.
At that moment, she heard herself asking him in her mind, What happened when you cheated on me?
And his words from before came rushing back: How could I ever cheat when I have such a beautiful wife by my side?
As all those memories returned, her tears wouldn't stop flowing.
Remembering how her husband had once promised to love her forever, only to break that vow so cruelly, Isabella felt a crushing wave of betrayal.
Overwhelmed with heartbreak, she fled from the hotel in a daze, guiltlessly blaming herself for believing in him.
She immediately called a cab and rushed back to her villa, her heart pounding wildly as tears blurred her vision.
As soon as she stepped into her bedroom, she collapsed onto the bed, her body trembling with sobs.
His voice kept echoing in her mind: You gave me the pleasure she never could.
She couldn't stop herself—staring at their wedding photo, she broke down completely, crying so loudly it felt like her soul was tearing apart.
Every memory of his gentle words now stabbed her heart like a knife, each promise twisting into a lie.
Exhausted from crying, she was slipping into sleep when she stepped out of her room. From the hall below, she heard a noise and saw Cassian downstairs, picking up pieces of broken glass after he had fallen.
As he looked up, their eyes met, and to her, it felt like her heart had shattered just like that glass.
He gestured for her to come down, but she stood frozen, staring blankly at him. In a very gentle voice, he called up, "What happened to your eyes?"
She didn't give any answer. Cassian frowned with worry and asked if someone had hurt her. She quickly shook her head sideways, signaling that no one had done anything and that she had just been sleeping.
"Oh, did I wake you?" he asked softly from downstairs. She shook her head quickly and managed a small smile before calling down, "Did you have dinner?"
He looked up at her and answered that he had already eaten.
As he started up the stairs to head to his room, she stood quietly, watching his back until he disappeared from view.
Before heading into his room, he came close and kissed her forehead gently. "Are you okay, my love?" he asked softly.
She nodded her head slowly. He smiled at her nod and went into his room to take a shower.
She picked up his coat in her hands, but as she checked it, she noticed a lipstick in his pocket.
Opening it, she saw that the lipstick had already been used.
As she stared at the lipstick, swallowing the bitterness rising inside her, he finished his shower and returned.
He saw her standing there, holding the lipstick and looking at him with questioning eyes.
She looked directly at him and asked, "Why is there a lipstick in your pocket?"
He smiled casually and replied, "I bought it for you today."
But his words only made her heart feel even heavier.
A sudden notification flashed across her phone screen.Her mind went blank as the image burned into her eyes.
A single photo appeared—showing a woman she trusted fully in his arms.