Midnight With The CEO

Lina Hart had received plenty of messages like this before, but this one still made her pause. The photo showed a naked couple tangled up on a large hotel bed, completely unbothered.

The man was her husband - Julian Kane - who hadn't so much as touched her in the six months they'd been married, yet somehow always had a woman on the side.

'Miss Hart, Julian asked me to send this to you. He says he's not coming home tonight. He prefers my company.'

Lina's face stayed calm. Is she trying to get a reaction out of me?

She typed back without blinking. 'Tell Julian to use a condom. I'd rather not deal with the mess if he catches something from hopping between women every night.'

She hit send and almost smiled. She could picture the woman's face when she read that.

Julian Kane might have been a catch to some people. To Lina, he was just a man she happened to be married to. Whenever she thought about their life together, her stomach turned.

She'd barely set her phone down when the front door slammed and her mother-in-law's voice cut through the apartment like a knife.

"Why are you in that bedroom again? I asked you to cook - it's not that hard! Half a year married and still no baby. I put food on your plate and a roof over your head. Even a chicken lays eggs! What exactly do you do around here? Do you want me to starve?"

Lina opened the bedroom door and looked at Margaret Kane without saying a word.

That look was enough. Margaret took a few steps back, the anger draining from her face. She turned toward the living room, muttering under her breath, "No wonder Julian goes elsewhere. Useless girl."

She grabbed her bag and walked out of the apartment, slamming the front door behind her.

Lina almost laughed. Right. My fault. Never mind that your son is never home.

Lina stood in the middle of the room, the silence pressing in on her. Her phone was still on the bed - that photo still in the chat. She glanced at it, then looked away.

She was not staying here tonight.

She grabbed her jacket, stepped out, and didn't look back.

The city was loud and bright in all the right ways - bars lining the streets, music bleeding through walls, strangers moving under neon lights without a care in the world. Lina walked without a destination, just needing the noise and the movement.

A year of this. A year of sleeping alone, being screamed at, and being cheated on with zero shame. Tonight, she just wanted to forget all of it - even for a little while.

She stopped outside a bar and leaned against the wall, letting out a slow breath. Something reckless stirred in her chest.

That's when she noticed him.

He was walking down the street - tall, dressed in a dark fitted suit, moving like a man who owned whatever room he walked into. His face was hard to make out in the low light, but something about him made her look twice.

Before she could think it through, her feet were already moving.

"Hey." Her voice came out softer than she meant it to. "You here alone?"

Damian Cross heard her before he saw her. His first instinct was to brush her off - he had no interest in women stumbling out of bars. He reached out to do exactly that.

Then a passing car's headlights caught her face.

She was beautiful. Even like this - a little unsteady, eyes glassy - she was striking. Full lips, dark hair falling loose, eyes that pulled you in even when she wasn't trying.

Her. A slow smile crossed his face.

He dropped his hand and slid his arm around her waist instead. "Not anymore." His voice was quiet and warm.

A flicker of nerves ran through Lina. But then she thought of the photo on her phone, and she leaned into him.

"Good," she said. "Keep me company then."

Later, in a dim hotel suite, Damian looked down at her. Her cheeks were wet.

He kissed the corner of her eye. "Any regrets?" he asked quietly.

Lina shook her head. None. What would she even regret - marrying a man who treated her like furniture? Spending a year invisible in her own home?

She'd made her choices. This was just one more.

Her hands found his waist - a shy touch, barely there, but certain. Damian caught them gently and shifted his weight.

At the very end, only one thing stayed with her.

"Be still." Low and quiet, like a promise.

How does that feel?