It was me. Naked on a rumpled hotel bed. A man's blurry back was pressing heavily down on me. The camera angle was perfectly, cruelly captured to show the dazed, humiliated expression on my flushed face.
"No..." The word tore from my throat as a raw, broken gasp. The phone slipped from my numb fingers, thudding onto the thick carpet.
The world violently tilted, then slammed into a harsh, horrifying focus. I wasn't in the apartment I shared with my husband, Jefferson.
I tried to scramble backward, but a sharp, tearing pain shot through my lower body, forcing a scream back down my throat. Silk sheets slid from my bare shoulders. I looked down, my stomach lurching violently.
Angry red marks bruised my skin. A dark stain ruined the pristine white sheets. The air around me was thick with stale champagne and an unfamiliar, sickening cologne.
I pressed shaking hands to my temples. Fragments of last night surfaced through a thick fog.
The charity gala. Standing on Jefferson's arm, playing the perfect, dutiful wife. My stepsister, Falon, handing me a glass of champagne, her smile far too sweet to be real.
"Drink up, Claire," she had purred. "To family."
Then... nothing. Just blinding lights. A man's heavy breathing. My own helpless, weak sobs.
I had been drugged. I had been assaulted.
Panic flooded my veins like ice water. I had to leave. I had to find Jefferson. He would protect me.
I grabbed a white hotel robe from the floor, my hands shaking so violently I could barely tie the belt.
Every movement was sheer agony. The ache in my thighs and the sharp twinge deep in my stomach were merciless reminders of what had just been done to me.
I stumbled toward the door. My hand had just closed around the cold metal handle when the electronic lock gave a sharp beep.
The door swung open, nearly knocking me off my feet.
Jefferson stood in the doorway. He looked impeccable, dressed in the same tailored suit from the gala. But the look in his eyes wasn't concern. It was a block of solid ice.
And standing right beside him, her arm linked intimately through his, was Falon.
"Jefferson!" I cried out, hot tears immediately spilling over my cheeks. I reached for him. "Thank god... Jefferson, you have to help me, someone-"
He didn't move an inch to catch me. He stepped back, letting my hand fall uselessly through the empty air.
His gaze traveled over my bruised neck, my tear-streaked face, and the hotel robe. His lips curled into a sneer of pure disgust.
"Don't touch me," he snarled, his voice laced with venom.
Falon gasped loudly, a perfectly manicured hand flying to her mouth in mock horror. "Oh my god, Claire! How could you?"
She pressed her body closer to Jefferson, looking up at him with wide, sympathetic eyes.
"Jefferson, look away. It's too awful. I told you I saw her sneaking off with that man, but I didn't want to believe my own sister would do something so cheap!"
"Falon, what are you talking about?" I choked out, staring at her in disbelief. "It was the drink! The champagne you gave me!"
"Me?" Falon's eyes filled with sudden, fake tears. "Claire, stop lying! You're breaking his heart! You get caught spreading your legs for a stranger, and you try to blame me?"
"Save the pathetic excuses, Claire," Jefferson cut in, his voice like shards of glass.
"I gave you everything. And you repay me by acting like a complete slut while I'm downstairs talking to the press?"
"It's not true! I swear to you, Jefferson, please-" I sobbed, feeling the walls closing in on me. The man I loved, was looking at me like I was garbage.
Falon stepped forward, her heels clicking softly on the floor. She reached out, pretending to fix the collar of my robe. As she leaned in, the fake tears vanished from her eyes, replaced by a cold, triumphant smirk.
"You look pathetic," she whispered, her voice so low only I could hear.
"The lighting in that photo was perfect, wasn't it? Enjoy the front page, sis."
My breath hitched. My eyes went wide as the horrifying truth finally clicked.
It wasn't an accident. Falon's champagne. The missing memories. The photo.
It was a trap. And looking at Jefferson's cold, calculating eyes, I realized he had walked in here expecting to see exactly this.
"You..." I stepped back, my legs trembling so hard I could barely stand. "You planned this."
Before Jefferson could even reply, a chaotic roar erupted from the hallway behind them.
"There she is!"
"Mr. Mann, do you have a comment on your wife's infidelity?!"
"Who was the man in the room, Mrs. Mann?!"
A pack of reporters surged forward, raising their cameras like weapons. The flashes began to fire like a relentless, blinding storm.
"No! Get out!" I screamed, instinctively throwing my arms up to shield my face.
Jefferson just stood there, the tragic, betrayed husband perfectly posing for the cameras, while Falon rested her head softly against his shoulder.
The last thing I saw before the blinding white light swallowed my world was Falon's lips curving into a wide, victorious smile.