A Scandal With Mr. Nightwood

I always imagined my New Year's Eve ending with a proposal... not with my boyfriend buried between my friend's legs.

That night, everything I loved died.

“E-Edric?”

The room went dead silent.

Edric sat upright, his hair a mess, his skin flushed with a heat that wasn't meant for me. 

He was shocked but not guilty or ashamed.

Amie didn’t hide either, she simply leaned back, a slow, triumphant smirk spreading across her face.

“Kristine,” Edric panted, wiping sweat from his brow, “You are early.”

“What the fuck is going on here…?”

“Don't look so shocked, Kristine.” Amie chuckled, “He was already mine.”

My vision was blurred. A single tear escaped, hot and stinging, trailing through my makeup.

“How could you…?” I choked out, tears blurring the sight of them.

“I thought... I thought we were building a life together, Edric,”

The resonance of my sobbing echoed in the beautifully decorated suite yet he remained completely unmoved.

“A life? Together? When did I agree to such an absurd idea?”

The cruelty of his statement made me flinch.

Was it the lowest my life could get?

No.

It could get worse.

In my trembling hand was a digital pregnancy test.

POSITIVE.

I had envisioned this moment a thousand times. The look of pure joy on Edric’s face when I told him he was going to be a father.

All shattered in one moment.

“Both of you are assholes,” I whimpered, my steps faltering under the weight of heartbreak.

“How could you betray me? What have I not done for you? I give you all my assets, my love and this is what I get?”

My gray eyes burned with pain. My black hair clung to my tear-streaked face as I glared at the two people who had destroyed everything. 

“So what? You are just a mess in the end. A pathetic woman. What do you have for me to desire you?”

Shaking violently, the papers in my hands almost ripped as my chest constricted with inexplicable heartbreak.

I searched their faces for a slightest hint of regret but to no avail.

They were enjoying it.

“Weren’t we friends, Amie? Weren’t we lovers, Edric?”

“Exactly. We were.”

“Go home, Kristine. You are interrupting us.”

He laughed when Amie mocked me, purposely tightening her grip on him while pressing herself harder into him.

Those bastards, I wanted to rip them apart, do the worst to them. They couldn’t get away with this so easily.

“One day, you will regret betraying me, you will beg me for forgiveness… just watch!”

“You wish,”

No, I won’t let it.

They won’t be forgiven easily.

I looked at the crystal vase on the side table and locked my hands around it.

My mind shut down. 

I swung.

CRACK.

The vase shattered against Edric’s temple. He slumped instantly, blood blooming across the white sheets.

Amie screamed, scrambling back, but I was already at the door.

“Happy New Year, assholes,” I spat, wiping my useless tears before showing my middle finger to them.

I didn't remember leaving the hotel afterwards.

I only remembered crying.

Two hours later, my world had become a blurry mess.

I was expressing my grief to my best friend Rose at our usual elite bar.

“How could he do this to me, Rose? What is going to happen to my baby now?” I sobbed, tears streaming down my face without any intention of halting.

“Edric had always been a piece of shit. I suspected, but with Amie? That’s bottom-tier behavior,” Rose shrugged, taking a shot of tequila.

“I hope both of them suffer in the worst way possible,” I muttered, tightening my grip over my drink, losing my composure.

“They will. You don’t have to cry over those losers.”

“How can I not?”

“Come on, Kristine, it’s New Year. Maybe this is a sign for you to have a new start.” She suggested.

“He is not the last man on Earth.”

“Or a sign that my life has reached its lowest point and I have to raise this baby alone,” I scoffed, wiping my tears roughly, pouring myself another drink.

“Come on, you are Kristine Iglesias, you don’t need that man to raise a child,” she tried to be optimistic, clicking her glass against mine.

“Fuck it. Enjoy the New Year,”

Soon the alcohol started to blur my perception. 

I mindlessly agreed in order to subdue the overwhelming pain.

Maybe denial was easier.

“Yeah… you are right… Why should I sob? We don’t need a pathetic baby daddy.”

I pushed my messy hair, getting pumped for the night and, surprisingly, it worked as I was immersed in the moment.

“You shouldn’t drink, you know? You’re pregnant, Kristine.”

“I don’t fucking care! I am done being the victim, Rose,” I said, slamming my empty glass onto the table.

The tequila had finally numbed the sharp edges of my heartbreak, replacing it with a reckless heat.

“Good,” Rose replied, her eyes darting toward the shadows of the VIP lounge.

“Because the most dangerous man in the room hasn’t taken his eyes off you for the past twenty minutes.”

“Who?” I followed her gaze.

Every conversation in the VIP lounge seemed quieter around him.

Men respected him.

Women admired him.

Sitting in a booth sat the irresistible billionaire who dominated his field like a King and discarded enemies like tissues.

Zayne Nightwood.

CEO of Nightwood Corporation.

He owned the country's one of the largest airline and shipping empires.

“Zayne… Nightwood?”

Our eyes locked, he raised his glass.

Surprisingly, tonight, he didn't look like a businessman, he looked like a predator and his target was me.

His breathtaking sapphire eyes didn’t break contact, intensifying the moment.

Unable to look away, I stared back at him.

“Your ex’s mortal enemy. How does that sound like ultimate revenge?”

I was shocked at her suggestion but then something wicked stirred in my mind.

I didn't just want to move on.

I wanted to burn Edric’s world to the ground.

“How…” I smirked back, raising my glass too, “Perfect.”

I stood up, smoothed my black dress, and walked straight toward the man who made the city tremble. I didn't wait for an invitation. 

I stepped into his space, my fingers grazing the edge of his table.

“Mr. Nightwood,” I purred, extending my hand out to him which he grabbed without hesitation, pulling me into his lap.

He pressed me harder into him with his hot breaths on my neck, sending an involuntary shiver down my spine.

“Where is that good-for-nothing boyfriend of yours, Miss Iglesias?”

“Ex,” I corrected him sourly, taking a sip of my drink, sliding my hand to his thigh, biting my bottom lip seductively.

A wicked glint flickered in his eyes, as if it was the most felicitous news, and simultaneously, we both sensed a hidden intention.

“Finally decided to raise your standard?”

“Uh-huh,”

He saw lust clouding my eyes, his lips hovered near my neck.

“In that case,”

Holding my hand, he kissed my wrist while wrapping his other hand around my waist.

“Would you like me to show you the pleasures your ex could never, Miss Iglesias?”

“With Pleasure, Mr. Nightwood~”