She Used Me for a Dare… Now I Own Her Mother

Chapter 384: Mrs. Sterling(6)

The city was a screaming, vibrant chaos. Horns blared in rhythmic frustration, city lights flickered like dying stars through the smog, and the relentless hum of traffic provided a frantic soundtrack to the carnage of Heena’s marriage.

Heena leaned back, her spine pressing into Alex’s broad chest.

She could still feel the cooling dampness of the fabric beneath her, the literal mark of her surrender, clinging to her bare skin. But the shame that should have consumed her was gone, replaced by a cold, crystalline clarity.

Her eyes remained locked on the sedan a few meters ahead, its taillights mocking her like two glowing embers.

’Was I really just that stubborn?’ she wondered, the thought echoing through the hollow chambers of her heart.

The realization was a slow-motion car crash. She had been the only one tending the flame of this marriage, nursing a ghost of a relationship while Howard had already moved into the light.

Her mind flashed with a montage of their life together... sweet whispers from years ago, sour arguments over dinner, the quiet, mundane moments she had cherished.

She had thought they were happy. She had thought she was loved.

Now, she realized it was all a fabrication. A carefully maintained lie. She hadn’t been a wife; she had been a fool, a placeholder in a life Howard was living without her.

She didn’t care anymore. She didn’t care which woman was draped over his console or where they were heading to spend the night.

The love-sick woman who had ironed his shirts and waited by the window died somewhere between the pothole and the bridge.

She wanted to let go of his memory, of the ghost of his touch, and of the pathetic expectations she had carried for fifteen years.

She wanted to be the woman who was finally awake.

She tilted her head back, looking up from her position on his lap. Her eyes found his jawline, sharp and dusted with a shadow of stubble.

This was the man she had called a boy. This was the student who had made her climax with a force that shattered her reality, all without even entering her.

’Who better to help her bury her past than the devil who had already started the fire?’

Vengeance and desire fused into a single, dark impulse.

Heena pushed herself back, deliberately seeking the solid breadth of his chest. Against the massive, muscular expanse of his torso, she felt small... almost fragile... as if she were being consumed by him.

Her thoughts, dark and heavy, traveled down to the sheer scale of him. Even semi-erect, his length felt like a solid brand against her most sacred place.

As she shifted, it felt as though he was already filling her, the mere pressure of him against her bare skin making her vision swim.

’What did he even eat for it to be this big?’ she wondered, a shiver of pure, primal anticipation racing down her spine. ’How can I possibly take all of him?’

Alex looked down at her then. He didn’t speak, but his lips curved into a slow, knowing smile. He didn’t need words; he could feel the way her muscles were clenching, the way her breath had changed from a sob to a huntress’s pant.

’He knows,’ she thought, a flush that wasn’t entirely shame creeping up her neck. ’He knows exactly what I’m imagining.’

A strange, twisted thought crossed her mind... a silent thank you to Tisha Wells.

If Tisha hadn’t sacrificed her night, Heena would still be trapped at home, suffocating in boredom and inventing excuses for why Howard was late yet again.

​”Never again,” she whispered to the empty air of the car, the words hardening into a vow.

From now on, she would live for herself, not for some sick bastard who treated her loyalty like a convenience.

​’You think I’m a fool, Howard, don’t you?’ The thought was a jagged blade in her mind. ’You think I’m the same woman who will be waiting with a warm meal and a smile when you sneak in at 2:00 AM. Then I’ll show you. I’ll show you exactly what this fool can do.’

​She would start by burning the last of her bridges. She would start today by surrendering herself to the impossible man beneath her, giving the devil exactly what he wanted so she could finally feel alive again.

​She was spiraling deep into that darkness, her heart hammering against her ribs, when the car suddenly slowed. The rhythmic hum of the tires changed to a gravelly crunch as the brakes engaged.

​The car stopped.

​Heena jerked, her eyes snapping open as she came out of her thoughts. She looked up at Alex, her breath coming in shallow pants.

​”Why did you stop?” she asked slowly, her voice thick with the remnants of her arousal.

​Alex didn’t look at her. He just stared through the windshield, a slow, knowing smirk carving its way across his face. He pointed a single, steady finger ahead.

​”Look ahead, Mrs. Sterling.”

​Heena turned.

​Parked just a few meters ahead, under the garish, flickering neon sign of The Red Rose Inn, was Howard’s sedan.

​The driver’s side door opened. Howard stepped out, looking refreshed, a casual smile on his face as he walked around to the passenger side. He opened the door, and a woman stepped out, smoothing down a dress that Heena recognized instantly.

​Heena’s eyes widened. Her blood turned to ice.

​”Its her?” she questioned loudly, her voice cracking as the world tilted on its axis. ”Is that... Siobhan?”

”So, her name is Siobhan,” Alex said, his voice cutting through the heavy silence of the car. ”I’ve heard of her, but why are you so shocked? Is she a friend of yours?”

Heena didn’t reply. She couldn’t. Her eyes were locked on the two figures as they moved toward the hotel entrance, hand in hand. The golden light of the lobby spilled over them, illuminating the familiar tilt of Siobhan’s head as she laughed at something Howard whispered.

”This bitch,” Heena cursed, the words tasting like poison. ”All this time, I thought she was a friend. I invited her into my home. I shared my secrets over wine while she was busy planning how to crawl into my bed. I never knew this bitch... would be like this.”

”So, it’s like this... haha,” Alex laughed, a dry, melodic sound that lacked any real sympathy. ”You really got scammed, Mrs. Sterling. But we can’t blame her just by this. Maybe she’s blackmailed? Maybe she’s also a victim?”

Heena snapped her head around, looking at him as if he were speaking an entirely different language.

Alex saw the look and shrugged, his smirk widening. ”I mean... knowing your husband, everything is possible, isn’t it?”

He shifted then, his large hands sliding up from her waist to cup her face, forcing her to look away from the betrayal outside and into the dark intensity of his eyes.

”But why should I care?” he murmured, his thumb brushing over her lower lip. ”In fact, I should probably thank Mr. Sterling. Only a fool would leave a woman as beautiful as you unattended. His loss is my absolute gain.”

Heena felt the heat of his words rush to her cheeks.

The raw, unfiltered praise coming from a man she had considered a boy only an hour ago was overwhelming. She looked down shyly, her lashes fluttering against her cheeks as she felt a strange, forbidden thrill.

For the first time in fifteen years, she wasn’t being looked at as a wife or a social accessory. She was being seen as a woman... and by a man who looked like he wanted to devour her.

Heena watched through the dark glass as Alex pulled the car into a secluded spot, well away from the glare of the hotel’s main entrance.

The engine died, leaving only the sound of her own ragged breathing filling the cabin. Alex stepped out, his tall frame cutting a shadow through the streetlights as he circled the car.

He opened her door, the cool night air hitting her heated skin like a shock.

”Come,” he whispered, reaching out a hand. His voice had lost its jagged edge, smoothing out into a low, velvet hum. ”Let me take care of you properly, Heena. Let me give you the devotion your husband was too blind to offer.”

The words felt like a soft caress against her heart, but her thighs clenched instinctively. She knew his meaning very well. The romantic veneer didn’t hide the raw, physical promise underneath.

’I’m not an easy woman,’ she told herself, trying to find the remnants of her pride.

She couldn’t just fall into his arms like a girl... not after what she’d just witnessed Howard doing.

”Who said I wanted to come with you?” she challenged, her voice trembling despite her best efforts to sound cold.

Alex didn’t look offended. Instead, he stepped into the small space between the door and the seat, bending down until his face was inches from hers. His eyes trailed down her body, finally settling on the dark, damp patch on his own trousers... the undeniable evidence of her surrender minutes ago.

”Are you coming,” he whispered, his breath hot against her ear, ”or should I walk into that lobby and tell everyone that this is your doing?”

He gestured toward his lap, the smirk returning to his lips. ”I’m sure Howard would find it fascinating to know exactly how his ’perfect wife’ spent her commute.”