I WAS A USELESS SON-IN-LAW, NOW I DECIDE FATE

room 001 stab

“Who is this?” Edward's hands trembled as he typed back.

Two dots appeared

.The man wearing your wife's favorite perfume.

.The man she'll be moaning for tonight.

***

The hotel rose before him like a monument to everything he might never have again. Goldmere Grand. Five stars. The kind of place where doormen judged you by your shoes before you reached the revolving doors.

Edward's boots that was scuffed, worn, the left sole separating just slightly, crossed marble floors that cost more than all his worthless properties. Crystal chandeliers dripped light onto guests who moved like they had never known hunger. Like they had never checked their bank balance and felt their heart stop.

He scanned the corridor, a knot of unease tightening in his stomach as he searched for Room 001. Something was wrong. Maybe it was the lingering tension from Ava's words earlier. Maybe it was those texts. Or maybe it was this delivery itself, the instructions too specific, the bonus too generous.

“Fifty dollars” His boss's voice echoed. “This job could change your miserable life”.

Edward had thought Room 001 would be on the Second floor. But he had passed 01, 02, 03 and the likes of rooms on the second and even third floor but all were standard rooms. The kind regular people could afford after saving for months.

Room 001 was different he was sure as it was no where in sight around rooms regular people could afford.

He let out a deep exhale. He was exhausted and needed some rest but he doubt that would be possible considering all that had happened earlier.

His stomach growled reminding him he only had breakfast. He had been too excited for tonight that he didn't eat lunch in a bid to have enough space to eat at their Anniversary outing. At the thought, anger burned in his chest, a slow, steady fire that refused to die.

But none of that mattered. He had to deliver this package.

In his one year as a deliveryman, he'd never been asked to bring a package inside a hotel. Normally, clients met him at the entrance or reception. But this? The instructions were unusual. The receptionist with a cool, dismissive, efficacy, had informed him she had been ordered not to call the room.

"You are to deliver it yourself to Room 001," she had said, her tone leaving no room for discussion. "VIP section. The elevator requires a key card." She slid one across the counter without meeting his eyes. "The guest insisted."

The guest insisted.

Edward's jaw tightened.

The hotel was oppressively luxurious polished marble and hushed tones, air that smelled of old money and new wealth. Mostly old money. The kind passed through generations, never exhausting, never ending. A place where someone like him wasn't meant to linger.

He wanted to deliver the dress, get his signature, and disappear.

A bitter chuckle escaped his lips. Fifty dollars. To the people in this hotel, it was pocket change. To him, it was a lifeline. Even ten dollars felt like a fortune these days.

How did I end up this way?

The thought wasn't funny, but he laughed anyway, a hollow sound that caught in his throat until tears pricked his eyes. He used to be someone. Loved. Admired. That was how he had met Ava. Their wedding had been effortless, everyone celebrating, no one opposing.

Now...

He wiped his eyes, as his vision start to blur.

With a resolute breath, he promised himself I'll get everything back. No matter how hard. No matter what it takes. I won't lose Ava. Never.

A door opened down the hall. A young man emerged. Probably in his twenties, he wore the hotel uniform, with a staff badge on his chest. Edward's shoulders relaxed slightly. Finally.

"Excuse me, Room 001?"

The man barely glanced at him. "Last floor. Only room up there." Then he walked away.

Last floor. Only room.

Edward's stomach dropped.

He pulled himself towards the elevator.

The elevator ride felt endless.But finally ‘Ding’.

The doors slid open, and Edward's mouth fell open.

He stepped out into what looked like a private penthouse lobby, except there was only one door. One door, set into a wall of floor-to-ceiling windows that overlooked the entire city skyline. Goldmere was sparkling below him like a treasure chest spilled open.

‘This isn't a hotel room, it is a kingdom' a voice screamed in his head.

His eyes fell on the tag that was on the door. 'ROOM 001’ was written with Gold letters.

No doubt now, the person inside was the number one VIP.

Edward pressed the doorbell, his eyes fixed on the door, heart hammering against his ribs. He braced himself for some tycoon, some billionaire, some silver-haired predator.

The door opened.

Her smell hit him first.

Even if he'd been lying in a coma, even if the world had ended, he would have recognized that scent. Lavender and vanilla. The perfume he'd bought her their first Christmas, now her favorite collection. The one she had worn few minutes ago. The one he had buried his face in a thousand times, breathing her in like she was oxygen.

Ava stood at the door wearing nothing but a silk nightgown that hugged her body like a lover's hands. The neckline plunged revealing so much skin.

Her smooth bare legs was crossed at the ankle, as if designed to drive men insane.

For a moment, Edward forgot how to breathe.

"h-honey... w-what..." The words stumbled out of him like drunks from a bar.

Ava's face went pale. For one second just one. He saw shock in her eyes. Real shock. The kind that meant this wasn't supposed to happen. Then her expression hardened.

"Has it gotten to you stalking me now?" Disgust dripped from every word. Her eyes raked him from head to toe, his scuffed boots, his worn uniform, the package trembling in his hands.

Edward's throat closed. "I'm... I'm not stalking you. I came to deliver this." He quickly defended

Even as he said it, he heard how pathetic he sounded. How small. How beneath her.

He raised the package like evidence. Like proof he wasn't the monster she was making him out to be.

Ava snatched it without looking at the label. Signed the book with sharp, angry strokes. Then SLAM.

The door hit his face.

Edward staggered backward.

For a moment, he just stood there. Staring at the wood grain. At the gold numbers gleaming. At the space where his wife had been, where she'd stood in another man's hotel room, wearing another man's expectations, her skin still warm from another man's touch or waiting for another man's touch.

Then the pain hit, as the text he received flashed before him.

A pain that felt like a sword was shoved through his heart, then twisted slowly, pulled out and shoved back in evolved his mind.

His brain was numb as nothing registered except shock, the kind of shock that could send a newborn back to its maker.

He knew instantly he was never going to win if he compete as the man Ava was with was a wealthy man with a name that commands power.

He doesn't know how he found the elevator. Doesn't remember riding down. Doesn't remember crossing the lobby.

But suddenly he was in the restroom, hands gripping cold marble, splashing water on his face again and again and again.

How?

How could Ava afford this place? This hotel cost more per night than he has ever made in his delivery job. Even when he was on good terms with his parents, even when money flowed freely, he had never stayed somewhere like this. It seemed unnecessary extravagant to him. The kind of spending that turned wealth into waste.

But Ava was here. In a nightgown. Waiting for someone else. The man sent those text which means one thing… ‘he was aware of who he is to Ava' He Edward was the only fool in all of this.

Was this what Sofia meant?

The thought of her in another man's arms, moaning for him, writhing beneath him, being cherished by him, made Edward's blood boil. His fists clenched. Water dripped from his chin.

"I have to get back on my feet." The words scraped out of him, raw and desperate. "I must get back on my feet." He met his own eyes in the mirror red-rimmed, haunted, but still his. "All I need to do is go out there and make money. Real money. Enough to keep her."

Even as he said it, a bitter laugh clawed up his throat.

Keep her? She was already gone. Already wrapped in silk. Already waiting for a man who could give her everything Edward couldn't.

And that man that faceless, wealthy, victorious man knew him!.

Just when he thought he could be alone and escape his reality for a moment, the door to the restroom creaked open, followed by a voice “and here he is!”.