CHAPTER ONE

James clenched the cake in his hands as he finally got to the Cherry Garden, a five-story building with glass walls, the building was very luxurious and imposing, everything about Cherry Garden screamed wealth and James felt intimidated by the opulence of the building.

"I must stop Darren before he pops the question that will ruin my marriage" James muttered to himself as he hurried to the entrance door, marked by grand steel double doors, two bulky men with terrifying faces stood by the door, they were gawking at him but did not prevent him from entering the restaurant.

The atmosphere in the Cherry Garden was filled with romance as Darren went on one knee "Will you make me the happiest man alive? Will you marry me?" Darren said locking his eyes with Alice, Alice's heart fluttered with excitement, James could not remember the last time he saw her this happy since they got married.

 Melissa, James' mother-in-law had sent him to the market to buy some vegetables to cook later that night, but he first stopped by the famous cake shop, "Sweet Delight" owned by the best baker in the whole south district to buy Alice's favorite Devorah Rose Gold cake Cake when he heard the news that Darren Harris is going to propose to Alice Martinez in Cherry Garden, James immediately came running to Cherry Garden. 

"STOP!!!" James yelled as he rushed forward shattering the romantic atmosphere, the room fell into an awkward silence as all eyes in the restaurant were now on him.

Alice's eyes widened as she saw the figure approaching their table, it was none other than her useless husband, James! 

Darren shot James a bewildered glare. "Who the hell are you?"

James clenched his fist with anger coursing through his veins"How dare you propose to Alice, can't you see she's already married?!"

Darren chuckled loudly"So you're the good-for-nothing husband Alice was forced to marry"

Ignoring Darren's laughter, James took a step closer to Alice with the cake in his left hand and held Alice's hand gently with his right hand "Honey, please let's go home, it's our anniversary... I've made plans for us"

Alice yanked her hand out of James' grip, "Who is your honey?!...How dare you open your filthy mouth and call me honey?! "her gaze was fierce and her eyes were deep red.

Alice did not know where her Grandma, Lady Martinez got this miserable man from and forced her to marry him three years ago, she disgusted him with passion and regrets the day she got married to James, Alice tried her best not to be seen in public with him. How did James know that she would be here?

 Unknown to Alice, her date was being broadcasted on urlive, and it was still being streamed, everyone in the district was witnessing the dramatic scene.

Alice's words pierced through James' heart like a sharp sword "You are not my husband and you will never be!...you are just a pathetic excuse for a man, you can't even afford to take care of yourself!" James stood there, hurt and rejected, the atmosphere in the Cherry Garden became increasingly tense while Darren's lips curved into a mocking grin.

"But you see Darren, he is ten times the man you'll ever be!...he even promised to gift me a pair of Tanzanite Heels once we're married" James' eyes widened at the mention of the popular Tanzanite Heels, it was made with the rarest stone on earth, it had a dazzling red color and the exclusivity of being limited to only 7 pairs in the entire world, just a pair cost over 3 million dollars, it was every woman's dream shoe, but Darren obviously bluffing, the shoe was so rare, there's no way he would be able to get his hands on a pair, not to talk of buying it.

"Yes dear, it would be my honeymoon gift to you"Darren added, he was obviously lying to Alice.

"I know I can't afford to give you the lifestyle that you want right now, but I promise you one day I will be able to buy you all the expensive things in this world including the Tanzanite Heels...but for now let's go home and celebrate our anniversary" James brought out the cake from the box and presented it to Alice"look, I even got you your favorite cake" But Alice seemed unimpressed, James was very poor and had no job but he had manage to save $1500 from the monthly allowance of $200 Alice gives him every month so he could buy the cake to make their day special.

 Darren snatched the cake from James' hands "This cheap piece of cake? a meal in this restaurant costs at least $10,000 and you think you can impress Alice with this?" Darren smashed the cake into James face. Everyone let out a wide gasp and they burst into laughter. James, with cake clinging to his face, stood there humiliated and defeated, people started taking videos and pictures, James had never been this humiliated in front of people and thousands more were streaming the video on urlive, James felt like the ground should open and swallow him, he wiped the cake off his eyes with his hand, tears began to escape from his eyes mixing with the cake as he fixed his eyes on Alice, James could see it in Alice's eyes that she felt pity for him, but Alice did nothing, further breaking James' heart.

James' blood began to boil, and his eyes were blazing red as he glared at Darren

 "How dare you?! You think you can do anything just because you have money?" James was losing it, he wanted their anniversary to be special and Darren had just ruined it.

"I will teach you how to treat people with respect!" James pushed Darren with pent-up anger causing him to fall and he immediately pounced on him. 

As James was poor, he had worked numerous jobs, and as a result, he had a well-built physique.

Darren who was from a very wealthy family had to learn martial arts like Bartitsu and Taekwondo, but however it was no surprise that James easily overpowered him as Darren never took any of the training seriously, he was a strong believer that money solves everything.

Alice immediately called the security team and within seconds four bulky men approached them, they had earlier seen Darren and Alice arrive in an exotic sports car.

The four men pulled James off Darren.

"Let me go," James yelled trying to wriggle out of their grip, but they were too strong.

"Enough!"Alice's voice echoed through the chaos, which seemed to calm James down

Darren got up trying to catch his breath "Take this lunatic out of here!" Darren commanded the guards.

"Take, teach this lunatic a lesson...beat the leaving hell out of him!" Darren brought out some money from his wallet and gave the security men who received the money nodding with smiles on their faces, they then turned to James shooting him with a deadly glare, the security men tightened their grip on James, James knew he could not fight them, he looked at Alice, his eyes filled hope that Alice will intervene, but she did not even lift a finger to help him, James' eyes were filled with sadness as they forcefully dragged him to the exit.

The security men dragged James to a corner outside the restaurant and started to hit him brutally and kicked him repeatedly in the stomach, James began to cough out blood as he struggled to breathe.

"Next time when you see Darren, you will run for your life, "one of them said as they continued to gruesomely assault him.

 James felt hurt, humiliated, and broken, the physical inflicted by the merciless security men was nothing compared to how he felt on the inside, James loved Alice so much and the thought of her with another man made his heart ache, he had been anticipating this day for a very long time and it turned out to be the worst day in his life.

"I think he's dead," one of the security men said to the others as they noticed James was not moving, they abandoned James and he lay there battered as the security men callously retreated from the scene.

James laid there helpless, his face and temples drenched in his own blood.