Flash Marriage To My Secret Tycoon

The private elevator doors slid open with a soft chime, revealing the sprawling Manhattan penthouse. Alayna stepped onto the thick Persian rug, her chest tight with the anticipation of finalizing the wedding details.

Her phone vibrated in her palm.

She glanced down. An anonymous number had sent a single image. It was a close up of the master bedroom door in this exact apartment.

Her stomach dropped. The air in the elevator suddenly felt too thin to breathe.

Alayna tried to swallow the metallic taste coating her tongue, convincing herself it was a sick joke. But her feet were already moving, her heels sinking into the carpet as she hurried down the long, dimly lit hallway.

She pressed her thumb to the biometric lock on the master doors. The mechanism clicked.

A muffled groan slipped through the crack.

Alayna pushed the heavy oak door open. The heavy blackout curtains were drawn, casting the room in shadows, but the massive king bed was directly in line of sight.

Two bodies were tangled in the center of the mattress.

Her leather handbag slipped from her numb fingers. It hit the hardwood floor with a heavy thud.

The movement on the bed stopped instantly.

Jordon snapped his head up. The blood drained from his face, leaving his skin a sickly gray. He scrambled backward, shoving the naked woman off his chest.

Lauren let out a high pitched shriek, yanking the silk sheet up to her collarbone. She shrank against the headboard, but Alayna caught the brief, calculated gleam in her secretary's eyes before the fake tears started.

Jordon tumbled off the edge of the mattress, his bare knees hitting the floor. He reached out, his fingers grasping at the air between them.

Alayna jerked her arm back. A cold, suffocating nausea seized her chest.

She took a step back, her spine snapping completely straight. She stared at the man she had loved for three years. Her chest heaved, pulling in jagged, burning breaths as the betrayal sank in.

Jordon stammered, his words tripping over each other as he blamed the champagne, the stress of merging her indie game studio into the Harris corporate umbrella, anything but himself.

Lauren, Jordon's executive assistant, let out a pathetic sob from the bed, apologizing in a whisper.

Alayna cut her off. "Shut your mouth."

The realization that this betrayal had been happening right in front of her, under the guise of business meetings, in her own future home, sent a cold wave of nausea through her veins.

Jordon lunged forward. He grabbed her shoulders, his large hands digging into her collarbones. He tried to force her to look at him, his voice rising in panic.

Alayna twisted her torso, fighting against his grip. He squeezed harder, his nails biting into her skin. Pain flared in her left shoulder.

Her peripheral vision caught the half empty bottle of red wine resting on the nightstand.

Survival instinct overrode the shock. Her hand shot out.

Her fingers wrapped around the thick glass neck of the bottle. She did not hesitate. She swung her arm in a vicious arc, bringing the heavy base down hard against Jordon's forehead.

The glass shattered with a deafening crack.

Dark red wine and bright crimson blood exploded across Jordon's face. He let go of her instantly, stumbling backward with a guttural cry, his hands flying to his bleeding head.

Lauren screamed again, burying her face in the pillows, her body shaking violently.

Alayna stood over him. Her lungs pumped rapidly. She reached for her left hand and gripped the three carat diamond engagement ring. She ripped it over her knuckle, the metal scraping her skin.

She threw it. The heavy diamond struck Jordon square in the chest with a dull thud before bouncing onto the floor.

Jordon clutched his bleeding forehead, looking up at her with wide, furious eyes. He spat out a threat, reminding her that the Smith and Harris corporate merger depended entirely on this marriage.

Alayna let out a cold, hollow laugh. The sound scraped against the walls. She told him she would rather file for bankruptcy than marry a piece of trash.

She reached down, snatched her fallen handbag from the floor, and turned on her heel to walk out. Her heels clicked sharply against the floorboards, a steady, rhythmic drumbeat of absolute finality.

Jordon screamed her name down the hallway, his voice cracking with desperation.

Alayna did not look back.

She stepped out of the penthouse and slammed the heavy front door behind her, cutting off his voice completely.

She walked into the elevator and slammed her hand against the lobby button. The floor dropped beneath her, the sudden weightlessness pulling at her stomach.

Her vision blurred. A single tear escaped, burning a hot trail down her cheek.

She bit down on her lower lip hard enough to taste copper. She aggressively wiped the moisture from her face with the back of her hand.

The elevator dinged. The doors slid open to the grand lobby.

Alayna smoothed her features into a mask of pure ice. She walked briskly past the concierge, heading straight for the revolving glass doors.

She pushed through the glass. A torrential downpour was hammering the Manhattan pavement. She did not stop. She walked straight into the freezing rain.