She never expected that her beloved husband, Derek, would put on such a wild performance with another woman right in front of her office building, like something out of a crazy movie.
Pandora took out her camera and snapped evidence of her husband's affair, then promptly filed for divorce. That damned man even had the audacity to blame his infidelity on her being a successful career woman.
"Jerk," Pandora muttered as she continued sipping her whiskey in a Las Vegas bar. Just then, a man, six-foot-three, dressed in an expensive suit, approached her.
Little did Pandora know, this encounter would change the course of her life forever.
……
Mrs. Pandora Preston hadn't had a moment to herself in almost a month. She had pulled a twelve-hour shift at work already and when she got home, she would have to clean the house, do shopping, make dinner, and take care of all the bills. By the end of the month, Pandora didn't know how much longer she could hold on.
A jerk at work didn't think a petite five-foot-one and twenty-eight-year-old woman should be the creative director. Being the nice ‘gentleman' that he was, he had decided to let his opinion known… in front of all her coworkers and clients. His ideas were from the middle ages, but what bothered her was that nobody stood up for her in front of the smelly, balding man.
To add on top of that, when she stood outside the restaurant for their weekly ‘date', she found that her husband had not arrived, and he wasn't even picking up his phone like he was supposed to.
Pandora sighed, remembering that he had also not mowed the lawn like she had asked him to and the Karens in the neighborhood were going to knock on their doors soon. Now, you might be wondering why her husband Derrik was being shown in such a bad light, but you will be appalled to know that he was not working and never picking up his weight in the household.
It had been six months since he was fired from his last job and he hadn't attended even one interview. Pandora was beginning to doubt that he was even looking for work. All Derrik did when she broached the subject of getting him into her company was that he would look like a fool and less of a man because his ‘little woman' would be his superior at work.
Mind you, Derrik was six-foot-five inches and towered over everyone. He was the last person who should feel emasculated.
The restaurant Derrik had chosen for their date was situated on top of someone's house. It overlooked a few apartments and Pandora wondered how Derrik had found such a cozy place. She was seated near the window and stared out after looking at her watch again. Her husband was fifteen minutes late.
The blinds of the apartment she could see were wide open. Throw them, she could see directly into the kitchen and some woman was surely using her kitchen. She was awash with lust, oblivious to the eyes on her while a huge man stood in front of her, his ass bared to the world as he thrust into her.
Pandora was jealous for a quick second, remembering the lack of action in her marriage bed.
Pandora's stomach dropped when the woman stared in horror through the window, realizing she had forgotten to close the blinds. Her lover followed her horrified gaze, looking over his shoulder.
The first words Pandora uttered through half-formed thoughts were: “These assholes.”
A woman gasped and turned to her. “Miss, please watch your language. My son just heard you.”
Pandora ignored them and cursed under her breath as she raised her phone and started taking pictures. She snapped photographs constantly, thanking god that she had invested in a phone with a camera that could pass off as a telescope.
The woman and Pandora's husband scurried out of the kitchen, scrambling to dress. Her vision tunneled and she got out of her seat, ignoring the scandalized woman. She raced down the stairs and to the next building where she knew her husband and his mistress were. No guard was stopping her and Pandora grinned as she burst into the building.
The elevator door opened, revealing the hastily dressed woman and her husband, stepping out. Pandora stopped short.
“Caught you.”
Pandora vaguely noticed the presence of a handful of people in the lobby leaving and entering the building, taking their mail. They stopped their mundane activities to watch.
The woman froze, but Derrik took two steps towards her, palms up. “Pandora, calm down.”
“You're a bastard,” Pandora growled. “And you, do you know he has a wife and he is trying for a child with her? Me?” she addressed the other woman.
“Pandora…” the woman said shakily.
There were gaps around them as Pandora spoke, “So you did know he was married and still fucked him.”
“This is my apartment building and you are embarrassing me,” the woman hissed.
Pandora jerked back. “Oh, I am embarrassing you? You should have remembered that when you were screwing my husband with the windows open, making sure I saw you two… because you guys knew for damn sure that I was going to be there.”
“Mackenna, please…” Derrik said. “Step back.” He sighed and turned to Pandora. “This is your own fault. You were a nag and I got sick of you.”
Pandora swallowed the agonizing tightness in her throat, pushing back the sting in her eyes and the mortification his words caused her. She refused to cry in front of the cheating pair.
“Is that so? Am I a nag because I asked you to contribute to the house?” she asked.
“It's not a big deal,” Derrik started but Mackenna cut him off.
“It wasn't a mistake. Why do you think you two stopped having sex? He doesn't want you! What's more, I know all about how you climbed to the top of your company. You have no talent and you can't even have children. Years of trying and you can't even give him a baby? Meanwhile, he and I have been together for three months, and I am two months—”
“You should stop talking while I am still calm. The last thing you want is to be handed your pregnant ass by the woman you called barren. And that sick jerk you claim to love? He is going to be on the market and single very soon. I hope you enjoy having a bum hanging around all day.”
With a final glare, Pandora turned and put the phone to her ear. “Do you know a lawyer who can help me get divorced?”
