Steaming Love

Sandara Wellington was just about to drift into deep sleep when the shrill, angry buzz of her phone vibrated under her pillow. Her head throbbed from the wedding toasts she barely remembered. Even now, she wasn't sober.

"Hello...?"

The moment she answered, a scream blasted through the speaker.

"Sandara! Aaron-Aaron jumped from the rooftop!"

Her blood froze.

"What?" Her voice cracked, thick with sleep. "What are you talking about?"

"He... he jumped off the building! Hurry! He's not moving! Come down! Come down now!"

The call ended abruptly.

Sandara shot upright, heart slamming against her ribs.

The world inside the dim hotel suite tilted. For a moment, she couldn't breathe.

Her husband? Jumped? Impossible. They had just gotten married. They had just...

Her breath hitched.

They had just shared an intimate moment barely fifteen minutes ago... She hadn't even fallen fully asleep yet.The naked skin... the kiss marks scattered across her body... they were proof, weren't they?Proof that she hadn't been alone in that bed.

Panic surged through her as she realized she was completely naked. She stumbled toward the closet in the dark room, yanking out the first shirt she could find. Pulling it over her head, she clutched it tightly to her body, her heart hammering.

This can't be real.

She rushed toward the door, never noticing the faint sound of water dripping behind her. Never noticing the sliver of light beneath the bathroom door.

Never noticing the presence of a man who was not Aaron Greyson.

She sprinted into the hallway barefoot, nearly colliding with a maid's cart, then flew down the emergency stairs, gripping the railing so hard her knuckles turned white.

By the time she burst through the lobby doors and onto the cold pavement outside, a crowd had already formed. Hotel staff, wedding guests, strangers-voices murmured, whispered, gasped.

Then she saw him.

Her newlywed husband lay on the ground, twisted and motionless, surrounded by a spreading pool of dark, glistening red.

For a moment, Sandara forgot how to breathe.

The man she had married just hours ago.The man she thought had held her, touched her-whose warmth she still felt on her skin.

Gone.

Completely, impossibly gone.

Her knees buckled. A scream rose in her chest, but nothing came out.