Chapter One—Not All That Glitters Is Gold

     

The lights twinkled throughout the lavish living space as men in evening wear, mingled with women in sparkling cocktail dresses. The drinks flowed in crystal glasses as the guests of this stately party chatted among themselves as they waited for the guest of honour to appear.

This was the third wedding anniversary of Mr. and Mrs. Michael Barron. Mrs. Barron was the perfect host and flitted between the guests. Despite the passing time, Mr. Barron remained absent.

The party should have started almost an hour ago. All the guests were there; even the fashionably late guests had been waiting for a considerable time.

Juliette Monroe, or Mrs. Michael Barron, had put on the perfect mask to hide her panic. Several wives of her husband’s business associates had forced her to host this party. It was to celebrate their third wedding anniversary as a surprise gift. 

She felt cornered. Juliette should have declined at once. Three years later, she wished to keep their private lives hidden from this crowd.

Juliette knew Michael hated anything to do with his marriage, and that included her. She thought he might go along with it because it would help with his networking and business deals.

Normally, Michael would be home by now. He’d at least have the decency to let her know he’d not be home. 

He’d never pick up her calls or answer her texts. Juliette learned that within days of her wedding disaster. She was still kicking herself for letting him force her into taking the place of the bride. 

Aria Cain is Juliette’s enemy, for lack of a better term. 

It started during her last year of college. Call her weak if you wanted, but Juliette had crushed hard and fast for years on Michael Barron, to the point the man knew she’d help him with anything. In those days, she’d been naïve to the extreme. 

 Juliette knew she was a people-pleaser. A chronic people-pleaser. In college, she worked herself to the bone because, unlike these trust fund babies, Juliette didn’t come from a moneyed family. They funded her place in college through arduous work and grants. 

Her nativity came from her believing that if she did everything Michael wanted, he’d be so happy that he’d notice her and fall in love with her.

Call her thirty different kinds of fools, because here she stood after the ultimate sacrifice for nothing. It’s okay; Juliette already beat everyone with the name-calling, having called herself everything already.

 Michael would eventually call and tell her what was happening. She’s always the last to know. The one often overlooked. Juliette was the laughingstock of this social scene. She knew it, but for Michael, she tried her best not to allow it to affect his life or business. 

Michael informed her that this was their first marriage. A trial run to see if he liked married life. If it fit his lifestyle in his future, to him, who his wife was didn’t matter. In fact, a nobody like her was perfect. She’d be gone in five years, anyway.

He threatened to destroy her business and life after Aria backed out of their wedding hours before it happened. Michael blamed her for Aria’s leaving, the unprofessional mishaps, the cancelled venue, and a host of other disasters that she dealt with. Sometimes, she took on the debt to fix them. That wasn’t enough. He wanted her to hurt, and he needed a wife to see if marriage suited him. She was there, and she’d do it. It also put her within easy reach of being punished for this entire debacle.

She suspected Michael knew of this party and avoided it to humiliate her yet again. 

Her wedding planning business? It’s long gone. He lied to her, and she couldn’t save it after the wedding disaster.

Now, she kept her efforts quiet and mentioned nothing about them to these people or Michael. Just two more years until freedom, she planned to seek ultimate revenge and emerge victorious. It was her sole defence against these people. There was something empowering about hearing someone slam you to the ground in one breath. Then praise your efforts because they don’t know it was your blood, sweat, and tears that created it. That was her revenge—a dish served cold in a few years.

Juliette held her cellphone, moving around and checking up on everyone, being as nice as they allowed her to be.

Finally, her phone rang, and Michael’s number appeared on her phone. 

She rushed into a quiet bedroom after apologizing to everyone as she disappeared. Michael’s best friend had shadowed her since he arrived. Juliette knew how loyal Leon Opus was to Michael. 

Michael even forgave Leon for stealing Aria from him months after the wedding. Juliette assumed Leon stood in as a guest so he could tell Michael all about her utter humiliation in front of his friends.

“Hello?” Leon wouldn’t let her close the door because he leaned against the doorjamb. Juliette frowned at him and at how he listened to her conversation.

“I won’t be home tonight until late. Don’t hold dinner for me and don’t wait up for me.”

“Why didn’t you tell me this earlier? What’s keeping you?”

                “I’m working, and I don’t need to explain myself to you.”

                “Alright, don’t work too hard. Good night.” Arguing was pointless, and mentioning the party would only anger him. His anger toward her was preferable to the humiliation.

               Michael disconnected the call with, “Goodbye, Juliette.” She didn’t respond to that. She tossed her phone onto the nightstand and stared at it as she tried to come up with a plan to deal with the mess outside.