"Yes, Jared! Fuck me harder!"
Ethan froze at the bottom of the stairs, his hand still on the railing.
That was Maya's voice, coming from their bedroom upstairs.
And she definitely wasn't talking to him.
The Samsung S24 Ultra box felt heavy in his other hand suddenly, like it weighed a hundred pounds instead of just a few ounces. He had spent the last three months saving for this phone, the one Maya had been begging for since it came out. She had shown him videos about it, sent him links, dropped hints every single day until he finally had enough money to buy it.
Today was supposed to be a surprise. A good surprise.
His car had broken down this morning, again, so he had taken the bus to the electronics store during his lunch break, then taken another bus home early to surprise her.
She had no idea he was coming. No idea he would be home at three in the afternoon instead of six.
But now he was standing in their living room, and his girlfriend was upstairs screaming another man's name.
Ethan's legs moved on their own, carrying him toward the staircase even though every part of his brain was screaming at him to turn around and leave. His hands were shaking, making the phone box rattle slightly.
Each step up the stairs felt like walking through thick mud. The sounds from the bedroom got louder, clearer, more explicit.
Skin slapping against skin. Heavy breathing. Deep masculine grunts mixing with Maya's high-pitched moans.
"Oh god, you're so big," Maya gasped between moans. "So much better than—"
Ethan reached the top of the stairs and walked down the hallway like a ghost. The bedroom door was wide open, as they hadn't even bothered to close it properly.
Afternoon sunlight poured through the windows, lighting up everything inside with perfect, cruel clarity.
He stopped at the doorway and looked inside.
Maya was on their bed, completely naked, on her hands and knees with her head thrown back in pleasure. Her long hair was messy and wild, sticking to her sweaty skin. Her face was flushed red, her eyes squeezed shut, her mouth open as she moaned.
Behind her, fucking her hard and fast with deep, powerful thrusts, was Jared Thompson. His boss. The man who had promoted him to Assistant Manager just last month. The man whose office was right next to Ethan's cubicle.
Jared's hands were gripping Maya's waist, his fingers digging into her soft flesh as he pulled her back onto him over and over again. His expensive suit jacket was thrown on the floor.
His shirt was unbuttoned, hanging open to show his muscular chest. That gold wedding ring on his finger, the one he wore because he had a wife and two kids at home, glinted in the sunlight as his hands moved up Maya's body.
"Fuck, your pussy is so tight," Jared groaned, one hand sliding up to grab Maya's breast roughly, squeezing and kneading it while he kept pounding into her. "Your boyfriend doesn't fuck you like this, does he?"
Maya shook her head frantically, pushing back against him to meet every thrust. "No! God, no, he doesn't! You're so much better!"
Ethan felt like someone had reached into his chest and ripped his heart out with bare hands.
Four years. Four years he had been with Maya. Four years of being faithful, of working hard to provide for them, of planning their future together. And this was what she really thought of him?
Jared's other hand tangled in Maya's hair, yanking her head back hard enough to make her cry out. "Tell me what you want, baby. Say it."
"I want you to fuck me harder!" Maya screamed, her voice desperate and needy. "Please, Jared, I need it! Fuck me like he never could!"
The bed frame was slamming against the wall with so much force that the framed photos on the nightstand were shaking.
Photos of Ethan and Maya together, their first date, last year's vacation, her birthday party. All of them watching as she got fucked by another man in their bed.
Jared released her hair and brought his hand down hard on her ass with a loud slap that echoed through the room. Maya yelped, then moaned even louder, clearly loving it.
"You like that?" Jared asked, slapping her ass again. "You like being treated like a dirty little slut?"
"Yes!" Maya cried out. "Yes, I love it! Do it again!"
Another slap. Harder this time. Maya's whole body jerked forward from the impact, her fingers clutching the bedsheets desperately.
Jared grabbed both her hips again, his movements becoming faster, more aggressive, more brutal. The sound of their bodies connecting filled the room, wet and obscene.
"I'm gonna cum," Jared grunted, his face twisted with pleasure. "Where do you want it?"
"Inside!" Maya begged immediately. "Cum inside me! Fill me up!"
Ethan's hand tightened around the phone box so hard the cardboard crumpled and bent. The Samsung S24 Ultra. Three months of saving. Three months of eating cheap ramen and skipping meals. Three months of overtime shifts and weekend work.
For her.
For this woman who was begging his boss to cum inside her.
"Fuck, I'm cumming!" Jared shouted, slamming into Maya one last time and holding himself deep inside her. His whole body went rigid, his head thrown back as he groaned loudly.
Maya screamed, her own orgasm hitting her at the same time. "Yes! Yes! Oh god, yes!"
They stayed like that for several long seconds, both of them trembling and gasping for air. Then Jared slowly pulled out and collapsed on the bed next to her, breathing hard.
Maya immediately curled up against him, resting her head on his chest. "That was amazing," she whispered, running her fingers through the hair on his chest. "Way better than usual."
Jared laughed and kissed the top of her head. "Your boyfriend's probably sitting at work right now with no idea what we're doing."
Maya giggled. "He's so clueless. He actually thinks I've been going to yoga classes three times a week."
They both laughed.
Ethan took one step backward, away from the door. The floorboard creaked under his weight.
The laughter stopped instantly.
"Did you hear that?" Maya said, her voice suddenly worried.
"Probably just the house settling," Jared replied, but he sat up anyway, looking toward the door.
Ethan didn't wait to see if they would check. He turned and walked back down the hallway as quietly as possible, moving faster now, taking the stairs two at a time.
He heard Maya's voice from upstairs, panicked now. "Jared, I think someone's here—"
Ethan was already out the front door, closing it softly behind him. He walked down the driveway with the crumpled phone box still in his hand, his legs moving on autopilot while his brain tried to process what he had just seen.
He made it to the sidewalk before he stopped walking, and he stood there in the middle of the street like a statue.
The Samsung S24 Ultra. The phone she had been begging for. The surprise he had planned.
Ethan looked down at the box in his hand, then at the trash bin on the corner of the street.
He walked over and dropped the box inside. Watched it fall into the garbage with all the other worthless trash.
Then he just stood there. Staring at nothing. Feeling nothing.
His phone buzzed in his pocket, and he pulled it out with numb fingers.
Maya: hey babe! when are you coming home? miss you 💕
Ethan stared at the message for a long time. His thumb hovered over the keyboard, but he didn't type anything.
There was another buzz.
Maya: hello?? you okay??
He put his phone back in his pocket without responding and started walking. He didn't know where he was going.
The sun was starting to set by the time Ethan found himself at Riverside Park, sitting on a bench overlooking the water. He had been walking for hours, his feet aching, his mind empty.
His phone had been buzzing nonstop, Maya calling, texting, worried about where he was. He had ignored all of it.
Four years of his life. Gone. Just like that.
The anger still hadn't come yet. Right now there was only this hollow, empty feeling in his chest.
Ethan pulled out his phone and finally looked at Maya's messages.
Maya: babe where are you?? I'm getting worried
Maya: ETHAN ANSWER ME
Maya: if you don't respond I'm calling the police
Maya: seriously this isn't funny
Seventeen missed calls. Twenty-three text messages. All of them pretending to care. All of them lies.
Ethan's hand tightened around his phone. The hollow feeling was starting to fill with something else now. Something violent.
Rage.
Pure, burning rage.
He stood up from the bench, his whole body shaking. Four years of loyalty. Four years of working his ass off. Four years of being the good boyfriend, the faithful one, the one who actually gave a shit.
And for what?
To be cheated on? Mocked? Laughed at?
"Fuck this," Ethan said out loud to the empty park. "Fuck all of this."
His phone buzzed again. Another message from Maya. He didn't even look at it this time.
The rage was consuming him now, filling every empty space inside his chest with white-hot fury. His vision was blurring, his hands clenched into fists so tight his nails were digging into his palms.
He wanted to scream. He wanted to punch something. He wanted to burn the whole fucking world down.
And then, in the middle of all that rage, something appeared in front of him.
A glowing blue screen, floating in the air like a hologram. Letters and numbers and graphics that shouldn't exist, but were right there in front of his face anyway.
[SYSTEM INITIALIZING...]
[SCANNING HOST...]
[EMOTIONAL STATE: BETRAYED]
[LOYALTY LEVEL: MAXIMUM]
[QUALIFICATION: MET]
[HOMEWRECKER SYSTEM ACTIVATED]
Ethan stared at the screen, his rage momentarily replaced by complete confusion. "What the fuck?"
New text appeared on the glowing screen.
[WELCOME, HOST]
[YOU HAVE BEEN CHOSEN]
[YOU GAVE LOYALTY. YOU RECEIVED BETRAYAL.]
[NOW IT IS TIME TO BALANCE THE SCALES]
[MISSION: DESTROY RELATIONSHIPS. SEDUCE THE TAKEN. BREAK THEIR VOWS.]
[FOR EVERY SUCCESSFUL CONQUEST, YOU WILL BE REWARDED]
Ethan read the words three times, his brain trying to make sense of what he was seeing. This had to be a hallucination. Stress-induced breakdown. He had finally snapped from seeing Maya with Jared.
But the screen stayed there, floating in front of him.
[DO YOU ACCEPT? Y/N]
"This is insane," Ethan muttered. "I'm losing my mind."
[DO YOU ACCEPT? Y/N]
The question just repeated, waiting for an answer.
Ethan looked down at his phone, at Maya's messages still flooding in. Then he looked back at the strange glowing screen in front of him.
Loyalty had gotten him nothing. Being faithful had gotten him betrayed. Playing by the rules had gotten him destroyed.
So fuck the rules.
"Yes," Ethan said. "I accept."
The screen flashed bright blue, so bright he had to close his eyes against the light. When he opened them again, the screen had changed.
[SYSTEM ACTIVATED]
[ANALYZING HOST STATS...]
A new screen appeared, showing numbers and bars like some kind of video game character sheet.
[HOST: ETHAN RIVERS]
[AGE: 26]
[CURRENT STATS:]
- CHARM: 12/100
- CONFIDENCE: 8/100
- WEALTH: 5/100
- PHYSICAL APPEAL: 15/100
- SEDUCTION MASTERY: 2/100
[CURRENT STATUS: PATHETIC]
Ethan would have been insulted if the stats weren't so brutally accurate.
[FIRST MISSION ASSIGNED]
[DIFFICULTY: BEGINNER]
[LOCATION: ECLIPSE NIGHTCLUB]
[TARGET: ANY MARRIED WOMAN]
[OBJECTIVE: SEDUCE HER. MAKE HER CHEAT ON HER HUSBAND.]
[TIME LIMIT: TONIGHT]
[REWARDS: $10,000 / SKILL UNLOCK: BASIC SEDUCTION / +15 CHARM]
[FAILURE PENALTY: NONE (FIRST MISSION BONUS)]
Ethan stared at the mission details. His brain was still trying to convince him this was all fake, all impossible, all some kind of psychotic break.
But another part of him, the part that was still burning with rage, still seeing Maya's face as she moaned Jared's name, didn't care if it was real or not.
"Eclipse Nightclub," Ethan repeated. "Tonight."
[MISSION ACCEPTED]
[TEMPORARY BONUS ACTIVATED: CONFIDENCE BOOST X2]
[GOOD LUCK, HOST]
[MAKE THEM ALL PAY]