CHAPTER 1

-WHO IS CHERYL?-

Maya had it all. She had a brand new Rolls Royce which was a gift from marrying her billionaire Husband, Herald Wells. He was second in line, he would be king after the death of his father Klaus Wells.

Herald and Maya met in Highschool and the rest is history. It was one of those stories of falling in love at first sight. Their feeling was mutual, none of them pursued the other, although she was the one who texted first. It doesn't matter right? What matters is the fact that they are happily married and she is a happy woman spoiled with love.

Their wedding was grand. It was aired on the major TV stations in the country where the Well's family were the biggest shareholders.She was the talk of town and now she is in the company of bodyguards to try and protect her from the many paparazzi who want every detail of her life, including what her favourite coffee is.

It's ridiculous. It's not long ago that she was just a normal girl having this crazy Cinderella dream but now it's her new reality.She has bagged the man of her dreams and everything has fallen into place. She is living a perfect life, a modern fairytale.

Maya is used to the fame, to the money of course because she is working at the Billion Dollar Wine company belonging to her husband and his family.

She had the best moments in her new family, the Wells family. They all accepted her with open hands despite the fact that she did not come from a wealthy family.

They believed that she loved their son and they loved her for that. They knew that by being together and being in love the way they are, they will always be happy. It didn't matter where she came from. The love that she had for him is what mattered.

Maya was not a gold digger. Things such as money did not exite her and that is what Herald found attractive about her. He had never met a girl like her before. She was down to earth and didn't really care about who he was. This is what Herald had been looking for for so long and when he finally got to meet her, he knew for a fact that she was the one, it had to be her.

Maya was confident, pretty and beautiful. She was so talented when it came to numbers, she was entrusted with the accounting role at the Wells Winery. Everyone loved her and she loved them back.

To always be flawless and fit to the Billionaires wife title, Maya had decided to be taking the first day of the month to do her maintenance. This was her self care day where she would do her nails, do her hair, her pedicure ,manicure, skin treatment , steaming, waxing and massage. She wanted to look her best, feel her best and most importantly, be beautiful for her lovely husband.

Maya got busy in the saloon and afterwards she went to get new bodycon dresses and heels. Fashion had been something so dear to her and if you knew her so well you would know that indeed she is a stylish person.

Maya was choosing between a nude and a red dress when a woman came closer and gave her an opinion.

" You should go for the red dress, he loves women who wear red dresses," She said.

" Excuse me?" Maya asked.

" I know Herald. He is a close friend of mine. So close to your liking," The woman teased and this piqued Maya's interest.

" Who are you? How do you know my husband?" Maya asked.

" I think it will be fine if you ask your husband about it. Just tell him that Cheryl said hi, I am pretty sure that he will tell you all that you need to know about me." Cheryl said.

The woman disappeared and Maya felt an adrenaline rush through her entire body. She ended up not buying any of the two dresses. She demanded to be taken home immediately.

Something about what that woman said didn't sit right with her. She knew that so many women would envy her and they would want her to be separated from her husband but with this particular woman, something is off. Her confidence was unmatched. It felt like she knew exactly what she was saying. Plus, she was beautiful and curvy which made her feel somewhat insecure.

Herald had warned her about listening to what people and blogs will say but she can't help herself on this. She wanted clarification. Unlike other days, she decided to wait for her husband to give her all the answers that she wanted.

Herald had a wierd working schedule. He preferred to go to work past midday and work till midnight and that meant that Maya spent most of the time early on in the night alone.

Anyway, that didn't affect their relationship because Herald ensured that Maya felt loved at all times. He would ensure that flowers are delivered to her office every work day. Plus, they had weekly dates at five star hotels, a staycation every fortnight and a vacation every month. She would get surprise gifts every two days. She had so much to be grateful for and it really didn't matter if he wasn't spending the early hours of the night with her. She had everything any woman would ask for.

Herald had always advised her to go to bed and they would cuddle in the morning but not tonight. Tonight she wanted answers. It was strange that these few words from this lady called Cheryl kept her up all night but she couldn't help it. She wanted to get to the bottom of things and get to know the truth.

As the clock ticked away, Maya realised that she had to do something about this. She couldn't wait any longer because anxiety was going to kill her.

Picking her call, she called his number. Herald was not a person who embraced social media so much. He didn't like being called. He preferred the traditional way of things, for them to talk when he gets home. Seeing Maya calling, he knew that it had to be an emergency, she had never called him about anything before.

He quickly picked up the call but hung up immediately when Maya mentioned a lady called Cheryl.

To his defence, he was not going to allow a comment from a random person to waste his time. He had to work and balance the records. Maya had made a terrible mistake to call him because of something as petty as that.

After he hung up on her, Maya knew better not to pry. Even though she couldn't get over the look on Cheryl's face, she had to find a way around it and forget it happened. She didn't want any trouble in her relationship.

What she didn't know was that this was the beginning of the end, for her relationship which she initially thought was going to last her a lifetime.

What Herald didn't say was that he knew Cheryl. He had a long story with her, a story that Maya would not love to hear about… It's one of those things that were in the dark but now they are coming to light.

Is she going to be able to handle it?

**

Love is not enough. That is what Herald kept telling himself. What has he not done for Maya? He had told the world that he was madly in love with her, he had been assuring her constantly. but she just doesn't want to listen. She wants to keep on being reassured over and over and he just didn't have time for that.

This was the problem of dating people from broken families. Of course he is not blaming her for that, it's just that it's tiring. It feels like he is not doing enough. Despite him giving her the world, she still wants more.

She is insecure, pointing out her insecurities and this was affecting their relationship. From the angle which Maya was coming from, she was referring to herself as undeserving, as if she didn't deserve him. Don't get him wrong, that is why he started by saying that love is not enough.

They had been together for five years. The first years were one of a kind. They were in high school, at the end of their senior year when they met before they went to college and continued with their relationship.

Everything was perfect. Perfect dates, perfect kisses, perfect making love.

The issue started when they left college and she introduced her to his life. Maya was not expecting it. She was not expecting that all along she had been dating a low key Billionaire. This was not making any sense to her.

She stopped giving him love, she started saying that she didn't deserve him. She questioned him for choosing her, questioned his decision to be with her and in the end, it turned out to be a valid concern to him.

Maybe she was right. Maybe they were never meant to be together in the first place. He needed to have married a woman from his class who was confident.

Herald no longer found her attractive because of her self doubt and her low confidence which was his major turn on. It was hard to be honest with her because with every criticism, she felt less deserving and that would just make everything worse.

Since he was not finding everything he wanted from a lsfu in her, he seeked it somewhere else and that was from Cheryl.

For the longest time he thought that he would be a loving faithful man, but that was before he met Cheryl.

Two years later, he is not willing to let Cheryl go, not even at the expense of his wife.