I wake up in the morning in the familiar but unwanted feeling of being in bed alone. Two nights ago, the night we came to Los Angeles, I’d for the first time slept with my husband, and I thought that it could become something we’d do on a regular basis.

Instead, after an explosive night that’s left my body aching and sore, I wake up alone again. Sitting up, I try and keep myself calm, going around the suite and looking for Rick, but by the time I see that the closets are empty and that some of Rick’s bags are gone, I can’t hold it back any more. Collapsing on a chair, I start crying, hot tears coursing down my cheeks as I bury my face in my hands.

I don’t know how long I cry, but when they taper off, I can sense someone else in the room. I look up and see Freida sitting in one of the other chairs, looking as always perfect in her suit and carrying her tablet. “Rick’s taken the Panther back to the estate.”

“I guessed,” I reply, sighing before I can start crying again. “Freida… I can’t do this any more.”

“What do you mean?” Freida asks, setting her tablet aside. “Come on, you guys had an argument, that happens.”

I shake my head, leaning back and grabbing the tail of my shirt and wiping at my eyes furiously. “It not that, Freida. I can’t take the whole thing. I spent weeks trying to be good, to learn and adapt to what Rick needed. And I thought things were going well. He was spending more time with me, I wasn’t so lonely any longer. Disneyland was a fantasy. Sure, one from when I was a little girl, but still… and then last night….”

“I know,” Freida says softly. “I spent all night dealing with it. Drew originally wanted to press charges until I got ahold of the security footage.”

I blanch, remembering what else might have been caught on security cameras in the elevators, but I can’t change that. “How am I supposed to understand all this?” I rasp, my throat tight. “I don’t even know what made Rick so angry.”

Freida sighs, reaching back and undoing the clip that holds her hair back and shaking her long locks free before coming over and sitting next to me. “You didn’t know.”

“Know what?” I ask, pulling my knees up to my chest and rocking back in my chair. “Freida, I feel helpless.”

Freida nods, rubbing at her cheek. “Drew and Rick have been social rivals for the past decade at least. They’re two sides of the same gold coin, I guess you could say.”

“What do you mean?” I ask.

“Rick’s new money,” Freida answers me, “I’ll let him tell you any details, but he came from a poor background. All of his money, all that he has, he got through being one of the smartest men in the world. And there are families and people who don’t appreciate that. They see Rick as being some upstart with no breeding.”

“I can understand the feeling,” I comment, making Freida chuckle.

“One of the reasons he chose you. Anyway, Drew Washington comes from some of those old money families. His family owns a banking and investment company here on the West Coast that could rival Rick in terms of financial power. Oh, Drew himself doesn’t have that much money to his name, his father’s still in charge of the company and Drew is technically just a vice president. But don’t for a moment think Drew isn’t powerful. They’re close to the same age, and hit the social scene right about the same time, too. Drew hated Rick from the very first time they interacted, hamstringing him and stabbing him in the back at every opportunity.”

“Why?” I ask, and Freida blushes lightly.

“Let’s just say that Rick and Drew both got the attention of similar young women, and more often than not Rick was the one going home with the girl,” Freida says. “Uhm, I’ll admit, I used to date Drew before meeting Rick.”

I blink, surprised. “You used to date Drew?”

Freida nods. “He was like you saw last night. And he was interested in me, even if I’m a few years older than he or Rick. Drew said I was hot, and that he wanted to show me things. That’s him. Demanding, sexy in a certain way, but very demanding. He doesn’t see value in other people other than what he can take from them. I was his arm candy, the girl he brought up to look great for him, and to be the brains behind his rise. I thought that was what I wanted… then I met Rick.”

The way she says it, I feel even darker. “Freida, I… I can’t take this any more. I just can’t. The prenup, the marriage, it doesn’t matter. I can’t be what Rick wants!”

Freida pales, and gets down on her knees. “Please, Su Lin. Don’t give up on Rick. I know he’s difficult, but… please.”

“Why?” I ask, desperate. “You care for Rick, I can tell. Why can’t you be his wife? You know this game, you know the players, you know the rules. I’m just the girl from Beijing who wanted out.”

Freida shakes her head. “There’s a lot of reasons I cannot be what Rick wants. First off… I’m not able to have a baby.”

Her admission hits me like a punch in the stomach and I gasp, fresh tears coming to my eyes. Freida looks shaken too, and wipes at her lips with the back of her hand before continuing. “When I was thirteen years old, I was involved in a car accident. I was riding in the front passenger seat, holding a gift for my grandmother in my lap. We were hit from behind and driven into the back of a delivery truck. The airbag… it drove the gift into my abdomen, causing internal bleeding. The result… an emergency hysterectomy.”

I get out of my chair and go over, hugging her around her shoulders. The whole time I’ve known her, I thought she was strong, perfect, and compared myself to her. Now… no wonder she wants me to stay. “Freida….”

“I don’t love Rick, not in that way,” Freida says, hugging me back. “I’m loyal to him, yes. I think he’s one of the best men in the world. But we’ve never, ever been physical. When he told me about his need for a blood heir though, I told him the truth. If I could, I would have. Not because I feel romantically about him, but because the world needs him, and needs to keep his legacy alive.”

“Why?” I ask.

Freida shakes her head. “I can’t say. Su Lin, it’s vital that you stay with Rick. I don’t agree with the way he’s treated you, and I’ve told him as much. But he wouldn’t have reacted the way he did if there wasn’t an emotional reason there. Please… I beg you, give him another chance. Besides, it wouldn’t hurt so damn much if you didn’t care about him a little bit too.”

I look into Freida’s eyes, seeing the pain that’s in there, and I think. Why does it hurt so much? After all, it’s not just the sex. There’s something about Rick, something undeniable and the moments that I do get to spend with him….

“Fine. One more chance,” I tell Freida. “But I’m still not happy.”

Freida smiles, and hugs me back. “That’s okay. Before we go back to the estate, I have an idea that you might like.”

“What’s that?”

“It’s called retail therapy.”

I lift an eyebrow, a small smirk coming to my lips. “I’ve heard of retail therapy before. You’d be surprised just how capitalist Beijing’s become, and my mother… well, she’s an expert in retail therapy.”

Freida laughs, and helps me to my feet. “I take that as a challenge. I need to show you what an all-American expert in retail therapy really is.”