Chapter 2

2.

A few minutes later, Silas walked out of the bathroom.

He sat next to me, drying his hair with a towel.

"Why the long face, babe?"

I snapped out of my thoughts and looked at him.

He was thirty now, and his features had sharpened into a rugged, handsome maturity.

Everyone envied our marriage.

"Willa, how did you get so lucky to land a man like Silas?" they'd ask.

I used to think I was the luckiest woman alive.

I thought I had a man who worshipped the ground I walked on.

Now I realized the truth.

A man can put you on a pedestal and give you half his company's shares.

And he can still crawl into someone else's bed at night.

"Nothing. Someone called your phone. I answered, but they hung up without saying a word."

"It was a local number. Probably a friend. You should check."

I handed him the phone and watched his face closely.

"Probably a wrong number. Don't worry about it."

He took the phone with perfect composure.

But I saw it. I saw his thumb twitch twice against the screen―a nervous habit he only had when he was lying.

We had been together far too long for him to hide that from me.

"Honey, go get some rest in the bedroom. I just remembered I have a few urgent files to finish for the office."

"Now? It's late."

"Yeah, the deadline is tight."

I didn't push him. I just nodded and told him to be careful.

Silas grabbed his coat and rushed out.

I sat on the sofa, watching the door close.

What kind of files required a CEO to leave his house in the middle of the night? He didn't even try to make the lie believable.

A bitter laugh escaped my throat.

Did he think I loved him so much that I was blind?

I bit my lip and called a friend who worked as a private investigator. I told him to follow Silas.

That night, Silas didn't come home.

The next morning, I woke up with a pounding headache. My friend had sent several messages.

"Willa, look at this for yourself."

"If this isn't a misunderstanding, I suggest you start gathering evidence for a lawyer."

My chest tightened.

Below the text was a video file.

My breath hitched.

That video was the key to a Pandora's box that would swallow my world.

With trembling hands, I pressed play.

In the video, Silas's car was parked on a side street. A young woman climbed into the passenger seat.

It was Quinn Shell.

The camera zoomed in.

The two of them were so wrapped up in each other they didn't notice they were being watched.

The sound of kissing and heavy breathing filled the room.

It felt like a knife was twisting in my heart.

Eventually, they stepped out of the car, looking disheveled.

Quinn held his hand, a smug, spoiled look on her face.

"Mr. Finn, I thought you forgot about me. Didn't you get enough at home? You're acting like a starved animal."

Silas's voice was husky, his eyes dark with lust.

"I haven't touched Willa."

He gripped the woman's neck lightly, pulling her close.

"My wife doesn't have your… appetite. You're such a little brat."

Quinn didn't seem insulted. She pressed her body against his chest.

"Well, Mr. Finn, I'm all yours tonight."

"Don't cry later," he whispered.

They disappeared into an apartment complex.

When the video ended, I felt numb.

The sadness was there, but it was buried under a cold sense of finality.

I walked to the cabinet, grabbed a bottle of bourbon, and took a massive swing.

The liquid burned my throat, forcing tears from my eyes.

I sat on the floor, surrounded by the silence of our empty home.

I didn't understand why Silas did this.

But I knew one thing.

This marriage was over.