INICIAR SESIÓNMy wife’s twenty-two-year-old “charity case” put a box of condoms in front of her while every executive at our company watched. Our home security feed had accidentally appeared on the conference-room screen. “You promised me one wish if I got into a top master’s program,” he said. My wife smiled. “Yes.” Then he kissed her—and she kissed him back. That night, she begged me to forgive her. She even signed an agreement: if she cheated again, I would get everything. Less than half an hour later, I photographed them kissing outside our gate. But that wasn’t enough for her. Three days later, her lover stormed into my office, slammed his own forehead into my desk, and screamed that I’d attacked him. My wife believed him. “You’ll apologize publicly tomorrow,” she told me. “Then announce your resignation.” We had founded that company together. I had financed it. Now she wanted me humiliated and gone. “All right,” I said. “I’ll be there.” At ten the next morning, she sat at the head of the table. Her lover smiled from the back. I handed everyone a copy of the documents my attorney had prepared. My wife opened hers. Her smile vanished. “Ansel… you can’t do this.” I looked at the signature she’d given me three nights earlier. “You already agreed.”
Ver másI stayed where I was. She came closer and reached for my sleeve.I stepped back. Her hand stopped in the air.“When I used to grab your sleeve, you’d stop. Even when we fought, you always let me finish.”I looked at her without speaking.She lowered her head. As her hands dropped, the cuffs clicked softly together.“I always thought you’d never leave. You loved me so much. All I had to do was apologize, and you’d forgive me.”She looked up, tears pouring down her face.“I know it’s too late to say this. I just… I really want to go back. Back to when we first got together.”I swallowed and slowly looked away.The bailiff quietly prompted her to move. She hurried forward a step.“One last question. Then I won’t bother you again.”I looked back at her. She clasped her cuffed hands tightly.“Would things have turned out differently if I hadn’t cheated?”I watched her for a moment, then turned toward the exit.She tried to follow. The bailiff stopped her.My attorney opened the outside door
He jerked his head up, both hands gripping the table.“Life? No! He’s alive! How can you lock me up forever?”His lawyer tried to get him to sit. Elio whipped around toward Sigourney.“Say something! You promised you’d help me! You can’t just abandon me!”She avoided his eyes, her lips colorless.The bailiff pulled him back into place. He kept struggling to turn around.The judge turned a page and looked at Sigourney.“Sigourney. Your turn.”She used the back of her chair to get to her feet. Her legs trembled.“I didn’t know the evidence was fake. I didn’t know he’d hire someone to kill Ansel! I didn’t do any of that!”“You won’t be held responsible for things you weren’t involved in. But you personally approved the use of company funds to buy Elio gifts and transfer fifty million dollars.”She nodded quickly, her voice shaking.“I’ll pay it back. We can sell the watch. Everything else, too. Whatever’s left, I’ll pay it off!”She turned to me, tears dripping from her chin.“Ansel, plea
I took the witness stand. Sigourney didn’t take her eyes off me.“When you released those files, did you think about me going to prison?”She clutched a tissue, tears falling steadily.“I thought they were real. I even tried to keep it quiet for you. You insisted on throwing me out. I didn’t have a choice…”“As long as I resigned and stopped investigating you, you wouldn’t release them. Right?”She lowered her head, crushing the tissue in her hand.“Were you protecting me? Or threatening me with prison?”“I was scared! We built that company together. I couldn’t lose everything!”I watched her and slowly leaned back.“So to keep the company, you were willing to cost me my freedom?”Sigourney shook her head and pushed herself up against the table.“Ansel, do you remember when we first started the company? We worked late together every day. I stayed beside you through so much. Do those seven years really mean nothing to you?”I lowered my eyes, my fingers resting against my bare ring fing
He suddenly lunged forward and struck his forehead against the corner. Then he fell and shouted.“Sigourney, help! Your husband hit me!”Sigourney went rigid, staring up at the screen.In the video, she rushed into the office and crouched to help Elio up.“You should resign. This company isn’t the place for you anymore.”I watched and slowly drew my hands back into my lap.I hadn’t touched him that day.She hadn’t even looked at me before telling me to leave the company we had founded together.The prosecutor paused the video and turned to the receptionist.“Was the recording interrupted at any point between Elio entering the office and injuring himself?”“No. I stayed by the door the whole time. Ansel didn’t push him.”Elio turned away from the witness stand.Sigourney looked at me, tears running down her cheeks.“Why… Why didn’t I see it?”I looked back at her and swallowed.“I told you I didn’t push him. You heard me. You just didn’t believe me.”She pressed a hand to her chest. Her
Welcome to GoodNovel world of fiction. If you like this novel, or you are an idealist hoping to explore a perfect world, and also want to become an original novel author online to increase income, you can join our family to read or create various types of books, such as romance novel, epic reading, werewolf novel, fantasy novel, history novel and so on. If you are a reader, high quality novels can be selected here. If you are an author, you can obtain more inspiration from others to create more brilliant works, what's more, your works on our platform will catch more attention and win more admiration from readers.