[4]

Dalia stood before Sylvette’s bed after tucking the little girl under the blanket. She gently brushed a curl away from the little girl’s forehead and lowered her voice.

“Good night, sweetheart.” She pressed a kiss on her forehead before switching off the bedside lamp and quietly left the room.

The hallway was dark and silent and Dalia glanced at the clock on the wall.

11:33 pm.

Her heart sank. Caius still wasn’t at home. She had told herself that whatever had taken him out of the house was related to the contract or urgent matters in the office, but as the hours passed with no message from him, her reasons became less convincing to herself.

She returned to the parlor and checked her phone again. There was no calls or messages. He didn’t reply to her messages or answer her call.

Her thumb hovered over his contact and it rang but he didn’t pick up.

She lowered the phone. “Caius…”

She had told Kimberly that she must have mistaken someone else for him, because believing otherwise meant confronting something she wasn’t ready to face. But now, alone in the quiet house, doubt was becoming impossible to silence.

Why had Caius left before sunrise? Why hadn’t he told her where he was going? Why had he ignored her calls? Why had there been marks on his neck? And why had Kimberly seen him at the airport with another woman?

Dalia pressed her hand against her chest. “No.” She shook her head. She wasn’t going to accuse him based on suspicions.

She loved Caius, and she was sure he loved her back. He had been a loving father and husband these past five years so she couldn’t just accuse him.

Dalia returned upstairs to there room and switched on the light. She changed into a nightgown and walked towards the closet to put away the clothes she had worn that evening.

She opened the door and found Caius sky blue suit lying on top of her clothes. Dalia immediately reached out for the suit and recognized it.

It was the suit he had worn when he came home the previous night. Dalia frowned. Why had he left it here?

She lifted it carefully, intending to hang it properly when something slipped from one of the pockets and landed on the floor.

Dalia stared at it and her body froze. No…there had to be an explanation. She picked it up with trembling fingers. Condom…?

Why would Caius have this? They were married and she was already taking contraceptive. They had never needed to carry anything like this between them.

Maybe someone had slipped it into his pocket as a joke. Her eyes fell on the suit again and something else caught her attention.

There were faint marks of lipstick on the fabric. Dalia’s breathing stopped and she brought the suit closer to her face.

Several lipstick shaped stains were visible on the sky blue material. Her fingers began to tremble as she remembered the woman on the news and Kimberly insisting that she had seen Caius with a woman at the airport.

‘Darling, I hope you reached home safely? I have been thinking about you.’ She remembered the message.

Everything suddenly connected and Dalia’s knees nearly gave out. She grabbed the edge of the closet for support.

“He really…” Her voice broke, she couldn’t finish the sentence. Her eyes filled with tears as she stared at the suit.

For five years, she trusted him completely. She had surrendered the control of her company she had worked so hard to build because she had believed that becoming Caius wife and Sylvette’s mother was the life she wanted.

She had defended him and supported him. Now, she was standing in their bedroom holding a proof that he might have betrayed everything they had built.

A tear slipped down her cheek and she quickly wiped it off. If she demanded an explanation, Caius would deny it and invent another explanation. And if he was truly hiding something, he would have time to destroy all evidence that existed.

Dalia’s mind raced. She needed to know everything. Who was the woman? How long have they met? Was the woman the same person from the news? Had Caius been lying to her for days, weeks or even longer?

Dalia placed the condom back into the pocket. She stared at the lipstick marks one last time before folding the suit exactly as she had found it.

“I need the truth,” she whispered. She wasn’t going to confront him over one condom. She would find every piece of evidence before Caius realized that she knew something was wrong.

Only then would she ask him the question and would no longer be able to escape.

Dalia closed the closet and her hands were still shaking. She walked towards the bed but before she could climb it, she heard the front door open. She froze. A moment later, she heard footsteps.

Caius…

Her heart slammed against her ribs and she quickly switched off the bedside lamp and climbed under the covers. She turned away from the bedroom door and shut her eyes.

She heard the door open and Caius entered. Dalia kept her breathing slow and steady, pretending to be asleep.

His footsteps approached the bed and the mattress dipped. Dalia’s fingers curled tightly under the blanket then she felt him lean towards her and a deep, lingering kiss landed on her forehead.

“My love,” he whispered.

Dalia nearly broke down but she kept her eyes shut. Caius moved to the side of the bed and exhaled heavily before lying down. Within moments, he breathing became slower. He sounded exhausted.

She could feel the warmth of his body beside her, yet she felt alone. She opened her eyes and stared into the darkness.

She couldn’t forget the condom in his pocket and couldn’t erase the image of another woman placing kisses on his suit.

Dalia squeezed her eyes shut. Please…

She didn’t want this to be true. She wanted every suspicion to have another meaning. She wanted Kimberly to be wrong. She wanted to wake up tomorrow and realize that her fears had simply been the product of exhaustion and insecurity.

If Caius had really betrayed her— Then everything she had sacrificed for their family….

A tear escaped from the corner of her tightly shut eye and disappeared into her pillow.