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The Cat Said: Every Time My Husband Kisses That Woman, He Buys Her a Bag

The Cat Said: Every Time My Husband Kisses That Woman, He Buys Her a Bag

Cerita Pendek · Romance
Oleh:  SterlingTamat
Bahasa: English
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10Bab
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Sinopsis

Mind Reading

Scumbag

Winning Back the Wife

Regret

Animal Protagonist

Homewrecker

Counter Attack

Feel-Good Story

I can hear what animals are thinking. Not even my husband, Corbin Whitmore, knows that secret. On our fifth anniversary, he gave me a limited-edition bag, pulled me close, and made me a promise. "From now on, I'll buy you one every year." For the past few years, he'd been swamped with work, while I'd been tied up at the animal rescue center. We hadn't even had time to celebrate our anniversaries. I thought he was just busy. I thought he still loved me. Then Banjo, the cat I'd had for seven years, jumped up on the dining table, stared at the bag, and spoke. "Mom, the lady with the red bracelet came again last night. "Every time she kisses Dad, Dad buys her a bag. "And her bracelet's missing a diamond." My heart sank. I'd given that bracelet to my cousin, Tamsin Weir. Just last month, she'd told me one of the diamonds had fallen out. When I looked up, Corbin smiled at me. "Do you like it?" I pushed down the chill in my chest and took the bag from him. "I love it." They wanted to use this bag to cover up their affair. Fine. I'd start with the bag and tear their lies apart, one by one.

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10 Bab
Chapter 1 "That's the one."
Banjo crouched under the table, his eyes fixed on the bag."Last night that lady showed Dad pictures of three bags. Dad kissed her and said he'd buy this one."Dad said this was number 86."My breath caught.Right then, Corbin's phone lit up with a credit card alert.$96,000.I looked up at him."This bag sells for less than $40,000 on the resale market. How did you spend $96,000?"Corbin's smile faded."Tamsin said you have to buy other pieces to qualify for this one.""Even after counting the other pieces they make you buy, the total shouldn't be that high. Did she quote you the wrong price?"He frowned."Maren, you've been out of the industry for five years. The market has changed."Tamsin's at the boutique every day. You think you know better than she does?"Three years ago, he'd proudly told his clients I was the youngest senior authenticator in the industry.Now he thought Tamsin, whom I'd trained myself, knew more about luxury goods than I did.Corbin bent down and kissed my for
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Chapter 2 The next day, I took the anniversary bag to the store where Tamsin worked.
I said I wanted to exchange it for a different color.The sales associate took the receipt, looked up the account, and immediately became much friendlier."Oh, you're Mr. Whitmore's wife."Mr. Whitmore is one of our top VIP clients. 86 bags in three years. You're so lucky."I froze.86.Exactly what Banjo had said.In five years of marriage, the only bag Corbin had ever put in my hands was yesterday's.To strangers, he'd spoiled me 86 times.In reality, I'd never laid eyes on the first 85.I swallowed the lump in my throat."How much is this bag?""$38,000.""But he spent $96,000 last night."She glanced at the order."Besides the bag, there was jewelry, women's clothing, and a pair of shoes."My fingers slowly curled into fists."Where's the rest of it?""Ms. Weir said the other items were for someone else. She's already picked them up for Mr. Whitmore."She checked the account details on her screen again."And the information we have for you is still correct, right? Size six, favorit
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Chapter 3 When I got home from the store, Corbin was already waiting in the living room.
"I was too harsh this morning."He handed me a jewelry box.Inside was the necklace my mother had left me.After she died, it was the only thing of hers I had left.The clasp had been broken for two years. I'd taken it to one jeweler after another, and every one had said the old chain would be difficult to repair.And now it was fixed."It took me a month to find someone willing to repair it."Corbin stepped behind me and fastened it around my neck."I know how much it means to you."The cool pendant settled against my chest.My eyes suddenly stung.He watched me in the mirror."Maren, you're the one I've always loved."I asked him."Then what about the other $58,000?"He was quiet for a moment."I gave the other items to Lenora Price."The name stopped me cold.Lenora was Corbin's first love.They'd been together for three years in college, until she moved abroad and they broke up.He didn't avoid the question. He kept going."She introduced me to an important investor. I was afraid y
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Chapter 4 Over the next week, I gathered evidence.
The tablet at home was still logged in to Corbin's VIP account with the brand.I exported the dates, styles, and product codes for all 86 orders. With help from my old industry contacts, I checked each item against public authentication records on luxury resale platforms.One day when I got home, Banjo didn't come to the door to meet me like he always did.His bed was empty. His water bowl lay tipped over on the floor, and most of the spilled water had already dried.Banjo was timid. He would never go out alone.I tore through the bedroom, the balcony, the storage room. I even checked behind the washing machine.Nothing.With shaking hands, I opened the smart lock app.Two hours earlier, someone had come in using a guest code.A clip from the doorbell camera came up next.Tamsin had walked in empty-handed and walked out dragging the pet carrier Banjo always rode in to the vet.A gray dust cover was thrown over the carrier.Banjo was thrashing and yowling inside.Tamsin dragged the carr
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Chapter 5 Three days later, it was time for Tamsin's promotion reception.
The mall's VIP lounge was packed.Tamsin stood in a white gown in front of a backdrop with her name on it.Corbin sat in the front row, wearing the tie she'd picked out for him.Six years earlier, the first time Tamsin put on the store uniform, she was so nervous she couldn't even tie her scarf.I was the one who straightened her collar and taught her how to greet customers and keep smiling.She'd held my hand and said that when she became store manager, she'd give me her first pin.Now she was about to get the job, and I was the one person she wanted gone.When Corbin saw me, he frowned right away."What are you doing here?"I didn't answer.The host picked up the store manager's pin to announce the promotion. Then a compliance officer from the brand's headquarters walked onto the stage."We've received a signed complaint alleging irregularities in 86 high-value orders credited to Ms. Tamsin Weir."The promotion process is suspended."The room erupted.Tamsin went white.When she saw
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Chapter 6 The next day, Banjo finally woke up.
Kieran checked Banjo's pupils and said he would survive, but his right eye could only detect faint light.No one could say whether his sight would improve.Once the door closed, Banjo struggled into my arms.Tears spilled down my face.I remembered how, when he first came to live with us, he'd always waited by the door.When Corbin worked past midnight, Banjo wouldn't sleep either.The moment he heard the elevator, he'd run to the door with his tail straight up.As time went on, Corbin came home later and later, but Banjo still waited.Banjo didn't know that people change.All he remembered was Corbin, the man who'd once held him and promised they'd never be apart.In halting bursts, Banjo told me what had happened. Tamsin had handed him to a stranger and said he scratched people and that his owner no longer wanted him. Then she'd told the man to take him as far away as possible.The man shut him in a cage that reeked of rust.Banjo pried the loose latch open with his teeth and escaped
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Chapter 7 Corbin was away for five days.
During that time, I moved out of the house.I took my mother's necklace, my authentication tools, and the cat bed Banjo had slept in for seven years. I left none of them behind.The jewelry he'd given me stayed in the safe.Those things were like our marriage: expensive but cold.Before I left, I took off my wedding ring and set it on the entryway table.The night Corbin got home, I saw more than a dozen missed calls from him.I knew he'd seen the empty spot where Banjo's bed had been, the ring by the door, and the divorce filing on the dining table.Rachel told the court that Corbin had made unusually large gifts and might move marital assets. She asked it to freeze certain accounts and block transfers of certain real estate, vehicles, and equity holdings.When Corbin tried to transfer money to cover a financing shortfall, he discovered that outgoing transfers from some accounts had been blocked.The next afternoon, he came to the rescue center and waited outside the gate for three ho
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Chapter 8 There was only one month left on the rescue center's lease.
When I pulled out the contract, I discovered that the property belonged to a real estate company controlled by Whitmore Capital.From the beginning, he'd kept what mattered most to me under his control.I used to think that was support.Now I understood: it had made him certain I'd never leave.Corbin called me."Drop the divorce and the asset freeze, and the place is still yours."Otherwise, next month, you and your cats are out."The rescue center had stray dogs fresh out of surgery, old cats that needed IV fluids every day, and more than a dozen young animals still waiting for homes.For the first time, I was scared.After I hung up, I checked on each animal, one cage at a time.A puppy that had just lost a leg saw me and dragged himself toward the cage door.Two tiny kittens, too young to eat on their own, mewed at me from their incubator.They didn't understand leases or what one month from now meant.All they knew was that someone here would save them.I wasn't scared of having n
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Chapter 9 The auditors found a report bearing my name titled Luxury Consumer Trends.
They contacted me to verify that it was mine.I recognized it at a glance. It was an authentication plan I'd left at the company five years ago.Corbin had changed its date and title, then passed my work off as a market study that had never been conducted. That made the money he'd transferred out look legitimate.I brought the original files to the internal investigation meeting.Corbin sat across the conference table from me, his expression grim.The head of finance put the money trail up on the screen.Corbin had paid for the first purchases through his personal account, using our marital assets.Tamsin received the sales credit and commission, then sent some of the authentic bags to a consignment studio she was tied to.As the spending grew, Corbin began dipping into company money.Using labels such as market research, client operations, and channel consulting, he moved funds to the outside marketing agency.The agency then paid his personal credit card bills or funneled the money i
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Chapter 10 One year later, the divorce case and the related investigations had all concluded.
When dividing our property, the court deducted the value of the marital assets Corbin had transferred or disposed of without permission from his share. It also recovered the improper gifts in Tamsin's name.The embezzlement case against Corbin was still ongoing.Tamsin left the luxury business.The store audited every sale she'd claimed, and she would never wear the store manager's pin she'd almost received.I stopped asking about either of them.The new rescue center had been converted into a nonprofit animal medical center.The first floor handled rescue and treatment. The second floor was for post-op recovery.We'd planted the catnip Banjo loved in the yard.A clear acrylic notice board hung on the wall.Each month, the board was updated to list every donation and every medication or treatment expense.Corbin used to say my rescue work ran on nothing but passion and would never last.Now the medical center had a reliable volunteer team, a partner hospital, and income of its own. It
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