Chapter 4 Photo Evidence

I couldn't take my eyes away from that message. A large, invisible hand was squeezing itself around my heart and tightening its grip with every passing second.

I wanted to tell the guy he was a bastard, but my fingers were shaking too much for me to reply with something coherent.

For a moment, I thought my husband was this anonymous guy in my DMs, but I shook that thought out of my head and told myself it was impossible.

I thought, 'Quincy barely goes on Twitter, let alone surf niche anonymous forums. Besides, a system and getting wiped by that same system were things that existed in webnovels, not real life!'

I quickly tried to reason with myself that Quincy was likely in a bad mood and forced myself to calm down. After a beat, I took a deep breath and said, "If this is you trying to get my attention, then you've gone too far."

I tried to hold Quincy's hand as I continued, "Have I neglected you lately? Maybe I've been too busy. It's our 10th anniver—"

"Don't touch me!" He flung my hand away with enough force to make me stagger, causing me to crash into the cabinet standing on the porch. My back groaned in pain as I stared at Quincy in wide-eyed disbelief.

We'd been together for 10 years, and he never once raised his voice at me. Yet, he'd just taken it a step further and gotten physical with me.

Quincy seemed to be equally shocked by his actions. His hands were balled by his sides, shaking violently. His first instinct was to help me up, but he pulled his foot back and turned his head away before he even took a single step toward me.

He couldn't even look me in the eye, but his voice dripped with venom as he spat, "You're so annoying, Gina. You pretend like we're the most loving couple day in and day out. Well, I'm sick of it!"

He pointed at the ashes on the ground, his lips curling into a sardonic smile.

"The photos disgusted me. I've had enough of staying with a career woman like you and being forced to live off your money. I was nothing but your pet, your lapdog who was entirely at your beck and call for 10 whole years. I've had enough of that life!"

Every single word hit me where it hurt the most. It was as if he were parroting the very thing I told that anonymous guy.

"Deny everything she's done for you, and make her think she's a complete joke."

No, I had to be mistaken. I told myself this was a mere coincidence. The edges of my eyes went red, and I took out the gift box from my bag. "I know you've been feeling a lot of pressure, so I got you th—"

Quincy swatted the box out of my hand. The beautiful box arced across the air and crashed into a wall with a loud thud.

The diamond brooch rolled out of the box and fell into the burning brazier.

That gift was worth more than every single penny he could save his whole life. Yet, here it was, lying among a pile of ash like a cheap dollar-store adornment.

Quincy didn't even look at it. He merely turned around and hissed coldly, "Don't insult me with your money."

He strode into the study and slammed the door shut. Dead silence descended upon the living room, save for the embers still crackling weakly in the brazier.

I crumpled onto the ground, and my tears finally spilled from my eyes. Then, my phone buzzed again. The anonymous guy came back with a photo.

…

It was taken in a dim study, and a single hand was clenching the corner of a desk with enough force to make the hand's veins pop.

The hand's nails were very nearly digging into its flesh.

The message read, "I did it. I tossed the most expensive present she got for me and told me she was insulting me with her money."

"I bet she hates my guts now, but I noticed something hitting her back when I shoved her away. I wanted to hold her, but I couldn't. The system's countdown shows that I only have five days left. All she has to do now is hate my guts, and once she does… She'll live."

The hand in the picture was familiar to me, all too familiar.

There was a small black mole on the ring finger. It was the hand that had held mine so many times over the course of the years. It was the same hand that had starred in many memories with me, more than I could count.

The sight of that hand froze my very blood in my veins immediately. That hand… That hand belonged to my husband.