Accueil / Emotional Realism Histoires courtes / My Cheating Husband: The Three Suspects / Chapitre 1 - Chapitre 10

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Chapter 1

"Who popped it for you?"Ryan froze mid-step, one foot poised over the bathtub.He turned around, a flash of panic crossing his eyes."Who popped what? Babe, you scared me.""Don't play dumb." I marched up and jabbed my finger hard against the red mark."Ow! Easy, that hurts." He sucked in a sharp breath and dodged my hand."Before your trip, that pimple was ready to pop." I held his gaze."I told you to wait so I could pop it when you got back. You agreed. So where is it?"Ryan blinked, then reached out to pull me into a hug. I shoved him away."Babe, with observation skills like yours, you should've been a detective."He pointed to the washcloth on the sink counter."Last night at the hotel, I was scrubbing my back in the shower and accidentally caught it. It bled a little, so I just squeezed out the rest of the gunk while I was at it.""You popped it yourself?" I narrowed my eyes."What, you think some fairy godmother snuck in at midnight to pop my pimples?"His tone was casual, eve

Chapter 2

"But you sat in the back that day, didn't you?"I turned and locked my eyes on Megan's.The smile on Megan's face faltered for just a fraction of a second."Oh come on, I got cold in the back and moved up front, remember?"She patted my shoulder a little too hard."Come on, you seriously don't remember? It was when you got out to grab boba.""Was it?" My tone was flat."Of course! Right now, you've got cheating on the brain. Everyone looks suspicious to you."Megan pursed her lips and pushed open the car door."Enough snooping. Keep this up and Ryan's gonna lose it. Come on. Barbecue's on me."I locked the car and followed her to the elevator.That curly brown hair felt like a splinter under my skin.That night, when I got home, Ryan had already showered and was leaning against the headboard with his iPad.Seeing me walk in, he set the tablet down and patted the spot beside him."Where'd you go? You smell like barbecue.""Megan and I went out for barbecue," I said casually as I took of

Chapter 3

At five-thirty in the afternoon, Ryan walked out of the office building right on time.He didn't drive. Instead, he headed straight for a black Uber parked by the curb.I quickly flagged down a taxi."Follow that black car up ahead."The taxi trailed at a safe distance.Half an hour later, the black car pulled up in front of a hotel.Ryan stepped out and walked briskly into the hotel lobby.I paid the fare, tugged my cap low, and followed him in.The hotel lobby was grand and gilded, bustling with people.I hid behind a pillar near the lobby bar, watching the elevators.Ryan stood in front of the elevator, looking down at his phone.Soon, the doors opened.A young woman in a tailored business suit and flawless makeup stepped out.The moment she saw Ryan, her face broke into a bright smile.They exchanged a few words by the elevator, then walked side by side toward the hotel restaurant.That woman was definitely not Greg Palmer, the man in his fifties Megan had described.I felt every d

Chapter 4

After the hotel fiasco, Ryan started giving me the silent treatment.Every day he left early and came home late. When he did come home, he went straight to the study to sleep without saying a single word to me.On the weekend, Ryan went to work overtime again.Alone at home, I drifted from room to room like a ghost.Once I calmed down, I started to reflect.Maybe I really had been too wound up lately, reading too much into things.Aside from his being with Dana Carter, nothing else at the hotel had looked suspicious.Ryan had been working himself ragged for this family for years. I could see that. I shouldn't have humiliated him in public like that.Once I'd thought it through, I decided to be the one to break the ice.On Friday evening, I bought all his favorite ingredients and cooked an elaborate dinner from scratch.When Ryan walked in and saw the spread, he paused."Honey, I was wrong about the hotel. I shouldn't have jumped to conclusions and doubted you." I walked over, took his

Chapter 5

In mid-July, Megan had suddenly taken a week off. She texted me saying she'd come down with a bad stomach bug and was stuck in bed, throwing up and dealing with constant diarrhea.I'd been out of town and couldn't come back, so I'd had a week's worth of soup, crackers, and electrolyte drinks delivered to her apartment.I sank to the floor, pressing both hands over my mouth to keep from screaming.The brown, curly strand of hair in the garage slammed back into my mind.I remembered Megan at the hotel entrance, putting me down in front of Ryan while making herself look better.Every clue snapped into place like sparks racing down a fuse, until the truth exploded in front of me and turned my stomach.It wasn't some escort.It wasn't Dana Carter.It was Megan.The two people betraying me were my best friend of ten years and the husband I'd shared my bed with for three.They'd been sleeping together.And three months ago, Megan might have gotten pregnant with Ryan's baby, and he'd taken her

Chapter 6

The luxury boutique was on the second floor of Saks.Megan was posing in front of the mirror with a new crocodile handbag."What do you think? Cute?" She spun around and raised an eyebrow at me."It's gorgeous. It really suits you." I smiled from the sofa, taking a sip of the sparkling water the sales associate had brought over."Obviously. It's twenty-five thousand dollars."I watched her swipe the card and laughed bitterly to myself.Megan's salary was barely three thousand a month. She spent recklessly and had zero savings.Whose card had she used to buy a twenty-five-thousand-dollar bag?"Let's go. Coffee's on me." Megan picked up the shopping bag, beaming.We sat down at the rooftop restaurant."So, how are things between you and Ryan? Still not speaking?" Megan sliced off a small piece of cake and asked, feigning disinterest."Same old," I sighed, putting on a troubled expression."Megan, do you think I really messed up? At the hotel, maybe I really did misread the whole thing."

Chapter 7

Over the next few days, I acted like nothing had happened, even going out of my way to be sweeter to Ryan."Babe, there's an urgent project at the office tonight. I might have to pull an all-nighter, so I won't be coming home."On Friday morning, Ryan knotted his tie while giving me an apologetic look."Okay. Take care of yourself. Don't push too hard." I straightened his collar like a dutiful wife.The second he was out the door, I opened the tracking app on my phone.The red dot crossed the map and stopped at a familiar place: Megan's apartment complex.I let out a cold laugh. Of course.I didn't rush over to catch them in the act.Sure, catching them in bed would've been satisfying, but Ryan could easily claim it was a moment of weakness, or pin the whole thing on Megan for seducing him.What I wanted was to destroy them so completely that there would be no coming back.Next, I opened the admin panel for our smart home router.Ryan was a tech junkie. Every device in our home was on

Chapter 8

The next morning, Ryan came home from his "overtime shift" with dark circles under his eyes and a bouquet of roses.I took the roses and flashed him the brightest smile I could manage."Honey, tomorrow is our wedding anniversary.""You said you wanted to throw a party and invite all our friends over, didn't you?"Ryan blinked. "You'd actually want to do that?""Of course." I gave a small smile."And not just any party. A big one. Invite your buddies, and Megan too.""Great! Great! Whatever you say!" Ryan nodded eagerly.The next evening, the apartment was bright and buzzing with energy.A few of Ryan's sketchier friends had come, and Megan had arrived dressed to kill.She wore a skin-tight red dress with a plunging neckline, a glittering diamond necklace around her throat.I'd seen that necklace in Ryan's purchase history. It was worth over ten thousand dollars."It's your third anniversary, and there aren't even any flowers?"Megan sauntered over with a wineglass, deliberately raising

Chapter 9

"You're making things up about an abortion! I never had one!"Megan's shrill voice sliced through the suffocating silence of the living room.She charged out from behind the couch and jabbed her finger in my face, her hand trembling."You're just jealous! Jealous that Ryan loves me and not you! You faked all of this to frame me!""Frame you?" I scoffed, pulled the clinic receipt from my pocket, and flung it at her face."Six thousand dollars for an abortion, signed and paid by Ryan. You want to tell me that wasn't you?"The slip of paper fluttered to the floor, but the sight of it hit Megan like a sledgehammer.She stared at it. Her face flushed, went pale, then took on a sickly cast.The friends around her were already looking at her with pure contempt."Shameless. Imagine pretending to be one of the guys just to get close to your friend's husband," someone muttered.Megan snapped.She whipped around and threw herself at Ryan, who was still crumpled on the floor, clawing and hitting.

Chapter 10

I threw Megan out.One by one, the gawking guests found excuses to leave.I dropped onto the couch, surveyed the wreckage all around me, and let out a long, slow exhale.It was over.This absurd marriage had finally come to a brutal end.The next day, I had every lock in my home changed.Ryan tried calling me a few times. I blocked his number.A week later, our uncontested divorce was finalized at the county courthouse.The moment I had the final divorce decree in hand, Ryan looked at me with eyes full of regret and resentment."Happy now? You backed me into a corner. Are you satisfied?""You're wrong. I didn't back you into any corner. Your own greed and shamelessness did."I tucked the decree into my bag and didn't spare him another glance.Later, I heard Ryan had been fired over the scandal.His reputation in the industry was ruined. No respectable company in his field would hire him, so he ended up working as a delivery driver.As for Megan, her cousin Ethan, who'd helped forge the

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