Page 19
Story: Sins of a Husband
Chapter Eighteen
KAT
Present
“I can’t believe Oliver wouldn’t let you go with him to Chicago,” Samantha says, sitting in the chair across from my desk.
“I know. I’m still a little upset about it.”
“It doesn’t matter if he’s busy all day or not.” She shakes her head. “The point is that you’d be together at night. You don’t think he’s cheating on you, do you?”
Hearing her words made me gasp. Why would she even ask that?
“No. Oliver would never cheat on me in a million years.” My tone is snippy.
“I don’t think he would either, but it doesn’t make sense why he wouldn’t let you go with him.”
“It’s because he’ll feel bad not being able to spend a lot of time with me. It’s not like he goes there for vacation.”
“You’re right.” She smiles. “Oliver loves you to death and would never betray you like that.”
Damn right, he wouldn’t .
Samantha glances at her watch before standing from her chair. “I have a client coming in soon. I’ll talk to you later.”
“See ya.” I smiled.
I won’t lie and say that somewhere in the back of my mind, the idea of Oliver cheating on me doesn’t float around because it does. But I know him inside and out and how demanding his job is. I pick up my phone and dial his number. He answers on the first ring.
“Is it important, Kat? I’m in the middle of an important meeting.”
“No. I just wanted to tell you that I miss you.”
“I miss you too. We’ll talk later.” The other end goes silent.
“Excuse me, Kat?” My secretary pops her head inside my office. “There’s someone here to see you.”
“Send them in,” I say, looking back at my computer.
The man steps inside my office, and when I look up, it’s Mark, Cindy’s husband, from back in Rockstead.
“Mark? Oh my goodness.” I stand from my chair and walk over to him. “What are you doing here?” We hug.
“It’s good to see you, Kat.”
“It’s good to see you, too. Have a seat.” I gesture. “How’s Cindy?”
“She’s the reason why I’m here. There’s something you need to know.” He shifts in his seat, and his nervousness startles me.
“Okay. What is it?”
“Brian and Cindy were having an affair before….well, you know.”
“Excuse me?” My brows furrow. “How do you know?”
“I was looking for an old fishing rod of mine a couple of weeks ago for a friend, and I found a small box hidden way back in the closet. I opened it and found her old phone. Not too long after Brian died, she told me she lost her phone and had to get a new one.”
“I don’t understand, Mark.”
“I couldn’t for the life of me figure out why she lied and stored the phone in the closet. So, I took it to work with me and charged it up. There were tons of pictures of them together in bed at a hotel outside of town. And then there were the text messages—mostly sexting, but there were a number of ‘I miss and love you’ texts, too.”
It felt like I had been stabbed all over again, and the killer was twisting the knife into my gut.
“I confronted her, and she admitted it. They had been carrying on for six months. That’s why, after what happened to you and Brian, she pushed for you to leave Rockstead. She couldn’t look at you anymore, knowing what they had done. She says she’s ashamed, but I don’t believe her. I hired an attorney and filed for divorce. I’m really sorry, Kat.”
My heart was thumping rapidly, and nausea swept over me.
“I know how much you loved Brian, but I wanted you to know that he wasn’t the perfect man you thought he was. You never looked through his phone after?—”
“His phone was missing and never found,” I say. “Thank you for letting me know, Mark, but it doesn’t matter. I’m happily married and have a great life. Brian was my past, and that’s where he’s staying.”
“I get it, and I’m happy for you, Kat. Again, I’m sorry to come here and tell you. But you had a right to know.”
I walked him out of my office, said goodbye, and ran to the bathroom and vomited.
I grip the edge of the sink and stare at myself in the mirror as a single tear falls from my eye. I thought Cindy was my friend. After Brian was murdered, she took it hard—really hard. I didn’t think much of it at the time because I was grieving. But looking back, she acted like it was her husband who died, and she was the grieving widow. Yet, she took me in and let me stay in her guestroom. She helped me pack the entire house and Brian’s things. She was never my friend. She was just playing the role. I run back into the stall and vomit again.
Table of Contents
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- Page 19 (Reading here)
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