My Husband's Perfect Deception

ristian was the perf

wed with pretend concern. "You seemed so st

ught me comfort. Now, his touch felt like a spider craw

took the coffee, the warmth of the mug doing

a deposition out of town today. But I was thinking... maybe we should take a

ice," I said,

per. "The deposition is near the old Hobbs estate. Every

secretly living with as a cover story. The sheer audacity of

mpathy for his past grief t

voice perfectly level. "T

head at the last second, so his lips brushed my cheek. I bl

fcase. "I'll call you when I g

ront door clicke

e woman who died yesterday. I needed proof. Hard, unde

the one place he was met

and our shared life. It was a lie, all of it. I w

he Tuscan sun. The image was a bitter pill. I tried the usual pass

struck me. A col

The littl

ng Isabelle call h

cture frame, facedown. I had never seen it before. I turned it over. It was a photo of

birt

it in. `

reen u

. The desktop background wasn't me. It was Christian, Isabelle, and Leo, s

s. "Family Vacation - 2022." "Leo's 4th Birthday." "Summer at the Lake." Hundr

password-protected folder labeled "Househol

nts from something called the "Vance Family Strategic Fund"-my fath

rs ago, a month before Christ

dn't just known. They had orchestrated it. They had paid for it. They had built my marriage on

tian's voice, thick with emotion, promis

ra, I've fou

e desk, my knuckles white. I wanted to scream. I w

n a subfolder. A video file, named with a si

rn and commanding. Gwyn, cool and poised beside h

an't afford any mistakes. Elara's strategy is flaw

voice like ice. "If she finds o

omfortably. "She won'

ns the campaign... we leak the stories. We have the background already prepared. Her mother's history of instability. H

He didn't protest. He j

ideo

emeditated character assassination. They weren't just hidin

son. The man I loved was my warden. And my fa

ea was gone. All that was l

l, encrypted flash drive. I put the drive

ang. It wa

el," he said, his voice c

oice a flawless imitation of his lov

you too,

uld not be a victim. I wo

ategist who had resurrected a dyi

g to be the one to