Viral Betrayal: A Wife's Agony

ideo went viral. I was at home, pregnant and making his favorite

s obsession with playing her hero cost me our f

my prenatal check-up, but he aba

o his knees, crying and begging for another cha

a cold, hollow emptiness. The wo

n the eye and calmly de

tion today. Th

e papers

pte

er name flashing like an emergency beacon. I wiped my flour-dusted hands on my apron, a small smile playing on

s voice was a frantic whisper, laced wi

y strand of hair. "No, why? D

a cat video! It'

ir, the dough cold and heavy beneath m

s. "There's a video. It's everywhere. He c

cal blow. Donnie. After all

From that poor groom." Sarah's voice dropp

notifications. Text messages, DMs, missed calls, all blinking furiously. My

me, offering condolences mixed with thinly veiled judgment. There we

hirlwind of rage and desperation, his usually composed face contorted, veins bulging in his neck. He was shouting, something about love, about saving her from a mistake. Donnie, in

een three years since the last time Jeremy' s "heroics" had torn my

e comments from

into that bar fight? The one

"He's genuinely unhinged." Another said, "Remember that story from three years ago?

," a comment from an unknown user read, "literall

" someone else wrote. "You

e lasagna forgotten. The smell of burning tomato sauce filled the kitchen. I looked down. The ceramic p

g liquid was a dull throb next to the ice

twice, three times, then went straight to voicemail. "The subscriber

d that scratched at my throat. It

u, Chelsey. I love us," he' d whispered, "I'll be back early, just in tim

will never hurt you again, Chelsey. Never. Our

ike someone had scooped out my insides and left me hollow. The most desperate moment, the kind that

flour everywhere, burnt sauce sizzling on the stove. I cleaned it all.

ne again. Not to call Jer

morrow." My voice was flat, devoid of emotion. "And I'd l